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Just wanted to know, excluding the pass, what are the 5 most commomnly used sleights in card magic? What are the 5 most essential?

hey
this is an intresting topic, and may help a few newbies we might have on the forum, i am not saying i am not one lol. wel i aint a newbie newbies if you know what i mean.

Right back to the post, i would think the best useful sleights are:

DL
Palm
Forces
Top Change
false shuffle/cuts

Regards, Ben

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I would agree regarding the DL, but I'm not sure that I would call forces in general a sleight, some involve nothing sleighty at all.

A good false shuffle or two are essential, knowing how to control cards top and bottom or retain full deck order etc.

Some kind of shift would be handy, you said no pass, so probably a double undercut (though this is not really a sleight, more of a convincing deception)

If you are into packet tricks there are a number of counts that you would need to rely on, most important is probably the Elmsley, but Flustration counts and others are also valuable.

A top change is probably useful, but there are ways to get around it so I wouldn't think that it was essential, a good centre steal is probably more useful in a wider range of situations, wether you use it as a shift or to go to a palm.

To be completely honest, you could be a very efficient card magician with just a dl and a control shuffle.

I've got to agree with nickj. The DL is possible the most important single sleight. Card control moves are very important too, but should cover not only false shuffles but ones which actually move the card too.

After that, it's whatever you need to do the effect in question and I am not sure that any one or two sleights are necessarily more important than any others.

Hmm - I'd definitely add the one handed faro shuffle..
(actually I saw someone actually do this - it wasn't just a friend of a friend. I almost fell off my chair.)

To be completely honest, you could be a very efficient card magician with just a dl and a control shuffle.

Cool - there's hope for me

I'd definitely add the one handed faro shuffle

Well I can manage a one handed dovetail shuffle, and with a deck in just the right state I can almost get a perfect interleave, usually out by a couple of two card groups.

I'd say the glide, the backslip and a couple good false shuffles. The DL is important, and VERY effective, but I use it very rarely. The DL suffers with repetition.

Don't forget though that if you can string a few different types of tricks together, then you can quite happily get away with just knowing a false shuffle and a couple self-working tricks. Once you've learnt a few sleights, don't over-do them. Just 'sprinkle' them into your magic sparingly - never forget or discard the basics...

...don't be fooled by the sleights that I've got, I'm still, I'm still Zack from the block...

personally id say that although a DL is important, it isnt THAT important that it should be top of the list... there are countless others that are equally important.... Double undercut being one of them...think along the lines of Ascanio spreads...buckles... false counts....various controls (other than the double undercut).

if i remember correctly a DL isnt even mentioned in "expert at the card table" which although not exactly a "magic" book (well the second half is..see the "legerdemain" section) does have a lot of sleights/shuffles that can be used by magicians


BUT i will say that the DL does have a big part in magic just not as big as some make out

not being a cardie I can say with all sensarity that I have managed quite well all thease years witha thumb glide card force and a DL with my trusty stripper deck and thats all folks.

If you want to learn the one handed Faro shuffle you might like to have a look at www.virtualmagicshow.com/stuff and www.virtualmagicshow.com/bhm

Take care, Ian

Excellent demo - thanks!

The reason I think that the DL is the single most important sleight is that it is used in a number of routines and is a pretty "basic" card move.

I suppose that what one might regard as "essential" would depend on the sort of work one does.

For me, I'd say that I use false shuffles a lot, because I tend towards doing mentalism, so there's no need for flashy stuff with cards (indeed that can be a positive disadvantage).

The DL comes in handy for certain mentalism effects and Richard Osterlind has a nice one which involves the Elmsley Count (which luckily I learned many years ago).

However, were I a cardician doing strolling magic, I might regard card control as more important (for Ambitious Card, for example) and maybe the Elmsley or EYE counts for packet tricks. If I were a "gambler" style performer, then false deals and deck swaps would be relevant and if I were more of a manipulator, then palming cards could be the thing I do most.

Harry Lorayne regularly says something along the lines of:
"... I believe that if you can do one good card control, one good palm, and one good double-lift (in that order), you can do miracles for laymen."

If I had to add two more I would say a jog shuffle and a (convincing force) force.

okay, so the DL is indeed a must for every performer. does this mean that it is the most important sleight (other than the pass or some similar control)? isnt a good overhand more useful?

swiftshifter wrote:okay, so the DL is indeed a must for every performer. does this mean that it is the most important sleight (other than the pass or some similar control)? isnt a good overhand more useful?

And if it isn't the most important sleight (Not saying that it is) then what IS the most important sleight in the magician's arsenal?

Personally, not in any particular order I would say

-DL.
-Double Under Cut.
-False Riffle Shuffle retaining top stock.
-False Overhand retaining both top and bottom cards.
-Top Palm or possibly Bottom Palm (if i was able this would probably be the One Handed Top Palm.)