Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Stebbins Stack from New Deck Order

Russell Duck (Rusduck) was the first to publish a method of getting from new deck order to the Stebbins setup. He published his handling in his Cardiste magazine (No. 3. p. 15-16, 1957).

The downside of Rusduck's discovery was that it could not easily be performed in front of an audience as it required a little preamble before executing two faro shuffles (first you must separate the four suits, arrange cards from Ace to King and then cut specific cards to the face before assembling the piles).

Ed Mario attempted to justify these weak points by motivating the cutting sequences while you apparently look for the Jokers. According to Jon Racherbaumer (in Olram File, No. 15, p. 6, n.d.), Marlo's notes are dated August 31, 1969. They eventually appear publicly in Hierophant No. 2. p. 61-2 (1969).

Darwin Ortiz smartly replaced the initial “fiddling” with a series of overhand shuffles and published his handling as “The Si Stebbins Secret” in Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table (1988, p. 137).