Among Darwin Ortiz' many fans, the only question is which of his card books is the best: Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table, Cardshark (both out of print), or Scams & Fantasies with Cards. Now there is a new candidate: the aptly-named Lessons in Card Mastery.
This time the accent is on uncanny displays of card control (30 tricks in total). You'll display physical control by cutting to a selected card with just one finger, trapping two selections in a shuffled deck, displaying mastery at Texas hold'em, instantaneously producing an entire suit, making the deck sort itself into reds and blacks, and causing all fifty-two cards to rearrange into perfect suit and number sequence. You'll display mental control by dividing cards under impossible conditions and memorizing a deck in a matter of seconds.
A highlight for many people will be Darwin's work on the multiple selection, where a spectator shuffles the selections into the deck! And his "Positively Fifth Sense" is a Hold 'Em routine that had everyone fooled when he performed it in the lobby at The Session 2011.
Again and again the cards obey your will like soldiers following the marching orders. These are effects that will convince any audience that you can do anything with a deck of cards.
As with Darwin's other books, Lessons in Card Mastery offers a wide range of formal card magic. Seven effects in the book use a memorized stack, all of which can be performed with any memorized stack. And for the first time, Darwin's "Best of the Best" routine will be explained; an item that has received praise from some of the best card magicians in the world.
Lessons in Card Mastery is set to be yet another Darwin Ortiz classic. We suggest you reserve yours before, like his other books, it goes out of print and becomes extremely difficult to get hold of.
Contents of Lessons in Card Mastery
- Hole-Card Play
- Positively Fifth Street
- Positively Fifth Street Redux
- Grifter's Game
- Best of the Best
- Best of the Best 2
- The Spectator's False Shuffle
- Passing Through
- Hard Target
- Sudden Impact
- Inner-End Crimp
- Supercharged Nine-Card Location
- One Shot, One Kill
- Twelve the Hard Way
- 52 Pick-up
- Fast Company
- Fast and Furious
- Bulletproof
- Rouge et Noir
- Limitless
- Calculated Risk
- Billion Dollar Brain
- Doppelganger
- Sweating Bullets
- The Uninvited Guest
- Fast and Loose
- Card Sense
- Double Tap
- Case Card
- Test Your Luck
- New Darwin's Wild Card
- Sorcerer's Apprentice
"It occurred to me that this new book could well be Darwin's finest to date. It represent a quantum leap in quality, creativity, intellectual analysis and sheer value for money. It is no secret that I am big fan of Darwin's books and have been long before I became one of his students. I make no apology for my enthusiasm for his latest contribution to the subject of card magic. I feel the title of this book lives up to claim, 'Lessons in Card Mastery' is your opportunity to take your studies to a post graduate level.
Michael Vincent
Hardback, 281 pages oversized pages with 280 illustrations by Tony Dunn