Poker Trial

Effect: A person arrested for cheating while playing poker, bribes the court members (11 jurors and 1 judge) into playing one hand of Poker. If he wins he is a free man, but if he loses he must go to jail. All jurors and the judge end up with three of a kind. The Poker player gets four of a kind. The order of cards will vary (2,3,4,ace,8 etc.), but it will always work if done correctly.

Preparation

Within each suit, arrange the cards in order from 2 through Ace. Put the suits together to form the pack. The order of suits does not matter.

Card Trick

1. In front of an audience, cut the deck eleven times while telling this story: Once there was a great poker player who was convicted of illegal gambling. He was tried in a court, but bribed the judge and jury into playing one hand of poker. If he won, he would be a free man. If he loses
he would go to jail.

2. Deal out the deck like this (each asterisk represents one hand of cards. Note that each hand contains only four cards):

* * * * * *
*
* * * * * *

3. Deal the first two rounds of cards from left to right and from top to bottom. The third time around, deal the cards from right to left and from bottom to top. The fourth time, deal the cards from left to right, top to bottom.

4. Flip over the piles, flipping the center pile last. This pile represents the criminal and his hand. The one center pile will be four of a kind if you didn't screw up the trick.

5. Stand back and take a bow!