The thing about Gambling moves is that they take a ton of time to get down. Seconds, Centers, and Bottoms is Marlo's own method of gambling moves. It will take a very very long time to perfect. It's his own grip and style, so it'll be different from Madison, England, and Spade. I haven't looked at it in a while, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but Marlo's grip is specific to his style and can't be mixed and matched with other gambling methods.
Example Bottom Deal: That's a move I've spent a lot of time on. I learned it from Madison originally, but I had the problem that even though I could do it solidly after not too much time, it was simply too obvious if I didn't do it with great speed. Even when looking at Daniel Madison himself performing it I was able to spot the finger motion pretty easily. That's why I bought England's work on the Bottom Deal, but I had a few reservations about the method he teaches as well, as he uses a different grip for the Bottom, with which it's difficult to deal seconds.
However, I took away what I thought would help me from both of them and kind of tried to develop a method - using what I'd already learned as guidelines - that suits me and that's as invisible as possible.
With Marlo I'm hoping to learn more, to help me advance my Bottom (and Second, and Center) Deal. Heck, if I think it's worth it, I'll start from scratch. My question is: Is it worth it? Can I learn things from him no other could teach me?
(Ok sorry, I've already written far too much already, and I've only started with my response. Thank you for your patience.)
If your looking for performing magic, knowing Gambling moves won't get you very far by themselves. They're good for demonstrations of skill, but you definitely need more that that to get a good performance.
I didn't really start this hobby with performing in mind, at least not big-style. I started with gambling moves because that was the first thing I saw in that direction (Richard Turner on Penn and Teller). I looked at what I saw (or rather, what I didn't see) and thought: "That looks cool, I wanna do that." Nor for the sake of performing, simply for the sake of
doing. Actually performing didn't cross my mind until later on, but up to this point I'm still doing it only because I enjoy doing it. Of course I realize I'll need more than that to perform, but the above is the reason I still want to put an emphasis on becoming better with gambling moves.
I highly suggest buying the Royal Road to Card Magic and Expert Card Technique and working through them in that order. They cover most of the basics of card magic, as well as how to perform. ECT also goes in depth into some more advanced moves, including loosely going into gambling moves.
Finally, thank you for the recommendation. You've certainly convinced me.
Again, thank you for bearing with me.
