As someone that is new to magic, I'm trying to resist the urge to buy too many gimmicks before learning the basics...

This video was recommended to me by Scott Hollingsworth from Houston...

I've already learned a TON from the tape.. Seeing the basics in "action" is much easier to learn that reading a book and trying to figure out illustrations.

This video contains:
Obtain and Hold Breaks
Double Undercut
Double Lifts
False Cuts
Forces
various shuffles and much more!

I would highly recommend this tape to anyone that is new to card magic and wants a solid foundation!

See Ya,
Gambit242

This is a good, but not perfect, video. Richard Kaufman's efforts to be entertaining (?) (the sunglasses, the attitude, etc.) can be annoying, though that is a minor part of the tape.

His section on the faro was not at all helpful to me, but that is an advanced technique that beginners need not worry about, and some have praised it. So again, a minor quibble.

He teaches the D'Amico Multiple Shift, which Giobbi in Card College lambastes in Card College (the shift, not Kaufman), rightly so IMO. Kaufman offers it as an alternative to Vernon's Multiple Shift without comment.

All that said, I think the Kaufman video is highly worthwhile for the card magic newbie (and not so newbie). The camera work on the sleights themselves was excellent. It left nothing to be desired.

I learned from it even after being into card magic for several years (and will continue to learn from it). Now that DVD is out, that's the only way to go IMO.

Here is a table of contents that I compiled for my own use. The numbers at the beginning of each line are the times (on my VCR) that the item starts on the tape. DVD owners need not worry about finding items on a tape, of course, but the table of contents should be helpful for those considering a purchase.

7:35 Double lift
8:05 Vernon light lift
10:05 Daley hit lift
12:00 False cuts intro
12:05 Paul Rosini false cut
13:05 Tabled false cut
14:00 Hindu shuffle
14:45 Hindu shuffle force
15:35 Cross cut force
16:20 Balducci's cut deeper force
17:30 Riffle force
19:45 Overhand shuffle
19:55 Injog shuffle
22:40 Outjog shuffle
24:50 Faro shuffle
28:00 In faro (top card becomes 2d)
28:30 Out faro (top card stays on top)
29:00 Zarrow shuffle
31:00 Peeling cards
31:25 Elmsley count
33:45 Jordan count
34:50 Hammon count
37:55 Biddle move
39:30 Braue addition
41:05 Hartman's secret subtraction
43:00 The turnaround glimpse
44:30 Spread glimpse
45:20 Dai Vernon's multiple shift
47:45 D'Amico's multiple shift
49:10 Top palm
50:10 Cliff Green's bottom palm
51:25 Spectator peek
52:30 Side steal
55:00 Old style top change
57:05 Robert-Houdin's top change
57:55 Paul Le Paul style top change
58:45 Le Temps multiple top change

--Rick

Ricky,
Thanks for the TOC!! Very handy.. I'm suprised that they didn't include one.. ;->

I watched the video once, then restarted going sleight by sleight... I'm not moving forward until I feel comfortable with a sleight....

What is your opinion of this learning method? As I mentioned, I'm new to magic and still trying to get a good foundation.

Later,
Gambit242

Just to clarify for anyone else reading this thread who does not have the video, there are no tricks at all--just sleights.

Like you, I first watched the video straight through. Then I gave it a rest and came back to it later. I then watched it straight through again but this time made notes on what sleights I wanted to learn. The sleights I wanted to learn were the ones I had a use for.

For example, I wanted to learn Vernon's multiple shift because it allowed me to "lose" 4 Aces in a deck and then go to a spectator-cuts-to-4-Aces routine. I had the routine already, but if the spectator suspects prearrangement of the Aces, no magic there. So the multiple shift works perfectly when I already have 4 Aces out and want to lose them in the deck. BTW losing the 4 Aces in the deck once you have them out only makes sense in certain cases. After all, why lose them only so you can find them? In this case, I lose them so the spectator can find them (with a little magic from me, of course).

My belief is that there are certain fundamental sleights you need to know, mostly those in the beginning of the video. Then you should learn sleights as you need them.

Some of the fundamental sleights would be false cuts, a jog shuffle, a double lift, some forces, and an Elmsley count. That's a pretty good set of fundamentals.

You may notice I did not recommend learning a palm. A palm is indeed a fundamental sleight, but I don't think that Kaufman's video is best for that. I bought Michael Close's video on palming, and I can recommed that highly as a way to learn several palms.

The rest of the time should be spent looking for effects that suit you and learning them. As you encounter effects that stretch your abilities by requiring new sleights, learn the new sleights.

My approach, as you can see, is not to learn sleights for the sake of learning sleights.

A good approach is to study Royal Road to Card Magic. With the Kaufman tape as a complement to that book, you will pick up most of the sleights you need, and you will have some great effects to use them in. And the book is cheap, having been reprinted by Dover and now selling for $10 or so.

--Rick

Thanks for the advice!! There is a trick I'm interested in "Twisted Sisters" that uses the elmsley count.. (I didn't know what it was) Little did I realize that the count I was interested in learning was already on the video I own.. ;->



Gambit242

hi gambit242, twisted sisters can be done without the elsmley count.... and there was some debate whether the elsmley was necessary in the trick itself...

i personally prefer to do twisted sisters with the elmsley count...do a search and you should find this topic discussed, not too long ago...

and get twisted sisters... its one of the all time great tricks...at least for me...

eric