This is an impressive prediction. It has fried the minds of lay people and fooled almost every magician or mentalist, I have shown this to. Many magician's say they can't fool their wives. I guarantee this is one effect she will be totally baffled by. This effect is so amazing, that you will fool yourself each time you do it wondering how such a thing is possible. Yet the effect is completely self-working with no skill or sleights.
EFFECT: Using a borrowed deck (if desired) the mentalist instructs a spectator to deal a poker hand consisting of a straight hand in a horizontal row. For example; all the consecutive value cards 2-6, 4-8 or 9-K. Any straight hand can be dealt, there are no restrictions, the poker hand can be a straight flush or all the suits can be varied. The hand is entirely up to the spectator as there is no force of what cards to use.
Once he has done this, he is asked to deal four more straight poker hands underneath the first hand in four rows, making a total of five rows (25 cards total.) He can deal several rows of the same straight hand if he wishes such as three rows of A-5, or he can make each row different values of a straight poker hand. The choice is his, which is why this is so impossible appearing. Then the mentalist jots something on a business card and places it on the table. Alternately, he could pick up the deck and put two cards face down on the table saying he will never touch these two cards again.
The mentalist now places five coins on a table. He asks the spectator to place any coin on any face - up card. Again, no forces, he can place the coin on any card. Once he has done so, the mentalist instructs him to turn all the remaining cards in the row containing the card with the coin face down, both horizontal and vertical. There will still be lots of cards on the table face-up. The spectator is instructed to place another coin face up on any face-up card, and as before turn all the remaining cards in the same row face down, both horizontal and vertical. This procedure is repeated two more times, finally leaving one card face up on the table, that no one could have known would be left. He puts the remaining coin on that card.
At this point, there will be five cards face up on the table with a coin on each of them. The other cards are all face down. The mentalist points out that the spectator had a free choice of which cards to put the coins on (completely true). Taking a phone calculator the spectator totals the value of the five face-up cards. Say the total is 47. The spectator, not the mentalist turns over the two cards set aside and see they are a 4 and a 7, the same total as the face up cards. Alternatively, the spectator turns over the prediction card and sees the number 47 on it. Baffling beyond words.
Remember, the mentalist makes his prediction before any coins are dropped on the cards. This is entirely self-working with no chance of failure. There are no forces of any kind or magician's choices when placing the coins on the cards. Everything, including which cards to use are 100% free choices by the spectator. Borrowed deck doesn't have to be complete for this to work.
1st edition 2019, PDF 7 pages.
word count: 1959 which is equivalent to 7 standard pages of text
