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Comment by vlovich123 | Hacker News Reader

That’s basically the scam. At the end he has her bet one extra time and she loses. Except it’s revealed that Darren Brown had swapped out her ticket for the winning ticket somehow. Very likely he just placed bets on all horses and then did a sleight of hand to give her the winning ticket before she opened it. In other words he spent $20k of the show’s budget placing bets on all 5 horses and gave her the $13k of the winnings that were reclaimed from having bought a winning ticket.

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That's not what happened nor is it how he accomplished the "trick". There's no slight of hand or trickery. Everything is fully revealed near the end of the special on YouTube (which I linked). She won every bet, including the last. He never had any of her tickets nor did he even see her place her bets.

It's much simpler than that. Although the show appears in the beginning like it's a "magic trick" (though that is never actually claimed), in the end the audience is clearly shown how there's no trick at all. It's all simple probability and there really is no way to "beat the odds". Which IMHO is ultimately more entertaining and valuable than just some slight of hand or magic trickery.

Vlovich is describing the very last race only, where he did place the final bet. He takes her 4k and tells her he’s going to place the bet for her so how much she’ll win is a surprise. The horse he said he would bet on loses the race and then he reveals he actually bet on the winner. So for that race and that race only I do think he just bet on every horse and sleight-of-handed the right ticket to her. Timestamp 35:20 in the video you linked earlier. Right after that he explains how the “trick” worked for all the earlier races, which is what you’re referring to.

It's been several years since I watched it, so it appears I'm not remembering the circumstances of the last race clearly. I remember a race where there were multiple volunteer bettors at the track who were unaware of each other and only one of them won. Maybe that was the second to last race.

Anyway, I apologize for my error in recollection. I sincerely remember the gist of the show being as I described. Another reminder that memory can sometimes be weirdly porous yet not be correctly 'flagged' with an appropriate sense of uncertainty.

You might be misremembering (it's my fav DB show btw...)

It's not really revealed how he does the last trick. In the last bet she believes she loses because the horse he tips doesn't win - and during the race he reveals there is no system.

However, he places the final bet - not her - and after the race ends she opens the ticket to find it's placed on the winner, not the tipped horse.

Almost certainly it's slight of hand (which he is excellent at) but that is never revealed.

Yes, it's been several years since I watched it, so I guess I'm not remembering it clearly. I remember a race where there were multiple volunteer bettors at the track who were unaware of each other and only one of them won. Maybe that was the second to last race.

That’s fine. It was indeed the penultimate race shown where each bettor recorded themselves. The ultimate race had him and the lady and supposedly no other bettors. I take that at face value leaving betting on all horses and sleight of hand as the more likely explanation.

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