Review of Close Culls by Harapan Ong and Vanishing Inc.

If you’d like to learn how to cull cards in a deck, Close Culls by Harapan Ong offers an excellent means to do so. Culling is the process of spreading through a deck and secretly isolating cards that you wish to use.

The book teaches you Ong’s technique - it’s actually only a few pages long - and once you have this information, all you have to do is practice. And practice. The book features good, clear explanations and lots of pictures.

Once you’ve mastered the cull, the book teaches variations on the technique, as well as effects that employ the move. Most of the effects are assemblies and transpositions - there’s even a take on the old “robbers” card trick (one robber goes to the basement, the other the roof...etc).

No surprise, there are sandwich effects, which traditionally rely on culling. Among the techniques, I liked one that allows you to secretly fold a card into quarters. Can it replace your mercury fold? Maybe.

Oil and Water                
Of course, the ability to separate a shuffled deck into red and black cards is a natural for an oil and water style effect. For this, Ong teaches a procedure to create a finale where the entire deck is separated into blacks and reds.

Interestingly, Ong doesn’t teach an “oil and water” routine to lead up to the finale. He tells you the name of  the routine that he uses (it’s not his to teach) and encourages you to perform your favorite “oil and water.” Interestingly, I just encountered a similar routine (using a different method), which was taught on the “Series of Unfortunate Effects” DVD (click here to read my review).

Cull Moves
If you haven’t yet learned a cull, you’ll find that it’s a useful technique to have in your arsenal of  moves (even if you don’t learn to cull an entire deck, it’s useful for finding and isolating four of a kinds and even single cards). And if you want to learn how to cull, “Close Culls” is a worthy book that can teach you how. The culling techniques alone are well worth the price of the book.

More Reading:
Review of Series of Unfortunate Effects by Chris Mayhew and Ben Train
Review of Technicolor Oil and Water - Magic Oil and Water