On Saturday, October 18, a group of generous magicians enjoyed one of magic’s more recent marvels: the one-day Zoom convention. Attendees saw seven hours of magic instruction and inspiration, and raised $10,000 for the Jack of Hearts Foundation, founded by Jason England and his brother Zach to save dogs in need.
The best thing about the Zoom convention is that it’s available for streaming afterward, which is great because there was way too much magic taught to remember it all. And if you missed it, you can still sign up, and learn seven hours of great magic—and save some dogs.
Here’s what you’ll be getting with this year’s lineup, in alphabetical order:
Allan Ackerman taught classic card magic, with several improvements to utility moves. A three-phase routining of a Max Maven idea. Collectors with a clean control phase and eye-popping climax. A Spectator Cuts the Aces that’ll fool yourself. An Elmsley count variation that hides multiple extra cards while showing single edges all around. And a hidden packet move with no name but a hundred uses; you can fan the cards, showing no aces near the top, then immediately show all four aces on top.
Denis Behr taught the wonders of Herbert the trained rubber band, concluding with a unique haunted deck that produced the four kings. This led smoothly into his gambling demonstration with bottom and center deal sections. He also showed some advanced features of his invaluable conjuringarchive.com, which if you don’t know, is the premier online source for magic credits.
Mentalist Luke Jermay went against type and presented a master class in attention to detail as he performed and then taught an incredibly well-thought-out McDonald’s Aces routine. An hour on one trick, with every moment and psychological principle explained so you can use them in other routines.
Chad Long couldn’t make it, so he recorded his segment the night before. A super direct Wild Coin routine, with an eye-popping change where he flips a half dollar in the air, and catches it between two fingers, and it’s a Chinese coin. This becomes a fantastic strolling copper/silver effect. A wonderful framing for a simple double lift. And a multiphase stand-up routine where four indifferent cards change into four copies of the selection, then into the four aces, then there’s a Travelers climax, which got an audible gasp from someone watching the recording. And priceless tips on trade-show work.
Mike Pisciotta taught card magic straight from his bar repertoire. Jokers Through Time, inspired by Elmsley’s Between Your Palms, but with two extra climaxes. A handling that makes the classic McMillan card rise more deceptive and practical. A steal from a cased deck that makes a super quickie. Flying Sandwich, which Johnny Thompson added to his repertoire. And a repeat, no-palm, card-to-wallet with a two-minute DIY gaff that cleanly vanishes two different cards with no moves, and a gaffless switch that turns any wallet into a Himber. And the best presentation I’ve ever seen for the torn corner bit, even if you’re not a Coen brothers fan.
Chris Rawlins taught a memory routine from his personal repertoire, which he uses to create his brand: “I remember things.” Then he fooled everyone with a principle that was already centuries old when it appeared in Greater Magic. He closed with a multi-phase mentalism routine using just a piece of paper and a pen and three-seconds preparation, which Eric Mead commented was worth the price of admission.
Giancarlo Scalia was my personal favorite. It’s almost like he taught a different approach to magic, where he uses a deep understanding of context to make moves happen by themselves. Coin magic of surpassing beauty and naturalness with no hard moves. A card routine with an automatic bottom deal. A beautiful handling of the glide(!) with no tells. Inspiring.
Still time to learn!
If that sounds like a lot of great magic, it was. If you want to learn it, and help a worthwhile cause, go to thejackofheartsfoundation.org and click on “Session.” Plans are already underway for next year’s edition. I’ll be there.
Jack of Hearts Session 2025
A full day of world-class magic, creativity, and community.
This exclusive video collection features over seven hours of instruction and inspiration from today’s top performers and thinkers in magic. Each presenter brought their best material, sharing signature effects, original routines, and real working methods with nothing held back.
Genii is a past sponsor of this charity.