Right Handed vs Left Handed

James Wise Magic

Elite Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,021
13
Ok, question.


Why is it that when someone is right handed, you hold a deck in your left hand, and when your left handed, you hold the deck in your right hand?

Why is that? I realized this when I taught some of my friends easy stuff like a charlier cut and the key card effect just for kicks, and they all hold the deck in the right hand when they are right handed, I tell them to hold it in their left hand and they get confused and tell me that they are right handed, and I'm just like, yeah it's kind of reversed.

Also, Lee Asher also mentions in his Asher Twist about the whole: If your left handed hold it in your right hand and visa versa.

But why is that?
 
Aug 27, 2008
283
0
Tijuana bC
I think its because if you hold the deck with your left hand it means you right handed and I believe that is because really all the movement and slights will be performed with your right which is the hand your naturally comfortable with .. just a hypohesis
 
Jan 13, 2008
1,137
0
Holding the deck in your left hand frees up your right hand to do the majority of the things you'd normally do with your dominant hand (turn over cards, hand out cards, reach into your pocket to grab a pen, maybe draw or write on something, etc). :)

Note that not everyone follows the same rules about handedness for everything, though. I'm right handed, yet shoot left in hockey, golf right, putt left (which is odd, I know), bat right, hold cards in my left hand, to name a few things. Not all typical, although some are. :)
 
Aug 31, 2007
467
1
Canada
Yes, this is an odd thing, mind you, if they hold the deck in their dominant hand naturally, don't correct them. Ask them how they hold a deck when they deal cards. This will be where is most natural or them to work from.

I have a friend who I got started in magic, and he is right handed, but almost always holds the deck in his right hand. Unfortunately this also led to a bad habit for him, where he sometimes learns something with the deck in his left, and others in his right. Though it is good to be able to work magic from both hands, learning to do a slight with either hand, you should still have one hand which you know ALL slights from. It is rather sloppy to be switching hands with the deck just to do a move. Especially if it is a secret move.

Say you learnt your double lifts with the deck in your right hand, but when you decided to start practicing pinky counts you did so with the deck in your left hand. So, you decide to use a pinky count as a get ready for a double, then suddenly have to switch hands, lol.
 
Jul 14, 2008
936
0
It's quite strange. I am ambidextrous as well. Most of the things, I use it with my right hand, but when it comes to magic, I hold the deck with my right hand. Strange.
 
Jan 13, 2008
1,137
0
i think its like wearing a watch...if your right handed you wear it on your left wrist... same concept
Exactly, which frees up your right hand to do the things one normally does with their right hand, without the worry of damaging the watch (as the non-dominant hand would be used much less, and therefore faces danger much less). A great example of what I was saying earlier; thanks for mentioning the watch example. :)
 
Dec 29, 2008
183
0
GA
I hate that on tons of flourishing DVDs they don't say anything and they do it right handed. I'm a lefty so I have to switch everything around.
 
that's got to be annoying.

Hmmm, it can be, unless you learn how to use it properly.
If someone is teaching, and the shot is them facing the camera, not over the shoulder, then it's just a mirror image, which I think is a little easier for lefties.
However, if it's an over the shoulder shot, we have no choice but to reverse it in our heads, which leads to more problems. Oh well :(
 

lance_amini

Elite Member
Jun 22, 2008
85
0
Bahrain
if your righty you'll use your right hand to do the double lifts and everything thats why if your righty you hold the deck in the left cause you need to be comfortable while doing $H!TS
 
Apr 27, 2008
1,805
2
Norway
I guess its because In magic, the left hand (holding the deck) Really sin't oding anything special - you're grabbing, dealing, flicking, moving cards with your right hand.

The important, attention demanding movements happen in the right hand.

Gustav
 
Aug 31, 2007
1,960
1
34
Long Island/New York
I hate that on tons of flourishing DVDs they don't say anything and they do it right handed. I'm a lefty so I have to switch everything around.

QFT.

I'm a righty, but my dealers grip is held in my right hand thus making it a little more difficult to learn flourishes.

Lucky for us, we have Andrei and he's a lefty.
But all you righty's out there who have dealers grip in left hand, don't worry. I remember I spoke with Andrei about this and he told me that he was gonna teach it both ways on his DVD, somehow.

That's possibly why it's taking awhile for his DVD to come out. I'm not positive, that's just my inference.
 
Aug 31, 2007
467
1
Canada
With regards to flourishing, right or left hand dealiners grip should not be a concern. You can learn it from either hand.

Infact, as far as magic goes, the only point where it becomes an issue is when you want to take advantage of the indecies, and where they show when you spread, or don't show.

Also, I find that with moves like Pulp Friction, it interfers with it looking like all your other spreads due to the indecies and which hand you hold the deck in. This shouldn't be exposing anything, as it simply applies to the fact that you are reverse spreading the deck.
 
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