Magic Tricks

Great trick with a good response but only gave it 4 stars because Ammar's teaching is sub-par. Besides, I feel Josh Jay's Big Deal is far superior.

For instance, when you remove the cards from the box, employ a few false cuts, either in your hands or onto the table. There are some very simple false cuts which, to the lay person, are very deceiving and add to the effect that you're using a mixed-up deck, not something pre-arranged.

Ammar doesn't go into any of the subtleties of the double-handed fan when depositing the 4 Jacks onto the table. It's not an easy move, the camera angle doesn't show anything teachable and he glosses over the entire sleight, as if to say that everyone should know how to do it. All-around poor teaching from a professional of his caliber, in my opinion.

This is my critique of his tutorial. He omits a lot of words which would help greatly in matching up to the visuals presented. I don't think Penguin will allow me to go into further detail without giving away the method here.

A helpful hint here is to not split the deck showing the faces to the audience because they'll see the four Jacks in plain view. I believe very strongly that it reduces the surprise in the spectator's mind that says, "Hey, where did those four Jacks come from?"

Also, I highly recommend using a new deck in order to accomplish the double fan he shows, along with Paul Harris's "Open Production", which he says is very simple, but it's not simple at all. A used deck will make the cards stick together too much and increases the difficulty, if not making it impossible altogether in accomplishing the fan itself, not to mention the end result of the fan in relation to the four Jacks' sudden appearance. The camera angle, being on top, completely hides the action of the fingers underneath the fan. Terrible filming.

After the Jacks are produced, he quickly reassembles the remaining cards and sets them down without explaining which pile goes on top of which. You need to rewind too many times to see what he's doing because he doesn't take the little time necessary to explain this crucial placement. Again, I can't go into further detail.

He shows the order of the stack but doesn't inform the viewer that the cards are arranged in CHaSeD order, a common order in magic tricks. Tsk tsk, Michael.

Also, when he explains the Free Cut Principle, he doesn't go into enough detail concerning the placement of the "cut" cards. He never uses the correct terminology which should be, "You PLACE the cut cards onto the adjacent pile. He runs through it too quickly and doesn't elaborate on those cuts. Bad teaching...in my opinion.

When he counts the 11 cards, he simply counts. There's no imagination employed here. I use the Blackjack theme since you're matching Aces to Jacks. C'mon Michael, it's not too hard to come up with that idea. It adds so much more to the trick.

I have to say, though, to his credit, he does give an over-the-shoulder performer's view, which most magicians still haven't been able to grasp the enormous potential of this view. It eliminates soooo much difficulty in learning any trick.

I know this is a long review and I hope I didn't give away any of the trick's secrets, but the main reason I spoke so long is because Ammar is a world-renowned professional for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect. But sadly, he fell far short of delivering on this one. Still, a very good trick and I highly recommend it. But, like I said, Josh Jay's Big Deal is a lot better and gets much better reactions. Having said all that, add to cart now.