From :http://www.magicbox.uk.com/shop.php/shop/books-and-dvds/booklets-/-manuscripts/aunt-marys-terrible-secret-free-bicycle-cards/p_11.html
Price: £16.99 but currently on sale at £12
They Say:
Every family has their secrets. The Williamson family has Aunt Mary. A respectable woman with a murky past, Aunt Mary has finally come clean. Revealed here for the first time as a professional card routine in three powerful acts, Aunt Mary's Terrible Secret is well within the reach of any performer. Two audience members are invited to play a simple color matching game for the chance to win fifty-two dollars. The cards are unprepared, the money is real and this incredible, easy-to-master routine builds to a devastating climax that will leave your audiences stunned. After Aunt Mary's Terrible Secret, you'll never look at little old ladies the same way again.
Quite simply, this is a highly commercial routine. It combines money, gambling, audience participation, and uncanny control over the cards to produce a routine that audiences love and remember."- Darwin Ortiz
I say:
Pros - This routine is well thought out, with each phase ending with a bigger climax. Its based around 3 people (including you) being dealt cards from a shuffled deck. It seems in each phase, you somehow manage to defy the odds and win the money.
Cons - This is listed as self working (level 1) on the website. In actual fact, it is too had for me to perform and involves several complicated slights. Not only do you have to perform a PERFECT riffle shuffle, but so does a spectator!!!!(and iv never met one who can, unless theyre a magi). You also need a PERFECT phero shuffle (although there is another method given, but it looks far more suspicious).
Being in the UK, we do not have $1 bills and i can afford 52 x £5, so id have to do it with monopoly money
. But all in all, don't think i'll ever attempt this. There are much better gambling type routines out there that haven't got such stringent requirements
I'd give it level 3/4 difficulty and a score of 4 out of 10
