Based on the raves of numerous people who's opinions I respect, there is apparently a lot of great material in this book, and I would like to get it.
But after reading the effect descriptions, I have to wonder how many of these will fit my unusual performance venue:
I deal cards for a casino party company in the evenings, mostly 21. I do SHORT, UNCOMPLICATED routines or flourishes at the end of a shoe, before I shuffle. It really helps with tips. (The flourishes often get more tips than the routines..) I don't present anything as being magical, but rather as "Watch out when you go to Vegas, or this might happen to you!". I try to convey that I am on the players' side.

I can't do anything with gaffs. Mgmt would flip out, as it would ruin players' confidence that the games are run on the square, if it were discovered.
Also, though I love them, no Triumph or twisting the aces type of effects either. We use cancelled casino Bees with alternate corners cut off. You can't secretly turn these cards over, or pretend to turn them over and then not. It shows up big time when they are or aren't reversed, even from a distance. And no, I cannot use my own cards. The company wants all the cards to be uniform and look consistent, and as I often move from table to table, its just not possible.
Obviously, nothing with a pre-set stack will work . I can't even use a favorite personal version of card warp, with the obvious torn card issue.
Even pre-locating and then setting 4 aces for an ace assembly is pretty difficult without drawing a LOT of attention.
Right now its pretty much ACR, an alternate Dr daley I came up with, a quickie monte routine, a card under the napkin routine, and demo involving dealing a 2nd.
I have mostly stayed away from gambling routines, because not only are they real hard to set up from a 4 deck shoe, they sort of convey that the dealer ( me) might be cheating them. A couple of times when dealing poker, during a break in the game, I have set up and done "How To Deal Yourself a Royal Flush" under the right conditions. The reponse seemed to be more that of concern and suspicion, than the positive responses I get doing non-gambling routines at the 21 table.

I would appreciate responses from those who use effects from Dear Mr Fantasy, in regards to whether many of the effects in it will be usable in my situation.
I apologize for the length of this post.
Thanks,
MXRay

Man, you seem to have knocked the ball out of the park as far as picking out what you can not use as opposed to what is in the book. Whhat I mean is most of the stuff in the book falls into your catergory of unacceptable.

However, there is a great deal of information in this book that just should not escape they eyes and mind of any magician, no matter what the venue may be. There is definately material in this book that can be used, but even that which you can not or do not use is very valuable.

It may sound lame, but honestly I read this book almost cover to cover every month or so. It may not be ideal in your very particular situation, but it is and can be very very valuable to anyone.

I hope this helps.

The short answer is that very little in this book would fit all your above criteria.

That said, I really love this book. Bannon is a great writer about magic and there's a real thoughtfulness, maturity and wisdom to his description and presentation of these effects. If you're looking for a book that will have things you can drop into your situation, I'd say the effects here are probably a bit too drawn out and elaborate (or deal with betting themes). But I recommend it highly if you just want a great book on contemporary card work.

For a good effect under that type of category, how about "challenge card under drink".

Get them to select a card, place a drink on the table, or use someone elses drink, and tell them their card is going to appear under the drink without them seeing. Then you do it and noone see's you do it, plus its not too hard to perform.

There is also a 10 card poker deal..more to do with the choices people make rather than magic? that is very good...and would only require you to locate the ten cards from the shoe...