Darwin Ortiz is an amazing technician, and a joy to watch work, but what he does in this lecture just isn't my style. For those who want to work with memorized decks, and tricky stacks, and precise card counting then this is the lecture for you. His work is 5 stars, my use for it is 3, so I averaged to 4. Just wanted to make it clear that my rating has nothing to do with his work or methods.

I would say that I have been a fan of Darwin Ortiz for over four years now, but truth be told I would rather consider myself as an indirect student of his; I have not just read and used his material, I have not just studied his material - All I have done for the past four years is live and breath Darwin Ortiz in both effects and theory. I no longer perform anything else, because I believe all else is rubbish in comparison to Darwin's material.

On this lecture, he chooses a variety of effects from his latest book, LESSONS IN CARD MASTERY. Some of the effects are complex, but they are not difficult. I believe for a move to be difficult then you have not practised enough or are not energetic enough to learn it properly. I would say the most complex move is the Faro Shuffle. There are some tips on the move in this lecture - in fact, useful tips that will cause your handling of the shuffle to surpass any development from other teaching mediums.

I would say that as a whole, if you were to study the effects in this lecture then you would have enough solid material to last you a lifetime. Buy one of his books, and you'd have enough material for a lifetime. For myself, I have all of his books (that's 108 effects in total that I have performed at least twice each).

In all, this lecture is amazing. Watch it, study it, and use the material. If you don't, you're making a big mistake.

I have been into magic for fourteen years (I am nineteen). Up until I was nine, I tried to learn all I could about everything to do with the subject. It was only at nine that I found card magic an interesting subject to solely focus on, and that is what I have done for the last ten years.
It wasn't until I was fifteen that I picked up an old VHS called 'Cardshark'. Watching it I was amazed at the amount of good quality card magic that this 'Darwin Ortiz' was presenting. A few years later I bought his latest book 'Lessons in Card Mastery' and was again amazed at the amount of good quality card magic. I have made it an oath to not study any other magician unless they are Darwin Ortiz, his students (Michael Vincent, Jason Ladayne, Antonio Zuccarro), or his friends (David Roth, Jim Swain and Simon Aronson).
I bought his first two (the hardest to get) books ('At the Card table' and 'Cardshark') before receiving the final magic book, 'Scams and Fantasies' on my eighteenth. Then I strived to get all of his other materials. That included his two theory books ('Strong Magic' and 'Designing Miracles', which I recommend buying), his ten DVD collection (which is on this website) and his lectures. I bought the International Magic ones and his 'At The Table' Live Lecture.

This Penguin Live lecture was the last one I needed to buy and after buying it, I was not impressed. Just like all of his older material, Darwin Ortiz presents a wealth of good strong magic (all from 'Lessons In Card Mastery'). Even thought I knew every effect it was nice to see some subtleties and his presentation for the various effects. The question and answer parts on theory were also very inspiring and followed the trail of thought of his two theory books.
One thing that I would say to criticise this lecture is that most of the material requires the use of difficult sleights (such as riffle stacking, strip-out shuffling, advanced work on the faro) but the effects presented should aspire everyone to pick up a resource on the subject and get learning. If they don't then they do not appreciate the usefulness of the sleights. In saying that, the difficult sleights appear in only one or two effects.
If you were just starting to learn magic and want to focus on cards I would suggest the following bookshelf (following my top ten books and top ten dvd's...)
Book One: At The Card Table
Book Two: Cardshark
Book Three: Scams and Fantasies
Book Four: Lessons In Card Mastery
Book Five: Strong Magic
Book Six: Designing Miracles
Book Seven: Jim Swain's trilogy of books.
Book Eight: Aronson Quadrilogy (Aronson)
Book Nine: Finding The Centre (Zuccarro)
Book Ten: Confident Deceptions (Ladayne)

DVD One: At The Card Table (Three Volumes)
DVD Two: Cardshark (Three Volumes)
DVD Three: Scams and Fantasies (Four Volumes)
DVD Four: International Magic Lecture (Darwin Ortiz)
DVD Five: Darwin Ortiz At The Table Live Lecture
DVD Six: This (Just record it onto a disc)
DVD Seven: Confident Deceptions (Four Volumes)
DVD Eight: Michael Vincent Classic Magic Series (Four Volumes)
DVD Nine: Miracles With Cards (Four Volumes) (Swain)
DVD Ten: Aronson's DVD (that I have forgotten the name of).

Ok, so it's not exactly ten books and ten DVD's, but the ten franchise books. As well, leave space for when they add to their collection. Hopefully Darwin will write a fifth book.

Darwin shows you what is possible with a deck of cards. He knows what you can do if you put in the required amount of quality practice time. I have worked on the more demanding techniques for the last few months, so I can do these tricks. The applied magic theory is I think the best thing about Darwin.
He shares some anecdotes from his life: those that made him the cardshark that he is today and others are just funny stories.
He messes up the tricks during the explanations, but the man makes a living with a deck of cards performing for laymen, not lecturing for magicians, so I don't mind that. It has good side t that though, when you see someone who is so skilled, it can be hard to relate to him, but when messes up, it shows that it is just a lot of practice that he has put in and you haven't (yes!)

Anything from Darwin Ortiz is ok with me.

If you want to do real gambling card stuff this is a must have along with Darwins other videos and books

I am a huge fan of Darwin's works. I own his entire DVD series and books. In this LIVE video, you don't get just some card tricks. You are inspired and urged to work and think. During the performance, Darwin makes some mistakes, and boy, seeing him making mistakes gave me a warm smile(in a good way, not a sarcastic one) because somehow he seems more humane :) Buy this lecture and figure out how he handles his mistakes. Listen to his stories which are very very interesting indeed. Learn his techniques and effects. They are the bests ever in the world of card magic and its construction. Even if you own his latest work "Lessons in Card Mastery", you will have so much to learn as always. Thank you for inviting Darwin to the Penguin LIVE.

what can i say Darwin is a genius and this lecture showcases
some great effects that reveal why Darwin one of
the greatest card magicians on the planet.
Just his thoughts on misdirection were genius
and made me reexamine my practice.

It's too good, just don't...

Kidding aside, awesome lecture with a lot of material I will use!

Darwin is awesome. Buy his books as well! Loads of great info from a true master.

There is stuff for people at all levels. Even though most of the tricks where Moderate to Advanced. There are techniques used in them tricks that can stand on there own that a beginner can use to push there trick to the next level. This is one lecture that I am more then happy to own.

He also show a lot of audience management and how to get you audience to buy into the trick and not get board dealing out a full deck almost 2 full times.

There may be a few things that he does not talk about. Not because he is avoiding anything, but because he does not want to spend hours explaining things the majority of people may not be interested in. Though he does tell you where you can find that information or at least what you are looking for.

The tricks are fantastic
...Don't buy it for that...

Buy this because Darwin is one of the best out there and you get to take a seat across from him. He's excellent and shows great confidence while performing. It's entertaining and interesting.

If you really want to see what you should strive for (not be like) but handle cards like a pro...

Buy it