Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety

Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety
A Book of Basic Card Techniques
By Jerry Mentzer

Cost: under $8 at Penguin

If I had a nickel for every time I see someone complaining about how hard the Elmsley Count is I would be rich...well maybe not rich but enough money to buy a new Cups and Balls set! These Elmsley-challenged folk need this little gem of a book to get them up and over the learning curve.

One of my favorite tricks is Twisted Sisters by John Bannon. It's a brilliant little packet trick that has 3 mind-blowing revelations. Sadly, I've seen some people state that they skip the Elmsley Count (EC) portion of the trick. Arrggg! The EC is what sells the trick, it takes a simple trick and turns it into a mind-melting, mental miracle of magic.

When using the EC in Twisted Sisters, the spectator sees 4 red-backed cards and 4 blue-backed cards. By the time the trick ends, two cards turn face up and also transposition colors. Without the Elmsley, the trick is boring.

For some, false counts come naturally. For others, they try and move on. False counts are a staple move in packet tricks and every cardician should know the basic counts. Counts can be quite challenging but with enough practice and this book, you'll handle any count; easy breezy!

Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety by Jerry Mentzer is a reference guide. Copyright in 1977, this small book is on it's 14th printing. Although I don't own anything else by Jerry, he appears to be a prolific author on magical topics including the book on Card To Wallet.

You'll find no tricks in this book. However, learn the moves in this book and I'll bet you could create some great, original packet tricks in no time. Combine these moves with an assortment of specialty gaffed cards and you're creative juices will be flowing. Here is a little video review to go along with this blog review.



Degree of Difficulty

Intermediate to expert. Some people think learning the Elmsey is easy and some think it is hard. I think it's kind of in the middle. Easy to learn, hard to perfect. I learned the Elmsley Count in a couple days but it took countless evenings in front of the TV, doing hundreds of Elmsley/Jordan sequences, to execute these counts with confidence under pressure.


Quantity of Effects

There is a ton of good material in this book. Here is what you'll learn:

Undercuts and Reversals

Double Undercut - controlling a card to the top of the deck
Braue reversal - this is an awesome move. It appears to be a flourishy cut but it keeps the deck in order and yet reverses one or more cards in the deck.
Concealed Reversal - Yet another reversal

Counts Cuts and Subtlety

The Biddle Move - Secretly steal away a card from a count.
Hamman Count - Swapping two packets of cards during a count
Veeser Cont - Another way to do an Elmsley Count
Another Count - Starting position is identical to the Jordan Count but you end up in the starting position
Flustration Move - Show the front and backs of all cards in a packet but really only show the back (or front) of one card.
Haback Count - Combines the Hamman and Flustration
Olram Subtlety - Display several cards while one or more are hidden
Downs Change - I guess T. Nelson Downs occasionally picked up a deck of cards! I've seen this executed differently as a one card or even a two-card color change. This book shows the move as a way of tabling a card from a packet but changing it for a different card during the motion of tabling the card.
True or False - Yet another false count that disguises the number of cards you really have.

Elmsley, Jordan, Etc.

The Elmsley Count - the "Ghost Count" as Alex Elmsley made famous using the finger-tip method.
The Elmsley Count Comment - the author makes the point that you can using the EC "push/shuttle" of cards between the hands to count 3 cards as 4, or 4 cards as 5.
The Jordan Count - Older than the EC, the Jordan accomplishes the same as the EC but starting with the card on 4th position and ending int EC starting position.
The Siva Count - show 4 face-up cards while hiding a 5th card.
Open Count - a "fair" way to accomplish an Elmsley Count
Smile Count - Apparently 4 cards are shown on both sides - but you've concealed 3 sides.
Pairs Count - variation on the Smile Count
Spirit Count - using ESP cards. 4 cards appear identical when in fact you have 2 like cards and another 2 like cards.

Spreads

The Simple Spread - instead of counting cards, you are spreading a small packet while concealing a card. The bottom card is hiding the extra cards
The Back Spread - the top card is hiding the extra cards
Buckle Count - Spread using a buckle move
Ascanio Count - The Ascanio Count hides the third card in a packet of five. This is a brilliant move that all card slingers should learn at some point in their careers.

Production

The book is has excellent written instructions on the moves and ample photos of the key hand positions during the move. Mentzer does a good job of crediting each move to it's creator and sometimes the trick in which the move was first made popular.

My Parting Thoughts...

This book is a reference guide but not the definitive guide. There are some things missing, in particular, variations on the same move. For example, I purchased this book because I created a count and didn't know what the name of the count was. I was sure it had previously been invented as it seemed to be useful counterpart to the Elmsley Count.

It turns out the the count I came up with was called the Jordan Count. I'd heard of the Jordan Count but didn't know what it was used for. I determined I needed such a count to get the third (hidden) card back into the starting position for the Elmsley Count. I didn't like how some tricks required you to place the last counted card in the EC back to the bottom - that just looks unnatural. Additionally, I had someone ask me to count the cards again - if you don't know the Jordan you're going to be stuck.

Turns out that my Jordan Count is executed differently than the one in the book. My goal was to make the Elmsley and the Jordan indistinguishable to lay people. It would be nice to see an updated version of this book with more variations of the counts and more cuts. There is another book called Counthesaurus by Jon Racherbaumer which appears to be a more complete treatise on the subject of counts. However, it is more expense so it may be a while before I feel the love for that book.

Overall: 7/10

If you're into packet tricks or looking for some material to get the creative process going this is a no-brainer purchase.