Otto Wessely

Who is this guy...
Well a friend of a friend of mine told me about this German/French Magician (apparently we have a few things in common, like we are both short!), about a year ago and just recently he kind-of has exploded in the European scene. He has plenty of other videos... But the one below I believe shows his Brilliance!! sit back get ready to giggle
Cheers Chris
Otto Wessely Youtube Video

Costco Playing Cards

Here is the run down of the new playing cards produced by the U.S. Playing Card Company Bicycle Deck, for the big retail club company Costco.

1st off at $9.99 for a box of 12 that is a steal!!!

2nd glance the cards seem to do just fine. Spreading the cards and shuffling them. I wont get into the nitty gritty such as the deck itself is a bit thinner then the regular Bicycle deck 808. You see only a magician or gambler would want to know these things and my view is… if the cards past an audience member eyes then they can be used. 

3rd test. Breaking them in. I normally go through a series of steps every time I break in a new deck that consists of a couple different type of shuffles and end with a few not perfect farrow shuffles with a nice waterfall finnish.  What I noticed was that this deck breaks in very very easily. 

4th Two hours of wear and tear blood sweat and tears… the cards were done and what I mean by done. Crimps, Buckles and the move of all moves the DL were way more difficult I was catching thirds when I wanted just a DL. The Crimps and Buckles kept their shape (I did not like that) 

5th the mercury fold seemed much easier to me, not faster just easier the cards wanted to bend which can be a plus. 

6th Putting them in a card guard or trying to flatten them did absolutely nothing to try and rejuvenate these cards. 

The Card Box: not a big fan of these having the normal Spade logo at the bottom of the case and on top to playing cards. A face down card with appropriate color back and a face up 10 of hearts. I would much rather have the old solid back design.  

Conclusion:  If your doing a strolling gigs or table hopping your going to get 2-4 hours of life from these cards depending how rough you are with them. The way I handle cards I' ll most likely get 3 hours max per deck. Which to tell you the truth is not bad at all for the price. Normally I go through a deck a night while performing anyway. So why not use the cheaper cards. 

Hope this helps you al, it help me.     Cheers Chris