What Can I do With Mnemonica?

[Josh Burch]

Let me preface this with one thing. Over my magic career, I have memorized six or seven decks of cards and have used many memorized deck effects in my working repertoire. The memorization isn't the problem, and finding material for the stacks isn't an issue either.

I just don't get what sets Mnemonica or the Aronson stack apart. Most of the magic I find is interchangeable. This includes legendary routines like Shuffle Bored or Mnemonicosis. I can do either with any of the above stacks.

Like half of Mnemonica (the book) is full of poker deals, but none of them are all that great (coming from a guy who loves poker deals!) and most of them require you to displace a few cards. Lennart Green has much better dramatic stacks for poker deals. Deal 5 hands with progressively more interesting and powerful hands.

Ben Joffre has an impossible stack for Texas Hold'em. The spectator cuts the deck and names 2 or three players. They then deal you the winning hand EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Heck, even the Si Stebbins gives better poker deals than Mnemonica. In a four-hand game you can deal a straight flush wherever the spectator cuts, no extra sleight of hand required.

I just don't get what makes Mnemonica and the Aronson stacks so desirable. It seems like there are much better stacks out there that look just as mixed and are either easier to memorize or can do things that no other stack can do. Am I missing something when it comes to Aronson and Tamariz?

 

[Gabriel Z.]

Hey Josh, I just received Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz today..... So I can't really comment just as yet. But apparently you can get into the stack with faro shuffles from a new deck. I'm going to learn this book inside and out and then I'll give you my input. P.S. This is going to be my first official stack. Wish me luck!!!

 

[Josh Burch]

Hey Josh, I just received Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz today..... So I can't really comment just as yet. But apparently you can get into the stack with faro shuffles from a new deck. I'm going to learn this book inside and out and then I'll give you my input. P.S. This is going to be my first official stack. Wish me luck!!!

Yeah, I like that about Mnemonica but Darwin Ortiz's stack, as well as the Si Stebbins, can start from a new deck as well. Even Dani Daortiz's stack (Which can do almost everything a Stebbins can do) starts from a new deck. I think that all of these stacks are more versitile than the Tamariz deck.

Good luck with Mnemonica. It's a great tool for sure!

 

[Mitra#008]

Though I'm a bit of a rookie, I feel like knowing a single stack is enough as long as you're comfortable with it. I dont use Si Stebbins because some people notice the cycle of suits. I do personally use the Mnemonica stack simply because it was the first one I'd come to know of. In essence, all stacks have limitless possibilities. I guess Mnemonica's claim to fame is Juan Tamariz's legendary personality. On the more practical side of things, I guess it all comes down to the variety of effects that you are able to do. So far I'm happy with Mnemonica. It may also be just because of popularity that Mnemonica is as well known as it is, and I do agree with your point.

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

The only way I could think of using Mnemonica and deck memorization would be to create comedy routines.

Completely performer dependent. But I'd do it to where I would completely downplay my memorization skills and play it off as wild guesses that I happened to get right.

 

[Mitra#008]

Yeah, a Lennart Green type of attitude really helps. But the book offers a lot more.

 

[DavidL11229]

I like Mnemonica because it looks mixed and it goes to and from NDO, though I memorized a different suit order to make NDO easier. I like to practice culls and tabled faros so it makes for a fun practice routine to go back and forth (or start shuffled!). You're right, I don't do any tricks that cannot be done with another stack but I haven't found anything that looks as mixed. There's very little in a Mnemonica stack a spectator will remember having seen before. The Si Stebbins based stacks and even Aronson have things that stick out, though I haven't see the other 2 stacks you mentioned. Redford looks like it can do a lot, but it doesn't look as mixed either (it's Stebbins based).

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

Ben Joffre has an impossible stack for Texas Hold'em.

A little off topic but where can I learn this stack?

 

[Josh Burch]

A little off topic but where can I learn this stack?

Right here: https://www.benjoffe.com/holdem

I like the small blind for 3 or 4 players. You have someone cut the deck, name how many people will play (3 or 4) then have them deal. As long as you are in the first position to the left of the dealer, you will win. AND, if you want to change how many players are playing you can win in a second or third round as well.

 

[TommyM1]

Right here: https://www.benj

Let me preface this with one thing. Over my magic career, I have memorized six or seven decks of cards and have used many memorized deck effects in my working repertoire. The memorization isn't the problem, and finding material for the stacks isn't an issue either.

I just don't get what sets Mnemonica or the Aronson stack apart. Most of the magic I find is interchangeable. This includes legendary routines like Shuffle Bored or Mnemonicosis. I can do either with any of the above stacks.

Like half of Mnemonica (the book) is full of poker deals, but none of them are all that great (coming from a guy who loves poker deals!) and most of them require you to displace a few cards. Lennart Green has much better dramatic stacks for poker deals. Deal 5 hands with progressively more interesting and powerful hands.

Ben Joffre has an impossible stack for Texas Hold'em. The spectator cuts the deck and names 2 or three players. They then deal you the winning hand EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Heck, even the Si Stebbins gives better poker deals than Mnemonica. In a four-hand game you can deal a straight flush wherever the spectator cuts, no extra sleight of hand required.

I just don't get what makes Mnemonica and the Aronson stacks so desirable. It seems like there are much better stacks out there that look just as mixed and are either easier to memorize or can do things that no other stack can do. Am I missing something when it comes to Aronson and Tamariz?

Agree. I have found Mnemonica to provide a low return on the time I put in to be fully confident with the stack and the limited effects I have performed with this stack.
offe.com/holdem

I like the small blind for 3 or 4 players. You have someone cut the deck, name how many people will play (3 or 4) then have them deal. As long as you are in the first position to the left of the dealer, you will win. AND, if you want to change how many players are playing you can win in a second or third round as well.