I remain fascinated with this effect and have spent some days trying to devise for myself the two half-deck variation, where where the first spectator views his selection in the the first 26 cards of the deck and the second sees it in the next 26.

The deck order I have come up with bases itself on the faro re-stacking pack variant, though I can't yet do a perfect faro and so no such shuffling is involved. My original idea maintained the top 26 cards of the faro re-stacking order, and set the rest of the deck as though it was reset by single out-faro called for in that version. Obviously this required thirteen duplicates. With some experimenting I was able to get rid of the duplicate requirement, simplify the fishing (only four probes maximum are required [as opposed to the original five], and often only three), and allow enough flexibility to mix up the upper and lower stacks as much as one likes, as long as they are coordinated with one another (those who know the trick know what I mean by that).

The advantages to all this is that it speeds up the original effect (you count through just 26 cards for each spec, not the whole deck), the number of possible "outs" is cut in half, and the memory work around the fishing is simplified. The huge disadvantage is that the stacking is very much a one-trick-pony, even more so than in the original. At least the original stack is in an easily remember rosary order similar to Eight Kings or Si Stebbins. In my solution even that useful aspect is gone.

The one thing I have struggled with in considering the excellent versions of Jan Forster, Barrie Richardson, and Juan Tamariz is that remembering how to fish for each of the possible "outs" is more taxing to my brain. In Simon-Eyes, the fishing algorithm is always the same, no matter which selections are in play. Moreover, even though it is often presented as a liability, I really think that going through the entire pack in Simon-Eyes, either twice all the way or half a deck for each spectator, seems more complete, magical and impossible. Other approaches confine the selection to 10 or 12 pairs (or triplets). But it does speed things up a lot and leaves a stack that is useful for many other effects before and after.

Just some more food for thought.

Les