Michael Skinner's Thoughts on Card Control - Lecture Notes by Gary Plants

Review by Michael Close

Gary Plants and I have been friends for at least forty years. During the time I’ve known him, he has always been a serious student of magic. He was a conscientious note-taker at lectures and sessions; he also chronicled these events with wonderful photographs (some of which he has posted on his Facebook page).

Thanks to his friend, Lance Pierce, Gary was made aware of a letter Michael Skinner wrote to Roger Klause in which Michael gave his thoughts on magicians and the card controls they use. Included in the letter was a list of sixty card controls Michael used in his work. Michael wrote,

“There are so many beautiful ways to control cards. Most card men fall back on two or three that they use all of the time. That’s because they don’t think much about the control. They will use a side-steal, pass, Hindu Shuffle or crimp because they feel comfortable with it and they can’t think of anything else. “What I do is chose a control that fits the effect and then memorize the control and effect together. That way the spectator doesn’t see the same actions every time he replaces his card in the pack "When I record a new effect in my notebook, I also include a number from the list of sixty on my control sheet.”

Gary wanted to share this information with a wider audience, so he lectured on the subject at the most recent MAGIC Live convention. Michael Skinner’s Thoughts
on Card Controls is the title of the lecture notes he provided. Those wishing to elevate their card magic will find much of interest.

Gary includes Michael’s list of sixty card controls (in its original form as it appeared in the letter) and transcribed for better readability. He then discusses ten different controls, from Skinner, Harry Riser, Steranko, Fred Robinson (this is one of my favorite controls), Fred Braue, and a few from Mr. Plants himself. None of them are difficult to do. I’m sure you’ll find several you’ll want to immediately implement.

Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of magicians perform a lot of card magic. Most of the time, they use something simple, like a jog shuffle, the Mahatma shuffle, or a double undercut (when a break is held above or below the selected card). Keep in mind, for a card location effect to have maximum impact the spectators must be convinced the card is lost in the deck. Gary’s manuscript will certainly provide you with some avenues you might not have previously considered. I would also suggest you track down the controls in Michael’s list of sixty and apply his suggestion of using the best control possible for whatever effect you’re working on.

As I mentioned above, those who take their card magic seriously will find a lot of useful knowledge in this little set of notes. And thanks, Gary, for making this material available.

[Note: If you’re looking for a card control that will fool anyone, layman or magician, check out the Harry Riser control explained in The Card, the Forehead, and the Salt Shaker (Workers 3) and in The Shuffles Routine (Closely Guarded Secrets).]

Michael Skinner’s Thoughts on Card Controls
Lecture Notes by Gary Plants
Available as a PDF only
Price: $20 (USD)
For ordering info contact: gplants@gmail.com