Allan Hagen's Completing the Hand
By Art of Magic - Thursday, December 22, 2016
Allan Hagen teaches his original material on video for the first time. Completing the Hand is his two-phase poker routine with demonstrations of exceptional memory and skill. By using a mix of classic and modern card techniques and principles, you learn a unique and entertaining pseudo-gambling piece. In this detailed 23 minute instructional video, Allan teaches everything from techniques to subtleties, presentation and everything you need to know in order to give your audience a skill demonstration they will remember.
From Allan's website:
Completing The Hand* *is a two-phase pseudo-gambling routine in which you (apparently) use your memory and card location skills to effectively demonstrate how you could cheat at a game of poker by building the strongest possible hands under very fair conditions. The routine gets progressively more challenging and impossible, with a nice little surprise at the end. I get fantastic reactions when I do this for people.
I'm generally not a huge fan of skill-based magic effects, but this is both relatable, easy to follow, visual and impressive, at the same time as it is surprising and apparently impossible.
Some history behind this release.
I have been reluctant to release any material to the magic community for the longest time. Mainly because I wanted to make sure that when I did, it was something of quality that would be appreciated and that would be useful. I've been teaching Completing The Hand in lectures for magicians for about a year. Earlier this year I released my first set of lecture notes in English, Eleven. I included Completing The Hand in these notes. Since I only printed 111 copies of the notes I knew that they would sell out quickly, and that there would still be demand to learn some of the material. I got in touch with the guys at Art of Magic, as I feel that everything they do is of very high quality, and I feel that my sense of ethics in magic is very compatible with them, so that's why I chose to go with AOM over any other companies and distributors.
I wanted to go in depth, more so than I can do in a book or in a lecture, because of page and time restraints. I ended up making a 23 minute instructional video, in which I go through both phases of the routine, including all the techniques you need to know. Additionally, there are presentational tips, lots of details and subtleties, and little tips, outs and contingencies that I've never shared anywhere before. These little details can drastically improve the impact of the effect and both make it stronger, cleaner and more reliable. The details always matter, that's where the magic happens.
This is a solid performance piece that has served me well for about two years, and I hope it will serve you well too, should you decide to pick it up and learn it!
Completing The Hand is the first time I am teaching any of my original material on video, ever. I'm really happy with this release and I hope you'd be interested in picking it up and learning it if you're reading this blog post!
View the entire performance here below:
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