Yes, I actually know that one. It is one of the few Aronson effects I have actually tried performing. It went rather well too because it is a wonderful effect.

Now that I think about it, I think this very Aronson trick actually replaced my planned Lennart Green-inspired trick before I had time to try it on somebody.

I just memorized a deck to prove that I could - then again, I started with the Nicola system and that didn't work (in retrospect, I should have adapted rather than adopted the suggested technique from the Encyclopedia of Card Magic).
When I decided to give it another shot, I learned about different stacks (Aronson & Tamariz) and got caught up in the Mnemonica craze.
Tamariz' technique (Visual Method) to learning a stack worked for me (full deck stack in 2 days; a year on, hardly using the stack, I can still recall!).
It was after learning the stack that I saw Tamariz' 4 of a kind - like JB - and fell in love with the power I had. I've performed it only 3 times - only do it when I'm in the mood (and the stack handy, doh) - but the reactions are always great.

One Q on this, though: when the Queen needs to be worked I know I fumble, any ideas anyone?

It was a trick that I saw Darwin Ortiz perform at a lecture, funny thing is, now I don't even remember the trick HA

"The Drunken Poker Deal". I learned in a card magic book written by John Scarne. "Scarne on Card Tricks"

I got the MEM DECK bug after reading the Workers series by Mike Close. With help from Dennis Loomis and others, learning the Aronson stack was a great investment of my time. Histed Heisted is one of the best effects ever. The Birthday Book by Close is also a great routine. See Dennis Loomis' comments on the Birthday Book on his web page.

It was not only a trick by Michael Close, it was what he said. After seeing Michael do some of his Jazzing, Michael referred to his memoriized deck work and referred to the construction of a skyscraper.

He said that, though it is a huge project, a little bit is constructed every day. Eventually, you have a skyscraper. I decided to practice a little every day and learned the Aronsen stack.

Ken,

You bring up an excellent point on encouraging words. Denis Behr has a chapter on memorized deck work in Handcrafted Card Magic where he discusses committing to memory a certain property of a mem-stack. My immediate reaction was "screw... THAT!" However he reassures the reader not to worry, "it's only half as difficult as it sounds." Although... in my case I still have not even attempted to put his advice into practice.

Ha, you should try it! It really is half as difficult as it sounds. Of course, if it still sounds twice as difficult as you'd bother trying, that doesn't help...
(There are other interesting applications.)

Denis

All that I've seen Juan Tamariz perform over the years.

It was a memorized deck routine by Derren Brown called Plerophoria. And then later on, I came across Luke Jermay's Remote Viewing.

Thanks for Harry Lorayne's book Super Power Memory which made my life a lot easier.

I never used a stack before I learned these routines. And now, I do them a lot oof times.

Currently, I am planning to study Richard Osterlind's Breakthrough Card System and Aronson's Stack.

Alel

It was a memorized deck routine by Derren Brown called Plerophoria. And then later on, I came across Luke Jermay's Remote Viewing.

Thanks for Harry Lorayne's book Super Power Memory which made my life a lot easier.

I never used a stack before I learned these routines. And now, I do them a lot oof times.

Currently, I am planning to study Richard Osterlind's Breakthrough Card System and Aronson's Stack.

Alel

I saw Chan Canasta on that brittish show, he did the booktest and revaled peoples cards.

Osterlind effects from BCS..

For me it was Laurie Ireland's observations from "Ireland Writes a Book." He offered a lot of interesting tricks and gave the best advice I've seen on how to get possession of a card merely named by the spectator. I didn't use his stack however as the Nikola stack was better explained in "The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks." I've developed a number of effects using the Nikola but it was Ireland that got me interested.

For me, it wasn't an effect per se. I either read about or heard the concept of a memorized deck being discussed by other magicians, and started asking questions. I didn't really understand at the time how memorizing a deck could help you in magic, but I was intrigued, especially when the people I talked to sounded in awe of the tricks that were possible. Simon Aronson's work was mentioned, so I picked up his books and started reading. It didn't take long to become a believer!

Not long after I had memorized AS, I met Mike Close at Abbott's annual convention. He was killing people with mem deck work. It was really cool. I remember getting fried (he had me hook, line, and sinker) with that trick of Juan Tamariz's (finding 4 of a kind, sucker style). One other time that week I was sitting at a table listening to Mike and some others. He was talking and doing some magic, and I was stacking my deck into AS. When I was done, I flashed him the 9D, and he took over, asking if he could borrow my deck. He killed with it.

On a different note, I'm surprised at how many of the posts above were influenced by Canasta. I heard amazing things about him, but have never seen him perform. Is there any video of him available?

I'm yet another victim of Michael Close's jazzin' with the memorized deck. At one memorable Magic in the Rockies convention. Michael was frying magicians with his memorized deck work, and I witnessed some miracle stuff. Eric Mead was there as well, and I just couldn't believe the miraculous things these two guys could do.

I've also seen Simon Aronson kill magicians with his stuff, and Juan Tamariz's use of this tool is legendary. If you have any interest in the memorized deck, get a Simon Aronson book (perhaps you could start with Bound to Please), a Tamariz book (Mnemonica, naturally), and Michael Close's Workers series, particularly Workers 5. If this material doesn't motivate you to learn a memorized deck, take up stamp collecting!

I've used the memorized deck to do a very effective version of any card at any number, and I regularly do the Birthday Book. Lately, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Michael Close's handling for Monkey in the Middle. It takes a great effect and raises it to miracle class.

I was at a Mike Close lecture and he essentially said (if I recall right) that "take a card" effects can become more powerful "think of a card" effects with the memorized deck. I didn't like the stacks that were out there (a lot of focus on gambling routines that I have no interest in) but I eventually met a fellow at Magic Talk who clued me into creating my own stack. Using some stack software, I was able to create a deck that can get into Daryl's Double Dazzling Triumph and OOTW as kickers. That, plus ideas from the Joyal book about making the deck easy to memorize got me started. Memorizing someone else's stack, IMHO, is not so easy.

- Frank

I actually never knew what a mem deck was until a local magician gone mentalist who I knew personally told me one day to learn a memorized deck. He didn't tell me what it was or anything. He said that it's all he does now....

I actually never knew what a mem deck was until a local magician gone mentalist who I knew personally told me one day to learn a memorized deck. He didn't tell me what it was or anything. He said that it's all he does now....

Interesting, Frank. Is your stack based upon or inspired by Bob Klase's work? I believe Klase's stack has one or two effects directly built-in, and one of them is definitely Daryl's Double Dazzling Triumph. It's also supposed to be easy to get into OOTW, and it has the ten card set up for the Jonah card routine.