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Si Stebbins Pro
by Dr. Hans-Christian Solka

$15

(3 reviews, 9 customer ratings) ★★★★

PDF | by download [0.56 MByte]  
Si Stebbins Pro by Dr. Hans-Christian Solka

The Si Stebbins Pro Stack is highly interesting for any card stack enthusiast. Dr. Solka has taken the venerable Si Stebbins Stack and removed an inherent weakness, the rigid alternation of suit colors and strict suit rotation. The way he has done this is ingenious and will fly by everybody - magicians included. The single rule to remember is so simple that anybody can do it effortlessly. The seemingly random sequence of colors and suits is such that the deck can be spread face up without risk of detection from lay people as well as magicians.

The Card to Position relationship is explained in a very clear and concise fashion by using simple arithmetic concepts and mnemonics aids. It is straight forward to switch from regular Si Stebbins to Pro Stack. Most Si Stebbins tricks will work unchanged with this new stack.

This is an innovative improvement of the Si Stebbins Stack and well worth studying.

"The thinking of Dr. Solka is excellent, and the Si Stebbins Pro solution is quite elegant. I really like the distribution of the suits throughout the deck. At first, I thought that there would have to be some complicated memorization of conditional rules for calculating what the suits would be. However, the Blackjack rule is so easy to remember that I will never use the classic Si Stebbins setup again. This is premium stuff!" - Nick Pudar

"I have your German edition, excellent work, must have for all who like to work with stacked decks." - Jan Forster

1st edition 2008; 44 pages.
word count: 9194 which is equivalent to 36 standard pages of text


Reviewed by Bertie Mac (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 04 August, 2023

This is a clever way to disguise the pattern of colours and suits in Si Stebbins. With only one simple rule to remember, determining the next card in the sequence is still very easy. Add a false shuffle (there is one included!) and many of your favourite Si Stebbins routines will look more natural and miraculous.

Reviewed by Larry Finley (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Saturday 31 December, 2022

I am delighted with this product.

SSPro: To keep an easy "next card calculation" the SSPro has a modified version of the original Si Stebbins thus it is definitely faster and easier to calculate the "next card" than some other stacks but to do this "next card calculation" SSPro could not use the Harry Riser pairs concept thus SSPro is a little slower at the "ACAAN calculation" IMO. The whack-a-mole trade-off.

Bottom line: If a fast easy "ACAAN calculation" is primarily what you want then go with a shadow stack such as 7QS or the Sequoia stack. If a fast easy "next card calculation" is primarily what you want then go with the SSPro.


Reviewed by Bingo Bongo
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 01 May, 2009

The booklet reads more like a scientific paper on the Si Stebbins system. The description on how to stack and locate cards is rather complicated, written in mathematical formulars.

The Author should have put at the start on how to stack the pack in one string, then in simple words on how to locate cards etc. and then continue to explain the mathematics behind it and formulas in algebraic notation. The history and background of the Si Stebbins should also be in the back for those who are interested.

All in all, I find it rather difficult to work out on how to set the stack and how to work with it based on the description in the text. You really have to sit down and work through the material to work it out.

Conclusion: Once you have figured it out, it is certainly worthwhile, but it reads more like a scientific dossier. I find it rather complicated.