Presently, there is an effect on the market called “Poche A Poche,” by Jean Pierre Vallarino, a French magician. In a nutshell, the effect is that a card is chosen and signed, put back into the deck and into the case, then the whole thing put in your pocket. You then pull out your wallet from an entirely different pocket and, lo and behold, there's the chosen card. Sounds very clean.

When you buy this effect, it comes with the wallet and the “special gimmick” that make this effect possible. From my understanding, though, you can use your own wallet, which is a benefit, really. Priced at $49.95 it certainly is worth the thought given to possibly purchasing this item.

There is another trick that has garnered my attention, though. This one, in particular, is based on “The Mystery Card” by Larry Jennings and is similar to “No-Wallet Card to Pocket” by Harold Cataquet. Before I tell you the effect, let me tell you the price that I paid to have this trick in my arsenal: $74.95. I'll save you the mathematics - I paid $25.00 more for this effect over “Poche A Poche.” But, it's pretty strong and I think I got a good deal on it. I think that you'll agree, by the end of this column.

Let me explain the effect of this highly expensive trick that I'm carrying on about. Spectator #1 picks a card that is kept secret. Nobody knows what this “mystery” card is and it is put into your pocket. Spectator #2 chooses a card, signs their name on that card and replaces it in the deck. The magician not only names the card (no forcing, here), but also names the spectator (whose name was unknown to him at this point) who signed the card and allows spectator #1 to reach into his pocket and pull out the original “mystery” card, which is, in fact, the signed card. No other cards are used - there is only one, single card in your pocket when the spec reaches into your pocket. There are no doubles used and, in fact, this trick can be done completely impromptu using someone else's deck. In other words, no gaffes or gimmicks.

On a side note, all sleights used in the method of this trick are stock maneuvers - nothing terribly difficult (which I can attest to, since I don't do much with cards and anything outside of rudimentary card work is beyond me).

Now, that's powerful stuff and, in all honesty, worth the extra twenty-five dollars. This particular effect, which comes with full credits (see above), is the brain child of the Australian (pro) magician, Richard Paddon. With something this strong, you'd suspect that Mr. Paddon is making a mint marketing this effect to guys like me who don't have the creativity to come up with this kind of excellent material on our own. He's not, though. In fact, he didn't see a penny of the money from my purchase of this effect.

Given your full consideration, I think that you'll agree that the Paddon effect is much more powerful than the Vallarino effect. Certainly, “Poche A Poche” is very strong and could be used as a reputation maker. I don't deny this fact. My point is that the Paddon effect is also a reputation maker and can be done anywhere, anytime and, in all honesty, Paddon's effect is stronger than “Poche A Poche.”

The Paddon effect, called “Mystery Card to Pocket” cannot be found for sale alone on any website or in any magic shop (unless there is a thief out there marketing this effect). It can, however, be found in a heterogeneous conglomeration. And, to tell you the truth, I'm a bit apprehensive to share where this trick can be found - I want it for myself.

So, rather than tell you specifically where it is, I'll tell you this…It can be found in Apocalypse. I'll keep the specific issue details to myself. If you want to find it, then research it!

For the price of $74.95 you can have “Mystery Card to Pocket” as well as over 250 others, if you buy the hardbound volume that includes this trick. But, give some honest thought to that idea. The actual cost of each trick between those covers is less than 30 cents per trick. Or, look at it this way: If you purchased Poche A Poche at a price equivalent to the Apocalypse book, the cost would be $12,487.50. In other words, you will spend over 12 thousand dollars of your money buying one trick at a time.

In essence, I paid 30 cents for Mr. Paddon's trick. Do you agree that it was a better deal than paying $49.95 for a less powerful trick? Even if not, for my money I got hundreds of tricks, rather than just one that requires that I have a special gimmick on my person, if I'm going to do the trick at all.

Heterogeneous conglomerations.

As always, thank you for reading and take care.

Mike