49 Seconds

THE BLURB:
Luke Jermay, consultant for Criss Angel's Mind Freak show
and Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind has just released a
piece from his personal repertoire, "49:SECONDS". Listen as
he talks to Alvo Stockman about memory based magic and why
it's a different animal.

Not just AN amazing 4 phase memory routine with a pack of
cards -- this is THE memory routine. Straight from Luke's
repertoire, 49:SECONDS is a hard-hitting experience that you
can create with no-preparation, just a borrowed deck of
playing cards.

Pages 20 - Saddle Stitched

MY COMMENTS:
I've not seen Luke perform this (perhaps I can ask him to do
so next time we meet), nor do I have the card skills to
actually try this out. Suffice it to say that this
multi-phase routine requires a fair amount of knucklebusting
card work. The first routine, 49 Seconds, which Luke says
he conceived when he was around 13 (and it shows), requires
a second deal and bubble peek. This is just here for
completeness.

The actual routine requires you to do Lennart Green's 1-2
Separation, a Marlo pray block style cull, a faro shuffle,
false cuts, breather crimps, and forces. Some of these are
explained in the back of the book (The Pray Cull, The 1-2
Separation, The Breather Crimp, and The Dribble Force), and
others there are references for.

Besides the opening routine, the multi-phase routine that
makes up the actual routine Luke is teaching consists of The
Memory Routine, Mixed Memory, Shuffle Tracking, and The
Journal. Plotwise, Luke demonstrates his ability to
remember cards and then explains how to use this in playing
poker. By just reading it, I found the routine solid and
enjoyable, but, as I said above, I haven't master the card
skills to do the whole routine (although you could do parts
of it) so I can't actually confirm the effectiveness of it.

However, the price is certainly quite fair for this 20-page,
8.5" x 11" book (no illustrations) and, if you have the
skills to perform this routine, it's probably worth checking
out.