I'm considering an effect for my Hunting Club's annual banquet. My first thought was "which hand is the quarter in" but I do not have the necessaries and even if I did I'm not sure how to work it at round sit down tables. Instead I'm coming up with the following effect using business cards:

"Who has a good poker face? I will give you 10 bucks if I can not read your tells."
"I have a bunch of my business cards that I have written 1,2,3,4, or 5 on their backs"
"They are all random, look"
After a shuffle and averting my eyes, "Cut the business cards and select the top business card, and don't let me see it, I will ask you if it is a 1,2,3, etc. but always say NO."

"Is it a 1?"
"No" says subject.
"Is it a 2?"
Etc.

"I saw some indications at numbers 2 and 4"
"Is it a 2?"
"No" says subject.
"Is it a 4?"
"No" says subject.
"Ah, I focused in on your tell. You are bluffing the 4!"
"Correct," exclaims the subject.

"Now that I know you tell, lets try it again but this time I just say the numbers and you do not have to say anything. OK? I give you 20 bucks If I do not pick up on your tell."

Testing with friends and family is going well.
Reply to this message if you want to see the method and I will sent it to your PM.
Unvarnished feedback always welcomed.

-rich

You might find it plays better and even stronger if you switched from numbers to names, inanimate objects, etc.... Try increasing the number from 5. That way it would be far more impressive.

innercirclewannabe,
Thanks for your helpful feedback. Since I was thinking of my poker buddies, I used numbers. But even there I should have gone with playing cards. Royal flush hand pulse 1 will do. Unfortunately my method is limited to 5 choices, which is more than the two used in which hand is the quarter in.
-rich

No marks, no force, no sleights and subject can see the randomness of all cards

This reminds me of my routine "Entremise" I released a few years back. It uses 5 cards as well, but one thing that makes it look more impressive is, these cards are freely chosen by the participant in a full deck. The rest of the deck doesn't play any part, but the feat goes from "1 out of 5" to "1 out of 52". If you can show a whole bunch of business cards and have the participant pick 5, that would be an improvement.

That said, I'm not saying that improvement isnecessary! 5 cards is already pretty strong, if your presentation is up to the task.

As innercirclewannabe wrote, You'd probably have a more impactfull routine if you changed the numbers to something meaningfull, even if you stick to your "I can read tells" theme. The more varied the thoughts you have to "work with", the better. You'd probably get a more lively presentation if the cards made your participants think of "easily recognizable" features or emotions, such as shame, happiness, sadness, anger etc. or "something big", "a living creature", "it's man-made" etc.
Remember there are "tells" at Poker because something important is at stake. But when on stage, lies are far less serious and a liar far less likely to be betrayed by his or her nervousness. Weheras emotions or "clear thoughts", well... You see what I mean.


Another improvement would be involving more than one person. For instance, keeping your original presentation, why not have other spectators name the numbers? Obviously, your participant's reaction would be different that when trying to fool *you, and you could play with that. Think of such things you could do, that would not alter your method, but will "flesh up" the experience for the rest of the table

Sounds fun. I'm curious.

Thanks!

Dave

Interested too

Yes please, thanks in advance.

Me too, thank you very much!

I'm interested, too

Dave,
I will PM you when I return from Thanksgiving trip.
Please then do send me your evaluation good, bad or indifferent.
-rich

marc_carrion,
Thanks for your interest. I hope others will get on the "open effect" offering. I come from a software background were open source has been an outstanding success.
Your PM should come on Monday or Tuesday.

false_awakening,

Check your PM on Monday or Tuesday when I return.
-rich

corindaman,
Thanks for your interest. As I'm away for Thanksgiving, I will PM you when I'm back on Monday or Tuesday. And do not forget to tell me how good or bad it is.
-rich

Sounds like a fun routine. I'd love to see your method.

Jay

Check you pm
-rich

Awake and read you pm
-rich

Corinda man,

Your 14th step was just PMed to you.

-rich

No jest, I just PMed you. Have fun with it and let me know your review
-rich

Jay,

Have fun with the method that I have sent you in PM. Let me know if you had fun with it or not.
-rich