Poker Tells

MY COMMENTS:
One of the BIG hits of Devin's recent lecture tour.
Instantly give any spectator psychic powers! This new effect
is an improved version of Devin Knight's best-selling
Blindsight. It has a new handling that will fool those who
own Blindsight! Considered by many to be one of his most
baffling effects to date.

The performer states that some card players seem to have
psychic abilities. These card players can correctly sense
the cards in an opponent's hand. The performer says he would
like to try an experiment to see if a participant has this
ability to detect playing cards sight unseen. He shows four
opaque envelopes and removes the four aces from a deck. The
four aces are then placed inside the envelopes and mixed so
the participant has no idea which envelope contains which
ace. The envelopes are placed in a row in front of the
participant. The participant is asked to guess which ace is
in each envelope.

The participant points to one envelope and tells the
performer which ace he thinks is inside. The performer then
writes the suit of that ace on the outside of the envelope.
This is repeated until each envelope has a suit written on
the outside of it. The performer fans out the four
envelopes, allowing the participant to see the suits written
on each envelope. The performer states that he only needs
three envelopes for the first phase of the test. He tells
the participant to remove one envelope and place it aside as
his lucky card. Assume he placed aside the envelope with
Hearts written on it.

The performer opens each of the three remaining envelopes
and shows that the participant has correctly guessed which
ace was in each envelope. This is amazing in itself, but the
real kicker is yet to come. The performer says no one could
have known which envelope the participant would place aside.
The participant then picks up the envelope that was placed
aside and opens it. The performer does not touch the
envelope. Inside is the correct ace, but there is also a
slip of paper with a handwritten note. The note says: This
card was placed aside as your lucky card. It is the Ace of
Hearts. The participant can then verify the other three
envelopes are empty and devoid of predictions. He may fully
examine both the envelopes and four aces. NO FORCES. Cards
and envelopes are ungimmicked.

Comes complete with envelopes, needed gimmicks and complete
detailed directions detailing every part of the effect. Use
any deck of cards. Get this before someone fools you with
it!

MY COMMENT:
I really like the forerunner of this, Blindsight, and
wondered why Devin felt it necessary to do another version
using playing cards. The answer is that the presentation
makes much more sense. One is trying to pick up tells that
players have while playing poker, instead of just sensing
colors, as in the original. Another reason is that the
playing cards allow for a much cleaner kicker ending.

I know that Devin claims that Poker Tells is a much improved
version of Blindsight, but I think it boils down to
preference. To some professionals, using playing cards is a
step backwards. To me, and most longtime readers know this,
I don't mind the use of playing cards, though I'll certainly
try to use a different prop to demonstrate the same ability,
if possible.

No matter what you feel towards playing cards, this is a
terrific variation and at least just as strong as the
original Blindsight, which I highly recommended. The package
includes the 12 pages of instructions (8.5" x 11", stapled),
envelopes, and two other necessary props. You must supply
your own deck of cards.