Card Trick Sleights And Sleight Of Hand
Card sleights including the double lift are very useful moves used to assist a magician to perform a card trick. The noun sleight refers to cunning or cleverness so together with a little misdirection these moves can help a trick achieve a very powerful effect.
Some sleights require greater hand dexterity than others but this page shows the workings of a few popular easy ones that when combined with a little practice will help you to achieve some spectacular magic effects.
Double Lift
This is one of the most important and useful moves that the aspiring card magician can learn.
Start by holding the deck in the left hand as shown in (photo:1). The fingers of the right hand, should be holding the top edge of the deck lightly and the thumb of the right hand, should be resting at the bottom left corner. Try tilting the deck so that when you look down that your are able to see the cards under the thumb.
The right thumb then lifts the edges of the top cards allowing all but two cards to fall back onto the deck as shown in ( photo 2 ). The right thumb now presses forward on these two cards so they press lightly against the right fingers and the thumb and fingers can lift the two cards free of the rest of the deck as in ( photo 3 )
If the right thumb and fingers squeeze the two cards lightly, maintaining a slight bend, the two will stick together as if they were only one card.
There are many ways of performing a double lift and it is one of the handiest and most essential card sleights. Practice this gem of a move until you get it perfect. You will reap the rewards many times over during your magic career, as it will enable you to present a strongly convincing performance.
It is very important to perform the double lift in the exact same manner as you lift single cards, so that your audience do not notice any discrepancy.
If you get caught performing this deceptively simple but very important move, the trick can be ruined as the secret is out.Hold mouse cursor over each photo for a description of each sleight of hand skill.
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How To Palm A Card
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The deck should be held as demonstrated in Photo:1 shown below.
Using your other free hand, bring your palm face down over the pack of cards, cradling them so it looks like you are merely just squaring up the deck. Take care to keep the fingers and thumb of your free hand closely together and gently squeeze the top card so that its top edge is pressing against the first joint of your fingers and the bottom corner is wedged against the fleshy base of your thumb. Photo:2
Keeping fingers and thumb close together, keep a slight bend on the card and stealthily remove your hand away from the spectators view. Photo:3
As long as the palm of the hand is not in view , this sleight will look completely natural and unsuspicious as it is not in an obvious gripping position or clenched fist.
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Easy Methods Of Forcing a Card
To"force a card" is to ask the spectator to choose any card and make them pick the card you want them to pick, while leaving them thinking that they had a completely free choice.
This way, you can create your own tricks. Just before performing your trick, select a card to force. Then, force that card on your spectator, let them view the card without you seeing it and then re insert it back in the deck.
Very Useful Ways To Force A Card : Being able to do a convincing card force is one of the most useful and most used basic skills in magic. It is important to be competent and have at least a couple of ways to perform one. The video below here will clearly show you 5 of the best methods.
Cross Cut Force : ( This is an easy method of forcing a card. There are many other forces to learn as well as these.)
Shuffle the pack of cards and sneak a peek of the bottom card.( Photo:1 )
Ask your spectator to cut the pack in two and to place the half that they have cut, face down on the table. ( Photo:2 )
Take the other half of the pack of cards and place it on top of the spectator's half at a 90 degree angle to form a cross. ( Photo3 )
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Use a little entertaining chat or make a funny comment to momentarily distract the spectator from the set up of the cards. This should ensure that they lose track of which one of the two piles was their one.
Now ask them to pick up the top half of the deck of cards, tell them to look at the bottom one of that pile and and memorize this as their chosen card.
They can then put the two half packs back together and shuffle the cards. The card they have just memorized is the one that you took a peek at before on the bottom of the pack while shuffling.
They should have convinced themselves that they have had a free choice in cutting the cards at this point while the real truth is that the card has been "forced" upon them.
The pack is held in the dealing position. It's a good idea to slightly bevel the pack towards the outer fingers. This creates a slight edge and makes it easier for the pinky to feel and count down through the cards, the pinky tip is pressed slightly into the pack which creates a small break in the cards above and below the pinky tip. The opposite end of the pack (nearest to spectator) should be held slightly higher than the end nearest you to conceal the break.
Also at the end of the pack nearest the spectator, the edge of the top card should be firmly pressed onto the next card down with your thumb to camouflage the break. If the selected card is to be presented to audience, flip over the cards above the pinky break as shown in figure 3, using the thumb to help the move. The selected card should then fall face up on top of the deck. Maintain the pinky break and repeat the flip to return the cards to their original position.
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Do A Riffle Shuffle
If the bottom cards are to be kept in position then they are allowed to fall from the left hand in the first movement of the shuffle.
The deck is split into two packets, the ends put together, the cards being bent upwards and released in such a way that they become interlaced.
To keep a card or a small number of cards on the top of the pack, you have simply to release it or them from the right hand portion of cards, last of all.
Card Vanish And Production
A card is presented in the magician's hand and vanishes right in front of your eyes. Even more amazing, is that the card appears again as quickly as it disappeared. This move requires a lot of practice but can be incorporated into many card tricks and your practice in perfecting the move will be well rewarded with smoother showmanship. The video below shows the performance and the secret.
Easy Card Change
This video shows a convincing card change with the use of a simple slide trick.
You can learn about card sleights secrets by viewing some good quality learning card tricks DVD's which are a good way to learn card sleights by watching close up videos of professional hands performing popular sleights, accompanied by a clear explanation which are available from most good magic shops.
How To Spin A Card
Being able to spin a card in your hands looks really impressive.
This link will take you to our magic tutorial page to learn the basics of this amazing stunt.
This link demonstrates How to control a card to the top of the deck which is a useful sleight to know as it can be used in many cool routines.
Or why not use the spread cull to control a card to the bottom of the deck.
A good book for learning card magic is The Royal Road to Card Magic which is a card magic classic and a valuable learning aid.
Conclusion
The above are just a few of the many sleights that can be used to take your shows and displays of manual dexterity to the next level.
To summarise, a sleight is just a little manipulation tool, used to make an impossible feat, actually possible i.e. you appear to have defied reasonable logic to pull off a truly impressive act of prestidigitation.
Go on and practice using these useful tools now and reap the rewards of your efforts.
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