Mississippi Sam by Black Hart
The Effect
A companion effect to ‘The Devil in Mind’. Sam is a riverboat gambler who sells his soul to The Devil in return for luck at cards.
You recreate Sam’s last game of cards when he plays The Devil for his very soul...and looses. Sam (your volunteer) deals themselves 3 sixes (666), the sign of The Devil.
THEY examine and shuffle the cards, THEY chose how many to use, THEY deal 3 piles of cards, THEY turn over the top cards to find that THEY have dealt THEMSELVES 666! YOU DO NOT touch the cards at all.
Cost £16 for the trick, or £21 with a set of Devil's Deck Cards.
from
http://www.blackhart.co.uk
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
1 - easy method, no sleights as such, just a little bit of easy misdirection.
Review
Mississippi Sam is a very simple, easy to perform miracle, that will blow your spectators away. I've used a similar principal to the one used in Mississippi Sam before, in fact, Sankey has a similar trick on his Blows to the Head DVD, but this is a very clean, hands off version, and perfect for a bit of late night spooky story telling based entertainment. The method will be familiar to most experienced cardies, but what you're really paying for here is the superb story that Black Hart provides. You could quite easily perform this one straight out of the packet, but that would defeat the purpose - the story telling is the key here.
The story follows a logical path, and everything appears clean and fair to the spectator. As the blurb says, the spectator shuffles the cards, they chose how many to use, they deal 3 piles of cards, and they deal the 666.
The instructions, and script, are clear and easy to follow, and manuscript also comes with three nice laminated boarding passes of the three souls taking part in the final poker game, along with a card folder to keep them in. The working is very straight forward, and as such, you can devote your time to your presentation, rather than worrying about having to fumble with difficult sleights etc. You also don't need a special deck of cards, I'm using a deck of Bicycle Vintage 1800, because they fit the style of my presentation better, but you could get a lovely deck of devil cards from Black Hart if you're going down the bizarre route.
If you're looking for an easy to perform trick with a powerful story, then you won't find much better than this. It really is a lovely performance piece. I would say, however, that you do need to invest a little time in your story, because this is what the trick is all about, and those that think that they are paying £16 for a method that you will instantly recognise are missing the point entirely.
Go then, dear reader, and sell your soul to the devil (sorry, I mean Keith Hart), and order with confidence. You'll regret it if you don't...
Overall 9/10