michael skinner – MagicShow.Tips

Mike Gallo’s The Ball and Vase

When I was a teenager I came across a copy of Michael Skinner’s Intimate Magic book. In it he teaches his legendary Ball and Vase routine. Basically it’s uses the basic ball and vase trick that comes in most beginners magic kits and turns it into a solid magic routine.

Then there’s Mike Gallo’s The Ball and Vase routine, which I think I’ve encountered decades ago, but never really did. I recently found the set for the trick with instructions and learned it.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx You wont believe how cool something so simple can be! #simple #cool #magictrick #ball #what #magic #magician #louiefoxx #michaelskinner #mikegallo #easymagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This trick is fun to do, and I think it’s better than the original Skinner version of the trick. With it having no gimmicks aside from an extra ball, it’s really practical. The only problem for me is that it doesn’t quite fit my close up performing style. also it requires a table, and all of my close up had to be able to be done without a table. Sometimes the non-tabled version of the stuff I do will lack a phase or uses the audience’s hands as a makeshift table. Unfortunately, neither of these is an option for that.

-Louie

The Unconquered Card!

When I was a kid, I remember there were two different (gimmicked) three card montes being done. There was Michael Skinner’s and the one put out by Mike Rogers. Both were virtually identical, except that Skinner’s has a snappy flip over. It appears that Roger’s was the first and he had been doing it since the early 1960’s. Here’s what the Roger’s routine looks like:

@louiefoxx Does anyone ever win this game? #gambling #win #cardgame #magictrick #cardtrick #shellgame #threecardmonte #louiefoxx #explained #monte ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

At the end, I show how I would change the count. His shuffle sequence doesn’t make sense with how the cards ended up after the shuffle. So I changed the shuffle sequence, so that your pull a double, to the bottom, then a single to the bottom and finally another single to the bottom. That shuffle sequence leaves the cards in the sequence that they should be in after the shuffle. Where the original sequence the ace shouldn’t be back in the middle.

It’s a little thing, and honestly I don’t know how much of a difference it makes.

-Louie

The Unconquered Card!

When I was a teenager I had bought The Unconquered Card by Mike Rogers. This is a three card monte routine that’s similar to Michael Skinner‘s three card monte routine, and there’s some debate as to who was doing it first. The cards for the routine are long gone, but recently I came across the book with the set of cards that was pretty beat up.

The cards were unusable, however I have a few decks of FAKO Cards and other packs that are full of different gaffs. I was able to find the needed cards for the trick!

I’m having fun relearning the trick and I think that I’m going to record a couple of phases and use it in my preshow video.

-Louie