If you enjoy Memory opener, check out Max Maven's trick on his DVD...uses a similar concept. I believe the trick is called mockingbird...

Greetings:
I have watched both of these DVD's a number of times now, and find them to be excellent, and far more value than the price charged for them. Sal has a street smart style, is very talented, and sincerely wants to teach what he does. This adds up to a great set of DVD's.
I applaud anyone who goes through this much work to teach, that comes from the love of the art. I personally like Sal and the way he teaches his effects. I had never heard of Sal before these DVD's, but I will surely keep my eye out for anything he puts out in the future.
Dollar for Dollar, and quality of material, these DVD's are hard to beat.
All the Best
Marty

I like this as well, id never heard of sal either, and thoroughly enjoy his style and technique, looking forward to anything else he may offer in the future.

Hi Krakler,
His dvd's are unbelievable! I just can't stop watching
and practicing! He just released two others..."Street Monte-Three Shell Game" and "Street Monte-Three Card Monte" Most dealers carry them.
Gerard

Penguin has the Street Monte Combo Pack - both DVDs along w/ their golden shells and a pack of bikes for $59.95.

The 4-5-6 Packet Trick was published in John Northern Hilliard's "Greater Magic" as "The Three Pile Trick" by C. W. Jones.

Is it the exact same?

FYI, Sal's DVDs are also sold by http://www.magicforless.com for nearly half the price. Even the monte ones.

I am now even more excited with his Monte DVDs. I can't wait to get them.

I just checked at
http://www.magicforless.com/magictricks/sal.htm
and it is showing the price reduced from $69.00 to $0.00!

Not bad...

Sal is great!

I've seen the first DVD of this set and his 4,5,6 trick from the second. Really enjoyable!

I tried 4,5,6 out the other night on some work mates. Worked a treat. I was a little bit dusty with some of the patter, but still come off very nice.

His ACE Cutting 1 & 2 are both really good. They take a little bit of practice (like most tricks) but are well worth it.

I also have Sal's Street Monte pack. Very enjoyable.

I want to add to the chorus here. I think Sal Piacente's DVDs are great. I like his presentation as well as his teaching---everything comes across and is explained in a crystal-clear style.

I also far prefer Rob Stiff's interactions during the explanation sections to the L&L style of the canned overly enthusiastic audience. The Lecture Notes are a great set of DVDs.

kerpa
a/k/a Mike Miller
Chicago area

This site looks realy great. Thanks!

Sal Rules. These DVDs are better than I thought. Get them. You won't be disapointed.

After viewing both DVDs I can say I'll be buying anything that Sal releases.

Great to watch, wealth of information, good teacher, and the way Sal presents the material is very entertaining, there's also a nice variety of tricks. They aren't tricks like, have the spectator pick a card etc.

I also enjoyed the one on one interaction with Rob. I hope he thinks about doing a volume 3,4,5 etc.

Can the effects be done with a borrowed deck, or does it require physically altering the cards?

Thanks,
Jake

Some setup is required, but nothing compared to the impact of the effects. The setup is very easy, even for a beginner, and he explains them very carefully.

These are 2 of my favorite DVDs.

Well I just got my set the other day. I have seen Sal work and had the opportunity to session with him. He has a lot more personality than comes out on those DVD's trust me. His stuff is really good as well.


My biggest complaint is Rob Stiff. Why oh why was he on there? He was out of place and at times acted wholly uneducated. Perhaps he was distracted, truly awe struck, or maybe Sal is just that good (I know Sal is) and if so then my apologies to Rob. I just thought his questions were inane and he seemed to not follow the routines at times. His mis-pronunciation of "gilbreath principle" as "gilbert principle" was funny but should have been edited.
Overall the DVD's are great and I have added a few things to the repertoire already.

Just want to add to the praise for these dvd sets. they are truly great. memory opener and 4,5,6 packet trick are awesome to perform for people and they really get to them. I've had some real crazy explanation on how I did the memory opener, provides for some good laughs.

Would someone please tell me briefly, what is the effect of the 4,5,6 packet trick? I am hoping that it isn't the effect he was doing in Vegas a few years ago. It is a real killer that I hope he didn't tip!!!!

The 4, 5, 6 packet trick:

spec shuffles the pack, cuts it into 4,5, or 6 (or more) packets. randomly chooses one, fans it out in front of them. thinks of a card in the pack, shuffles that pack, deals down cards and remembers the number their card fell on. reassembles all packets together, gives the deck a cut, returns it to the magician. the magician, after giving some examples of how a magician would "fish" around, draws one card out...and it is the spec's thought-of card