Magic Tricks

I bought his lecture to see Juan Tamariz in actual performance. While I have read a lot of what he has written, I had never before seen him perform. It was worth the $40 fee to see this Spanish Card Master as work. He did not disappoint.

The value of this lecture for me was in how Tamariz takes some tricks using a memorized deck and turns them into a performance that entertains a crowd composed of magicians and laymen. His joy is palpable and his delivery the result of a lifetime of performing.

The tricks in this lecture can all be found in his books (including the three coincidences trick that was not taught). Honestly, these are not even close to his best material. They are decent, but there are much better ones in Tamariz' arsenal. Even the bonus tricks were not the best (or easiest) tricks for close up card magic. That being said, from a layperson's perspective, these tricks are about as impossible as they come.

For those who are already familiar with memorized deck work, this lecture will provide some valuable insights regarding timing, performance, humor, body posture, motivation, and audience management. And Tamariz always has some intelligent twists on classic concepts.

For those who are newer to magic, this lecture will probably be fairly frustrating. The one star deduction serves as a warning for the beginner. There are a lot of complicated concepts that are not explained in much detail, if at all. In this lecture Tamariz mentions faro shuffles (in faros and out faros), double lifts, controlled glimpses, and the Tamariz Perpendicular Control without much explanation. For a beginner unfamiliar with these concepts, this can be very discouraging and disappointing. Tamariz is talking as a professional magician to professional magicians.

Also, this lecture is not for those wanting to learn a memorized deck. It is for those who want to learn tricks with a memorized stack. Tamariz does not teach his stack. If you want to learn Mnemonica, buy the book. (By the way, in his book Mnemonica Tamariz does teach everything in detail which he leaves out in this lecture.)