Michael Skinner's ULTIMATE THREE CARD MONTE

The Effect:

While trying to locate the 'money' card out of a possible three choices, the spectator gets fooled three times-each more so than the last.

How It Went:

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of TCM. I love the history and the art of the whole con and have been trying to perfect my moves for some time. I have both Daryl's and Sal's DVD's and am hoping someone will buy me Whit's. That said, I haven't been satisfied with how my moves look so I took a short cut for the sake of an early performance. I'm not a really big fan of, how can we say, 'unauthentic' props but wanted to give Skinner's a shot. It also says "AS SEEN ON TV" on the front of the trick which really put me off but, apparently, none of my clients watch TV.

Out of about 50 people, I would say at least 45 were impressed. I say 'impressed' and not 'astounded' because, to me, this effect isn't astonishing. Everyone seemed to have varying levels of how TCM works and I think they all know in advance that they'll never find the 'money' card is where they think it is. It's not really a magical effect to me but, I have to say, this is the one trick I've done where Everyone started clapping at the end. Make no mistake, there were 'oohs and ahhs' and more than a few "no ways" but, for the most part, people were impressed that they do indeed have no idea where the Ace lies.

Best Line:

"Hall No!"

The Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and thereby has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He's pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday's because he can tell me how he figured out how it was done...

5/5. There's no way he can reconstruct how it works. He thought there was 4 cards but I proved very fairly that there is only 3. He knows something's up but he doesn't know how it works. Livid.

My Rating:

3.5/5. That may seem a bit low but I think it's better to learn the routine as the Street version. If you're unable to put the time in though, then this is the version for you.

The Django Tip:

Amazingly, some people have absolutely no idea what the heck TCM is so make sure you take the time explaining what the game is before you start blasting their minds away with wild west moves.

Closing Thoughts:

My last performance today resulted in booking a $300 Christmas gig. The CFO of a client came into the office as I was showing Magic Friday to his employees. He's seen me around before but didn't know I was a magician. When I explained what I do, he told me to come do magic at the corporate Christmas party. I said, "Ahhh, but who's going to pay?" to which he replied, "How much do you charge?".

"Three hundred for 2 hours."

"Done."

I love magic.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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