Stacked deck, Memorized deck,

If you guys are looking for stunning EFFECTS and not METHODS, you should seriously concider the Breakthrough (if you don't already have it).

It is impossible to detect, (you could acually give out the deck as a souvenir!)and it is very easy to learn.
I got it yesterday (maybe I'm little late, it has been on the market for a while )


I spent a couple of hours with it, and am quite comfortable with the handling.
You also get 5 stunning routines with it.

Recommended.
Sven

I definitely agree with getting Richard Osterlind's book (especially the 20th anniversary edition of "Breakthrough Card System" or his second L&L video), but you can perform the effects in there with any memorized deck.

A true memorized deck offers a little more flexibility. Two memorized deck tricks I do often are Simon Aronson's "Invisible Card" and David Harkey's/Eric Anderson's "OutSmart", which cannot be done using the Osterlind system.

Osterlind's Breakthrough Card System, while great, only allows you to know which card is next. As it is a cyclical stack, there really is no "first" or "last" card.

Granted, if you used it long enough, you could establish a first and last card, and know every position in it. As Richard Osterlind describes it in the book, though, that generally won't work.

Having said that, if you do any kind of stack work or memorized deck work, get the Osterlind book (or better yet, all of his new L&L videos, including #2 which focuses on Breakthrough) for the effects. They're great.

My favorite would have to be the Blackjack demonstration (the secret to which Richard Osterlind himself tipped somewhere here on the Café!).

The Six Hour Memorized deck.

I received MindSights last week and learned the stack very quickly. It is intuitive, and this really helps. The "slow" part for me is getting the suits - the card value is a breeze.

Doug's take on the Magic Square is also the easiest I've seen and allows for producing the completed square in far less time than it should take to write the numbers (!).

- Greg Owen

Aronson

Six hour works for me. I really had an easy time learning it. (More than 6 hours though).

In which of his books is it explained? Not sure if I have it.

Simon gives full details on his stack and how to memorize it in his book: "Bound to Please." In addition, there are several excellent effects which can be performed with his stack in the book. (Some of the effects can be performed with other memorized stacks as well.)

It's true that the routines that Richard Osterlind has developed for his Breakthrough Card System are excellent. Truly mind boggling, in fact. However, the routines can also be done with a memorized deck. I recommend the new Osterlind DVD's from L & L very highly. Lots of great magic performed and explained by one of magic's best.

Another source for memorized deck effects is my articles in the Ezine Smoke and Mirrors. The November issue which will be out in a few days has my 14th contribution on the topic. If you can't get the back issues, let me know and I'll be happy to help. If you don't subscribe, you should. For one thing, it's free.

Dennis Loomis
http://www.loomismagic.com

I am really enjoying the possiblilites of the lolita system by Docc Hilford.

I second the six hour memorized deck but as someone said it takes a little more than six hours to be fast at it. My favorite effect is the one on Osterlind's dvd concerning the two cards in the pocket. Just a killer effect. I believe it goes back to Chan Canasta. Murf Ps also the Zen Master effect is killer and doing math with a repeated cutting of the deck really isn't that difficult. That's why God invented practice.

Richard Osterlind's "Breakthrough Card System"