I know that it's kind of a beginner stack.. but.. I am starting to practice it a lot now, mainly getting into it from a shuffled deck..

I was wondering, for you guys out there who use this stack.. What tricks do you do with it often?

Thanks

If you use the Search Box/function on the top of this forum - many posts will show up about Si Stebbins.
This system stack is very useful.

There is no such thing like a beginner stack. The Si Stebbins stack is a tool as any other in the arsenal of magicians and a very good tool it is.

And it will also allow you to find any card at any number.

P.s./Have to correct, clarify, the above:
It will also allow you to locate any card at the arrived position. Not any number.
Sorry.

:)

And, then again, thanks to Mr. entity!!, you can do any card at any number, with this.
(Absolutely wonderful)

:)

It's not at all a beginner's stack. It's a stack that became a classic because it was good.
Its only weakness was the color sequence.

If you look here in the Secret Sessions, you'll find Docc Hilford extremely creative and convenient solution to suppress this drawback that I adapted to my own stack

I can't say I've ever had a spectator question the colour sequence in the Si Stebbins stack.

It seems that most spectators do not notice the color pattern at all!

To tomboston,
Yes, it is rare for a spectator to spot the alternation of colors in the Si Stebbins stack. But this is not so much a function of the stack itself as on how you handle it. First, do not spread a bunch of cards out and let the spectators look at it for very long. Spread the cards fairly quickly from hand to hand and turn your body to show the cards to the spectators on the left, then the ones in the center and then the ones on the right. It looks like you are trying to give everyone a good look, but because the deck is motion it's just for a spectator to pick up the alternating color pattern.

There's also a way to minimize the chance for them to spot the +3 pattern of the values. If you ribbon spread the cards on the table, do it so that the indexes are upside down to the spectators. This makes reading the numbers and letters a little more difficult and impedes their ability to spot the numerical sequence. And again, don't leave the deck ribbon spread on the table for very long. I like to say: "I think you can all see that the cards are pretty well mixed." Then I scoop up the deck and begin a false shuffle as I say: "But we'll give them a little more mixing just to be sure."

To Zach,
While beginners can probably learn to utilize the SS stack fairly quickly, I wouldn't call it a beginners stack because it's a powerful tool and can be used very effectively by advanced card workers too.

It's not better or worse than a memorized stack, it's a different tool for a different job. For example, in the SS stack, cards of the same value as a particular card are exactly 13 cards away, either up or down in the pack. This allows for some powerful routines including Nick Trosts Automatic Lie Speller on page 155 of the book: The Card Magic of Nick Trost. The well known memorized stacks do not have this 13-away feature. On the other hand, mem-decks have other powerful uses for the people that have memorized them.

Dennis Loomis

There are also people out there (like Steven Youell) that use the Si Stebbins stack as their memorized deck. That way you get the benefits of the stack, and of course you can do anything else you can do with a memorized deck, AND you can set it up immediately from NDO via Ortiz' Si Stebbins secret.

I use a different cyclic stack although the colors aren't so ordered. It can survive a lot more scrutiny than the SS setup but not as much as a truly random stack like Aronson or Tamariz.

So it all depends on what effects you're trying to achieve and who your audience is that will help in determining if SS is the best stack for you to work with.

Si Stebbins also has some very interesting and useful properties and can be applied to varying numbers of cards (including the tarot's major arcana), as I detail in my book "Stripped and Stacked". Click my sig for details.

I started using the stack for mentalism. The only weakness I found is when I make someone garb a few cards for me to read their minds, because I thought that the numer sequence might be detectable by a smart spectator. So, just in case, I switched to the rosary mnemonic stack that stills a CHASED method, but the number sequence is not logical because it is based on a story.

I don't remember its official name, but is the one that starts with an 8 and a king.

Giovanni.

The 8 Kings stack?

Hi Jon,

That should be it. The reason why I did not remember its name is because I learnt it in spanish from an adaptation of the original story in English.

The story in spanish talks about eight kings that after three days of siestas went partying with 95 quins....

Sounds familiar???

Best regards,


Giovanni.

In English, the mnemonic is:

"Eight(8) kings(K) threatened(3-10) to(2) save(7) ninety-five(9,5) queens(Q) for(4) one(A) sick(6) knave(J)"

Thanks Scott!

It's good to know the origin of the mnemonic I use in Spanish!

By the way, an Ecuadorian magician once told me that this mnemonic is very common and well known in the US; therefore he recommended I didn't use it when performing for an American audience. On the other hand, it works perfectly with an Ecuadorian audience that has no clue about how it works.

My question is: is it true? Or do you use it in English with no problems?

I'm asking that because most of my gigs are in Spanish, but I am also a naturalist at the Galapagos Islands and over there I perform magic in English for the tourists that go on the ship I work for.

Giovanni.

The Eight Kings stack and the mnemonic device underlying it will not be recognized at all by Lay people. In fact, not too many magicians work with it these days and you probably don't have to worry about many of them spotting it either.
Dennis Loomis

Look up the work of Chan Canasta to see how he hid the stack sequence.

- entity

There's a demonstration of Canasta's work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZFgNTerEI8

It's a three part vid.