Hello All,

I'm sure this has been discussed many times before... I'm always looking to improve my card handling skills. I thought I'd 'mastered' the double lift and was sailing along just fine until, I was busted the other night!

Ouch.

Anyway - I would very much appreciate your feedback on: what's the best, most detection-free, most useful double lift that you've used or seen.

I realize that I should have used better misdirection during my 'move' and therein lays the real problem. However, I was sincerely wondering if any had some feedback for me re: favorite double lift method.

Thanks in advance for your help - and no, I realize we can't discuss actual method on this board but would appreciate a citation or reference to specific method on a video, book, etc.

Oh, for the love of Peter!

Go to the search function, type in double lifts, and you'll find all the info you want.

If I had a buck for everytime this subject has been debated, well, I'd have a few bucks!

Ben

Daryl's encyclopedia of card sleights vol 5. It covers many lifts, and more importantly, the get ready's. You can actually see how the move looks when it is properly executed, and you'll find different lifts for different situations.

Is this a new thing - bashing people for asking questions? I have an idea...I figure that about every question anyone could ever ask about magic is somewhere on the Café. We should all ask Steve to shut the board down and give us all a link to the archives. That way people like Ben wouldn't have to be bothered!

As for the original question, get a copy of Greg Wilson's Double Take. It a great video and will help you improve your DL's in no time!

William,

Thanks for the reply! I'll take your advice and get Greg's video. I have his other videos and was unaware he had one on the DL.

Best, Ben

I would try roger klause' soft double. Also, derek dingle (i think) has one where you hinge the double off of your palm. Very slick indeed. I agree william, and as for mr. cummings, keep on asking, and we will keep helping!

There is no "best" double lift. I think it was Paul Daniels who made the point that the best double lift to use depends on what you are going to do next. I wholeheartedly agree. The one that looks most natural in the context of what you are doing.

And be sure to use them sparingly or no matter how well done, you'll end up tipping the gaff!

Its not a double lift its a double turnover! Write your congressman , we have to change this error in terminology.

Well said William! If i got a condescending comment everytime i asked a question here, you know what? Id probably go away! Always thought this forum was here to help our brothers, not take cheap shots. Anyways back to the topic...

I prefer the Larry Jennings Snap Double myself. It's easy and effective. I have made one small change though. Instead if letting it 'SNAP', i do it very softly and quietly. I simply reach down and lift as if i were going to execute a strike double. Its all in the timing, but looks great.

As mentioned above, use them SPARINGLY!

block push off or ken krenzel natural lift

Euan

My vote's for Krenzel's natural double lift (in Classics of Ken Krenzel). It can even be adapted to lift half the deck (also in the book). Though, I'm still working on that part.

And furiousgeorge, I don't know about you, but one does lift two cards in a DL. In my opinion, the fact that they're then usually turned over on top of the deck is just a minor detail.

Cheers,
dchung

In future posts of a sarcastic nature I shall be sure to include [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] tags.

Anyhow its this question does come up alot. Its entirely subjective. Beyond the flourishy methods, any method you perform and understand is the one you use.I can understand a terse reply when its obvious the poster didn't seem research the question. Which would be appallingly
copious and easy information to gain.

This touches to the heart of the magic fraternity.It seems to me that a majority of magicians who I meet and read the posts of, are looking for the silver bullet, " THE MOVE" That one thing that will gain you instant glory. There is no method, no sleight , and no patter that can create magic if you don't understand how , why and what you are doing. You can whip out an invisible deck and fool the bejezus out of a lay person. But, if you understand the preformance, it will be something that they will never forget. Trite but true, a useless platitude..........

[sarcasm]Okay, just kidding I have the secret right here, its magnetic ankle bracelets . They make you taller, better looking, and smarter. Your pass will be invisible and the ladies will love card on forehead. If you feel awkward about wearing jewlery on your feet I also have homeopathic skill in a bottle. I placed a deck, that I passed around at the last four conventions I attended, into a crystal bowl filled with spring melt water from an antartic glacier and applied my patented homeopathic shaking prodcedure. Then I dillute it to a concentration of 100c. The bottled water costs 200$ an ounce and the bracelets cost 300$ apiece( I recomend one for each foot). I ve recntly sold out of the water tho, I don't know when I'll be able to create more.



Results may vary. [/sarcasm]

I don't understand any "terse" response to a question. If anyone here has a problem with such basic questions such as about the Double Lift, then simply don't answer them! Yes, I figure that a search would have yielded some threads on the topic, but I can argue the same about 99% of the questions asked.

People need to get off their ego trips and extend a hand to help others. If you don't have for such questions, then again don't reply.

My grandfather once said if you don't have something helpful to say, than don't say anything at all. Take the advice guys...it's free!

Hello, this is my opinion taking some advices from the Professor Dai Vernon, the best double lift is the one that looks natural, just ask a layman person to take a card and turn it face up and then turn it face down, that´s the way a double lift should be.

I think is the best and then you must turn all your singles as the same way as you turn the double.

Just a thought
MAGO68

Not only that, you can just as easily post a response stating that there is a search fuction which could be very useful. Maybe they dont know that? Duh! Or, as MANY helpful brothers out there have done, post some links of some past discussions and let them go from there. There is no need for an antagonistic response PERIOD! As far as im concerned, the folks who do this can take their ego trippin attitudes elsewhere. Just be nice, is that really so much to ask? I am sure when you first started out, you were looking for some helpful advice huh? dont think you would have liked the, " GO AWAY PEASANT!" attitude when you asked for some. Nuff said!

This is an aspect of double lift theory that I would have to respectfully disagree with. It's important to remember, we shouldn't emulate a layperson who has never handled cards. I'm sure everyone out there has encountered some laymen who can barely shuffle cards without dropping them, and others that can riffle shuffle the cards in the hands very nicely (the latter are usually people who play cards regularly.) After all, even though we should be natural by all means, we are not hiding the fact from laypeople that we in fact handle cards often. I think that if one is to go along with this way of thinking, one should try to turn the card over as would a person who handles cards regularly, and in a comfortable way.
Other than this route (which could be referred to as the "natural" one) there is also the thought that one could do a double so flashy and flourishy, that it would seem impossible to a spectator that it is only one card that is being turned over.
Its just a matter of which one works well for you.

Hope this helps.

Alpen

Mmmmmmm.... I think you guys are missing the differnce between terse, rude and dismissive. Terse means abrupt and annoyed and is by no means an ego trip. His post also contained a reasonable suggestion. But he wasn't rude , dismissive nor belittling. And I feel an oncomming admin-intervention, I see it hovering over in the distance, slowly advancing to arrive with the dawn.

Thanks for the grammer lesson! So if I get this right...his response was terse, but not rude. Wow! Forget everything I posted then. I guess I was a little terse!

Get Wilson's Double Take on VHS. It is tremendous! He covers so much on this tape. The only negative is the lack of DVD format. I have both Double Take and Daryl's Encyclopedia Volume 5 (covering lifts) and Wilson's tape is way better.

A natural lift is the strike double by Doc Daley if I remember correctly. You just turn over two cards.