Best Way to Get a Break under Two Cards

[Karo-K54]

Many magicians preach getting a break before double lifts instead of doing push-off doubles or strike doubles... At least, the ones I know. But some magicians may use one method, another might be taught in a magic book, and another might be judged as too inefficient or beginner level.
What's the one you'd do?

This is, of course, presuming that you use a get-ready, and don't use lifts that don't require breaks.

 

[obrienmagic]

Me personally I use a strike double (meaning o just dig in and hit two cards every time.) but if you need a get ready then pinky count is the cleanest.

 

[Lord Magic]

Many magicians preach getting a break before double lifts instead of doing push-off doubles or strike doubles... At least, the ones I know. But some magicians may use one method, another might be taught in a magic book, and another might be judged as too inefficient or beginner level.
What's the one you'd do?

This is, of course, presuming that you use a get-ready, and don't use lifts that don't require breaks.

Nice question!

Well, I use the pinky count. I WOULD love to use a DL without any get-ready...but I prefer to be a 100% sure when I am doing a lift.
But of course, if your DL is get-ready-less, that's amazing, and prolly the best.

All that being said, for a good DL, naturalness is more important than the get-ready. I'd rather see a magician riffling the backs of the cards to get his break so seamlessly that I don't catch it unless I play the video at 0.5x speed on loop, than a magician whose whole body cramps up when he does the strike double or pinky count and his actions basically shout out
"I AM DOING SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS RIGHT HERE!!!!!!! ALERT ALERT ALERT!!!"



get my point?

 

[Jason England]

Funny - could've sworn I replied to this. Was it deleted for some reason?

Jason

 

[CaseyRudd]

Funny - could've sworn I replied to this. Was it deleted for some reason?

Jason

Hey Jason,

It could be that while posting your response, it may not have gone through due to a network error or internet connection issue, or the post button wasn't fully pressed. I've reached out to all of our mods and no one has touched or even thought about deleting one of your comments or seen a post from you on this specific thread.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Jason England]

My comment was essentially that every double lift uses a get-ready of some sort. A fine two-card pushover? That's a get ready. Feeling for two cards instead of one (or three) on a strike double lift? That's a get-ready too. There are doubles that don't use breaks to be sure, but I don't know of any double that doesn't use a get-ready.

Jason

PS: Clearly some get-ready actions happen extremely quickly and it may not be apparent that you're using one to a casual (or even an educated) observer, but it's there. If you think it's not there, then ask yourself this: what prevents you from accidentally grabbing one card or three cards? Regardless of the mechanism that accomplishes that, that mechanism is your get-ready!

 

[ZackF]

My get ready is similar to a riffle on the back with my thumb. I just simply lift 2 cards with the thumb. I guess it's also similar to a strike double where you just feel for 2 cards rather than riffling. Whenever I lift, I just can tell based off of the thickness if I lifted 2 cards or not. I've gotten to where I lift the cards between the first joint and the crotch of the thumb so there is less movement. Probably not the best way to do a double lift though; however, once I get a break underneath the 2 cards, I take my left hand (I do magic left handed) away from the deck and talk for a couple of seconds then come back to the deck and perform the double lift.
Also, not sure why I do magic left handed when I do everything else right handed.

 

[Karo-K54]

There are doubles that don't use breaks to be sure, but I don't know of any double that doesn't use a get-ready.

Thanks! I didn't think of it that way. If it's still possible, I'll try to rephrase the name of the poll. Thanks again for the insight!

(EDIT: Apparently I can't now, since people have already voted)

 

[JakeTay10r]

I usually get-ready by a thumb count. I either do this during a two-handed-spread so that I can easily see the cards, and it isn't suspicious in a spread-like fashion. This usually works really well for me.

Or maybe my audience is just really nice lol.

 

[tricksandbeats]

I usually take the top card of while making a gesture and then hold a pinky break under the top card, place the other card on top and you will have a break under two cards