TSD5—WHAT A DEAL!
Review by Matthew Field
April 2004

Put 56 card magicians in one room and what do you have? The fifth annual Second Deal convention, held March 12-14, 2004 in Jacksonville, Florida. The Second Deal is a subscription website for card lovers (www.theseconddeal.com, $20/year). In addition to a forum-style bulletin board, it features movies, tricks, reviews, card problems, as well as other aspects of¾what else?¾card magic. Five years ago it occurred to the site’s founder, Jason Alford, that it would be a good idea for all these pasteboard fanatics to gather together and pick one another’s cards. This year major organizing duties were handled by Trini Montes, Paul Cummins and Mark Aspiazu.

What makes this convention different from all others is the combination of small size, single-minded devotion to cards, high level of skill and knowledge of the vast majority of attendees, group participation and youth. The ages of the convention-goers ranged from teenage to mid-60s, with most of the all-male group in their early to mid twenties. Those elements make for a high-spirited and energetic critical mass of cards being dealt and redealt from 10 AM to 4 AM. The Jacksonville Airport Holiday Inn was amenable to magicians hanging out in the bar (even after it had officially closed) and lobby lounge, as well as having card tricks on display at the several pools which, in the lovely southern weather, made a welcome setting¾especially for magicians escaping from the horrible northern winter. Attendees traveled from as far away as Denmark and England, Canada, California and Nevada.

Cancellations, Augmentations

Because of last-minute family emergencies, Jon Racherbaumer and Chad Long, two of the scheduled five lecturers, were forced to cancel. But Paul Cummins, James Swain and Kostya Kimlat, the remaining three, were undaunted. After all, this is a convention made up of move monkeys, people anxious to learn and, perhaps more important, to share. Paul organized a lecture built around 15 great moves that he felt the group might like to learn (they did), and he encouraged the others in the room to step forward and show moves they had invented or that they liked. The group easily filled two hours. This is part of what makes this convention so special¾with no dealers and just five scheduled lectures the bulk of each day is spent in innumerable sessions, made up of ever-changing groups of participants. On another occasion, Paul gave his more standard lecture, a most enjoyable and informative look at tricks from his two from a shuffled deck in use lecture notes and Fusillade, his treatise on the multiple selection routine co-written with Doc Eason. Man, can this guy do a Side Steal!

Genii columnist and author James Swain doesn’t lecture at magic conventions any longer. With the great success of his Tony Valentine series of mysteries he does book signings around the U.S. for the general public, during which he demonstrates how cheats work at casinos. It was this subject that Jim revamped for the audience of magicians, with demonstrations of cheating from dealing shoes, some excellent false deals, and some tricks (including one which appeared in the March 2004 Genii). Jim’s book, 21st Century Card Magic is a classic, and his videos are first rate. Seeing him flex his magic muscles in person was a real treat. The third lecturer was Florida’s own Kostya Kimlat, a brilliant young card man who, at just 21 years of age and still in college, has perhaps the finest culling technique I’ve ever witnessed. Kostya went to the trouble to print up a set of lecture notes just for this convention.

Don’t I Know You?

Among the better-known attendees, all of whom were extremely accessible and willing to share their knowledge, were David Solomon, Tim Conover, Joshua Jay and Kevin Kelly. Kevin King stopped by for a quick hello. Another highlight was the revelation that a six-issue, web-based free magazine titled The Tipping Mitt by one “T.D. Lonyer” was actually the creation of Steve Reynolds and Trini Montes—the assumed name an Erdnasean sham. One of the items everyone was talking about was the Cloud Change, the creation of Robert Moreland in which a card visibly and repeatedly changes back and forth very quickly and seemingly effortlessly. But listing a few names or moves does not do justice to this convention. The overall level of skill is extraordinarily high, as is the level of knowledge. These guys read! And practice!

A raffle on the last evening of the convention was free to all who had attended, and there were hundreds of dollars worth of books, videos, and magazine and website subscriptions given away. TSD5 was a fabulous get-together marked by great card magic, sharing, high energy and fun, with very little cliquishness or individual egos on display. If you are interested in serious card magic, keep your eyes peeled for TSD6.