Convince Your Friends They Have Psychic Powers

In this week's episode of Scam School, learn how to have your friends separate an entire deck of cards by color... without looking!

Comments

[Max]

I came to your site via a link to your "Teller letter" blog post. Unfortunately, that lead me to this post. And I'm quite disappointed with what I've seen here.

Why would you so openly and willingly reveal one of the great card/mental magic plots of the last fifty years as if it means absolutely nothing for you to do so?

Unlike Penn & Teller who are quite famous (and subsequently infamous) for revealing tried and true tricks of the trade, it is clear to me that you don't love magic as they do. You are simply exploiting the artistry and innovation of those who have come before you for your own commercial gain.

Penn & Teller have revealed dozens of "secrets' over the course of their long career, but when they have done so, they have always done so to make a larger point, and have very rarely, if ever, revealed methods that weren't considered to be already widely known or easily accessible with a trip to the local library. You, on the other hand, are revealing a very famous and very convincing method of a classic card plot for what greater purpose exactly? To educate those who wish to "scam" others? And if that is your claim, then that's a pretty specious argument for you to make...at best.

I wonder how Teller might respond now knowing that you revealed this Curry effect and the faro shuffle, without rhyme or reason...and/or explanation as to why you are doing so, for the matter. Something tells me he might not be as proud to call you his bastard son any longer.

And I can't help but wonder if you can actually defend exposing this (and in such a flippant manner, no less) to your viewership (most of whom would probably never bother to pick up a magic book and learn this themselves), thereby ruining this effect for all those many performers who do this effect (or one of the many variations of it) on a daily basis (including some of the top close-up workers in the world).

[nikhil naik]

This is really neat! woah..