A Class Act…

tony binarelli magic book

Before I headed out on the road, I was cleaning up and noticed a book that been kicking around my office forever. I’m not sure how I ended up with the book, but I’ve never read it, so I threw it in my car. The book is Class Act: The Magic of Tony Binarelli.

When I was a teenager I think I had seen Tony Binarelli lecture at the Desert Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. At that time he was lecturing on mentalism from his book My Way to Mentalism. Honestly, I don’t remember much of lecture, but I picked up a set of the lecture notes for a friend of mine.

Ok, back to the Class Act book. There’s a lot of hype in the introduction of the book about innovative moves. The first two card sleights are a top palm and second deal, both of which I think predate Tony. However it’s also entirely possible that they are his.

The top palm is a two handed top palm and it’s not very good as written. It’s something that I was doing as a teenager because I couldn’t quite do the one handed top palm. Essentially, it’s a two handed, one handed top palm. In my version I slightly slid the top card forward with the deck held in mechanics grip. Then my other hand pressed down on the outjogged part and the card pops into your palm. In Tony’s version, he slides a lot of the cards forward, it looks strange. The one advantage to Tony’s that they don’t really mention, but kinda hint at is that it makes it easier to palm off multiple cards. You pinkie count them with your ring finger as you push down and they pop up.

The second deal is a turn over deal, you can’t deal face down from a face down pack. I was just chatting with Chris Beason about this second deal technique a few weeks ago. It looks good, but not a natural looking deal.

So far, I’m glad I’m reading the book instead of getting rid of it without reading it.

Spreading Stuart Gordon…

In yesterday’s blog post I mentioned the Stuart Gordon Double Turnover and that you should learn it, even if you never do it in a show. I think knowing different double lifts is handy so that when you do need one you can vary your technique or choose the right one for the situation. That goes with most sleight of hand, knowing different ways to accomplish the same action makes you a much better artist.

Recently I’ve been playing with the action of the Stuart Gordon Double Turnover, but not as a double turnover, but as a display of two cards. In the action of displaying and fanning the cards I’m able to hide a card. Technically it’s a three as two display in a fan.

The problem I had with it was besides it being very “knacky” it really didn’t provide an advantage over existing moves. I was jamming with Jonathan Friedman and Chris Beason and showed them the move. We really couldn’t come up with much besides using it to switch one or two cards. There are a lot of better ways to switch a card or two.

I kept playing with it and worked out a sequence for the move. Here’s a rough version of it, it’s pretty clunky and I’ve cleaned up the final get ready since I made this video.

Here’s the routine:

I’m not sure that a two card simultaneous ambitious card is better than with a single card, but it gives the move a purpose.

Found Time…

One of the things that I try to do is use any “found time” that I have during my day. This is time when you’re just waiting. Here’s an example, over the weekended I did three shows at a church. There was about a 20 minute service, my show, then 40 minutes before the next … Continue reading “Found Time…”

One of the things that I try to do is use any “found time” that I have during my day. This is time when you’re just waiting. Here’s an example, over the weekended I did three shows at a church. There was about a 20 minute service, my show, then 40 minutes before the next service started. That gave me a lot of gaps in my day that’s bonus stuff to get done.


I packed my laptop and got some work done after my show and before the next service had started.

Essentially that gave me about half an hour between shows to get work done, which is great! That’s time I would have had to find elsewhere in my life. Then after the service started, while I was waiting for my show, I stood in the back of the room and worked on a card sleight. That’s also practice time that I’d have to find somewhere else in the day.


Being a good steward of your time is something that I think is important. Yes, it’s okay to waste time and just chill out, that’s important, however if I can use some time during gaps in my day to get things done, I’m happy to do it!