Gardner-Marlo Poker Routine

Gardner-Marlo Poker Routine is a Poker Dealing routine first published in Let's See the Deck by Edward Marlo in 1942.

Effect: The Kings are openly placed on the bottom of the deck. Five hands of poker are dealt. The magician openly demonstrates that a card cheat deals off the bottom of the deck during the second, third, fourth, and fifth rounds of dealing. The fifth hand is shown to be four Kings as suspected. The magician now claims to stack the deck with those King, dealing out five hands of poker. But instead of Kings, he reveals the four Aces in the fifth hand. The The magician asks the spectator to choose a hand from one to five. He then deals another round, dealing Kinds to the selected position.

In Let's See the Deck, Marlo recounts a meeting with Martin Gardner in 1940 during which the basis of the routine was discussed.

A precursor of the concept was published by Jean Hugard as "An Effective Poker Deal" in Card Manipulations No. 4 (1935).

Variations

• A Poker Puzzle in Royal Road to Card Magic (1948)
• Lorayne's Poker Deal in Close-Up Card Magic (1962)
• Dealer Demonstration in The Magic of Fred Robinson (2009)