It seems to me that different types of sleight-of-hand work each have their own little feels. I say this because it has taken me a while to do anything but learn a few card tricks by rote, while being able to "get a feel" for cups and balls and coin work, so that I could improvise. I am only now starting to "wrap my head around" the thinking that goes into card work. Perhaps because while the setups with the other items is usually just a one-ahead plan, cards might require reverses, cards shuffle partway down in the deck, a move that doesn't payoff until three steps later in the trick etc.

Or have I just been too lazy to put the work in?

Are you too lazy to figure out if you've put the work in on your own? hmmmm

Yes some of the card stuff is intricate in its design. That can be said of the cups and balls too though. Don't do coins, so can't comment.

sumit

That's funny. I love that kind of humor.

It's the difference between rote memory of each trick and getting a feel for how the tricks work, being able to see alternatives, or the flow of the logic. That's what I'm finally getting.

I now get the same little bit of fun out of seeing a deck of cards waiting on the desk that I have always gotten from having even 5 minutes to work with the cups and balls or sponge balls.