i have two ways of getting around it. if i am in an ambitions card routine, i will do the tilt. from there i am back into a DL and can continue what i was doing. another way around it is by putting both cards on top under patter. then taking just the top card and do a top change.

I agree with both, sometimes those hecklers are just guessing and bluffing and trying to just get a reaction from the magician..

That is true. Kadiro-Marlo is taught in many Sankey DVD's, Sankey's Greatest Hits is a good one to learn that move on.

What I do is try to use more than 1 type of DL, and sandwich a few tricks in between them, that do not use DL's say something with an Ascanio spread or Elmsley.. I have two different ways of twisting the aces... I alternate them in case I see someone that saw the elmsley version,...

I guess what I am saying is, do not rely on the DL as much, and always keep them guessing by using different methods.

One last thing you can do that i am going to try is, buy Card College Light, and learn a few " Self Working" non sleight of hand routines. This way they can look and look to their hearts content and not see a single sleight. THAT would be magic

Question: I use the strike DL. Let's suppose that I am about to do my dl, and discover to my horror that I cannot "reach" the second card. Somehow the first card is covering the edge of the second card and I can only pull one card.

How do you handle it?

thanks.

Since no one knows you goofed, what I would do, is... pause a sec..Look at the audience and make some appropriate comment as you dribble the cards from hand to hand. This way it gets the top two cards unstuck...

It just looks like. a " you know..something just occured to me... * as you dribble...* " then say whatever would be appropriate..

Then try for that double again. It also lulls your audience into an off beat moment... they assume this is " patter time." assume nothing is happening. Gives you time to get your double

Thanks mucho.

It is the dribble that gets them unstuck. Also it gives me time to regain my composure.

Glad I could help

I try to have good patter when doing a DL, so that in the worse case scenerio, I do not give my spactator time to speak or really evaluate what I am doing. They are usually concetrated on what I have to say or what I am telling them to do. Just my 2 cents.

Geese, people make a big deal out of such simple sleights...if somebody calls you out on a DL its because they know what it is. If you call any type of attention to any of your moves, they are going to catch you. You have to be NATURAL and nobody will ever suspect a thing. Let me say it again...NATURAL.

Just because someone knows what it is, does not mean they should be calling you on it. As you said aim to be natural. That means analyze what your favorite DL is, and make your non-DL's look exactly like it.

When we do something that looks different from what we do when we do not do something, that is when we call attention to it.

"The DL should be kept in reserve for tricks in which it is indispensable. Nor should the DL be a plaything with which to show your skill with cards; it cannot be emphasized too strongly that it is a secret subterfuge which should be used only as a legitimate sleight with which to obtain results not otherwise possible. The conjurer who makes a series of lifts-six or eight in a row-and believes that the average spectator will not reason out what is being done grossly underrates the intelligence of laymen." - Expert Card Technique: Close up table magic by Jean Hugard.

Nice! That is a cool quote. I am so printing that and hanging it on my wall...

I use the push off DL, looks more natural, and I try to turn over a single card like that too, that always helps stop the suspision