THE LOSING HAND

THE LOSING HAND
The Illusion
See MC1, The Gamblers (Part 2): The losing hand
You may wish to pay close attention to:
· Where did the deck come from?
· What cards are on the table?
· How are they collected?
· To where in the deck are the 'tabled' cards returned?
· What are the top 10 cards on the deck?
The Trick
Take from the deck the following cards:
K K K A A A 7 7 7 Q (suits are irrelevant)
Actually, pretty much any three prials and odd card will work, but these cards create quite a big psychological impact.
I say "take", it would probably be more convincing to deal them randomly from the top of a stacked deck.
Part 1:
· Shuffle the cards so that the Q is the top (or second card) on the pile.
· Draw two cards from the top of the pile and show the BACKS to the player.
· Tell him to pick a card
· If he chooses the Queen: tell him he is choosing which cards to keep
· If he chooses the other card: tell him he is choosing which cards to discard
· You *may* now stick to this. I.e.. Give/Keep every card he points to
· Mathematics will ensure you a winning hand.
Part 2:
· Collect the cards, again bringing the Queen to the top of the deck
· Deal the Queen to the player and the next card to yourself
· Present the cards (face down) one at a time, and tell the player that he make take or reject each card that is offered
· Allow him to keep all cards he selects until he has five cards in front of him
· You keep all others
· Mathematics will ensure you a winning hand.
Part 3:
· Collect the cards, again bringing the Queen to the top of the deck
· Deal the Queen to the player and the next card to yourself
· Present the cards (face up) one at a time, and tell the player that he make take or reject each card hat is shown
· Allow him to keep all cards he selects until he has five cards in front of him
· You keep all others
· Mathematics will ensure you a winning hand.
Afterthoughts
There are a thousand ways to get the Queen to the top of the deck, and anyone with a copy of Derren Brown's - "The Devil's
Picturebook" will know straight off how Derren Brown achieves it. The overall give away was that Derren Brown always gets to
choose the first card. So in my opinion, covering this fact is possibly the most important part of the presentation.
Remember, if you perform your trick in a boring manner your audience will be bored. If you perform your trick in a fascinating
manner your audience will be fascinated. etc.Derren Brown makes £60 on this trick. Now: Go to the pub; win £60 with this trick;
buy a couple of rounds; and spend the rest of the proceeds on a copy of The Devil's Picturebook or a 1st edition copy of Pure effect