Two different versions of an effect, incredibly impromptu and practically self-working, which stages a play at an imaginary poker game with strange rules that always make the spectator the overwhelming favorite, but where, in the end, the magician will win against all odds, closing the game in a true Triumph of the four Aces.
A truly amazing card magic effect that will leave both you, when you try it the first few times, incredulous (it still happens even to me who came up with it, I guarantee) and your audience, as soon as you manage to propose it to them.
You will learn two versions, very different in presentation, but of equal devastating impact. I invite you to first read and try it for yourself, with your own cards: I am absolutely sure you will be fooled!
The first version presents a strange challenge between the magician and a spectator, where at the end the conjurer will magically always win, despite the spectator being given incredible advantages and the power to decide almost anything. The rules of New Zealand Poker (absolutely made up) are introduced by the magician as the game progresses: it will be a three - or four, in the extended version - run challenge, where the only cards that really matter are the Aces, which, for that very reason, will be kept aside for the spectator, who can instead shuffle everything else in the deck. The latter will then deal the cards, and the illusionist will always play cards face up: only eight cards dealt to him by the spectator, while he will receive twice as many, and among them precisely the four winning Aces.
The cards will continue to be dealt and the various packs turned to the opposite side according to the will of the two challengers, knowing that at the end the spectator will need only one of the Aces turned back to win the game, while the magician will come out on top only if he turns out to possess ALL (and only) of the four Aces turned face-up.
Despite the fact that the spectator will always seem to be the overwhelming favorite, owing to his enormous advantages and most of the moves and decisions (including the result of the roll of two imaginary dice to decide the third distribution, only in the extended version), the game will end with a triumph by the magician, and his 4 aces, to the absolute amazement of those present!
The second mode in which it will be possible to perform this effect will be hands-off, without the magician ever touching the cards which will always be in the hand of the viewer, or even at a distance, during a video call, and even just on the phone.
Strong Points
- The effect is self-working and totally impromptu
- No memory effort required, presentation aside
- There is no need to follow any mathematical rule or apply any special technique
- Just one possible final "move," which is very simple and will go unnoticed.
- Easy to execute, but with absolutely incredible results
- It will amaze even yourselves, as well as other magicians who should attend
1st edition 2024, PDF 9 pages, video 2:13.
word count: 4968 which is equivalent to 19 standard pages of text
Reviewed by Davide Rubat Remond
★★★★★ Date Added: Monday 11 November, 2024If Impossible Challenge to New Zealand Poker, Biagio Fasano's new effect, were a stage magic, it would certainly be a great illusion, comparable to Metamorphosis or a beautiful crate to dissect into several parts the living being inside. The challenge consists of a novel version of poker, with somewhat wacky rules, but still fun and easy to follow it looks like a classic routine with the deck of cards to be dealt and cut into various bundles, but at the end, it changes direction and culminates in the impossible. The surprise of defeat on the part of the spectator, in a challenge that had all the hallmarks of an easy victory, is produced when expectations are betrayed by the appearance of an incredible final poker of aces. The illusionist will win the challenge if, at the end of the various stages of the game (which may be three or four), on ribbon spreading the cards, all four aces appear to be turned face up, while all other cards are turned face down. If even one of these conditions does not occur, the spectator will be declared the winner.
The spectator begins the challenge with the great advantage of playing with double the number of covered cards, compared to the illusionist who plays with uncovered cards, and the four back aces (the essential conditions for his or her victory). Throughout the duration of the effect, the cards will be continuously dealt in various piles, then reassembled after eventually being turned to the opposite side, according to the spectator's will. Special attention to the movement of the four aces from one pack to another, from one direction to the other, at each moment of the various stages of the game, restores the sense of genuine randomness obtained from the spectator's free choices.
The truly amazing thing about this effect of Biagio, which is inspired by and is the child of his previous Virtual Revelation Triumph, is the great, total freedom of action of the spectator on the packets and, on the distribution of cards in the second phase, without any predetermined order. Similarly, the third phase (optional because it lengthens execution time) simulates the use of some dice, which are emblems themselves of randomness. I had a chance to test it before publication and I must say that the first time I did not believe my eyes, I was sure it could not succeed, and instead the four aces showed up on time among all the other back cards. It is absolutely incomprehensible at first glance the mechanics of this effect that exploits Bob Hummer's CATO (Cut And Turn Over) principle in an evolved form. Even the contactless versions offered as an alternative to the main effect, to be performed over the phone is something incredible (personally experienced with Biagio) that happens directly in the hands of the viewer.
In addition to the characteristic of being an incredible, incomprehensible, high-impact effect, it is totally automatic and impromptu, allowing absolute freedom of choice to the spectator, with no mathematical calculations, no memory effort, no special techniques, indeed no card magic techniques. Only a deck of cards, even an incomplete one, can be customized to one's personal taste.
This time Biagio has surpassed himself; it will be hard to think of anything better than this Impossible Challenge to New Zealand Poker, in terms of the quality of the magical effect, simplicity of execution and total freedom of action.
