Expert at the Cod Table (Michael Breggar)

Another fine collection of highly entertaining sleight-light magic from the mad-cap Michael Breggar

Life is short. So if I'm going to spend any time fishing in the vast ocean of magic literature, I don't want to be wasting my time with minnows, or dropping my line in seas where the fish are inedible or the good fish are few. Fishing doesn't get much better than with a Michael Breggar magic book, because I know that I'm always going to get some kind of catch, and be thoroughly entertained in the process.

I knew that Michael was onto a winner as soon as I saw the title of his latest book, The Expert at the Cod Table, which is spuriously attributed to S.W. Ordfish. Anyone familiar with the Erdnase classic will immediately get the inside joke, and you can be sure this is just a small taste of the magical catch you'll find inside. After being greeted by a humorous picture of half a dozen or so fish playing poker on the first page, and reading through the laugh-out-loud opening piece "Who was S.W. Ordfish?" (which includes a picture of an original edition of the book found at the bottom of a parakeet cage), I was already thoroughly impressed. Michael's own "Hard of Herring" preface continues the madcap humor, and in the material that follows he ensures that those of us on a quest for entertaining magic come home with a good catch in our fishing bucket.

He never lets up from his zany style, and I can't think of the last time I had that much fun reading a magic book. Take his effect "Too Much Information", for example. This is a card trick with a mentalism touch, and Michael helps us with possible patter by running through the routine with his spectator Seth. You'll get a glimpse of what's in Seth's mind (or perhaps Michael's own?), as he shares information about his mind-reading discoveries: "You did what with a thermometer? I just can't get those images of that French Maid outfit and that donut sandwich out of my mind!" And before you know it, Michael is singing Enya, and divining the selected card at exactly the selected number. The value of this lunacy isn't just that it amuses the reader, but gives great ideas for presenting your tricks well, and making your magic thoroughly entertaining. As always, helping us with fun presentation is one of Michael's strengths.



Oh, but you want to know about the magic? There's over a hundred pages altogether, with 15 different routines, in what might be Michael's best book yet. It's certainly his longest. As always, he builds on the greats that have come before him, drawing on the genius of magicians like Harry Lorayne, Karl Fulves, and many others (all appropriately credited), for some wonderful plots. This way he can bring us the best of both worlds: strong magic, and entertaining presentation.

Most of the routines are very much sleight-lite - Michael's speciality - so it's easy to perform. It does mean that at times you might find some more dealing and counting than you might like, but overall it's very much within the realm of the intermediate card magician who is looking for magic that doesn't require knuckle-busting moves, and has a command of the fundamentals of card magic, which the focus of this tome. Overall it is well organized and sensibly laid out, with extensive and well-labelled colour photographs throughout the book to ensure that everything is easy to follow.

This book has confirmed that Michael Breggar is the kind of guy I want in my boat when I'm out fishing for entertaining magic. He won't just help me catch something, but will even help me serve it up on a platter, well-plated, well-cooked, and very tasty. His tricks are easy on sleights while being strong on entertaining presentation, and he ensures that magic remains fun both for the magician and the spectator. In fact, I had enormous fun just reading through his book, and you will too - regardless of whether or not you ever attempt any of the card tricks inside. Consider those a free bonus that comes along the comedy.

Where to get it? The Expert at the Cod Table was released in April 2020, and can be purchased as a digital download in PDF format as an exclusive from Kaymar Magic [product page] and BigBlindMedia [product page].

Thank you for your kind words and your support. I try very hard to make not only the magic interesting, but also learning the magic interesting. Being a little twisted (some would question "little") my approach to both is very much off the wall! But given the you've jumped into the stream with a fun puns of your own...I'm guess a bit of the ol' fish oil has rubbed off onto you!!

Thanks again, EndersGame, for your review and the attention to detail you always put into your writing.

--Michael

What an odd book. It�s called �Expert at the Cod Table,� and the fish puns do not end there. This entire book is fish themed including fish decor on every page, fish in every title, and fish puns throughout. Why write a whole book about card magic with the theme of fish? Heck if I know! But Michael Beggars thought it was a good idea�perhaps he is an a-fish-ionado (Oh no, it�s happening to me now.)

The book starts with a comical introduction to �Expert at the Cod Table� which is written by �S. W. Ordfish� That should tell you all you need to know about the quality of the puns.

As for the magic itself, if you�re familiar with Michael Breggar�s work (and you should be) it is what I like to call �semi-automatic� card material.

The first routine is a poker dealing demonstration that ends with you dealing any hand called for. There�s a small set up, but you get a lot of magic out of it. My only problem with poker dealing routines of THIS type is that in every round, the same cards are showing up. I�m not a huge fan of that. However, it has a nice economy and each phase prepares you for the next.

The next routine is a random process with mixing cards, turning cards, sandwiching cards, and dealing some cards. At the end, a randomly selected card matches a randomly dealt card, and there�s an extra kicker of four of a kind. It uses an age old mathematical trick, but makes it into a real showpiece. It�s amazing how fooling it is. Even when you�re doing it on yourself, it doesn�t seem like it should work, and yet� it works every time.

Next up is a routine that involves shuffling, counting, dealing to arrive at a random card. Then, with the help of a famous magician (that they chose) you find their card. It ends with a baby gag prediction of the famous magician they selected and the baby is holding their randomly selected card

Next is a novel way to reveal a selected card using a Venn diagram. It�s a cute, visual way to reveal a thought of card, and the method is solid and deceptive�especially if you�ve never encountered the principle that is used.

Now we have an ACAAN where a card is named, a number is named. The number is dealt to� and it isn�t the selection. A different number is named and dealt to� it also isn�t the selection. Finally, in a stroke of genius the magician decides the spectator should do the magic. They use the two previous numbers to come up with a third, the spectator deals does the magic, and the card is at their number. Clearly, this isn�t a straight ACAAN, but it�s self-working and there is a lot of room for byplay. It�s a more comical approach to the trick that still ends with a genuine ACAAN

Next we have a trick that is part four of a kind production, part spelling trick, and part gambling demonstration. Sound like a lot? It is. I�m not the biggest fan of it because the plot line is a title all over the place, but the trick works and if you�re interested in it, it is certainly workable. It has a bit of a set up, but the set up allows for many different phases of magical moments.

A calendar is used for this next piece. They rip out their birth month, circle some numbers, eliminate some numbers, and end up with four numbers which they add together. They deal to that number in the deck to find what their lucky card is. Once discovered, you push an envelope towards them�they open it to discover the very card just deemed their lucky card. It�s a novel way to force a card using a calendar, and it makes it personal by adding in their birthdate.

Now there�s a trick with Tally-ho cards. You find their card, the mates of their card, the four kings, and the four aces. It�s a spelling trick using words on the tally ho box to dictate how many cards are dealt. Even though you get a triple four of a kind production, I think the effect is a little muddy from the audience�s perspective.

I really like this next one. The spectator thinks of a number, removes that many cards from the deck and hides them in the box. They look at the new top card of the deck, and take out an unknown number of cards from the box to put on top. They cut the deck several times. You turn around, give the deck a cut, and have them deal to their number. When they arrive there, they find their card. Now you take it one step further and even tell them how many cards are left in the box�a number the spectator doesn�t even know! It�s a very fooling effect and doesn�t seem possible at all. No matter how much the spectator thinks, they will never be able to discover the method. The kicker of naming how many cards are in the box will really come out of nowhere for them.

Three spectator�s phones are locked in a box with a four digit combination. Through random shuffling and cutting of a deck, each spectator gets three cards. They deal the cards out in any order and they are added up. The total is the combination on the lock. It ends with a written prediction inside the box. It�s Michael�s way in for a classic matrix card trick, but well disguised with a lot of smoke and mirrors.

This one is a lot. It starts with a betting game�the magician wins. Then the game is exposed and a new game is introduced. The magician still wins. It ends with a surprise reveal of a named card. It�s another routine which has quite a lot going on. This would play much better as a casual conversation with someone than you going into �performing mode.� It is quite a long routine with a lot of different parts. If you find someone interesting in small betting games, I think they will particularly enjoy the ebb and flow of this routine.

This next effect has a wild story of a martian connected with it. Michael even quickly warns you not to use this script, and instead, con yours friends with the method. The script laid out in the effects section is very out there, and just plain odd� but in a charming way. Here�s Michael�s �reader�s digest� version of the effect, in his own words: �You deal the first round. Each player gets five cards. You get five cards. Each player has a handful of bupkis. You have a royal flush in diamonds! You deal again. But the players demand they get four cards and you get only three. What�s revealed is crap, crap, crap and your hand ... three Kings. Now you must deal the players hands of three cards and you get only two. Three hands of garbage and one two-card hand of Aces! Finally, the players are dealt a single card each. Your �card� is the advertising card. �It might have no value,� you comment, �but at least it has printing!� They turn over their cards. They are all blank! And the cards are shuffled by the spectators in the beginning and by you in-between each round!�

In this one, you put one card in front of each of four spectators. This is their �personality card� The cards are handed to the spectators and eventually, through a process, there are four piles. One in front of each �personality card.� The personality cards are now revealed. One of them is blank, because you �couldn�t get anything� about that person. The four cards cut to are revealed. They perfectly match their respective personality card� including the blank one. Think of this as a novel presentation for spectator cuts the aces.

Next we have a card stab routine using a diner receipt spindle (the spikey thing they stab receipts on.) You don�t HAVE to use that�it could be a knife or maybe even a fork, but it goes with his theme to use the receipt spindle. A card is chosen and signed, the deck is wrapped in a napkin. The spectator stabs the spindle into the side of the deck wherever they want. When the deck is unwrapped, their signed card is actually impaled on the spindle. It�s a nice, novel method to the card stab routine. I enjoyed this one.

Blank cards with scrabble tiles printed on them are introduced. They spell �ITS MAGIC� three times. (24 cards) The cards are mixed several times, and at the end, it still spells �ITS MAGIC.� I think the plot for this one is fine, but I�m not a huge fan of the process involved. Its a little all over the place, and sometimes random for random�s sake doesn�t seem random. But it works, again, I just think the process muddies the effect pretty significantly.

The book ends with an essay on how to make the process entertaining. And I�m sure if I saw Michael perform these live, I would be entertained even by the effects I�ve referred to as �muddy.� He explains to think of it like a three act play and keep the presentation coherent no matter how outlandish.

Overall, if you�re familiar with Michael Breggar�s work, you will not be disappointed by this one. While all of the routines are simple to do, almost all of them will require some work to make them entertaining. Michael has started that process for you by adding intriguing premises to all of the tricks, but you will have to take it the rest of the way. In many ways, Michael's work reminds me of Stewart James's work. And as with all of Stewart James's material, all the hard work has been removed from the trick--now invest that time in the presenting of the magic.

It's available from Kaymar magic! Give it a read; even if you don't perform the effects, you may be inspired by them.

Madison

Madison, thanks for the review and your kind words. I am thrilled you've casted your line into this stream of conch-sciousness! (How did I ever let those two puns escape me??)

Yeah .. I work pretty hard to give readers a fun read as they proceed through my material. Magic writing can be so technical and stuffy. And so many magic creators take their material SO seriously. Lighten up, I say! This isn't King Lear!

Quick note about a few of the effects and your comments:

Your comment about seeing the same cards showing up to make the poker hands in the first effect (and even the "Martian Poker" later) is valid. I was bugged about this too when I first discovered these types of effects way back in John Scarne on Card Tricks and subsequently books by Nick Trost and others. Here's what I have learned: get over it. Your spectators don't notice it. Magician friends may notice a card or two reappearing, but they won't care. And the spectator performing the last two deals (including any hand called for) in the former, and the appearance of the blank cards and crazy use of the advertising card in the latter, frankly makes all a moot point! I've been performing these two effects for over a decade. The presentation (if you stick with mine or a close facsimile) is so interactive and entertaining, what I've learned is each phase tends to blur the specifics of the previous phase!

I'd also encourage you to revisit "The Tally Special" (my take on the Tally-Ho Card Trick by Christ and Lorayne). A lot of explanation is needed to describe the choreography, but the trick moves at a nice clip and when you perform it, it doesn't have (shouldn't have) a process-heavy feel.

And, yes, I may have gone a bit overboard, process-wise, with the Scrabble trick! It could be slimmed down a bit. But, that is the way I have performed it and the exact script I use. Even if you never intend to perform this one, I encourage you to take some blank cards (or pieces of cardboard) and mock up a set of these cards and play with principle involved. What Stewart James has done here is fantastic! I will likely revisit this idea (in a slimmed-down fashion!) in the future.

Thanks again, Madison, for your comments and opinions. I absolutely respect what you have written and hope you have fun performing those effects you like best from this buffet!

By the way, thank you for comparing me to the incomparable Stewart James! That's quite a compliment! I'm not sure if I deserve it, but I have been fighting this desire to move to Canada and deliver the mail.

--Michael

Mr. Breggar, I know you're monitoring this thread about your new book. I am enjoying reading it. On page 66 you invite readers to "drop you a line" (another appropriate joke) if we'd like guidance on getting started studying the matrix force. I would like such guidance, please. And I think probably other readers of Magic Café would like it, too. Can you give it here? Consider the line dropped.

I have a question. What is the presentation style for the routines in the book? Is it comedy magic?
.

Sorry it has taken a bit of time to reply ... these are crazy times indeed!

pnerd, to answer your question, yes, "comedy magic" is probably the easiest categorization. More specifically, comedy CARD magic (as opposed to may last book INFLUENCE-ENZA which was comedy mentalism). The degree of comedy is quite subjective, but the book consistently gets high marks for its humor. It has 15 ROUTINES specifically structured in comedic presentations. All the presentations allow for lots of audience/spectator participation which I believe firmly enhances both the entertainment and humor value.

Also, a few years back I decided I wanted to spend a good deal of effort making the book itself a good, fun, humorous read. So many magic books, while full of brilliant methods and ideas, are very, very difficult to slog through cover to cover. One tends to pick and choose effects, sleights, concepts, etc. and bounces around the book (or video) without a sense of completeness or full understanding of the material (or the author). Many "technical" or "hobby" books are like this; most magic books suffer this "leakage of personality." As I slowly began to find a writing style ("voice") through all the years of writing my column for the The Linking Ring and other publications, I have taken the tack of writing up the effects as I would like to have seen them. So, that's why the routines in my books (particularly those in DANCING WITH THE CARDS, INFLUENCE-ENZA and now THE EXPERT AT THE COD TABLE) are structured the way they are. I want you to have fun and be entertained just READING the books. I sincerely want magicians performing these effects to enjoy and have fun performing these effects!

Consider the book, then, a comedic book on comedy card magic.

... but again ... it's all subjective!

Hi Hushai, thanks for the note. Extra thanks for jumping into the water and embracing the pun-dom (or are they the dumb puns??)

So ... let's dig in a bit about the "Matrix Force."

First off, there is confusion about what exactly comprises the Matrix Force as there seems to be a few different methods/techniques called "The Matrix Force." One such set is discussed quite succinctly and well in the entry found in Denis Behr's wonderful CONJURINGCREDITS.COM : I hope Denis and the site's diligent contributors don't mind me reprinting this entry:

"The principle was first marketed by Bob Hummer in his “Politicians Puzzle”, in early 1952 (see The Linking Ring, Vol. 32 No. 2, Apr. 1952, rear cover; also see Bob Hummer's Collected Secrets, p. 33). A related item was his “Mom and Pop Puzzle”, which was bundled with “Politicians Puzzle” the following month (The Linking Ring, Vol. 32 No. 3, May 1952, inside front cover; and p. 34 of Bob Hummer's Collected Secrets). Another early application of this parity principle is Mel Stover's “The Immovable Object” in The New Phoenix, No. 340, Jan 10, 1957, p. 172. Martin Gardner's influential “3-by-3 Matrix” application appeared in his Scientific American column, August 1960, and then was reprinted in Hugard's Magic Monthly, Vol. 19 Nos. 1 and 2, Sept. 1961, p. 17. This became the mold for most versions that followed. Hal Newton's “Voice from Another World” was the first of the record-tape tricks using the principle to be marketed. See Fulves's The Fine Print, No. 10, p. 355, and Martin Gardner Presents, p. 149, for further details."

Denis's sister site, CONJURINGARCHIVE.COM identifies 21 specific entries for "The Matrix Force." In the detailing of my effect "Hot Dates" (from THE EXPERT AT THE COD TABLE) I provide the more relevant entries and how they informed the method or structure of the effect. (click here: https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/se......cles=on)

As I mentioned, Walter Gibson seemed to lay the groundwork for this type of force (as used in magical effects) in The Jinx (#41, 1938). Mel Stover’s “Days of Force” found in issue #77 of The Phoenix (1945) was certainly formative in my working as was Stover’s “Irrisistible Force” (purposely misspelled, so it is said, and found in The Phoenix, #340, 1957). Max Maven, Martin Gardner, Harry Lorayne, T. A. Waters, Karl Fulves and many others have developed effects utilizing the underlying mathematics principle at play. Max's "Rainbow Matrix" (originally in his VIOLET BOOK OF MENTALISM, or you can find it in the recently reprinted PRISM) is a brilliant piece with a wonderful presentation) is one of my favorite mental effects, period.

Also, I mentioned in the book, if you can find it, Thomas Henry’s HIDDEN NUMERICAL FORCES has some great details about this and other fabulous number-based forces. It’s a great read with some fabulous principles. I highly recommend you searching this one out and reading it in detail.

The Mel Stover entries in The Phoenix (particularly "Irrisistible Force") and a Max Maven piece called "Force Majeur" (found in his publication DOTH, 1987) are great places to start and to understand the math that motors this force and provides instructions on using this method to force any number.

Hopefully, this is enough chum to keep you occupied for a while!!

Thanks for sharing your review and comments on the individual effects, Madison.

I heartily agree with this last point - one of Michael's strengths is his unique presentational approach, and even just reading through his book is inspiring.

Mr. Breggar, thank you for the bibliography on the Matrix Force! That should keep me trawling for quite a while.
Your book is quite a catch -- that's no fish story. 😊