Let’s try something totally different this week.
It’s a simple enough effect, but very ‘disarming.’
The source of this idea this effect uses is hard to pinpoint. As the tale tells, Vernon discovered it from an old Mexican gambler—but that’s about as far back as we go.
(it also appears in Arthur Buckley’s ‘Card Control’ 2nd edition, 1947.)
This concept is called the ‘Jonah’ card, and in its most basic form, looks like this:
If you have 10 cards, made up of 3 Three of a Kinds and 1 ‘leftover’ card—whoever receives that leftover card when you deal, will lose.
That ‘leftover’ card is known as the ‘Jonah’ card.
(and a ‘Three of a Kind’ is three of the same value—three Nines, three Aces, etc.)
And it doesn’t matter HOW you arrange the other 9 cards, whoever gets the Jonah card, will lose.
Try it, and you’ll soon see this is the case.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
We can use this fact to great advantage in a presentation of the sort we’ve been having fun with this week…
Hold the 10 cards in your hand. Shuffle them until the spectators are satisfied, making sure that you cut the Jonah card back to the top once you’re done.
Place the 10 cards on the table.
The Jonah card is on top of the packet.
Ask “who wants to deal?”
If the child volunteers, get them to deal “one to your parent (replace that with something more specific in the actual performance) and one to you, until you run out of cards.”
By telling them to deal to the parent and then to themselves, you ensure the Jonah card gets given to the parent—and the child wins.
(you can physically demonstrate this if you’re afraid the instruction will go over their head.)
If the parent volunteers, get them to deal “one to you, and one to your child (replace that with their actual name in performance) until you run out of cards.”
By getting them to deal the cards to themselves and then their child, you ensure they get the Jonah card.
It feels like we’re giving them a free choice when we ask ‘who wants to deal’, but we’re fine either way.
We could also, while they’re dealing, stop them and tell them to ‘shuffle the deck’ between dealing. It doesn’t matter—as long as they’ve already dealt the Jonah card, it doesn’t matter who gets which other cards.
I would do this a couple of times, and then end it with this:
Get the child to deal the first two cards, giving the Jonah to the parent. Now, turn every two cards face up and let the parent DECIDE which cards they want.
No matter what they choose, they’re going to lose.
This last phase can be quite amusing to watch unfold.
Of course, if you’re using a memorized stack, you could follow this effect with a poker deal in which the spectator deals.
For example, if you’re in Aronson stack and you cut the AD to the top, the child can deal 4 hands (dealing to themselves last) and they’ll deal themselves a royal flush.
Maybe some people won’t like that—when the cards are in your hands, the audience can assume you’re doing crazy sleight of hand to place the Royal Flush, whereas, in the hands of the audience, they’re more likely to stumble upon the idea of a stack.
That’s a fair concern, but i think some people will like it regardless. If you start in Faro 7 and give one faro prior to this, that should help quell that idea. (for more work on Faros, see the Skyscraper Method Module 4.)
Anyway, I’ll step myself before I get to lost in faro-land.
That’s it for this week.
I’ll be back with more next week.
Benji