The WINNING HAND

The WINNING HAND

In 1997, Stu Ungar made history with a single, unforgettable poker hand — a moment of pure instinct, skill, and brilliance that cemented his name among the greats.

The Winning Hand takes inspiration from that iconic moment — not to replicate Ungar’s play, but to reimagine it through the lens of deception and sleight-of-hand.

Where Ungar achieved his victory through unmatched intuition and fair play, Daniel Madison, a professional card mechanic, demonstrates how a similar result could be achieved by pure manipulation — a display of psychological control and technical mastery rather than the luck of the draw. 

Two worlds, two geniuses — one hand.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN 

The Participant deals you The Winning Hand that won Stu Ungar the 1997 WSOP

This Mad Method is a study on switches and an essay on ‘Nuance Card Switches.’
Printed in every deck of UNGAR Playing Cards you will find a new ‘The POKER LESSON’ card - a special Gaff Card designed to look like a standard ad-card which depicts the poker hands in rank order - this card offers a stacking system as well as a very powerful Gambling demonstration ( learn The POKER LESSON free at YouTube ).

The POKER LESSON gaff card in the UNGAR deck has been updated to feature the hand that won Stu Ungar the WSOP championship in 1997, which Madison added for this very Mad Method - The WINNING HAND.

The participant is invited to shuffle the playing cards before dealing 5 cards at random from the deck.  The performer tells the story of Stu Ungar’s 1997 win at the WSOP before turning the ad card over to show the very hand.  The random 5 cards are revealed to be those very same 5 playing cards.

In this one-hour special Mad Method, Madison teaches many different ways to switch the dealt cards with ease to achieve this outcome.  This project includes new teachings and thoughts on The COHORT SWITCH, The MAD SWITCH, The PERFECT DEAL, HERITAGE, The MADISON SHIFT, The PICKUP SWITCH, The GC SWITCH, The SLAP SWITCH and more, but Madison’s main focus in the project is on ‘Nuance Card Switches’ - switches that don’t have a defined structure and switches that are broken into multiple moments or ahead of time whilst the participant is still dealing the cards.

In this project Madison uses The MAD HOLDOUT DEVICE - a new device from MADISON x O’HARE designed to holdout a deck of cards in many different positions for secretly switching one deck for another.  In this case this special device is used to hold out the winning hand ahead of the switch, and to take the switched cards afterwards.  This device is available at MADISON.cards

00:00 - Introduction
05:17 - The WINNING HAND
13:12 - The MAD SWITCH
13:12 - The MAD DECK HOLDOUT Device
23:00 - Loading The Hand
23:30 - The PERFECT DEAL
24:16 - Do As I Do
25:55 - The COHORT SWITCH
28:10 - The PICKUP SWITCH
29:39 - The PICKUP LAP SWITCH
29:54 - The MADISON SHIFT
31:22 - The GC SWITCH
34:31 - The SLAP CHANGE
34:31 - The DROP-OFF LAP SWITCH
39:06 - HERITAGE
47:59 - Standing Performance Notes and Switches
49:50 - The GC TURNOVER SWITCH

RECOMMENDED DECK

For those interested in the deck used during the demonstration, you can find The UNGAR Playing Cards here. 

(Note: The Ungar Playing Cards are featured for demonstration purposes only. Neither Stefanie Ungar nor The Ungar Center for Hope are affiliated with or endorse The Winning Hand or any Madison Cards training materials.)

ATTRIBUTION

Name, image, and likeness of Stu Ungar used with permission of Stefanie Ungar Campbell. Referenced solely in connection with The Ungar Playing Cards featured in this video demonstration.

BONUS CONTENT: The DECK SWITCH MASTERCLASS 

In this incredible 3.5 hour video tutorial, you'll learn the art of secretly switching one deck of playing cards for another from a true master of the deceptive arts, Daniel Madison. With over 40 different techniques, this downloadable video tutorial leaves no stone unturned.

ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS

You will receive access instructions for both videos, by email, after purchase. If you do not receive the email within a few minutes of checking out, please check your spam. Any problems, please contact team@madison.cards.