Quick question. When I perform my version of OOTW, I have the spectator deal the cards one at a time into 4 piles. I have them pick 2 piles and I shuffle them together. I then shuffle the remaining two together and then those two shuffled piles together. I then have them make two piles, one for cards they think are red, and one for those they think are black. I then shuffle those piles together. I then have the spec. deal three piles, the middle of which has twenty cards. When the piles are shown, the middle pile has exactly 10 red and 10 black cards while then end piles contain all red and all black. Now...my question is...does anyone else do this trick like this. I have not been able to find it in print anywhere. If you know, please let me know. Thanks.

I have not seen it done like this, but it seems to lengthen an already lengthy routine with extra dealing/more preliminaries. You could just do a quick full deck false shuffle yourself then go into it.

Dealing into four piles then picking piles to shuffle does not seem logical when you could just shuffle the deck to mix them. Just my opinion of course.

Paul.

That looks a lot like Harry Lorayne's variation. I can't remember the name offhand, but it's in Close-up Card Magic.

Cheers,
dchung

This was shown to me by another magician many years ago. I thought it was quite clever in a way, but never used it because it was so lengthy and I already had a solid OOTW routine. If my memory serves me correctly, the magician that showed me this said it was a trick of Juan Tamariz. I am not sure about that, since I have never seen this in print.

Risto

You're thinking of "out of this universe" in Lorayne's "close up card magic" book.

I always recommend people use Paul Harris' "Galaxy" since it allows for a fair shuffle at the start and doesn't have any of that "switching piles" nonsense that breaks the flow of the effect. It'll even fool many of those who know the original effect.

It's in one of the Art Of Astonishment books for those interested.

Thanks, Wert. That's the one. I'm travelling right now, and I left my poor book at home.


Harry Lorayne has some patter to go with it, also included in the book.

Thanks for your clarification. I use Galaxy all the time. If the spectator is able to do a decent riffle shuffle, let her do it herself. I have noticed that it makes the effect so much stronger. After she has dealt about half of the cards I remark that she appears to be getting careless. I pick up the last card she dealt as red and show that it is black. I then transfer it to the right pile and have the deal continued.

It always gets a nice little laugh and convinces the spectator that she is handling a mixture of red and black cards all the time. It also sort of breaks the monotony of the boring process of dealing.

Risto

closeupmaster-

The trick you describe is, in fact, Harry Lorayne's Out of this Universe from Close Up Card Magic, move for move.

If its the one I'm thinking of, this routine was published in Tamariz's book, Sonata although I can't remember the name of the actual routine right now. I'm thinking it may be along the lines of "Escorial 71," but I can check if anyone desperately wants to know.

Its very different to the routine that closeupmaster describes though. Check out the Lorayne version as other people have suggested.

--Andi

Now it's been mentioned, I do recall John Oakley showing me this 29 years ago and referring to it as "Out of This Universe"
Lorayne's? I seem to recall the booklet "Griff on Cards" being mentioned..

I must take those ginkgo tablets more often.

Paul.

Thank you all very much for the input. After y'all mentioned that it was Harry Lorayne's, I pull out some my old books and there it was. Once again, thanks for the clarification.

P.S. It really doesn't add much time to the trick and I think it is a stronger effect. Give it a try.

I've tried Loryanes "out of this universe" and for me, the inordinate amount of shuffling and dealing really kills it.

I do use the suggestions of Risto L. as posted previoiusly and they really help. Especially the whole "pointing out they place one wrong card" patter...

I do hope that those above who think my Out Of This Universe is too lengthy stop doing it, and killing it. They obviously have no idea on how to present it. Yes, Paul, "Lorayne's" - how knowledgeable you are!! Boy, I just love threads like this! HL.


Wert: The "suggestion by Risto" is something I've used and TAUGHT for over about 60 years! HL.

First read the correct way of presenting and peforming OOTU in Lorayne The Classic Collection. The four shuffles are not a weakness but rather a strength which IMO makes it a much stronger effect than the Curry original OOTW and many of the variants.
I saw Harry do OOTU on the old Mike Douglas Show back in the 60s and he absolutely stunned them- and it was done pretty fast.

Larry

Man, Harry, I'm glad you published a lot before there were internet boards. I'm afraid some of your gems would've never seen print, if you'd seen the way they'd be butchered! Show the man some respect. As he says in his books. First, do the tricks the way he's written them. Not just once! They are tried and true; not hypothetcal. Then after thorough trial and error, maybe you can make some adjustments; if you know why you're doing so.

If you want to know variations on the effect, you may want to check the thread OOTW
here at the Magic Café in Secret Sessions
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......start=30
Post: Dec 20, 2008 2:46pm

It does avoid anyone to have to "reinvent the wheel".

I agree hdragonetta. It seems that there are some here with personal grievances against Harry, but whether you like th eman or not - his magic speaks for itself.

It's not "personal grievances" - I don't know these people (I can count them on the fingers of one hand)- it's simple and obvious jealousy, what else? HL.

The OOTW is such a wonderful premise one can't help to experiment with it. Personally, I wasn't ever too happy with the last 'move' in PC's original, as it didn't make any logical sense. I moved on to HL's OOTU and stayed with it for a while. It played better (for me) but was, in my opinion, just a tad too drawn out. (Harry, I probably didn't present it correctly ) I then tried PH's "Galaxy" but wasn't happy with the set up as I'd developed my repertoire to a shuffled deck in use. I'm now using an impromptu version from Andrew Murray's DVD "Thirteen." which has gone down extremely well.

I urge everyone to check out Derren Brown's and Barrie Richardson's take on the OOTW.

Derren Brown's version allows you to present it in a manner that is more direct and makes more sense since you ask the participants to deal the cards into two piles, not four.

Barrie Richardson's version in the other hand has many advantages, since you don't have to use the whole deck, which is perfect for those who feel that OOTW is too lengthy, and in Mr. Richardson's version, the participant is given complete freedom in shuffling the cards before they are dealt.