Which Hand to Hold the Deck With

Good morning,

I'd suggest you use the hand you feel most comfortable with when performing the sleights.

I'm not sure if you're left-handed, but it sounds like you are. Just keep in mind that the techniques in most magic books are explained for right-handers—meaning they hold the deck in their left hand. So, you'll need to mirror the moves as you learn them.

First off, @GuilleMac, welcome to the club (and congrats on your first post!).

@GuilleMac:

Here's the deal: I saw that they recommend always holding the deck in your left hand, but I originally learned to do it with my right.

Right off the bat, "recommendations" are just that... recommendations.

If you're right-handed but do things better as a lefty, what's the problem???

Even if you're ambidextrous, that's totally valid.

Obviously, depending on the effect, constantly switching hands for different moves might not be entirely "visually correct."

You'll have to judge how "good" it looks.

For the rest, in my opinion (I'm no master, okay?), there shouldn't be a problem.

@GuilleMac:

Should I get used to doing it with my left hand instead? Could I alternate hands depending on the tricks?

It never hurts to know how to do (and practice) things with both hands :slight_smile:

Cheers and good magic!!!

Hey there. Here's another take.

First off, of course you can perform any sleight with either hand. What really matters is what feels most comfortable and executes best for you. That's purely from a technical standpoint.

But... as you know, spectators don't see sleights. So, I think the smartest approach is to make all your card moves look as natural as possible. Otherwise, if it doesn't look natural, even if the spectator doesn't know what you're doing, they'll see something suspicious, and it stops being magic – it becomes manipulation. Spectacular and clean manipulation, sure, but still manipulation...

Think about playing cards (and I'm not talking about a magic trick here, but a real card game like poker, bridge, etc.). What's natural? If you're right-handed, the deck rests in your left hand, and your right hand does all the dealing, counting, and so on. If you're left-handed, it's the opposite. You'd never see someone shuffle with the deck resting in their right hand, for instance, and then switch the deck to their other hand to deal. If you saw someone doing that, you'd probably think they were trying to cheat.

In conclusion: my recommendation is to do everything with the same hand, whether it's your right or left. At least for the duration of a trick (or routine, whatever you prefer to call it). And I'd go even further: I'd suggest you perform all the tricks in your show either entirely 'right-handed' or entirely 'left-handed' to make everything look as natural as possible.

Best,

I'm right-handed, but there are "moves" that I find more comfortable doing with my non-dominant hand, you know? It's pretty weird because it really depends on the execution.

For the Double Lift, I'm more comfortable holding the card I lift with my left hand and keeping the deck in my right hand, even though, in theory, I learned it was better to always hold the deck in the left hand.

On the other hand, when the move requires pressure directly from one hand, like color changes, I'm more comfortable with my right hand. In that case, I hold the deck in my right hand and execute the move with that same hand...

Hope I'm making sense 😅