Just out of curiousity, is anyone using Michael Skinner's personal memorized deck described in his "Classic Sampler" book?

Not me. Hoever, I purchased the manuscript waay before I was even remotely ready for it...and it went up on my shelf and hasn't seen the light of day for 25 years. Time to dust off that gem and thoroughly go through it. And, hopefully, any memorized deck routine taught in the manuscript is "stack independent". That would be a real treat for me since I use the Aronson Stack.

I have not actually used, in performance, the Set-up Pack described on page 35 of Michael Skinner Classic Sampler. However, when I bought the book years ago, I did set up a deck and tried to work through the effect on page 35. Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, the set-up given on that page is not the correct set-up for getting into Mental Selection Speller and Vernon's Poker Demonstration. Rather it is the set-up you would get after five out-faros, which is the set-up that he describes for the next effect on page 37. I don't know if there were any releases after the first edition and whether or not this problem was corrected but if you are having trouble trying to use the set-up for the Mental Speller and Vernon Poker Deal, then try doing three more out-faros and see if you end up in new deck order. If so, then your book has the same problem as mine.
Regards,
Barry