Price$24.95
Media TypeVideo Download
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 27, 2014
At the Table Live Lecture - Alex Pandrea 5/7/2014
Pandrea, Alex
Murphys Magic Supplies
(Based on 3 reviews)
May 7, 2014
Alex Pandrea has surged to the cutting edge of sleight of hand magic, and we're pleased to welcome him to our At the Table series. In a unique format, we'll explore the three facets of Alex's career. He began performing close-up at restaurants, where his material had to be quick, visual, and perfect for small groups. That evolved as Alex became immersed in the New York magic scene, where he expressed his sleight of hand and "move monkey" zen. Finally, Alex's venue has shifted again to more formal performance, for use in more stand-up settings. In this lecture you will be able to explore EACH of these aspects of Alex's magic, in three sections of an exciting and jam-packed 2 hour lecture.
COMMERCIAL MAGIC:
Domino Effect: Copper Silver Transpo done with sugar packets. A perfect item for magic in or around restaurants. (Performance Only)
Arson: A stunning and practical routine that combines the "Kiss" plot with "Chicago Opener." There's fire, a selected card, and lots of mystery.
Mental Magic effect: A mixture of magic and mentalism, wherein you predict a selected card AND a thought-of city.
SLEIGHTS AND CARD TRICKS:
Eliminace: A gorgeous transposition of a selected card and the Ace of Spades. Direct, surprising, and with a cool plot line.
Mystery Card: A deceptive version o the mystery card using T.O.P - a turnover pass variation which both forces a card and hides its back.
2 Card Reset: "Dr. Daley's Last Trick" remixed with Paul Harris' "Reset."
5 Sleights in 5 Minutes: Exactly as it states, Alex shares with you 5 knuckle-busting sleights that are reserved for the "Move Monkeys". This is hardcore sleight of hand magic.
BARS AND CLUBS:
Four Quarters Bill Switch: Magick Balay's bill switch taught with his permission. This is, perhaps, the greatest and fastest bill switch you will ever see, and Alex will explain it in great detail.
Card routine Finesse: This will be a discussion of some of Alex's favorite card routines to perform in loud or parlor-style venues, and how to construct routines for this area.
Ambitious Card Routine and Theory - This is a MASTERCLASS in how to construct a multi-phase routine. Alex has whittled down the routine to its bare essentials, and the results are gorgeous. More importantly, we get to see the "move" that Alex is known for - his Pass
Reviews
(Top ▲)
I was not sure what I would have walked away from this lecture with, but at the end, I found quite a few nice ideas that I can play with, as will anyone else watching this.
Alex is widely known for creating magic for the market and is especially known for designing decks of cards. He is known to many as the face/owner of The Blue Crown, which burst onto the magic scene as a card design company with the release of its flagship deck design, the Crown Deck.
Slowly but surely Alex started releasing material to the magic market, thus proving that he can not only design decks but also, perform magic. This lecture is no different and is quite the showcase of some of his abilities as a thinker and performer.
Alex teaches quite a lot of material in only two hours. There are certain things I did not particularly care for, such as the burned card effect and some of his pointers on his take of the Ambitious Card Routine. That said, what I liked and did not like personally does not matter - what YOU, dear reader, does.
There is definitely something for everyone in this lecture and it has it all from easy stuff to advanced sleights worthy of your time and practice.
By the way, if you are a fan of the Classic Pass or any other types of passes with cards, Alex spends quite a bit of time talking about and teaching a few different types of passes. You might consider this a workshop on those that he covers. The number of types of passes covered does not compare to the Richard Kaufman or Randy Wakeman videos, but what he does cover is well-taught.
This lecture was hosted by Eric Jones who was an equally excellent host. Eric was great because he himself is an excellent card technician and was able to ask all the right questions that nobody else thought of, as well as interacting with Alex and both the live audience and the streaming audience.
Very nice lecture overall with lots of great ideas and thoughts to play around with. If you know Alex and his work, you will enjoy this too. If not, this is a great introduction to Alex and his abilities!
Alex is widely known for creating magic for the market and is especially known for designing decks of cards. He is known to many as the face/owner of The Blue Crown, which burst onto the magic scene as a card design company with the release of its flagship deck design, the Crown Deck.
Slowly but surely Alex started releasing material to the magic market, thus proving that he can not only design decks but also, perform magic. This lecture is no different and is quite the showcase of some of his abilities as a thinker and performer.
Alex teaches quite a lot of material in only two hours. There are certain things I did not particularly care for, such as the burned card effect and some of his pointers on his take of the Ambitious Card Routine. That said, what I liked and did not like personally does not matter - what YOU, dear reader, does.
There is definitely something for everyone in this lecture and it has it all from easy stuff to advanced sleights worthy of your time and practice.
By the way, if you are a fan of the Classic Pass or any other types of passes with cards, Alex spends quite a bit of time talking about and teaching a few different types of passes. You might consider this a workshop on those that he covers. The number of types of passes covered does not compare to the Richard Kaufman or Randy Wakeman videos, but what he does cover is well-taught.
This lecture was hosted by Eric Jones who was an equally excellent host. Eric was great because he himself is an excellent card technician and was able to ask all the right questions that nobody else thought of, as well as interacting with Alex and both the live audience and the streaming audience.
Very nice lecture overall with lots of great ideas and thoughts to play around with. If you know Alex and his work, you will enjoy this too. If not, this is a great introduction to Alex and his abilities!
(Top ▲)
Alex Pandrea’s 2 hour “At The Table” lecture, hosted by Eric Jones, is excellent, informative, entertaining and well worth the price. Pandrea’s demonstrates his top-notch card handling skills in a mostly card focused lecture, but has some great tricks that don’t use playing cards. There are tips, tricks and suggestions for beginners to experts and the lecture expertly uses various camera angles to demonstrate various moves and sleights. Some of the questions from the audience are hard to hear due to microphone issues and low audio input, but Jones repeats every questions. During the course of the lecture, Eric Jones asks questions of his own and takes many questions from the audience and from a live-feed that he receives on his tablet.
The first trick that Pandrea demonstrates (but does not explain because of its recent release) is Domino Effect, which is a modern version of the classic copper silver transposition routine, but using multi-color sugar packets instead of coins. Pandrea starts off with a pink packet of Sweet ‘N Low and a yellow packet of Splenda. He places both packets into Jones’ hand and then removes the yellow, leaving the pink in Jones’ closed hand. With the flick of his wrist, Pandrea’s yellow packet changes into a pink Sweet ‘N Low packet. Jones opens his hand to reveal that his pink packet turned into the yellow Splenda packet. The trick is extremely visual and currently on sale for $35.
Pandrea then launches into his pyro/card trick, Arson, which he fully explains. In Arson, any card is freely selected and lost in the middle of the deck. Pandrea then takes a lighter and holds the flame under the deck, explaining that the flame will find the selected card. Then, unexpectedly, the lighter disappears, the deck is fanned and the back of only one card has a large burn mark which when revealed is the chosen card. The chosen card is then removed from the deck, face up, and the lighter seemingly drops out of the card into the spectator’s hand. The card is then turned over and the burn mark has disappeared, and as Pandrea tells Jones, the lighter that just fell out of the card removed the burn mark. This trick sells for $25, which alone justifies the cost of this lecture. It is a great trick for any close-up or table hopping situation and it is not difficult to perform.
Pandrea explains that his lecture will follow his path in magic. Because he started with restaurant gigs, he starts the lecture with close-up tricks and then moves into sleight of hand tricks, which he became interested in as a teenager. Born in Romania, he started basic magic when he was 5 and started buying books and tapes when he was 12. After moving to the United States, he “found” Tannen’s Magic Shop in New York City and started going to conventions and hanging out with the New York City sleight of hand underground crowd. He credits his friend Tony Chang with challenging him to do the “hard things” and Magick Balay with teaching him “everything that I know since I was 12” when he would go to bars and watch him perform. Pandrea is constantly joking with Jones and has his own sarcastic, dry and very funny sense of humor.
Jones prompts Pandrea to demonstrate a mentalism trick and Pandrea starts his patter with a description of four places that he gambled, indicating that he “won big” at one of the four places he mentioned and that he had one card that helped him win big. Pandrea purposely does not reveal which place he left as a big winner. Jones then picks a card from a deck and places it face down on the table, wondering if that was the winning card. An audience member then names one of the four locations where Pandrea said he gambled, guessing that is the place where he won big. He then focuses the audience's attention to a wallet that has been sitting on the table during the trick. opens it and takes out the sole content, an envelope. Amazingly, the only card in the envelope (which is Pandrea's winning card) is the same card that Jones placed face down on the table. Then, as a kicker, when the card is turned over, the city name that the audience member picked is printed on the back of a tourist/souvenir type of card. The explanation is clear and the trick is simple to perform. Pandrea indicated that he has never revealed that trick before and does not even have a name for it. Jones named it the Mentalism Card Trick.
In discussion, Pandrea gives some idea about how to use the Classic Force, how to hold and angle the deck and discusses using a pinky break vs a step.
Pandrea then demonstrates one of Jones’ favorite card tricks, Elimin-Ace. In a word, this trick is fantastic. Pandrea tells Jones to name any card, except the ever popular Ace of Spades, which is thrown face down on the table. Jones then freely names a card. Pandrea does a riffle shuffle, Jones picks a card, and it is placed face-down on the table. Then the card that was the Ace of Spades (the first card that was placed face down on the table) is turned over and revealed to be the freely named card. And the second card, that was selected by the riffle shuffle, is turned over and is revealed to be the Ace of Spades. It is a great card transposition that requires some easy card handling skills, which is clearly taught and demonstrated several times with the under and over the table camera angles. Jones calls it “a great piece of magic.”
Pandrea then, for a few moments, discusses how he develops and tries out new material.
Pandrea demonstrates the Mystery Card trick in which one yellow backed card, among a red backed deck is removed from the deck and placed in Pandrea’s back pocket. Then, a red backed card is signed on its face and lost in the deck. The yellow backed mystery card is retrieved from Pandrea’s back pocket and lost in the deck. And, as it turns out, the one yellow backed card is turned over and it is amazingly the signed card, that was previously a red backed card. The explanation of this visual trick, including Pandrea’s T.O.P. (version of a turn-over pass) is instructive and very useful for this and other tricks.
Pandrea goes on to discuss his days a restaurant worker and his thoughts on how he picks his tricks for the audience, and how that has changed over the years. Pandrea teaches and reviews several other tricks, including a 2 card reset transposition effect. He launches into “5 sleights in 5 minutes” in which Pandrea demonstrates more difficult and impressive sleights, including a palm to palm transfer of a card while he removes his finger ring. Pandrea goes on to teach a trick with a second card deal and gives tips for the two card push off.
Switching away from cards, for just a moment, Pandrea does a mismade dollar bill switch and explains in detail how to fold, unfold and switch the bill, which he credits to Magick Balay. Among the other routines that Pandrea reviews, he demonstrates and explains his own very impressive version of the Ambitious Card Routine, which is quick and to the point, as opposed to many very long versions of the same trick. Pandrea describes why he does not like to start any card trick with a downward facing fanned deck and the words “pick a card.” In the remainder of the lecture, Pandrea demonstrates, with great skill, the turnover pass. As a final comment, Pandrea explains why magic bestows “power” upon a performer.
This lecture is crammed with tricks, routines, sleights and advice from a world class pro. If you are a fan of card magic or great magicians, you should not wait another moment before downloading this episode of Murphy’s Magic's At the Table.
The first trick that Pandrea demonstrates (but does not explain because of its recent release) is Domino Effect, which is a modern version of the classic copper silver transposition routine, but using multi-color sugar packets instead of coins. Pandrea starts off with a pink packet of Sweet ‘N Low and a yellow packet of Splenda. He places both packets into Jones’ hand and then removes the yellow, leaving the pink in Jones’ closed hand. With the flick of his wrist, Pandrea’s yellow packet changes into a pink Sweet ‘N Low packet. Jones opens his hand to reveal that his pink packet turned into the yellow Splenda packet. The trick is extremely visual and currently on sale for $35.
Pandrea then launches into his pyro/card trick, Arson, which he fully explains. In Arson, any card is freely selected and lost in the middle of the deck. Pandrea then takes a lighter and holds the flame under the deck, explaining that the flame will find the selected card. Then, unexpectedly, the lighter disappears, the deck is fanned and the back of only one card has a large burn mark which when revealed is the chosen card. The chosen card is then removed from the deck, face up, and the lighter seemingly drops out of the card into the spectator’s hand. The card is then turned over and the burn mark has disappeared, and as Pandrea tells Jones, the lighter that just fell out of the card removed the burn mark. This trick sells for $25, which alone justifies the cost of this lecture. It is a great trick for any close-up or table hopping situation and it is not difficult to perform.
Pandrea explains that his lecture will follow his path in magic. Because he started with restaurant gigs, he starts the lecture with close-up tricks and then moves into sleight of hand tricks, which he became interested in as a teenager. Born in Romania, he started basic magic when he was 5 and started buying books and tapes when he was 12. After moving to the United States, he “found” Tannen’s Magic Shop in New York City and started going to conventions and hanging out with the New York City sleight of hand underground crowd. He credits his friend Tony Chang with challenging him to do the “hard things” and Magick Balay with teaching him “everything that I know since I was 12” when he would go to bars and watch him perform. Pandrea is constantly joking with Jones and has his own sarcastic, dry and very funny sense of humor.
Jones prompts Pandrea to demonstrate a mentalism trick and Pandrea starts his patter with a description of four places that he gambled, indicating that he “won big” at one of the four places he mentioned and that he had one card that helped him win big. Pandrea purposely does not reveal which place he left as a big winner. Jones then picks a card from a deck and places it face down on the table, wondering if that was the winning card. An audience member then names one of the four locations where Pandrea said he gambled, guessing that is the place where he won big. He then focuses the audience's attention to a wallet that has been sitting on the table during the trick. opens it and takes out the sole content, an envelope. Amazingly, the only card in the envelope (which is Pandrea's winning card) is the same card that Jones placed face down on the table. Then, as a kicker, when the card is turned over, the city name that the audience member picked is printed on the back of a tourist/souvenir type of card. The explanation is clear and the trick is simple to perform. Pandrea indicated that he has never revealed that trick before and does not even have a name for it. Jones named it the Mentalism Card Trick.
In discussion, Pandrea gives some idea about how to use the Classic Force, how to hold and angle the deck and discusses using a pinky break vs a step.
Pandrea then demonstrates one of Jones’ favorite card tricks, Elimin-Ace. In a word, this trick is fantastic. Pandrea tells Jones to name any card, except the ever popular Ace of Spades, which is thrown face down on the table. Jones then freely names a card. Pandrea does a riffle shuffle, Jones picks a card, and it is placed face-down on the table. Then the card that was the Ace of Spades (the first card that was placed face down on the table) is turned over and revealed to be the freely named card. And the second card, that was selected by the riffle shuffle, is turned over and is revealed to be the Ace of Spades. It is a great card transposition that requires some easy card handling skills, which is clearly taught and demonstrated several times with the under and over the table camera angles. Jones calls it “a great piece of magic.”
Pandrea then, for a few moments, discusses how he develops and tries out new material.
Pandrea demonstrates the Mystery Card trick in which one yellow backed card, among a red backed deck is removed from the deck and placed in Pandrea’s back pocket. Then, a red backed card is signed on its face and lost in the deck. The yellow backed mystery card is retrieved from Pandrea’s back pocket and lost in the deck. And, as it turns out, the one yellow backed card is turned over and it is amazingly the signed card, that was previously a red backed card. The explanation of this visual trick, including Pandrea’s T.O.P. (version of a turn-over pass) is instructive and very useful for this and other tricks.
Pandrea goes on to discuss his days a restaurant worker and his thoughts on how he picks his tricks for the audience, and how that has changed over the years. Pandrea teaches and reviews several other tricks, including a 2 card reset transposition effect. He launches into “5 sleights in 5 minutes” in which Pandrea demonstrates more difficult and impressive sleights, including a palm to palm transfer of a card while he removes his finger ring. Pandrea goes on to teach a trick with a second card deal and gives tips for the two card push off.
Switching away from cards, for just a moment, Pandrea does a mismade dollar bill switch and explains in detail how to fold, unfold and switch the bill, which he credits to Magick Balay. Among the other routines that Pandrea reviews, he demonstrates and explains his own very impressive version of the Ambitious Card Routine, which is quick and to the point, as opposed to many very long versions of the same trick. Pandrea describes why he does not like to start any card trick with a downward facing fanned deck and the words “pick a card.” In the remainder of the lecture, Pandrea demonstrates, with great skill, the turnover pass. As a final comment, Pandrea explains why magic bestows “power” upon a performer.
This lecture is crammed with tricks, routines, sleights and advice from a world class pro. If you are a fan of card magic or great magicians, you should not wait another moment before downloading this episode of Murphy’s Magic's At the Table.
(Top ▲)
Alex Pandrea is world renowned for being one of the best sleight of hand magicians in the world. He can do things with cards that nobody else on earth can do. I thought that I was going to watch this and walk away with nothing but an entertaining 2 hours but instead I walked away with tons of great magic suitable for almost all skill levels. If you are just starting out there is stuff for you, and if you like flourishy move monkey material then there is stuff for you too. I’ll walk through the tricks, just keep in mind that there are tons of thoughts and stories shared inbetween.
Domino Effect (Performance Only): This is a teaser for a new effect that Alex recently put out. This is like a copper silver transpo performed with sugar packets. One is held by the spectator and the other by the magician. With a wave they visually change places. No explanation is provided for this effect.
Arson: This is a worker and so much magic happens in so little time. Basically a card is selected and found with the help of a lighter. In detail a card is selected, a lighter vanishes, they go through the deck and the selection now has a burn mark on it, with a pop the lighter falls out of the playing card leaving the card completely un burnt. You can then reveal another selection on the warning label of the lighter. This is such a great routine, so much magic happens in just a silly pick a card trick and it is very easy to do. He combines some classic Jay Sankey, Kostya Kimlat and Daniel Garcia ideas to accomplish a complete routine. There are some aspects of this that aren’t original but all together it is very complete. The reset is almost instant and for anyone who is moderately good with cards you’ll probably be able to reset in front of an audience. This is also available on DVD for $25.00, it is almost worth the price of the whole lecture.
Gambling Problem: This is a fun piece of mental magic where a card is selected and a location is named you then open up your wallet and show that you have a card from the named location inside, your prediction matches perfectly. This is a slick piece of magic using a himber wallet and a couple other gaffs. It could definitely be a worker as it is basically all contained in the wallet, it’s not too difficult, it tells a nice story and it resets immediately.
As part of this trick he teaches some tips on the classic force. I’ve heard a lot of tips on the classic force but Alex shared a couple things I have never heard before and definitely help me. Of course you don’t need to use the classic force in the trick above.
Elimin-ace: An ace is put aside at the beginning and a card is named the ace then turns into their card. This is not incredibly difficult to do, you will need a table but you learn a super cool switch that allows the trick to work. The way that Alex performs this is very entertaining and with any luck you will be able to translate that to your own performance. This is not self working but it is not a difficult routine to do.
Mystery Card: A card is shown to have a different back then the rest of the deck, another card is selected and signed with a little bit of magic that mystery card becomes the selected signed card. This is very similar in effect to Daniel Garcia’s effect William Tell. It is completely different in method though.
This all relies on a move caller T.O.P. which is an ingenious force and top control. The applications for this type of move are endless. This was originally sold as an $8 download and you get it here in the lecture.
2 Card Reset: This is a tough flourishy mix between Reset and Dr. Daley’s last trick. This was one of my least favorite routines in the lecture. It is definitely for the hardcore card guys. It looks great in Alex’s hands but I can’t see myself doing this.
5 Moves in 5 Minutes
If you are not aware Alex Pandrea is one of the most talented card guys in the world. This section concentrates on 5 Advanced card moves and ideas.
Spring Control: In the process of springing the cards a selection is controlled to the top of the deck. This looks very nice, it is very simple method wise but not easy to do. It has similar angle consideration to a side steal, of course this is completely performed in the hands..
DPS: This is a quick flourishy cut that in-jogs a card in one fluid motion. This is a flourish so it won't be for everyone but it is a funky way to in-jog a card. No real angle problems here that you wouldn’t get from your basic in-jog, also you don’t need a table.
Palm to Palm Transfer: This is a nice idea that provides motivation for a hand washing technique that takes a card from full palm to a cop position. You need to wear a ring in this.
Second Deal Control: This is a great way to structure an “out of the hands” control. It looks like everything happens on the table. He covers the second deal here and teaches it just fine. This trick fooled Eric Jones in rehearsal.
2 Card Transpo: This is a “cute” (as Alex calls it) 2 card transpo without any dupes or set up. This is not quite strong enough to perform alone but it is a good trick to do after a couple other transpo effects.
4 Quarter Bill Switch: This is Magick Balay’s bill switch which Alex uses as an icebreaker. His tips on using this as an opener are great, and the bill switch itself is outstanding. If you already use the hundred dollar bill switch then this is probably not for you, personally I have had problems learning the classic switch and found this to be much easier. This can also be performed very quickly, it is so fast that they repeatedly say that you can perform this surrounded. I wouldn’t suggest you try that, at least not with my thumb tip. It is very good though and is available separately on DVD for $25.
The last section covers Alex’s version of the ambitious card. His version has 3 phases and is almost completely performed in the spectator’s hands. His philosophy is definitely different to most magicians in this effect and his approach is very powerful. He goes over the Brick Pass and the turnover pass. briefly and explains where he thinks they work best. He sells a DVD teaching this for $18 on the Blue Crown and you get it along with this excellent lecture.
Besides the effects you get a ton of Alex’s ideas, personal stories and approaches to magic. He was really fun to watch and very talented. There is something here for just about any close up magician and if you went out and purchased all of the DVD’s that it would take to learn this material you would have to spend at least 3 times as much as this lecture.
Domino Effect (Performance Only): This is a teaser for a new effect that Alex recently put out. This is like a copper silver transpo performed with sugar packets. One is held by the spectator and the other by the magician. With a wave they visually change places. No explanation is provided for this effect.
Arson: This is a worker and so much magic happens in so little time. Basically a card is selected and found with the help of a lighter. In detail a card is selected, a lighter vanishes, they go through the deck and the selection now has a burn mark on it, with a pop the lighter falls out of the playing card leaving the card completely un burnt. You can then reveal another selection on the warning label of the lighter. This is such a great routine, so much magic happens in just a silly pick a card trick and it is very easy to do. He combines some classic Jay Sankey, Kostya Kimlat and Daniel Garcia ideas to accomplish a complete routine. There are some aspects of this that aren’t original but all together it is very complete. The reset is almost instant and for anyone who is moderately good with cards you’ll probably be able to reset in front of an audience. This is also available on DVD for $25.00, it is almost worth the price of the whole lecture.
Gambling Problem: This is a fun piece of mental magic where a card is selected and a location is named you then open up your wallet and show that you have a card from the named location inside, your prediction matches perfectly. This is a slick piece of magic using a himber wallet and a couple other gaffs. It could definitely be a worker as it is basically all contained in the wallet, it’s not too difficult, it tells a nice story and it resets immediately.
As part of this trick he teaches some tips on the classic force. I’ve heard a lot of tips on the classic force but Alex shared a couple things I have never heard before and definitely help me. Of course you don’t need to use the classic force in the trick above.
Elimin-ace: An ace is put aside at the beginning and a card is named the ace then turns into their card. This is not incredibly difficult to do, you will need a table but you learn a super cool switch that allows the trick to work. The way that Alex performs this is very entertaining and with any luck you will be able to translate that to your own performance. This is not self working but it is not a difficult routine to do.
Mystery Card: A card is shown to have a different back then the rest of the deck, another card is selected and signed with a little bit of magic that mystery card becomes the selected signed card. This is very similar in effect to Daniel Garcia’s effect William Tell. It is completely different in method though.
This all relies on a move caller T.O.P. which is an ingenious force and top control. The applications for this type of move are endless. This was originally sold as an $8 download and you get it here in the lecture.
2 Card Reset: This is a tough flourishy mix between Reset and Dr. Daley’s last trick. This was one of my least favorite routines in the lecture. It is definitely for the hardcore card guys. It looks great in Alex’s hands but I can’t see myself doing this.
5 Moves in 5 Minutes
If you are not aware Alex Pandrea is one of the most talented card guys in the world. This section concentrates on 5 Advanced card moves and ideas.
Spring Control: In the process of springing the cards a selection is controlled to the top of the deck. This looks very nice, it is very simple method wise but not easy to do. It has similar angle consideration to a side steal, of course this is completely performed in the hands..
DPS: This is a quick flourishy cut that in-jogs a card in one fluid motion. This is a flourish so it won't be for everyone but it is a funky way to in-jog a card. No real angle problems here that you wouldn’t get from your basic in-jog, also you don’t need a table.
Palm to Palm Transfer: This is a nice idea that provides motivation for a hand washing technique that takes a card from full palm to a cop position. You need to wear a ring in this.
Second Deal Control: This is a great way to structure an “out of the hands” control. It looks like everything happens on the table. He covers the second deal here and teaches it just fine. This trick fooled Eric Jones in rehearsal.
2 Card Transpo: This is a “cute” (as Alex calls it) 2 card transpo without any dupes or set up. This is not quite strong enough to perform alone but it is a good trick to do after a couple other transpo effects.
4 Quarter Bill Switch: This is Magick Balay’s bill switch which Alex uses as an icebreaker. His tips on using this as an opener are great, and the bill switch itself is outstanding. If you already use the hundred dollar bill switch then this is probably not for you, personally I have had problems learning the classic switch and found this to be much easier. This can also be performed very quickly, it is so fast that they repeatedly say that you can perform this surrounded. I wouldn’t suggest you try that, at least not with my thumb tip. It is very good though and is available separately on DVD for $25.
The last section covers Alex’s version of the ambitious card. His version has 3 phases and is almost completely performed in the spectator’s hands. His philosophy is definitely different to most magicians in this effect and his approach is very powerful. He goes over the Brick Pass and the turnover pass. briefly and explains where he thinks they work best. He sells a DVD teaching this for $18 on the Blue Crown and you get it along with this excellent lecture.
Besides the effects you get a ton of Alex’s ideas, personal stories and approaches to magic. He was really fun to watch and very talented. There is something here for just about any close up magician and if you went out and purchased all of the DVD’s that it would take to learn this material you would have to spend at least 3 times as much as this lecture.