Can anyone describe the many different types of double lifts that you guys do and how to do them?

The one I am currently doing is the block push off, whereby you use your left thumb to push off two cards, your right middle finger turn the top right hand corner of the card and twirl it around clock-wise face up - the one that David Blaine is doing.

I use mainly the snap double and the hit double (?)

The hit double lift needs no get ready.

I perform a snap double as well. How is the "hit double" lift done?

I also casually turn the double sideways like a book, slightly outjogged, so that my left index finger can push down on it slightly as I square up the double - this helps me establish another pinky break for the next double lift.

digitaltrip

"The one that blaine is doing" is actually a Derek Dingle double lift. It is the best one I have found. Sometimes, I do use a snap double lift as well.

I use the snap DL, the one handed Damico Double and the one handed spring set double lift.

I use the snap double. I have the best luck with it and I think it looks the most natural for me. I've seen Paul Wilson's double lift on his website and it is very nice. Also I really like Lee Asher's double lifts on his website: The Acrobatic Diving Board Double and the Non-Acrobatic Diving Board Double.

Snap Double

There is no better double-lift than Dai Vernon's Double-Lift which can be found in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic. I've learned many, but Vernon's is by far the best and most natural I've come across and the only one I ever do anymore.

I use the same one oz (from penguin) uses. Also, isn't a block pushoff different than a double lift?

I use my own DL, I like it a lot, it looks fancy and you have complete control of all the edges.

There too many DL out there...the one I'm using is the double push off and the one teach in RRTCM. However, as you guys mentioned the snap double or hit double which I've never heard of. Can someone give me a very brief description for the DL they know??? thx..

I use a snap double and a block pushoff.

If you want instruction on how to do them, Greg Wilson's Double Take is a really good video on different double lifts and their uses

Double Take is definitely the way to go... Greg is da MAN!!!!

By "hit" double lift, do you mean a "strike double lift"?

Greg Wilson's video is a great resource for learning a double lift. It demonstrates and explains several strong DLs that you can "test drive" and pick the one (or two) that suit you.

Another great resource for learning the DL is Daryl's
Encyclopedia of Card Sleights Volume 5.

PM me if you would like any additional information on either of these.

and to answer your origional post, I use the strike
but just learned Lee Asher's Diving Board Double.
( I have the non-acrobatic down pat, still working on
the acrobatic). I really like this double and use it
every day among my magician friends but it has not yet graduated to public exhibition!
I do it a bit differently than taught and the double is jogged a bit forward of the deck as well as to the side... very disarming.

Also look at Cliff Greens work, he has some interseting DL's where by the card is pivoted on one of the left hands fingers and then it can be taken and spun round with the right hand.
Also consider the centre double as the start for your ambitious card routine. Hope this helps.

I use to perform Arturo De Ascanio´s double lift, is very natural and beautiful. Rafael Benatar showed it to me one night when we are in a restaurant together. It´s maybe one of the best doubles in the market.

All the best magic,

Pablo Tejero

This IS a great DL, and is described in detail by Ron Bauer in one of his "Private Studies", I think it is the "Mechanical Deck" manuscript. Bauers' description makes the Vernon technique understandable, and is drawn from many conversations/sessions between Bauer and Vernon, so it is probably the best description and tutorial extant, just one of the many benefits derived from Bauer's "Private Studies" series. I agree that it is as good as they come for some situations, but not necessarily "the best". The best all around Two Card Turnover Technique I have ever seen, and the one I use almost exclusively, is Bauer's own. If you go to his website, (www.thinklikeaconjuror.com), there is a video clip of it in action. It did appear in a Magicana in the eighties (the Charlie Miller column that ran in Genii magazine), but otherwise is unpublished. The hope is that Bauer will put it out with the other material he has slated for inclusion in the "Private Studies". The third DL technique that is astonishingly good, and often confused with the Vernon method, is Marlo's, and appears in the book "Marlo in Spades", one of the best "bang-for-your-buck" books available. Happy hunting...

Best, PSC

Mr. Chosse, do you have a link to the video on Mr. Bauer's site? I've visited the site but I can't seem to find the video. Thanks in advance.