I am just curious about how many magicians are righties and how many are lefties. I know being left-handed gives you some disadvantages such as fanning the cards in a normal thumb fan, marking systems, and some gimmicks make it harder to use. How do you feel about this?
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Righty vs. Lefty
- Thread starter BenTCM
- Start date
I am right handed in nearly everything, but I guess when I started magic, I just picked up a deck of cards differently than most people. The amount of guitar that I play may also have something to do with it. It also makes it harder to learn flourishes, but it's not too bad. You can fan a deck and convince spectators that the whole deck has gone blank!
It is an interesting thing that I haven't thought about before though. Good question man, and I will definitely watch this poll's progress and results!
-emagician
It is an interesting thing that I haven't thought about before though. Good question man, and I will definitely watch this poll's progress and results!
-emagician
I'm just like you, emagician. I do everything I can think of right handed, except for magic and similar activites.
Ever since I was a kid I'd always pick up a deck of cards "left handed". I count money the same way as I deal cards, which I honestly had no idea was "wrong" until I started learning card magic and was told to hold the deck in a way that was extremely awkward to me. I thought it might be because my dad is left handed, and maybe I learned while watching him. However, when I asked him about it and performed a kind of 'test' by asking him to deal out some cards, he handles cards right handed. So that blows that theory. And confuses me even more.
At least I have yet to stumble across some piece of magic that I've been unable to do, which is nice even if sometimes it takes a little extra work or awkward handling. It does kinda irk me that there are some things that are just harder. I learned how to do fans and such right handed, but even the act of thumbing through a deck of cards gets all garbled up with the index being on the inside, and upside down. So I end up pushing off from the bottom of the deck with my fingers and spreading from there. I've gotten really good at bottom dealing because of this, so I guess there's a silver lining. There are also some color changes that would look really nice to reveal the index first, but I end up just showing a blank corner. Oh well.
Anyway, didn't mean to go off on this rant, I just thought I'd share my own left handed magic experience. I also found it really interesting that it's almost and even split between right and left handed right now. Granted, there are only 16 votes, but I'll admit I really thought I was in a huge minority. Great question, BenTCM!
And if some of you lefties aren't aware, there is a left handed bicycle deck that's AWESOME called the Lefty Deck. I like it much better than the "Poker Peek" deck they came out with that has indices on all four corners. However, I'll admit I did give an odd sort of double take the first time I saw them, they do look just slightly off to someone who handles cards regularly. You can check it out on Amazon here. I'm sure it's all over the internet if you want to price check. Maybe Theory11 will release some of their impressive decks tailored for us too, huh?
Ever since I was a kid I'd always pick up a deck of cards "left handed". I count money the same way as I deal cards, which I honestly had no idea was "wrong" until I started learning card magic and was told to hold the deck in a way that was extremely awkward to me. I thought it might be because my dad is left handed, and maybe I learned while watching him. However, when I asked him about it and performed a kind of 'test' by asking him to deal out some cards, he handles cards right handed. So that blows that theory. And confuses me even more.
At least I have yet to stumble across some piece of magic that I've been unable to do, which is nice even if sometimes it takes a little extra work or awkward handling. It does kinda irk me that there are some things that are just harder. I learned how to do fans and such right handed, but even the act of thumbing through a deck of cards gets all garbled up with the index being on the inside, and upside down. So I end up pushing off from the bottom of the deck with my fingers and spreading from there. I've gotten really good at bottom dealing because of this, so I guess there's a silver lining. There are also some color changes that would look really nice to reveal the index first, but I end up just showing a blank corner. Oh well.
Anyway, didn't mean to go off on this rant, I just thought I'd share my own left handed magic experience. I also found it really interesting that it's almost and even split between right and left handed right now. Granted, there are only 16 votes, but I'll admit I really thought I was in a huge minority. Great question, BenTCM!
And if some of you lefties aren't aware, there is a left handed bicycle deck that's AWESOME called the Lefty Deck. I like it much better than the "Poker Peek" deck they came out with that has indices on all four corners. However, I'll admit I did give an odd sort of double take the first time I saw them, they do look just slightly off to someone who handles cards regularly. You can check it out on Amazon here. I'm sure it's all over the internet if you want to price check. Maybe Theory11 will release some of their impressive decks tailored for us too, huh?
GeoffRamler, you said that you are right handed and your dad is left handed and you thought that might be why you handle the deck left handed. It makes sense. My mom is left handed and I am right handed, but I do almost everything except writing, sports, music and card magic left handed. When I open things, eat or drink I always use my left hand. I grab things with my left hand as well. I also reposition my controller in my hand when playing "The Impossible Game" on Xbox Live to where I am pressing the A button with my left thumb because my reaction time in my left hand seems to be faster than in my right hand.
All of my ranting aside, I am right handed and do ALL of my card magic right handed. In the past few months I have been learning coin magic and I perform about 90% of my coin magic as a left handed person would. It feels more comfortable and natural to me. I classic palm coins better left handed too which is kind of weird. The funny thing is watching me try to do the same vanishes and routines right handed. I look like I am trying to do coin magic with 2 claws at the end of my arms.
So my question is, where is the "both" option in the poll?
All of my ranting aside, I am right handed and do ALL of my card magic right handed. In the past few months I have been learning coin magic and I perform about 90% of my coin magic as a left handed person would. It feels more comfortable and natural to me. I classic palm coins better left handed too which is kind of weird. The funny thing is watching me try to do the same vanishes and routines right handed. I look like I am trying to do coin magic with 2 claws at the end of my arms.
So my question is, where is the "both" option in the poll?
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I guess when I was making this thread, I was thinking of only magic and not any other activity. I too am right-handed yet perform magic as a lefty. I was just curious to see how many magicians were right handed, or vise versa. So far, the results are rather surprising to me; 30% lefty and 70% righty is far different from what I thought the results would be. Because only 11% of the world's population are lefties, I thought the results would be between 5% and 15% for magicians. Interesting, isn't it?
This made me laugh for some reason.... obviously I'm just wrong in the head...
And I use both my hands to do magic....
Matt
You know shindrichs, I didn't even think about this because I mainly do cards and I'm just really starting to get into coin stuff recently, but I do most of my coin magic right handed, some ambidextrously. Very odd. I suppose I would also have to choose "both" in this situation as well.
And Rev... I see what you did there. Both times.
And Rev... I see what you did there. Both times.