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The Trick That CAN Be Explained - Mark Elsdon The Hype: The performer introduces a small envelope and says that there is a playing card inside. He places the envelope on the table and never touches it again. A participant takes the deck out of the box and shuffles it. Then they cut the deck and the top card is immediately turned over. It is, for example, the 7 of Spades. The deck is turned face-up and clearly spread to show that there are no duplicates. The participant opens the envelope and removes the card inside. It is a perfect match - the 7 of Spades. AND THERE ARE NO OTHER OUTS - the card in the envelope is ALWAYS the card they choose! NO sleight-of-hand required. This literally is as easy as it gets! Alternative endings: You can have a photo of the card posted on your Twitter feed, Instagram or other social media. Or you can WhatsApp or message them at the start and they check the message at the end. My Take: The first thing I noticed was that the plot of this trick was more like Paul Curry's Open Prediction than Vernon's The Trick That Can't Be Explained. The plot was also documented in detail by Stewart James in 51 Faces North. This is not a bad thing. The Vernon effect requires a very quick mind and the ability to turn the patter on a dime to find the proper card. This has proved to be beyond the skills of a lot of us. However, there are numerous solutions to the Open Prediction Problem. This is Mark's solution. If you are not familiar with Mark's work, he is a respected mentalist from England who has released some very nice pieces. I have seen people do various versions of Tequila Hustler and it always impresses your spectator. Do a Google search on him and you will see what I mean. Instruction is via a four page pamphlet. The is not video but this is easy enough not to warrant one. After reading the pamphlet and examining the cards, you will realize that you can Either switch out the force card for another or make a backup set so it can be repeated. Reset is a breeze but it would probably be prudent to do this out of your audience's view. In this version, an envelope is legitimately set aside on the table and you never touch it again. You can take the deck and spread it between your hands to show that there is no grouping of a single card. The spectator then takes the deck and over hand shuffles it. You no longer need to touch the deck. After the deck has been shuffled by the spectator, he puts the deck onto the table and cuts anywhere he wishes, putting the cut pack off to the side. He can then take the card that he cut to and turn it over. Say the card is the 10 of diamonds. The rest of the deck is spread to show that this is the only 10 of diamonds in the deck. He can then open the envelope and remove the card revealing it to be the 10 of diamonds. As the ad says, this is as simple as it gets. It couldn't possibly look more fair and you never fail. He does offer one section to make the cards work better which I applied to mine. It definitely increased the ease and the accuracy of the cut. The trick is not 100% but, unlike other tricks of this type where the main out is an invisible deck, Mark offers an easy solution that will cause no suspicion in the spectator's eyes. This is a strong piece and you will use it. You might feel a little disappointed in the material that you receive for $29.95 but don't be. Once you perform this you will see that is worth the expense. If you have ever bought one of Docc Hilford's little pamphlets you will see that good mentalism costs a little more and is totally worth it. Conclusion;
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