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CATCH 33

Introduction Three cards – two lose, one wins. Simple ... or so your audience thinks.

Each time he plays the game with you, your spectator falls into intelligent traps you’ve set.

He receives an authentic lesson on the con game that is not a game at all. Using beautifully choreographed sequences, you continually manipulate your spectator into choosing the wrong card. He just can’t help himself.

Catch 33 borrows actual moves taken from the real street con and combines them with an entertaining magical approach and excellent psychology.

First and foremost, do not stop and play Three Card Monte. Ever. If you see one in progress, don’t stop, don’t play – just don’t. Even if you can follow the moves and techniques, you cannot win. Walk away. The game is rigged, and there’s a good chance someone standing next to you picks pockets professionally. There are also lookouts on either corner watching for police as well as acting as enforcers if there are any problems. Danger!

Instead of cheating someone or being cheated by someone, learn to perform Three Card Monte for fun and entertainment. This manuscript teaches you how.

Get ready to step inside this three-sequence routine, where you: ● Hype, mid-air in the hand ● Perplex with a simple table turn ● Tear an index for a startling climax Perform this routine surrounded; at a restaurant, trade show, or private party. Insert it into a gambling demonstration. Use it when you want audience participation.

The majority of Monte routines are story-based and don’t allow for spectators to actually play. Designed to fool a room full of lay people, Catch 33 astounds many of the sharpest magicians watching.

Each move offers a sucker punch — an extra little twist in addition to losing track of the right card.

Stronger than using paper clips, postage stamps, or even the standard bent corner, Catch 33’s ending creates much more of an astonishing moment for those watching. Imagine completely ripping off a corner of a card and someone holding the piece clenched in their fist. While the audience looks along, the torn card transforms into another card.

Even the piece held in their hand has changed.

The traditional cards used in Three Card Monte are a red Queen and two indifferent black cards. Catch 33 uses two red threes and a black seven.

Personal reasons for using this combination will be discussed on pg. 4.

Picture such a strong finish! Are you ready to learn this devious routine?

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CATCH 33 We will start with some secret pre-show preparation. Next, we will learn or review the basic throw used throughout the entire routine - The Hype. From there, you’ll learn The Mid-Air Lay Down. With this one, you may even fool yourself.

For the second sequence, discover the Grecian Turn. This simple original sequence has baffled many of the world’s finest magicians on my travels throughout Europe, Asia and all of the Americas.

Last, but most definitely not least, you will end by learning Ripped. Experience my take on the classic bent corner. It’s the old plot with a twist -- and a tear.

Once you find out how this routine works, you will never want to perform any other again.

“Live forever, or die in the attempt.” -- Joseph Heller, Catch 22

Three Card Monte (Jaffe, Israel) 2005 Author - ZioDave

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CATCH 33

Pre-show Preparation You’ll need (1) Three of Hearts, (1) Three of Diamonds and (2) Seven of spades (Photo 1). In order to lift the cards easily from the table, crimp all of them lengthwise so the faces are concave.

Take one of the duplicate sevens, face up, and tear the upper left index off exactly as in (Photo 2).

Tear the index piece, with the number and pip, so it resembles the original piece with rough edges.

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Catch 33 calls for you to rip two cards each time you demonstrate it. Tearing cards shouldn’t stop you from performing a strong routine, but in the end, you will rip plenty. If you change the value of the cards for each performance, two decks will last a long time.

Resting upside down, this torn index fits palmed snugly into the area of the second phalange of the third finger. We will refer to this as the ‘Ramsay Subtlety’ (Photo 3). Place the rest of the torn seven in your pocket. You are ready to begin.

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Special Note: Palming this extra piece in the first two sequences, makes Catch 33 an attractive routine because no one will be able to figure out how you switched the card at the end. People will suspect it, but you never went to your pockets to steal an extra card. Subtleties like these will fool even knowledgeable magicians.

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John Ramsay and his Ramsay Subtlety John Ramsay, a famous Scottish magician, devised a way to keep the hand concealing multiple coins seemingly empty by showing it in a certain way (invented Circa 1920).

Just like Ramsay, the Catch 33 routine takes advantage of his clever concealment concept for coins, but instead uses the torn corner of a playing card.

A wonderful description of the Ramsay Subtlety may be found in “The Ramsay Legend,”

by Andrew Galloway (1969)

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CATCH 33

The use of threes and a seven: Before explaining the specific use of the threes and a seven, please understand that you can use any combination of cards to perform Three Card Monte. Usually you’ll find people using medleys of cards like Queens and Aces, Kings and Threes, and even Jacks and Fives. The choice of cards you want to use in performance completely hinges on your own personal style and tastes.

For fun, this routine uses threes and sevens because when you place the seven face up on top of the other face up threes, and spread them to the left, it spells LEE (Photo 4).

A final thought for those of you not named ‘Lee’. You could still use this cool piece of trivia by explaining to your audience that a magician/gambler by the name of LEE taught you how to play Three Card Monte.

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The Hype Switching cards underneath the scrutiny of onlookers aids the operator in facilitating this swindle. To accomplish an extraordinary feat like this, the special technique employed by hustlers and magicians for exchanging cards is referred to as The Hype. In basic form, imagine a simple toss of the cards designed to misdirect someone away from the correct card.

Masters of this move are able to perform the sleight smoothly from either hand.

For now, learn to hype from your right hand.

Start with the cards, crimped lengthwise, face down on the table. While it’s not obvious yet to anyone watching, the two red threes are in the outside positions and the black seven is in the center (Photo 5).

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Always palm the torn corner. Conceal it throughout the routine, even in practice. It will feel awkward at first, but with time, palming the corner will become comfortable. Eventually you will hardly notice the corner’s presence.

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CATCH 33 Using your right hand, pick up the card to your right from the table. How you grip the card when you lift is important. Be careful to pinch the playing card between your right thumb from the lower short end of the card, and the first finger (forefinger) that touches the center at the upper short end (Photo 6).

Pick it up from above using a similar technique with the second finger and thumb. (photo 7) Place the three on top of the tabled seven. Naturally, you should have a small space, no more than a quarter inch between the two cards.

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Rotate your wrist so the palm of your hand points to the ceiling. This displays the face of the black seven and beneath it, almost hidden from view, a red three (Photo 8a, spectators’ view Photo 8b shows the performer’s view).

Have no fear because your spectators can’t see the hidden, finger-palmed piece. If you’re still worried, a little mirror practice will convince you otherwise.

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With your left hand, pick up the remaining three with the thumb to the rear of the narrow end of the card, and the forefinger to the front. Mirror the way you are holding the three in your right hand (Go back to photo 6).

When executing the hype, you simply throw the three instead of the seven. But it’s more difficult than it sounds so before progressing to the actual hype, practice throwing the seven for real. Turn the right hand palm down, so the cards are face down. In the action of rotating the wrist, toss the seven to the table by releasing it from the pressure of your second finger.

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Immediately pick up the seven with the left hand, the same way you were holding it in the right hand.

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Rotate the left hand palm up showing the seven, the way you did with the right hand.

(Photo 9) And just the way you turned your right hand palm down, you will turn and toss with the left hand. You alternate hands each time. And each time, the seven lands face down on the table.

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