First time watching that, Benjamin comes across as a really likable magician and I'm pleased he won the fool us trophy but I'm surprised that the effect he performed fooled them.

Surprised also. Perhaps the card from pocket fooled them? But the rest, very surprised they were not aware of that old gimmick.

The card from sealed box in pocket fooled them. Like many YouTube commenters who claim to know how Benjamin did the trick via an extra pocket in his jacket, P&T also suspected the extra pocket.

They’re all wrong.

Benjamin teaches the routine in a Penguin Live lecture, and I believe I watched a tutorial in Genii Magazine last year or the year before.

His method is quite devious.

Not to get too far OT but I also don't believe that the fooling is the real point of the show. I think that gimmick was just to hook some network execs. Even most of the acts that aren't foolers are great. And P&T's feedback is the perfect antidote to the almost bullying criticisms on similarly formatted shows. I'm really tired of how casually cruel our society has become.


Now back to the OT... I do like a nice optical shuffle too. But if I had to pick just one it would be the one I mentioned. Luckily, I don't have to pick just one.

I like to do the GW Hunter with a crimp. This allows you to split the shuffle into two shuffles.

I also like doing a combination of Optical Shuffle with Lift Shuffle. This allows you to finish by throwing off the final packet to the front.

I really like the Side-To-Side Shuffle from Meir Yedid. It's especially useful with jumbo cards.

Richard Turner on his Beat a Cheat dvd