Murphy's has a clip of Bob performing this. It looks like a great routine for almost any venue. Does anyone have this DVD for review?

Bob's TONTE



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The classic Game of "3-Card Monte" with a new Twist!

Three cards are shown: two indifferent cards, and a court card. The spectator is asked to "find the picture card," but that's not possible, for now the performer holds three indifferent cards-the court card is found inside the magician's pocket!

The game is repeated with the four-card set. Again, the spectator is unable to find the court card. The packet now consists of four indifferent cards; the court card is again inside the magician's pocket!

The performer suggests that a five card game is too difficult, so one card is set aside. The remaining cards are mixed. The spectator is asked to locate the court card, and of course, suspects that the card put aside is the court card. In fact, that card turns out to be an indifferent card. The performer finally comments, "Perhaps Monte is not your game…" He turns the cards over to display a Royal Straight Flush in spades! "You should try Poker, instead!"

Includes the JUMBO cards, complete illustrated instructions, and DVD.

I would respectfully suggest they reshoot the demo because he exposes a g***** card with too wide of a spread at about 2:19. I wasn't looking to pick it apart but it just jumped out at me when I watched Christopher's link. Other than that the effect looks like it will appeal to many due to the visability of the jumbos. Perfect for parlor/living room type show.

I watched the routine and failed to see the "hysterical patter"...

It appears that Ton Onosaka is a legend in "music" too...

I have the small version of this and think it is a good trick but it isn't really something I use.

A great bar trick - especially when you don't want to do Stan,Kate & Edith every night. I much prefer the royal flush ending than the four queen ending (which was only available in the poker size cards). I thought the patter was pretty funny. I'm getting this just to upgrade to the flush ending.

I have this ordered and will do a review. But you can see from the Demo how good the routine is.

I'll contribute a review:
http://magic.about.com/od/reviewscards/fr/081008tonte.htm

-Wayne

Wayne, I was getting ready to do a review and yours is better than I could have done.

I MC'd an Open Mike night and performed this and it went over really well. I try to never use lines that others use on these marketed effects, but Sheet's shouting out "I cheat and I SNEAK THEM IN AND OUT AT WILL" I thought was really funny and I was right because it got such great laughs.

This is wonderful for shows, stand up/MC work, behind the bar, etc. Bob did a great job teaching it as well.

It's clean for a variety of audiences, it packs flat and plays big.

Christopher:

I agree that it's a great routine and it sounds like it's working well for you.

If I had encountered this one before "Sidewalk Shuffle," I would definitely be performing "Royal Tonte" instead. I've been performing "Sidewalk" for years and I'm too stubborn to change.

I thought that the "reverse Elmsley" was an interesting adaptation. By the way, did you know that Mr. Elmsley has four kids but he never saw his third one?

Best regards.

-Wayne

HAHAHAHAHA!! This must be the funniest magicians-only line ever!!
LOL

Cool routine.

Did anyone else notice that after adding the 2nd "10", he still only showed 4 cards? Was this a mistake, or was it supposed to fly by unnoticed?

It is mentioned in the explanation phase as "flying" by. If it doesn't it can be covered by the theme of a monte dealer getting stuff by a mark.

First, you can't show the 5th card, but he does mention that he specifically says he doesn't want the specs to "know" the order of the cards and says he doesn't make a big deal of it.

I have the four tens version in jumbo cards and prefer it to the royal flush one. I also prefer Bob's presentation of the one that I have. I am just staring to groove in on this and haven't decided which opening moves of the two routines to use. At this point it seems that the one for the royal flush version looks less hokey.

Also I perform often for younger audiences who usually know the difference between a ten and a queen. The royal flush is over some of their heads.