The Best of David Berglas

[@chunkylord3639]

24:34 is what you're looking for. bona fide Berglas effect!

[@Thatdudewiththedogs]

But the guy he hands the cards to very obviously manipulates the cards. Literally Everytime I’ve seen this, the person who gets handed the cards is definitely some sort of magician on the inside. The way they hold the cards, it’s too sus and it looks like they know how to mess with cards. He doesn’t just hold the deck still, he’s like rubbing around and moving his hands a lot. Someone who wasn’t in on in would probably just hold the deck out to make to look not suspicious. But the guy obviously is sitting there manipulating cards lol. The effect is, “you’re in on this, but if you tell anyone, you’ll ruin the effect, so don’t tell anyone.” I’m convinced every person who does the trick with him is paid or whatever, is in on it.

[@ajs41]

@@Thatdudewiththedogs Very cynical of you.

[@Thatdudewiththedogs]

@@ajs41 I mean, is it cynical, or just realistic? Magic tricks aren’t “magic”. It’s all just sleight of hand. So I think what I’m saying makes sense. But yes, I’m generally a pretty cynical person. But not unreasonably cynical

[@Thatdudewiththedogs]

@@ajs41 I mean, is it cynical, or just realistic? Magic tricks aren’t “magic”. It’s all just sleight of hand. So I think what I’m saying makes sense. But yes, I’m generally a pretty cynical person. But not unreasonably cynical

[@jodylawson3502]

Oh my gosh! My father was a magician, a mentalist. My cousin shared your video with me today and I truly can see where Dad was definitely influenced by David Berglas. This is the kind of stuff that he would do that floored his audience and his family alike. He studied and perfected his craft to a tee. When he passed away in 2006 he had me give his collection of books, many of them vintage, as well as his magazines and props to a fellow young magician that he mentored towards the end of his life. It’s been thrilling for me to watch this video that you have shared. My dad, Martin Nugent, 1919-2006 caught the bug as a youngster around the age of 10. He was an early card carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and carried that card in his wallet for the rest of his life. I can’t tell you how thrilled you have made me today by sharing this video. Thank you so very much!

[@JackRussell-nk3fe]

Mr Berglas died at the age of 97 on Friday November 3rd 2023. He was, I believe, the true genius of magic in Britain and fully deserve the title f "The International Man of Mystery".

[@vwwilson8625]

Man his demonstration of memory is one of the best I've seen, and he was mentioning other things while he was remembering the cards which would be hard for even those memory athletes to do.

[@bogusmagus]

When I was a kid, and part of a *junior* magic club, Mr Berglas came to do a lecture, and afterwards, while mingling and chatting, completely freaked me out by fanning cards, asking me to think of one, and then pulling one from the deck, asking me to name my card, and turning to reveal. It blew my mind. How could that be a force? That night I couldn't sleep. Worse than the first time I saw "Out Of This World".

[@d_e_a_n]

It’s possible you are remembering it wrong. It is hard to reverse engineer something that’s only in your mind. Parts are missed. Suppose he asked you the card, then created a time delay, then fanned it and pulled out a card. And then he asked you the name of the card a second time. It would have still been impressive how he so quickly was able to pluck the card from what was assumed to be a mixed deck, but later a detail was forgotten, making it more impressive. A second possibility is that he knows most men pick the king of diamonds or king of spades or ace of spades and had the 5 or so most popular cards ready to switch in various ways. I didn’t see it so it’s hard to comment but I do know personally that the effect someone sees and the one they remember aren’t the same. And this is a very good reason why “never repeat a trick” is rule 2.

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@d_e_a_n Another possibility is that the card was sticking out of the deck, but not quite removed yet, and Ray Kosby's "Raise Rise" was done - it would be essentially identical to Kosby's effect "Deep Thought."

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@d_e_a_n Update: I just went to the source, Richard Kaufman's book "The Berglas Effects," and found out how the trick is done - I was shocked. Highly recommend the book!

[@d_e_a_n]

@@KingstonCzajkowski Was the fan just him showing a small stack, perhaps 5 cards, and then transferring maybe 3 to top and 2 to the bottom, for the reveal? Or him putting one card in his hand and then saying one of the other 5 cards, and if right, we forget about the card in his hand, but if wrong, he places it on top, and does a double turnover or triple? Or perhaps even him fanning the cards but only really showing one card? Because that as a solution would be shocking.

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@d_e_a_n Nope. Believe it or not, the method of the trick involves showing all 52 cards! Berglas often did this trick by saying "think of a card," and not showing the spectator the fan at all. It's insane.

[@brysonalden5414]

This is such a different way of thinking about card magic. I really appreciate you posting this so I can see what he did as I read the book. I suspect it would take considerably more time to be able to use his methods than to master yet another pass or slight.

[@petitmagicien2622]

It's amazing how experienced and knowledgeable magicians are boggled by Berglas's ACAAN performances. They refuse to believe that Berglas used STOOGES/CONFEDERATES....Hence, the LEGEND of the Berglas Effect lives on....

[@WillN2Go1]

The stuck together cards at the end was very generous. The audience is completely flummoxed, we know there's a trick- no clue as to what might've happened, and at the end he shows off his skill, but livens it up a bit with the 'mistake'. "Oh there are two cards stuck together" It's generous because it's easy to figure out how that can be set up. Terrific showman. I'm old enough to know that yes of course I want to know how it's done - but don't ruin it by telling me.

[@Thatdudewiththedogs]

The spectators are in on it. Very obviously. That’s the only way this works. The effect is amazing, because if the spectator can stay quiet, the effect works. And they’ve all stayed quiet.

[@daviddysko5433]

IF THIS WAS IN 2010 THEN DAVID BERGLAS HERE WAS 84 YEARS OF AGE..UNBELIEVABLE....WHAT AN INCREDIBLE MAN HE WAS.....xxxxx

[@23vespid]

At 5:09 he clearly manipulates the count. Her counting was right on, he forces her to change her count. Hmmmm..... That, and his manipulation of the deck before he gives it to her, somehow makes this much less mysterious and amazing as I thought it was going to be.

[@theleopard3310]

No, he didn't change her count. Go watch it again. He certainly did shuffle the card to the 25th position after he pulled out the deck.

[@you_dont_wanna_know1969]

I believe you mean number when you say count. I noticed all of this too, and I was very curious to see the panelists, and hear what they'd say about it. I'm surprised there were no comments at all about it (making it change the number, handling the deck before giving it to her, etc). I've seen him doing ACAAN in other killer routines, and this one certainly wasn't the best or strongest one from Mr. Berglass, in my opinion.

[@bogusmagus]

In passing, I loved Alexander's comment about *reverse engineering* because my first attempt at that was spending a sleepless weekend figuring out "Out Of This World" - using Sherlock Holmes' principle: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." PS: what is this with the initials DB? David Berglas, Derren Brown, David Blaine....

[@stevenhoog1]

i love love estimation tricks.

[@ltd1980]

RIP David Berglas

[@mysticmarkthemagician5852]

I met David a couple of years ago at a Peter Tuner Lecture and spoke with both of them till the early hours of the morning both really nice chaps.... perform the Berglas effect now and again to the orogabal specifications and have videoed twice ( its on my channel, I have been asked numerous times for the secret....sorry its not forsale).

[@ConjurorCommunity]

Just watched your ACAAN on your channel and loved it. Thanks for sharing!

[@mysticmarkthemagician5852]

@@ConjurorCommunity thank u.

[@stevenhoog1]

I believe most every card IS showing but there is PROBABLY one card thats showing more than the others (minutely) or not, but yes he estimates and like in Dingles book estimates and IF one card IS more visible it gives you an edge. I show the cards by fanning through the deck as they think of one and get it 99.5% . I LOVE it when 2 or 5 people say YES I HAVE ONE and I act surprised to try to guess 5 peoples cards. I grab the one they think of as well as the bottom card bc some guy ALWAYS picks the bottom. and say DON'T tell me your card just say YES if I got it. Then i Toss the deck twice holding the tops and bottom cards twice and even though they most all are thinking of the same card THEY all say yes and im holding up 4 cards so they all think I'm better than i am I keep one in the card box to show or switch for the last guy

[@amigaamiga7671]

32:05 decks exchange

[@albertiso]

I think his secret could be that he probably has 5-6 different ways of doing the tricks, or maybe more, so it is impossible for others to find a consistent solution to this puzzle.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

From what I'm seeing, my guess is that he likely did several manipulations to get what he wanted. He got the audience to change the requested position to something closer to the middle of the deck, he transferred some cards between the top and bottom of the deck and he appeared to have messed with the woman doing the counting with a bit of hypnosis to get her to take pick the wrong number of cards as she was counting. I'm probably missing at least 2 details, but I suspect that those bits are a lot of how this was done. It reminds me a bit of when I used to play black jack and would arrange for the dealer to take the number of cards that I wanted him to take in order to bust more than he should have been busting. This is possible due to the dealer not having a completely free hand in terms of the draws. If you can arrange for the dealer to wind up at or around 14 to 16, then it's highly likely that the next card will be somewhere between 8 and 10, which is potentially nearly half of the cards in the deck. (24 cards if I'm counting correctly)

[@ajs41]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade Notice that he doesn't allow a member of the audience to shuffle the cards beforehand. So that means he already knows the order of the deck, and has to try to influence the two choices of card and number in order to fit in with that order.

[@ajs41]

I assume that, even with David Berglas, he doesn't allow a stranger to shuffle the cards beforehand. That would make it too difficult.

[@SuperFireater]

He was the BEST.

[@Allanhorns]

Berglas is definitely on some spectrum of genius. He may be using a Si Stebbins formula and know probably. 80% of people pick 7 cards. He's a Master for sure, and him saying he can't teach it peads me to believe he's on a genius spectrum.

[@Allanhorns]

Or, he has an Imp. A true sorcerer 😉

[@bartholomewhobson783]

I came to this video from David Segal's NYT article about David Berglas and his ACAAN in which he emphasizes that Berglas doesn't touch the cards, but at about 3:50 he clearly manipulates the deck, partially fanning it and moving cards, yet no one in the commentary mentions this.

[@redbarchetta]

I came to mention this same thing. The other issue I have with the article itself that you mention is that Segal says “The” Berglas Effect was not described in Kaufman’s book - but that isn’t true. It’s the longest chapter of the book and does indeed explain how it’s done.

[@bmhkim]

The Berglas Effect is clearly called out by commentators (after the fact, as they discuss it), and starts at 24:35. He gives an audience participant a deck of cards in a box, which has presumably been manipulated before two different audience members call out a card and a position in the deck.

[@pwcinla]

Feels like his attitude is, "I'm so good at this, no one will notice me look for the QH and cut it to the 25th position." Er...yes we did!

[@saghirsharif7109]

Hyped in my opinion.

[@huntinghenrietta2933]

Looking forward to part 2 - Have you seen the David Berglas Scrapbooks videos?

[@you_dont_wanna_know1969]

Anyone else finds Asi Wind's ACAAN method, the best one ever yet to be found? What is the best ACAAN you've ever studied? I think Asi Wind's it's though to beat...

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

That is a wonderful method, but not quite as magical as some others I've seen. Dani DaOrtiz has some great ones

[@themagicman6965]

Did you all really miss, what Berglas was doing at the first acaan of that video?

[@dontremblay374]

Seriously! At 3:45 he looks at the deck and rearranges it, after having heard the card and the number. How do they not comment on this?

[@jpdemer5]

Everybody missed it but you.

[@timscoviac]

I noticed it right away, came looking for this comment

[@timscoviac]

I think his berglas effect isn’t as clean as people remember it, or maybe he’s had some real lucky ones, he also told her to name a high number because low ones are two easy. Because he knew that card was higher in count.

[@macci68]

At 15:49 he touched both halves of the deck.

[@joedempsey7353]

Got on late but got on. Great show. At video 16 min: two jumbo card's on table. Kid ✂'s about half. (Magi knows top of his stack, peeks bottom ( sizing up situation) of cut to get new top card info. Watching on, @gain, but... How does he get both jumbos correct with that newly developed cut top card!? First learned estimations from JC Wagner. Great stuff! Here, even better with that gorgeous fan that puts you in greater position than the have to turn cards to ... Estimate. Back to see this play out.

[@joedempsey7353]

Clue'd in?! Ok. Hit the center without a net...but obviously he has many nets... You could short card your 25th... Huh? Good stuff!

[@ConjurorCommunity]

@@joedempsey7353 we don't actually know how. We just have a few theories. Yours are very good ideas though :)

[@daviddavis2866]

Brilliant video..thankyou..love David Berglas...What I found most amazing...maybe even more than the magic...is that he is performing here aged 83....incredible man...

[@jpdemer5]

He picks up the bottom half of the cut to "straighten it out". That's where the second jumbo card gets its match. Then the kid puts his finger on the other half, directing our attention to that card. Most people never pick up on the fact that the magician knows that card, even before the cut. Then we're so impressed with the first half of the trick, we forget that the magician touched the other half of the deck AFTER the cut. He's absolutely mastered the art of talking you through the "magic moments" - he keeps your mind occupied with the "important" thing he's saying at the key moment, and that makes it hard to concentrate on what his hands are doing at that very instant. His tricks are standard sleight-of-hand; it's his technique that's just outstanding.

[@tombstoneharrystudios584]

It’s amazing to see his celebrated routines performed after years of almost-hagiography Bear in mind, in the book The Berglas Effects, he admits that he was past-his-prime and out of practice in that performance! If that he thinks he’s past it in that clip, what hope does it give the rest of us?!? 😂 It’s absolutely worth every cent to invest in the book...if you’re just looking for the “solution” for ACAAN you’ll be disappointed, but I’d bet that you’d find it a MASTERCLASS in how to take advantage of EVERY little coincidence he’ll find himself in. Sure, you’re not going to be able to imitate his work in 10 minutes, but the far-reaching benefits for your act from consistent study of the work will be worth the long term investment

[@cesaraugustocastillozambra2206]

7

[@fizzlebizzle8855]

The comment about mixing mnemonica with Kauffman's book on berglas is on point but Berglas's ability to identify a "thought of" card from a spread is just a bridge too far for me

[@henrymoss5272]

The trick starting at 21:21.. The participant didn't show us the cards in the deck with the card David 'put back' face up. The participant didn't hold up the cards and fan them out so the audience could see that David had actually done any 'magic'. The participant could have been a confederate who just said his card (the 8 of hearts) was now 'the wrong way around'. I certainly couldn't see that it was 'the wrong way around' in the deck. He just pulled out his card without us being able to see if the card had actually been reversed. Then the commentators all talk about how great a trick it was. If the participant wasn't a confederate and David really did get his card back in there in reverse order, then it was poor presentation because the 'magic' wasn't demonstrated clearly. Otherwise, the participant was a confederate and that's the trick.

[@Histogramas]

Damn!!!! The thing with the kid opening the boz and the 4 of diamonds at the 24th... bam!!! On the very first, I thought everything was like that because he touched the deck on the first acaan when he called the two girls on to the stage. Now... that cut would only function if this was a prepared ordered deck, most like simsalabim or like that. This way he could cut the deck to place the qh exactly in the 25th .

[@andreasmiller5448]

I know how the trick is done! However, you are not going to like the explanation. It is the same mechanism as that which occurs in the "delayed choice double slit experiment" in physics. You just substitute people and cards for light pulses and experimental equipment. Events and decisions re-order themselves, as if the whole scenario were pre-written.

[@ConjurorCommunity]

Hmmm... can we have some of what you smokin?

[@timscoviac]

Don’t think his berglas effect is as clean as people remember, he grabbed the deck and rearranged them after hearing the chosen card and number and said to name a high number because low is too easy because he knew the position. And also he’s seen in the video turning the crowd into a instant stooge by showing them the card the spectator would choose so it’s not to far fetched that he might’ve used one in his acaan before to make it seem more impossible

[@francescobertelli8588]

what about this explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJOQfHmDapiVnbM David mentioned the jockers presence, and in the nytmimes article he mentions he may be off 1 or 2 cards... which kinda explains the jockers presence or the fingers in the vieeo

[@yyohan]

Here's my question. Wouldn't it assuage any doubts about stooges if he chose his volunteers with whiffle balls lobed into the audience?

[@RayoBeatz]

this is confusing card tricks always confuse me you are looking for color symbols and numbers and calling out random shit maybe i personally am not that great at following quick actions but this is not for me

[@johnsmith1474]

This guy is like listening to paint dry.

[@bjako]

Give him a break. He's old. In the video they said this performance was from 17 years after he retired.

[@smoog]

He was in his 80s when this was filmed and, as he said, had been retired for almost 2 decades.

[@flylooper]

Have you fellows ever heard of Jerry Andrus, who was evidently a mentor to a lot of high profile magicians. He was a local hero here in Albany, Oregon, where he lived pretty much his entire life. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Andrus)

[@ConjurorCommunity]

Yes, we are a fan of Andrus for sure!