Mickey Mace has released another one of his favorite effects. In The Really, Really Perfect Blackjack Deal, the performer speaks of the proliferation of casino gaming across the US, and mentions how, with a bit of magical help, anyone in the audience can become an expert blackjack dealer.
A volunteer comes forward and is handed a stack of 7 or 8 casino chips. The performer takes a deck of cards and removes four cards placing them face down in a row. The volunteer is then asked to place four of the eight chips in a row next to the four face-down cards – four bets, for four hands of blackjack. The deck is then handed to the spectator who is instructed to give the deck a good shuffle, then turn over the cards, one by one, until you come to an ace ...any ace will do. When the first ace is turned up, the spectator places it face up next to one of the face down cards. The cards are shuffled thoroughly again, and dealt once more until another ace appears. This is placed next to another of the face down cards. This is repeated until all four aces are adjacent to the four face-down cards.
The performer now mentions that in casino vernacular, a “perfect” blackjack is one comprise of an ace and a jack. A “really perfect” blackjack hand is comprised of an ace and jack of the same suit. With that, he turns over each face-down card. They are indeed jacks – AND THEIR SUITS PERFECTLY MATCH EACH RANDOMLY SELCTED ACE!
But here’s the kicker: “A really, really perfect blackjack,” the magician continues, “is when you have an ace and jack of matching suits AND even the chips themselves match!” He turns over each of the chips that the spectator selected and placed at the start of the effect. Clearly drawn on the reverse of each chip is the matching suit!
Extremely simple to do, but effective and engaging. And the kicker yields gasps. Suitable for close up, small group and strolling work.
1st edition 2011; 9 pages.
word count: 2770 which is equivalent to 11 standard pages of text
