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Byron,

The thread seems to have floated away from your original question about the DL

If you are serious about learning this PM me.

You will have to send me a vid of how you are doing it and I will help you

You do not need set ups crimps or gaps or any other types of things mentioned to do it well. Just a bit of practice

Its a very good tool

Tenko wrote:
The thread seems to have floated away from your original question about the DL

Yes, I know what you mean; it was not my intention to allow for that to happen. I was actually a little confused myself.

Funny isn't it - when I was first getting into magic I wanted to learn the mechanics and sleights. Now, I'm more interested in creating natural entertaining magic through ROUTINING rather than complex finger flicking.

Please don't misunderstand - your DL technique must be good, but a well constructed routine with misdirection built in is essential. Gary Kurtz is a fantastic example of this - a superb techician but his thought into the construction of his routines is second to none IMO.

Sean,

I appreciate what you say about routines but the DL is a very useful comodity.

A couple of months ago I was in a club doing a card trick for a couple. I did the Classic and the woman didn't take it. She put her card into the deck and I shuffled it to the top ready for a spin.

She looked at me and said, Its on the top.

I did the DL and said, Is that your card.

She appologised and I then did the DL again and then spun the card. A good DL is always useful. Every good card man should know the DL, whether you do routines or Ad Lib.

Yes a good DL is important, but the construction of the routine in which the DL sleight is employed is more important.

There are two basic parts of the DL, the get ready and the actual DL - often the get ready part is poorly executed which shouts out "I've picked up two cards..." No matter how good the second part is, the get ready kills it. Some simple misdirection makes the get ready part invisible and then whatever DL you perform, it will be cool. Too often I see guys doing the get ready and DL with the spectator burning the hands - why?

Regarding the classic force, where a specific card needs to be selected I prefer to use the Hoffinzer cull force. This is 100%, very convincing - wicked, but well done for obviously performing a good DL to your spec

Have you looked into THE DBD, its a great dl, if you want i can provide you with a link.

"Many famous professional magicians are switching over and using the basic version of the Diving Board Double in place of their regular DL.

Do you still think we are pretending?

Now the hour has come for you to find out this versatile technique - time to switch over.

I proudly present a brand new instant download -- The Diving Board Double

Are you the type to settle for the usual compendium where one technique is weaker than the next? Do yourself a favor. Trust me and settle on one solid simple DL – the Diving Board Double."

I bought it and love is, i will post a reivew on it later.

http://www.leeasher.com/diving_board_double.htm

simplymagic wrote:There are two basic parts of the DL, the get ready and the actual DL - often the get ready part is poorly executed which shouts out "I've picked up two cards..."

Not necessarily true . The strike (hit?) DL does not need a get ready, full stop. The move is done as you turn over the card. Also, there are several get-readys that don't look very fishy, e.g. Larry Jennings snap double. If you snap your fingers that will get you the split-second misdirection you need for a snap double.

simplymagic wrote:Regarding the classic force, where a specific card needs to be selected I prefer to use the Hoffinzer cull force. This is 100%, very convincing - wicked, but well done for obviously performing a good DL to your spec

Ooh, I definitely second that!

Kati

The Royal Road to Card Magic is a wonderful book but the DL in this book is not the best version available. In fact I wouldn't bother with it. There are far better versions around.

The one I have used most is the Vernon one and the get ready he (or Ganson) describes in his classic book is a very easy one and requires no unnatural fiddling about. Just a tiny bit of misdirection.

I can also recommend the methods described in Paul Le Pauls book on card magic. There is a method described therein which requires no get ready at all.

For those of you in England who know Bobby Bernard he has a corner to corner method which also requires no get ready. If you approach him carefully he might be inclined to share it with you.

The key to the DL is to handle the card in a casual manner. Naturalness is the key to this sleight. If you handle the card as if it is gold plated and valuable then you are doing it wrong. It should be handled as if the card is quite unimportant.

Another thing to watch out for is that your magic does not suffer from "DL indigestion". It is a fault to overuse a sleight and there is a temptation to do this with the DL.

Less is sometimes more.

oh yeah! the dbd! frankly, i love the dbd.especially the acrobatic one. i do it constantly wherever i go. the the subway, in the coffee shop, mall, restraurant, on the streets, etc. it's pretty eye catching and someone will soon come up to u n ask for a performance.

however, the moves aren't actually quite as natural as it should be. i mean, no layman would snap a card to turn over a card. it would be somewhere along the line of pushing it off and picking it up. i agree that DL has to be as natural as it could be.

someone mentioned about daryl's encyclopedia of card magic. that's a very good place for learning general sleights. he offered a couple of very basic, very natural DLs. good place to start.

What about the 1 step DL without the prep step? Does anyone here know some good natural ones?

As I have already mentioned the method outlined in the Paul Le Paul book requires no get ready. Neither does the Bobby Bernard method which I don't think he has put into print yet.

I don't know what the fuss is about the get ready. It is as easy as hell. I do exactly what Vernon did or at least what is described in the Vernon book. You remove the single top card and bring it to the right face down. Indicate it or do as I do by flipping it with the right fingers. Make a remark about it in the context of the trick. The eyes of the spectators will go to the card. While they are looking at it push the card on the top of the deck over with the left thumb and draw it back again holding a break.

Replace the card in your right hand. Now do your DL.

There. Done. So what's the problem? Where's the big deal?

If pernickety people are now going to yap about "what is your excuse for taking the card away and putting it back again?" I think they need to get out in the world and not lead such sheltered lives. If they haven't the imagination to figure out a decent excuse I suggest they give up magic.

Alternatively they can go down to the local magic club and show their fellow incompetents lots of difficult sleights which they will never perform before a single living layman.

I was actually not concerned with the prep step at all. It's fine if it's there or not. I'm actually more concerned with doing a D/L that looks natural. The method I can perform most naturally at this time happens to be one without any prep step. Still, I'm curious to know if there are other methods that I could like even better since I'm not 100% satisfied with mine.

yes it is a DL but TM automatically changes the word to DL,

mark lewis wrote:
I don't know what the fuss is about the get ready. It is as easy as hell. I do exactly what Vernon did or at least what is described in the Vernon book. You remove the single top card and bring it to the right face down. Indicate it or do as I do by flipping it with the right fingers. Make a remark about it in the context of the trick. The eyes of the spectators will go to the card. While they are looking at it push the card on the top of the deck over with the left thumb and draw it back again holding a break.

Replace the card in your right hand. Now do your D/L.

There. Done. So what's the problem? Where's the big deal?

by far the most important and vital post in this thread... id suggest that EVERYONE reads and digests this

Naturally.

And while we are at it I think the Vernon DL takes a bit of beating. Extremely natural. This is also in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic by Lewis Ganson.

There is a similar type of DL in the Paul Le Paul book the main difference being that you don't bend the card longways.

I rather like the Leipzig DL. I have never seen a single magician except myself in the last 50 years do it yet it is in print for all to see. It makes a lovely little sound and looks perfectly natural. I have improved it slightly by combining a "kick" type DL with it. This "kick" thing is useful for putting two cards as one face up on the table and is described by Harry Lorayne in "Decksterity"