THE POKER ROUTINE

This is a short routine I put together to perform in a pool hall. Since this particular pool hall is a
place where people gather to play cards rather than pool, it was natural for me to start thinking
about a poker themed routine, something along the lines of cardmen's gambling skills
demostrations. Poker has never been people's favourite game around here until a couple of
years ago: bridge or scala 40 were way more popular. It's only in recent times (thanks to the
US' televisionary spectacularization of the game) that everybody, especially the younger
audience, has started playing poker and got familiar with its "aestethics". A trick that ends with
the display of a Four of a Kind wouldn't have made such an impact five years ago, but today it
gets very strong reactions. This is a routine in three acts where the mental magician shows
the skills he uses to win at the poker table. The presentation is written in order to introduce the
tricks giving them a frame: each trick is aimed at showing one particular ability that is required
to play poker. The first trick introduces the concept of "body language". The second shows
how a mental magician can anticipate his opponent and psychologically pressing his choices,
while the third phase revolves around the concept of "intuition".
 BODYTALK

EFFECT:

The spectator shuffles the deck and deals herself five cards. She's now instructed to name the
cards out loud one by one but lie on one of them. The magician will understand what card
she's lying on by what seems to be "body language reading". She's now asked to remove
another card from the deck and just look at it without saying anything: the magician will tell her
the exact identity of that card.

SET UP:
The effect relies on the Gilbreath Principle and a little set up: you need to have 6 cards
memorized on the top of the deck and the duplicates for those 6 cards in position 27 to 32
from the top in a mirror (reversed) order.
The cards I use are:

1st to 6th:
4C 9H 6S 7D JC KH

27th to 32th:
KH JC 7D 6S 9H 4C

To memorize the little block, I remember the 49ers and the 76ers...Jack and King will not be
hard to remember aswell. You can choose any sequence though (it doesn't even have to be in
CHaSeD order), as long as the cards' value/suit looks random. Remove 6 indifferent cards
from the deck and set up the legitimate six cards and their duplicates.

THE GILBREATH PRINCIPLE:

What makes the effect self-work is the Gilbreath Principle. This application of the principle can
be easily explained in this way: given a finite serie of cards (in our case, six), every single card
that gets in between will push another card out of the serie. That's it. It goes without saying
that if you interlace (thru a single riffle shuffle) two stacks that are one the mirror image of the
other, one card will push it's duplicate out of the serie. Given the stack we're using here, you'll
have to split the deck in exact halves and let the spectator give one single riffle shuffle.
In our example, the KH of the second portion of the deck will push the KH of the first portion of
the deck out of the serie of six; the JC will push the other JC out and so on. Even if the cards
gets perfectly interlaced, for the Gilbreath Principle they will always be the cards you'll need
(even though not in the same order, but this is not a problem since you have memorized the
identity of all the six cards).

METHOD:

Introduce your set up deck and split it at the 26th card. Ask the spectator to riffle shuffle it.
Remember, one single riffle shuffle, otherwise the method won't work. Get the deck back and
give it a false cut. Ask the spectator to deal herself the top 5 cards and set the deck aside.
Ask her to fan the cards in front of her. Instruct her to name out loud the identity of all the
cards but lie about one of them. Not just to lie about the color, you want her to name a totally
different card. You know what card she's lying one because it's not part of your set up. Use
your best acting skills to deduce her lie. You don't have to reveal what's the true card at this
stage. You just want to spot what's the card she made up.

She confirms, you have spotted what card she's lying about. She shows the cards to confirm
you're right, she doesn't have that card in her hand. You now know what's the card on top of
the deck, because it's the only one missing. Offer to go a bit further in your demostration and
ask her to deal herself the top card and keep it in her mind. You already know what card it is
and again, use your acting skills to reveal the card she's thinking of.

There is, however, the chance that the spectator, in lying, will name a card that belongs to
your stack: this means that you don't know what's the card she made up, but you'll know it will
be the top card on the balance of the deck. Remove that card and place it face down on the
table: the fake card she just made up, will be the card face down in front of her. An idea on
how to present this out will be included later in Patter Input. Alternatively, you can have her cut
the deck and criss-cross force that card.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:

The previous method is easy and sure-fire, but it leaves you with a deck with six duplicates.
Prior to the duplicate version, I came up with a set-up that included no duplicates, but relies of
cards' opposites. There's a bit more memory work involved, some fishing aswell and it's a bit
more risky, but it is almost impromptu (given that minute required for the set up) and it leaves
you with a clean examinable deck that can be used straight after the effect. I thought it was
worth mentioning.

Instead of using duplicates, use the cards' counterparts. For example

1st to 6th:
4C 9H 6S 7D JC KH

27th to 32th:
KS JD 7C 6H 9S 4D

As before, ask the spectator to lie about a card, 99% of the time they will name a card that
doesn't belong to your stack. After seeing what card they have, you'll know by elimination what
card is on top, although you still don't know the color. That's why you will have to fish (only) for
the color to know the true identity of the card.

And again, there's a slim chance that your spectator will lie but still name a card that actually
belong to your stack. You can't repeat the previous out though, because you don't know if the
suit will be correct. That makes things a bit harder. They way to get out of this is to take the
balance of the deck and look thru to see what cards remain. Remove the top card and its
counterpart (if the spectator has named all cards that belong to your stack, you can be sure
it's the top card or its counterpart). Place them on the table and force one thru magician
choice. More ideas on how to present this in Patter Input.

CREDITS:

Alex Elmsley - Pack of Lies (The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Vol 2, 1994)
Norman Gilbreath - Magnetic Colors (The Linking Ring, Volume 38, 07/1958)
Max Maven - The Mockingbird (Videomind, 1997)
 JAZZ MENTALISM WITH A ROYAL FLUSH

The decision of including a trick like Jazz Mentalism comes more from a need than a choice.
The previous effect (Bodytalk) leaves me with a dirty deck with six duplicates, so I wanted to
include an effect that provided a perfect excuse to use just a few cards and get rid of the
balance of the deck. I remove two Royal Flushes (Spades and Hearts) from the deck and put
the rest of the pack in my poket. After this trick, in the action of recollecting the pack together,
I'll simply put these 10 cards in my poket and switch the whole deck, bringing out another
(stacked) one.

The performer would explain that in poker is important to deduce what cards the opponent is
holding, but there's a lot more to it. Figuring out how he's going to play that hand is essential.
Is he confident enough to meet my challenge and call my all-in or will he play it safe and wait
for better cards? I know I have an idea about the cards he's holding, but what does he know
about my cards? Will he fall for a bluff? Knowing how to anticipate your opponent and make
psychological pressure on his choices becomes a major part of the game.

This dress to Jazz Mentalism is ideal to introduce these concepts. The standard effect
involves ESP cards and a stupid psychic-approximatory presentation. The effect in itself is
great, but the presentation has no frame, no use outside the disgusting pseudo-scientific test
approach. Using a Royal Flush and poker aesthetics makes the effect lighter, funnier and
more enjoyable (in my opinion!).

SET UP:

In the deck I used for "Bodytalk", the Royal Flushes in Spades and Hearts are marked on the
backs. It's easy to use the little "clocks" on Bicycle cards or the "rose" on Aviator cards as a
marking surface, scratching tiny lines with a cutter or a pin.

METHOD:

The method is the standard Jazz Mentalism procedure. You deal first, the spectator deals
after you, you deal again to match her card etc. I use the Ace as the Star, so I always deal it
first.

CREDITS:

Dave Humphrey - Jazz Mentalism

 4th STREET AFFAIR

EFFECT:

A spectator deals cards on the table until he wants to stop. The card he stops at rests face
down on the table, and even the spectator himself doesn't know its identity. The deck is then
re-squared, and a second spectator is asked to cut a packet of cards and deal them in rows.
By a seemingly fair elimination process, he's left with one card: that card matches the first
spectator's selection!!

The magician then gets a second deck (in full view for the whole performance) and shows that
before the show started, he reversed two cards: they are the other mates to the spectators
selections!!

METHOD:

The deck is stacked in Si Stebbin order, so to say every 13th card is a mate of the previous
13th one. You can introduce the deck already stacked and do a false shuffle/real cuts or have
the deck stacked 7 out-faros ahead, do a last out-faro (which in the eyes of the spectators
looks like the fairest possible shuffle), a cut and bring the deck in order. Si Stebbins stack
allows you and the spectators to straight cut as many times as you wish.

Hand the deck to the spectator (#1 from now on) and ask her to slowly deal cards until she
feels the urge to stop. She can deal the cards face down or face up. Tell her not to look at the
card she stops at and place it face down aside in full view. Ask her to put the balance of the
deck on the already dealt cards and square everything. The mate to her selection will be now
13th from the top.

Obviously you should care that the spectator doesn't go past the 38th card, otherwise you
won't have enough cards in stack for the second phase of the trick. If you ask her to deal the
cards "slowly", she will soon get bored and stop way before the point of no return.

Tell her to hand the deck to another spectator, one she thinks she'll have a strong connection
with (if it's her boyfriend, husband or best mate it's great, although you might want to avoid this
sentimental pantomime). Ask spectator #2 to cut a portion of the deck, around one third (to
prevent him to cut less than 13 cards...you want something like 15-20 here). Stress the fact
that you want him to cut by instinct without even trying to estimate how many cards he cut.
Ask him to deal the cards in a number of rows (three rows is ideal). Only thing you have to do
is to keep track of the 13th card he deals (that's the mate of the selected card) and see where
he places it. Use Magician's Choice to force one or two of the rows (for example, if the rows
are three say "Put your hands on two of these rows") and start eliminating cards by the
Elimination Force (that is: you touch two cards, spectator removes one and vice versa and so
on; obviously, if the number of cards is even the spectator must start first, if it's odd you must
start first). After you narrowed it down to one single card (still face down), bring the two cards
close and ask both spectators to slowly turn over their respective selections, stressing on the
fact that neither you, the first spectator nor the second ever knew the identity of the cards to
begin with!!

As a final kicker, have an invisible deck on the table from the start (or you can pull it out of
your pocket): say to the spectators that before the show, you reversed two cards cause you
had the intuition that they would have been somehow significant during the performance. Look
thru the deck and remove the remaining mates to the spectators' selections (since the
invisible deck is split in odd and even, you can be sure that the mates to the selections will be
on the same side). This is an optional ending though: you can decide yourself if you want to
use it or not. The first part of the effect is already very strong in itself, so if you are afraid of
venturing the realms of "too much magic", you can stop after the two selected cards are
revealed.
I think that the strong points of this routine are 1. the performer never touches the deck; the
effect is pratically self working and all you need to do is to make sure that the spectators
follow your orders, keep an eye on the 13th card and do your best acting during the
elimination force. 2. it is fast, easy to follow and in the mind of the spectators it will be easy to
recap once the trick has finished 3. the quadruple revelation is very strong and baffling and all
the spectators will know is just this incredible serie of coincidences 4. you finish with a four-of-
a-kind on the table, which is a very nice and strong display.

CREDITS:

I came up with this while trying to cut the excess from Leo Bourdeau's amazing Stellar
Connections (Spirited Pasteboards, 1987). His work is phenomenal, and this routine is
basically and handicapped version of his. I loved the plot and the use of the Elimination Force
to narrow it down to a single card. As for the Elimination Force, I always hated it until I read it
on Mr. Bourdeau's book: to me, it doesn't make much sense with object, and I always feared it
could be obvious to laymen. However, when used with face down cards that no one knows the
identity of, it looks incredibly strong and fair.