That Escalated Quickly

Garry

Excellent Trick, Excellent Video tutorial, play time is thirty minutes, this is a nice clean video production, with an Excellent teacher too, comes with a very detailed and very well explained tutorial, first explaning how to do the slip cuts, followed by the special deck set up, this is followed by the full routine, which all of the moves are repeated each step of the way.
You might have to watch the video a few times to get it down, and some practice too, but its so worth it.
This is such a great trick to learn, and such good fun to do,
A tip for a newby:
instead of trying to remeber the deck set up, write this on a blank face card, and slide it between the tuc case and the cellophane wrap.
It is also good to practice this trick trying out different decks on different surfaces, to see what works best.
A big but great routine.

Robert

Beautiful. You rarely see such clear, detailed instructions for a complex sequence of moves. This will take practice, but it's not beyond the grasp of any patient beginner. The plot is both absurd and coherently plausible, with a dazzling finish!

Jonathan

This is simply an excellent presentation by Harapan Ong.

Before you learn how to cut to specific cards, you will learn an easy to do, false, up-the-ladder cut technique that forms the basis for the presentation. The up-the-ladder cut, outside of this effect, stands out alone--it is really quite deceptive and more elegant than your standard up the ladder.

You will the learn how to utilize this move to produce an increasingly impossible number of packets with corresponding cards on top. First a single packet with an ace on top. Then two packets both with twos on top. Then 3 packets with threes and 4 packets with 4s. You then blow it out of the water by impossibly producing 10 packets with cards one through 10 of the same suit on top.

The premise of building in the false cut as the basis of this effect is genius, as the cards look more and more shuffled with every step, making each subsequent cutting sequence seem even more impossible.

Harapin Ong is an expert teacher. The teaching is just the right speed and he even gives you mnemonics to help you with the final card set up. Ong carefully teaches each component thoroughly but still maintains an excellent pace. There is even an annotated, slow motion presentation at the end to sock things in.

The presentation is whimisical and clever. Sure, it's a bit of showboating, but it's a nice bit of eye candy to perk up your audience.

The moves themselves are not difficult once the cards are set up, but it will take practice to learn the steps in order, get up to speed, and make it look as smooth and casual as Harapin Ong makes it seem.

On the downside, the moves are taught assuming a preset deck. As it involves setting up 20 cards in advance, it might be difficult to do on the fly. Not impossible in front of an audience, maybe, but not something, for most, that would be easy to do undetectibly.

Nevertheless, this effect really shines. Because it is so flashy, it would make a great opener, which would allow for the deck to be set up well in advance.

Jim

The explanations were well taught, went slow enough to be able to follow along. Going to take some practice, but I learned a few new moves along the way. It's going to be a fun trick to show at restaurants and to friends

Jim

Harapang Ong is a master of crafting beautiful routines. This is no different. Really great explanation as well. No wasted movements, the false cut taught to open this is worth the price alone. Don't get me wrong, the routine that follows is amazing, I'm just trying to highlight all that you're getting for your money here!

thivollet

Tycho

There are 3 problems (for me at least) with this trick. The first is that there are a lot of difficult sequences to remember, particularly in the final phase. The second problem is that it requires a setup, and the third problem is that both your left hand and your right hand have to be able to quickly pick up exactly 2 cards off the top of a pile. One nice aspect is that, until you have mastered the final phase, you can simply dispense with it and still have a pleasing effect. The tutorial is very clear and complete.