Andy Martin

Anyone for Tennis?

Stephane Bourgoin decided he wanted to produce Chop Cups – and produce them he did! This is the third of his offerings – and the cheapest too. It is not as nice as the other two – for two reasons: 1) the surprise finish is not as distinct from the rest of the routine and 2) getting the ball to stay in the cup takes a bit more practice due to the shape of the ball holder. However, when you produce such strong effects, one of them has to come in last!

For the money this is a wonderful value however, and if you are on a budget but still want a new routine for your Chop Cup you could do much worse than spend your money on this. Get all 3 and have a Chop Cup Party!

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Another Great Chop Cup Routine!

Here we have another Wonderful Chop Cup Routine with interesting and logical props. Stephane Bourgoin really is to be congratulated for producing these innovative routines.

As with each of his Chop Cup routines, this one has two surprise climaxes that are real surprises and come with a full, entertaining and logical routine.

The $100 and the watch are not included, but everything else is including the roll of notes (without the $100).

It is hard to say whether I prefer this one or the Pool Chop Cup. Naturally you could not do them together to the same audience, but you certainly could do the different routines on different occasions and only have to learn one basic set of moves! So buying both makes the most sense!

Highly Recommended!

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Wow! This is a Wonderful Chop Cup Routine!

There are many, many types of chop cup but even with the different styles of cup – the routine pretty much stays the same. Stephane Bourgoin is trying to change that with his three variations of Chop Cup. This one is top of the line and he has spared no expense. Everything about the outfit is classy and the balls are solid wood – not some cheap rubber that you might expect.

What is great about this routine is that it not only makes logical sense – with the pool cue wand and shot glass adding a great touch – but it comes with not one but two surprise endings and a wonderful routine to bring it all together.

I am quite sure you will find yourself performing this very entertaining and beautifully made routine.

Highly recommended!

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Naughty but Nice!

This is the old 3 card monte with a surprise ending and patter about the little Dutch boy who plugged up the Dam to save his village. Not suitable for all audiences, but great for table hopping with known friendly audiences!

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Still My Favorite Paddle Effect!

Over the last 33 years I have performed and handled many, many paddle effects – probably in the 100’s. The Red, White, Blue Paddle from Joe Porper is most certainly my favorite.

I find the mechanics to work flawlessly and you are left perfectly clean. In addition, performing the paddle move is easy and you are in the wonderful position where you start clean being able to show for real both sides of the paddle, and you end clean being able to hand the paddle out for examination. Nothing is added or taken away.

If you are familiar with the wonderful Ju Ju Stick routine it is pretty easy to adapt parts of that hiliarous routine to use with this, with cleaner changes and easier moves.

Joe Porper has a lot of paddle effects on the market – some good, some bad – but this one clearly beats them all.

Highly Recommended!

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Cleaner than B’Wave or Parade of Kings

The effect of asking for any suit to be named and having it be the only reversed and/or odd card is very popular and there are many methods and routines. For my money this is by far the cleanest and simplest. There are only 4 cards, no flaps or rough-and smooth and you can show the backs and fronts of the other 3 cards to all be non-Jacks (in this case).

If you start with an Elmsley count you are even cleaner. This is just a wonderful quickie that leaves them very perplexed!

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What a great Idea!

So this is the classic brainwave effect, that of course we all love! But it has the added ruse that allows you to show the card box as red or blue when you remove it from your pocket instead of having a blank box or no box.

This is a great idea and adds a very nice touch to an already wonderful effect!

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Simple Method but Fun Surprise!

This effect is nothing more than a specially printed Credit Card and a switch but it works great and given our familiarity with plastic money is a wonderful way to reveal a chosen card.

I would use a Himber Wallet to perform the switch as opposed to the method they suggest. To be honest, what could make more sense than to actually have the credit card in a Wallet?

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Very fine boxes and good value too!

Jim Zee makes some very fine coin boxes indeed and they are priced very reasonably. When it comes to coin boxes the size and weight really make a difference. These babies just look and feel perfect!

If you have ever wanted to learn to do some really cool coin effects with the Okito box not only are the Jim Zee boxes the best they come with a 40 page illustrated booklet by Robert Bengal all for a paltry $64!

There are also some great routines for Jim’s coin boxes in David Roth’s Expert Coin Magic

Highly Recommended!

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I really like this Deck!

Just when you think you’ve seen all the trick decks out there, along comes X-Deck! This is almost a total home run. It is a very clean way to show that you had predicted what card they would mentally think of from all 52 cards in the deck. They can think of any one and you show that you had marked it with an X and with an alternate back.

It is better and easier to use than the Brainwave Deck because you can freely show the backs and fronts of the deck. However, the only problem I have with it is that they have made the deck look pretty obviously prearranged by the choice of cards that you can see when you fan the deck. With a little thought and some simple calcuations I’m sure there is a better way. I’m going to play with a deck myself to see. Once you remove this slightly annoying limitation then you truly do have a great idea that is simpler, faster and cleaner than Brainwave and then something that you will just start using all over the place!

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