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A classic effect no doubt, yet i have always had a problem with the version i do due to the drawn out procedure of letting the spec choose where every single card goes.

So a little something i've been playing with is start the trick as usual with a r/b riffle shuffle, followed by the beginning choice of every card and the separation of two piles. Yet after half way i decide to give the remainder of the deck to the spec themselves and let them freely deal the cards on either pile. The first phase is there to essentially condition them to do what the trick requires and the second phase is there to speed things up with a more hands-off approach.

Once they have dealt all cards, i ask them to place one pile on top of the other and i proceed to ribbon spread the entire deck to show the separation with 4 marker cards.

I am wondering whether this modification seems helpful from an objective point of view or is just plain stupidity.

Thanks for any feedback

this is an interesting thing. There have been quite a number of "improvements" over the years. And Many of these "improvements" involve a fully shuffled deck.
but where you win in the impromptuness of the effect, you always loose out on pace.

The original Curry version of this was slow. but because it involves the spectators,right the way through, and happenes completely in their hands, the pace was not noticed.

which is why in the most part, i still do the original.

I can't remember who, but someone on here suggested doing it with half the deck. I've found this works just as effectively and it's a lot faster...

Considering the odds of random guessing, the feat starts to get quite impressive after just ten or twelve cards. Half the deck is plenty. I do like the idea of letting the spectator lay down the cards, since this proves you're not doing any sleights.

One of the "Wicked World of Liam Montier" DVDs has a variation on OOTW that uses just 14 cards. You hold them up in pairs and the spectator chooses one of each pair to be red or black. Very quick, but it's still stunning when all the chosen cards match -- and the discarded cards also spell out the spectator's phone number.

Andrew Murray's version is pretty quick and very clean.

Daniel Young has an OOTW called Into My World which is in Compendia. You deal the cards into the spectator's hands and can vary the number of cards you use, which will allow you to fit the length of the effect to your spectator.