You have absolutely no way of knowing if Gary Plants is dealing a second, a card from the bottom, or executing a false shuffle. His sleight of hand defies detection. Gambling authority and true expert at the card table, Steve Forte, saw Gary perform and was totally blown away. When Gary told Steve that he was a high school teacher who decided to perfect his skills by practicing during his summer vacations, Forte said, "I would have bet against that — a combination science teacher and cardman extraordinaire seems like a long shot to me."

More Tricks in MAGIC...
While Joshua Jay continues his studies in Quito, Ecuador (and at the same time, gathering material from some of South America's finest close-up workers) an array of tricks from a variety of contributors keeps on appearing in "Talk About Tricks." Inspired by a Jonathan Townsend effect that was in the column last year, Japan's Kiyoshi Satoh presents an interesting packet effect he calls Creator. J.K. Hartman has come up with a visually strong transposition of the Aces and Kings, something he's titled Flip Flap. Temporal Anomaly is Canadian Patrik Kuffs clever piece of mentalism with business cards and a wristwatch. Tyler Wilson's Striptease can be used as a control, a switch, or a force, and is done under the guise of stripping a card out of the deck. It's close-up game-show time, complete with a grand prize, when your spectators play Danny Archer's Magic Jeopardy. And "Expertalk" features Jack Parker on the Hands Up Vanish.