Left Handed problems!!

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Guest

Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 4:02 am

Hi,
i would like to adress a question about some problems i have with cards, since i'm a left handed!!
The biggest problem of which is: THE GLIMPSE.
Since the greatest books like Giobbi's suggest some methods that are not appliable for a left handed.
If i do the glimpse in the standard way, i will see nothing but blank space in the card, cause obviously the number is in the other side!
Well, maybe it sounds stupid but the U.S. COMPANY card could do some cards for the left handers, with the card indexes reversed!
Or maybe some of you could suggest me some methods to perform a glimpse, being a left-handed one!
Since the glimpse is a very important move, i'd like to be able to do it!
I must say that it is not possible that i begin to do things with the right hand, since i have not so much sensibility as the left hand.
So if you have some suggestuons..
maybe some left handed magician can help me!
Thanks!!
Red Flag Crim

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 4:28 am

Darwin Ortiz discusses a left handed glimpse in his last book Scams & Fantasies with Cards.

I think that some British playing cards come with pips on all four corners.

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 5:21 am

Originally posted by cgscpa:
I think that some British playing cards come with pips on all four corners.
Quite a few European brands of Bridge-size cards have four pips. Waddington's Number One is one such brand that's of Bike quality.

Dave

Ian Kendall
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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Ian Kendall » June 2nd, 2006, 5:36 am

Also, Waddington's have started making poker sized cards.

If you are having trouble getting four index cards in Italy you could contact Roderick Somerville at http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

He moved to France a few years ago, but still sells on the web.

Take care, Ian

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 6:22 am

Isn't it suspicious that i use cards with 4 pips?
Won't people think they're unusual?
And more..i won't be able to do those tricks which invole the glimpse with a borrowed deck.
Don't you have some methods to glimpse with a normal deck of card?
And is it so absurd to make some bycicle cards with the pips invertd?
I know they'll have to manifacture a great quantity of those,
but maybe some magic house can have the U.S Playing Card Company to manifacture them.
Or are we left handers so few in numbers?

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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Ian Kendall » June 2nd, 2006, 7:44 am

Four index cards are not that rare; also remember that normal people don't care what cards are being used.

Max Maven pointed out a very valid point in Magic several years ago; a performer was using Jumbo index cards in a stage show, ostensibly to make it easier for the audience to read the cards from a distance. Max mentioned that over ten feet away, people read the card from the pattern of the pips, and the reduced size of the pips on a jumbo index card made is _harder_ to read...

However, if you want to limit yourself to two index cards you might want to investigate the heel peek.

Take care, Ian

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 8:32 am

I'm not necessarily advocating four-pip cards as the solution to your problem. I'm merely observing that they're common in Europe.

Originally posted by crimsonking:
Isn't it suspicious that i use cards with 4 pips?
Won't people think they're unusual?
When I first used a deck of Waddington's Number One's, it was a while before I noticed that they had four pips. So if I didn't notice, the spectators probably won't either.

Dave

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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby pduffie » June 2nd, 2006, 8:46 am

When lay people go to buy a deck of cards, they don't go looking for Bikes or any other high quality pasteboard. They buy the first cheap deck they can find. Over here, that usually means a deck from China or Taiwan. And they most often have 4 indices.

I would say that a deck with the pips inverted for left-handers is more likely to be considered unusual!

Peter

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 10:20 am

US Playing Card company does make Bicycle cards with indexes on all 4 corners. They are sold as Bicycle Playing Card Game Sets (2 packs each), such as Pinochle, Rummy, Canasta, etc. Each game set has a different back design, from standard to League Back to Racer back. The indexes, however, are not all the same size. They have standard sized indexes in the upper left and bottom right as usual, but the oppposite corners are smaller indexes. Visit this link if you want to see the different sets they sell:

http://www.kardwell.com/bicycle-game-sets.htm

This picture unfortunately doesn't show the indexes themselves, just the boxed sets and different back designs, but if you do a Google search you can find what they look like in just a moments time. Most sources I find for League Back cards are offereing this 2 pack set with the 4 indexes. Hope this helps anyone that is interested,
Alan M.

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 12:21 pm

Martin Lewis has a glimpse for the left-handed person called "The Sinister Glimpse." It appears in Richard Kaufman's Inner Workings column in the July 1994 issue of Magic.

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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby George Olson » June 2nd, 2006, 12:57 pm

Stephen Minch had a great book for leftys:


Creations of a Magical Madman...

(A Theater of the Absurd For the Close-Up Performer)

The Cover makes it one of my favorite "coffee table books!"

GO

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 1:02 pm

So do you think it is something that can be overcome?
And do you think that there are other moves that can substitute the Glimpse?
Or is it fundamental?

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 2nd, 2006, 1:37 pm

My solution was to learn a glimpse from a spectator peek (which must also be done from left hand dealing grip). It's not like you CAN'T learn to do it right handed, and the way I frame the moment it actually makes the peek and glimpse stronger. Here's why...

Is is common to do the spectator peek with a false start, holding the pack at the extreme fingertips to explain how to peek and then lowering it into dealing position to do the peek and catch a pinky break.

If you are left handed you can start to explain the peek process and then "notice" that they can't see the indexes unless you change hands. This has the same effect as the traditional method, plus it subliminally suggests that you can't be doing something tricky since you are holding the cards "backwards". Just the smallest hint of akwardness in handling makes a very strong impression, so don't overdo it.

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 13th, 2006, 6:57 am

From another Left Hander, I've got some of the same issues. Actually I wouldnt really call them issues, I've not hit a wall head on..maybe just dragged my heel a bit. Instead of doing a bubble peek or something of that nature, I just do a quick glimpse by lifting the inner right corner with my thumb a touch. Doesnt take much of a lift to see it. There are options for lots of stuff...thus far. I've only been handling a deck of cards for a year or so...so what do I know [Smile] .

Great thread.


Richard Kaufman had mentioned a move or 2 that could ONLY be done by Left handed people, but for some reason it's escaped me. I can't remember if any of them were the ones mentioned already.

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 29th, 2006, 10:29 pm

Here's a wake-up call. Why do you have to do sleights left-handed in the first place? In the case of cards and coins, handedness is learned. If you want four index cards, check with Shaun Yee. Meanwhile, why don't you figure out your own peek? This isn't rocket science.

I taught fretted instruments for a long time. Once in a while, I would get a beginning student who was left-handed, who would come to his first lesson with his instrument strung backwards, or he would be looking for a left-handed 5-string banjo. When playing a fretted instrument, left-handedness is not a disadvantage. So much of the work is done with the left hand, that it actually can be an advantage to play on a right handed instrument.

If you think about the way the face of a card is laid out, I think it will dawn on you that you need to figure out a way to look at the other end or the other side of the cards.

For example, if you want to glimpse the top card, buckle it slightly and look at the end closest to you.

Glimpsing off a riffle is not difficult, either. Riffle at the right hand corner of the deck and look at the left hand corner.

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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Ian Kendall » June 30th, 2006, 12:19 am

As a sort of aside; when I started learning guitar I made the choice to learn right handed, so that I would be able to borrow guitars and play. It took a while to get out of playing air guitar left handed, but now (however many years later) holding one left handed feels very strange.

Then I found out that Mark Knopfler is left handed...

Take care, Ian

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » June 30th, 2006, 9:06 am

Originally posted by Ian Kendall:
Then I found out that Mark Knopfler is left handed...
And that guy that used to be in "Wings" -- Paul something-or-other.

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Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Ian Kendall » June 30th, 2006, 10:26 am

The difference being, of course, that Knopfler plays right handed, and McCartney plays left handed.

Take care, Ian

Guest

Re: Left Handed problems!!

Postby Guest » August 31st, 2006, 8:54 pm

Just read this thread and saw that Crimson is looking for cards that might be easier for lefties to peek at. Here is a link that might be of interest to him as well as others.

gamble.co.uk

This site has Waddington poker size decks as well as Linen Excelsiors by Del Negro that are indexed on all corners.


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