I'm fairly new to magic but I've seen a one-handed double lift that just freaked me out the first time.

Is this something that is common? Is it rare? Is it something that is as usable as a standard DL?

Any thoughts?

Would this be a normal, accepted way of turning a card over in a card game or as a lay person would do? Or, is this just a eye catching piece for a magician?

IMHO, I believe you want to perform magic with natural moves and handlings to not arouse suspicion. If you want to impress the magic buddies at the shop or club meeting, then go for it. But if you want to FOOL the mind of the spectators, then I personally would opt for natural, non-suspicous handlings.

There are a bunch of one handed double lifts....Diving board double is one of them. I use a push off one handed DL. Don't know if that's the real name though lol. I get a break under two cards, push the two with my thumb, and when it gets to the end of the deck I flip it over revealing the double, then I do it over again.

You don't always arouse suspicion when being flashy or flourishy lol. Sometimes it's just eye candy, and sometimes you can use it in a routine with some patter, making a card seem animated (double).

There is a double lift that I'm not sure the name of. You basically get a break below the 2 cards and use a flicking wrist action to flip them over ontop of the deck. You repeat this to turn them back again.

10cards, this DL is LESS suspicious because basically you appear to be pushing off one card with your thumb (as described by djvirtualreality in his post). It is a much more natural way of handling cards than a traditional DL. That's why I was so interested in it.

Does anyone have any ideas how I might learn to do it myself?

lol I just thought of it and did it.

To be natural, a flourishy double lift is out of the question. There's the argument of the specs thinking "Gee, two cards would never flip like that! That must be only one!", which is absurd. A flourish like that can take away from the routine if used explicitly. It can actually make the spectators suspicious as to why you're being so flashy, or turn them off to the trick. Like someone before me said, a standard DL is better for laymen, and save the flourishy ones for your magic buddies.

My comments centered around my beliefs that moves and sleights should be executed in a natural manner. If you want to see what's natural, sit in on a friendly card game or play in a card game with 6-8 people. Watch how they handle cards, cut them, shuffle them, etc. Then try to make your moves fit naturally the way normal people do. When you fool them in this way, instead of very fancy moves, it makes the MAGIC much stronger.

That is a very good point!!! Everyone keeps saying "try and make it look natural" but everything we do is unnatural: the way we talk, the way we dress... everything is unnatural. The thing you need to do is make it looks easy, then it looks more normal. That's just my 2 cents

10cardsdown, I think you're agreeing with me, you just don't want to admit it!

The whole point is that a standard double lift is nothing like the natural way to turn over a card.

Surely, the most natural way for a layperson to turn over a card to display its face is by holding the deck in a mechanic's grip and pushing off one card with the thumb of the left hand, taking the card between the thumb and first finger of the right hand and displaying the face?

I can honestly see nothing unnatural about this process. Whereas, a standard double lift involves doing something the audience perceives as slightly odd even if it doesn't appear 'suspicious'.

ahhhhh haaaaaaaaaaaa! So you're saying a push off double lift would be the natural way to do it. Your right! That's my point. Now for the turnover, to do it one handed in a flipping motion letting two cards fall as one would be very unnatural.

We are agreeing somewhat. You simply push (?) the top card over and then turn it over in a natural way. No snapping, spinning, flipping, proving, etc. Just a natural turnover.

As for the term double lift, as has been stated before, it implies lifting. And of course in a card game, you don't lift a card, you deal it. That's why many of the cardmen refer to it as a "double turnover".

The point is to make it unsuspicious by turning over singles in the same manner as your doubles. You psychologically position the audience to understand this is the way you turn over cards.

Most laypeople have no hard handling skills, and the most natural way to display a card is usually picking up one card off of a tabled deck. Like devilsmagic said, most of what magicians do isn't natural, so your performance has to fit around your technique.

10cardsdown's comment on watching card games is terrific. I play cards a lot and have also tried to use what I've collected as "standard methods" used by laymen to create moves around those laymen methods to be the most deceptive I can be.

I think the push off DT is the easiest also. Sometimes, doing a twisting DT the cards weren't squared and I got caught. A push off DT simply looks like one card is being turned over

Harry Lorayne teaches a one-handed dbl lft on his stars of magic video. Very worthwhile addition to anyone's repertoire.

Dominic

Harry Lorayne's (one-handed) Ultra Move can, in most situations, be equivalent to a double lift. It's described in detail in his Afterthoughts book.
An easier sleight is Ian Rowland's Flexicon one-handed double lift described in his Alpha Series of lecture notes (Set II). Eventually they'll available at his web site http://www.ianrowland.com, but currently only at his lectures (I think).

Rene Lavand's one hand double is great, and eliminates the "turn down" problem. It is actually pretty natural I think, if you are using one hand.

Especially if you only have one hand, like Rene.

Check out Roger Klause "In Concert". His "soft double" technique can be done one-handed.

If you want to see someone perform it, check out Andrew Wimhurst's video. He does the one-handed DL on his "Aussie Cooler" routine.

Paul

I know Lee Asher has two different ones (acrobatic diving board double and the normal diving board double), Andrew Wimhurst does one (not sure if it's his though), Rene Levand has a couple, and Paul Harris has one (instant reply)...
That's all I can think of off the top of my head

LOL, exactly.

I would never use one-handed doubles for laymen. In fact, I wouldn't learn one period, because it is only my goal to impress them, not other magicians. If you learn to do a one-handed double just for the sake of impressing your buddies, you just look like a show-off anyway. Useless, IMO. Listen to legends like Vernon and Erdnase and you'll hear the same thing. If you can't trust them, who can you trust?