Allan’s revised routine was just added to Tetra-Red under the Stack Independent Routines section. The latest pdf of Tetra-Red can be downloaded under Toolshed.

Article excerpt. This handling is my favorite version of this effect, and it was initially intended for my book, All-In.  Somehow, it got left out.  I had two methods in my Card Theater lecture notes.  The sandwich effect is an old Elmsley/Marlo effect.  The conjurer used a selection and a center card placement control to do the Elmsley/Marlo routine.  I thought using a named card instead of a selection and eliminating the incomplete faro control would enhance the effect.  I believe I have succeeded, and the 26th card placement with a tetradistic stack is child’s play.

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The following is an image of the current book cover which I will update from time to time.

“Tetra-Red by Jennifer Gwinn with Allan Ackerman, Patrick Redford, Andru Luvisi, Nancy Colwell, Rudy Tinoco, Woody Aragón, Clark Kjorlaug, Tim Heinlein, Ivan Mallia, Jonathan Schumacher, Austin Berg, Andy Choy, Gerry Griffin, Shay Brunson & Jack Carpenter.”

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This is fun to write about. So I google searched for “Tetra-Red” the other day on March 1, 2024, to see where it might be mentioned. And as you can guess the search results were flooded with a bunch of cute little red tetra fish — many of them cardinal tetras. (The stack name is actually based off the words “Tetradistic” and “Redford” as the memdeck is both tetradistic and compatible with The Redford Stack.)

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In the September 12, 1964 issue of Abracadabra — volume 38 issue 972 — (and later in A Card Session With Peter Kane), there is a routine by Peter Kane called Tetradism. The word tetradistic is based off the name of this routine.  In this routine, Peter Kane describes setting up a stack with four repeating thirteen card banks of identical value order, such that when you perform two perfect faros, you end up with a stack of all four of a kinds.  Peter also said decks such as Si Stebbins and 8 Kings already have this sort of arrangement. 

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I learned my first tetradistic stack from Erdnase’s book, The Expert at the Card Table, fifty-seven years ago. S.W.E. said to take Ace through King, shuffle, throw on the table, and memorize the thirteen. Repeat the same stack four times, so mates are thirteen cards apart, and keep like colors twenty-six cards apart. That was about the length of his description, one short paragraph.

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Allan Ackerman’s new book set All-In Volumes I & II is now available for purchase at Vanishing Magic.

This is very exciting news as Allan Ackerman’s last published book was 30 years ago: Las Vegas Kardma in 1994. Allan has however remained busy creating quite a bit of magic over these past 30 years. All of it was available in limited run lecture notes or occasional video, most of which are difficult to find these days.

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