Volume 2 Comedy Shuffling: Here's a collection of those different shuffling gags that have been handed down time and time again through the generations, from the Russian shuffle ("one card rushin' after the other") to all the rest.

Birthday Bill: Here's a fun birthday trick. You borrow someone's one-dollar bill, fold it up, wave a hole puncher over it as a magic wand, and - - voila! - - it turns into a $100 bill. Wait a minute, that's not a $100 bill! It's the same one-dollar bill with holes punched into it, forming the words, HAPPY B-DAY. The bill becomes a memento of the occasion.

Ring & String: Over the past couple years, there have been a number of Ring & String videos. This isn't a compendium of moves, but a good, solid routine. I have a particular affection for Jim's rhythms, misdirections, and well-placed patter.

Pieces of 8: This isn't just a trick, but a masterpiece coin routine with three big loads at the end. It starts off with a series of coin transits. First, two coins magically travel into a whiskey glass through the bottom. Next, the remaining two travel from the magician's left hand to his right and then drop into the glass. The grand finale is a series of big loads: You magically produce a jumbo coin from beneath the glass, then repeat it (this burns magicians bad!).

Fire Ball: This is a stage version of John Bannon's :Shriek of the Mutilated," a flashy torn & restored napkin routine. Nice and an attention getter.

In Diamond Jim's version, you crumple up a paper napkin into a ball and stick it onto the end of a long needle (such as the one used in Needle Through Balloon). You set it on fire and it produces a big flash. When unfolded, the napkin is completely restored - - and unsinged.

Paper Weight: This trick is really quite a find. Diamond Jim learned this trick from a magic book when he was a kid, and through the years, has improved it dramatically.

Paper Weight is a demonstration of the magician's ability to estimate the number of cards that a spectator has cut. Ed Marlo discouraged this, saying that estimation is a powerful tool and that spectators should not be made aware that this weapon is in our arsenal. However, more and more magicians are exposing estimation, including the awesome Henry Evans.

There are several possible methods for this effect, including using a memorized deck, crimps, and, of course, out-and-out estimation. However, Diamond Jim's method is simpler and more offbeat, which will delight those magicians who prefer simpler methods.

Frog Hair: In this trick, the magician purports to use a frog hair to magically turn over a playing card in his hand. Actually, the turnover is done by performing "the scrunch move," similar to The Haunted Key move.

New Age Spellbound: I believe in the importance of elegant props, and this trick dresses up a classic trick's props quite nicely. Instead of using coins for his spellbound routine, Diamond Jim uses polished New Age stones, which is really quite a nice wrinkle.

Mathamagic: If you're looking for variations of Cards Across, this trick is it. It's a credit to this plot that so many magicians use Cards Across as their only parlour- or stage-appropriate card trick. It's that good.

You should be warned that Diamond Jim's style is somewhat prop-oriented, which means you'll need to round up special equipment for some of these routines, including IT, thumb cuffs, a baseball, a baseball-card deck, and the like. But the effects justify the trouble.

I sense, watching this DVD, that this is the fruit of years of magical thought, with all the little details worked out. That's the great thing about DVDs by pros, of course, is that it's not just some newfangled tricks that you're looking at, but instead, an entire career.