The Faro Shuffle + FFF
By
Homer Liwag
Moves Taught:
The Faro Shuffle
The Filipino False Faro or FFF with several variations
Effect Taught:
Triumph
Thoughts:
On this latest 1on1 Homer teaches you a classic, over 300 year old, sleight that every card magician should know and love. The Faro Shuffle (or Perfect Shuffle) is a beautiful, effective, and moderately easy move that can serve a variety of purposes in card magic and even flourishing.
Homer's teaching of the classic move is very good, with only one small detail left out. The fact that the faro can, after 8 repetitions, be totally false, is never mentioned. Though this is a small note, it is something that Hugard and Braue discuss heavily in Expert Card Technique and I thought it would at least be mentioned briefly. However, that one small note does not take away from the great teaching of the actual sleight itself.
Next, Homer teaches his great Filipino False Faro, a visually and audibly stunning false shuffle.
The basic concept behind the shuffle is something I thing most card workers have probably at least played with at one time or another, I know I have. But I never thought it could be as beautiful and deceptive as Homer makes it.
The shuffle is fairly easy if you have some Faro experience, but will definitely take the development of a knack and will be greatly affected by your cards as well.
Like many false shuffles, the FFF does leave the deck cut, though the individual order is not disturbed. To solve this, Homer then teaches several simple variations that retain full order very deceptively and take no more practice after learning the sleight itself.
After this, Homer teaches a beautiful Triumph routine using the FFF to make it extremely fair and simple. He also talks about a nice touch that the FFF allows you to do during the effect that completely alters the entire Triumph plot like I had honestly never thought of before.
Final Thoughts:
All in all, this is a terrific purchase for any and every card worker. The FFF is a great sleight and is gone over here in great detail. I highly recommend this download.
Note: After the original writing of this review, several good points were brought up concerning the teaching of the basic Faro Shuffle itself. As I think these points should be understood and taken into account, I have included two posts at the bottom of this review. I feel it needs to be made clear that my comments regarding this 1on1 apply mainly to the FFF as I believe that everyone should know the Faro before delving into this video as the teaching of the sleight is very basic and only taught as a prerequisite to the FFF.
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I don't know... not mentioning eight shuffles will reset the order seems a little too rudimentary to leave out.
Also, does this teach tabled faro shuffling, or is it all in the hands? Is there any focus on the shuffle on a cheating device, ie a poker shuffle in which none of the bottom cards flash to the shuffler? Or shortcuts to quickly and accurately gauge a cut at twenty six by touch alone? It seems a little basic on the video.
I'm guessing that since he doesn't talk about the cycle of eight, he also doesn't talk about the difference between in / out shuffles, and how alternations can set the deck. But I don't know.
Any info from someone who downloaded the video would be appreciated.
Mike,
I felt very much the same way and no, no other applications but the in the hands Faro are taught. Again, I think this is a mistake, but I didn't factor it into my review as it clearly was not the intention on the 1on1. I feel like the intention was to teach the FFF and the Faro was just taught as a prerequisite.
I think that any card worker worth his upkeep should already at least own and be reading Expert Card Technique and have the knowledge of a Faro. This download is only applicable to those who know Faro technique and wish to expand it with Homer's FFF.
C
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