Eddie Woo never won at cards as a kid. But step into his classroom now, with aces flying and decks changing hands, and you might think you've wandered into a magic show.
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"Nothing in maths or magic is ever a coincidence," he told his rapt audience at Hawker College in Canberra on Monday.
The "rockstar" teacher is touring Australia to "make maths cool again" after being named this year's Local Hero at the Australian of the Year Awards.
First stop in the capital was the specialist maths class at Hawker, where Year 11 and 12 students tried their hand at solving equations with cards.
Not many people are routinely recognised on the street for being "a maths teacher", and Mr Woo admits his international fame still feels strange.
The Sydney teacher gained an unexpected following after he started making videos for a sick student on his 'Wootube' channel more than five years ago.
On Monday, a number of students confessed they were already big fans, watching the vidoes at home or in study breaks for their "easy to understand" break down of difficult concepts.
Year 11 student Hulieo Anderson said it was even better learning from Mr Woo in person.
"He got eveyone involved, he made it fun, he made jokes... He Woo-ed everybody," Hulieo said.
While maths comes naturally to some kids like Hulieo, Mr Woo said students were often quick to convince themselves the subject wasn't for them.
"For me, maths is like a pair of glasses," he said, tapping his own spectacles.
"When I look out into the world, I really am at a loss if I dont have this little tool at my disposal but...[I wouldn't say] 'I've always struggled with seeing my whole life, I'm just not a seeing kind of person'," he said.
"People say that about mathematics...but I think it's worth struggling with and actually coming to the realisation that if we give ourselves a bit of help we can take advantage of this tool just as much as anyone else."
Hawker College Principal Andy Mison said the school had made a decision years back to switch up its approach to teaching maths, opting for a more flexible style "to advance the whole school in the interest of its individuals".
On his first day at the college two years ago, he asked a student to lead him to her favourite class and was surprised to find himself in the maths room.
For Mr Woo, mathematics is often hiding in plain sight, "tucked away" in the everyday - or a deck of cards.
Helping people discover the fun of maths was the best part of teaching, he said, something he learned in high school guiding year 7 students as a peer support leader.
"There's something special and precious about that 'aha' moment, when a concept or a skill just clicks into place," Mr Woo said.
The educator is also running workshops for teachers from a number of local schools and will visit St Francis Xavier College on Tuesday, before crossing the border into Queanbeyan.
His visit coincides with the launch of online NAPLAN testing this week. All ACT public schools are taking part in the new roll-out, and Mr Woo wished students luck, but encouraged them to view the assessment as a learning tool first and foremost.
As students kept up their card tricks in the hallways of Hawker College, Mr Woo confessed: "I had even more fun than they did."
