If you haven't clicked Jan's link yet, you are missing out on an incredibly generous offer.

Thanks for the link and thank you Jan.

Well, the best ESP effect is NOT Smart ESP from Matt Smart! In my opinion!
If you've never seen this, watch a trailer from a dealer. Now I understand that many commercial tricks have multiple outs, but... come on... this is awful. When revealing you "knew" the card stopped on, it's confusing, vague and almost made up on the spot! Being a fan of esp packet effects I was somewhat disappointed with this as a purchase. Still I guess someone likes it as it appears popular!
Not for me!

The ESP effect on submodalities by Dave humphries

Paralabs' Depicting Thoughts - been using it for years and it never fails to impress.

Jazz Mentalism by Dave Humphrey
Shape-up by Max Maven
Symbalance by Max Maven
ESP Stack by Richard Osterlind

Have to mention my own Rhine's Revenge!

https://www.alakazam.co.uk/product-Rhine......ron.html

Or Jazz Mentalism by Dave Humphrey

100% agreed. I enjoy “Bob’s Your Uncle” (Doug Dyment) and several other effects but Jazz Mentalism gives me the best ratio of time, impact, and trade-off.

I will second Clint's Rhine's Revenge. I've been using it for a long time now, and it is my go-to ESP effect.

It's also important to consider the performing context. Will it be used as a close-up/impromptu piece, or as a component of a stage routine?

I've always liked the Zener-symbol-matching sequence:

1) Entertainer matches the symbols chosen by the participant.

2) Participant matches the symbols chosen by the entertainer.

3) Participant matches the symbols chosen by the entertainer, without looking at the symbols (just going by intuition).

To me, this seems likes a nice (and, unlike some, fully motivated) progression, and it also makes the participant the star. The ability to do this fully impromptu, with ungaffed cards (even ten borrowed playing cards, in a pinch), makes it a worker in my world.

I respectfully disagree with most of you folks, which is good because otherwise I guess there wouldn't be a discussion.

After quite a bit of research and experimentation, I think I've found the perfect combination of cards and effect (at least, for me).

First, the best cards are "Naked ESP" by Michael Murray. They come in a set of 10 (plus a couple of extras), so you'll need to buy several sets to get a full deck, if you want the 25-card deck that Rhine used. They also come with the relevant gaff for (imo) the best version of the 5-card matching routine, "Beyond Perfect ESP" by John George. These are great cards, mainly because of the back design. They're plastic, modern, and handle really nicely for the moves that I need to do. Unfortunately, all the backs are the same colour, so the colour contrast of the John George routine doesn't work. This is mostly fine; everything still works - it's just not as visually and "magically" nice as John's version. I also like that they're plain, modern, muted, black and white. I don't like ESP cards with coloured symbols; it's too historically inaccurate for me; they feel like magic props.

The second-best cards imo are the Tenyo ESP cards. They're extremely clever, but they're a bit "too" clever, to the point that it makes things slightly more difficult in performance. But they come with 25 cards, as well as the necessary gaff.

Honourable mention goes to the "marchand de trucs" cards, which are also subtle, but just not as nice as Naked ESP or Tenyo. I was hoping that, since they come in both red and blue backs, that there would be a gaff that would allow the "Beyond Perfect ESP" routine to be done with exactly the right look and feel (five red, five blue, spectator chooses which they use), but the relevant gaff isn't supplied. This is a shame because I think the red/blue display and openness of John's routine are subtle and brilliant, but I strongly dislike using ESP cards with "playing card" backs. I realise the originals that Rhine used actually looked pretty cheesy - they genuinely looked like magic props - but I very much prefer plainer, more "serious" backs, that get as far away from the look of "playing cards" as possible.

I think the five card matching plot is the best ESP card plot. It's simple enough that folks understand it and it's close enough to the original ESP tests to sustain the "ESP" premise. Most tricks with ESP cards have very little to do with the actual ESP tests, which seems pointless to me; why take these mysterious objects that are loaded with history, mysticism, lies and foolishness, and then just do another convoluted card trick?

I like the "Beyond Perfect ESP" five card matching routine because it's the cleanest and most direct version, and - although it has sleights - the sleights are very straightforward. There's a really easy handling (suggested in a Beyond Perfect ESP thread here on the Café) that almost removes one of the two "moves". I use a handling that allows both myself and the spectator to "deal down" our cards, so we're left with a very clean and dramatic five-card matching display on the table. This requires that I start out holding the full 25-card deck, which is fine, because it gives me an extra bit of historically accurate colour when introducing the cards.

I totally agree with Doug that the "spectator is the mindreader" presentation is the best.

ESPissimo and other routines of that type - Jazz Mentalism etc - are great, but don't work for me. I prefer the effect to look the same every time; I want the procedure to be as simple and direct as possible - we each lay down five cards, I go first, when we're done, we turn those cards over and they match. I don't want premature turnover. I want the result to be logically consistent. I don't think it's possible to do the "perfect" esp match - we will always have to sacrifice something, whether it's consistency, sleights, gaffs or whatever. So this isn't perfect, but for me, this specific combo (naked esp cards, beyond perfect esp routine, slightly altered handling) makes the most sense in terms of effect, impact, visuals, historical references and consistency.

Thanks for the recommendation charlie_d. I have been considering the Naked ESP cards for a few months and your post inspired me to go looking for them again. Guess what?!? There is a set called Fully Naked that includes 25 blacks, 25 reds and some gimmick cards. I just ordered a set.

https://www.mindfx.co.uk/products/fully-......al-fakes

-jhs

Also forgot to include a link to one of my favorite places to get used books who has an original Naked ESP set.

https://usedmagic.myshopify.com/products......l-murray

-jhs

Been out of the game a while but coming back I just love Michael Murray's Beyond ESP and the Submodalities dvd. So much strong content there.
Also, there's a lot of good stuff in "Magic With an ESP Deck" by Sam Dalal...

None mentioned "Superior Conjunction" by Lewis Jones. What do you think about that one?

In which book? Jan

Seventh Heaven.

Thank you! I will look it up, have it my library ... Jan

Hi Jan. I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts on it.