"Smart Ass" by Bill Abbott
Suggested Retail USD$60.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

"Smart Ass", the latest effect by Bill Abbott, is a powerful card effect that has it all -- directness, cleanliness, and a truckload of entertainment packed into it -- that it's one of those rare card routines that plays beautifully on the stage and draws simply tremendous reactions.

The basic routine of "Smart Ass" is simplicity in itself. The performer puts a jumbo-sized playing card face down on a chair, without revealing the face of the card. A spectator sits in the chair (and on top of the jumbo card) and given a deck of cards to shuffle. Once done, they are asked to cut the deck into two piles and place each pile in either hand, and then to toss the cards in one hand over their shoulder. This is repeated until there are only a few cards left. The spectator is asked to select one quite freely. When they have their selection, they are asked to stand up and turn over the jumbo card. It matches the spectator's selection perfectly.

Now, if you're like me, you're already calculating a few dozen ways of accomplishing this, with words and phrases like "Pop-Eyed Popper" and "Mirage" and "Prophecy Pack" dancing around in your head. Let me put all that to rest with a few interesting details. First, the spectator is shown the faces of the deck quite freely. Second, the spectator can shuffle and cut the deck with no problems. Third, during the elimination process, a spectator looking at the tossed-away cards will see nothing unusual at all, just a collection of cards scattered about. Fourth, there's no guiding of the spectator in any way -- no equivoque here.

I don't think I'm telling tales out of school that the routine revolves around a special deck (the ads say "specially constructed Bicycle brand playing cards") that is at quite clever and allows all this to happen smoothly and with only a single move that is reaching to even refer to as a move. And, because of the simplicity of the work involved thanks to that deck, the presentation is the meat here and you can concentrate on it all day long.

"Smart Ass", with that deck is good stuff. Abbot upped the amperage here though with a host of ideas and variations and handling ideas that will have your head spinning with ways of using this deck. Then, to add the icing to the cake, he includes four scripts for a variety of audiences and performance needs. With all of this attention to detail and alternatives to performing it, "Smart Ass" is a complete package of almost never ending ideas.

Not bad at all for what amounts to a very creative and very flexible "specially constructed deck".

And it plays huge on stage.

That's a big point if you do stage work. The routine runs long but no so long anyone would notice -- there's action going on every second of the routine and Abbott's scripts are at times downright delightful. I'd venture to say this is a rarity: a card effect that plays extremely well on the stage without a tactical problem in sight.

"Smart Ass" is more than a card trick for the stage, though I think that is its biggest strength and what makes it worth the purchase. It can also be used in close-up and platform situations (with a little tinkering, as Abbott explains) and, essentially, anywhere such a deck may be used. Need a good way to get a prediction across, or maybe an interesting "card-to-impossible location" plot? The "Smart Ass" deck fits the bill. It truly is one of those things limited by your imagination.

The only drawback to the "Smart Ass" deck is the deck itself. Mine took only a few hours of practice before it began to show signs of wear. Throw in some traveling and a performance or two and it was time to re-do the deck. This is an easy thing (especially if you've been exposed to Abbott's booklets) but Abbott took a rather low road with "Smart Ass": there are no instructions provided on how to do this for those that don't know how. Instead of providing those instructions, you're pretty much left to re-purchase "Smart Ass" or buy replacements if you can find them. Personally, this rubs me the wrong way -- we're not talking rocket science here or some huge manufacturing secret when it comes to fixing the deck -- and smacks of a ploy just to sell more product.

Still, for that, "Smart Ass" is one excellent effect. It's completely entertaining, the reactions are huge, and about as simple a thing as you could ask for. For the price you can't really go wrong no matter the venue in which you find yourself. But be prepared to buy those "replacements"; you may end up needing them before you know it.

"Smart Ass" by Bill Abbott
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

Practicality: 10
Granted, Abbott's work here is for the stage and, as such, this is a perfectly practical piece of work. A chair, the deck, the revealed card, and you're pretty much done with this one. As for the practical question of a card trick playing big enough for a stage, this one does so easily.

Workmanship: 5
The deck is well made, surely, but it won't last long (and depending on your performance environment, you could probably add "at all" to that statement). The real let-down here is that fixing it is a simple thing, but Abbott ducked that explanation in favor of selling "replacements". Not good.

Documentation: 7
Abbott scores huge here. The documentation -- most of it on DVD, some of it as PDF files -- includes in-depth looks at the psychology of the routines, full scripts, alternate handlings, variations for different venues, and so much more. Big thumbs up here. Then a thumbs-down for not explaining how to keep the deck in working order.

Effect: 10
This one plays and plays huge. The scripts, the apparently free choice, everything hits on all cylinders here and the reactions are tremendous.

Presentation: 10
With four full scripts to choose from and an incredibly clean handling, the presentation here is as entertaining as it is mystifying, no matter how you choose to do it.

Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.