Nash Reloaded

Nash Reloaded – a Tribute –

by Michael J. H. Sorensen

Copy edit by Jason England & others Cover by Amanda Sorensen Hand Photos by Davied Sorensen Chaucer’s Dog Press ©2005

Other Martin A. Nash products are available at www.thecharmingcheat.com including: Nash Reloaded DVD set – Vol. 1-4 Martin A. Nash Live 2004, Lecture DVD Four Class Acts, Lecture Notes ...and much more! Coming soon from Chaucer’s Dog Press: More Than Sleeving – The Magic of Rocco Rocco Live 2006, Lecture DVD www.chaucersdogpress.com To contact Amanda Sorensen for illustration/design projects email her at [email protected]

E-Book First Edition 2005 © 2005 Chaucer’s Dog Press. All rights reserved. Reproduction is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be reproduced for storage in a retrieval system or trasmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information, email [email protected]. All material is copyrighted by their respective owners.

"This book is dedicated to Harry Lorayne and Johnny and Pam Thompson, for if it were not for people like you, people like me could never exist." Martin A. Nash

"For my beautiful wife, who always gave love and support, even through endless card tricks. For my adorable children, who show me that there is still magic in the world. For my family, who taught me who I am and who I can be. For my wife's family and their constant support. For my friends Michael and Bob and my brother Davied who never let me give up. For Dee… I'm sorry" Michael J. H. Sorensen

Nash Reloaded

Table Of Contents Message From Martin A. Nash . . . . . . . .iv

One Step Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Foreward by The Great Tomsoni . . . . . . .v

The Fan Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Introduction by Harry Lorayne . . . . . . .viii

Out of this … Oh, Who Cares! . . . . . . .55

Author’s Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x

The Mechanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

From Dai Vernon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiv

Four and a Little More . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

The Effects

Deck Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

The Universal Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Essays

The One-Handed Ace Cut . . . . . . . . . . . .4

How to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Pinochle Pinnacle II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Building Your Character . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Omni-Twist – Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Managing Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Fake Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Putting Together Your Act . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Caught? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Gambling Demonstrations vs. Card Tricks . .87

Super Ace Speller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Stories From Friends

C.O.T.M. – Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Bodine Balasco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Paul Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

The Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Stephen Minch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Trapped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Bill Malone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

The Invisible Palm – Revisited . . . . . . .35

Jeff Hobson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Blindfolded Ace Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Mark Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Title Bout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Rocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Any Ace Called For – Revisited . . . . . . 45

Jon Racherbaumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

The New Mental Topper . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Christina LaVaughn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

Ambitious Omni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Jamy Ian Swiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

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Nash Reloaded Robert Lamoreaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Nash Poetry

Davied Sorensen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

An Ode To A Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Danny Archer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

Driving School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Daryl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Life's Four Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Mark Haslam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165

E. J. Thacker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

The Magician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Carol Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Sleights

Lee Freed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

The Second Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Jason England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

The Center Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Monte Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

The Bottom Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Paul Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

The Nash Multiple Shift . . . . . . . . . . . .176

Jeff McBride and Gaeton Bloom . . . . .129

The Faro Shuffle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

Tony Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130

Infinity and Reverse Infinity . . . . . . . .180

Rick Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

The Side Steal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Dustin Stinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Gambler’s Cop with a Fan Cover . . . . .186

Tom Mullica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

The Second Deal Force . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Simon Lovell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

The Tabled Faro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Stories

The Zero Zarrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

The Book Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

In Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

From LVMI – 2003 to The Magic Castle . .142 M.A.N. and The Charming Cheat . . . .148 The Murray-Hyde Case . . . . . . . . . . . .151 The Ed Balducci Years . . . . . . . . . . . . .153 Memories of The Professor . . . . . . . . .155 The Plastic Eye Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 The Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

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From the M.A.N. This book is made up of variations of my material that I have published over the years. Card magic can only advance when others put their ideas and "twists" on older material. Mike has compiled many of his own variations as well as others to create new methods as well as ideas to my material. The ideas on presentation etc. are of course mime, but the "card changes" per se are done with my approval. Sincerely, Martin A. Nash

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Nash Reloaded

FOREWARD I first met Martin Nash in Chicago at Magic Inc. in 1969 in the company of Jay Marshall and Jon Racherbaumer. Martin looked every bit the part of a professional card cheat, complete with sallow complexion, slicked-backed hair, pencil-thin mustache and the prerequisite diamond pinky ring. I had seen his gambling lecture the night before and was particularly interested in his uncanny ability to read "juice," a rather sophisticated card marking technique that is, under optimum conditions, most difficult to see. I asked Martin about this and he graciously gave us an incredible demonstration of his ability that ended up with Jon and I standing outside Jay's shop while Martin remained inside, some twenty feet away, reading the juiced cards we held up through the store's front window. Needless to say we were extremely impressed! My next encounter with Martin occurred in Las Vegas, some six years later. Martin had changed. His complexion was vibrant and his slicked-back hair replaced by a more contemporary hairstyle. His nails were expertly manicured and his dress and demeanor quite theatrical. He had, over the years, transformed himself from his earlier grifter's image into that of the suave gambling demonstrating entertainer we now know as, Martin Nash, "The Charming Cheat." Martin's ability to amaze and entertain audiences with a gambling-themed act is truly remarkable. Both John Scarne and Frank Garcia made their reputations as gambling experts, but Martin, in my opinion, was the first to actually develop a highly commercial close-up act based entirely on gambling related material. He has a natural talent for taking magic effects and turning them into interesting gambling-themed routines. A perfect example is his dice stacking routine, a magic effect that I couldn't possibly imagine being altered in any way to fit a gambling-theme. Marty's routine begins with a short discussion concerning various dice games and their rules, eventually leading into a discussion concerning a rather unusual game played in bars in and around British Columbia, Canada. He explains that the game is played with four dice and a dice cup. The

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Nash Reloaded object of the game being to roll the dice, tally up the numbers contained on each die’s upper surface, and the player with the lowest total wins. Martin demonstrates by tossing the dice into the cup, shaking it, and rolling the dice to show a random total. After a few throws he relates a tale of his playing this game, head to head, with a high stakes player. In the tale the player rolls the dice for a combined total of seven. Martin sets the scene by lining up the four dice in a row, turning and adjusting the dice until their combined top surfaces total seven. Martin relates how he, acting somewhat naive and unfamiliar with the rules, quizzed the player, saying, "Let me see if I understand this correctly. In order for me to win I have to roll a number lower than seven and that number's determined by what's on top of my dice. Is that correct?" The player nods in agreement and Martin, using the inverted dice cup, starts into the routine by picking off the individual cubes in the prescribed manner for stacking. He shakes the cup, slides it across his working surface and raising it, reveals the dice, stacked one on top of the other with a six showing on top of the uppermost die. Martin, pointing to the six, says, "Six! I believe I win." This surprise scam-like payoff always creates a sure-fire audience reaction. Marty follows with some dice stacking demonstrations that lead into his predicting what number will appear on the uppermost die and concludes with the production of an oversized die from beneath the inverted cup a la Dai Vernon. Martin developed his Infinity Principle during a stay at my home in Southern California. Marty's work on this crimping technique is excellent. The crimp cannot be seen from any angle, it can be put in instantly under close scrutiny and it will hold for about ten to fifteen minutes. Of course you can always extend that time frame by reapplying the work at any time. It's the perfect crimp for table work and I can vouch for it cause it's the one that I use. Marty has developed some interesting moves for table work. Outstanding is his tabled multiple shift which is capable of bringing the shifted cards to either the top or the bottom of the deck. He's also one of the few magicians that I have known who is capable of executing a perfect Tabled Faro Shuffle. I've seen several magicians butt shuffle the cards on a table, but in Martin's hands his faro has the look of a Tabled Riffle-Shuffle.

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Nash Reloaded Martin's greatest asset is, without a doubt, his ability to routine material. Ovation is a prime example; a gambling-themed routine that is act-like in structure and builds to a very powerful finish. A finish, I might add, that always afforded Martin a standing ovation whenever he performed it at The Magic Castle. There is much to be learned from his routines, especially with an eye towards structure. I've known Martin for over thirty-five years and have had the pleasure of witnessing a great many of his performances first hand and I can personally attest to the impact and commercial value of the material contained in this book. You, the reader, are in for a treat as you peruse a lifetime of performance material, gambling moves, magical anecdotes and musings that are, part and parcel, The M. A. N., Martin A. Nash. And the tricks aren't bad either! Johnny Thompson p.k.a. The Great Tomsoni

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INTRODUCTION The very first issue of Apocalypse saw the light of day over a quarter of a century ago, in January of 1978. On page 12 of that first issue is a box at the upper right in which I wrote the following: "Martin Nash did some card stuff for me when we had a 'to 4 a.m.' session in Vancouver, Canada. I knew Martin many years ago. As a matter of fact, he told me that it was because of me that he made cards his career. (I think he was thanking me! I'm kidding – he was.) Well, I gotta' tell you that he fooled me with his seconds, middles, fifths, riffle shuffles, etc. That's right, I said FIFTHS. He places the four aces on top, then asks how many cards he should deal. I said 'four.' He dealt four cards from the top. The aces were still on top! I don't remember seeing a better Second Deal. He had to do it face up to make me (really) believe that he was doing seconds. He told me (that) he'd put three thousand hours into learning (perfecting) it." That's what I wrote back in 1978. I have to go back even another decade and a half in order to explain what and how I had anything to do with Martin making card magic his career. It was 1963. My first book on card magic had appeared on the scene in October of 1962. Because of that book (Close-Up Card Magic) I started to do quite a few lectures for magicians. I couldn't accept all the offers because I was very busy doing appearances for the "public" with my memory work. Anyway, here's the story Martin told me, and has been telling others all through the years. It seems that he and his wife were at a magic convention, a friend said to Martin: "Have you seen this guy, Harry Lorayne, lecture on cards?" Martin: “No; all these card lectures are a bore.” Friend: “Listen, take my word for it – go in and watch this guy.” Martin: “Oh, okay.” *** Now, as Martin tells it: "I watched the lecture. Then, ran to my wife, and said, 'I just saw that it is possible – you can ENTERTAIN with a deck of cards!!'" And a career began. Skip a few years. Now, I'm at a magic convention and Martin is lecturing. He and I are having a drink at the bar. He says, "You're not going to attend my lecture are you, Harry?" "Well, of course I am. Why?" "Oh, this will be very embarrassing." He says. “You're going to see your tricks, and you're going to hear your patter – word for word." "That's okay, Martin, as long as you do it all right, I don't mind; I'll be pleased." He certainly did it all right. He blew me away doing my own stuff and speaking my own words.

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Nash Reloaded But, fast forward back to 1978 – the sleepless night in Vancouver. (I was on a book promotion tour and had an appearance on a drive-time radio show at 8 a.m. that morning.) I kicked Martin out of my hotel room at 4 a.m.! He was simply intriguing and fascinating and fooling me with his card work – which was no longer my stuff. Sure, Martin does some of my things to this day, and that's fine with me. But his stuff – Wow! Listen, it's gratifying that through the years, since 1962, I've heard, been told, that a) I've started certain concepts in card magic; b) that I've started so many people in magic, and c) that I've changed lives. Well, sure, it is gratifying. But I have to tell you that my usual reply to either a, b or c is, "I really don't know whether I want to take the credit or the blame!" Well, in this case, when it comes to Martin Nash, I'll more than gladly accept the credit. Talk about "gratifying.” How gratifying it is for me to have had anything at all to do with pushing Martin Nash into a card-work career, in being instrumental in having the magic world see and read him, and learn from him. I'm so proud of Martin and of his work. Read on – you will be, too. HARRY LORAYNE

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Nash Reloaded

From The Author… Just Imagine… Friday Night. You're driving down the road with a smile on your face. You've just collected your paycheck from work, and you’re feeling lucky. Charlie, from the office, dropped word to you that every Friday night, some of the guys from around town get together for a game of poker. As you pull up to the club, the sense of excitement mounts as you think, "This is going to be the night I take them for everything they've got.” You know cards well, and are no slouch when it comes to handling a table of suckers. As you walk into the back room, the thick fog of smoke filling the air overwhelms you. You look around, and notice Charlie. Sitting next to him is Frank, an old acquaintance of his. There are a couple of guys that you used to see down at the pool hall, and a beautiful blonde in a sleek black dress. You sit down next to Charlie when the door opens again. A stranger with dark glasses and a moustache walks in, sits down at the table, lays down some scratch and asks for a stack. You notice a rather impressive three-dollar coin in a ring on his right ring finger and a 2½ carat diamond ring on his left! On his wrist sits a handsome bracelet displaying the four suits, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. This guy means business. You begin to get a knot in the pit of your stomach, yet you smile to yourself with a pleasant satisfaction that your stack of chips is larger than his. Polite nods are exchanged around the table and the game begins. After several hands of five card draw, you realize that the leader of the pack so far has been the stranger. Over the next couple of hours, the game switches to Stud, seven card, and even a couple of rounds of Texas Hold'em. You look down at your dwindling stack and wonder to yourself where lady luck is. You look across the table and see her sitting on top of the stranger's now impressive pile of chips. You wish he'd take off those dark glasses so you could get a better look at him. The evening comes to a close, and you are in financial agony. You have a whole two bucks left, barely enough to buy a cup of coffee. You look down at the two whites in front of you and wonder how you got to this point. The stranger stands as he nods to the PB for some help with his chips, and with a smile reminiscent of the cheshier cat's grin, he says "Thank you" and begins to walk out. You stand with all of the dignity you can muster and look at him, "What's your name?" He finally looks over the edge of his glasses at you, and after a pause says, "Martin.” The evening feels almost anti-climactic. You sit down and wonder how your going to tell this to your loved one, and you wonder whether or not you'll even have a couch to sleep on for the next month. Congratulations, you've just been taken by Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat!

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Nash Reloaded

The preceding is a fiction; Martin cheats honestly, whatever that means. "Welcome to the show ladies and gentlemen…." Martin A. Nash is said to be one of the best. It is said that his mastery of cards that has spanned over half a century is unparalleled by any in the profession. These statements are not brags or exaggerations. They happen to be absolutely true. He has won a plethora of awards including The Magic Castle's close-up magician of the year twice, the Performing Fellowship Award, and the LVMI Lifetime Achievement Award. Those of you familiar with his work know that he has an uncanny rapport with a deck of cards. He has developed the ability to manipulate the cards purely by feel. Even if you are not familiar with the man, I promise you that if you are at least a moderate card worker, you have come in contact with his technique. Items such at the Nash Multiple Shift and The Tabled Faro are some of the gems that he helped pioneer. He and his magic are truly one of a kind. I began my study of Martin's work over ten years ago. I was privileged enough to work for a time at the local magic shop, where the old boss let me watch a tape of "The Charming Cheat.” Immediately, I became hooked. His methods of routining and presentation were unlike anything I had seen before. At the time, I had become a victim of the classic "Video Magician" syndrome. I was watching tapes and then going out and performing the same stuff verbatim without ever really learning a lot of the more important aspects of card work like how to routine, how to invent, how to build your own work. Now, here was a guy who not only did great effects, but he taught technique. He taught audience interaction. He taught the things that a studying magician really needs. My magic immediately began to change. Over the next few years, I began to study Martin's work. His gambling technique immediately began to get results for me. I would use his techniques and ideas to fashion sets that had a unique impact. Audiences began to very much enjoy the routines. I found that people seemed to react well to gambling work. A few years ago, I had decided to do a show that heavily involved Martin and his work, so I began a long and winding road of trying to contact him. I tried several different magic organizations. No luck. I tried to find him on the Internet, but I found little to nothing that talked about him except to sell his products. This did me no good as I already had everything that they were peddling. My frustration began to mount. I posted messages on every Internet message board that I could find, and checked them daily. Nothing. I began to feel that I was fighting a losing battle. Then, one day, I was checking on all of the message posts that I had sent out, and my heart began to race. There it was, a reply. Not just any reply though, it was from Martin, and he had given me his email address! I was, at this point, still skeptical. After all, this could be a hoax. It had happened to me once before. So, I emailed him. Within about six minutes, I heard the familiar chime on my computer that tells me I

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Nash Reloaded have mail. For a brief moment, I felt like I was going to be sick! I opened the email and to my hearts delight, it was from him. "Mike, this is Martin. I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Email me. Friend, Martin" I didn't sleep at all that night. Over the next few weeks, Martin and I struck up a friendship. He gave me the opportunity to interview him over the phone. I was initially expecting a quick fifteen minute interview, but he generously gave me over two hours. He shared stories and memories with me that I was greatly honored to hear. It is my honor to present to you some of those stories along with many others. After this book project began, Martin suggested that I contact a few of his friends. I was open to that, and I asked him who he had in mind. "Do you have a pen and paper ready?" He then began to rattle off the names and contact information of people whom I had admired since I was a wee rabbit puller. Just imagine for a moment that you're a painter, and you get a call from Leonardo Da Vinci. He then proceeds to tell you to call Michelangelo, Monet, Picasso, and others. Now you have a brief inkling of how I felt during this conversation. The one whom I was the most nervous to just call right out of the blue was Harry Lorayne. Not only is he one of the greatest entertainers/teachers/writers in the business, but every single person in card magic knows his name and speaks it with a kind of reverence. As I dialed his number, my hands were shaking. Then I hear, "This is Harry Lorayne…" and I'm expecting some silly message about the beep. I mean, famous people don't actually answer the phone, do they? Then there was a pause. I was wondering if his machine had suddenly broken. Then it hit me, it wasn't his machine. So there I sit like an idiot and finally my slush brain told me that I was able to speak. "Hi Mister Lorayne. This is Mike Sorensen from Salt Lake. I'm a friend of Martin Nash…" and it went on from there. It was a similar sensation when I spoke to Johnny Thompson, and some of the other names that grace these pages. I hope that you get as much from these pages as I am in writing them. Many of the effects are my own creations based on Martin's work. Others are the product of some of the best new minds in the business. Some are unfinished Nash symphonies that have now been concluded, while others are Nash originals that have been all but lost for decades. I have included a section on sleights that I feel are necessary for not only Martin's work, but for anyone studying crooked gambling in general. I have tried to be as precise as possible with their workings. If you have versions of these sleights that you are more comfortable with or that fit your style and ability better, by all means, feel free to use them. I just wanted this book to be as complete as possible. Have you ever been working on something out of a book or tape and the infuriating words came up, "There is a lot of material out there about this so I'm not going to cover it here…" It drives me mad when I run into that. What if you don't know the sleight, or you don't have even a sliver of the "volumes" in existence? What then? I don't want you to have to go through that, so I've tried to make it as complete as possible. There are a few things that i’m going to assume that you know, but I’ve tried to include all of the tough stuff.

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Nash Reloaded

Martin's techniques are some of the finest ever in the field of gambling and card work. His tapes and books take a place of honor in my own library next to Erdnase, Buckley and Vernon. Some of these effects are simple, and some of them are very challenging. I personally feel that an effect that is challenging is an effect that is worth it. Dai Vernon used to say that if he saw a trick that said it could be done in two minutes by anyone with no sleight of hand, he wouldn't even bother with it. I will tell you now, if you don't like to practice, put this book away and get some flashy video with big metallic letters and lots of stars on it. For that matter, if you don't like to practice, get out of this business. Go skateboard, or sit in front of a video game for hours on end. Go collect stamps. This work takes work. If you think it's too hard, then welcome to the real world of card magic. The hard is what makes it worth it. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Nash's work is above all, satisfying. Sitting down and doing some of these routines in front of an audience, and doing them well will convince you that it was worth it. I hope also that you will take away from this book, not only effects, but some of the underlying principles in card and gambling magic that Martin is so well known for, but above all, I hope you have fun. I sure have. So, what are you waiting for? Go get a deck of blue-backed Bicycles, a big close-up mat, some munchies, a seriously big beverage, and let's get to work.

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The Effects

Nash Reloaded

They call 'em fingers, but I've never seen 'em fing!" ~Otto, The Simpsons~

The Universal Deal

This effect has an interesting story behind it. I have always loved Martin's effect entitled “As You Like It” which is a center dealing routine where you do in fact deal right out of the center. As you will notice, there is a revisited version of that effect later in the book. After playing with it for some time now, I have come up with a radical new turn in the mechanics. I have two fairly weak points in card work, my bottoms, and my centers. They would fly straight past the uninitiated layman, but to the trained eye, the tells are painfully obvious. When I execute a center or a bottom, I will, at times, flash by dropping my middle finger just a bit. This is known as a “flash,” or a "float," I decided that this tell was detrimental to the center dealing effect. Now, I have never given up practicing the sleight to smooth it out, but I did find a way to accomplish the same effect without the use of a center. I employ what I feel to be one of my stronger bullets in the card sharp gun, The Second Deal. EFFECT: The performer loses the aces into the deck and hands it out for shuffling. After it is taken back, he immediately asks any spectator to name any ace. He then asks for a number of hands to be called out. After this is done, without the aid of kicks or breaks, the performer cleanly and openly deals that number of cards to the table, and turns the next card over to show the requested ace. The pack is picked up, shuffled, and the same thing is repeated until all four aces have been fairly and openly found. SLEIGHTS: The Second Deal, The Nash Multiple Shift, The Top Palm, The Overhand Shuffle, The Riffle-Shuffle Packet Transfer. METHOD: The explanation for this one isn't going to be overly long. Once the sleights are understood, the effect is fairly straightforward. The aces are taken out and placed in any memorable order. I often use the ever-popular CHSD order. These cards are placed face down into different parts of the deck in preparation for the Nash multiple shift. Once the shift is completed, the aces will be on

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Nash Reloaded top in CHSD from the top down (fig.1). After a quick Up-The-Ladder Cut, you palm off the top four cards and hand the deck out for a shuffle. Take the deck back, adding the aces on top, and set the deck in front of you. It will be clearly visible to the spectators at this point that there are no breaks, kicks, or crimps. Ask a spectator to name any of the four aces. For example, let's say they choose spades. If you remember, the fig. 1 spade is the third from the top. Now you ask them to name a number of hands. You need them to say a number greater than three. You'll see why in a minute. The best way to do this is through simple psychological subterfuge. You can say something like, "What number do you want to see it at? Four, five, six, you name it." They will almost always say somewhere between five and ten. If they say less than three, just say, "Give me a more challenging number, something a little higher." Once they give you a number, you're set, but you have a little thinking to do. Let's say they said seven. You know that the spade is in the third position. You now must do a combination of Top Deals and Second Deals to get to it. In the example, you would deal a top, top, second, second, second, second, and on seven, take the top and turn it over to show the spade. Set it off to the side and place the remainder of the pack onto the dealt cards. You now have an interesting position that you need to deal with. Because of the dealing, your remaining aces are now reversed on the bottom of the deck. You have a couple of ways out of this. METHOD 1: you can simply do an overhand shuffle, which will bring the cards back to the top and put them back in order. METHOD 2: You can do a Packet Transfer Riffle-Shuffle which is explained elsewhere in the book. This will also bring the cards back to the top, but you'll have to remember that the cards will now be in reversed order from what they were. After either of the above shuffles, you'll now be back in position to do the same thing over again. The process is simply repeated for the remaining three aces. (fig.2)

fig. 2

NOTES: This effect has some pros and cons compared to the original. A major con is that you can't do the effect face up. That would expose the method. A double major pro is that it doesn't use the same kick out as the other which is good for those of us with "floating fingers.”

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I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson~

The One-Handed Ace Cut

This is one of my favorite quickie routines. It's not hard, yet it delivers great impact. The effect is based on Dai Vernon's old one-handed ace cut routine, but this one has been rearranged. The aces are all lost in the deck at the start rather than one at a time. EFFECT: The performer loses the aces into the deck and then proceeds to cut to them with one hand both face up and face down. SLEIGHTS: Pull-Through False Shuffle, Up-The-Ladder Cut, Faro Shuffle, One-Handed Slip Cut (explained in the effect) METHOD: This effect requires a setup, but it's simple and you do it in front of your audience as you perform the effect. Start by pulling out the four aces from the deck. Place them in "Bridge" or alphabetical order. Meaning, from the face, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Place them on the table. You now use any method you so wish to bring any high even numbered spot card to the top of the deck, either a six, an eight, or a ten. The method isn't important, just do it. I simply run through the deck and cut one to the top. If you do it in the sense of "fiddling" with the deck, the audience doesn't care. Now you need to thumb count and get a pinky break below a number of cards equal to half the value of the even card you have on top. So if it's a ten, you get a break below five. If it's a six, you get a break below three, and so on. Let's say, for example, that it's an eight on top. You get a pinky break below four. You now pick up the aces and place them face up on top of the deck, but use your thumb to hold a break between them and the cards you are holding a break below. Pick up at the lower break. Use your left thumb to slide off the ace of spades and use the packet to lever it face down onto the deck.(fig.1) As fig. 1 you do this, drop the cards below the thumb break onto the

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Nash Reloaded ace. You now lever the other three aces one at a time face down onto the deck. Give the deck a PullThrough False Shuffle, and an Up-The-Ladder Cut. You must now give the deck one perfect In-Faro. Ask a spectator to look carefully at it to make sure that it is indeed a fair and honest shuffle. Once that is done, simply run two cards from the top to the bottom of the deck reversing their order in the process. Your set-up should now be this. On the face, there should be an indifferent card followed by the ace of clubs. From the top it should be; an indifferent card, the ace of diamonds, an indifferent card, the ace of hearts, an indifferent card, the even numbered spot card you put on the top in the beginning, and that number down should be the ace of spades.(fig.2) Now comes the fun part. Tell the audience that you are going to cut to the aces, but you have to do it one-handed. Show the top card of the deck so they see it's not an ace. Flash the bottom card, no ace. Hold the deck in a right-handed Biddle Grip. With your right index finger, kick cut the top half of the pack to the left about an inch. Now place your index finger onto the top card and give the deck a tossing motion to the left. The entire top half of the pack will fly into your left hand except for the fig. 2 top card, which was held in place by your finger. (fig.3) Your right hand places its packet off to the right, squaring it as you set it down. The left hand squares the packet it's holding. Take off the top card of this packet and show the ace of diamonds. Toss it forward and put the packet you're holding on top of the packet to the right. You now repeat the process to show the ace of hearts. Now turn the deck face up. State that people sometimes make you cut to the card face up. Get a break below the top two cards. Now use your right fingers to hold them as one as you fan over several cards to show no ace fig. 3 on the bottom. The ace of clubs is the second card down. Square the packet and use the left fingers to fan over a few cards from the bottom to show no ace there. You now do the cut from the face and the ace of clubs will immediately come into view. (fig.4) Toss it off and place the left packet back onto the right.

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Nash Reloaded You now turn the deck back over and state that you'll not cut to the last ace, but instead, you'll cut to the only card in the deck that will indicate the location of the last ace. Do a quick Up-The-Ladder Cut to confuse and solidify the issue. Now, do the cut maneuver and place the right hand packet away. Turn over the top card in the left hand to show your even numbered card. (fig.5) Thumb toss it down onto the fig. 4 table, and begin to toss off that number of cards. On the last card, toss it onto your right hand face down and say, "Would you care to make a small wager?" Pause for a moment and snap over the card to show the ace of spades. (fig.6)

fig. 5

NOTES: This one is fast and furious. I tend to use it as an opener. It's a good show of skill that will keep the audience on its toes. Have fun with it, but let it maintain the feeling of who is boss. Often, I'll open by losing the aces into the deck, multiple shifting them to the top, palming them off, letting the audience shuffle, and then adding them back as I do the final setup. It blows their minds! fig. 6

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Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing from something. ~Wilson Mizner~

Pinochle Pinnacle II

This is a great accomplishment by my brother Davied. I must state here how proud I am of him for not only his great work in the field of cards, but also for his persistence and ability to pull this one out of his …. astounding mind. Several years ago, I introduced him to the parent of this effect called Pinochle Pinnacle. He was instantly addicted. Now my brother is one of those people who is not content with just doing an effect "as-is.” Like many of us, he must change and improve. The original effect called for an in-the-hands Mexican Turnover. Dave found the move to be not to his liking, and thus changed it to a bottom deal from a Biddle Grip. Interesting, but still a difficult move to execute smoothly. I'll never forget the night that the both of us were on a conference call to Martin from a hotel room in downtown Salt Lake. Dave explained the whole thing to Martin along with the new move. I watched as Dave got a look on his face as if they had just canceled Fat Tuesday. It turns out that Martin used to use that same move several decades ago, but abandoned it in favor of the Mexican Turnover due to the sleight’s relative choppiness. Dave was pissed. Fast forward to now. Several weeks ago, I was discussing with Dave the possibility of revisiting the effect for the purposes of this book. Of course, the old one that he did wasn't going to work, so I put forward a challenge to him. "I want you to redesign the effect from the ground up so that it is relatively the same, but I want the effect to end clean. I want the cards to be examinable at the end." Dave threatened me with severe bodily harm if I gave him a hint as to how to do it. In the original effect, four cards were shown as the concept of a Pinochle deck was explained. The cards were then shown to be two Jack of Spades, and two Queen of hearts. They were then shown to infact be four jacks! They were then shown to instead be four queens! Now after showing two jacks, two queens, four jacks and four queens, they transformed into four aces! The effect was wonderful in that only four cards were used. This created the con of the cards not being clean at the end. You in fact had one queen, one jack, and two different aces. The other

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Nash Reloaded problem was that at the end of the effect, the two aces were shown twice and passed off as four different aces. Martin, along with many other card men, was able to do the effect flawlessly and very deceptively, yet Dave and I still felt there was something lacking. Two weeks after I presented the "end clean" challenge to Dave, I got a frantic phone call. "I did it!" I rushed over to his apartment and found that he had indeed managed to revamp the effect to meet the challenge. The con is that it uses two extra cards, but the pros are that it eliminates all the cons from the original effect. I hope that you enjoy performing it, or if you feel that it doesn't meet your needs, that it may at least spark an inventive streak so that you can fashion it to be your own. EFFECT: The performer takes out a packet of four cards and explains the strange properties of a Pinochle deck, and how it has the nine through ace of each suit repeated twice. He explains that because of this oddity that it would not be unusual to find two Jack of Clubs, or two Queen of Hearts in a deck. He then shows two of the cards to be Jacks and the other two to be queens. He then explains that where the weirdness starts is when you find four Jack of clubs. He then shows the four cards have all become the Jack of Clubs. He then shows a further strangeness in that the four cards have all become the Queen of Hearts. "Now, I've shown you two jacks, two queens, four jacks and four queens. So, explain this!" he then shows that the four cards have become the four aces! SLEIGHTS: You will need to master double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple lifts from both the top and bottom of the pack. You will also need to do a move that we will call the "Biddle Bottom.” Let's go over the Biddle Bottom in order to make the methods explanation easier. I will cover two variations that I have found suitable. Choose whichever is more comfortable for you. For practice sake, use two cards that are held in left-hand dealing position. METHOD 1: Your starting position should be thus, the cards are in left hand dealing position. (fig.1) The right middle finger is on the upper right corner of the cards while the right thumb is on the lower right corner. You get hold of the top card and turn it over by sliding it to the right and levering it over. (fig.2) You now repeat the move to turn it back over, but as your right fingers come toward the left to drop the card, the right thumb and pinky contact the lower left and upper right corners of the lower card respectively. (fig.3) The left thumb rests across the back fig. 1

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Nash Reloaded of the upper card as the right hand strips away the lower card. This action must be done smoothly for it to be deceptive. The misdirection of patter will also help to cover it. METHOD 2: This method is almost identical except for the end. When you turn the card (or cards) back over, let it drop and release the right hand’s grip for a split second. The left pinky then kicks out the bottom card fig. 2 as in a bottom deal. The right hand immediately reinstates its grip on the bottom card and strips it out. Both of these methods should be made to look as if you're simply sliding off the top card.

fig. 3

METHOD: The packet is six cards thick so use proper misdirection in performance and watch your angles. The packet should be set up thus, from top to face, QH, JC, and the four aces in any order. Show four cards by holding the packet in the right hand. The middle finger is on the top right and the thumb at the bottom right (Biddle Grip).Use the left thumb to strip off the top card into the left hand. Then the next one slightly jogged to the right. The next one the same, and then rest the final three cards as one on top of the fan. (fig.4) Close it up and take it into left hand dealing position. Using the turnover method described above, turn over the top five cards as one showing a jack. Turn the five back over and deal off the top card. You now do a four card turn over from the bottom by transferring the packet back to right hand Biddle Grip, use the left thumb to strip off the top card, and now the bottom four can be levered face up to the top with the right hand. This will now show a queen. As you turn the packet of four back over, you now do the Biddle Bottom as described above. That card is placed on fig. 4 top of the other tabled card but jogged slightly to the left. You now do a triple lift to show a jack. Turn it back over and deal off the top card onto the others in the same jogged fashion. You now grasp the remaining packet in the right hands with the thumb at the lower left corner and the ring finger at the upper right. Rotate the packet in your fingers as if they

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Nash Reloaded were one. The audience will believe that this is a second queen. Use this packet to scoop up the tabled cards. You have supposedly just shown the audience a Jack of Clubs, followed by a Queen of Hearts, then another Jack of clubs, and another Queen of Hearts. Position Check: from the face, you should have QH, JC, and the four aces. (fig.5) You are now going to show four JC's. Holding the packet face down in dealing position, turn over five cards as one to show a jack. Turn the quintuple back over and deal the top card down to the table. Do a four-card turnover to show the jack. Turn the quadruple back over and deal the top card onto the other. Do a triple to show a third jack. Turn it back fig. 5 over and Biddle Bottom the bottom card on to the others. You now rotate the remaining packet to show a forth jack. Place the packet face down onto the other cards. Position Check: from the face, you should have ace, ace, QH, JC, ace and ace. (fig.6) You will now show the cards to be four queens. Hold the packet face down in left hand dealing position and get a break below the bottom two cards. You now do a quadruple lift to show a queen. Turn it back over and do a Biddle Bottom of the bottom two cards that you have a break above. These are taken as one and set on the table. Hold them corner to corner and bow them slightly. Use the nail of your index finger to push the double against the table as you let go of the fig. 6 corners. If you lift the nail straight off the double, they won't split. You now do a triple from the bottom to show another queen. Turn it back over and deal the top card onto the tabled double. Do a Double Lift to show another queen. Turn it back over and Biddle Bottom the bottom card onto the table with the others. You now rotate the remaining double to show a queen. Use it to scoop up the tabled cards. Position Check: from the face, you should have QH, JC, and the four aces.(fig.7)

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Nash Reloaded Now, for the finale. Hold the packet face down in the left hand. "I've shown you two jacks, two queens, four jacks, and four queens all with just these four cards." As you're saying this, get a break below the bottom two cards and Gambler’s Cop them out. Fan the remaining four cards with the faces towards yourself. (fig.8) If, at this point, you see a face card staring at you, you might want to excuse yourself for a bathroom break and fix the situation before proceeding. You now proudly state, "Explain this!" Now toss the four aces out onto the table for everyone to examine.

fig. 8

fig. 7

NOTES: Neither Dave nor I claim this to be a superior version to the original. It's just a new way of doing it. I include it here with all due respect to Martin and any other people that have been involved with the history of the effect.

Quick note on this one, the addition of two extra cards makes some of the multiple turnovers seem daunting, but just keep the packet tilted towards the audience. Keep things smooth, and all of the work will come together nicely.

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Nash Reloaded

In a bet there is a fool and a thief. ~Proverb~

Omni-Twist Revisited

Including the Davied Enhancement Principle

This is a great effect! If emotion could be seen in regular text form, you'd know of the excitement and volume I attach to that phrase. The first time I actually saw Martin perform live was at the 2003 LVMI in Las Vegas. Omni-Twist was the effect that I witnessed. I hadn't seen it before, but I was immediately intrigued. It’s based on “Twisting the Aces” by Dai Vernon. I had been performing that effect for several years, but when I saw Omni-Twist, I had to have it. I spoke to Martin about it several times, but the instructions were too complex to convey over the phone. After a long hard search, I was finally able to track it down. It started out back in one of Martin's old sets of lecture notes. Jon Racherbaumer then got a hold of it and modernized it. It appeared in his book Pet Secrets. It is that version which Martin now performs. It is also on his video The Charming Cheat Vol.5 from A-1 Multimedia. If you can track it down, get it. It's a real pleasure to watch Martin perform it. This is a prime example of his signature "Charm" that has made him a legend. The version you read here is my new handling. I have streamlined the basics while removing some moves that were superfluous. I don't claim to have improved it, just streamlined it a bit. At the end of this explanation, I have added an idea of my brother, Daived's that takes this effect into sheer impossibility. Some of you may do it, or you may just stick with this version. The method is by no means easy, but I will make the instructions as concise as possible so that you may get a firm grasp of the handling. I will confirm card position as often as necessary so you can check yourself. With some work, I'm convinced that this will become a permanent part of your set. The sleights aren't difficult, it's just the order that can be tough to remember. Stick with me on this one. It will be worth your time.

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Nash Reloaded EFFECT: The performer takes out the ace, two, three and four of any suit the spectator wishes. A spectator now peeks a card from anywhere in the deck. Now, in classic "twisting the aces" style, the ace through four magically turn face up one at a time. They then begin to go face up and down very visually. As a finale, the spectator chooses which of the four they want to see flip which it does several times, only to change into the spectators original selection!" SLEIGHTS: The Riffle Peek, The Side Steal, The Elmsley Count METHOD: This effect is best done with Bicycles due to the story around it. It does not, however, work with a casino deck. You need a deck that has white borders and isn't chopped at the corners. As I always say, go for Bikes. Begin by having a spectator select any of the four suits. Go through and openly take out the ace, two, three and four of that suit. Put them in the order of four, three, ace and two from the face. Now place them face up on the bottom of the face down deck. You don't need to be secretive about this, you can even spread and show them on the bottom. Now do a Riffle Peek selection with a spectator. This is great place to use the "say stop" gag. Hold a break where they say stop. You are now going to kill two birds with one stone. As the effect progresses, you want to draw the spectator's mind away from that selection. You don't want to have them forget it, but you don't want them to dwell on it. A good way to do this is with this line; "That has absolutely nothing to do with the effect. I just like to have people feel like they're involved." This also gives you ample opportunity to side steal their card to the bottom with out them noticing.You now drop at the natural break above the face-down four and put the rest of the pack away. You now have five cards in your hands. The four, three, ace, and two face up, and the selection face down. The audience believes that there are only four cards. Hold the fig. 1 cards in the Biddle Style Grip. This is the type of Biddle Grip you will use from here on out: use the left thumb to strip off the cards, one on top of another, so you'll now be showing from the face, the two, ace, three and four. The two is a double. Close the packet up, turn it face down, and do an Elmsley Count to show the cards face down. You'll now have the four, the two, the three, and the ace face down, followed by the face up selection. Take the four off the top and show it to the audience. Explain that in order for this effect to work, the four needs to be on the bottom. As you say this, simply turn your left hand face down. Because of the reversed card on the

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Nash Reloaded bottom, this will go unnoticed. Slowly and openly put the four face down on the bottom of the packet, and then adjust your grip on the packet so it's now in dealer's grip. Point out the circles on the back of the cards to your audience and give them the following patter. "Have you ever sat up late at night, lights down low, and stared at a pack of playing cards, wondering why they put those circles on the back? I have, and I know why. Do you believe in reincarnation?" This is one of my favorite gag lines. If they say no, answer "That's what you said last time." If they say yes, answer "Welcome back." Then explain, "In my previous life, I wrote to the U.S. Playing Card Company and asked them to place those circles there so that in my next life, I'd know where to place my fingers so that I can twist the cards." Place your thumbs on the circles (fig.2) and "twist" the cards. "Then this can happen…" Do an Elmsley Count to show the ace has turned face up. This is a good time to stare at your spectator for a moment and let the moment sink in. You'll occasionally get a little chuckle, and a little banter may happen. You now "twist" the cards again and do another Elmsley Count, placing the last card to the bottom, to show the ace has turned down fig. 2 and the two has turned up. Take the two off the top and snap it to show it's normal. "People often ask me what happened to the ace. I say 'Who cares? It turned face down.'" Place the two face down on the top. "Next is the three." Don't "twist,” just do an Elmsley Count. The cards will all appear face down. Look at your cards in frustration and then suddenly say, "Oh, I forgot." Now do the "twist" followed by an Elmsley to show the face-up three. Again, the last card goes on the bottom. Get a break above the bottom card and turn all of the cards above it over as one (fig.3) as you say, "You'll notice that the cards are turning over one at a time. You'll also notice that the two is on the bottom." Turn the whole packet over and then down again. "I told you that the four needed to be on the bottom? Two is half of four, so we're halfway there. Your packet should now be in the following order from the top down; face-down ace, face-up four, face-up selection, face-down three, and face-down two. Now explain, "The four is a little different. You don't twist it, you have to rock it." You now "twist" the packet back and forth fig. 3 four times as you count to four. You then do an Elmsley to

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Nash Reloaded show the four has turned face up. You order should now be: face down ace, face down two, face up four, face up selection, face down three. "Let's try something different." Hold the packet in dealer's grip. With your right index finger, slide the top card towards yourself about an inch. With your middle finger, slide the next card towards yourself exposing the four. Now use your middle finger to slide the four forward about an inch, and then square up the rest of the cards. (fig.4) Take out the four and hold it in your right hand in a Biddle Grip. Thumb off the next card and place it underneath the four jogged to the left a bit so that you now have a two-card fan. fig. 4 Add the three cards as one to the left of the fan and then use your left fingers to strip out the bottom card (the three), turn it face up and place it back on the bottom of the fan. You should now be showing four cards. (fig.5) The second face down card should be a double. Ask the spectator which way the ace and two are facing. They will say face down. Now square the packet and very cleanly turn it over. Ask them which way the ace and two are facing now. They will say face up. "Nope!" Do an Elmsley Count to show four face down cards. "We'll do it again." Take the top card (the three) and place it face up on fig. 5 the bottom. Take the next card (the four) and place it face up on the top downjogged by an inch. They will see a face down card below the four. Ask, "Which way are the ace and the two facing?" They will say down. Immediately transfer the cards to a right hand Biddle Grip and use the left fingers to fan out the three bottom cards. They will now see the three, ace, two and four face up. Place the four (double) on the bottom of the packet. Now you say "I'm going to do something special for you. Which card would you like to see turn over next? The ace, the two, the three, or the four?" If they say ace, two, or three, simply run through the packet, take the card out, and place it on the table. If they say four, hold the packet in the right hand Biddle Grip, and use the left fingers to slide the bottom card (their selection) to the right just a hair. (fig.6) It will be covered by the right fingers, then you can slide out the four and put it onto the table. You then place the remainder of the packet onto the tabled card. Let's assume for this explanation that they say four. Take it out as described, place it on the table, and put the packet onto it. Pick

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Nash Reloaded up the packet, make a magical gesture, (I just snap) and thumb off the top three cards into the right hand. You now have a double in your left hand that they believe is their face down card. "Let's put it into the middle and do it again." Turn the cards in your right hand face down. Place the double as one between the top and second card. (fig.7) Snap and thumb off the top three cards into the right hand reversing their order. They will now see the four (or whatever card they chose) face up. Place the double onto the top and square the pack. fig. 6

There is a discrepancy there in that you supposedly placed their card in the second position and now it's in the third. Don't worry, they'll never catch you. You're about to make another discrepancy anyway so just go for it. You now thumb over the top two cards and show them. Place them face up onto the packet. You now transfer to the right hand Biddle Grip and use your left fingers to strip off fig. 7 the bottom card. Show it and place it face up back on the bottom. Snap one more time. You'll now do the same strip move you used a moment ago. Use the left fingers to slide the bottom card to the left. Now slide the second to bottom card to the left. It should be the face down selection, but they will think it's the number card they chose, now face down. Place your thumb on the top card, strip out the middle two cards as one place them on the top of the fan. Transfer the second card to the right hand under the double so you now are showing two face up cards in the right hand, and a face up and face down card in the left. (fig.8) Now look at the spectator and say, "At the beginning of the effect, I had you select a card. Do you remember what it was?" They will name their card. "Hmm, That's unfortunate. Sometimes I like to do a reading for people on the cards they select. That's the only one I can't do because it's been here all along." You now use the right hand cards to lever over the face-down card in the left hand and show their selected card. (fig.9) You can now put them all together in a fan in the left hand and show the front and back. fig. 8

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Nash Reloaded THE DAVIED ENHANCEMENT PRINIPLE: Elsewhere in this book, I've talked about my brother, Davied. He has, what I like to call, a high moisture content. He hasn't been doing cards that long relatively. I've probably got twenty years up on him. Yet, he seems to have an intuitive flow with a deck that isn't matched in many magical minds. He seems to be able to look at an effect with a simple creativity that tends to carry it to the next level. He's constantly full of ideas that fig. 9 are bursting with potential. While writing this effect, he presented me with an addition that, at first, I was ready to dismiss out of hand. It was too simple. After some thought though, I decided to try the addition with an audience. The added response was well worth any reservations I may have had. That's what Dave has taught me more than anything else, and that's the basis of what I'm calling his principle. If you can add something to an effect that will augment it, yet add little or no extra work, why not? Some magicians may feel it's not worth it, but we're not performing for magicians, we're by and large performing for laymen. That's what matters. Thanks D. Here is the application of the principle that Davied gave to me for this particular effect. It uses a duplicate card that you will force on the spectator. When the effect begins, have the two duplicate cards on the top. Ask the spectator to choose his suit, just as in the normal effect. Now, as your searching through the pack, take the cards out one by one in two, ace, three, four order, and place them face down underneath the deck. Now, turn the deck face down again. You should have the four staring straight at you. Fan the four top cards to show them. Now get a break under the first face down card as you close the fan. You can now lift off the five-card packet and place it aside. The order of the cards should be, four, three, ace, two and a face down card. (the duplicate to the one now on top of the deck) You now need to force the top card in whatever fashion you wish. Just make sure it's a good one. If the audience suspects a force at all, the effect is bust. You now have the card returned, shuffle the deck, put it aside, pick up the five card packet, and proceed as normal. This addition may not be right for everyone. Martin Nash would never use a duplicate card. Not if his life depended on it. But, it works for many others. Give it a shot. You may like it too.

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Nash Reloaded NOTES: Practice this one a lot before you show it to anyone. After you have practiced for a while, the order of things will stick in your mind. Don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away. It took me several months before I remembered the whole thing. This one is well worth your time. It's strong, and can be done at a moments notice with no setup. Again, try to use Bicycles because of the story. In a pinch though, any white-bordered cards will do.

“Martin Nash is one of the best acts we have here at the Castle... He’s become like family.” ~Milt Larsen~ co-founder of The Magic Castle in Hollywood CA.

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“If you ain't just a little scared when you enter a casino, you are either very rich or you haven't studied the games enough.” ~VP Pappy~

Fake Center Deals

This is an effect given to me by Chris Stolz. Chris is proving to be a bright young mind in the field of card magic. The basis of the effect has been around for decades, but Chris has added flair to it that I think makes it worthy of being included with Martin Nash's work. EFFECT: The face-up aces are lost into the deck. The performer then cleanly deals out four hands of poker with the face-up aces visually being dealt out of the center to complete his hand. SLEIGHTS: The Nash Multiple Shift, The Faro Shuffle, The Second Deal METHOD: This one is easier than it sounds. You are going to make it appear as if you can deal out of the center from a dead square deck. This is, of course, not the case, but it looks good. Start by talking about marked decks, and how you will show the audience how it looks to a cheater when he's using one. Lose the face-up aces into the deck. (fig.1) You now control them to the top with a Nash Multiple Shift, but you add a face down indifferent card on top of the aces so fig. 1 that they can't be seen. After the control, you should have an indifferent card on top with the four aces face-up underneath it.(fig.2)

fig. 2

You now give the deck two Out Faros. There should now be four indifferent cards on top followed by the aces with three indifferent cards between each of them. Now comes the fun

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Nash Reloaded part. Show that the deck is perfectly square with no breaks or bends. You now proceed to deal out four hands. On the first three, just deal straight from the top, but on yours, do a Second Deal. It will look as if you've dealt from the center of the deck. (fig.3) NOTES: Chris had a beautiful idea that I've tried in front of several audiences. Do the effect with the whole deck face up. It's more visual, and for some reason, it gives you more credibility when you deal your cards because of the top card not changing. Work on a good second for this one. It's incredibly strong and will make a reputation if it's done right.

Martin & Teller

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fig. 3

Nash Reloaded

No wife can endure a gambling husband, unless he is a steady winner. ~Thomas Robert Dewar~

"Caught?"

I've been doing this in my professional set for about ten years. It's my version of an old gambling effect, but the only problem is that I can't for the life of me remember where I first saw it or what the effect even was. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know. I'd love to give credit to whom it is due. I acquired the current storyline after a trip with Martin to The Magic Castle in May of 2004. I was watching his set, and for the first time, I saw him face off with a knock-down, fall-over drunk of a heckler. This guy was bound and determined to make Martin's life dificult. Martin slaughtered the guy, but without making an idiot of him. The guy was doing that just fine on his own. That evening was the basis for the story of the following effect. It's not the one that Martin actually did that night, but the story fits well. The best thing about this effect is if you remove the couple of cakewalk sleights, this effect is completely and totally self-working. I am a big fan of the self-working effect. I feel that when most magicians get in front of an audience, they get nervous for one reason, they're afraid they're going to screw up. Dan Harlan once told me that if you can eliminate that possibility, your performance would be a million times better because you can focus purely on your presentation and on your audience. With the sleights taken out, the effect is by no means a magician fooler, but that's not our job. We work for laymen. However, if you add just a couple of little things like the Nash Multiple Shift, this one can go clean past the most seasoned of card workers. I am going to do the effect and presentation together because some things are just simple enough as it is. METHOD AND PRESENTATION: The deck requires a quick setup that can be done beforehand, or you can do it during a Lorayne-esque "fiddling with the deck" phase. You need to get any three of a kind (I use sevens) on top of the deck and then get five indifferent cards on top of that. (fig.1) That's it. The rest of the

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fig. 1

Nash Reloaded effect is a breeze. The story and method follows. "Last year, I had the honor and privilege of being the guest of Mr. Martin A. Nash at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. As many of you know, when Mr. Nash takes the chair, it's a memorable event. I remember one evening when I got a little worried that something was going to go wrong. A man had been seated at the closeup table that was obviously going to be trouble. He wasn't just drunk, he was throttled. I guess the host for the evening hadn't noticed. Martin came out and began his performance. After a few minutes, it became apparent that this guy wanted to catch Martin red-handed, but Martin didn't want to be caught. So, he devised a scheme for putting this guy in his place. Martin asked the guy if he had ever heard of three-card poker. 'No.' the guy said. 'Well,' Martin continued, 'It's quite simple, but in order to demonstrate, I'm going to need the aces.'" Now, at this point, you can either run through the deck and remove the aces, or you can simply produce them from any place you may cleverly have them stored. Now, the story continues. "Martin looked at the guy and said, 'I'm going to place them here on top for whenever I need them.'" Place the aces face down on top. Now give the deck a false shuffle or cut, maintaining the order, but make it look as if you're doing something shady. "After a quick mix, Martin began to deal the cards. He said to the guy, 'Three card poker is just like regular poker but with just three cards.'" As you say this, deal out four hands of three cards. Deal left to right with you being the fourth player. (fig.2) ”As Martin

fig. 2

finished dealing, the guy blurted out, 'Hey! I saw that, you just stacked the aces to fall into your hand!' 'No my friend. If you look, you'll see that each of the hands received an ace.'" At this point, show each of the hands one at a time in the reverse order that you dealt them. Put each one back on top of the deck after you've shown it. You now give the deck a quick false shuffle, and deal them out again in the same fashion as before. "As Martin dealt the cards again, the guy stopped him again. 'I caught you this time. You just stacked those aces!' Martin smiled at the man. 'Pay attention sir, I'm trying to teach you something.'" Now, show the four hands again just as before, showing an ace in each hand and then placing it back on top of the deck. “‘Am I going too fast for you sir?' Martin asked, 'No it's just that you're watching too slow. We're going to play a quick hand now so that I can see if you've learned anything.'" Give the deck a quick false shuffle and cut. Deal them out again in exactly the same fashion as before, four hands of three. "The man sat bolt upright in his chair. 'That's it! I definitely saw it this time. Twenty bucks says you stacked those aces into your hand!' By this

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Nash Reloaded time, Martin was becoming more than a little annoyed with this idiot, so he put his finger down on the table in a gesture showing that he wanted the money on the table now! After the man had laid down the green, Martin put all of the cards off to the side except for his hand." At this point, take the third hand and without showing it, place it face down on top of the deck. Followed by the second hand, and the first one. "Martin smiled at the man as he thought of how good this burn was going to feel. 'My friend, I think you'd best stay away from the pasteboards for a spell.' With that, he turned his hand up to show the three sevens!" Turn the remaining three cards on the table face up to show sevens. (fig.3) "The man swore under his breath as Martin reached for the twenty. He asked, 'What happened to the aces?'" At this point, openly take the top four cards of the deck one at a time and turn them face up to show the aces. "'I told you my friend, I keep them here on top for

fig. 3

when I need them later.' The man stormed out of the room towards the bar. A refilling was needed.” NOTES: Please have fun with this one. I have had audiences screaming at the climax of this effect. As stated, the effect is basically self-working. Change the patter around to suit your needs. This one may not win you an IBM award, but your audiences will remember it.

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Nash Reloaded “The subject of gambling is all encompassing. It combines man's natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future.” ~Franz Rosenthal~ Gambling in Islam, 1975

Super Ace Speller

This effect is my handling of an effect by Peter Duffie. Peter is one of the best card minds I have run into in many years. I highly recommend that you look up his work on the internet, and see what you think. EFFECT: The aces, from a previous effect or from recent removal, are on the table. They are lost into the deck as it is handed out for a good solid audience shuffle. The deck is taken back and immediately, without any fishy sleight of hand, the aces are found, one by one, by spelling to them. SLEIGHTS: The Second Deal, The Top Palm, The Nash Multiple Shift, Culling (optional) METHOD: You need to have a passable Second Deal that looks just like your top deal. If it's sub-par, pass this one up for now and work on your second. If the deals are too different from each other, it will arouse suspicion as you start the second ace. Here's the beef. Either remove the aces, or have them out from a previous effect. From top to face, arrange them in SHCD order. (fig.1) You now lose the aces into the

fig. 1

deck and by way of the Nash Multiple Shift, or whichever method you most prefer, control them back to the top maintaining their order. You now talk about making the effect as fair as possible. As you do so, top palm off the aces from the top as you're handing the deck out for a shuffle. (fig.2) After the audience member does this, take the deck back, adding the aces back to the top. You're now set fig. 2

to go.

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Nash Reloaded You will reveal the aces in the opposite order of the setup, or in DCHS order. On the first ace, diamonds, you begin by dealing of the first three cards straight from the top as you spell a-c-e. You now do Second Deals for the rest, o-f-d-i-a-m-o-n-d-s. You now turn over the next card to, of course, show the ace of diamonds, (fig.3) and put it off to the side face up. You now take the dealt packet and place it back on top. The sleights are done. The rest of the aces will spell themselves. fig. 3

The next ace will be the clubs. Just start dealing the cards down one at a time, a-c-e-o-f-c-l-u-b-s. The ace will be the next card after the “s.” Place it face-up next to the diamond. Hearts is next. Follow the same pattern. Put the dealt cards onto the top and start spelling a-c-e o-f h-e-a-r-t-s. This time, the ace will be the “s” card. For the spade, same deal. Place the dealt cards on top and spell out, a-c-eo-f-s-p-a-d-e-s. Again, the ace will be the “s” card. (fig.4) Take a bow, you've just gotten a great reaction for doing very little. fig. 4

NOTES: Again, I implore you to work on your seconds before doing this effect for people. If you have a bad second, you'll get caught, and as we all know in this business, that's just about the worst feeling in the world. If you're proficient with false dealing, why not throw a bottom deal into the “hearts” deal so that the card comes out after the final “s” instead of on the “s”? It will also change the “spade” in the same way. That way, the actions will be consistent throughout the effect. The bottom could go anywhere in the deal. There is another way of starting this effect that I use often that requires a somewhat more difficult sleight. It's a great way to do this effect at a party or anywhere you're standing and don't have a great surface. Take the deck out, or the borrowed deck if that be the case, and state that you're checking to make sure the deck is full. "Nothing’s worse than working without a full deck." As you go through the deck face up, cull the aces one at a time to the top. If you're lucky two or more of the aces will be in the proper order. The whole process should take less that a handful of seconds. Palm the aces and hand the deck to them for shuffling. Take it back, adding the aces back to the top. As you do this, ask a spectator to hold his hands out palm and you can now proceed the same way, using one hand to deal onto, and the other to rest the aces. I've done this effect for many years and have gotten a lot of luck from it. It reminds me of Nash so much because of his insane love of palming multiple cards in front of people for extended periods. It's scary but exciting. Have fun with this one.

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Nash Reloaded “Your best chance to get a Royal Flush in a casino is in the bathroom..” ~VP Pappy~

Colors On The March – Revisited

The following is an abbreviated version of Colors on the March. It doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination, take the place of the original; I just use it as a quick effect when I'm doing a demonstration of crooked gambling skills. I recommend study of the original effect so that you can see the strength of the principle. EFFECT:After the audience has shuffled the deck, the performer shuffles it and shows it to be genuinely random. He then talks about how a deck can take on a life of its own in the hands of a cheat. He demonstrates this by dealing a handful of cards that alternate red and black while talking about the mathematical improbability of what they are seeing. He then begins to deal them down in pairs: red, red, black, black, red, red, black, black. He then switches to triples: red, red, red, black, black, black. After this demonstration of impossibility, he then asks several members of the audience to call out single, double, or triple. The performer matches by dealing the called set throughout the remainder of the deck! SLEIGHTS: The Faro Shuffle, The Second Deal PRE-TIPS: It is good to perform this effect with a fresh deck as it does require a perfect Faro Shuffle and a good number of Second Deals. It is good to practice this effect with a fresh deck as well. As discussed elsewhere in this book, it will help a lot with some of the frustration that one can feel while learning a new effect. It is an unfortunate human frailty that it is impossible to concentrate on more than any one thing at a time. This particular effect requires you to do so anyway. You will have to concentrate on three different things simultaneously, your patter, your dealing pattern, and your next step. This effect is not to be taken lightly. Do not go into performing it after a couple of run-throughs. You must get to the point where you can do this without thinking. Once you have mastered the dealing patterns, and

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Nash Reloaded can do the different steps in your sleep then you'll be able to handle this effect with confidence, and that's what really makes this effect work. METHOD: The first thing that needs to be done is the stacking of the deck. You'll need to separate the deck into reds and blacks. (fig.1) This can be accomplished by way of the segregation shuffle. If you are unfamiliar with it, then just use any separation method you feel comfortable with. A great psychological point is introduced here. Separate the deck in half and have an audience member shuffle each half. This gives the distinct impression in the spectator's minds of true randomness. You now gather the halves and give the deck a Faro Shuffle, but you need to do it just off flush by one card so that the top and bottom of the deck have two cards together. Square the deck and you're set up. The deck should have two cards on the top of the same color, then alternating colors and then two matching colors on the bottom. (fig.2) Talk about how fair everything has been so far. Turn the deck face up and ask an audience member to look at the deck and make sure that it is indeed shuffled, but to pay particular attention to the fig. 1 fact that there are no large groups of cards together as far as color is concerned. As you spread through the deck, move your hands together and apart in a quick smooth motion. Push off the cards in groups and jumbled chunks. In this manner, no one will be able to tell that the cards are in perfectly alternating order; they will just believe that they've seen a randomly mixed deck. The other fig. 2 great convincer here is that they will immediately see two cards together on the face. Combine that with the two together on top and the constantly moving jumble in the middle, there won't be an audience member in the world who will notice the stack. Now begins the fun. I like to patter about how a card man who has been working long enough can train himself to be able to manipulate a deck simply by the sense of touch. "Out of a deck that you shuffled and you examined, this should be impossible." As you are saying this you're going to deal alternating colors face-up. To do this, deal a top, a second, a top, a second and so on. Deal out about ten cards face-up. Now you pause for a moment and let this sink in. (fig.3)

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Nash Reloaded Now say, "Let's say I wanted to deal pairs." On the next row, you deal out pairs of colors by dealing top, top, top, second, top, top, top, second. Deal out eight cards on this one. (fig.4) Pause for a moment. Look at the audience. After a moment say, "Singles, Doubles, …. TRIPLES!" Deal out triples by dealing top, top, second, top, top, second. Only do six cards here. You need to save enough for the finale. (fig.5)

fig. 3

"As you see, I can do singles, doubles, triples. Which do you want?" motion towards the audience in general to let them know to start calling out what they want. As they do, start fig. 4 dealing out what they wish using the same dealing pattern as above. When they ask for singles, just deal four cards. Do the same with doubles. For triples, deal six. You will soon reach the end of the deck. If you have an unusable card or two at the end, just nonchalantly toss them face up onto the pile as you give the final line. (fig.6) "So, as you can see ladies and gentlemen, a deck of cards can become a living, breathing thing in the hands of a cheat. Thank you." fig. 5

NOTES: As with the original effect, there is one point that can and will creep up that you should never fear. Someone, at some point, will call out "Fours!" In the words of the immortal Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic!" Depending on your intestinal fortitude, you will grow to love this moment. Here is what you do. Look at the person who called out this challenge that was obviously designed to screw you up, and deal top, top, second, third, top, top, top second. You then watch the audience's faces. fig.6 This is that most coveted moment in any magic show where the audience is convinced that you've just plunged head long into a pile of crap, yet you come out smelling like roses.

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Nash Reloaded

Martin Nash performing at the Renault convention.

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Nash Reloaded “A gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of hope.” ~William Bolitho~

Control

This is probably one of the quickest and simplest effects in this book. It may seem unworthy of some of you, but I've done this in front of some great audiences, and they ate it up. I got the opportunity to perform this for Ron McBride, the former coach of the University of Utah football team. He almost fell off his chair! EFFECT: Simple enough. The audience member only thinks of a card. They then think of a number between one and fifty-two. You shuffle while looking straight into their eyes, as if to glean both the identity of the card and the selected number. You then ask for their number. You deal down to that number in the deck to find their thought of card! SLEIGHTS: The Peek Force, The Side Steal, The Second Deal METHOD: The method for this one is simple. It's a full application of the Davied Enhancement Principle I discussed elsewhere. This is an effect that is simple in basis to the point of perfection. The sleights may not be a cakewalk, but the payoff is worth the practice. Those of you with card sense have probably already thought it out and done it. That's cool, but I'm going to write it out anyway because the more pages I have in this book, the more I can sell it for. Start by using the peek force to have a spectator "think" of a card. Side steal it to the top. You have them think of a number between one and fifty-two. Shuffle the deck, controlling the top card as you go. Stare right at them as you do this. Don't waver in the slightest. This will give the audience the sense that something is going on. They're not sure what, but it's always good to get credit for doing something other than the painfully obvious.You now have them name their number. Second Deal to that number and then reveal their card. Simple, I know, but it'll blow them off their barstools if you can pull it off well enough. NOTES: Again, this becomes an important issue. You are using three sleights that are very difficult to perform smoothly. If the audience suspects you on anything with this one, you'll blow it. Please get your seconds down, and work on your peek force It makes this one a real miracle.

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“I met with an accident on the way to the track; I arrived safely.” ~Joe E. Lewis~

The Switch This is another great effect by Chris Stolz. Both he and I have used this in front of audiences several times now. If the timing can be made totally smooth, then this is an absolute mind blower. EFFECT: The four kings are clearly shown and handed to the spectator with the instructions to place them in any order she wishes. The performer asks the spectator if she would still remember their order if they were reversed. This is done and the four cards are placed face down on the table in plain view. The magician states that he will attempt to put the cards back into their original order without even touching them. The spectator is asked to cover the cards with both hands and the magician makes a magical gesture over the spectator’s hand. He then removes the four cards, in their original order, from his pocket! When the spectator turns over the cards they hold, they have changed into the four aces! METHOD: Begin with the four kings face-up on the table and the aces face-down on top of the pack. (fig.1) Ask the spectator to place the fours kings into any order she can remember. While she is doing this, obtain a forth finger break beneath the four aces. Have the kings squared and placed facedown on the table in front of you. Pick off the kings by their short ends with the right hand thumb and index finger in the middle of the short ends. The middle finger rests gently beside the index finger but does not take part in holding the cards. (fig.2) You only need to maintain a very light touch with the middle finger as it must be able to let go without dropping the cards in a moment. Look directly into the eyes of your spectator as you ask, "Would you be able to remember these if they were in reversed order?" As this question is asked the right hand approaches the deck. The left thumb lifts just enough to allow the cards to be brought fig.1 square on top of the pack beneath it. The right thumb should be in contact with both the cards it is holding and the cards above the break. The thumb will act as

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Nash Reloaded your pivot point. As soon as the cards come square on top of the pack, the right middle finger reaches down and presses the four aces against the thumb and pivots them to the right. As soon as the middle finger moves to the right, the right index finger releases its hold on the four kings and the left thumb holds them square on top of the pack by the outer left corner. The right hand now sweeps the aces out to the right just enough for the cards to clear. As soon as the cards are fig.2 clear, the right hand moves forward and to the left allowing the thumb to draw the first card onto the pack. This card should be held by the left thumb jogged forward about half its length. The other three cards pulled onto the pack in exactly the same manner, each being jogged forward half its length and separate from the next. The result is a nice fanned look with the four jogged cards. Rhythm is very important for if you pause during the switch, everyone will know that something just happened. Timing is your best friend here. The switch is extremely deceptive due to the sound made by the cards being counted onto the pack. The other nice bonus is that the four cards being switched are constantly square. They also do not change their order. They are exactly as the spectator left them! Reach across to the spectator with the left hand and release the grip on the four cards allowing them to drop onto the table. Ask her to place her hand on top of the four cards as you explain that you are going to return her cards to their original order without even touching them. While she is paying attention to this, palm the top four cards off of the pack in the right hand and with this hand table the deck. Snap the left fingers and state that you've done it, the four cards have now returned to their original order. The snap of the left fingers above their hand should help keep attention off of the right. Stand up, reach into the right pants pocket and remove the four cards in order one at a time naming them as you do so. When the spectator lifts her hand they of course find the four aces! Be sure to focus all attention on the spectator's cards. This will take the heat off the right hand which is palming the four kings.

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“In the case of an earthquake hitting Las Vegas, be sure to go straight to the Keno Lounge. Nothing ever gets hit there.” ~Author Unknown~

Trapped

Many years ago, Daryl wrote a book called Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler. In this book was an effect known as Trapped. Martin was intrigued by this effect, but felt that it had some areas that could be improved. Martin considers himself more of an innovator than an inventor. Now, there is a fine line between improving an effect and flat out ripping it off, and he has never crossed that line. How many times have we all seen Triumph, or Oil and Water. I have seen more Ambitious Card routines than I care to think about. Occasionally though, an effect can be taken to a new level. I like to think of it as the evolution of an effect. Some of Martin's better effects are evolved versions of other effects. Harry Lorayne's One-Eyed Jack Sandwich became Jacks or Better. So, as you can see, an effect can sometimes be made better, not redundant. Trapped is an effect that can be performed anytime, anywhere, with a borrowed deck if you like. It's a quickie that requires no set-up. THE EFFECT: The spectator selects a card from the deck and then replaces it. He is asked to turn half the deck face up onto the other half. Upon verifying that their card is not in the face-up half, they are asked to "dribble" the face-down half onto the table. The performer uses the face-up portion to "trap" one of the cards from the stream. It is shown to be the spectator's card. SLEIGHTS: Infinity, The Piet-Fortun Pop-Out Move THE METHOD: This effect requires a quick get ready. Infinity the bottom card. Infinity is covered elsewhere in this book, so familiarize yourself with it before proceeding. You will also be using the Piet-Fortun Pop-out move, but we'll go over that in a minute. Have a card selected, replaced, and then, using Infinity, control it to the top. Ask the spectator to cut about half the deck over to the side, and then take the remaining cards and place them face up on top. You will now be in the position of having half the deck face up, the selection face down, and the rest of the pack face down.

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Nash Reloaded Tell the spectator to look through the cards as you fan them, but don't say anything. Just look to see if their card is there. Fan the face-up cards slowly so that they can see every card. As you come to the last of the face-up cards, get a break below the first face-down card. (the selection) gather the face-up cards and add on the face-down selection below them. Place the pile haphazardly off to the side. Now take the remaining face-down cards and show the spectator how to dribble. Grab the cards corner to corner from above. Push your index finger down slightly, and evenly release the cards into your other hand. Now have the spectator take a couple of practice runs at it. As they do this, grab the face-up packet. Square them and hold them from the top by the long edges. Get a thumb break below the bottom face-down card. With the other hand, cut off about half of the cards from the top and hold the packet in front of the other one. Now have the spectator dribble the cards down onto the table from about a foot or so. As they do this, execute the Piet-Fortun Pop-out move. (fig.1) Do this by swinging the back packet forward and on to the front packfig.1 et. The card under the break will twist out and be trapped between the packets. Do this right into the stream of cards the spectator is making. After they stop dribbling, wait for a moment. Slowly bring out the two packets with the card trapped between them. Ask the spectator to name their card. Proudly hold up the selection. They'll remember this one for a while.

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“Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.” ~R.E. Shay~

The Invisible Palm – Revisited

There comes a time in the life of every magician when he is at the end of the "novice" stage, and something comes along that makes him realize that the next stage is waiting for him. My time had come. I was watching Martin Nash's Invisible Palm, and for the first time in many years, I felt that sense of awe and wonder that we as magicians forfeit when we enter the business. I learned the effect inside and out. After a while, I felt that I should develop a method that was suited more to my own style. I wanted to do a version in which the aces that had traveled and those that had not, never came close to touching each other throughout the entire routine. My version is a bit closer to the original Larry Jennings version, but I think that some of the handling changes and new timing subtleties have added a lot to the workings. I have been doing this version of the effect for several years now, and the audience reaction is off the scale. I hope you enjoy it. EFFECT: The performer shows four aces. The aces then magically travel from his hands to the table via the "Invisible Palm,” the last one appearing quite startlingly. SLEIGHTS: Multiple Card Table Placement, Bottom Palming, The Escanio Spread (optional), Side Steal METHOD: Patter is going to have a great deal to do with this particular effect, as well as timing. There are a couple of points where the timing provides foolproof misdirection for things that would otherwise kill the effect. I will cover all of the aspects of my presentation so that you can see the importance of flow. You may then change it to suit your own needs. I have, as with so many of my effects, engraved this one with the essence of the card cheat and his methods. Start by taking out the four aces, or have them out from a previous effect. Put them in the following order from the face: spade, heart, diamond and club. You will need to get an indifferent card in between the two middle aces. I use the following method. Display the four aces in the right hand as

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Nash Reloaded you hold the deck in the left. With the left hand, get a break below the top card. Talk about crooked gamblers and their relationship with a deck. Bring the aces over the top of the deck and drop them, face up, square on top. Tell your audience that you've put the aces in bridge order. "The spades and hearts are considered to be the two major suits…" as you say this, pick up all of the cards above the break in a right hand grip with the middle finger at the upper right corner, and the thumb at the lower right. Using the left thumb, strip off the ace and use the packet to lever it face down onto the deck. As you do this, let the ace come to rest down-jogged on the deck by about the length of the white border. Don't try too hard, if it's a little more, that's all right. This is supposed to just look like a casual showing. Now do the same turnover with the ace of hearts. After you've done that, put the rest of the cards on top as a block. This should be the point where you've stated that the spade and heart are the major suits. Now push over the top two cards (the aces), and turn them over as you state that they are the minor suits. Now, if you bring your right thumb to the back and square the deck, you can take a break below the out jogged card. Pick up at the break and table the rest of the deck. Turn the packet over. Position Check: from the face, AS, AH, indifferent card, AD, and AC.(fig.1) Hold the face up packet in your hand and show the four aces by way of an Escanio spread. The indifferent card should be below the AH in your right fingers. Take out the double in your right fingers and place it underneath the other aces. Now turn the packet over and do another Escanio spread. Take out the double in your right hand and show it as one to be the AC. (fig.2) Now place it face down as one onto the table using the Multiple card table placement. It should appear at this point as if you've just shown the fronts and backs of all the aces and put the AC on the table. Now square the cards in your left hand. Talk about the technique of palming and how most people know of it but don't actually know it. You then talk about how you've been working on a new method of palming, combining it with just a hint of magic. You call it the Invisible Palm. You now demonstrate it thusly.

fig.1

Upjog the top card by about half of its length, and then use the right hand to cover it. You pretend as if you're palming it when in fact you're just squaring it with the other cards and coming away with nothing. You now hold your hand out in the "natural position" of palming, but exaggerate it so that it doesn't look quite normal. You now lift your hand towards the audience and show that the card

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Nash Reloaded has become "invisible.” Snap your fingers, make a gesture, and place your hand down on top of the tabled ace. Move your hand just slightly to the right and the cards will separate. Lift your hand to show that the invisibly palmed card has reappeared.(fig.3) The next sequence should be done very smoothly and rhythmically so that it doesn't draw any attention. Your right hand comes over and takes the left hand cards from above. As the fig.2 right hand is turning face up, the ring finger curls underneath the cards and glides the bottom card to the right. When your hand is all the way face up, the cards will now look like just the AS and the AD. The indifferent card is hidden behind the AD. The AD (double) will be resting held between the first and second fingers and the thumb. The AS will be in the highly convenient position of being corner to corner between the thumb and pinky. Say, "Here we have the ace of spades and the ace of diamonds." As you turn your hand palm down, the left hand comes over as if to take the cards. The left middle finger contacts the face of the AS and pushes everything up into the palm. At the same time, the left thumb and fig.3 first finger are on the double and pull them out to the left while separating them. It will appear is if you've simply pulled out the two cards, when in fact you've pulled out the double and palmed the AS. Table the two cards. (fig.4) Now, with the AS palmed in your right hand, reach over with it and grab up the other two tabled cards, adding the AS to the top. Square the three and then use the left fingers to strip out the bottom card to the left by about half its length. Turn your hand palm up to show the AC and the AH (double). Say, " And here, we have the ace of clubs and the ace of hearts" (fig.5). Set them face down as two cards on the table.

fig.4

Pick up the two cards on the left. Repeat the same "palming" move, squaring up the two cards to make them appear as one. Again, two things will happen at once here, so practice timing

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Nash Reloaded them together. At this point, you'll be holding a double in your left hand as one, and the right hand will be in the "natural" palming position. Snap the fingers of your right hand and face the palm towards the audience so that they see there's an "invisible" card in it. At the same time, snap the double in your left hand between your fingers so that the face will be towards the audience. This will take some practice to get the cards to stay together, but you'll get it. You now bring the right hand down on top of the other tabled cards and slide it to the right. This will separate the double and make it appear as if the third ace has made the trip. Use the right hand to turn over the cards and show them to indeed be the aces. Now, for the last ace. Take the double card from your fig.5 left hand to your right. Pick up the deck with the left hand. Flash the face of the double one more time and then toss it face down onto the deck. The tossing will give the extra convincer that it was just a single card. Repeat the same palming motion from before with the top card. You now show the right hand to be empty and then push it down onto one spot on the table as if to place the invisible card there. Point to the empty spot you just pushed on and say something to the effect of "Watch that ace." Now you come back to the deck. Turn over the top card to show it's not an ace. As you do this, get a break below the next card. Place the top card back down onto the fig.6 deck face up. You now pick up both cards above the break as one and lift them as you flip the deck face up. Tap the card at the face with the double to show no ace on the bottom. (fig.6) Drop the double face up onto the face up deck, but keep a break below it. You now bring both hands together in the action of switching the deck from hand to hand. At this point, you'll have about one un-awkward second to do a side steal of the second card. You then take the deck and place it off to the side. You may substitute this move with a second card stealth palm off. Use whichever method suits your fancy. fig.7 You now point again to the spot where you set the last "invisible" ace. Hold the hand with the palmed card about a sixteenth of an inch over the spot.(fig.7) Drop the palmed card. Pause for a

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Nash Reloaded moment and then slowly spread your fingers to show that the last ace has appeared from the ether. Pick it up, snap it, and show the audience that the last ace has made the magical journey.(fig.8) NOTES: Timing is very important on this one. Make the routine fluid. If it's choppy, the audience won't get much out of it. Treat it as a piece of art as much as a cool card effect. fig.8

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“Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.” ~Charles Lamb~ Essays of Elia, 1823

Blindfolded Ace Cut This one is my pet effect. The workings are fairly simple and straightforward, but, if done properly, this can be one of the most powerful effects your audience will have ever seen. The basis for this effect was the many stories of John Scarne. He had the talent of being able to take someone else's shuffled deck and cut to the four aces. The effect had a purity that could not be duplicated. Many men tried. Gamblers, mobsters and hit men all tried desperately to gain Scarne's secret. Unfortunately, he took his secret to the grave. This effect will mimic the classic Scarne effect with one major difference, it's done totally blindfolded. I have reicentlt been informed that Darwin Ortiz has a very similar effect to this, but uses a “human blindfold.” Cool effect Mr. Ortiz EFFECT: You openly lose the four aces into the deck and hand it out for a shuffle. You then have an audience member blindfold you in whichever fashion the audience feels will most prevent you from seeing the cards. You are handed the deck and very cleanly cut one at a time to the four aces. SLEIGHTS: The Nash Multiple Shift, The Top Palm, Infinity, Up-The-Ladder Cut, True False Cut METHOD: As you begin the effect, either have the aces out, or run through and remove them. As you begin to speak about Scarne, or whatever your patter is, loose the aces in the pack and control them to the top by way of the Nash Multiple Shift. Palm off the top four cards and hand the deck out for shuffling. As you take them back and add the aces to the top, and Infinity the bottom card. Set the deck in front of you, and you're set. fig.1

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Nash Reloaded Have an audience member blindfold you in whichever fashion looks best (fig.1) You can use a semi-transparent blindfold, or a nose peek, but it isn't necessary. I use a full blindfold, mainly because it gives me a bigger rush when I get it right. You are now ready to "skillfully" reveal the aces. There is something I must mention here. If you are going to do this under full blindfold, it is imperative that you have an affinity for the cards. You must be able to handle them smoothly without looking. You should also have a fair amount of practice with the Infinity principle. If you miss, the effect is bust, so don't miss! You are now blind as a bat, and you have a deck in front of you that has the aces on the top, and the Infinity on the bottom. The rest of the effect must go by feel. Give the deck a True False cut. Pick up the deck, and show the top few and bottom few cards. State that there may or may not be any aces at the top or bottom. You're not sure. This will re-emphasize the illusion that the aces are indeed lost in the deck. Put the deck down, and give it an Up-The-Ladder Cut. Now give it one last complete cut at the Infinity card, take the top card, snap it, and turn it over to show the first ace. About fifty percent of the time, you'll get ooh's and ahh's. The other fifty percent, you won't hear anything at all. Ask them if you got it. If not, you may want to go home and pracice. If you do get it, they'll tell you so with thunderous applause. This is the perfect time to make the comment of, "You have to tell me these things. I can't see it!" You may now, if you wish, give the deck a top and bottom stock riffle shuffle, keeping the three remaining aces on top and the Infinity on the bottom. The rest goes about the same. Give the deck an UpThe-Ladder Cut, a True False Cut, cut to Infinity, and show the next card. Repeat the process two more times and you're done. Remove the blindfold and accept your applause. fig.2 (fig.2) They'll have a lot of it for you after this one. NOTES: It is best to use a fresh deck at all times when performing, but especially now. This effect requires that you know the condition and placement of the cards at all times. As before stated, you should get a tremendous feel for the cards. This is not a hobby, or some kind of thing that your uncle does at a party with a lampshade on his head. This is your art. The audience should be aware of your control over and of your respect for a deck.

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“Skill allows for human error, miracles demand perfection” ~Dai Vernon~

Title Bout

The effect is my version of Martin's handling of an old classic of Harry Lorayne's called Gambler vs. Magician from Personal secrets. Martin includes it in his Colors on the March show as the opening piece. I've done a little more streamlining for this book to make it a stand-alone piece. The initial set-up was a bit different, because it was the opener for a set. So, what you see here is a chopped down and refined version of exactly the same effect. I love this as an opener because it's fun, yet it introduces a high level of skill right up front. THE STORY: Through the years, there has been a constant conflict between two groups of people about who was the best at cheating with cards, gamblers, and magicians. At last, one dark evening, in a smoky back room of a poker hall, the world’s greatest gambler sat down across the table from the world’s greatest magician to decide the matter once an for all. The rules of the contest were that a card would be drawn from the deck and placed down unseen. One participant would then be handed the thoroughly shuffled deck and would be required to cut the deck to the three cards that matched the unseen cards value! A coin was tossed to see who would go first. The magician won.

THE EFFECT: The story continues as you have a card selected from the deck and, without beieng seen, placed on the table. You then give the deck a shuffle, and after a cut, you turn over the top card, turn it back down, and place it on the table. (Let's say it's a seven.) You then do another cut and turn over another seven. This is done one more time to produce the third seven. "The magician stated that he had won. The Gambler emphasized that they really didn't know." You have a spectator turn over the unseen card, and it's a jack! "The gambler said the magician had lost. The magician said 'Wait, you did not say that I had to cut to the sevens, you only said that I had to cut to the mates of that card.' The gambler turned over the other three cards." Have a spectator turn over the three face down cards, and they are seen to be the other jacks. You the spread the deck and show the four sevens face up in the middle of the deck.

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THE SET-UP: The set-up is easy. From the top of the deck down: jack of diamonds, seven of diamonds, jack of clubs, seven of clubs, jack of heats, seven of hearts, and from the face, jack of spades, seven of spades. THE METHOD: This method is so simple, you'll laugh, but I really like effects where you get a lot of credit for so little work. Start by giving the deck a shuffle, but maintaining your top and bottom stocks. You'll the force the bottom card, (JS) by using Harry Lorayne's fan prediction number three, which can be found in the Infinity section of this book. You'll then have the jack of spades face down on the table. Do a false triple undercut so that the order doesn't change. Now do a Double Lift to show the seven of diamonds. Turn it back down and place a single card on the table. (JD) Get a break under the top card and do another triple undercut, this time doing the third cut at the break. This will effectively take the top card to the bottom. Do another double to show the seven of clubs. Turn it down and put a single card on the table. (JC) get a break under the top card and do the triple undercut again. Do a third and final double to show the seven of hearts. Turn it back down, place the single card (JH) onto the table. As the audience sits in amazement, you can now simply slip the top card to the bottom. This will now put you in the position of having the four sevens on the bottom. Continue the story as described above and have the spectator turn over the first card to show a supposed loss on the part of the magician. Re-explain the challenge and have them turn over the other cards. As they are doing this, get a break below the bottom four cards. (the sevens) As the spectators get to the second card, swing cut the upper half of the deck into the other hand and turn it over to the bottom of the deck. Add the sevens, and immediately bring the packet face down back to the top. This has put the four sevens face up in the middle of the deck, and the misdirection is so perfect because everyone will be watching the spectator turn over the cards. After the audience has had a moment to let the success sink in, spread the deck to show the now face-up sevens, and conclude the effect.(fig.1)

fig.1

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NOTES: As stated, this is a strong opener. Emphasize the story. Get the audience involved. They'll see that you have a high level of both technical and people skills. It is also good to open with something like this because it is not a difficult routine by any stretch of the imagination. Dan Harlan once said to me that it's good to open with a really easy effect because it helps to alleviate some of the nervousness that we all feel on stage. If it's almost impossible to screw up an effect then you can turn your focus towards presentation rather than technique.

The Magic Castle Hollywood CA.

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“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” ~Harry Golden~

Any Ace Called For – Revisited

This effect is a take off of the Martin Nash center deal routine. By the use of a simple extra sleight, the effect is taken beyond the next step. This has the benefit over most center deal routines in that it seems so completely impossible to even the most knowledgeable card men. There is no visible control, and the audience is allowed to shuffle and cut at any point. It's a strong effect, and worth your time. EFFECT: The performer inserts the four aces into a shuffled pack, and continues to shuffle it. He then asks the spectator to give the deck a shuffle and a complete cut. The deck is ribbon spread and shown to be normal. The performer then asks any audience member which of the four aces they would like to see dealt, how many players should be dealt to, and if the cards should be dealt face up or face down. He then proceeds to deal the spectator’s exact wishes. He shuffles again. The audience cuts again, and the same is repeated three more times. Each time, matching the parameters stated by the audience. They may shuffle or cut at any phase of the routine if they wish. SLEIGHTS: The Nash Multiple Shift, Infinity, The Center Deal, The Gambler’s Cop METHOD: As I said, this effect is strong. The fact that the audience does the shuffling and cutting, and the deck is ribbon spread, makes the possibility of a control impossible. Magicians go nuts when they see this. I've flown it clean past some of the best card workers in my area. This one could make a reputation. Remove the aces from the deck. As you begin your patter about the legendary center deals, prep your Infinity card. (fig.1) Insert the aces into the deck in an order that you can easily memorize. Execute the multiple shift, but take the

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fig.1

Nash Reloaded top packet to the left. When you strip out, you'll be in the position where your four aces are on the bottom of the left packet, and your Infinity will be on the bottom of the right packet. When you shuffle, drop one card from the right, four from the left, and then normally. You will now have the Infinity on the bottom, and the four aces above it. (fig.2) Here's where it gets fun. Pick up the deck, and as you fig.2 get ready to hand it to a spectator, thumb count past five, and Gambler’s Cop out the bottom stock. It won't matter if you accidentally get six, seven, or even more. The average layman doesn't know the thickness of a deck by feel. The shortness will go un-noticed. You now hand the deck out for a shuffle. Let the audience cut the deck and complete it. You then take back the deck, adding the cards to the bottom. You may now give it one more cut. You then ribbon spread the deck. That series of events is what gets other magicians. The is no apparent way that you have any control. Gather the deck, and grab your break at Infinity. Pull is down so that your break is now above it. You then ask the spectator which ace they would like. You then ask how many players they would like to see in the game. As you ask this, pull down zero, one, two, or three cards until you've reached the desired ace. Kick it out and bevel the deck as with the center deals. fig.3 (fig.3) It's good to do this as you ask them how many players there are so that you have plenty of misdirection. You may then ask if they would prefer the cards face up or face down. You are then ready to execute a regular center deal. You then cut at Infinity and shuffle the deck, bring it with the remaining aces to the bottom of the deck. You may at this point ask if the spectator wishes to shuffle again. If they do, just do as before, Gambler’s Copping out the bottom stock before they shuffle. After you take the deck back, always make someone else give the deck a complete cut. You then ribbon spread. This whole rigmarole is repeated three more times for the remaining three aces. NOTES: This effect is a gem. It fools both magicians and laymen alike. You have removed any possibility of a way that they can reconstruct it in their minds. The audience will feel that you have a control over the cards that borders on frightening. This is another of the effects that deserves a lot of time. Don't go out and do it tomorrow. Practice it so that you can make all of your movements look fluid and consistent. Don't expose this one. Treat it well.

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“A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck.” ~James A. Garfield~

The New Mental Topper

This is a quick effect to show skill. It's done quick and easy, but if done properly, your audience will be wary of ever playing cards with you. It's my handling of one of Martin's effects, which he got from Ed Marlo. EFFECT: After several shuffles, the performer cuts to any four of a kind the audience wishes. SLEIGHTS: The Faro Shuffle, The Nash Multiple Shift, The Gamblers’s Cop

SETUP: This one requires a full deck setup, but it's not hard to do. Lay the cards out in their respective four of a kinds. Now, begin to pick the cards up one at a time in order starting with an ace, followed by the two, three, and so on. Try to not get more than three of the same color together. Once you've done this, you'll have a deck that's in order by number, but not by suit. Transfer the top three cards to the bottom, maintaining their order, and you're set. (fig.1)You can briefly ribbon spread the deck, and unless the audience knows what to look for, they won't find it. THE METHOD: Ask the audience to name any card. Let's say, for explanation purposes, they say the eight of spades. Begin to talk about the different kinds of shuffles. fig.1 Since there is a four on the top, you'll need to run four cards to the bottom so that you have an eight on the top. If they had said ace, two, or three, you would simply run them from the bottom to the top. Explain that what you're doing is the overhand shuffle, but you don't care for it. You now talk about how bridge players shuffle. You cut the deck right in the middle. It's not hard, because a value match to the top card will be dead in the middle. Give the two packets a perfect

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Nash Reloaded Faro Shuffle. You now have two of the cards you need on the top and two right in the middle. Cut the deck in half again. Again, your other two mates will be in the middle. Give the packets either another in the hands faro or, I like to instead give them a Tabled Faro. (fig.2) You now have all four needed cards at the top of the deck. You can now give them any other shuffles you wish so long as you maintain the top four cards. Now say, "But, the most popular is still the overhand." Give the deck an overhand and simply run the four top cards to the bottom. Next, get a break below the bottom four cards and as you ask them which shuffle they use the most, Gambler’s Cop the four cards off the bottom. Hand them the deck and ask them to show you how they shuffle. (fig.3) This helps to destroy the order of the deck at this point. Take the deck back fig.2 and add the four of a kind back to the bottom. You now explain that all gamblers are required to do a tabled Riffle Shuffle. Cut the top half of the deck to the left. You now run some cards off the left, one off the right, some from the left, one from the right, some from the left, one from the right, some from the left, one from the right, the rest of the left and the rest of the right. Now, as you square the deck, begin to do a Nash Multiple Shift. But, as the packets come together, just fig.3 square with your fingers on the right. You'll now have your four of a kind jogged out near the bottom of the deck. Ask again which card they selected. Now press down on the deck and lift up at the first out jogged card, turn the packet over and place it down to show the first eight. Lift at the next jog for the next one, the next one, and the last one. (fig.4) Then simply fan the remaining cards. fig.4

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“The best way to understand something is to try and explain it to someone else.” ~Douglas Adams~

Ambitious Omni

You'll notice that elsewhere is this book is an effect called Omni-Twist. This is a combination of the basics of that effect, except rather than using the twisting the aces principle, this follows along the lines of an ambitious card effect. The workings of this effect are based on another ambitious effect that I learned many years ago, and can't remember from where anymore. I would like to credit the originator, so if any of you recognize any of this effect, please let me know. EFFECT: After a card is selected and returned, the performer pulls out the four aces. He uses the aces to not only discover the suit of the selection, but the selection itself! SLEIGHTS: The Double Lift METHOD: First things first, have a card selected, remembered, returned and controlled to the top using whichever method makes you smile. You're going to need to learn the suit of that card. Use whatever method works best for you. I peek at it during the next step. Bold, but it works. Now, go through the deck and remove the four aces. Once they are removed, place them face up onto the deck. Make sure that the ace that is of the same suit as the selection is the second card down. So let's say that the deck is in the following order. Face up – AD, AC, AS, AH, face down – 9C (let’s say that’s what the selection was), followed by the rest of the deck. Pinky count five cards and remove them. Place the rest of the deck aside. You'll now have the four face-up aces followed by the face-down selection. You now state that you're going to use the four aces to divine the suit of the card to start. "It might have been a diamond." As you say these words, thumb off the top face up card (AD) turn it face down, and place it underneath the other cards. Do the same with the other three aces as well.

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Nash Reloaded In your hand, you'll now have (face down from top) 9C, AD, AC, AS, AH. The hard part is over. You now talk about how the aces will help you divine the suit of the selected card. "I do this by taking an ace, let's say the diamond, and placing it onto the bottom. If it comes back to the top, I know it's the wrong suit." Match actions to words by doing a Double Lift to show the AD. Turn it back down, thumb off the top card and place it on the bottom, and then turn the top card back over to show the AD again. Take it off the deck and place it aside. "We'll get rid it.” You now do the exact same thing again, except now it will be with the spades. Discard it. "We know it's not the spades." For the next one, the motions will look exactly the same, but they'll be slightly different. Turn over the top card to show the AH. Turn it back down. You now buckle the bottom card. Take the top two as one (fig.1) and place them underneath the bottom card as you say "We'll move it to the bottom." Now do a Double Lift to show it again. Take the two face-up cards as one and discard them. "We know it's not the hearts." You now have one card left face down in your hand. State that it must have been a club. As you watch their reaction, ask them which one it was. As they reply, flip the card in your hand over to show that it's not only the right suit, but it has changed into their selection! (fig.2)

NOTES: This is a great quickie effect. I love to fig.1 do this when I'm out at a function and someone asks to see an effect, or if I'm at a pub and the crowd begins to gather. Don't make a huge deal out of this one. It's a fast frolic that will leave a great impression in their minds. fig.2

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“True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table; luckiest is he who knows just when to rise and go home.” ~John Hay~

One Step Ahead

by Chris Stolz EFFECT: The two red aces are shown and placed together face up on the table. A spectator on your right is asked to place their hand on top of the aces for safe keeping. A spectator on your left is now asked to select any card they wish, and sign it across the face. The card is returned to the pack and the deck is shuffled. The magician states that instead of attempting to find the chosen card among all the others, that he will cause the card to leave the deck and join the red aces. When the spectator lifts their hand they find that one face-down card rests between the aces. This card is shown and it is found to be the previously signed card! METHOD:This effect uses a one-ahead principle to convince spectators that the card has already made its journey, taking the heat off the moment that the switch is made. Good timing and a smooth top change are absolutely crucial. The left pinky has a break above the top card and the red aces are in the right hand. Drop the aces on top of the pack and ask for a spectator on your right to hold their hand a few inches above the table. When they have done so, pick up the aces from above with your right hand taking the extra card beneath them. The left hand tables the deck and then approaches the right hand from below. With the left thumb, drag the top ace off leaving a double in the right hand. This ace is placed below the double and the aces appear to be two cards with nothing in between (You really have one face down card hidden below the top ace). Square the cards and place them on the table beneath the spectator's hand instructing them to cover the cards until instructed to do otherwise. Have a spectator on your left select a card and return it to the pack. Shuffle the pack controlling the card to the top and perform a Knock-Out Double Lift showing that their card is not on top of

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Nash Reloaded the pack. Turn the double back face down on top of the deck before showing that the card is also not on the bottom. Describe how tedious it would be to search for the card the normal way and announce that you will cause the card to leave the deck and join the aces under the spectator's hand. With the deck in hand riffle loudly up the front edge of the deck and follow the card's invisible flight to the spectator's hand. Ask them to lift their hand and immediately show the right hand empty and pick up the three cards. Turn to the spectator on your left and say, "That one's for you." Reach across with your right hand and drop the bottom ace onto the table. When you do so, your right forearm will naturally touch the front edge of the deck. This puts the deck directly between the right hand and the spectator on your right and in perfect line for a top change. Turn your head and body towards the right as you say, "And one for you." to the spectator on your right. As your right hand moves across your body towards the spectator it will naturally pass by the left hand allowing you to execute the top change. Because of the direct line of motion the change is very fast and very natural. The hands naturally come together as you turn eliminating that contrived look commonly seen with a top change. The change is the same as any other top change with the exception of the extra card. The ace adds an extra deceptive element to the change. Both before and after the change you are seen holding a face up ace with a face down card beneath it thus convincing the spectators that nothing has changed. Continue turning to the right and let the top ace slide off and onto the table. Lift the last card up to face level as you look at it and say, "And I'll keep this one, for myself." Smile and dramatically toss the card down onto the table. The reason why this effect is so deceptive is because of the extra card used between the aces. When the spectators see the card between the aces for the first time, they assume that it is the selection. The action of handing each spectator a card is so honest and natural that a switch is the last thing they will expect. In the minds of the spectators the effect is already done and the rest is merely theatrical by-play. If I can stress anything it would be do not rush the top change. Just let the natural movement do all the work for you and you'll have a terrific climax.

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“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.” ~Kin Hubbard~

The Fan Change

by Chris Stolz and Mike Sorensen This effect is the result of an effect that Chris gave to me and I added a little punch to. Chris is a brilliant card worker and I think that his name will soon be etched in the minds of card workers everywhere. EFFECT: A spectator selects a card, memorizes it, and returns it to the deck. The performer gives the deck a flourish fan with the top part of it and turns one of the remaining cards face up. After it's discovered that that's not the card, it's flipped onto the table where it magically changes to the proper selection. SLEIGHTS: One-Handed Fan, Reverse Infinity METHOD: Using whichever method you like best, get a Reverse Infinity card to the bottom of the deck. Now use the selection and return process described in the Infinity chapter. You will now have the Reverse Infinity card just above the selection in the middle of the deck. Give the deck whichever good looking in-the-hands false cut you prefer. You then cut the deck above the Infinity card and fan the upper part of the deck in your right hand. Use the fan to turn over the top card on the left hand portion of the deck. Thumb it off face up onto the fan. (fig.1) Look at the spectator proudly as if you've gotten the right card. They will inform you that you've screwed up. At this point, a few things are going to happen in quick fig.1

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Nash Reloaded succession. Get a break under the top card in the left hand. The thumb of the right hand should now put a little pressure onto the face-up card lying on top of the fan. You then flip the fan towards the table as if you're dumping the card down. As you do this, hold onto the one card and thumb off the top card in the left hand. (fig.2) You now drop the fan on top of the deck and square everything up. Flip the top packet face down. You should now be in the position of having a face-down deck in your left hand and a face-down card that the audience thinks is the wrong one on the table. Ask the spectator what the name of their card was. Snap your fingers over the face-down card, and turn it up to show that it's changed into the correct card. NOTES: This one isn't meant to be the crowning moment of a show. It meant to be a quick fun piece that you can do on the fly. Try to make everything smooth. I've often done this one at gatherings where people were in a rather inebriated state. That makes this effect a bit like sandblasting a soup cracker, but I think it would work really well in any show. fig.2

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“A race track is a place where windows clean people.” ~Danny Thomas~

Out of this … Oh Who Cares!

This effect is based on an old classic. Everybody who's ever picked up a deck has probably learned one version or another of this effect. My only problem with it was that it required you to set up the entire deck in some fashion or another. This version is impromptu and requires no advance setup. The first impromptu version of this effect I ever ran across was in Harry Lorayne's My Favorite Card Tricks. It knocked me through the wall, and after a couple of years of performing it, became the jumping board for this version, which has a nice twist. EFFECT: A spectator freely selects any card, which is then lost back into the deck. The deck is then handed out for a shuffle. After the deck is taken back. The performer fans it with the faces towards him and begins to take out cards at random. He asks the spectator to call out what color he feels the card is. Red or black. The performer sets the card down into two different piles. One for red and one for black. After several cards are laid out, the performer lets the spectator takes over. When the deck is nearing its end, the spectator shows the remainder to indeed be a genuinely shuffled deck. The packets are then turned over to show that the spectator's intuition was perfect, and they have managed to separate all of the reds and blacks except for one card, the selection! SLEIGHTS: Infinity, False Shuffle, Top Palm METHOD: The first thing you need to do in this effect is to get an Infinity card to the bottom as described in the Infinity chapter. Note what it is, it will be important later. You now have a card selected and returned to the pack just below Infinity, again, as described in the Infinity chapter. You now must bring Infinity and the selection to somewhere between half and two thirds down into the deck. Simply do a small cut or something of that nature. I prefer to bring it to just below half so that the effect isn't drawn out too much.

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Nash Reloaded The next section of this effect, if done properly, is very deceptive. Give the deck a quick false shuffle. You now state that you're going to start taking cards out at random, and you want the audience member to look at the back and tell you whether it is red or black. You now fan the cards towards yourself and, from the top, start taking out cards that are the opposite color of your Infinity card (fig.1). This is also a great time to look at what the selection is. Your audience will simply believe that you're taking cards out at random. They won't fig.1 suspect that you're removing cards of just one color! You run through the pack taking out just the one color and placing them in two different piles depending on whether the audience member says red or black. Do this until you come to the Infinity card. You will now have two piles on the table. They will both be of the same color, but the spectator will believe they are two different color piles. You now state that you're going to change piles. Start new piles below the first two by taking out a red and black card, and placing them below the opposite color of the first pile, (red below black and black below red) (fig.2). You now set the pack down, cut at Infinity, and hand the packet to the spectator. They will now have cards of just one color in their hand, but they don't know that. Have them deal face down fig.2 onto the piles they now believe the cards should go on. As they are doing this, palm off the top card of the remaining packet. This should be the selection. (fig.3) After they have completed the dealing process, hand them the remainder of the packet and tell them to examine it and make sure that it was indeed a shuffled packet. You now switch the card to a clipped palm. Move fig.3 your hand to pick up one of the packets that are of the opposite color of the selection. You allow the selection to scoop under the packet as you pick it up. You now place the packet on top of the packet to its side. They are picked up and place on top of the third and then the fourth packet. The pattern should be a square. The fact that you've picked up the packets in the wrong order will go completely unnoticed every time.

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Nash Reloaded Now you end the effect on a bang. You recap at this point and explain the fairness of the whole situation. You look at the spectator and ask how they think they did. They'll usually give you an answer that lends itself to good byplay. Spread the packet face up and show that the colors have been completely segregated except for one card, their selection.(fig.4) NOTES: There have been more variations on this effect than most magicians would ever care to think about. This one is quick and fun. Don't be too serious with it. I've gotten a lot of laughs and fun from this one. I hope it works out well for you.

Martin with Goldfinger & Dove

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fig.4

Nash Reloaded

"I've met a lot of card mechanics in my time, I have yet to meet a retired one." - The Professor, Shade-

The Mechanic

The life of a card cheat is a strange, mysterious, lonely, and at times, deadly one. The card mechanic is probably one of the hardest working of the clandestine professionals. Not many other jobs force you to work on a single move for half of your life just so that no one will ever see it. I personally have spent close to 500 hours just Second Dealing. Imagine if you had to go to your job, and for three and a half months, you were forced to do nothing but Second Deals non-stop all day long. That's a lot of pasteboard. This effect gives the audience a small taste of the arsenal of a true card mechanic, and hopefully, gives them a small dose of respect for them. EFFECT: The performer shows the audience some of the arsenal of the cheat in the context of a game of stud poker. He shows false shuffling, stacking, bum dealing, and a host of powerful cheating sleights without actually exposing them. SLEIGHTS: The Nash Multiple Shift, Packet Transfer Riffle Shuffle, Third Dealing, Second Dealing, Bottom Dealing, Center Dealing METHOD: This is an interesting effect in that you'll seem to be tipping the work to the mark, but you really don’t. I have more fun with this one than almost any other effect I perform. Start with the aces out. Patter about the woes and trials of the card mechanic, and how you are about to show them exactly how one would cheat in a high stakes game of stud poker. Lose the aces into the deck and control them back to the top by way of the Nash Multiple Shift. You now need to transfer two of them to the bottom by way of the Packet Transfer Riffle Shuffle. You can now show the audience that you have just taken the first step towards cheating. Show that the top and bottom cards of the deck are the aces. (fig.1) The first time I tried this fig.1 version of the effect, I was flabbergasted when the audience

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Nash Reloaded actually burst into applause upon showing the aces on top and bottom. It's happened every time since then, so I know it wasn't a fluke. It's great to get applause for doing almost nothing. You now ask any spectator how many people they'd like to see in this game. You now deal thirds into the appropriate number of hands. For your hand, deal yourself the top ace. "Now as you can see, I got the ace because I NEEDED IT!" Reiterate to the audience that just a moment ago, two of the aces were on the top. Show the top card of the deck to be the other top ace, stating that you've kept it for yourself for later. Martin has a great line at this point in his version that I love to sometimes use. "So as you can see, I couldn't have been dealing the top card." He shows the first person’s card. "I couldn't have been dealing the second card." He shows the card in the second position. "It would've been pointless to deal the bottom card." He then flashed the ace on the bottom of the deck. "So, what card was I dealing? …. Any card I want!" You now deal seconds for the same number of hands. Again, giving yourfig.2 self the top ace. (fig.2) You now state that in this particular game, you are playing seven-card stud, which is two down, four up, and one down. Quickly flash the ace on the bottom. You now deal stud tops to all the hands. When you reach yourself, deal a stud bottom. The audience's eyes at this point are worth the practice. You now talk about how in some games, any player can at any time call for a cut. You show the last ace on the bottom. Cut the cards and using the Kelly-Ovette Actions with the right hand, side-jog the last ace as you complete the cut. Just as in a standard center deal. You now ask the audience how they would like to see the last ace, face-down as in draw or face-up as in stud. You now do as they wish, dealing tops for the hands and center dealing the fig.3 final ace for yourself. (fig.3) NOTES: I'm not going to sugar coat this for you. This effect is not easy. It's taken several years of practice for me to get it smooth enough for any audience. The end pay-off however, far outweighs the amount of work needed to solidify it. Good luck.

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“The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.” ~Ambrose Bierce~

Four and a Little More aka "Four four aces – plus a little more"

Includes two lead in effects

THE HISTORY: Alright, this is the big one. This effect is destined to become a classic. That may seem strange seeing as it's over four decades old, but read through it and you'll see why I say this. The story of how I came by this one is kind of amusing. Back in September of '03, Martin and I were visiting The Magic Castle in Hollywood CA. We were in the library downstairs having a great time searching through some of the wonderful old tomes of magic stored there. I was looking through the book that contained the complete magical knowledge of Milt Larsen, the co-founder of The Magic Castle, and finding it a rather easy read (inside joke). Suddenly, I hear Martin call me from over near the magazine area. I closed Milt's book, realizing that a bookmark would probably be unnecessary (inside joke). I walked over to where Martin was reading through the old archives of The Linking Ring magazine. He pointed out a picture of a young man that had the most deviously perfect card man look I'd ever seen. He had the perfect white and black tux with white gloves, neatly trimmed moustache and goatee, Jet-black greased back hair. The look was not unlike how the devil might appear if he came to earth and got an undercover job as a concierge. I was about to ask who it was until I looked at the name underneath and found that it was Martin! The picture was from the June 1964 issue that had been dedicated to the top Canadian magicians. I wanted to get a copy of the picture, so Gordon Bean was kind enough to make a photocopy of it for me. I went back and opened up Milt's book again and funny enough, I opened right to the same page I was on. (inside joke) Several months later, I was going through a stack of papers on my office desk at home. I came upon that copy of Martin's picture, and for the first time I noticed that an effect was listed underneath it. I considered myself a fairly knowledgeable person when it came to his work, but I had never even

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Nash Reloaded heard of this effect before. It was called "Four Four Aces – Plus A Little More.” I looked at the stack that the effect required and was immediately impressed. I set up and began going through the effect. I got about a quarter of the way through when my heart sunk through the floor. The rest of the effect was on other pages! I ran outside and screamed at a rather conveniently available cat that was sitting on my fence asking him how he could be so stupid as to not copy the rest of the pages. The neighbors chose that time to go back inside. I abandoned the effect with the feeling of an archeologist who had just found an empty Egyptian tomb. Last May, I visited the Castle again. I was visiting with Rocco when the memory of the effect came back to my mind like lightning hitting a small bunny rabbit in an open field. (please pause here so that you can enjoy that wonderful visual image.) I didn't even say anything. I just turned and ran downstairs. Rocco must have thought I'd gone mad, or maybe I'd been to Tommie's earlier that day (inside joke). I went down and asked Gordon if I could look through the magazines again. I searched for over two hours, but I couldn't remember where the dang thing was. The archeologist had failed again. I wandered back upstairs to have a talk with Rocco and tried to explain to him that I hadn't gone completely insane. It was difficult. Fast-forward to later that month. I had flown back to L.A. to film some material with Martin. We were at the Castle, and the same epiphany struck my brain. I walked over to Martin with the look of a man who was about to read the last page of a murder mystery. "Martin? Where's that trick?" No explanation, no nothing. He just looked at me and said, "June '64. Page 70." My jaw hit the floor. "How'd you remember that?" I asked. "I don't get written up very often. It's a memorable event when I do." Those of you who know Martin know that he has a mind like a steel trap. (How often he catches something is another matter.) We went down to the library and finally found the whole effect. The quest was complete. Birds began to sing. It turned out to be a prop that went off accidentally. Almost a year of pure aggravation was over. I had the effect in my hands, and now I can pass it to you. THE ROUTINE: The routine is a six-part effect that grows progressively more amazing. Here are the cons. The stack is difficult, the method requires a lot of pure memorization, the learning process could take months, you must be a master of perfect Faro Shuffles both in and out, and the effect runs about fifteen minutes, so you can't just pull it out at a bar or your cousin's bachelor party or something like that. So why would you find it of interest? Because, quite simply, it's one of the strongest effects that Martin A. Nash has ever done. I would personally take it toe-to-toe with Jacks or Better, or even Ovation. After its publishing in 1964, it has only been done by Martin a couple of times. I would bet that almost no one has ever seen it. After Ovation was invented, this effect was set

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Nash Reloaded aside and forgotten. That's why I'm so glad to be able to bring it to you again. If done properly and with the right attitude and flair, this one could very well make you a star. Since the effect requires a full deck stack, you will probably need to do a deck switch. We will cover Martin's favorite that he often uses in the Ovation routine. It's imbedded in an effect and has a supplementary effect in between it and the finale so that the audience completely forgets the deck switch. I call those types of effects cleansers because they clean the audience's brain of any suspicion. I'll cover the switch effect and the cleanser, and then I'll go into the full Four and a Little More routine. Let me first explain the most difficult bit of preparation needed for the deck switch. The jacket that Martin wears has a specially modified pocket. It has two chambers that are separated by a simple piece of cloth. The stack deck goes into the chamber closest to your body with the faces towards you. If you look at the stack below, you'll see that the card on the face of the deck will be the six of diamonds (6D). You will need to find that card in the deck you're using for the rest of your show at some point before this next effect and get it into proper forcing position.

THE STACK From top to face AH, 6H, 3H, 3C, 2C, 10H, 6C, QS, 10D, QH, 9S, JC, 9C, AD, JD, KH, 7S, KC, 2H, 8H, 3D, 5C, 4H, QC, JH, 8D, AC, 7C, 7H, 10C, KD, KS, 9H, 8C, 2S, 4D, 7D, 5H, 4S, AS, 5D, QD, 9D, 5S, 4C, 2D, 8S, 6S, 3S, 10S, JS, 6D. This deck goes into your secret pocket. You will switch it in after the cleanser effect.

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Nash Reloaded The Side-Pocket Swindle EFFECT: The spectator locates a selected card that has been lost in the deck by using his sense of touch and sight control. SLEIGHTS: Forcing a card METHOD: A good story to go with this and the next effect is telling your audience how people used to ask you what's the easiest way to find a card lost in the deck, and what's the hardest way to find a card. Contrive to have your force card, (6D) in a forcible position, usually on the bottom of the deck. Explain to the audience that what they are about so see is so difficult that your success rate is only about 80%. Not perfect, but good enough to attempt it. You are going to force their card, but there are two important things to take into account. One, the force must not look like a force. It must appear as if though they have a totally random choice. This is important because if they suspect a force, the whole effect is dead. Two, the force must be sure-fire. If you miss, you're screwed. The force that Martin uses is Harry Lorayne's Fan Prediction #3 from Close-Up Card Magic. Briefly, hold the deck in dealing position and use the right fingers to jog the bottom card about an inch towards yourself. As you spread the deck to have a card selected, let the bottom card ride under the pack. Have the spectator touch any card. Break the pack under that point, drop the left-hand packet, and square up the pack in the right hand. Strip off the bottom card, (the force card) and place it facedown on the table. Have them look at the card and show it around. Ribbon spread the entire deck, and have them insert it back into the deck. At this point you should try and guesstimate the number position which they have placed their card. Tell the audience that their card is now at about such and such down in the deck. It's important that you try and get it close. Your statement won't be challenged, but the closer you are, the more credible your effect will seem. Tell the audience member to now give the deck any two fair shuffles they wish. Also explain that you won't be talking during the shuffles because you are going to attempt to follow the card by sight alone simply by watching the deck. As the spectator shuffles, focus like a laser beam on the deck. Make this moment intense. After they've finished the first shuffle, under your breath, say a random number. Please, for the love of all that is good on this earth, make it a number between one and 52. I've seen magicians screw this up, and it sounds funny, but I swear to you, it's not. After they've finished the second shuffle, utter another number. It now appears that you've been able to keep track of the location of the card. This is totally

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Nash Reloaded false, but considering the things that they've seen and are about to see, the audience will eat this up. You are now in a beautiful position. The deck is shuffled, you know what the selected card is. The audience thinks that you know where it is, and the duplicate is on the face of the deck in your pocket. Some magicians dream about these kinds of things in their warm beds at night. Explain to the audience that you're now going to count to the selection. You used to do it blindfolded, but people would be suspicious and think that you could see. You've now found a better way in which it would be impossible to cheat in such a fashion. You now stand up and open your jacket pocket so that the empty compartment is easily accessible. Have the spectator stand and place the deck into the pocket with the faces towards you. If needs be, say that you have them that way so that you know which way you're counting. Do not tell the spectators to look in your pocket and make sure there's nothing there. If you say this, the spectator will assume that you've made sure that something is in there can't be seen, and you're showing that fact off. They could see that it was empty when they dropped the deck in. You don't need to drill it into them. Remember what Al Baker said. "Don't run if you're not being chased." Don't arouse unnecessary suspicion in your audience. Now that the deck is in your pocket, have them look and make sure they can see the cards. Sit back down, place your hand in the pocket chamber that has the stacked deck, and begin to rummage around. Don't screw up the order. As you do this, begin talking to your audience. Just random, fun, gambling related talk. You'll find some good lines and comments peppered throughout this book. As you are doing all of this, count the number that you said their card was at by slowly taping your fingers on the table, or touching your fingers to your thumb. Don't make a big deal of it, but some people will notice that you are trying to count to where you think their cards is. When you've reached the number, pause for a moment, and pull out the card at the face of the deck (6D). Place it face down on the table, and take a quick peek at it. Ask the spectator to name their card. Once they do, get a kind of shocked / worried look on your face. Give your audience light apology. Tell them "I'm sorry. As I said, I don't get this every time. This is one of the times…" Reach down and turn the card over. "…I got it." Wait for a moment and then put their card back on the bottom of the deck. "Now, that's the hard way of finding a card. Now, I'll show you the easy way." At this point, you could go right into Four and a Little More, but doing an effect like that right after the deck has been out of sight is suspicious. So, we are going to do the cleanser effect before the finale. This will make the audience totally forget that the deck went into your pocket.

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Nash Reloaded One-Shuffle Triumph EFFECT: After the spectator has chosen a card, the deck is shuffled face up into face down. Then, with no messing about whatsoever, the entire deck rights itself except for the spectators now face up card. SLEIGHTS: The Riffle Peek, The Zarrow Shuffle, Daryl's Triumph Display METHOD: This one is simple, but it really blows the audience away. Riffle through the deck and have a spectator peek a card. Maintain the break where they stay stop. Try to control the peek so that it lands somewhere near the middle. After doing it, you'll have a break under their selection. Drop one card so that your break is now above the selection. Separate the deck at this point and turn the top packet face up. Ribbon spread the packets so that they can see the condition of them. Gather the packets up. The selection should be on the top of the face down packet. Explain that if you shuffle the cards face up into face down, that it would make it considerably more difficult to find the card. You are now going to execute a Zarrow Shuffle. It will appear as though you are shuffling the cards face up into face down. Here is the method. Do a soft riffle shuffle, but have the corners just barely touch each other. Hold the top card on the right until last. When you drop it, jog it over to the left. Tilt the deck towards your audience just a little so that they think you're checking the quality of your shuffle. In doing this, the packets will pull apart. Push the left packet into the space between the top card and the rest of the pack. It will appear as if you're simply pushing the packets together. Square the pack and set it down. You should now be in the position of having the face down selection on top, followed by half the pack face up, and the other half the pack face down. You will now do Daryl's Triumph Display. Have the deck sitting horizontally in front of you. Riffle your thumb up the back until you get into the first few face up cards. Break the top portion off with your right hand and put it to the right. Now run off the bottom third of each packet and break them off. Put them about three times their length forward. Now run off half of what's left, break the packets off, and put them in between the others. You'll now have a very pretty display of six packets alternating face up and face down. This display should be done in staggering beats. Do each cut on a beat. Overall there should be five beats. Then gather up the packets in the reverse order so that the deck is back in the same order. Again, do this in five beats. As you're doing this display explain that the shuffle has indeed mixed them up pretty well. Now tell them that as they can see, there are some cards face up, some face down, and even some that are back to back. Mimic these comments by cutting high in the deck and showing, cutting low in the deck and showing, and then cutting at the natu-

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Nash Reloaded ral break for the face to face cards. Rotate the top packet over, show it, and put it back so that the top card now goes into the middle. Now, say to the spectator, "By the way, what was the name of your card?" As they tell you, ask them, "Was it really the ___ of ___? That's interesting because that's the only card in the deck that wouldn't turn back over." Ribbon spread the deck to show the selection face up in the face down deck. Take out the card, and put it back in the same spot face down. Gather up the deck, and get ready for the finale.

Four and a Little More EFFECT: Part 1: The deck is shuffled several times, and two red aces are shown to have come to the top of the deck. They are set aside. The deck is then shuffled some more as the performer attempts to find the black aces. He continually misses, setting the incorrect cards aside. He then discovers that the reason he couldn't find the black aces is due to the fact that they've switched with the red aces and are now on the table. The red aces are show to have taken the place of the discarded incorrect cards. Part 2: The aces are then lost into four different parts of the deck in the fairest manner possible. The deck is again shuffled. The performer shows that the aces have once again come to the top. Part 3: The aces are openly placed in a row on the table. The deck is slapped down onto each ace one at a time. Each time, the ace immediately jumps to the top of the deck. Part 4: The aces are once again lost into the deck. It is shuffled repeatedly. The performer then spells out the ace of clubs dealing out one card for each letter, and ends right at the ace of clubs. It is then put back into the deck face up and after a shuffle, it is shown to have found the next ace. The process is then repeated and the other aces are found. Part 5: After the aces are set aside, the performer spells out each king dealing one card for each letter. Each king is spelled to perfectly. Part 6: The face-down packets by each ace and king are turned up to show the two through queen of the corresponding suit now in order.

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Nash Reloaded SLEIGHTS: False Shuffle, False Cut, Double Lift, Triple Lift, Side Steal, Double Cut, The Faro Shuffle (both in and out), Duck Dealing, Ribbon Spread, Ribbon Spread Turn Over Move METHOD: The deck should be in the stack that is shown above. I won't go too much into patter. I'll let you develop that for yourself. I'll cover some aspects, but you should try to make the effect fit your personality. As you practice this effect, have patience. I had to reset my stack and start over at least a dozen times before I fought all the way through it. The payoff will be well worth it, so just exercise constraint towards throwing your stacked deck at the wall. Also, one very important thing, please quickly check the sleights section of this book and make sure you know the difference between an in and an Out-Faro before you start, or you'll be contemplating hara-kiri before long. All Faros throughout the effect must be perfect. NOTE: Whenever it says to cut to a specific card, the card listed will be the one at the face of the upper packet. Phase 1. Finding the aces. Give the deck a quick false shuffle. Ribbon spread it face up across the table, and do the turnover move. Gather the deck and cut at the 8D. Do one In-Faro. Cut the deck at the 9C and do another In-Faro. The four aces are now on top of the deck. Do a triple lift to show the AD. Turn it back over and thumb off the top card (AS) face down onto the right side of the table as you say "Ace of Diamonds." Do a false cut. Triple lift to show AH. Turn the triple back over and thumb off the top card (AC) face down onto the table next to the other card. Call it, "Ace of Hearts.” Cut at the 8H and do an Out-Faro. Double Lift to show the 6C. Claim that you missed. Turn it back over and thumb off the top card (AD) onto the left side of the table. Cut at the QH and do an Out-Faro. Do a Double Lift to show the 3C. Claim to have missed it again. Turn the double back over but hold a break underneath it. Double cut the double to the bottom of the deck. Do another double to show the 10S. Turn it back over and thumb off the top card (AH) onto the table on top of the other card on the left (AD). Ribbon spread the deck face up and pretend to look for the black aces. Gather the deck and say that you've realized what happened. "They've gone over here." Turn over the right two tabled cards that the audience believes to be the red aces and show them to be the black ones. "Oh Yeah, the reds ended up over here." Turn over the two tabled cards on the left that the audience believes to be two indifferent cards and show that they've changed into the red aces.(fig.1)

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Nash Reloaded Phase 2. Losing the Aces. Place the aces onto the table face up in SHCD order from left to right. Hold the deck face up and cut off about a quarter of it. Place it face up below the AD. Cut off another quarter and place face up it below the AC. Cut the remaining cards in half, placing the first half face up below the AH, and the last of the cards face up below the AS. Pick up the left hand packet under the AS. Fan it face up. Place the AS between the 8C and KD. Close the fan leaving the ace up jogged about half its length and place it face up back on the table. Do the same fig.1 now with the AH packet, placing the AH between the 6S and 4C. Do the same with the AC packet, placing the AC between the 10H and 10D. Lastly, do the same with the AD packet, placing the AD between the 4H and 8H. Now, gather the packets placing the AD packet onto the AC packet. Then both onto the AH packet and then lastly onto the AS packet. Square the protruding aces into the deck. Hold the deck in overhand shuffling position. Run six cards as singles and throw the rest of the deck on top. This brings six cards from top to bottom reversing their order. Cut the deck at the 10D and In-Faro. Cut at the 6S and In-Faro again. Show that the four aces have now come back to the top. Phase 3. Through the Deck. Pick up the four aces and place them face up on the face-down deck in SHCD order. (The AS being next to the face down pack, the AD being at the face.) Fan the aces over to show them. As you close the fan, get a break below the third face down card. (There should be seven cards above the break.) Pick up at the break and use the left thumb to draw off the top card (AD). Lift the packet half way through the draw causing the AD to drop face down onto the deck. Repeat this move for the AC and AH. Drop the remainder of the right hand packet (three face-down cards and the face-up AS) onto the deck. Now turn the AS face down proper. The situation from the top of the deck should be this, AS, 8H, 10H, 4C, AH, AC, AD. Pick up the AS and flash it, calling it "Ace of Spades," and deal it face down to the left. Deal off the next card (8H) without flashing it. Place it to the right of AS calling it "Ace of Diamonds." Now place the 10H to the right of the 8H without flashing it, calling it "Ace of Clubs." Do a Double

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Nash Reloaded Lift to show AH. Turn it back over and thumb off the top card (4C) to the right calling it "Ace of Hearts." Slap the deck down onto the far right card that the audience thinks is the AH. (actually the 4C) Say "Ace of Hearts." Pick the whole thing up and snap your fingers. Turn over the top card to show the AH has penetrated through the deck. Place it back on the table face up. Now, slap the deck onto the next card saying "Ace of Clubs." Pick the whole thing up, snap, and show the AC has penetrated. Place it back face up on the table. Slap the deck onto the next card saying "Ace of Diamonds." Pick up the whole thing, snap, and turn over the top card to show AD has penetrated. Place it back face up onto the table. Now, the AS is a little different. Slap the deck down onto the last card which is infact the AS. Lift the deck with your right hand in a Biddle Grip and show the AS is indeed on the bottom. As you turn your hand back down, use your left hand to side steal the AS from the bottom and place it back on top. Give the deck a riffle to cover the action. Snap, and show the AS has made the journey. Place it back on the table.(fig.2) Phase 4. Spelling the Searcher Ace. Ribbon spread the deck face up on the table. Insert the AC to the right of the 7C, the AD to the right of the 4S, the AS to the right of the QS and the AH to the right of the 8S. (fig.3) Square the deck. Cut at the JH and do one In-Faro. Hold the deck in dealing position and spell 'Ace of Clubs," turning one card face up onto the table for each letter. Do a Double Lift and show the AC. (fig.4) Leave the double face up and turn the deck over. Strip out the AC from the bottom fig. 2 being careful not to expose the other reversed card (AS). Place the AC face up on the table. Drop the deck face up on the tabled face-up cards. Pick up the deck and turn it face down. Cut the deck at the 6H and do an Out-Faro. Ribbon spread the deck to show the reversed AS. Leave it in position and do a turn-over move to show the position of the cards. Close the deck and hold it face down. Cut the deck at the 9D and do an Out-Faro. Ribbon spread the cards face down and do the turn-over move to show the AS has found the first red fig.3 ace. Take the red ace from the spread, but leave everything else

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Nash Reloaded as-is. Gather the deck face down, cut at the 5C and do an InFaro. Again, ribbon spread the pack and do the turnover move to show the AS has found the other red ace. Remove both aces from the spread and gather the pack, being careful to not disturb their order. Phase 5. Spelling Kings and Things Place the aces face up on the table in SHDC order from fig.4 left to right. Cut the deck at the 10D and do an In-Faro. Cut the deck at the 6D and do an In-Faro. Spell "King of Spades" by dealing cards one at a time into a packet below the AS. The king will appear on the final "s.” Turn it face up and place it halfway underneath the AS in Blackjack style. Cut the deck at 4D. Spell "King of Hearts" as before dealing one card at a time below the AH. The king appears on the final "s.” Place the king with its ace. Cut at 3D and do one more In-Faro. Cut the pack at the QC and drop the upper portion below the AC. With the remainder of the cards in your hand, spell "King of Diamonds" by putting one card from the top of the packet to the bottom for each letter. This is known as "Duck Dealing." The king will appear on the "s.” Place the king with the ace and the remainder of the cards below them. Pick up the packet below the AC. Hold them in overhand shuffling position and run five cards placing the rest on top. Run five more placing the rest on top. The KC will now be the top card. Show it and place it with its ace. Place the remainder of the cards below them. Phase 6. A Little More. At this point, your audience will practically be on the floor with amazement. Pick up the face-down packet in the spades column. Explain, "What would make this effect perfect would be if all the cards from the shuffled, cut, mixed, and shuffled pack were...." trail off and start turning the cards in the packet face up one at a time. The audience will explode. After you've dealt the spades, pick up the other packets one at a time and spread them showing the entire deck has righted itself. fig.5

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Nash Reloaded NOTES: As you can see, this one is a masterpiece. I have had enormous success with it. The learning process is difficult. Don't get frustrated with it and give up. I still use a hidden cheat sheet when I do it, but if you give it time and do what is needed, this one will make a reputation for you P.S. If you are a master of the Tabled Faro and can pull it off that way, you'll make magic history with this one.

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Deck Grips The following are demonstrations of different types of deck grips and advanced palms.

Dealer’s Grip

Mechanic’s Grip

Bottom Deal Grip

Biddle Grip

Lateral Palm

Modified Mechanic’s Grip

Gambler’s Cop

Tenkai Palm

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The Essays

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In 1971, Martin Nash appeared on the “World Surprise Show” in Japan. Fuji Television was thrilled with the performance and sent him the letter you see here.

A photo shot at the filming of the “World Surprise Show.”

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“Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.” ~The Color of Money~

How to Practice

Practicing is a very personal subject. People’s practicing style has a lot to do with their personal desires, commitment, attitude, and self discipline. I'd like to give you a run down of my practicing style. It was developed for me by Martin when he found that I couldn't get my pull-through shuffles to look right. He helped me develop many of these techniques for how to work on sleights and material. These may not work for you, because as I said, everyone practices differently. But, maybe you'll get a little bit of a boost in the right direction as I have. Step 1: Plan. This may sound barking mad, but it's necessary. I practice several hours each day by myself, but many times I'll go to my brother's house and have a magical jam session with him. If we don't have a plan laid out for what we are going to work on, we will usually just screw around and end up playing poker or golf or something. When I'm working by myself, the first thing I do is sit down and make a list of what I want to accomplish, and the things I feel need the most work. I will then set a time limit on how long I'm going to work, and what time will be spent working on which item. This may all sound tedious, but it works. It helps to keep the mind focused on the task at hand, and helps to bring you back from a mental wandering. Step 2: Hunt and Gather. Again, this is important. I like to be prepared for when the session begins. I hate having to get up for something I need or forgot. I'll gather up about five or six different types of decks, (I like to keep well rounded) my mat, my SortKwik, a big drink, something to munch on, dig out some tunes to work to, and go to work. Just use your plan to make a list of everything you'll need for the session. Step 3: Quiet! Turn off the phone and tell your loved ones to leave you alone under penalty of death. (Give them the same respect when they have something they need to work on.)

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Step 4: Force yourself to do it. Crazy as this sounds, I've actually met people that hate to practice. They'll mess around for a bit and then go do something else. A structured plan is like a torture to them. I personally love to practice, but sometimes, you may need to push yourself a bit to actually do it. Step 5: Take a break. This is, strangely enough, the most important thing on the list. It is highly recommended that you get a timer and set it to go off in fifteen minutes. The brain has a hard time pushing itself for much longer than that. It's the same reason that weight lifters try to avoid too many reps. At a point, it's just not doing the body any good anymore. When I attended LVMI in '03, Martin gave the advice that one should take a break every fifteen minutes and let the mind do something else so that you don't burn out, and Jamy Ian Swiss emphatically stated, "That right there is worth the entire price of the convention by itself." Step 6: Analyze. This is also a very important step. After you've completed a practice session, good or bad, analyze it. Look at what you've accomplished. Look at what you may still be lacking in. This will go a long way towards helping you plan your next session. You'll be able to keep track of how you are progressing. Otherwise, you're kinda flying blind.

I know that these steps may seem like a lot of work, but I make you a promise, from one magician to another. If you use any of these steps, you WILL see a dramatic improvement in your skill level. Structure can take you a lot further than simply mucking about.

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“What’s a Harry Lorayne?” ~Martin A. Nash, 1962~

Building Your Character

Have you ever heard a "what if?" story before? They are the kind of stories that explore how history would change or life would be different if a small moment were changed or missing. Think in your mind for a moment if, on that fateful day back in the sixties, Sid Lorraine had never given Martin Nash the tag line that has served him so well. We would never have had the pleasure of enjoying the work of "The Charming Cheat.” Many magicians spend a lot of their time focusing on the effects of their show. They take the time to select music and write a script, but precious little time is spent on themselves and their character. This, in my opinion, is just as important. I would like to discuss what I feel are the two types of magicians as far as character goes. I know I'm going to get angry email about this, but bear with me. First, is what I call the magic-store-cookie-cutter magician. I am not referring to the men and women who sit behind the counter and help you expand your repertoire, but those to whom they sell. The magician behind the counter has a very specific style. They have just a couple of minutes to demonstrate the product for you in hopes of convincing you to buy it. I know this because I spend my time behind the counter as well. Their technique is sometimes sterile, but it is near flawless. In a successful store, the magician has probably done this effect more times before lunch than you will in your lifetime. You would be hard pressed to find a better resource for technical education. The problem is that they demo just that effect, not a lengthy half-hour show. You don't get to see a lot of the flair of who they are. Now, many of these guys have great magic careers outside of the shop wherein they are able to demonstrate the full range of their performance skills, but in the shop, it's show, go, and move on to the next mall rat. This demonstration is what sticks in the buyer’s mind. They just saw the effect performed perfectly and they were amazed. They now go home and practice this effect for days and days using the exact same presentation they saw. They now put together a show that contains several effects that are a cookie-cutter image of what they've seen in the shop. It lacks flow and feel. They don't inject themselves and their character into the show.

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Nash Reloaded Then, there is the other type of magician, the seasoned professional who has fallen into the groove. Take a look at people like David Williamson, Rocco, and Jeff McBride, just to name a few. When you sit down to watch Williamson, plan on holding your sides, because you are definitely going to laugh. He is probably one of the funniest men in the business today. He is funny, exocentric, and very in your face. He also has the added bonus of being a complete magical genius in both technique and script. Next, look at Rocco. He is the perfect cross between James Bond, and a Jersey thug. He is suave, debonair, and just a bit intimidating. You love to watch the perfect technique, but you probably don't want to meet him down a dark alley on a bad day. He is a man who is in control of every moment of the show, and he knows it. Jeff takes it in another direction. When you sit down at a McBride performance you are taken through a whirlwind of magical moments. He can span a whole array of magic and emotion in a single show. You go from ancient amazement to high-tech fear in a very short space of time. Men like these have developed a character and style that fits who they are. Then there is Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat. He gives the presence of a professional sharp that knows he is in control and can therefore relax and share with you his craft. He is a gambler, and a good one. If you have never seen Martin perform, read my introduction to the book and imagine him in the story that I tell. That is who The Charming Cheat is. Developing a character can be a simple thing, but it is crucial. Let who you are dictate who your character is. It is difficult to be something or someone that you're not. When Martin was first given his title, he was worried about it, but it soon began to stick. It helped him in the development of his shows. It helps to ask yourself how you want your character to react to what you are doing. Is he having fun, messing around or is he serious as if this is his business and belief? Is your character gruff and pedantic, or bane and glib? Jeff Hobson loves to have a party on stage, whereas Tony Andruzzi took the slow ride to hell and loved to drag you along screaming. All of these people had an angle or a tag that helped them stick in the minds of their audience. A tag line will do just that. A great example of this is Bodine Balasco. He is a west coast based magician turned motivational speaker, and boy can he motivate. When he was still performing magic, he had a tag line he used during the show that helped. "You know, every where I go, and I've been everywhere I ever have been, people say to me, 'Bodine, How did you do that?" By the second time he says it, it's stuck in the audience's heads. By the third time, people are saying it with him, and consequently, people never forget his name.

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Nash Reloaded A good name or tag line will stay with you. When Martin was early in his career, he had an interesting event happen that demonstrated this fact. He was in London with his wife and daughter taking a walk in the park, when a gentleman walked over to him from across the park and asked him if he was The Charming Cheat. Now, Martin had never even been to England before, but here was a man who recognized him and immediately associated him with his title. These days, a stage name is not necessary. Back in the old days, it used to be, but not anymore. Martin A. Nash is his real name. Some people think it's a stage name, but it isn't. When I'm performing, I'm known as Michael J. H. Sorensen, card mechanic. It's my real name and what I do. Trying to use the -idini or -azmo endings have become passe. It's copying someone else and doesn't carry any weight any more. All due respect to those who use it successfully, I just feel that it's a little cheesy now. Your own name should be good enough, and a tag line doesn't hurt. Your demeanor both physically and verbally is very important. Don't look scruffy. If you look scruffy, your audience will see your magic as scruffy. Jeff McBride made a great comment on that. "You should always dress like you're going somewhere better later.” Martin keep himself elegant to a fault. Every time I've been around him, he always looks immaculate. He's well groomed. His hair is nice, his fingernails are clean, and he always dresses nice. I honestly don't believe that he owns a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He talks about how one should look nice no matter what. Even if you're just going to the corner store to get a quart of milk, you should look good. You never know who you are going to meet. You never know who the next potential client is. You should let your character shine through when you are on stage. Be gracious but interesting. When I'm performing, I wear a very specific outfit. I wear a black suit with a grey turtleneck. I always have on my lucky bracelet and thumb ring. It's a trademark, and it's memorable. Martin always wears a very elegant tuxedo while performing. He looks the part that he is playing, and that's who he is. The Charming Cheat became Martin. The general point is that who you are is just as important as what you're doing. Be mindful of who you are and how you're perceived. It will help you to grow.

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"An ad-lib is only good after you've used it a thousand times." ~Bob Hope~

Managing Your Audience

"Managing your audience is perhaps one of the hardest, yet one of the easiest things to do." Martin has been generous enough to share with me his thoughts and feelings on this very important subject, and I would like to now share those thoughts with you. Since Martin was a very young performer, he has never had a heckler. That may sound strange, but it's true. There are very specific reasons for this and the first and foremost is who he is. If you ever see him perform, you'll see what I'm talking about. From the moment he walks through the curtain, he commands respect from the audience. Everything from his appearance to his smile will catch you. He portrays the aura of a man who is there to have fun, but to do a job as well. When you show to your audience that you are serious about what you do, they'll pay attention. It's good to have your audience with you mentally. If you go too fast for your audience, you'll lose them. Then, they are still trying to figure out what you just did, while you’re already halfway through the next effect. Then they stop paying attention. They start talking and others start talking, and your show unravels. On the other hand, if you go too slowly for your audience, they'll get bored and start talking, and your show unravels. Keep your audience in the show. Make them feel that they are a part of it, because in fact they are. If it weren't for them, you'd be out of a job. Martin will not tolerate talking in his show. It's like a cancer in your audience. It will slowly start eating away at them, and soon, it's out of control. If Martin is performing and two people start talking to each other, he has a simple method of dealing with it. He just looks at them, and he continues to look at them. Soon, everyone else is looking at them, and they'll stop. At that point, he continues on exactly where he left off. He doesn't flat out embarrass them, but he makes it known that he won't tolerate talking. This leads into another important key. Don't embarrass your audience. If you observe an audience, you'll notice something strange. Nobody wants to sit in the front row, and they sure don't want to volunteer. This is because they have been to, or seen magic shows before, and the performer has no reservations about embarrassing the spectators for the simple and pathetic sake of

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Nash Reloaded getting a laugh. How many times have we all seen the bra trick done? This is perhaps the worst piece of magic that can be done. Think about how the lady must feel, and how her husband must feel, or when you throw in an embarrassing joke or vulgar line. These people are here to help make you a superstar. Why go and screw it all up for one stupid joke? You should make your show the type where when they come to see you again, they want to sit in the front. They want to volunteer. They want to tell their friends about how amazing and entertaining you were. And most of all, they want to give you their time and money. This is something that Martin talked to me about at great length. It's a simple yet powerful concept to live and work by. Think about this, how much money do you think a man like Howard Hughes, JFK, Al Capone, or even some poor nobody would pay you for one more half-hour of life? That's a real sniff of Java. You need to think about the fact that not only has this room full of people given you a half-hour, or an hour of their lives, but they are also paying you their hard earned money that they sweated and toiled for. Let's say that you have 30 people at your show, and you don't give it your all. You have now wasted 15 to 30 hours, and these people can never have it back. As a magician, and as a fellow man, you need to make sure that they feel it's worth it. Most people don't realize how serious it is when they say a simple thing like "Boy, that was a half-hour wasted." That's a halfhour that they'll never have back. You need to do your part and make sure that you deserve the time they've given you. Another point we need to discuss is profanity. Martin is of the strong opinion that it has absolutely no place in magic. Decades ago, comedians used to use profanity for its shock value. It no longer has that. Everybody's heard these words. They're no big surprise. If you sat in a room with a person you've paid good money to and they started to swear at you, you'd get up and leave. What makes you think that your audience won't do the same? There is no need for swearing. It adds nothing to the show, and the only thing that it'll do is build up contempt and even disgust for the performer. I've been a performing magician for a couple of decades now, and I speak from experience when I say, there are two specific words that you will never ever get away with, taking the Lord's name in vain, and the F-bomb. These are the biggest mistakes you can pull in your show. You'd be better off if you dropped your stacked deck without an out. I made the mistake several years ago of dropping an F-bomb in a card show that I was performing. It was for a group that I had performed for before several times. It was a young lawyer's association party at a local bar. I felt that the situation was fun, I was having a good time, and in the middle of watching a spectator shuffle, I let it fly. The situation didn't turn bad, but I could tell that the feeling had changed. I have never been invited back. Don't let temptation, or even habit get in the way of giving your audience what they deserve, respect.

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Nash Reloaded It is crucial that you give your audience your all, but it is just as crucial that you maintain control of them. One of my favorite old gag lines was "Hi, my name is Mike. I have a gun in my jacket and I know how to use it. Now, who wants to see some card tricks." Effective, yes, but it doesn't endear you to your audience very well. After years of performances both good and bad, I have learned one important rule. If you have confidence in yourself and your show, and you project this well, your audience will naturally respond better. You must always maintain control of your situation. A wonderful piece of advice given by Eugene Burger is to write down a word for word, move for move script. That way, if you or your audience stray, you know exactly how to get back on track. Ad-libs can then be peppered into your show and you can take those little side roads when they come up, yet you still have a way to maintain flow. In my shows, I have something that I have never seen in another performer's show. I let the audience ask questions throughout the set, though I only acknowledge and answer these questions between effects and only when it doesn't interrupt the flow. This gives the audience the chance to feel more in tune with what's going on, but I am always truthful. You should never deceive on something you don't have to. I have my little answers for those classic questions like "How did you do that?" or "Do you make good money doing this?" I always love the answers like "Very well thank you!" or "Do you have my check?" As stated before though, you must always be as honest as possible with your audience. My wife has made the comment to me many times, "Yeah, but you're a professional liar!" That's true. Deception is my business, but there is a difference in our business between entertaining your audience and insulting their intelligence. Let's say for instance that you have a lovely little prop you bought last week at the local magic shop. It strangely enough, like so many other props built these days, has beautiful Chinese characters and artwork all over it. You may be tempted to include such lines in your patter as "I picked this up last time I was in China." Chances are that some or all of the people in your audience know you, and they know very well that you've never been to China. It just makes you look silly. Make your patter truthful. Make it a part of your life. People can easily pick up on the fact that you’re being honest with them, and they will respect you for it. There are times when this can be circumvented. I once saw a performance of Rocco’s at The Magic Castle. He was in his 30's at the time. He told the audience that he was going to show them an effect he had been doing for about 45 years. This was obviously ludicrous, and that's what made it such a funny line. He then went on to say, "It's a trick I learned from the Queen of England… well, … that's who he told me he was. I believed him." It was a fun set to watch, and it didn't cross the line of insulting the audience's intelligence. There are times when an exaggeration can get you in trouble. I've seen card workers that ran through the deck and commented that they were memorizing the order of

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Nash Reloaded the deck. They, of course, were not. It was just a line, but if someone challenges them on it, they are in trouble. Don't claim to have a power over the deck you don't have. Unless of course you can fake it! Applause is a crucial part of the show and of audience interaction. One of the biggest situations facing magicians now days is that there are times to applaud and then there's not. How do you let your audience know which is which? That all comes down to scripting your act which we will talk about later, but make sure your audience is with you and that you don't force them into awkward pauses. You also must learn to accept the applause as it comes. Don't expect it to come all the time, but understand that this is the way in which your audience is showing their appreciation for what you are doing. Martin talks about how it leaves a bad taste in his mouth when he sees a performer that finishes his set and bolts from the stage just as the applause is getting started, or when a performer cuts off a round of applause in order to continue on. Accept your applause and accept it graciously. Chances are that the audience enjoyed your show immensely, and they want to let you know that you've done well. You deserve it. Occasionally, a situation will come up where you'll get an audience member who will come up to you after the show and utter those six little words of doom, "I saw how you did that." Those words are enough to make some magicians homicidal. So, the question arises of how do you deal with it? This may seem strange but trust me. It works. Thank them. You then ask them what they saw. Nine times out of ten, they'll be right. Don't argue with them and say "No you didn't." They know very well what they saw. If you argue the point, you'll only put them on the defensive and they'll start to tell everyone what they saw. However, if you politely ask them what they saw, where they were sitting, and then thank them, they will invariably say, "I won't tell anybody." And they won't. It becomes a confidence. So now, rather than create an uncomfortable and potentially sticky situation, you've now made a new friend and taken another step towards a perfect show. You'll be amazed how far this will go. The bottom line is, be good to your audience. Make sure they feel their time is worth it. Never give less than your best in both skill and character, and they'll make sure you keep food on the table.

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"Don't run if you're not being chased." ~Al Baker~

Putting Together Your Act

As many of you know, Martin Nash lives on Vancouver Island up in Canada fairly close to the border. Many years ago, there was a gentleman who came through the border checkpoint in a big truck. Of course, the officers checked the truck, only to find it full of sawdust. This same thing happened again the next week, the week after that and the week after that. The officers obviously thought to themselves, "This guy's smuggling something." So, they began to check the sawdust, but to no avail. They kept checking through it again, and again. They started to check the cab, the guy, everything they could. This goes on for about fifteen years. Eventually, the guy retires. Some months later he goes on a trip to Canada, and of course they stop him at the border. They talk to the guy and say "Hey look, there's nothing we can do now, but we know you were smuggling something. We checked the sawdust. We checked everything. Please, we've got to know. What were you smuggling?" The guy just looked at them and said, "Trucks." The reason I tell this story is to demonstrate one simple point. If your audience doesn't know what to look for, they're never going to find it. There are more schools of thought on misdirection than can be counted. It can be at the heart of one's act. It plays a big part in your effects, but I believe that one of the biggest forms of it is simply to get your audience to be comfortable with you. Martin A. Nash is a master of exactly that. I have been at The Magic Castle in Hollywood on nights when Martin is on the bill. I've sat with him behind the curtain as he prepares to go out and perform, and believe it or not, he is shaking like a leaf. He gets very nervous before a show, and that's why he has the introduction that he does. If he came out and went right into the show, he'd drop the cards all over the floor. So, instead, he comes out and talks to the audience. "Is everybody ready to have a good time? I'll put an end to that." He then takes out his glasses and puts them on. "Oh there you are! I got these about six months ago because I realized I hadn't seen my show in seven years." At this point, people are laughing as Martin sits down. "As my ex-wife used to say, I do nothing but I do it rather well." He then takes out the deck and begins to shuffle. "You know, the nice thing about doing nothing is that nobody ever knows

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Nash Reloaded when I start. Nobody ever knows when I'm finished so people think I'm busy all day and I don't get bothered. Then I get a check at the end of the week and I don't know what the heck they paid me for." At this point, Martin has had a chance to relax; the audience is comfortable and has had a laugh. They have settled down and are paying attention. Everything is ready. The building of your act can take a considerable amount of time. Martin has spent many years compiling and perfecting the 10 close-up acts that he has in his repertoire. Martin and I have a similar approach to incorporating a new effect. Martin will take an effect and worry it to death. In other words, he'll tear it apart. He sees how it would be possible to work his own character into the effect, how to Nashify it so to speak. He likes to see if there is any way that the same results can be achieved with less work. He's fond of telling people how much he detests work. This is a good point. If you can achieve the same results with fewer or simpler sleights, then why not do it? Some time ago, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Dan Harlan. There were two points he made that struck me deeply. One of those had to do with the simplification of your show. If you can get your show to the point that you would be hard pressed to screw it up technically, then you will eliminate a lot of fear and nervousness. Magicians, as well as other performance artists, tend to get nervous because of the fear of making mistakes. If you know that you're not going to, then you'll be far less nervous. You can focus more on the presentation, and your audience will pick up on the fact that you are more comfortable on stage. Your patter can have a lot to do with the way that your show goes over. First and foremost, your patter should involve you with your audience. A lot of people will get an effect and use the "canned patter" that comes with it. This presentation may have worked fine for the magician who invented it, but it may not be for everyone. You need to put yourself into it. Make your own personality or that of your character’s come out in what you say. Another thing is to make your set and your patter seem logical. The set pieces should flow into one another. It would be difficult for an audience to follow an act that featured a dark voodoo effect right after a rousing rendition of the hippity-hop rabbits. Your patter should also work with the effects. They should help to enhance the effects. This point is illustrated in the story of Martin Nash performing as a kid up in Parksville. He would use the props that tended to have the Chinese characters all over them. He would use lines like "…the last time I was in China." However, he was a fourteenyear-old magician in a town of four hundred people. Everybody knew very well he had never even been outside the city, let alone the country. If people know that your patter is desperately faked, their

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Nash Reloaded level of respect for your show goes down, but if your patter sounds logical, then your show becomes logical. Don't expect the development of your patter to always be easy. There was one time that Martin was working on the patter for a set, and he spent several days trying to come up with a single word for one of his gambling effects. The word was "legendary.” It may seem like a simple thing now, but at the time it was something he just couldn't come up with. Practicing your patter can be just as important as practicing your effects. Martin will always practice them together. He told me once about a set that he hadn't done in some time, but he had to have ready for an upcoming performance. There was one spot where he wasn't sure about a particular sleight, but he forged ahead anyway, patter and all. As soon as the trouble spot came up, he spoke his patter and bang, the sleight came automatically. Because his set is so perfectly choreographed, and he always practiced his patter with his tech work, it became automatic. Your patter is the biggest part of misdirection. If it is engaging, the people will get into the story and pay more attention to the person giving it. Please try to keep your patter fluid through parts when you are executing a sleight. Too many times, I see magicians who pause and look at the cards when they do a sleight. They have spent so much time working the sleight to perfection that they feel they can get away with it. Maybe they can, but I can guarantee you that it is much easier to execute a multiple shift when people aren't looking at your hands. You should do the sleight while looking at your audience. That way, they are looking at you. If you have to stop and thing about a sleight, it's too late. It should be automatic. When you are practicing your set, you should have someone there who you can trust. I will always practice my set in front of my brother Davied. He will give me honest criticism without giving me crap. It's good to be able to let your guard down and experiment. Your friend will tell you if he saw something or if this should be changed or that needs to be reworked. You then have a living tester that can help you grow. When you do get criticism, listen to it. People know what they want, and believe it or not, they will help you give it to them. Practice relentlessly. The more you practice, the better you'll be. That may be a no-brainier, but it's important. Honing your set will take time, but it's worth the work. Martin gave me some wise words. "If you can do one trick better than anybody else in the world, then you're the best in the world at what you do. If you can do two tricks better than anyone, then you are moving up the ladder. If you can do three tricks better than anyone else, than you can make a living at it.” Work your set to the point of perfection. Always remember, people never get tired of perfection.

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“The guy who invented poker was bright, but the guy who invented the chip was a genius.” ~Author Unknown~

Gambling Demonstrations vs. Card Tricks

I'm going to take a chance here and make an assumption. I'm going to assume that if you are reading this book, or if you are a fan of Martin Nash's work, that you have an interest in gambling routines. You are in good company. It also, though, brings up an interesting conundrum. Not many audiences want to sit through just straight gambling routines. Unless of course you're a psycho like me in which case, more power to you. Gambling demonstrations are very cerebral. They are extremely exciting to watch, but they can wear down an audience rather quickly. If you do just gambling in your show, I don't recommend making it over twenty or thirty minutes tops. If you combine it with some card effects afterwards, you can double the time of your performance. Card work is sometimes considered to be passe, and most audiences feel this. I always like to start my show with some really good gambling work and then move on to some top-notch card effects. I don't recommend that you intermix them because if you do a great gambling effect and then do a card effect right after, your audience will simply think of the gambling work as just another card effect as well. If you're like me, you want to avoid this. There is however a way around this. Martin uses a technique that both bridges the gap and yet still keeps the two well separated. I've adopted this into my shows as well, and it works. What he will do is, when he has finished his gambling work, he'll say, "As you can see, gambling is my business… but card tricks are my hobby. Would you like to see a couple of my favorite card tricks?" and of course the audience will be very excited about a mental relax. What this method does is two fold. It will allow you to separate your gambling and your card effect in the minds of the audience. They won't associate the gambling with simple tricks. It also gives you an extra level of credibility by separating trick from skill. Try to experiment with some different techniques such as this. It may sound strange, but this has really helped me from going to amateur to pro by adding some subtle credibility to my performances. Maybe it can help you as well.

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A thank you letter given to Martin from the RCMP after having given lectures on crooked gambling and card work.

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Bodine Balasco My Encounter With The M.A.N. It's hard to believe there was a time when you had to learn sleight-of-hand technique from reading books. Written descriptions of hand positions, with associated line drawings and photographs. Don't be tryin' to learn sleight-of-hand from a book if you're not in a mood to really focus. I loved it. When I had those books propped open with a paper weight, and I had a deck of cards on a small close-up pad, and I was passionately trying to learn card magic techniques on my own, I had the feeling I was learning something secret and special. I would read some of those here'show-you-position-your-fingers-on-the-deck paragraphs several times, and try over and over again to "get the move right." Back then, before video tape, getting someone who was a true expert to personally show you subtleties of sleight-of-hand, well, that was really valuable. Of course, those "in the know" have always been reluctant to share "the real work" with anyone who is a beginner. In any case, there I was, studying my copy of Expert Card Technique, trying to learn the Strip Out False Shuffle. The drawings in that book are great, and the descriptions are excellent, wonderfully outlined. I got the basics from that book, but I couldn't really "get it right." Practice as I did, my false shuffle was awkward, not smooth, not totally deceptive. I kept at it of course. But I never really got it working good enough to go into my performances. I kept relying on false cuts and false running cuts. The Strip-Out False Shuffle eluded me. And then I had a chance to visit personally with Martin Nash, in the small backstage area of the Close-Up Room at The Magic Castle. Those were amazing days at The Magic Castle, during the middle to late '70's. Sleight-of-hand was all the rage back then. And the focus on learning "the real work" was the passion of many a great card performer.

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Nash Reloaded I had scored a wonderful full-time gig, performing card table magic on board the Delta Queen Steamboats on the Mississippi River, but when it came to really sophisticated sleight-of-hand technique, I was still a beginner. I wasn't part of the "inner circle" at The Magic Castle, but I loved being up there very much, drinking in the excitement and the atmosphere, trying to glean what "inside knowledge" I could. At that time, Martin Nash was in his heyday. He was working steady at trade show hospitality suites, and shopping malls, and also making appearances internationally. Once, when he agreed to lecture at The Magic Castle, so many magicians showed up, his lecture had to be moved to a nearby church auditorium to accommodate everyone. He was awesome that day, and he "killed" in the CloseUp Room that week. I was so delighted and impressed with his performance in the Close-Up Room the night I went to see him, that I decided to go backstage after his show to congratulate him and communicate my praise. I didn't even think he knew who I was. And, truth be told, some of my previous efforts to make friendly contact with other magicians of his caliber did not meet with much success. But, the Creator did bless me with a bold nature, and so there I went, into that really small, dimly lit, paint-peeling-offthe-walls dressing room to congratulate Martin Nash on his amazing skill and the incredible entertainment value of his show. I was prepared to be politely "brushed off." Instead I found a warm, sincere welcome, and an invitation to sit down and visit. How wonderful that was for me. I was a guy doing a "gambling expose act" as best I could, with very simple routines and a large dose of showmanship, and I was getting really good results. But now, here I was, backstage with the guy who was the king of the "gambling expose act" at the time. I was faking a Second Deal, quite deceptively, in my act. Martin was actually doing a Second Deal, totally deceptively, in his act. And back there in that room with him, he was not only willing to talk to me. He was in a talking mood. (I have subsequently learned that one thing Martin certainly loves to do, is talk.) What a surprising visit that was. What warmth I felt from him. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was an encounter of friendship and encouragement, at a time when friendship and encouragement from a performer like him meant so much to me. And yes, in the middle of that conversation, in that tiny little room, just the two of us, between shows, I added into our discussion that fact that I was having trouble perfecting the Strip-Out False Shuffle. "Let me see you do it," Martin said very directly. "Show me what you are doing." Oh Lord, I

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Nash Reloaded thought to myself. Now I've gone and done it. Now I have to show THE Martin Nash, how really bad I am at the False Riffle Shuffle! Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?! My concerns were not necessary. He spent several minutes with me, politely and sincerely and playfully helping me learn how to perform a really good, really deceptive strip-thru shuffle. In those minutes I experienced that truly wonderful feeling that all sleight-of-hand magicians live for… the feeling of "getting it." A combination of intellectual awareness and physical coordination that just "clicks." You go from not having it, to totally having it. How exciting that is. That's what Martin gave me in that little room that night. He gave me the Strip-Thru Shuffle. And he gave me friendship. That was so incredible. A life is made rich by moments like that. I have been Martin's friend ever since that first meeting. And his friendship has been a wonderful experience. And brother, can he talk when he gets going. He certainly has the storyteller's impulse. Sometimes he'll call me on the phone just to communicate some little bit of news, and I have just learned to put my work down, and settle in for a long talk. All these years later, I am still that newly-minted performer, sitting in that little room, backstage at The Magic Castle, delighted to have a chance to visit with Martin Nash. Bodine Balasco

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Paul Harris I was in my early twenties the first time I witnessed Martin Nash's flawlessly orchestrated concert performance. Martin's transcendent artistry deeply etched itself into my close-up genetics and gave me the first real hope that the inner beauty of card magic could be appreciated by the outside world. Martin's vision inspired us all to kick it up a notch, and for a brief fleeting moment, caused me to ponder the possibility of actually buying a suit. Paul Harris

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Stephen Minch The Forging of a Trilogy and the Nash Reputation This story, like its subject, has three parts. The smallest of them concerns me, so let's dispose of that first. I was not long graduated from university when in 1971 my lack of a life-plan washed me onto the non-existent shores of Calgary, Alberta, in the middle of Canada. That summer, following a commencement ceremony I did not attend, I hitched a ride with another young magician to the PCAM convention in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was there I met Micky Hades and slept on the floor of Doug Henning's room while he was in the hospital. But that's not the story I'm here to tell. It was, though, that brief chance meeting with Micky that led, not long after, to my cramming together clothing, a few pots and as many books as my Volkswagen bug would hold (a sort of clown-car routine), and driving from Tacoma, Washington, to Calgary, where Micky ran his basement magic shop and publishing company. There I worked and learned for roughly twenty months, surrounded by effects, props, illusions and the most complete stock of magic literature in the world, while a clanking Gestetner press slammed out magic books from wax stencils in a nearby room. Micky had been building his magic business for some years, and had reached a point where he felt he had to move from being a part-time magic dealer with a secure real-world job to becoming a full-time dealer with a fulltime employee. Why, given his scanty knowledge of me, he chose me to gamble on, I'll never quite know, but I'm grateful, as it set my career in magic into motion. It was while working for Micky in Calgary that I first met Martin Nash, "The Charming Cheat.” (It was Sid Lorraine, by the way, who coined that engaging description, in a review written early in Martin's career.) Martin came through Calgary regularly, on a circuit of shopping malls in which he performed for years. He inevitably stopped by Micky's shop when he was in town, and we often went to watch him work. I'd had a serious interest in card effects for years, and was heavily influenced by Harry Lorayne's Close-Up Card Magic, Ganson's various books and the Steranko issue of Genii. (Coincidentally, Martin was also influenced by Harry Lorayne, but in a more direct way, having moved for a while to New York, where he spent time with Harry and the other movers and shakers of the Manhattan card-scene.) At that time I'd seen very little performance of top-notch

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Nash Reloaded sleight-of-hand with cards. Martin provided my first opportunity to get really close to such work, and it was one of the best educations one could have; for Martin was not only doing advanced manipulation beautifully, he was doing it entertainingly. In fact, he was making a good living from it at a time when the common wisdom was that such card work was for head-in-the-clouds amateurs and that one couldn't survive doing just card tricks for the public. Yet there was Martin doing it; and, of all places, in the middle of shopping malls-sitting down while he worked! The education I received from Martin was more than one in advanced sleight-of-hand; it included using character to entertain. He had boiled down the Hollywood image of a card cheat to its essence, then fitted it to his personality and made himself intriguing to people. Try holding a hundred or more busy shoppers for fifteen to twenty minutes in the middle of a noisy mall doing card effects while sitting at a table. You'll quickly come to appreciate the strength of Martin's performances. And this was before the time of big television monitors. All Martin had to make his work visible to mall audiences was a large mirror angled over the table to reflect the cards and his hands on a giant, velvet close-up pad. It was a low-tech arrangement, but Martin certainly made the most of it, in a market for card magic that hadn't existed before he created it. Like most creative magicians, there was a part of Martin that wanted to share his work with his peers, and of course to receive their recognition of its skill and cleverness. In those days the most accessible route to that end was a book. He approached Micky Hades about publishing a collection of his card effects. But Micky surprised him by advising that he should wait five years, while he amassed a larger and more mature body of work. Martin was understandably disappointed and decided to forge ahead on his own. In 1968 he self-published a sixteen-page, five-effect monograph titled Take It from Me. Over time, not many more than a hundred copies were sold and it did not, frankly, register so much as a tick on magic's Geiger counter. Several years passed, during which Martin continued to work professionally, developing more original and better-constructed material along the way, which he then honed in performance. On one of his visits to Micky's shop he eventually reopened the subject of doing a book. Micky had watched Martin's sure and rapid growth and was now more open to the idea. But he surprised Martin again. "Have you got enough material for three books?" "Three books! Why?" "Because I think you're interested in building a reputation among magicians. One book isn't enough. If you do only one book, the best you can hope for is to be a one-day wonder, a prodigy quickly dismissed to the shadows, another Steranko. If you put out two books, you show you are serious and

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Nash Reloaded have staying power. But three books will put your name seriously on the map with magicians. With three books they become truly interested in what you've done and what you're doing. We can put out one book and let it go at that, or we can do three and make a solid reputation for you." It was a shrewd and clear-eyed plan, and Martin sensed it. He needed more time to develop enough quality material to fill those three volumes. But because he was ambitious and determined, he managed the task by the time I arrived in Calgary. Or at least he had enough to convince Micky that there was a trilogy's worth. I suspect Martin was probably a little short, but knew he'd come up with the balance needed before we reached Volume Three. Third time's the charm, they say, and it was this time with Micky. He liked the material and saw that Martin had met all his challenges. A Nash Trilogy would be done. There was, however, one last roadblock. Although the writing in Take It from Me was perfectly serviceable, Martin didn't feel confident enough to tackle the authoring of a trilogy. And thus, serendipity guided my life again. At Micky's suggestion I had written a slim collection of original tricks with Tarot cards, which he published in 1974. I was also doing some writing and editing for various manuscripts being curried for The Hades Gestetner. Both Martin and Micky decided to take a chance on me. Martin sat patiently with me for hours, going over his material as I made audio tapes and ponderous notes in longhand. When we had a finished typescript of the first volume, Micky met us, bringing along a new Polaroid camera with close-up lens, which he had bought specifically to shoot photos for Martin's books. And in this way Ever So Sleightly was hammered into being. (Martin came up with that title, and the other two, at the very beginning of the project, and over the next four years selected the material for each volume of his trilogy.) Micky's plan worked – backed up by Martin's superb routining and finely groomed performances. Within the few years necessary for the publication of the Nash Trilogy, Martin went from being a gifted and talented performer hidden in the shopping malls of Canada to a personality known internationally among magicians; and from that sprang performance work for the public and in television around the world. Martin Nash, after years of hard work, had arrived, and he's been an inspiration to us ever since. Stephen Minch Seattle, 2004

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Bill Malone I hold my dear friend Martin Nash with my highest respect both as an entertainer and a person. The first time I had the privilege of watching Martin in front of a live audience was at a FFFF convention in the early 1980's. I was in awe at his ability to entertain an audience with just a pack of cards. The longer I watched I realized there was a lot more here that Martin was selling. It wasn't just card tricks, it was his character, the audience bought into this fabulous high classed, well-educated fast talker that could, if he chose to do so, cheat you out of every last dime. Everybody watching Martin was absolutely entertained that evening. What was it exactly? Was it his uncanny skill with a pack of cards? Was it that each act was perfectly thought out from beginning to end? Was it his appearances of being a very successful card cheat? Was it his patter that keeps you interested in every word? Yes I think it was all of these plus one ingredient that can only be defined by one word – CHARM. Oh how I was impressed that day watching a professional entertainer do not just tricks but an act. The next day at FFFF convention it was my turn to perform. I was always very nervous working in front of magicians (I still am). I hurried through my three or four routines and was down at the bar in record time to cool my nerves. Everybody was still upstairs and I was the only one, along with a couple of laymen at the bar. I was ready to head back upstairs and as I glanced upwards and saw Martin coming down the stairs towards me. He walked up and said, "Young man I am Martin Nash and I just wanted to come down and say I really enjoyed your act up there today." I was speechless. I could not believe that one of my all-time heroes was telling me that. I was just a young kid with a deck of cards just entering the real world of performing. Since then Martin and I have spent many times (but not near enough) together talking and performing magic for each other. We have had great times together and I sincerely look forward to many more. The charm he cast on me that day will never be forgotten. Bill Malone

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Jeff Hobson By the Author I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff in Las Vegas this last September. I have been a big fan of his work for many years. I first saw him on the International Magic Awards back in the early nineties. The signed card from the mouth for which he is famous has long been one of my all time favorite effects in magic. At the time of this writing, Hobson is performing at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas. If you are down that way, do yourself a favor and stop in to see his show. Jeff and Martin have been friends for many years, and when Jeff agreed to do an interview, it was an exciting thing for me. I hope you will enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Mike: What was your first experience of Martin Nash, and how did you two meet? Hobson: My first introduction to Martin was seeing him on network television in the 1970's with his routine of center-dealing the four aces. I never thought I'd actually meet him until I performed at The Magic Castle. I sat next to him at the bar, introduced myself, and the next thing I knew he was giving me a personal exhibition of Second Dealing. INCREDIBLE! After seeing his ultra-classy appearance on the tube and then witnessing his wonderful generosity of time and unbelievable skill, I can now say that he's a perfect mix of James Bond, Mister Rogers and Fagin (from Oliver twist). Don't worry Martin, that's a compliment! Mike: What was it like to work with Martin? Hobson: Pure class. The man emits an aire of sophistication that is missing from our current time in which we live. He demands respect while respecting others. Who doesn't like Martin after meeting him? Mike: What is your impression of his cardwork? Hobson: Most card workers today can't match the combination skill, finesse and personality that Martin has. His cardwork should be studied well. You won't find many magicians that have had as many performances in the real world as Martin has.

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Nash Reloaded Mike: Is there any piece of his that you would consider your favorite? Hobson: No, there are too many but his Ovation routine is an obvious default if I had to choose. Mike: Any closing thoughts? Hobson: I am very proud to be a friend of Martin's.

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Mark Wilson I have been carrying a terrible burden of guilt for over half a century, which I have told to only a few of my closest magical friends. My grievous mistake was unconsciously directed at Martin Nash. Frankly, I could have been responsible for Martin's outstanding talents being aimed, not toward the art of magic, but in some other direction. Our world of wonder would not have benefited from Martin's unique sleight-of-hand creations and powerful playing card presentations. My transgression occurred several decades ago, before Martin and I ever met face to face. Let me explain. Martin Nash was an 11 year old boy living in Canada when he discovered his insatiable love for the art of magic, particularly playing cards. The initial evidence of this was the mail-order he sent to Douglas Magicland in Dallas, Texas for his first "trick" deck of cards, The Svengali Deck. The effect was beautifully described in Magicland's 1001 Mysteries catalog, which Martin had ordered for ten cents, (postage included), from Magicland's classified ad he came across in Popular Science magazine. At the age of 13 I had been hired by Magicland's owner, Mr. Delbert Douglas, not only as the magic demonstrator, but also as the clean-up person, trash-putter-outer, awning-lowerer-and-putterupper and overall general doer of what-ever-needs-to-be-done-now kid. Also, I helped Mr. Douglas as he fulfilled the mail orders by getting from stock the items to be shipped with each order. Now here comes that disaster, which could have altered the course of magic for decades to come. I had been working at Magicland for about two years when Martin's order was received and filled. He was sent the detailed instructions for the Svengali Deck, but the deck of cards, which was included was the MeneTekel Deck! Now you can see what consternation was caused when that exuberant Canadian boy eagerly opened that anxiously awaited package sent to him all the way from Texas, removed the MeneTekel deck from its case and attempted to learn the miracles described in the catalog from the instructions for the Svengali Deck! You can imagine Martin's reactions as he read those directions for his first trick deck.

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Nash Reloaded DO NOT SHUFFLE THIS DECK! DO NOT TAMPER WITH THE DECK UNTIL READING THE INSTRUCTIONS. In the Svengali Deck, the same value cards are cut slightly shorter than the different cards (see fig. 1). The deck is arranged with every other card being the same value card. This is the principal that gives the Svengali Deck its magical abilities. I can see Martin saying to himself, "Ok, I see that every other card is short and is identical with the card next to it." When riffling the deck front towards back (see Fig2.), the deck appears to be all-different. When riffling the deck from back to front (see Fig 3.) the deck appears to be made up of all the same value cards. "I must not be holding this right. When I riffle it one way it does look like an ordinary deck. But when I riffle it the other way, it still looks like an ordinary deck. What am I doing wrong? And what do they mean, "riffle" the cards? I'm way up here in Canada and there are no magicians that I can ask within a hundred miles. I'll keep reading the instructions until I figure this all out." Martin's predicament may have been the ultimate example of frustration. Untying the legendary Gordian Knot, or withdrawing the glistening Excalibur Sword embedded in that magical stone, would have been child's play compared to attempting to understand the operation of the MeneTekel Deck from the Svengali Deck instructions! Now you can understand why I have had this life-long burden. Suppose Martin Nash had been so frustrated by my error, he had turned his talents to stamp collecting or building model airplanes. The many presentations of powerful magic with playing cards devised by Martin Nash would have never occurred. And then I began to wonder, were there other victims of my Magicland mail order mistakes? How many other orders were misfilled? What other great magical minds were lured from magic to corn collecting or cancer research? What if I had not continued to be employed (for $2.50 a day) at Magicland? Or if Martin Nash had informed Mr. Douglas of my grievous error!? Mr. Douglas might have fired me. I could have been looking for other employment. Suppose I would have gone to work for some scientific supply company. Misfilling one of their orders could have created similar frustrations for a teenager who grew up to become the discoverer of nuclear fusion or the inventor of that electron accelerator used to create that first atomic bomb.

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Nash Reloaded So Martin Nash's ability to overcome the Svengali Deck/MeneTekel Deck fiasco I created and to continue his interest in magic, let me remain employed at Magicland. As you can see, this not only resulted in the creation by Martin of some excellent card tricks, it also speeded victory for the Allies. My burden is now finally lifted and I say "thank you" Martin Nash, not only for your outstanding magic, but also for helping us win World War 2. Happy Magic! Mark Wilson

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Rocco By the Author I recently was working on the section of this book about building your character and it struck me that Rocco would be a perfect addition to the chapter. The hard part was how to get a hold of him. I contacted Jamy Ian Swiss, because I knew that they worked together on Monday Night Magic in New York. He wrote me back with a simple email that just had Rocco's name and phone number. I was about to cold call him and ask for a favor. I psyched myself up and made the call. Of all things, I got his answering machine. The next day, I'm driving down I-215 and the phone rings. I didn't recognize the number, but I picked up anyway, "Hello?" On the other end of the line, I hear, "Hey Mike, this is Rocco." I nearly crashed into a bridge abutment. After speaking with him, I found him to be one of the nicest Jersey folk I've ever met. He agreed to speak with me about Martin and about creating character. He gave me his office number and told me to give him a call. "You need to be who you're comfortable being. Martin is a master of charm both on stage and off. When you speak to him you find that the name 'charming' is well earned. I've watched his shows at the Castle many times, and he's the ultimate smooth." While speaking with Rocco, I also got the honor and privilege of speaking to his good friend Roger Mayfarth, The genius mind behind the creation of D'Lite. He also spoke fondly of a private card session he one had with Martin at the Castle. "He was incredibly generous. I sat and had a private lecture with the Charming Cheat himself." I found out that Roger was infact one of the first people to receive the Infinity card control from Martin. "It had a major impact in my card magic, and still does."

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Nash Reloaded In the closing of our conversation, Rocco recited to me an old Zen saying that has had a major influence on his work, and has already influenced mine, “Remember Mike, it's the spaces between the notes that make the music." Thanks Rocco, I owe you one.

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Jon Racherbaumer The Charms of the Faux Cheat I first met Martin Nash at Clarke "Senator" Crandall's shadowy bar in Chicago. Those also present at this session were two diametrically different Eddies-Fields and Marlo. Nash back then looked like a slick card mechanic; however, he seemed more passive than aggressive. As I wrote in The Looking Glass, "Nash seemed right out of central casting: slicked-back, neatly combed, hair-oily, but not too oily. There were other signs: well-manicured hands, a satiny shirt, a thin mustache, a stereotypical pinky ring, and an ever-ready, slightly sly smile. In the smoky netherworld of pool halls, poker parlors, race tracks, and betting rooms (the kind celebrated by Damon Runyan), you could always find a motley of interesting characters – the 'usual suspects' rounded up when shady deals went down. Nash fit the profile to a tee, yet one aspect of his pleasing persona was incongruous: his voice. It had a gentle lilt with a hint of sweet reticence, almost unctuous, ready-for-prime-time suavity. It was the voice of a care-giver or an edgy lover, not a slicker hungry for marks. He smiled like a man whose soul had been saved in the nick of time. He might cheat you in principle, but never in reality. He could induce you to buy a used car, sight unseen. You might even trust him with your wife and a bottle of Scotch when you were out of town. He was that kind of guy – a harmless con or, as he has been saying for what now seems like a century, 'a charming cheat.'" This is why I call him a faux cheat. He means no harm. He only wants to entertain you with the romance that mixes cunning, cards, and chance; that suggests with a wink that anything is possible with the pasteboards when they are in the right hands. In 1969, now forty-three years ago, Martin was thinner, more intense, and eager to prove himself. He was in town to lecture at the Lawson YMCA. Lots of heavy-weight magicians were in the room and Nash was not well-known at the time. He was a little nervous at first. Nevertheless, he performed daring, difficult, knuckle-busting tricks-riffle shuffle work, Faro stuff, false deals, and palming that would have made Erdnase take notice. Marlo was impressed with his false deals and said so. When Marlo, Fields, and I met with him the next day at his hotel room, Martin demonstrated a “beanshooter" (hold-out) and the fabled "Juice Deck." During the session, nobody could read the "juice" on Martin's deck, yet he called out the cards from twenty feet in a dimly lit room. Everyone was amazed.

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Nash Reloaded Not long thereafter, Martin (through the pen of Stephen Minch) published his trilogy. I didn't run into Martin for several years, although we occasionally corresponded. When I ran into him at The Magic Castle a few years ago, he was heavier, grayer, but his ingratiating grin was the same. He wore the ring and bracelet and chain smoked cigarettes. His touch with the pasteboards was still soft and delicate – perhaps even more so. He also looked dapper and relaxed, a seasoned survivor – a deck in one hand, a cigarette in the other. We shook hands and he said (as though no time had passed), "You tipped the codes for the juice deck, which I gave to you in strictest confidence. You promised never to tip!" Because I usually remember and honor confidences, his offhand remark threw me for a loop. It was true that I had published the marking system in Cardfixes (1990) under "Juice-Work," p. 159, which was twenty-two years after the fact. Looking for a silver lining, I mumbled, "At least you were properly credited!" Changing the subject, I added, "I heard that your new video reveals the Real Work on the Tabled Faro Riffle Shuffle? Would you show me?" Martin quickly complied and performed several perfect Tabled Faro Riffle Shuffles under lessthan-favorable conditions. The shuffles were done on the top of a barstool that was low and had a hard surface. Nevertheless, each riffle-weave was perfect. He then performed several effects using the Infinity Principle. As this book, his early video, and another shorter booklet have shown, the Infinity Principle is a very useful artifice. Although the artifice is a finessed and perfected variation of an old principle, namely bas-relief work, Martin's approach and applications takes it to new heights. Bas-relief is not the usual term used to describe this kind of work, but it accurately describes what the "work" is like. In relief sculpture, anything that slightly projects from the background is called bas-relief. Normally a playing card is flat and smooth. If you press on its surface, make an indentation, and turn the card over, the pressed part (concave on one side) is now slightly convex on the other side. This side has a very slight bas-relief on it. This principle was exploited by Will De Sieve years ago. By pressing a coin (such as an American quarter) against the center of a court card, it forms a round, ridged indentation (see Greater Magic). Another kind of bas-relief is made by using a stylus to outline the inside, printed frame of a court card's face. Card hustlers frequently used a toothpick (placed under the tablecloth of the gaming table). A card lying on top of the hidden tooth-pick, when firmly pressed upon, would be indented. This marking could be felt, making such a card a subtle locator. The current darling of nouveau-crimpers, thanks to Dai Vernon and Bob King, is the "breather crimp." This may be the mother of all bas-relief key-cards.

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Nash Reloaded The drawback of bas-relief key-cards is that the "work" can be seen by keen-eyed experts and observant lay people. It is also easily detected if the card or the deck in which it resides are examined. In my opinion, Nash's contribution to this ancient artifice is two-fold: (1) The "work" can be quickly and effortlessly put into a card in most impromptu situations; (2) It is practically invisible and will not be detected under most conditions. For entry-level aspirants, the Infinity Principle is miraculous and revolutionary. I'm not a big fan of the "breather crimp." The lowly corner crimp suits me fine. In special circumstances, especially for fast company, the "work" Nash uses is equal to the little used "snap crimp' favored by the late John Scarne. Also check out the gambler's crimp explained in Expert Card Conjuring, p.91. Martin's also an exemplar of the elusive Tabled Faro Riffle Shuffle. I've seen four people perform a Tabled Faro Riffle-Shuffle in person: Edward Marlo, David Ben, and Martin Nash. Martin repeatedly does them with ease. It's always been a problem to explain the precise, coordinated pressure required at every step of this shuffle. Martin divulges an important tip: Both thumbs should lift and riffle-release a hair-breadth ahead of the weaving cards. You can see it happen, but this knack is difficult to put into words. When you are convinced that it can be done and can see it being effortlessly executed, your faith will be renewed. The last time I spent with Martin in New Orleans, I said: "You must finally put out a hardcover book that will safeguard your legacy. I'm delighted that such a book has been written and is now in your hands. Treat it with the care it deserves. If you study it diligently and put one-tenth the dedication that Martin put in during his love affair with the pasteboards, you will be richly rewarded. Long, long ago, Martin dreamed that certain things could be done if one loved hard enough, practiced long enough, and then desired to share the "charms" of what Hofzinser called the "poetry of magic." Martin made his presentations "charming" and he never "cheated" the audience. Instead he shared the "charms" of his trade and he proved that dreams can be realized. This is why, in part, he gets so many standing ovations. Jon Racherbaumer

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Christina LaVaughn As I close my eyes and think back to the many nights I pulled my car up to the World's Famous Hollywood Magic Castle, I can see the valet with a nice smile reaching for my car door and saying "Ms. Christina, it's good to see you tonight." But, this greeting was just the beginning of what was every Wednesday night for me, a night full of magic, friendship, and mystery. After checking in with the lovely ladies in the reception room, and saying the charming passwords, "Open sesame" to the owl for entrance, the door would part, and I'd walk through a very small hall, and that's where the camaraderie would start to unfold. The first thing you'd notice as you exit the hall is that you have stepped back in time. As you entered this "Victorian Lady" you'd be in awe by the beautiful wooden bar that stretched wall-to-wall, complete with charming bartenders so good, you'd think they were your own personal mixologyists. As I glance down the bar, my eyes become fixed on one of my best friends, a very handsome dashing man, with a smile that could cheat a cheater; obviously it was that smile and his classic card work that gave him the handle of the "Charming Cheat." As I moved through the bar and made my way down to "Martin's bar stool" (where he always sat) his eyes were always a fixed on me. It was Wednesday night and we both knew the "Wednesday night group of regulars" were arriving. I worked my way down to Martin to get my weekly hug full of strength and friendship. He always made his women friends feel like true ladies. Martin is not only my friend; he was also one of my favorite mentors. He helped me to develop a knock out rope routine, make a flask of whiskey appear out of nowhere, and pull coins out of thin air. With him helping me with the mechanics, and our good friend Carol Marie (from the hot television show, 7th Heaven) cleaning up my script, we developed one of my most cherished magic shows, "The Wild, Wild West!" I've been to Las Vegas many times, but to my regret only twice with Martin, but they were both my favorite times in the big city. Our first trip to Las Vegas was fantastic; Martin introduced me to

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Nash Reloaded Allan Ackerman and all the magicians on the Las Vegas strip. Then he took me to watch Lance Burton perform at the Monte Carlo. During Lance's performance, Lance stopped the show to introduce Martin to the audience; after a huge round of applause from the audience and a smile from Lance, Lance continued the show. Afterwards Lance invited us back to his dressing room to catch up with Martin. It was wonderful. Lance is a very gracious host, and I think we finally left his dressing room around 2 a.m. The next day, Martin took me to the home of Johnny and Pam Thompson. I have to tell you Johnny and his wife Pam have the funniest magic show I've ever seen, they are known as the "Great Tomsoni and Co." But just as wonderful as they are on stage, they are in their own home. Very down to earth people, with a warm friendship for Martin and puppy-sized dogs all around. I was in my element. I just adored their fur-children and the shoptalk about magic, and where their next tour was taking them. I could tell that Martin and the Thompson's go way back, Martin holds onto good friends and they hold onto him. It seemed like that visit to Las Vegas was too short. But, when I left I knew because of Martin, I had been somewhere. I had just met some of the worlds best entertainers, and my love of the art was even enhanced. The second time I went to Las Vegas to see Martin was a little different. By then Martin and I had both relocated. Martin moved to Canada, and I moved with my husband and son to Connecticut. Carol Marie emailed me that Martin was going to be given the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Las Vegas Magic Invitational Convention. As soon as I found out the great news, I sent an email to the LVMI and asked what day they would be honoring my good friend. As soon as they told me, I booked a flight (3,000) miles and a hotel. I wanted to be right there front row center cheering him on as he was receiving his praise and award from his peers in the magic community. Martin really deserves his awards; he has been a mentor to many and an inspiration to even more. I just wanted to thank him by being there. You know what though, it wasn't the fact that Martin is an icon at the Hollywood Magic Castle that made us friends, and it wasn't that he mentored me in one of my best stage shows, it was his humor and loving nature that made us friends, just like family. I told Martin before, I love him like a brother.

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Nash Reloaded My only two regrets I have about our relationship is one, we never worked together as a team in magic. And two, he lives in Canada and I live in Connecticut, to far away from each other to invite him over for family brunch, to play cards, and to watch football games. Postscript: Martin, I hope you remember this. One of my favorite memories was when we were in Las Vegas at the convention, and the director of the convention had to come out and tell all the magicians it was time to go back in. You see Martin, you had us all memorized, once the "Charming Cheat," Martin Nash took out his deck of cards and broke into his routines all of the magicians gathered around to watch you perform and we all lost track of time. Thanks for the memories … Sincerely, respectfully, and magically yours, Christina LaVaughn

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Jamy Ian Swiss I first became acquainted with Martin Nash through his trilogy of books written by Stephen Minch. I pored over its pages, extracting techniques, ideas, routines – it was a feast for a mind hungry for magical nourishment. When I think back to the impact those books had on me, I realize now that it was nothing less than profound. Is there a move I use more frequently than the double-lift? I doubt it – and the one I use I learned from the first book of the trilogy, Ever So Sleightly. Eventually, I had the chance to see Martin Nash perform. I can't quite recall which convention it was at the first time – probably a New York Magic Symposium – but I still have the image embossed in my memory of him standing alongside a long bare table and shooting perfect doubles across its length. It was awe-inspiring. It was frightening. Later, I had the chance to see him perform at The Magic Castle. He fooled me time and, literally, time again – fooled me when I should have known better, when in fact I did already know better. But his seamless management and silky performance seduced me into his deceptive spell, and I was as amazed as the laymen around me. Amazed that not only had I been fooled with fresh ideas, but also that I had been fooled sometimes with things I already knew. That's a great feeling – it feels like magic! Later still, I got the chance to finally get to know him. Martin and I have spent much time together over the years, talking magic, trading moves, doing tricks, watching one another do magic for others. It's always been a pleasure and, in truth, a privilege. I think Martin Nash is one of the very best at what he does – and I don't just mean magic, or card magic. There has always been a place for gambling routines and themes in the performance of close-up card magic. But Martin has gone far beyond exploiting that natural connection. He has raised it to the highest realm of professional performance; he has mastered the character as well as the moves. Let it be said plainly: Martin Nash does not just do tricks. He does an act. He does a show. And of the tiny handful of magicians who have become known for the specialty of performing gambling-related material professionally, and of portraying themselves in the role of the gambler or gambling expert, I truly believe that – without exception – none have done it better, more convincingly or compellingly, than Martin Nash.

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Nash Reloaded Of course, Martin is also clever enough to avoid limiting himself to the standard gambling plots. One is reminded of Daryl's legendary joke: "Hey, Daryl, I've got a new gambling routine to show you." "Really? Let me guess: Starts with four aces, ends with a Royal Flush?" But Martin's material goes far beyond that. I recall watching him perform his act, built around the sandwich effect plot, which he calls "Jacks or Better." What was that I just said? And entire act based on sandwich tricks? Is he out of his mind? No, he's just a great magical thinker and performer. And yes, an act built on sandwich tricks, yet tied theatrically to gambling themes. Carefully constructed to dramatically build, both magically and theatrically, as he carefully adds to the conditions, selling the impossibility, canceling methods, and building to a sensational, impossible climax. I remember watching Martin perform the act one night in the downstairs performance area at the Castle, the "museum," that is often used as an overflow space, where I have often performed myself. I will never forget the moment in which he set a pair of Jacks on the table and asked the spectator to take them and place them onto another tabled packet of cards. In fact, an extra card had already been secretly loaded between them. But in Martin's world of accelerating tension and exhilarating purity, this stunning risk was his choice in order to achieve a breathtaking result. I remember him putting those cards out there, in play, at risk, and I turned to my friend Gordon Bean, standing across the aisle from me, and quietly mouthed the words: "Did he just do what I think he did?" Gordon gleefully nodded back to me, with a knowing smile and an appreciative gleam in his eyes. As if that weren't enough, that card that was secretly resting between the Jacks and now being handled by the spectator was a card that had been thought of via the classical riffle-think-of-a-card method. In other words, there was no way for Martin to know for certain that he had the correct card in place. And, oh, yes, as if that weren't enough – this was to be the closer of the entire act! The routine in question is entitled "The Earl's Dilemma" and can be found on page 380 of Slight Unseen, Volume Three of the Martin Nash Trilogy. In discussing this ending with Martin, he recently wrote to me that, "I have always thought, if you don't take chances, you can't get miracles. I like the 'rush' when I do something like this."

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Nash Reloaded He's not the only one who gets a rush from the experience. So far I have been talking about the method. But then, down in the Castle basement, came the actual effect. And then the lay spectator yelped. And even from our slightly different perspectives, both of us went away thoroughly amazed. Small wonder then that in the famed Nash trilogy, author Stephen Minch repeatedly refers to Martin Nash simply as: "The Man." He was, he is, and – every time I think of him letting that spectator handle a sandwich loaded with a thought-of card – for me he will always remain so. Jamy Ian Swiss

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Robert Lamoureux The first time I had ever met Martin Nash, I had been a member of The Magic Castle for about three years. Martin was well-known for his Nash Strike Second Deal. At the time, I had never met Martin and wanted to see his show where he performed his Strike Second Deal. So after the show I went up to him and explained how I really enjoyed the strike and wanted to know if he would be willing to show it to me. Martin basically responded by saying “don’t waste my time.” As I walked away, I was shocked by his rude remarks and went away cussing under my breath. One day not too long after the exchange with Martin, E.J. Thacker came up to me at The Magic Castle and asked if I wanted to meet Martin Nash who was sitting at the main bar as I was sitting on the Vernon Corner. I told E.J. that I did not want to meet that “rude old man” and informed E.J. that if Martin wanted to meet me he could get off his own ass. At this point, E.J. laughed and exclaimed, “Martin Nash rude, no!” Hence, E.J. goes over to Martin and brings him to me. Martin walks over and I ask him if he remembers me. He exclaims that he does not remember me and I bring him up to speed on the conversation we had about him not wanting to teach me the strike second. He then started to say how he felt bad, but that you have to understand where he is coming from. Apparently, not one person has ever mastered the strike and most of the time people do not really even care to practice it. I tell him that if he spends five minutes with me to show the basics of the strike I know that I can master it. Martin showed it to me, but I decided to wait until I mastered the strike and it was perfect. Two years went by and then I asked Martin if he would critique me on a trick and I decided to perform the strike second. When I completed the strike I could tell Martin was impressed and he said, “If I do the strike as well as you just did it, then I must be great!” At this time, I had known Martin Nash for about fifteen years. Martin was known for not playing gaff with cards. Both of us were in the Blackstone Room and we both had blue decks. I had stepped out to go to the restroom and when I returned Martin asked me if I had ever seen a Texan do a Strike Second Deal. He had me pick a card and I chose the ace of spades, and then he turned the card face down on top of a pile of seven cards. I put the ace of spades card face down and then Martin counted the cards from one to seven and when the eighth card was flipped over it was the ace of spades again. I couldn’t believe my eyes I told Martin, “that deal is impossible.” So Martin performed

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Robert, Martin and Jim Davies

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Davied H. Sorensen All right, I admit it. I'm a videotape magician. It was a lot easier to watch the videos than to read the books for me, at least earlier on. (I've got better since then) The first couple of tapes I started learning from were Martin Nash's L&L #1 & 2 The Fun Routine/Magicians Magic and Kings Incognito. Before I go any further, let me go back in time a little bit. Some years ago, my brother (the author of this book) needed a place to stay for a while. I invited him to come and stay with me and my fiancée. A couple of days after he moved in, we were sitting and watching TV when Mike pulled out a coin and made it disappear. "Whoa!!" I said. "How did you do that?" He showed me how, and then he showed me a few other tricks. I was hooked! On that day, Mike took me under his wing and made me the performer I am today. Later, Mike introduced me to more of Martin Nash's work. Again, I was totally blown away. Here's this guy who could make 52 pieces of cardboard literally sing to his own tune with his hands. I resolved to learn more. After a while, there were a couple of routines that became my absolute favorites: Kings Incognito, Invisible Palm, and Pinochle Pinnacle. Thanks to him, I have also gotten pretty good on my center deal. It is because of Nash that I have become a better card man, and I thank him for it. Flash forward a few years. My brother started working on an idea to have a show of an ultimate card game with the characters being the best cheaters in the world. Mike decided to take on the role of Martin Nash. While we were in preparation, Mike came to me one day and said, "Martin has agreed to do a phone interview with me. You want in on this?" How could I say no! So, we sat down to have the interview, full of anticipation, and honestly, we were a little nervous. We were only expecting maybe a 20 minute conversation. I found out two things that night: 1. Martin is one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure to talk with. 2. He is full of great stories. For almost two hours, he told us tales of his past, and how he got started in the business. It was a wonderful experience.

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Nash Reloaded I've talked with Martin a few times since then. He has been very helpful to me in my performances. For instance, I was working on his Pinochle Pinnacle routine when I invented a move that I thought looked better. I called Martin and asked his permission to do his routine with the new move. It turned out that he had already used exactly the same move years before and had changed it to the current one because it looked better. I'm glad that he was straight up and told me, or I could have made an ass of myself. My opinion of Martin A. Nash is simply this: not only is he a genius with cards, but he is one of the nicest individuals that I have had the pleasure of chatting with. Thanks to him, my performances are better, and my confidence in my abilities has grown stronger. My hats off to him. Thank You Friend, Davied H. Sorensen

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Danny Archer I first met Martin at a magic convention in Philadelphia in the late 80's. I was blown away not only by his magic, but also by how nice a person he was to talk to about magic or any other subject. Years later, when I had the chance to make Martin the Guest of Honor at the 2003 Las Vegas Magic Invitational, I was so glad he accepted. It was thrilling to watch this master of magic interact with many of his old fans and to watch the faces of the younger magicians who knew the name but never saw him work in person. He made many new fans and friends that weekend. Martin Nash is a class act and his new book will hopefully bring his work to many more people around the world. Danny Archer

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Daryl "I have always enjoyed watching Martin Nash perform. In addition to being slick and smooth, he's a real one of a kind character. I appreciate his sharing his decades of hard work to create strong performing material so that the rest of us can benefit from his experience." Daryl

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Mark Haslam The Charming Secret There is a peephole in the exit door of the Close-up Gallery at the celebrated Magic Castle. Looking through this lens gives a wonderful fisheye view of the performance in progress. When Martin Nash is the performer, the room is always full and always illuminated. Martin will tell you that because he gets very nervous prior to a performance, he counteracts this by engaging the audience with polite chat; only when he feels comfortable, does he sit at the table. He removes the cards from their case. He table spreads the cards and then turns them over, dividing the deck in the middle and opening each half outwards – a symbolic action that, like curtains opening, lets the audience know they are about to witness a command performance . Let us step away from the door and analyze the performer himself. Surely, if you were a film director and wanted to cast the part of The Charming Cheat, you would look to Martin Nash or, at least, tell your actor to "think Nash." This is a character that is portrayed so well it is difficult to believe it may be a creative invention. If Martin did indeed craft the character, though, it is impossible to see where the two meet – a perfect human Double Lift. He represents the personification of what people (not to mention magicians) expect of a card expert. Of all the people you "don't want to play cards with,” Martin is your man and yet audiences would never dream of muttering that overworked line because they realize, in this case, it must be for real. As magicians, we tend to extract the magic from the performance, focusing on moves and mechanics. But, for the moment, let's dig a little deeper into the real secret behind Martin's effect on an audience. Is it the engaging smile? The way he handles the deck? The rings and large gold bracelet evoking the image of a high-end Las Vegas player? Perhaps it's the esoteric gambling terms he occasionally drops into his speech, or even the very sound and patterns of his voice. Certainly there's no underestimating the calm and gentlemanly manner in which he handles his assistants, making them a part of the experience and giving them a moment to treasure. Ultimately, though, there's the general shape of the act: a formal, structured close-up performance – not a fast talking pitch of visual magic tricks, and certainly not strolling magic transplanted behind a table.

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Nash Reloaded In The Magic Castle Library, among the personal collection Martin quietly and generously donated some years ago, there's a small volume that fits in your hand like a deck of cards and stands out due to its size and seemingly non-magical content: Hamlet. Why would an expert card manipulator read Shakespeare? Could the rhythms, drama, and structure of a classic stage play be adapted to the performance of card magic? Buzz sentences are always a part of conversation around The Magic Castle. One of the most recurrent is: "Martin Nash is coming out of retirement – again!" On the eve of one of these notable comebacks, I sat with Martin in the library and watched him perform flawless sleight of hand having "not picked up a deck of cards in a year," evidence that a true talent refuses to go away. We are truly fortunate to be able to watch Martin Nash. So, too, is the audience back in the Close-up Gallery – who are now approaching the exit door, having watched a performance that will stay with them for a very long time. Mark Haslam

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E. J. Thacker Even amongst the top professionals in the world – the best of the best, Martin Nash is in a very rare class all to himself. Having had the pleasure to work with him for years at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, I've seen thousands of spectators that were absolutely awestruck by his performances. Martin Nash is a technician, artist, performer, and entertainer of the highest caliber. I remember once we had a visiting card expert in the Castle from Holland. I was showing him around the club when suddenly his eyes widened and speaking in a whisper he said, "That's Martin Nash!" As I introduced them, the man started to stutter and I actually thought he was going to faint while they were shaking hands. Fortunately, I know Martin well enough to walk up and give him a big hug, which I hope will be soon. Martin, you are the King. Your Friend, E. J. Thacker

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Carol Marie Martin's Cookie The Charming Cheat: a distinguished and magical gentlemen; the envy of card mechanics and manipulators worldwide. And little did I know, a former dove man and stage illusionist. When I first met Martin at The Magic Castle, after watching one of his many standing ovation performances in the Close-up Gallery, Martin offered to show me more magic, at the cost of one kiss per trick. All I can say is, Wow! What an extensive repertoire! I have had the pleasure of spending many a wonderful hour listening to, and watching, one of the world's greatest magicians, who I am proud and honored to call my good friend. Martin always shared his talents with my guests at The Magic Castle, delighting in their amazement (I think it was more like shock). He has shared his magic, poetry, politics, and love of travel freely. He is a cherished friend. I remember celebrating Martin's birthday one night at The Magic Castle, and after dinner, Martin was presented with a huge cookie I brought for the celebration. I watched as he politely tried to make the hard-as-a-rock cookie disappear without letting me know how terrible it was! He would never hurt my feelings. I thank you Martin, for your generosity, your love of life, your strength, and your consummate artistry. Carol Marie

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Lee Freed When The M. A. N. Was The Man I first discovered the card magic and unique thinking behind the work of Martin A. Nash when I read the wonderful trilogy by Stephen Minch. Thumbing through the first volume was like entering a sophisticated, private club where members could only pass the test for membership by being able to diligently study the material and could never present anything until you had mastered it. I also felt as though I was reading material that had been tested, re-tested, and perfected by someone who understood the demands of sophistication and perfection. To me, it was if James Bond had decided to tip the best, vintage stuff and I was privileged to have a copy. (I was a huge fan of James Bond.) I not only found terrific card magic with a style all it's own, with techniques developed by Martin, I discovered brilliantly thought out presentations that could be performed in the same rarefied places James Bond visited. The magic was slick, powerful, and very cool. I thought at the time: this Nash fellow is the man. There are a lot of tales I could tell about Martin A. Nash: having dinner in fine restaurants in the French Quarter, Martin looking like a dapper Yancy Derringer trying to stay awake during all night magic sessions, when Nash continually hammered my brain into pulp; of riding around in his Lincoln after midnight, hearing tales of real work in the real world. Not long ago I flew to Los Angeles to see his opening night at The Magic Castle for a triumphant return. His infectious style and masterful technique lit up the room! By his second performance that night, he took charge of his enduring persona. He was confident and carefree, joking with the enthralled audience while simultaneously amazing them with his technique. The M. A. N. was back, brighter and better than ever. Lee Freed

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Jason England In the spring of 1999, I was living about two hours north of Hollywood, California and decided it was time to join The Magic Castle. I managed to contact one of my long-time heroes in magic, Martin Nash through the Second Deal website. Martin agreed to meet me at the Castle and allow me to come in as his guest for the evening. When I arrived at the Castle, Martin met me at the door, and we began a whirlwind tour of the entire place from top to bottom. I visited the Library, Invisible Erma's room, where Martin went through a 10 minute routine with Erma that is to this day the best I've seen, the Close-Up Gallery, the Parlor, and everywhere in-between. At some point we made it downstairs for a bowl of the Castle's famous chili. At a nearby table, I asked Martin about his Tabled Faro Shuffle, and produced a deck of cards that I was convinced couldn't be reliably faroed even in the hands. I handed it to him fully expecting him to not be able to get it to faro. Mind you, although this may read like a setup, I assure you I had no intention of setting Martin up to fail. It's just that the deck I had brought with me turned out to be poorly cut and I had been having trouble with it all evening. To make a long story short, Martin gave it about ten Tabled Faro with no problems whatsoever. To this day, he's one of the best I've seen with the move. An hour or so later, Martin and I began to discuss false deals. I have long been fascinated with all forms of false dealing and had been using Martin's method for Center and Greek Dealing for some years. After a few minutes of complaining that he hadn't practiced in a while (I believe his words were that he "hadn't touched a deck of cards in two years"), Martin proceeded to do some of the nicest seconds, bottoms, and centers I've ever had the privilege of watching. His Second Deal is especially nice, and he uses a microscopic brief that has to be seen to be believed. I'm speaking of course of when Martin shows you the work; when he wants it to be invisible, you have no chance of seeing a thing.

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Nash Reloaded We ended our evening by showing each other double-lifts on one of the main bar's barstools. Martin blew me away with a spinning double that he drops off the deck and onto the performing surface. He must've done it a dozen times and never missed it. Not bad for a guy who hadn't picked up a deck in years! The following week Martin paid me one of the highest compliments I've ever received from anyone, ever. I had returned to the Castle on Tuesday evening to audition for membership. I was extremely nervous as I hadn't prepared much of a set (I'm not a performer by nature). Martin led me downstairs to the museum performing area and laid down the ground rules for me: No one on the admissions board will smile, speak (unless spoken to) or applaud. They will choose cards if your act requires it or otherwise help out your routine, but that's it. Don't expect much else from them. They're primarily there to critically analyze your performance, and nothing more. I sat down at the table and began to do my thing. I hoped they couldn't tell I was making it up on the spot. After the first effect, a routine of Steve Mayhew's that Allan Ackerman had added some nice touches to, I heard Martin's voice from the back of the room. He said, "Well, I think we've seen enough gentlemen." I was in. A bit later on in the evening I found out that I was one of only two performers from that evening that made it in. About five were turned away. This realization that it wasn't just a "gimme" made Martin's comment all the more meaningful. I consider that night one of my favorite magical moments in my 13 plus years of playing with a deck of cards. None of it would have been possible without my good friend Martin A. Nash. Jason England

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Monte Smith I have known my Dear Friend Martin A. Nash, who I call Marty, for around 30 years. In my opinion when you say Gentleman I think of Marty. He is not only a gentleman but a gentle man and very giving. If you ever needed help with a card slight he was always there to help and give assistance. In the past, Marty and I use to always work back to back in the Close-up Gallery of The Magic Castle. Marty was a night person back then and would always take the late shift and I always wanted the early shift, so it worked great for the two of us. I'll never forget one day Marty admired my two and a half dollar gold coin ring that I had had made for me and asked permission if I would mind if he copied mine except use a three dollar gold piece he said he had had for years. See, there he is a perfect gentleman. Would not have done it without asking my permission first. I of course said I would not mind at all, but was sure he was mistaken about the value of his coin and that the U.S. Mint had only made gold coins of one dollar, two and one half dollar, five dollar, ten dollar, and twenty dollar and that they hadn't made a three dollar gold piece. Boy was I wrong! About ninety days later in came Marty to The Magic Castle and couldn't wait to show me his THREE dollar gold coin ring. He really loved ribbing me about it. Anytime I ever had guests at The Magic Castle, and Marty was performing, I always told them to be sure not to miss seeing his show. He never disappointed an audience. A true master at his craft. Always a crowd pleaser and they would always leave knowing they had just seen the finest demonstration on cheating by the finest. The Charming Cheat, Martin A. Nash. Monte Smith

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Paul Green My favorite remembrance is when you had just introduced your "Infinity Crimp" work to the community. You had shown it to lots of people around the Castle. You were charging $50.00 and asked the student to bring a new deck of cards. I asked you to show me something I could do with the concept. Using your own cards, you missed the first time. You asked for another chance, which I willingly gave to you. You missed again. You "begged" for a third chance – and failed again! I remember walking away from the experience with some comment similar to. "Why pay $50.00, just to miss?" This kind of experience just sort of made me like you even more! Kindest regards, Paul Green

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Jeff McBride and Gaeton Bloom By the Author In 1999, Martin Nash received the Performing Fellowship award from the Academy of Magical Arts at The Magic Castle. At the ceremony, the presenter was to be Kirsty Aley. Martin found this to be quite ridiculous. All she would care about was to look good, get her check, and get out of there. Martin wanted someone to whom magic meant something. He asked the academy for either Johnny Thompson or Jeff McBride. Luckily, McBride was available, and was able to give Martin his award. In speaking with Jeff, I was touched by his warm feelings of friendship for Martin, “I love Martin. We all do. It was an honor to be able to give the award to him.” Meeting both Jeff & Gaeton Bloom in Vegas was a treat. Gaeton told me of the times that he and Martin shared in Europe, and of their first meeting, “You are Martin Nash?” “Yes.” “ I am Gaeton Bloom!” he said with an enormous smile.

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Tony Clark The Classy Magician It was the fall of 1979 and I was just about to witness my first magic lecture. I really didn't know what to expect. I really didn't know what a "magic lecture" was. All I know was that everyone from Assembly 33 in Stanford, said I shouldn't miss it because The Charming Cheat, Martin Nash was the man of the hour. I was embarrassed to say I didn't know him at the time. Where was I hiding for the first 13 years of my life? I walked in and took my seat. I kept looking for this Martin Nash guy. I didn't see anyone dressed like a magician per say. Then he was introduced, I'll never forget my first impression of him, wow I said to myself, this guy looks to good to be lecturing for our local group. Martin was dressed to the nine's. He had a very calm demeanor that reminded me of Clint Eastwood for some reason. He was just in control of himself and us, the audience. For the next two hours, I was blown away by his card work. I never thought card magic could be so strong. As a young magician it really opened my eyes to presentation, patter and character. I must say after all these years I can still remember so vividly the reaction when I saw Martin perform Ovation. It stunned me to the point of speechlessness. To see all those cards match was truly a miracle. Little did I know Martin's true charm was yet to come. The moment his lecture was over, everyone rushed his table to buy his lecture notes. Knowing I didn't have the money to buy anything, I tried thumbing through to see if I could grasp something. I kept walking up and down the front of his table. I kept looking through his lecture notes while everyone was buying his merchandise. Then all of a sudden Martin said to me, "Did you enjoy the lecture?" "Yes," I said, "very amazing." "What's your name?" he asked. "Tony," I said. All I could think of was that he was trying to talk to me so I would eventually leave his table. As I was thinking this, he reaches over and picks up his lecture notes and his Ovation manuscript and signs them to Tony and hands them to me. Some how, some way he knew I could not afford to buy them, so he just gave them to me! Again I was stunned and speechless. This random act of kindness was his greatest thing I learned from him.

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Nash Reloaded Ten years later I ran into Martin at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, after one of my performances. There he was again looking dauber as usual. He was very kind, giving me a nice compliment about my dove act. I couldn't resist, I pulled him aside and just had to relate this story to him. Again I was amazed. He actually remembered exactly where it was, Old Greenwich, Connecticut in the basement of the old church! All I can say is that Martin is a class act and is in a class by himself. I feel fortunate to have met him and become his friend. By the way, thanks for the notes, Tony Clark

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Rick Anderson My lifelong love affair with magic started in 1960 when I saw a magician at a school assembly while I was in kindergarten. Almost a decade later I had a "magical experience" that truly changed my life. That experience was my first magic convention. That's where I first met Martin Nash, The Charming Cheat. There I was, at the ripe old age of 15, headed to the big city of Tumwater, Washington (just outside Olympia, the state capitol.) Not only was this my first convention up until a few weeks before I didn't even know there was such a thing as a magicians' convention. I had grown up in Richland, Washington, where my only contact with things magical was one friend with a serious interest, television, books and the tricks I sent for by mail. Fortunately I had parents who supported my interest and were quite generous at Christmas and birthdays in ordering the magic I most wanted. Oh yes, the one other major contact was Syd Brockman. Syd had a magic shop in Seattle. The classic old, hole-in-thewall magic shop that was piled (literally piled) with the most wonderful of magical paraphernalia. About once a year my family would drive the four hours to Seattle for a small vacation and the rule was they had to drop me off at the magic shop as they went into town, before they even went to check into a hotel. I can still remember with breathless clarity the unbound excitement I had anticipating this trip to Syd's shop. Well,on the particular year we are referring to, Syd had sent a note to my mother telling her about this convention of magicians. She made all the arrangements for her and I to attend. It was just a train ride to Seattle and a bus ride to Olympia, then a taxi to Tumwater and we were there. I remember it being pretty warm but nothing like the 113 degrees of desert heat we'd left behind in Richland. It was at the Tyee Motor Inn in Tumwater where the convention was held. For me this was heaven and Disneyland all rolled into one. I mentioned how excited I was to go to a magic shop. Imagine my near religious experience of walking into a dealers room filled with over a dozen dealers.

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Nash Reloaded Without recounting my entire convention experience suffice it to say that I saw more wonders there than I knew existed. Like any convention certain acts, performers and moments remain etched in my memory while others fade. One of the most memorable times was the formal close-up session. PCAM was a reasonably small convention and so even at the close-up shows you got a good seat. The close up show consisted of Jerry Andrus, Alfred Hayes, and Martin Nash. I have had the very real pleasure of getting to know and spend some time with all of these gentlemen later in my magical life. But of all of these three, Martin's magic really got to me. Of the three, Martin was obviously the most polished "performer." He had a style and grace that lived up to his moniker of "Charming.” I had always had a fascination with not only card magic but with gambling and especially crooked gambling. Mr. Nash was a natural to become a person I greatly admired and wanted to emulate. Thirty five years later he still fools me so I was, of course, totally blown away by his magic back then. The cards seemed to be a natural extension of Martin's hands. He literally caressed a deck of cards. I think it is his influence that has always led me to strive for a light touch with cards. His demeanor was soft spoken and well…"charming." To be honest I can't remember a single effect he performed. But I did vividly remember Martin Nash – The Charming Cheat. If that were the end of the story I suppose it would parallel many others who will extol the magical virtuosity of Martin Nash. For me there is a bit more to my memories of Martin and that first convention. I was hanging out in one of the hotel hallways chatting with a newfound couple of buddies. I suppose we were swapping a card trick or two when we were approached by none other than Martin Nash. Here was one of the star performers stopping to acknowledge a few absolutely nobody teenagers. He greeted us with his almost trademark smile and, "Hello gentlemen." What happened next surprised and delighted all of us snot-nosed, teeny-boppers. Martin sat down on the floor, took out some cards, opened up his close-up mat and asked if we'd like to see something. How do you answer that without gushing. It's now almost 35 years later and I can't tell you how long Martin spent with us. I do remember he taught us several tricks and moves with cards. He took the time to help us actually work through the routines he taught us. He showed a simple four ace routine I've never seen since. The best trick he taught was what I now know is generally called the "Slop Shuffle." He demonstrated how it could be done with not just a chosen card but with several, such as the four aces. That trick is still a major part of my working repertoire today.

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Nash Reloaded I crossed paths with Martin Nash at a few later PCAM conventions but as I was still young and he was still a star I never really had the guts to approach him. But I was still in awe. Several years later, Stephen Minch ran the Seattle store for Mickey Hades. For a special event he was having at the store Steve had invited Martin to be a guest performer for the magicians only crowd. I was very flattered when Steve also invited me to perform. Martin performed at one end of the room and I was at the other. When Martin was finished with his set he wandered over and watched me. Imagine glancing up to see one of your absolute magical idols watching you. His smile from the back of the crowd helped me relax. When it was all over he approached me and asked to see one of my coin routines up close. When I finished, he asked me to, "Stay there for a moment please." He darted across the room and brought back his wife. Martin pointed to me and said, "You've got to see this kid's coin work. You've never seen anything like it!" That was one of the stellar moments in my magical career. There aren't all that many magical stars whose ego will allow them to give such a genuine compliment to another performer, let alone a complete unknown. Although he didn't know it, Martin's words of encouragement did wonders for me when it comes to being at ease performing for other magicians. Although our paths didn't cross again for many years and I was just one of the many fans of his work, the fact that he shared his time and knowledge with some unknown kids at that little convention in Tumwater, Washington has encouraged me to give back and help younger performers when possible. It's a part of Martin Nash's legacy of which I suspect even he was unaware. Rick Anderson

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Dustin Stinett As a teenager I was, magically speaking, deeply entrenched in fickleness. I was a card-guy; I was a coin-guy, then a card-guy again. For a few weeks in there I even wanted to be an illusionist. In the summer of 1979 I was in another of my coin phases. I was in San Francisco attending yet another non-descript magic convention (I think that they were interchangeable in those days) and riding the elevator from my hotel room to the convention facilities; I had to get to work at the dealer's booth where I was temporarily employed. My best friend and roommate, Gary, was with me and yammering on about a "card cheat" he had seen perform earlier who would be lecturing soon. Right, sure, uh-huh; just what I need, card tricks. Didn't he know I was a coin-guy? "This guy doesn't just do card tricks – come and see him!" It took more convincing from my friend as well as from my employer, but I reluctantly went to see Martin A. Nash, "The Charming Cheat," lecture me, a coin-guy, on card tricks. Fortunately for me a lecture by Martin A. Nash always includes a full performance. Fortunately for me when Martin A. Nash performs, even at a lecture for magicians, he gives it everything he's got – there is no "cruise control" in Martin A. Nash. What I experienced that afternoon was the first time I ever saw theater – something I was, at the time, studying in school – applied to a bunch of card tricks. The thought that such a thing was even possible had never occurred to me. It is when a moment like this leaves such an indelible mark upon one's life that one can recognize that particular moment as "life defining." Call me fickle if you may, but I became a card-guy again that afternoon and I haven't looked back since. A few years later I interviewed Martin for a proposed cover article for the now defunct Magic Manuscript. It would mark the first time I would spend any appreciable time with Martin and that, too, left upon me an indelible mark. It was here that I would gain a full appreciation for Martin's accomplishments. Besides being a consummate entertainer who happens to do superb sleight of hand with cards, he is also knowledgeable in virtually every facet of magic. He has performed dove magic (he's the inventor of the invisible harness), card and billiard ball manipulations and grand illusion. In addition, of course, he performed all over the world as "The Charming Cheat," making his living entertaining "real" people. Unfortunately the article didn't make the magazine and only a few notes, a

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Nash Reloaded rough draft and an original sidebar piece written by Harry Lorayne (it was while watching Lorayne perform that Martin experienced a similar epiphany as I did when watching Martin) has survived that non-digital period. One of magic's biggest mysteries is why, at the time of this writing, a cover story on Martin has yet to appear in any major magic magazine. Over the ensuing years I would see Martin at The Magic Castle from time to time, but it was the advent of the Internet that would rekindle our acquaintanceship and lead to the friendship that exists today. Though not always through his own choice, for as long as I have known Martin he has lurked in the shadows. It is good to see him emerging back into the light of recognition in which he so richly deserves to bask. In early 2001, Martin sat down with me and seven other serious devotees of magic for a private lesson. Studying with Martin goes beyond the nuts and bolts of sleight of handthough there is plenty of that to go around. It is also a lesson in theatrical magic, character development and the construction of an act in the form of a play – for that is what Martin performs: a play with the performer as the central character, audience members in a supporting role, and the cards, well, the cards provide the context and subtext. The effects are used to weave together the plot; from the first act, where the audience first learns of the journey upon which they are to embark, through the multiple surprises found during the journey and finally to the dazzling denouement. Not bad for a bunch of card tricks. A day with Martin the performer is also a day with Martin the raconteur; from his tough times in Canadian lumber camps through his salad days in search of his character, to the really good times after his discovery of his character, "The Charming Cheat," the stories are plentiful. Sometimes scary, sometimes exhilarating and sometimes heartbreaking; they are always entertaining. And while Martin insists that "The Cheat" is just a character, he's also the first to tell you that Martin the man has learned a lot about character from his character. Occasionally, when I see him performing "Ovation," "Kings Incognito," "Colors on the March" or, my personal favorite, "Jacks or Better," I try to picture the rough and tumble foulmouthed person who worked with lumberjacks in his youth. I can't see him, I can't even imagine him. "The Charming Cheat" is Martin A. Nash and Martin A. Nash is "The Charming Cheat" – a card expert, a magician, an entertainer, a gentleman and above all, a friend. Dustin Stinett

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Tom Mullica I got to know Martin Nash while living with John & Pam Thompson in Burbank, California many years ago. Martin and Johnny's love for magic is obvious. I've never seen two people more dedicated to the art. It wasn't uncommon at all for Martin to call on Johnny before breakfast time. He would walk in the front door while everyone slept and go directly to John and Pam's bedroom where he would sit on Johnny's side of the bed. The session began. Martin Nash is a dedicated man, an expert in his field and oh so charming! Tom Mullica

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Simon Lovell The Great Tabled Faro Moment A number of years ago Jamy Ian Swiss and myself were both appearing at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. He was doing late close-up whilst I was doing the late parlor shows. Needless to say we also spent a great deal of time hanging out with our mutual pal, Martin Nash. One night we were all upstairs in the bar chatting away and, for once, the conversation drifted away from fake deals and entered the rather esoteric world of Tabled Faro Shuffles. To do a Tabled Faro is tough enough in and of itself but to make it look natural requires an almost superhuman ability. Both Jamy and I had heard of Martin's skill with this move and asked him if he could demonstrate it. For once we had the great one stumped – oh, he was happy to do the move but, for the first time since I'd known him, he didn't have a deck of cards on him! On a billion to one shot neither did Jamy and nobody else was about. Two sets of eyes turned towards me. "I've got a deck but I don't think it will be much use to you," I said somewhat sheepishly, "It's the one I used in the show!" You see I can decimate a new deck very swiftly under any conditions but when I do my version of card to mouth I practically eat the deck mangling the cards in the process. What remains after the effect bears only a marginal similarity to a deck of playing cards. "Let me take a look," said Martin and I handed them over. He eyed them critically for a second then, with the famous Nash twinkle in his eye, said, "You sure don't have the softest touch in the world but I'll give it a shot." Martin cut the deck and did a perfectly natural riffle shuffle leaving the cards half in and half out of each other. He spread the cards. It was a perfect Tabled Faro as sweet as I've ever seen. Jamy and I picked our jaws up from the floor.

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Nash Reloaded Oh did I mention he did it on top of a handy bar stool and not a table? By the way, it was no fluke as he repeated it several times. It was a beautiful example of the skill of a true master in action. I'm very proud to call Martin Nash my friend; he is really one of the nicest and most giving individuals that I've ever met. As a bonus he's also no slouch with a deck of cards! If by studying teh techniques in this book you get only one tenth as good as Martin you'll still be way ahead of most! Simon Lovell

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The Book Title

The name of this book has been questioned quite a few times by my friends online. They felt that if I were to use this title, it might offend the makers of a recent popular movie. To be honest, that never even entered my mind when naming the book. I simply felt that this was a book of new and reworked Nash effects, and like a weapon that had new ammunition loaded into it, the name “Nash Reloaded” seemed appropriate. However, the online community tried to pull a funny and succeeded beautifully with a list of titles that obviously have no movie connections whatsoever. Nash Revolutions The Phantom Nash Card Wars II: Attack of the Nash Nashville Crouching Tiger Hidden Nash Finding Nash Beverly Hills Nash The Empire Strikes Nash Return of the Nash The Bridge Shuffles of Nash County Crimp Trek II: The Wrath Of Nash Crimp Trek III: The Search For Nash Crimp Trek VI: The Undiscovered Nash Nash & Nasher Nash-Hur Nashtanic Citizen Nash Shuffling in the Rain and my favorite.... The Color of Nash (staring Paul Newman as Martin A. Nash)

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From LVMI – 2003 to The Magic Castle

by Mike Sorensen In September of 2003, I had the honor of attending the Las Vegas Magic Invitational. It was a three day and night convention at the San Remo hotel that has become the talk of the town. The people who were in attendance made up the most incredible who's who that I had ever experienced, but I'll get into that later. This was to be a special trip for me because it was the first time I would get to meet Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat, face to face. We had spoken on the phone and made plans to meet there and go over several items for this book. He was the guest of honor at the function, and he did not yet know what award he was to receive. All plans were set and made, I was ready to go. Needless to say, I was excited. The event began for me on the 13th. I live in Salt Lake City, so it was not a major trek to get down there. I was going to fly down, but I had less than $400 to make this trip work. So, it was the bus for me. I left at 9:00 in the morning. The trip was not what you could call pleasant. The A/C was broken, the driver seemed to need to stop for a smoke break in every other town. The bathroom on the bus was straight out of a Clive Barker novel, and the guy sitting next to me looked and smelled like he was dead. Finally after about eight hours of this mind-numbingly long journey, the bus pulled into the terminal in downtown Las Vegas, I was staying at the Golden Palms hotel just a couple of blocks from the strip. I don't think I've ever had a cab ride that expensive, and I'm not quite sure that the driver knew completely where he was going. After I finally got to my hotel, I showered and took a nap. When I got up, I remembered that I didn't even know where the San Remo hotel was. I didn't feel like taking a cab again, and I didn't know the bus routes in Vegas yet. After finding the address, and being relieved to discover the hotel was only a couple of blocks away, I headed over. What a group. There were more magicians there than I had seen in any one place. People were gathered around tables in the lounge talking about sleights, showing off new moves, sharing effects. I was in heaven. After some searching, I found the dealers’ room. I wandered around looking at the new items that had come out, checking out new videos and new books. As I looked over to a table on the far side of the room, I noticed a tall, dapper gentleman in a suit that I recognized. It was Martin. I went over

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Nash Reloaded and introduced myself. Martin immediately began taking me around the convention and introducing me to his friends. Every direction I faced, there was another magician whom I had revered for the majority of my life. It was a little overwhelming. I got to speak with a plethora of magic gods. Tony Clark, Paul Harris, Gary Darwin, Jamy Ian Swiss, Shoot Ogawa, Jeff McBride, Daryl, the list continued to get larger. We'd be walking from one table to another and we'd hear, "Martin!" We turned around and there was Gaeton Bloom and Daniel Cross. I turned around again and there was Looy Simonof. As Martin introduced me to people, we began to get a bigger and better list of people to help with the book you are reading now. My excitement about the book grew steadily. That evening, we attended a cocktail party, and things got even better. I met Michael Close, David Roth, Lee Asher and others. You can see how a little nobody magician such as myself would be just a little intimidated. It was also at this party that I got to meet the masterminds of this convention, Robert Allan and Danny Archer, both of whom were very kind and gracious to me. Later that evening, as I was speaking to some people from Colorado, Martin called me over and introduced me to one of his closest friends. The terrifyingly funny and incredibly sweet, Simon Lovell. Simon looked at me and by the way of greeting said, "If Martin here were a woman, I'd be having sex with him right now." At the conclusion of the day, there was a jam session that was to take place in the main room. Martin would be performing first. Now, to understand the significance of this, you must realize that Martin was retired, and had hardly picked up a deck of cards in years. Nevertheless, he got in front of the audience. I had never seen Martin perform live, and now I was going to see him perform one of my favorite of his effects. The Omni Twist. It was beautiful. After his performance, several other magicians got up and performed pieces that were of stunning quality, and after all was said and done, Martin and I went to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate. It was a good day. The next day turned out to be even better than the first. I enjoyed some great lectures and I got the chance to share some of my own work with other card workers that were in attendance. There was a question and answer session that turned out to be, in my opinion, one of the most valuable events of the convention. All of the lecturers were answering questions fielded by the audience. I feel that many of us in attendance learned more in that hour than in most of our lives. It started out serious enough until Jamy Ian Swiss and Simon Lovell, two people whom you probably shouldn't have in a room together if you want to get anything done, began to talk about how difficult it can sometimes be to make yourself practice. All of a sudden, the one panel member who had stayed fairly quiet, Shoot Ogawa, grabbed the mic and in broken English fought out one simple word, "Bullshit!" The floodgates opened, and the room took on a new level of fun as we all realized that we were adults and could let our hair down a little. The problem that we all faced now is that you don't want to get Simon

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Nash Reloaded Lovell into a silly mood. I will leave the chronicles of his and Swiss's antics to the LVMI staff for their video that they will soon be producing about the lecture. Back to the lounge. As the day progressed, several other names in the business began to show up, including Crystal and other members of David Copperfield's staff, and the man who would become the AMA's 2003 Magician of the Year, Mac King. As I was speaking with him, I noticed a tall, long-haired gentleman wandering around whom I immediately recognized, it was Penn Jellet. I was wondering if Teller might be around, and sure enough he came walking up from behind me. What an incredibly nice pair of guys! Later that day, I was sitting at a lounge table with Martin, Armando Lucero, and a couple of other friends, when the ultimate question came. "Martin, will you show us a trick?" Now this was an historic occasion because as I mentioned, Martin does not perform much at all these days, but sure enough, he grabbed a deck of cards and a mat. The few of us sat and enjoyed a private performance from The Charming Cheat himself. After a dozen or so minutes, we looked up and to our surprise, the ENTIRE lounge was filled to capacity with people who were all whispering things like "Oh my gosh, Martin is performing!" and, "I wonder if we'll get to see him do Jacks or Better. I can't believe I'm seeing him perform!" Everyone there realized that what they were seeing was truly a part of magic history. It was like being in the room with Dai Vernon, or Slydini. After several more jaw-dropping effects, we all saw Robert Allan walk up behind Martin and tap him on the shoulder. "Martin, I hate to pull you away from this, but there is a lecture going on in the other room, and the performer is pissed off because there's no one in there. Everyone's out here watching you!" The entire room immediately burst into laughter and applause. In the words of Mark Twain, "It was a heartwarming spectacle." We all broke away to go see the lecture and we all came away from that one very content. Again, Martin and I ended the day with a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate. The final day of the convention turned out to be as entertaining as the other two. There were several more brilliant lectures. The dealers’ room was packed as usual, new ideas were flying around like candy wrappers in an updraft, and everyone was having a good time. It was at that point that Martin's good friend Christina LaVaughn showed up. There are some people in this world who are placid and even unpleasant, then there are those who are wonderfully fun people whom you can get along famously with and have a good time. Christina fit the bill perfectly. In the late afternoon, Martin and I were discussing some of the finer points of Ovation, and the fact that it has a similar effect on the mind to running it through a vice grip and having it come out better than when it went in, when Simon Lovell approached us. "Martin, I sincerely hope you are going to actually get in there and

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Nash Reloaded attend my lecture. I promise you, you'll laugh for about fifty minutes and cry for the last ten." We went in, and Simon was as good as his word and better. I have attended a lot of lectures in my life, and nothing has even come close to that one. It was one of the most valuable hours of my time I have ever invested. I implore you that if you ever have the opportunity to attend a Simon Lovell lecture, that you sell the farm to get there. You'll be better off for it. After the lecture, I went out into the hall, and met one of the other people whom I had gone to Vegas to talk to, Jeff Hobson. We hit it off well, and Jeff is now very high on my list of favorite people overall. We all knew something exciting would have to come from him later. That evening, there was a final show that would consist of all of the lecturers performing some of their best work. At the beginning of the ceremony, Martin was finally invited up. Robert and Danny presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was a moment to be remembered. The entire room was on their feet with thunderous applause. All of the performers that evening were fantastic. Armando Lucero was on fire. He has some of the most beautiful card manipulations that I had ever seen. Everyone got a good kick out of The Amazing Juggling Elvis. Curtis Kam, Shoot Ogawa, Jamy Swiss, and others all performed. Then it was Simon Lovell's turn. Heaven help us. Only one word though can describe what followed. History. Simon explained that he had acquired a trick several years previously that had helped to make him famous, The signed card from the mouth. He also explained that the man who had invented the trick was in the audience, Mr. Jeff Hobson. He was invited up to overwhelming applause, and they then proceeded to do the first and last ever synchronized signed card from the mouth. Simon took the left half of the room, and Jeff took the right. Now, for those of you who have not seen this effect, let me explain. The performer has an audience member take a card from the deck, sign it along the face, and the replace it back in the deck. After a through mixing, the performer then shoves the entire deck into his mouth and proceeds to explain in the most coherent speech possible that they are going to find the card with their tongue and fold it three times. After showing that the card is not on the top or bottom of the deck, he then rips the entire deck out of his mouth and stands for a moment making spitting and gagging noises. Suddenly, voila, a folded card pops out of his mouth, slime, spit, and all. After unfolding, the card is shown to indeed be the signed card. This in my opinion, is one of the best effects in all of magic. I stole the trick back in '95 and have performed it myself ever since. Hobson, upon hearing this news promised that the damage to my person would be only slight. Needless to say, the trick is downright amazing, and, to see it performed simultaneously by the two true masters of it was something special. As they performed the trick, the room was in an uncontrollable state of laughter. Upon the simultaneous revelations of the cards, the room was in shock to discover that both of them had gotten it wrong! They looked at the cards and couldn't figure out how they had missed it. The cards had signatures on them. Then they realized what

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Nash Reloaded the error was. Simon crossed to the right side of the room, and Jeff to the left. The cards had switched sides! The right side’s card had ended up on the left, and the left side’s card had ended up on the right. I have been performing magic for over twenty years, and have given up much of that sense of wonder when I watch magic. At the moment when the room realized what had happened, that childlike feeling of total wonder and amazement hit me for the first time in years. As I said, it was historic. That evening did not end in coffee and hot chocolate. Instead, due to the end of the convention, it was scotch and cigars. I had quit drinking and smoking, but the company was great. I sat with Jamy Ian Swiss, Simon Lovell, Dimarre, Hobson, and Martin. We talked into the wee hours of the morning. At that point, I felt that my magic life had reached a high point. The next day would prove me wrong. I awoke the next morning, got my bags packed and waited for Martin to arrive. He had decided that as a magician, there was an experience missing in my life. We drove out of Vegas just before noon, headed for Hollywood, and The Magic Castle. We drove to California in Martin's car, and I tell you, when The Charming Cheat decides to travel, he's going to do it comfortably. Traveling across death valley in a Lincoln listening to Elvis is an experience. We made a quick stop in Barstow at Denny's for some chow. I think it was at that point that it really hit me. In my head, I suddenly thought, "Holy cow. I'm sitting in a Denny's in California, having a Grand Slam Breakfast with a man whom I have idolized since I was a child." It was one of those things that hits you like a freight train. I looked across at Martin and said, "It just really hit me what a once in a lifetime experience all of this is." He looked at me and answered back, "So are these pancakes. Eat." As we drove into Los Angeles, I became a little panicked. I realized that I had no idea where my hotel was. I had the address, but Hollywood can be a little tough to navigate. "Not to worry," said Martin, "I know who we can ask." As we began to travel down Hollywood Blvd, I began to see all of the famous places I had seen in the movies. It was a great experience. We pulled into a parking lot and walked down the block to the famous Hollywood Magic. Due to a power outage, the place was actually closed! We stood there and wondered what to do next, when from inside, we heard: "Holy Crap! Martin's at the door." They opened up and let us come in. Now, I've been to several magic shops before, but nothing ever like this. We sat for awhile and talked about the good 'ol days when Martin used to frequent the place often because it was so close to the Castle. After some time, I asked one of the gentlemen if they knew where my particular hotel was. He pointed up the street, and there is was, right next to where we had parked. Oh well. Live and learn. We said goodbye and headed to the hotel. Martin decided to crash there that night as well.

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Nash Reloaded That afternoon as I prepared to attend an evening at The Magic Castle, I realized that the convention was good, but what I was about to enter was Mecca. We left the hotel and drove down the street. As we rounded the corner, the Castle came into view. It was a sight that I had drilled into my head since I was five. I had promised myself my whole life that I would one day be in the exact spot that I was now. It was tear-jerking. We pulled up to the valet parking and went inside. I turned to Martin and saw a look come over his face that was akin to, "I'm Home." I remembered that this was Martin's territory. This was his world., and I was being invited to experience it. I won't go into a lot of detail about what happened at the Castle. I want it to be a surprise to all of you when you get the opportunity to attend, but here are a few inside jokes I'll set upon you that you can figure out for yourself. Erma, upon hearing that I was from Salt Lake, greeted me with a rousing hymn. The Houdini room was a “spiritually uplifting” experience. I tried to make a phone call with some “bone chilling results.” My time at the Castle is time that I will remember until my dying day. I got the chance to meet Ice MacDonald. I was honored to be in attendance at a close up performance of Bruce Cervon. I had a nice chat with Gordon Bean as Martin took me on a tour of the Castle Library. We had a chat with Robert Lamoreaux, and I got the rare privilege to speak to Milt Larsen, the creator of The Magic Castle. The Castle is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It is my goal to return as often as possible. If you ever get the chance to go, do it. You won't regret it. After our evening of magic and fun, we were ready to eat. Again, this is an experience to be lived, not told about. There is a little burger shop in Hollywood called Tommy’s. It's located just a few blocks down from the Castle. We arrived there just before 11:00 pm. Martin began to tell me that he had spent many an evening there after a show. This place didn't look much different than any other side of the road burger joint, but as with all things related to magic, looks can be deceiving. Martin had been going to Tommy’s for decades. The burgers started out at around four bits each back then. Let me explain these burgers. It starts with a big toasted bun. Then comes a fat, fresh beef patty, a slice of tomato as thick as a vault door, heart-attack-inducing amounts of cheese, and as if that wasn't enough, a huge sloppy scoop of the best dang chili this side of death. We sat, we ate, we talked, we got heartburn. That evening, we sat in the hotel and talked about magic, music, life, and chili until the sun was ready to come up. Now, this was a good vacation. The next day, as Martin dropped me off at the terminal at LAX, I knew that I was not only saying goodbye to a great magician, I was saying goodbye to a good friend. Martin, I thank you for a good time. You opened my eyes to a new world of magic, and they will never be dimmed.

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M.A.N. and The Charming Cheat Martin A. Nash (M.A.N.) was born on March 18th in British Columbia back in the 30's. Parksville, where Martin grew up, was as small a town as it gets. The sign leading into town said, "Welcome to Parksville." The other side said, "Welcome to Parksville.” The population sign actually had a negative sign available on the front of the number. As I have been in the field for some time, I have known a good number of card men and women. As I would say the name Martin Nash, some people might know whom I spoke of, and others might not, but, when I say "The Charming Cheat,” or "The Dealer of Deception" people would immediately get the image in their heads of the smiling man in the dark glasses. The title has carried a lot of weight for Martin for several decades. When I had the fortunate opportunity of interviewing Martin for the first time, I asked him if there was a story behind this rather fitting title. "OHHHHH YESSSSS!" he exclaimed with an air of amusement. We sat and discussed it for quite some time. The story that he told was so good that I'm not going to try and paraphrase, I'm just going to give it to you straight from him as he told it to me that evening. ***************** Several years ago, I had done a radio show on the west coast. It was the number one talk show with Jack Webster, and you know he used to be a crime reporter. He did trials and all that. Then he was a writer for the newspaper. Then he went onto radio, and then onto television. But when he was on radio, I did everything I could to get on the radio with him. I couldn't do it. Then there was a court case where three fellows were convicted of cheating at cards, and I was the expert witness in the case. The Judge, Murray Hyde, credited me solely with the conviction. So this hits the front page of the Vancouver Sun, and that night I get a call. Jack Webster was of course very Scottish, and he said "Martin, I wancha on me show first thing, but if anybody phones I wancha ta tell 'em yer on Webster first." So I said OK.

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Nash Reloaded On the way, as I was driving down to the show, I heard him on the radio, and he said, "Tonight, I've got professor Howell on the show, and some guy who does cards." And I thought, "Some guy who does cards?!" and I just about turned around and went home. Anyway, I went to the show, and I went up to the secretary and said, "I want to speak to Jack Webster. I'm on the show." She said "Well, you're not on for another forty minutes, Jack's really busy right now." So I said, "I want to see Jack Webster now, or I don't go on the show.” So, Jack comes out, and you could just see the steam coming out of his ears. Well, we had known each other for a long time. I said "Jack, I'm just going to take a couple of moments of your time." I threw down two decks of cards and I said "Jack, one of the decks is marked. I want you to really examine them. Look at the cellophane, look at the backs, check both decks, and then tell me which one is marked." So, he picked up the one, opened it up, and examined it. He opened the second one, and really examined them and checked them out. He looked at me and said "I dunno." So, I looked at him and I said "Jack, I lied to you. I told you one of the decks was marked." And he just blew his top. I said "Jack, they're both marked, but they're marked differently." So he shuffled the cards, and I had to call out their names as he was dealing them. He goes to the other deck and we did the same thing. So, I pulled out another deck, and I said, "Jack, this deck is not marked. Go ahead, open it up, and shuffle it like this." I showed him how to do the shuffle which gave me the opportunity to stack the royal flush and palm it out. He took the cards, shuffled them, and gave them back to me. I said "Jack, if you were in a really high stakes game, what hand would you like?" "Royal Flush." he said. So I said "How many people in the game?" "Six." He said. "What position are you sitting at?" I asked. He said "Four." So, just by doing bottom dealings, I gave him the royal flush. Well, we hit the air, and it was nothing but an hour and a half of a commercial for me. A month later, I get a phone call from Toronto to do the Pierre Burden show, which was a half hour television interview show, on which he only had one guest. And to give you an idea, after me, he had Bill Cosby. It wasn't a small thing. He only had top personalities on. Jack Webster had told him about me. So, I did the show, and a magician in Toronto by the name of Norm Houghton had picked me up at the airport, and he said, Sid Lorraine wants to meet you. So, I guess I was there for about four hours, and we left. The next day I did the show, and Norm picked me up. He said, "Sid wants you back at his house. This never happens." So, we went back, and my God, card men had come from all over the place. I mean, they'd come from Windsor, they'd come from here, they'd come from there, and everywhere else, and Howard Lyons was there, and so I had a real session going. Then I had to go to Chicago and a half a dozen other places. I get back home, and there's a letter from Sid Lorraine. In the letter, God, his handwriting was beautiful. He said what a pleasure it was to meet me and blah blah blah blah, and now how the guys were still talking about Canada's Charming Cheat. Well, he had asked me if he could write an article about me, and I wrote back and said, "Of course providing you let me use the title ‘The Charming Cheat’." So that's how that came about.

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Nash Reloaded As Barnaby used to say, "And now, for the rest of the story." I got called to do a two day chiropractor's convention. This was shortly after the letter from Sid Lorraine. So I went to the meeting, and they hired me to do this two day convention. As I'm walking out, one of the ladies asks me "Oh, by the way, do you have a title?" and without even thinking, I turned to her and said "The Charming Cheat." They started to laugh, and I went "Oh my God." But you know, there's nothing I can do about it now. Then, the next week, I'm doing the show, and there is this big banner sitting up there that says, "See Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat." And there's about five or six different acts going on all at the same time. So, I'm performing, and I've got these huge crowds, and I worked for over four straight hours and didn't repeat a single trick. So anyway, a week, two weeks go by, and my wife and daughter, who at the time was about five years old, we're out walking and we hear these people running down Gravel Street which was a main street in Vancouver, and they stop, turn around, and look at me. And this woman said to me, "We saw you at the convention. We were there because my husband is a chiropractor. We never even watched anything else. As a matter of fact, we even missed the free drinks! I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name, but you're The Charming Cheat, right?" Business cards, letter heads, you name it. The name went on everything, and that's what I've been know as ever since. So then, a couple years go by, and I'm doing a show in Toronto, and it was a private industrial show. Somehow or other, Sid Lorraine got in. I mean he could get into any place he wanted, and I'd been up to his house again, and my business card used to read, "Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat and Intimate Entertainer.” Well, now I had the mirror system, and I was working for three or four hundred people at a time. I had talked to Sid and told him that I needed something else to put down there. Well, the next day, at this convention, I see him standing in the back, and he's got the grin on his face as he always had. You see, we were very dear friends, Sid and I, we were very dear friends right up until he died. So, after I had finished the show, he came up to me and handed me an envelope. I opened it up, and here were some things he had printed out, and they said Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat, and then the phone number where I had had Intimate Entertainer. And, one of the things he had there was, Martin A. Nash, The Charming Cheat, Dealer of Deception" And the rest, as they stay, is history.

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The Murray-Hyde Case Vancouver, 1967 The setting was that of a dinner party at a local hotel. Furniture store owner Colin Ryan had decided to try his luck that evening and sit in at a private game of cards going on upstairs. Stoop is a game that is quite similar to Blackjack, but with a little Baccarat thrown into the mix. Each player buys a portion of the bank and plays against the dealer separately. Instead of 21 being the golden hand, you cross your fingers for a pair of aces. Pocket rockets meant an automatic win and the shift of the deal is to you. The game has no lack of high excitement. In this particular game, three men of an unknown clandestine nature sat at the table along with Colin. After a period of time and an unwelcome shift of the chip stacks, questions arose in some people's minds as to the validity of the game. Finally, someone said it, "I think this deck is marked!" The deck was checked and nothing wrong was found. The RCMP was called in to investigate, and still nothing was found. However, one of the detectives knew that if there was anything to find, there was one man that would have no trouble finding it. Martin A. Nash was called in. After a quick check, it was found that the deck was in fact marked. It was found to be a "Juice" deck. Juice is an underground form of deck marking that until recently, many thought to be a myth. I won't go into it here, it's not my place to divulge it. Needles to say, it's a thing of clandestine beauty. It was found that it was the three men who were responsible for the cheating, and the next step was to build a case against them. The three men had names that sounded like they were straight out of a Damon Runyon book. They were, Shoulders Levi, Norm Kouhout, and Ox Anderson. Ox got his name simply because of his size. He was sitting in on a game once when a man accused him of Second Dealing. Ox leaned over the table and knocked the guy out cold with one punch. He sat down, asked "Does anyone else have a problem?" and everyone kept playing. The time for the trial came. Ox Anderson skipped bail and wasn't present. Martin was called up as an expert witness. When the time came for the defense to cross-examine Martin’s credentials, the

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Nash Reloaded assistant lawyer stood to ask the questions. He got about as far as, "I have a ques…" when the head attorney grabbed him by the back of the jacket and said, "Sit down idiot." His name was Tom Bradewood. He had gone to university with Martin and knew him very well. So, consequently, he knew that if they tried to punch holes in Martin's credibility, they'd only make fools of themselves. After all was said and done, they got the conviction. The three men were fined $3,500 dollars apiece and banned from gambling. The next day, in the Vancouver Sun, there was an entire front page story about the case in which judge Murray-Hyde credited Martin with getting the conviction. Over the next while, it was pieced together what happened to these men. Shoulders Levi, whom Martin knew and had one Christmas received a beautiful set of gold cufflinks from, was not the smartest of the bunch. His IQ might have been room temperature. All he had done was throw the deck into the game. However, no one knows what happened to him. He simply up and disappeared. No one has heard a single word from him ever since. Norm Kouhout walked into a bar a few years later, went into the men's room, and came out a moment later with and eight inch blade in his gut. He dropped dead on the bar floor. Ox Anderson is now spending two life sentences in a federal penitentiary for murder. These were not the kind of men you'd want your daughter dating. Martin has been involved in dozens of cases throughout his life for both the defense and prosecution, and has the distinction of having never been on the losing side of a case.

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The Ed Balducci Years

Over the last while, I've had the honor of getting to know Martin and one of the things I've enjoyed is that he has a wealth of captivating stories about his life in magic. Some of the times he speaks most fondly of are his times with Ed Balducci. Back in the early 60's Ed used to have get togethers with some of his friends, and Martin and his wife of the time used to attend. One of the first evenings he attended, he sat at the table with Ed, Dai Vernon, and another gentleman whom they said was The Great Cardini. Now, Martin had wanted to meet Cardini for some time, and anyone who knew Ed, and Vernon, knew that they had no reservations about pulling a good joke on you. They introduced Martin to this gentleman and he knew that they were putting him on. This guy was hunched over the table, he was old, staunch, triple chinned, balding, and in no way the man who was Cardini. Martin knew full well that they were putting him on. Well, the evening progressed and everyone had a good time showing magic to each other. At one point, the guy turned to Martin and said, "Why are you doing all of this knuckle busting work?" Martin replied, "Who are you to talk about it, you're supposed to be one of the greatest sleight of hand men of all time!" He looked at him and said, "I'm not a sleight of hand man, I'm an arteest!" As the night went on, they all had a "one better" session. Vernon and Ed did something, Martin did some coin work, and then it came time for this fake to do an effect. He stood up from his chair, and now he was straight as a rod. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the monocle, put it at his eye, and now the transformation was complete. There was no longer any doubt in Martin's mind – this was unquestionably The Great Cardini. Cardini pulled out a deck of cards and had each of the men select one. After they were lost in the deck. Cardini held it out and one at a time, they began to rise quite beautifully out of the deck. On the last one, it rose up about six or seven inches into his hand. As he sat down, he looked at Martin and asked, "Do you know how I did that?" Now here was an interesting situation. What do you say to a man like Cardini? If you say yes, you're a smart-ass. If you say no, you're a dumb-ass. So Martin gave the most diplomatic answer he could, "I think so." "What did I do?" "I think you’re using an IT reel."

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Nash Reloaded "Where is it?" "……..I have no idea." The set-up that Cardini had used was beyond brilliant. As many people know, Cardini was also a watchmaker. He had hidden a micro reel in his watch! The thread came out of the stem and ended in a tiny ball of wax. What he would do, would be to look at his watch and as he was saying something like, "This will take about sixty seconds…" he would get the thread. He could then place it as he wished. Thus was the genius of Cardini. It was round about that time when they heard a scream from the other room. Someone had burnt a cigarette hole into Ed's new Chesterfield. Martin was praying that it wasn't his ex, which it fortunately wasn't. As mentioned, Dai Vernon was also at these meetings. The story of his effect that night still warms the hearts of many magicians. He had decided to do the classic quarters through the hand routine. Well, he went over to the shelf near by, and picked up a crystal wineglass. At that point you could see Ed's face begin to go pale. Vernon began the trick and as with all things in life, Murphy's law kicked in like a clap of thunder. The first coin caught on the edge of the glass. The tinkle of shattering must have given Ed a dozen strokes right then and there. He hit the roof, because unbeknownst to Vernon, these were a set of four wineglasses from the mid 19th century, and they were absolutely priceless. This of course did not phase Vernon in the least. He went over, grabbed another one, and finished the trick! Those meetings were priceless to Martin, but at the time, he didn't know it. They would sit around and talk of everything but tricks. They would teach him things like speech, patter, deportment, audience management, but no tricks. He began to get a bit frustrated. What he came to realize though was that they were in fact teaching him the most important stuff, and it was that which made Martin into what he is today. They molded and shaped him into a great performer. A trick will only go so far, but it’s the important things like misdirection and presentation that make you a star.

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Memories Of The Professor

Dai Vernon was and forever shall be considered one of the great classics. He taught, mentored, influenced and molded more people that any other magician in the history of the art. He was a veritable encyclopedia of magical knowledge, and he was the inventor of most of the common things in magic today. Where would any of us be without one of The Professor's most widely used innovations, The Double Lift? Martin and Vernon were good friends for many years, and he has consequently gathered some of the funniest stories I've heard. One of my favorites had to do with The Magic Castle in Hollywood. Both Vernon and Martin practically lived there. Over the years, Martin did many lectures there. Once, in the close up room, Martin was doing a lecture, and as he came out, Vernon immediately piped up. "What the hell is this! Martin Nash? I though we were gonna see Martin Gardner. We've all seen Nash, let's get Martin Gardner out here. I thought we were gonna have something good!" Martin had never heard Vernon go off like this. Vernon then began to laugh, as did everyone else. Well, of course, Nash continued and gave a great lecture. Afterwards, some of the other Castle folk came up to him and told him that the only reason Vernon did that is because he loved him and knew that he of all people could take it. Vernon used to attend a lot of Martin's shows. He had his own seat up front. The problem was that Vernon had a nasty habit of falling asleep all the time, so he would doze off in the middle of Martin's set. Near the end, Vernon would start to stir, and Martin would look over at him and say, "No Dai, you go back to sleep and I'll wake you up during the next show where you fell asleep.” This became a running gag throughout the Castle. Another great story that Bruce Cervon tells is about how Vernon used to love to play hearts. Vernon, Bruce, Kuda Bux, and Billy McComb would often sit at a private table and play hearts. One night, Vernon and Kuda Bux were sitting across from one another and they kept losing horribly. Finally, Vernon got so pissed off that he looked across the table at Bux and shouted, "For God sakes, put your blindfold back on so you can see what the hell you're looking at!"

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Nash Reloaded There was one evening that a young man had come to the Castle who wanted very much to meet the great Dai Vernon. So, they sat down together, and the kid insisted on showing him a trick. He began, and immediately, Vernon broke in, "No no. You're doing it all wrong. You've got to do it this way.” Well, after about five minutes of these rebuttals, the kid got up and stormed away. Vernon sat there, took his cigar out of his mouth and said, "Ya know what his problem is, he can't take criticism!" These kinds of things were frequent with him, but he always meant well and had the right intentions at heart. Another of my favorite stories is when Martin taught Vernon to dead cut four aces from the deck. It was a simple addition to an old principle. You just use the Stevens control and cut to the chops. Martin taught this to Vernon and he immediately began to freak out. "I didn't even think about that! I've always used one card. That's beautiful!" A little later that evening, Vernon was sitting with some friends, and he called Martin over. "Martin come here. I want you to show these guys something. Here, cut to the aces." So Martin asks, "Can I give the deck a shuffle?" and he noticed that Vernon had put the four aces on the bottom of the deck, so he shuffled and cut to them. The same thing happened latter, and then the next night, and the next. On about the fifth night, Vernon called him over. "Here Martin. Cut to the four aces." Well, at this point, Martin wasn't even looking anymore. So he shuffles, cuts, and he got the four of hearts, the six of clubs the queen of hearts, and the eight of spades, or something like that. Vernon took the cigar from his mouth, looked around and said, "I knew he couldn't do it." And began to laugh. The son of a gun had palmed out the aces! He then said that they should give Martin another chance. So he gave him the deck again, putting the aces back on the bottom. Of course, Martin got it that time. That was Vernon's way. He could have a joke with you, but he would never leave any egg on your face. He'd always make sure you could handle the situation. I very much enjoyed learning about Dai Vernon. My regret is that I never got a chance to meet him. The most important thing I learned about him though, was that it was a bad idea to get in the car with him because he never really learned to turn where the road turns. That was Vernon.

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The Plastic Eye Fraud Canada, 1960's In Tops Magic Magazine, Nelson wrote an article about an evangelist by the name of Ronald Coin. He stated that the man was a fraud and that if anyone could take him down, then do it. Martin Nash had heard about him and was interested to know more. He phoned a friend of his at the Vancouver Crime Lab, detective inspector Percy Easler, who was also an accomplished magician. He said, "Martin, I'd love to talk to you about him but I'm on my way out to go to a case. Can we talk later?" That was fine. About ten minutes later, Martin got a call back from Percy. "Martin, you're not going to believe this but we're going out on the Plastic-Eye Fraud, and it is Ronald Coin. Would you like to come along?" The crew that went to Ronald's show consisted of Percy, Martin, RCMP Staff Sergeant Jack White, and a couple of uniformed RCMP guards that parked some distance away so as not to be noticed. They sat as Ronald came out. He was a mid-sized, heavy-set somewhat balding man. Not a bad looking guy, but he wouldn't make the cover of GQ. He told the story of when he was a young lad. He was playing with a piece of bailing wire. As he was twirling it around on his finger, it got caught on his eye. He was taken to the doctor, but they couldn't save it and it had to be replaced with a plastic eye. Some years later, he fell ill. His mother, who was a firm believer in the laying on of hands, took him to a priestess. She laid her hands on his head and pronounced him well. As he and his mother were preparing to leave, the lady called to him. "There's something wrong with your eye!" He explained about what had happened. The priestess laid her hands on his head once more, and low and behold, Ronald could see out of this plastic eye. A true miracle, so to speak. Ronald’s demonstrations went thusly; he would have his good eye taped shut. Audience members would then hand him their driver's licenses, passports, and even credit cards and he would read them through the plastic eye. People would fall in amazement and pay him upwards of $5000 dollars in an attempt to buy their way into heaven. As Martin and the crew watched the demonstration, they saw what the method employed was. Ronald was using something called a nose peek. After the handkerchief was taped over his good eye,

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Nash Reloaded he would puff out his cheeks. This would facilitate a small hole down the side of his nose down which he could see something that was held underneath it. The other tactic, which he employed, was an uncanny photographic memory. He would take an item; pass it from one hand to the other passing it underneath his nose. In that one moment, he could memorize the entire contents of the card. It was uncanny. Martin, Percy and Jack signaled each other that they knew what was going on. Martin was brought up on stage. He looked at the "blind" Ronald and noticed that the tape wasn't totally secure. He took out some of the 1" tape that he brought and secured the handkerchief tighter on Ronald's face. Ronald puffed out his cheeks again and Martin wasted no time in pinching the tape back down. At that point, Ronald ripped off the tape and cried out that they had a non-believer in their midst. The others approached Ronald and told him that they needed to speak to him privately. In preparing to get a conviction on Ronald, the crew realized that they were facing a problem with the trial. They could bring in Martin as an expert witness, but Ronald would bring in a hundred people that had sworn they'd seen a miracle. This is the problem that they had faced before, but they had a gamble of a solution that they hoped would pay off. They told Ronald to show up in court in three days time. Within two hours, as hoped, he skipped the country into the U.S., and hasn't been heard from since.

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The Planes

When I got to know Martin, I found that we have several interests in common; card magic, gambling sleights, travel, chili burgers, beautiful women and, strangely enough, model planes. Martin has spent a good number of hours with his planes. He sent me pictures of some of them that I thought you might like to see.

ZZYZX

The Strawberry Bitch This is an enormous plane. The details are astounding, right down to the dials and the pedals. This is probably the only thing in the world on which Martin has spent anywhere near as much time on as his Second Deal.

King Cobra

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Nash Poetry

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An Ode to a Lady It wil be long before I hold you, I know we're far apart, But one thing that I'm sure of, Is you’re always in my heart. Mistakes I've made are many, Regrets they are the same. My heart is very heavy And my soul is fil ed with shame. Many the words I'd like to say, While wishes they abound But the greatest wish I ever had, Is that you were stil around. Love is such a fragile thing, And fools like me are blind, But just know that I miss you And you are always on my mind. Martin A . Nash, August 7, 2001

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Driving School Oh, how I love the Japanese, They bow and say, “You first please.” Then they get into their car They travel fast, They travel far. They never stop, they only shout, You wish to hell you could get out! Then they have head-on collision, They bow and say, "Made wrong decision." So if you’re driving in Japan It only proves you are a man, And when your destination you arrive, Thank your lucky stars…….. Martin A . Nash, September ‘95

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Life’s Four Seasons When I was young I used to play, In a field not far away. And in one corner hung a rusty old bell, Above a long forgotten wishing well. Ding-dong, ding-dong, You can start to hear the robin's song, Hear the budding of the soft green leaves, As spring wind whispers through the trees. Toss in a nickel, toss in a dime, Wish for a better place and time, Wish for fortune, or you can wish for fame, You wish for gold, it's all the same. Ding-dong, ding-dong, Can you hear the robins sing their song? Hear the gentle swaying of the leaves, As they twist and turn in the summer breeze. As for me, I wished to travel far, So I set my sights on a wandering star. To see the world and all its sights, Under blazing suns, and star-fil ed nights.

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Ding-dong, ding-dong, I can barely hear the robin's song. As I quietly listen for rustling leaves As they fall to the ground in the autumn breeze. I'm home now, and going to rest a spell, And lean my back on that old well. Close my eyes, and ask the Lord above, Why couldn't I just have wished for love? Ding-dong, ding-dong, I no longer hear the robin's song. No more to hear the sound of leaves, As the cold winter wind blows through the trees.

Martin A . Nash, September ‘99

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Secrets If I were to tell you a secret, And you knew it was yours alone. Would you promise to be gentle, And safely take it home? It is all that I can give you, There is nothing more to give, I want just you alone to own it As long as I should live. It has no monetary value So many would never understand, It is my heart I freely give you, To hold gently in your hand. Love is such a fragile thought And the future can become the past, Just know the heart I give you, Is mine to give…… at last! Martin A . Nash, October 5, 2001

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The Magician The Magician struts upon the stage, He has become the Castle’s latest rage. Coins appear at finger-tips, Silks pop through his puckered lips. His assistant's here, and now she's there, And now you see her everywhere. He takes his applause with shouts and cheers And then he slowly disappears.

Martin A . Nash, September ‘97

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The Sleights Library

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For most men (till by losing rendered sager) will back their own opinions by a wager. ~George Gordon~

The Second Deal

If you have ever seen a Second Deal, then that is the person that you don't want to learn it from. The whole point of a Second Deal, is that you'll never actually see it. The Second Deal is perhaps most likely to be considered the Holy Grail of sleights. It can, if done right, be one of the most useful and deceptive tools in all of card work. The sleight is exactly as it says. You appear to deal the top card when you infact deal the card second from the top. Martin's work is replete with seconds, thirds, and even fourths. Many of his effects depend highly on this move. As Martin says, "It is one of the toughest sleights in magic. It's extremely easy to do poorly, yet it's extremely difficult to do well." We will go over the move it self, and then we will cover some techniques on practicing. On of the things that I feel should be covered is the problem of dry fingers. I suffer from this ghastly infirmity. I don't sweat much in my hands, and the tips of my fingers are always bone-dry. This can be a problem on a Second Deal, and I had been searching for some time for a solution. I learned a good technique from Lee Asher, who learned it from the works of Dai Vernon. Simply run your thumb over your teeth, and rub it in. Gross, but effective. After some study, I learned of Martin's method. I had always noticed what seemed to be a nervous twitch when he performed. He would reach up behind his ear and scratch an itch. What I didn't know, is that before he sat down, he would put a generous amount of SortKwik behind his ear. That's the round pink goop that you get at office supply stores for sorting papers. This leaves no grease on the cards, it eliminates plaque on the thumb, and it's totally deceptive. If you have some handy, grab it, put it on your thumb, and let's get to work. THE MOVE: As discussed in other parts of this book, it is best to do this with a fresh deck. There are several methods for accomplishing this, you may refer to S. W. Erdnase's book, or any of a number of other rescources. We are going to cover the "Strike" second. Hold the deck in dealing position. Bring your hands together as if you are going to deal the top card. As your hands come together, the thumb of your left hand pushes the top card towards your

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Nash Reloaded body at an angle just a bit so that at the top of the deck, there is a "brief" (fig.1). Your right thumb makes contact with (strikes) the now exposed second card and slides it out from under the first. It may then be dealt to the table. As the hands come apart, the thumb of the left hand pushes the top card back into place, squaring it up. (fig.2) There should be no movement of the left hand. As you practice, the brief should get smaller, and smaller. To start, it should be about a quarter of an inch. After practice fig.1 it will get to be between a sixteenth and a thirty-second of an inch. Martin has his down to a sixty-fourth of an inch. That is the basic sleight. A good way of practicing is to turn the deck face up, and put the Ace of spades on top. (fig.3) As you practice, try to make your brief smaller and smaller. You should get to the point where there is no color visible in the upper left corner of the deck when you deal. This is a good fig.2 practicing technique, and it has helped me hone my second to a fairly deceptive point. A couple of things to remember is to not "necktie" the deck by tipping it up so far that it looks silly. A small amount of tipping will help hide the move, but don't overdo it. You'll get to the point where you don't need to tip the deck at all. It is also common when a person deals, to toss the cards to the player. fig.3 Practice doing this, and it will add a nice bit of misdirection to the move. Practice this move with diligence. Martin has put in over 3000 hours on this move alone. I'm only up to about 500, but I'm getting there. Give it the time it deserves. It's worth it. There are many other versions of this move that are quite deceptive as well. In Martin's straight gambling routine, he demonstrates several. If you demonstrate these for your audience, have the ace of spades on top of the deck and after each demo, turn the top card face up to show the ace is still there. Your audience will be speechless. We'll go through these one by one. have a deck in hand and ready to go. First is the Push-Off Second. Take the deck in your left hand. When you normally start to deal a card, the thumb pushes off a card. In this case, you'll do the same, but push off two cards. (fig.4) As

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Nash Reloaded the right hand grabs the card, use your left fingers from underneath to push out the card, and use the left thumb to pull the top card back. This is perhaps the second most widely used version of this move. Try to make the move consistent and smooth. Next is the One-Handed, Face-Up Second. This move is similar to the push off in that you push over two cards. Let fig.4 the left ring finger touch the bottom of this second card. Turn your hand palm down sharply, and as your doing this, let the thumb pull the top card square with the deck. Use the ring finger to give the card a little kick. This, combined with the sharp turning of the hand will cause the second card to come flying out face up onto the table. The same move done without turning the hand palm down, and using a kind of frisbee throwing motion will toss the card out face down. This can be done to either the player or to yourself. The Blackjack Second is very flashy looking and goes far towards impressing an audience. Again, push off two cards from the deck. Grab the two cards from the top in a Biddle Grip position. Strip the second card out while the thumb pulls the top card back and squares it with the deck. Then, snap the second card face up. The Stud Second is one of the more difficult versions, but it can be every deceptive. It’s the same except for the finger usage. Let the pad of your middle finger contact the brief and slide the card forward. You then flip the card up and frisbee it out. (fig.5) If you have demonstrated these moves for your audience, then you should have about half of the deck left at this point. Place the remaining half deck in your hand horizontally. Tell your audience that the best way to keep a cheater from doing a second is to make them hold the deck horizontally in their hand. The reason is that it forces the dealer to extend his fig.5 fingers their full length. It tightens up the muscles, and it literally cramps the hand. Now, what the audience doesn't know is that this position, infact, makes a Strike Second easier. Simply use the thumb to push the top card down just a hair, and you'll have more striking area than you'll know what to do with. Try it, you'll pick it up quickly.

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Nash Reloaded This demonstration will leave a lasting impression on your audience. It's a strong show of your abilities, but please make sure that you can do these moves deceptively before you go showing off. Learn to walk before you run. A final word. This is one of the strongest moves in magic. You can always tell a die hard card worker on the internet when he says that one of his top three sleights is The Second Deal. I myself use it more than the Double Lift. If you ever get the chance to see Martin perform a Face-Up Second Deal, consider yourself blessed. It's the closest thing to a religious experience in card working there is. It may seem strange to spend a lot of time perfecting something that no one will ever see, but that's magic. Use this move well. Learn it, love it, you won't regret it.

Nash & Penn

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“Horse sense is a good judgment which keeps horses from betting on people.” ~W.C. Fields~

The Center Deal

Many years ago, I used to work at the local magic shop here in Salt Lake. Showplace Magic & Novelty. For those of you who have ever worked in a magic shop in a mall, you know how bad mall rats can be. Every single day, I'd have these snot-nosed, punk little kids who thought they were the next David Copperfield come on in and want to show me a trick. Now, there will be some of you out there, who might think, "I'll bet that every once in a while, he saw a really good trick. Didn't he?" The answer is no. It would invariably, with out fail, be one of two tricks. The 21 Card Trick, or The Glide. How many of us have seen that stinking glide trick? A show of hands would be pointless, but I know that we've all grown quite sick of it. After my time at Showplace ended, I swore to myself that The Glide would never be a part of my life again. Some years later, I witnessed the Nash Center Deals. My convictions needed a Band-Aid. I didn't think it was possible, but The Glide has found a new place in my heart because of this technique and because of Jacks or Better which is elsewhere in this book. The Glide lives again! This section will be about the Center Deal move itself. Several effects throughout this book require a firm grasp of this move, so it would be well worth your effort to give this one sometime. This move is designed to allow you to deal a card from the center of the deck while making it look as if it's coming off the top. The most common use of this is to deal the aces one at a time out of the center. If you look up "Any Ace Called For" in this book, you'll see a very strong routine that uses this technique. Also, "The Mechanic" which is one of my favorites, uses it as well. Take the deck in hand. You should position yourself so that the card you wish to deal is on the bottom. Let's say, the ace of spades. (fig.1) Have the spectator cut off half of the

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fig.1

Nash Reloaded deck. As you pick up the other half, do it from the top. Let the middle and ring fingers come underneath the deck and "glide" the bottom card over to the right. Then, you literally slap the deck together, (fig.2) and pick it up with your right hand. The deck is now square with the card to be dealt jogged to the right. Grab the deck in dealing position and bevel over the fig.2 top cards to the right. Place your left index finger along the front of the deck. (fig.3) You're now set to go. The right hand provides cover from the top and side, and the left index finger provides cover from the fig.3 front. Begin to deal off cards one at a time to players, and when it comes time to deal to yourself, simply use the left middle finger to kick out the card from the middle. Use the ring and pinky to maintain the break from where you dealt out the card. It is also possible to use an Infinity card as you'll see in a moment. You may now give the deck a cut at the break and a shuffle, and you'll be ready to center deal the next bottom card. Center dealing the cards face up is exactly the same except you grab the cards to the right hand palm down, and then turn the card up to place it on the table. It is common to want to have a cover card on the bottom of the deck so that you won't flash the card your going to deal every time you cut. Placing an Infinity card on the bottom works wonders. The procedure for center dealing the card changes a little. Let's say your in the position of having an ace second from the bottom with your cover card on the bottom. Cut the deck, and glide the cover card as you complete the cut. Now you'll have your cover card out jogged from the middle of the deck. Bring the left fingers to the edge of the card and pull it down as you square it. You can then insert those fingers into the deck and kick out the ace. You the bevel the deck and proceed as normal. Having a good Center Deal is, in my opinion, as important as having a good Second or a good Bottom. There are a number of possibilities for this move. Check out "Any Ace Called For" and you'll see what I mean.

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“There is but one good throw upon the dice, which is, to throw them away.” ~Author Unknown~

The Bottom Deal

This is a move that many magicians tend to back away from, but I do feel it should be examined for the sake of the serious card worker. The Bottom Deal is difficult. It is the act of dealing the bottom card from the deck while making it look as thought you're dealing the top card. We will cover a few of the most common methods. THE GRIP: The two grips for this are shown elsewhere in the book. You should use either a Mechanic’s Grip, or the Bottom Deal Grip. Either of these works beautifully. THE MOVE: Hold the deck in your left hand, and square it. As your right hand grabs it from the top, let the fingers of your left hand jog the bottom card to the right by a half an inch. Then bevel the rest of the deck. (fig.1) As you deal, keep your dealing motion fluid. When you are ready, bring the right hand over to grab the next card, and let your middle finger come under the deck. (fig.2) You'll be able to pull the bottom card out in the same fluid motion as the other cards. This method is good if you’re dealing your hands one round at a time. The more complex, but more common method is to keep the deck square as your dealing. When you want fig.1 to get a bottom card let the hands come together, and use the ring finger of your left hand to kick out the bottom card just slightly. It will almost spring into the right hand as they come together. You can then deal the card as norfig.2 mal. This method is good for when you are dealing several hands in quick succession. Turning the cards face up as you're dealing will also provide some visual subterfuge as well.

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Nash Reloaded A good way to practice this method is to start with just half of the deck. Try to make your moves consistent and fluid. If you have either a mirror or a video camera, they can be valuable guides. Let yourself become comfortable with the move and you can slowly work your way up to a full deck. This is another move than can be extremely valuable to your arsenal of sleights. Good luck with it.

Martin and I at The Magic Castle.

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“Games of chance are traps to catch school boy novies and gaping country squires, who begin with a guinea and end with a mortgage.” ~Author Unknown~

The Nash Multiple Shift

The Nash Multiple Shift is one of the few utilities that I honestly feel I couldn't do without. This is a multi-purpose move in that it can control any number of cards to either the top or the bottom of the deck. It may also be used for a very convincing false shuffle. The move itself is simple enough to do, but it takes a lot of practice to get it clean and clear. For this practice session, we'll use the aces, so remove them from the deck. I’ve used cards from another deck for purposes of clarification in the photos.(fig.1) Set the remainder of the deck horizontally in front of you. Insert the aces into different places in the deck so that they are protruding from the fig.1 side by about a quarter to half of their length. (fig.2) You will now appear to square the cards into the deck, when you'll infact push them through to the fig.2 other side. The positioning of the hands for this is very important. Thumbs should be at the back, and your index and middle fingers should be at the front. The ring finger of your right hand should be at the upper right corner of the aces on the short end of the deck. The ring finger of your left hand should be at the same position on the other side. Your pinkys should be free and away. If you rotate your hands together just a bit and push in with your ring fingers, they'll begin to slide through and out the back of the deck on the other side. If you then square up with your index and middle fingers and the thumbs, the aces will now be protruding slightly from the other side of the deck. (fig.3, 4, 5) This entire motion should be quick. Almost like a pop. In performance, the

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Nash Reloaded aces should sick out no more than a sixteenth of an inch. You can gesture with your right hand at that point because the left hand will cover the protruding aces. To practice continually, just pick up the deck and turn it around. You're now set to practice the move again. Once you are in the position of having the aces protruding on the other side, you may now go one of two ways. To bring them to the top of the deck, lift up on the bottom ace with the left thumb. You can then shift everything to the right so that the aces are now squared with the bottom of the deck. Place your thumbs and ring fingers at the corners of the deck on the long sides. Rotate outward slightly and the pull the packets apart. You now have the aces on the top of the left pack. Shuffle the two packets together, holding back the aces for the top. This should be a brief sequence, and should appear as if you've simply shuffled the deck after losing the aces. Now you are set to go into any number of miracles that need the aces on top. (fig.6)

fig.3

fig.4

The move is very similar for when you wish to bring the aces to the bottom of the deck. Proceed as usual until you get to the point where the aces are protruding out of the other side of the deck. Place you fingers in their proper positions, and rather than lifting the aces with your left fig.5 thumb, push down on them. Then lift up with your right fingers and slide the top cards over to the left. Now, when you strip out, the aces will be on the bottom of the left packet. Simply drop them first. You now have the aces on fig.6 the bottom of the deck.

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Nash Reloaded Here is one of my favorite demonstrations using this move. Pull out the four aces. Explain the following to your audience. "If you ever, in a game, get a four of a kind, flush, straight, or anything else, never put them back into the deck together as a packet. The reason of course for this is that most people shuffle a deck in blocks of four to seven cards. Every gambler in the world knows this, and he'll use it to his advantage. It is suggested that you place the cards in the deck at random places. That way, nobody knows the order, the position, and if one ace follows the other, no one will know it anyway." At this point, tell them that you square the deck and shuffle it. As you say this, execute the Multiple Shift. Then ask them what their favorite version of poker is. Tell them yours is draw, because that way no one can see what's in your hand. Then deal off the aces from the top of the deck. As the audience chatters in amazement, put the aces on the top of the deck, but hold a break under them. Cut the bottom half to the top, grab the aces to the bottom of the upper pack, and pull them apart in preparation for a shuffle. Shuffle the two packets together, dropping the four aces from the right first. Make sure that two or three cards fall on top of the supposed aces. As you shuffle them, tell the audience to watch the four aces on the top. Count them off as you drop the four supposed aces. Take one of the left-hand cards off and point to them. Now state that you're going to give the deck four shuffles, and if they watch, they might see the aces go down like an elevator. As you give this patter, square the deck and give it three more shuffles while maintaining the bottom stock. Pick up the deck, and state: "Now, what I have attempted to do is to shuffle the aces not to the top, but one at a time to the bottom." Turn the deck over and deal the four aces from the face of the deck. That sequence may seem bold, and may seem like it might not work, but trust me, it works. It all goes back to the audience will usually believe what you tell them, and their mind will construct a reality that matches what has been laid out for them. Try it, it works. The Nash Multiple Shift may also be used as a beautiful false shuffle. Simply shuffle the deck together, and when squaring, execute the multiple shift with half the deck. Then, simply strip the deck and slap the parts together on the table. It will appear as if you've shuffled and cut. This can be one of the most deceptive shuffles around when done properly, because the audience actually sees the cards go together. Work with it, and you'll make it work for you.

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“I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier. I know that the clubs are weapons of war I know that diamonds are money for this art but that’s not the shape of my heart.” ~Sting -Shape of my heart~

The Faro Shuffle

If you are reading this book and you are familiar with Martin's work, chances are that you already know what a Faro Shuffle is. I would like to just cover a few tips about The Faro that I have found helpful. -

Faros are easier with a fresh deck. Bicycles, Bees, and Aarcos are some of the best to use. There is a difference between an In-Faro and an Out-Faro. An In-Faro is where the top half goes into the bottom half. An Out-Faro is where the bottom goes into the top. Make your faros consistent. Changing your grips constantly can arouse suspicion. Using your index finger can help square the blocks properly.

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“The better the gambler, the worse the man.” ~Publius Syrus~

Infinity and Reverse Infinity Back in 1991, Martin Nash invented a new card control. Now, this statement may seem superfluous, even blahze. After all, I myself, in that same year, invented a new form of the pass, a new false cut, and at least a half a dozen effects. If you multiply that same amount by all of the card workers in the world, you may feel that a new control is just a mere drop in the bucket, and wonder why this particular item was so special that it deserves its own chapter. Well, to be honest, this control deserves its own five-volume set of books and videos, but I've got a lot of other items to cover as well. Martin's new control, Infinity, is perhaps one of the most ingenious and intuitive inventions to come along in card magic since the Double Lift. I mean that in all honesty. When Martin first invented it, he sold it to fifty card men for fifty dollars each. However, there were conditions for acquiring this masterpiece. The first was that if they didn't like it, they didn't have to pay for it, but they were not allowed to use it. The second condition was that they were not to teach it to anyone. The third was that they were not to publish it or put it on tape. Martin's part of the deal was that he would not put it out for one year. It would stay an exclusive. No one broke their word to him, and two years later he published it on tape for the first time in Infinity & Beyond. After Martin had perfected Infinity, one of the first people he showed it to was The Great Tomsoni, Johnny Thompson. He had this to say about it, "I find Martin's Infinity Principle to be one of the cleverest and most useful card controls in my repertoire." That was over a decade ago, and Infinity is now one of the main controls that Thompson uses. It was in fact Thompson that named the control. After Martin showed it to him, he began to play with it, and every night, he would call Martin from his cruise in Hawaii saying, "Hey! Did you know that you could do this with this control? Did you know that you could do this with it? And this? and this?" After a while he began to speak of how infinite the possibilities were. Thus was born the name Infinity. When I first saw the Infinity principle, I had no idea what I was looking at. I just thought that Martin had developed an uncanny feel for the cards. After I learned that it was a control, I was almost a little disappointed that he had cheated in such a fashion. Although, after some extensive study, I was in awe at the practicality, versatility, and shear ease of the control. As he has told me on many

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Nash Reloaded occasions, "Why work when you don't have to. I hate work!" Martin is proud of this secret. He has every right in the world to be. Infinity is, without a doubt, one of the strongest utilities in existence with a deck of cards. I was so very pleased when he allowed me to include Infinity in this book. I believe that I am one of the first, other than Martin himself, to be allowed to publish it. It is an incredible honor for me to be able to do this. But, I do ask the same thing of you, the card scholar, that Martin asked of the people to whom he taught it. Don't expose it. Don't teach it. Don't publish it. Martin deserves a level of respect for this innovation, and we owe him a debt of thanks. So, let's get on with it. We are going to do this in two parts. First, I'm going to teach you Infinity. We are going to cover as many of the details as my poor fingers can type. I want you to have a firm grasp on the concept. Then, I'll cover the new Reverse Infinity. It has the same basic principle, yet it lends itself to effects that Infinity does not. If you are reading this work, I am going to assume that you have at least a modicum of experience with cards, and that you have heard of the Key Card Principle. The Key Card Principle is a method in which you use a card of which you know its value and suit to help find a card next to it. There are several different methods by which this is done. Some people simply memorize a card and place it next to selections during cuts. Others use methods such as a short card, a breather card, or, my old favorite, a crimp card. That way, when they handle the deck, they can either feel or see the crimp and simply cut to it. Now, imagine a crimp card that can't be seen from any angle of the deck! Also imagine that, unlike a breather or a short card, you can prep this control card right in front of your audience and they will never know! It can even be done with a borrowed deck, and can be taken out as easily as it is put in! I love things where the method is right in front of the lay person's eyes, and they never, ever see it. It gives me kind of a nasty evil little pleasure. Does all this sound too good to be true? Wait, there's more. The card can be in the deck throughout the performance of several different effects, and is easily accessible. Then, when you are done, the preparation can be removed instantly, and you can give the spectator's deck back to them. They'll never know anything! Infinity takes into it, three different principles, none of which are actually used. The first is the old coin crimp technique where you'd push a coin into the middle of a card. That would generate a center crimp, which was easy to cut to. The problems were that it took some good setup time prior to the show. You also ruined the card. The second principle was the Vernon Breather Crimp. That was the technique of dragging your thumbnail diagonally along the card to make a "breather" pocket underneath the card. This was good in that it was invisible, but again, the setup was a limiting factor.

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Nash Reloaded The third principle was Harry Lorraine’s “Fan Prediction Number Three” from Close-Up Card Magic. We'll go into this later, but again, there are three principles that come into play, none of which are actually used. Infinity is a type of crimp that is put into the middle of the card. The method by which this is accomplished is simple. Grab a deck and try it as you go through this text. For the duration of this portion, I will have to make the assumption that you are right-handed. If I had to write the entire book for both, it would be twice as long, and sell for twice as much, but I'm kind of lazy in that sense. If you are left-handed, either hold the book up to a mirror and do it that way or just switch hands for everything here. It is best to make the Infinity card from a low black card. My personal choice is the four of clubs. The reason for doing this is that at times, the Infinity card might flash. If the spectator were to see it once, they would just ignore it. If they see it a few times, it is good to have the card be one that will not grab attention, like a four or five of clubs. Trust me on this one, it will save a lot of heartache in the long run. Take the deck into dealing position. You will need to get a break under one card, because you are going to do a semi Gambler’s Cop. Slide the deck forward while retaining the bottom card in your left hand. Once your right thumb reaches the middle of the card, flatten out your left hand and push down with the side pad of your right thumb. (fig.1) You don't need to use much pressure, just enough to get a slight bend in the card. Square up the deck and you now have your Infinity card on the bottom. If you cut the deck, you'll notice that there are no visible crimps from any angle, yet fig.1 when you simply do a cut from the long sides of the deck, you'll cut straight to Infinity. After one or two tries, you'll have it down.

fig.2

The basic control is simple, and it is where the third unused principle comes in. We are going to use Harry Lorayne's “Fan Prediction Number Three.” Put yourself in a position where you have Infinity on the bottom. When you get ready to fan a deck for a selection to be taken, your right hand naturally

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Nash Reloaded comes underneath the deck. Pull the Infinity back towards you about an inch. (fig.2) Now, when you do a regular fan, let Infinity ride under the right side of the deck. (fig.3, 4) This serves two purposes. It makes it so that people won't select that card, and the other, you'll see in a moment. Have a card selected, and break the pack at that point. Have the selection memorized and returned to the middle of the pack. Now, when you close the upper fan onto the selection on fig.3 the lower fan, Infinity will now be on top of the card. You may then dribble the deck, ribbon spread it, whatever. Cut the deck at Infinity, and shuffle it to the bottom while bringing the selection to the top. When you cut to Infinity, you'll be able to see it on the bottom of the pack you cut off. If you miss, simply slap it back down and cut again. Where you go from there is up to you. fig.4 One of the other nice things I like to do with this control is to have the spectator cut to their own card. This makes good practice for managing whom you will have involved with the effects. Always watch where and how people cut the deck. If you get someone who riffles up the side and then cuts, they'll never hit it. Look for people who give it a quick casual cut near the middle. I like to set the deck in front of people after I've lost their card, have them cut the deck, and hand the cut off pack to me. It should be fairly obvious if they hit it or not. If they did, have them turn over the card they cut to. If they didn't hit it, complete the cut, and tell them that you'll give it a cut as well. Get to Infinity, and have them turn the card over. This is just one of many possibilities. The control is limitless. I have been amazed by the number of wild things that I myself have been able to come up with from such a simple concept. Now, for the Reverse Infinity. I had been using Infinity for some time, when I discovered that it simply wouldn't work for an effect that I was trying to revamp. I needed to cut to below the selected card rather than above it. I was frustrated that this fantastic control wouldn't help me. Suddenly one afternoon session, over a glass of warm, flat Coke, it hit me. Just do it in reverse, but how? It took me almost thirty seconds of grueling thought to come up with it, but now after all that time, I can give it to you.

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Nash Reloaded Reverse Infinity is almost identical in concept. It's simply the preparation of the gimmick that is different. The card is exactly as it sounds – Infinity, just reversed. The crimp goes the other way. This can be handy for when you want to quickly cut a selected card to the bottom, or other such uses that you will see throughout the book. To prepare a Reverse Infinity (RI) you can take two routes. The first is the simplest. Turn the deck face up and execute the same move to put in the fig.5 work, and then turn the deck back down. I personally don't choose this method due to the fact that I can't stand moves that apparently serve no purpose. The best way, and my favorite, is this. Side steal out a card from either the bottom or from somewhere in the middle. (fig.5) Get it into classic palm position, and use the third finger of your left hand to push up into the card and put in the work as you drop it onto fig.6 the deck. (fig.6) The card can be shifted from top to bottom easily enough by use of an overhand shuffle. This facilitates changing the card from a regular Infinity to an RI or visa versa. Experimentation will yield further ideas. This control is a deadly weapon in any magician’s arsenal. It's worth the effort to get it right. Play with it and I think you'll see that there are limitless possibilities for where to take it. Good luck, and happy hunting.

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“I bet on a horse at ten-to-one. It didn't come in until half-past five.” ~Henny Youngman~

The Side Steal

This move is one of the most difficult to master in my opinion. A good side steal can be more valuable than a pass, because it takes care of the pass and the palming in one shot. We'll go through this move in great detail, because it's important that you understand the subtleties of it. The move is designed to take a card from the middle of the deck and put it into classic palm position while making it look as though you are simply squaring the deck. Let's say that you are doing a peek force. Now you have a break below the selected card. Hold the deck in dealing position with the left pinky holding the break. The other hand comes over the deck in a Biddle Grip. You, at this point, have the cover to insert your left ring finger into the deck and kick out the selected card. Let the upper right corner of the card push into the pad of your right pinky. The card will now kick out at an angle. Let the back left corner of the card connect with the base of the thumb. (fig.1) fig.1 You can now support the card in your right hand. Use the left hand to pull the deck out to the left. You should not hear the card come away from the deck. If you do, keep practicing. As the deck comes away, use the left ring finger to push the card up into the right palm. You now have it in classic palm position. Bring the deck back and use the right hand to square it up. This entire process should only take a second or two. Make it smooth. The audience should never suspect that anything is going on. It's good to do this move while speaking and looking at other people. If you look at them, they'll look at you. When you do this move, make sure that the deck comes away, not the right hand. This looks awkward and you'll get caught. I've seen even some top magicians make this mistake. Practice this one in the mirror. Give it time. Once you've mastered it, you'll find it more valuable than most other sleights.

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“Horse racing is animated roulette.” ~Roger Kahn~

Gambler’s Cop with a Fan Cover

Every once in a while, a new sleight comes along that makes a big ripple as it drops into the magic bucket. This sleight is one of them. Martin taught this to me very recently, yet it has already made a huge impact on my work. The individual moves are nothing new, but their combination together is nothing short of brilliant. Martin has blown the socks off some very knowledgeable magicians with this one. I'll explain the idea, followed by the actual method, and then some of the thoughts about what makes this so cool. THE OBJECT: This sleight is designed to allow you to take some cards into a Gambler’s Cop yet still make everything seem very clean by using a fan for cover. THE METHOD: Let's say you’re in a position where you've controlled one or more cards to the bottom and you now wish to let the spectators shuffle the deck. Do your Gambler’s Cop as you normally would. When you bring the deck forward at the point where you want to set it on the table, immediately tilt it to the left slightly and then do a fan. The cards in cop are now well hidden underneath the fan. Now there will be a slight break between the top card of the fan and the cards you are copping. With you index finger, you now begin to close up the fan retaining the cards in cop. This is done as the hands lower further to the table. You can now take the cards in the right hand and set them in front of the spectator as the cards in the left hand go to the edge of the table in Gambler’s Cop style. (fig.1, 2, 3, 4) You may now at this point switch your left-hand grip to a tenkai palm, which will allow you to rest all four fingers openly on the table as the thumb holds the cards below the edge.

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fig.1

fig.2

fig.3

fig.4

Once the deck is handed back, pick it up from the top as you reposition the cards in your left hand back to a cop. You can now bring the deck back onto your packet, but do like before. Place them jogged forward of the others and immediately fan again. You may now show the fan and then close it up. You’re now set to go into any type of effect that your bottom stock calls for. THE SUBTLETIES: There are several small things that make this move a deadly weapon in your arsenal. First, any situation wherein you let the audience shuffle the deck is immensely powerful. It conveys the fact that there is no possible way you could have control over any single card in the deck, let alone a block. This is also powerful because the audience sees what they believe to be both the top and bottom cards of the deck both before and after they shuffle. The cards never go out of sight, and there is no point in which they are covered or in anyway hidden from complete and open view. I have used this sleight now for several months and it has literally put a new nail in the coffin of spectator disbelief. Work hard with this one, it's worth it.

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“No dog can go as fast as the money you bet on him.” ~Bud Flanagan~

The Second Deal Force

This is just a quick force that I use in the event that I need it to be really clean. There are probably a hundred magicians using a hundred versions of this out there, but I thought I'd share mine with you. Have a forced card on top of the deck. Inform your spectator that you are going to deal down until they say stop, which they may do at any time. You now just start Second Dealing down onto the table. When they say stop, ask them if they would like to go further or go back. If they say go further, simply just keep Second Dealing until they make up their little minds. If they say stop, just give them the top card. If they say go back, quickly get a little finger break beneath the top card as your right hand starts putting cards back on top one at a time. When they've decided, just use the break to kick out for a fast Center Deal. I know this may seem like a cake walk of a force, but after several hundred uses, I can safely say that it's done well for me.

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"A move is only difficult until you've mastered it." ~Martin A. Nash~

The Tabled Faro

This one is considered by many card men to be the most unachievable sleight in card magic. Few men have mastered it. Martin Nash has made it child's play – or so he says. Just Kidding. I am by no means an expert on this sleight. I can do it, but if you held a gun to my head and demanded a perfect Tabled Faro in one shot, my odds would not be good. Martin always says that he can teach anyone the Tabled Faro in a half hour. There have been two exceptions to the rule. Johnny Thompson, and me. I'm going to cover the basics here, fig.1 but if you want a through lesson, I recommend Infinity & Beyond by Martin A. Nash and available through A-1 Multimedia. Square your deck as you place it on the table. It should be solid as a brick. Hold the deck horizontally with your thumbs at the back, index fingers on top, and middle and ring fingers on the front. (fig.1) Cut off half the deck and bring it to the left. Keep it absolutely square. Use your index fingers on the top to level and square the packets together. You now turn your right hand clockwise and the left counterclockwise. The inside corners will bend up and begin to faro into each other. You now run the thumbs up the back to help facilitate the rest of the shuffle. (fig.2) The hole move shouldn't take more that a couple of seconds and should be a close approximation of a normal shuffle. This is by no means easy until you've gotten it down. Study the pictures and practice. I've learned that different things work for different people and they will usually come across it by accident. If you find a way that works better for you, then so much the better. Good Luck! fig.2

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Nash Reloaded

"Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math." ~Author Unknown~

The Zero Zarrow

The following is a version of the Zarrow Shuffle that was shown to me by Martin. It has the advantage of not requiring a slip cut to keep perfect order. We were sitting in the living room of our friend Bodine Balasco in Burbank, California. We were going over some different moves and ideas, and just having a great time. At one point, Martin looked at me after a couple of simple shuffles and asked, "How was that Mike?" "What?" I asked. He explained that he had just done two Zarrow Shuffles. I was unconvinced. He did them again and I still felt he wasn't being honest about doing something fishy. "Where is the slip cut?" I asked. He looked at me and smiled, "Watch, I'll show you.” The following is the miracle that I saw. For demonstration sake, let's use a deck that is in the following order from the top down; two black aces, two red aces, the black portion of the deck, the red portion of the deck, and your Infinity card. The assumption will be made here that you are familiar with a standard Zarrow Shuffle. I made the promise that I wouldn't divulge it here, so if you don't know it, that's your own look out. You cut the top half of the deck to the left. Riffle Shuffle and do the Zarrow move underneath the top two cards on the left. You now cut at the Infinity card and do exactly the same thing. That's it. If you look, the deck is now back in order. After that day in sunny California, I always use the Zero Zarrow. Bodine went crazy over it and could talk of little else for some time. Man, what a great day.

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In Closing..... This has been a project that has taken three years of my life. As I sit here at Bob’s work desk, looking at my spaghetti sliding down the side, (I just dropped it) I ask my self this question. “If I knew then what I know now, if I knew of the troubles and sleepless nights that awaited me, would I do it again?” I don’t hesitate to answer that I would. This has been one of the best experiences of my life. Let me just say thank you to Amanda, Bob, Dave, Chris, Peter, Michael, Simon, Jason, Rocco, and all of the others that have been so crucial to the effort of this book. Martin, most of all, thank you my friend. Let’s do it again soon.

Coming Soon... Look for the Nash Reloaded DVD’s coming soon to www.TheCharmingCheat.com

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