Http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S18526

Ad Copy:


* EASY TO DO! * POWERFUL MENTALISM! * RE-SETS IN SECONDS! * COMMERCIAL & ENTERTAINING! * GREAT PROPS! * ROUTINE INCLUDED!

This is an easy-to-do, highly entertaining and commercial mentalism/magic routine, with an impossible triple prediction, with props creating a sense of the bright lights of Las Vegas casinos.

The performer lays down four small placemats, creating an instant blackjack lay-out. The spectator shuffles the cards, selects a casino, places a bet, and the hands are dealt.

The spectator loses their hand, but wins...a 'comp'; from a pile of possible comps, including some amazing prizes, the spectator wins...a Free Magic Trick! (WHOOPEE!!)

The performer offers to fulfill the comp straight away; turning over the place-mats, each of the spectator's choices - the casino, the bet, the hands - are revealed to be perfectly predicted.

Included:
Full, easy to follow instructions; custom poker chips; casino cards, with gimmicked card; comp cards; blackjack lay-out placemats.

"After my last trip to Las Vegas, I came up with Blackjack Surprise, and then worked with my magical friend Zane to turn it into an entertaining routine. It is set in Vegas, fun to perform, with lovely props, plays well to all audiences, has a big ending, and it doesn't take up much pocket space" - Alisdair Chisholm


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My Review:

I stumbled onto this newly released trick the other day and was very intrigued by the premise- a triple prediction on a hand of blackjack. Since there is no video performance, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I took a gamble and purchased- and I'm glad I did.

The props you get are very good quality and durable. Whats nice about the effect is each of the 3 predictions are achieved by different methods, so even if your spectator figures one out, they will not get all 3.

Overall, I am very pleased with the purchase. It does exactly what it says in the ad copy. Whats nice about the routine is you can take the methods and completely customize it to your style. For me, I didn't like the placemats or the comp cards with the free magic trick... it doesn't fit my style. Instead, I took a playing card from a Casino (for example, a playing card from Caesar's Palace) and I glued a blank face card on its face where I printed an image of both predicted blackjack hands and the amount of the bet placed. This single card goes into a sealed card envelope that I hand to the spectator to hold on to before the trick begins. Then you can pretty much follow the routine as provided and instead of the comp cards and placemat reveals, they open the envelope to see the triple prediction right there. I find this fits my style more and gets a stronger reaction- this way you show a picture of all 4 cards in the hands predicted instead of just the sum each each hand that is revealed on the provided prop. Completely baffling because the spectator genuinely shuffled and handled the deck freely and you do not appear to do any moves (they will swear you never touched the deck if done correctly). This handling also takes up MUCH less pocket space if you are a worker.

My point is there are some very clever methods in play here that can be adapted to your own routine, its VERY customizable. The provided routine also works just fine if it suits you.

For workers, pocket space might be a concern because there are quite a bit of props (deck of cards, 4 placemats, 3 casino chips, 2 piles of specially printed casino and comp cards). But as I mentioned, if you like the premise, you can customize it to use less props.

I know its hard to purchase an effect just based on the ad copy, with no video performance, but I was happy with my purchase and recommend this.

It would make a very nice follow up or lead in to other casino-themed effects, such as The Casino Con by Steve Gore.

8/10