Refreshing memory

I decided to spend a week or so repeating some of the moves I have learned by now.

The quickest to forget were the easiest moves, probably because i did not practice them much. This is what I found worth re-doing after a month or so:

• little finger break section from chapter 1 (one handed break under one card, and break under multiple cards while doing a spread)
• some of the false cuts
• whoops control
• couple of finer points with post-peek controls
• more practice with riffle shuffle stock controls (particularly the left-hand starting cuts)

Chapter 9 – The Double Lift pt.1

Woohoo, the New Year is here. I do hope to finish at least 2 of Giobbi’s books by the end of 2010.

The double lift seems to be an extensive topic, and this chapter is just the first part of the description. The method in this chapter depends as much on techique as on presentation and attention management.

A reasonable video that covers part of Giobbi’s instructions – here

Tricks – I do like the simpleness of the second trick in this chapter – A Card in Hand.

Chapter 8 – The Glide

The last easy chapter before more complex stuff is about the glide move. It covers only one simple move where spectators attention management is very important – it is all in where you look when.

Both tricks are quite nice even when you know how they are done. These are probably the first tricks in the book I really enjoyed.

A decent glide video here

Chapter 7 – Riffle Shuffle

This one is moderately difficult, mainly because the previous chapter was so easy. Other than the obvious advice to pay close attention to all finger positions, I can recommend a couple of videos:

Waterfall shuffle and

A reasonably close approximation of closed riffle shuffle (but finger positions are slightly sloppier than what Giobbi describes)

Check out the Royal Flush Finale trick for several nice production moves.

Chapter 6 Transfer cuts

Well, this one is one of the easiest… I could not even find any decent videos for illustration. All one needs to learn here (from technical perspective) is the Double Cut, the other two moves are variations.

There is really nothing to comment on  for this chapter.

Chapter 5 Forcing techniques part 1

Another technically easy chapter with a lot of important psychological advice. Criss-cross force, Balducci force, Goldin force, 10-20 force all look primitive when you know the secret, or know where to look. Seeing them performed without having a hint is really impressive.

Videos:
Criss-cross force
Balducci
10-20 force

Tricks – in my opinion there is a ton of more impressive tricks with force than the one in this chapter, Giobbi must be saving them for later

Chapter 4 Card Controls

Most of the items here a quite simple, this is all about audience attention management rather than hand technique. “Check points” in this chapter provide all the important details about that.

Diagonal insertion requires a bit of practice – with a mirror… I noticed I was showing the front of the deck.

All peeks are simple.

One card middle pass is a monster to learn… I skipped it – I still practice it but did not want to stop progressing. Many internet posts say that this control is rarely used and the original Ken Krenzel’s one is easier.Of course Theory11 is not the final authority in any way, but just a sample of opinions… We’ll see if I learn it or not. I am starting to get a feeling Giobbi prefers Bee style of cards, for some reason.

The Shamus card trick is not too interesting (well I just dont like any math-related tricks, probably because I’m a mathematician by education, hehe). The other trick – question – is nice and allows you to apply any control you want.
No videos today, this chapter is quite self explanatory (as all others are, though)

Chapter 3 False Cuts

The whole chapter is very easy technically, and it seems this subject has more to do with how to make the spectator forget the exact cut sequence by distracting him at a certain point.
One sleight that is more difficult than the others is the slip cut, where one needs to pay attention to the precise position of the left thumb.

Both tricks at the end of the chapter are quite enjoyable, although the second one is slightly contrived from my point of view as a spectator

More videos from my favorite presenter on eHow (no I have no idea who he is and I am not promoting his stuff, he just happens to be following some of the initial Giobbi’s material better than others)

Basic false cuts

triple cut and some other variations

Chapter 2 Overhand shuffle techniques p.1

Notes:

Overhand shuffle is an important instrument. It looks like the Americans do not like it – even lay people use some sort of riffle shuffle – but Europe and Australia are pretty much still in the overhand land. It is important while learning this shuffle to re-learn finger positions, because you probably learned them wrong, especially left index and middle finger.

A video from my favourite eHow presenter. There are many other overhand shuffle videos on eHow, but this guy’s technique corresponds to the book most, in my opinion.

Chapter 1 Fundamental Techniques

Exactly that – various basic grips and moves, no sleights really.

All-round Square up took a few seconds so figure out the deck’s trajectory – it is turned 180 degrees and at the same time it is tilted 90 degrees sideways and then back into horizontal position.

Some videos that seem to follow the techniques:

Dealing position, overhand grip, spreading
Dribbling cards
Swing cut
Breaks – little finger and thumb
Ribbon spread