Darwin,
I don't have any of your material yet, but would like to begin with one of your books or videos.
I am not a beginner, but not advanced either.
Since you have several books and videos out, which would you recommend as a starting point for your work?

Thanks
Steve

Steve:

I don’t think it matters which of my three card books you start with. If you want to see how my thinking has developed, you can read them in chronological order: Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table, Cardshark, Scams & Fantasies with Cards.

One thing I do advise is that you read the book before going to the accompanying set of videos. I believe that the main value of magic videos is as a supplement to books. If you read the books without watching the videos, you won’t miss much. If you watch the videos without reading the books, you’ll miss a lot.

Since it’s hard for me to be objective about my own writings, perhaps some other Café members may wish to offer responses to your question.

Sincerely,
Darwin Ortiz

I would recommend starting out with Strong Magic, and if you want some routines to go along with it you can pick up any one of those 3 books because they are all excellent.

I would love to purchase Strong Magic but I'm having a difficult time finding it since it's out of print. Darwin, do you sell it yourself or can you recommend somewhere online that will ship to Ireland? Thanks!

Showplace Magic seems to have it available (at least they let me put it in the shopping cart):
http://www.showplacemagic.com/items/item182.htm

http://www.misdirections.com/show.html also lists ist.

Shouldn't be too hard to get. I bought mine just weeks ago (from a German dealer).

Ulf

Thanks Ulf. I ordered it from Misdirections. I'm looking forward to studying it.

Hi,
I think Strong Magic is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Really great stuff in it, and I learned so much, and the best part was that to learn the stuff from Strong Magic is not difficult. (It does not teach tricks, it does talk about presentation--Teaches technique to presentation/showmanship, and talks a little bit about theory.)

The nice thing about Strong Magic is that Mr. Ortiz has done so much previous research on other books about presentation, such as the Fitzkee trilogy and Magic and Shomanship by Henning Nelms, and many other books. He is able to sum up some of the best things from these books, and give you much more and he also makes it fun to read. (I feel that most of the books on showmanship are rather dull and boring, however, Strong Magic is fun to read. There is often a great joke in there. My favorite one is when he talks about being interrupted when performing. He relates it to being interrupted in a 'private' moment by a phone call!)


If you are interested in learning tricks, I would suggest At the Card Table. I think that this book is one of the best books you could make an investment in. Some reasons are that it has some tricks which are not difficult, and other tricks that are quite difficult. It has tricks that use a faro shuffle, tricks that use a bottle deal, tricks that use riffle stacking, second dealing, and tricks that don't require much skill to accomplish. The other nice thing is that half the book deals with gambling demonstrations, and the other half deals with tricks for a magic show that can be performed at a restaurant or in your own living room. It is a book that has so much great stuff. Another benefit of that book is that it gives an AWESOME description of the pinky count. I learned the pinky count from this book, and he also discusses the benefits of a pinky count and several applications.

All of Mr. Ortiz's books are like this, but for some reason, I feel that At the Card Table is the best. They are all so good it is hard to compare, to be honest. Cardshark is also a great book. I think Cardshark might be out of print, but if you contact a private bookseller or see a bookseller at a magic convention, they would probably be able to get a copy in your hands. Cardshark has one of the best routines I have ever learned. It is called The Showdown.

Darwin's latest book, Scams and Fantasies, is very good. I loved his essay on demonstrating or hiding skill. It brought up some fantastic points. Also, his routine DejaVu poker plays incredibly well for lay audiences. I have only performed it for an audience one time before. My parents had guests come over at our house. There were about 7 or 8 people watching and I was performing in the living room and someone asked me about cheating. I explained that I am no expert, and said that I didn't know much about poker, but that we could try an experiment in which they pick their own cards for poker. And then I went right into the routine, and at the end, they were in disbelief. When I finished up with the royal flush kicker, everyone went silent, and then burst out clapping and cheering and laughing. I then went into a bottom, center, and second dealing demonstration. I really haven't had that much fun with an audience in a long time. I know that if it wasn't for DejaVu poker, it would have been a fun performance, but it would not have been a performance that I would look back on and say, "Gee, I sure am lucky to be doing what I am doing, and how grateful I am for being able to have so much fun performing for an audience."

I love card magic, and I love sleight of hand, and I know that I wouldn't love it as much as I do if it weren't for such great books such as those by Darwin Ortiz, Larry Jennings, Marlo, Ernest Earick, etc., etc., etc.
Being able to compare Darwin Ortiz with legends such as Jennings or Marlo really means that he sure has accomplished something. Pick any of his books that you want. Whichever one you pick will have tons of excellent magic or ideas in it. You will not be disappointed.
Good luck!

Sincerely,
Doug- The Magic Sponge.

I couldn't agree more with "MagicSponge"!! I, also, wish you all the best!! -Lee

Doug and Lee:

I just want to say that I find your comments very gratifying. It's what makes the hard work of writing worth the effort.

Sincerely,
Darwin Ortiz

You can also get it at:

http://www.hanklee.net/cgi-bin/quikstore......arch=yes

or:

http://www.internationalmagic.com/cgi-bi......arch=yes

Hope this help.