Pure Deceptions & Maximum Impact

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 a two-part video series of The Magic Of Gene Maze and features many of his simpler and advanced routines. Volume one (Pure Deceptions) features Meir Yedid performing the routines and then explaining them with Gene Maze’s help. The final routine, a non-card item, is performed and explained by Harry Lorayne. Volume two of the set (Maximum Impact) features many of the more advanced routines which are performed and explained by Gene Maze.

PURE DECEPTIONS: 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.

MAXIMUM IMPACT: Routines performed and explained:
►The Spectator Cuts The Aces: A spectator cuts the deck into four piles. The top card of each pile is shown to be an Ace. Techniques explained: Multiple Switching Technique.
►Aces To Queens: Four Aces change places with four random cards. As a kicker the four random cards have turned into the four Queens. Techniques explained: Block Deal Steal, Show Dropper Switch, Subtraction Move.
►Through Thick And Thin: The four Queens penetrate through the center of the table one at a time into your waiting hand. The final Queen only goes part way when the card is shown to be partially blank with a cutout of the Queen missing. The cut out has gone through the table. Techniques explained: Scoop Load, Second Deal Lap.
►Only An Illusion: From a shuffled deck the face card is turned face down. It then magically changes into the King of Hearts, King of Spades, King of Diamonds and then into the King of Clubs. Proving it was all an illusion the card changes back to its original identity. Techniques explained: Multiple Switching Technique.
►Oil And Water: Three black cards are mixed with three red cards but separate into reds and blacks. They then remix themselves and for a finale all six cards are shown to be black. Techniques explained: Single Card, SlideUnder Switch, Bottom Lap.
►Had To Be Your Card: A spectator removes five cards from a shuffled deck making sure that their selection is one of the five. You divine their selection explaining it had to be their card since the other four cards are Kings. Techniques explained: Key Card Location, Poker Fan Switch.
►Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow: A selected card vanishes from between two kings to appear, face down in the center of the face up deck. Techniques explained: One-Handed Bottom Deal Switch, Utility Swipe.
►Between The Slices: Three random cards are sandwiched face down between two face up cards. The face down cards, one at a time, change into duplicates of the selection. The top card then changes into the selection while all the other cards used turn into Queens. Techniques explained: Sandwich Switch, Kelly Dead Deck Steal, Pivot.
►Pointer: A spectator slides out three cards from a shuffled deck. The cards are assembled as a pointer that is used to freely select a card. The card is shown to be a ten. The three cards that were used as a pointer are now also tens. Techniques explained: Packet Exchange, Basic Card Steal, Three To Four Switch, One-Handed SingleCard Switch.
►Passing Through: Using two decks of cards, a red back and a blue back, the spectator removes a few from each. The two packets are shuffled through each other and upon spreading them again three cards are seen in each packet to have the opposite back color. The three cards in each packet are turned over and are seen to be exact duplicates. Techniques explained: Bottom Deal.

Produced by Meir Yedid Magic in 1992. Combined running time: Approximately two hours.