Gene Maze was an underground card star who created a wealth of routines and techniques. His trademark was simple effects with direct methods. Sometimes those methods were very difficult to learn and other times they were very easy.  This is part one of a two-part series of The Magic Of Gene Maze and features many of his simpler routines. All the routines are performed by Meir Yedid and then explained with Maze’s help. The final routine, a non-card item is performed and explained by Harry Lorayne.

Routines performed and explained:
►Touch Of The Mentalist: You predict which of three cards a spectator will think of… three times in a row. Techniques explained: Bottom Deal.
►Mexican Choice: A spectator freely selects one of ten cards. The card turns out to be the only red card. All the rest are black. Techniques explained: Crandall High Pressure Mexican.
►The Guaranteed Greatest Envelope Prediction: Four envelopes are said to contain the four kings. A spectator names one of the kings. That king turns out to be the only one face-up and the only one with a blue back. The other three envelopes are shown to contain aces. Techniques explained: Through The Fist Flourish, Through The Fist Flourish Variant, Basic Card Steal, Unit Grip.
►One In A Bunch: A spectator freely selects one of twenty cards. It turns out to be the only red-faced card in the deck. Techniques explained: One-Handed Bottom Deal.
►Box Top: A funny and impossible transposition where a signed card changes places with a random card that was placed inside a card case. Techniques explained: Injog Control, Separation Steal.
►“Stop” Sandwich: Two face-up cards are shuffled into different parts of the deck and when the deck is spread they are shown to be next to each other with one card face-down between them. It is the freely selected card that was previously lost in the deck. Techniques explained: Injog Control, Slip Cut, Biddle Drop.
►Pop Jump Aces: Four sandwiched aces vanish and visually reappear in the center of the table. Techniques explained: Utility Swipe, Second Deal Lap, Vernon Add-On, Basic Card Steal.
►Caught In The Act: A selected card is lost in the deck. A spectator places two cards face-up in the deck. The deck is shuffled. A card appears between the two face-up ones. It is the selection. Techniques explained: One-Handed Bottom Deal.
►A Squeaky Clean Prediction: A freely selected card matches a prediction that has been in full view the entire time. Techniques explained: BlackJack Switch.
►What’s The Catch: Harry Lorayne performs and explains Gene Maze’s fantastic handling of the classic Endless Chain or Fast and Loose scam where you can control when the spectator wins or loses.

Produced by Meir Yedid Magic in 1992. Running time: Approximately one hour.