SYNOPSIS:
Scams & Fantasies with Cards is a collection of approximately thirty sophisticated card routines from Darwin Ortiz’s professional repertoire. The book is divided into two main sections: “Scams,” featuring gambling demonstrations and card-table effects, and “Fantasies,” containing magical plots designed to create more theatrical, impossible experiences.
The gambling section includes poker deals, false-dealing demonstrations, culling, palming, and stacked-deck work. Notable routines include Déjà Vu Poker, Shark Attack, Raw Deal, The Professional, and God of Gamblers. Effects range from producing any requested poker hand to dealing four complete bridge hands or apparently dealing winning hands after spectators shuffle the deck.
The “Fantasies” section explores Ambitious Card, Travelers, Oil and Water, Triumph, Cannibal Cards, Follow the Leader, card transpositions, pocket effects, and memorized-deck magic. Among the best-known routines are The Zen Master, Hitchcock Travelers, Darwin’s Ambitious Card, Ultimate Oil & Water, The Color of Money, Walkaround Triumph, and Appointment in Samara.
Throughout the book, Ortiz explains the psychology, presentation, construction, and audience management behind the effects rather than teaching technique in isolation. The final essay, “Showing or Hiding Skill,” considers how openly displayed technical ability affects an audience’s perception of magic.
Book Details:
Author/Creator: Darwin Ortiz
Publisher: Ortiz Publications
Publication Year: 2002
Subjects: Cards
Pages: 221
Skill Level: Advanced
Availability: Scribd
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Foreword by Roberto Giobbi (p. 1)
• Introduction (p. 7)
SCAMS
• Déjà vu Poker (p. 11)
• Combination Cull (p. 14)
• Corner Crimp
• The Brush (p. 20)
• Marlo’s Face-Up Switch
• Veeser Count
• Daryl’s “Rising Crime” Display
• Liar’s Poker (p. 26)
• Shark Attack (p. 34)
• Tabled Slip Cut
• Raw Deal (p. 44)
• The Professional (p. 48)
• Laurie Ireland Shuffle
• God of Gamblers (p. 54)
• Strip-Out Shuffle with Block Transfer
• Daryl’s Triumph Cutting Display
• Jennings Stud Bottom Deal
• No Way Out (p. 66)
• Push-In Change
• Ortiz Bottom Palm
• Pocket Money (p. 72)
• Smart Money (p. 76)
• Erdnase Top Palm
• Maximum Risk (p. 80)
• Sinister Glimpse
FANTASIES
• The Last Laugh (p. 91)
• Three-Card Catch
• Remote Control (p. 98)
• The Zen Master (p. 102)
• Hitchcock Travelers (p. 112)
• Neal Elias Multiple Shift
• Palm Change Steal
• Houghton Pocket Load
• Loewy Palm
• Marlo Pocket Transfer
• The Quick & The Dead (p. 120)
• Vernon Top Palm
• Fastest Gun Alive (p. 124)
• Daley Center Double Lift
• One-Handed Top Palm
• Cannibal Holocaust (p. 126)
• Vernon Add-On (Derek Dingle’s handling)
• James/Ellis Loading Move
• Four-As-Five Count
• Carney’s Versa Switch
• The New Back Off (p. 136)
• Ace in the Pocket (p. 144)
• Brave Add-On
• Darwin’s Ambitious Card (p. 148)
• Ortiz Shift
• Dingle’s Two-Card Pickup
• Ultimate Oil & Water (p. 158)
• Underspread Cull
• Krenzel Pressure Hideout
• Joshua Jay’s Ribbonspread Hideout
• Ultimate Fusion (p. 168)
• Pass the Garbage (p. 174)
• Slop Shuffle
• The Color of Money (p. 180)
• Hamman Count
• Walkaround Triumph (p. 190)
• Ortiz Biased Pressure Fan
• Triple Cross (p. 192)
• Beat the Devil (p. 196)
• Fred Kaps’ Hamman Count Shuffle
• The Flushtration Count
• Appointment in Samarra (p. 202)
• Zarrow Addition
ESSAY
• Showing or Hiding Skill (p. 209)
