So lately I have been practicing Houdini's version. I use to do the push off, but I didn't think it looked as "normal" as Houdini's version. Sadly I am having a bit of difficulty perfecting it. Practice makes perfect, but I was wondering if perhaps there was another version that was better for me to learn?

I don't there is a universal "best DL". Do the one that looks the most natural for you. I just do a standard DL, but Lee Asher's Diving Board Double is pretty awesome, too.

Best DL is one that doesn't look like a DL. Find that, then practice until your hands bleed.

True that.................

I dont know how houdinis DL is, but I like the strike double, check it out! c:

I use the double push off from Andi Gladwin's Master Pushoff dvds that just came out. It has no get-ready, looks extremely natural, and it has a ton of applications. It's quite nice to not have to think about doing a DL.

I'm honestly not sure what DL I use... for the longest time I thought I was using the Derek Dingle DL which I learned just from watching Blaine and Gregory Wilson. However its come to my attention that Wilson uses thew Knock Out DL... so I kinda think I must be using a hybrid of the two?

Double lifts are more about attitude and context than technique. I'm not arguing that technique doesn't matter. It certainly does. If people can see what you're doing, then they're obviously not going to be fooled by it. However, to truly use the DL to its full potential, you need to think about the justification and motivation for your actions. This is especially true of the get ready.

If you're willing to put in the work, Andi Gladwin teaches how to perform the Double Pushoff on his new DVD. This requres no get ready but will take significant practice to get down smooth. A pinky count is another valid approach. There's a good description of it in Darwin Ortiz's book, At The Card Table.

I personally like the Stuart Gordon Double Turnover or a straight book style turnover which is probably the most common. I hope this helps.

Caleb
http://www.CalebWilesMagic.com

I use the strike and riffle-count (whatever the edited it's called).

They just feel the most natural to me (I started out using the riffle... so it's become habit).

The best DL is the one that you feel best doing- like Akira said

I still prefer the the Knock Out DL most of the time as it is completely fool proof and has no get ready. I often find myself using the standard thumb-count get ready approach. I find that eye contact and patter cover a subtle thumb count. I also find that a carefully placed pause after the get ready in combination with a casual gesture with the deck negates any suspicious.

Seems a lot of magicians get dogmatic about what a DL should look like, how a layman would lift a single and the motivations for the DL. I think that as long as your consistent and the spectator is fooled, all in-depth discussion is just academic. Magicians do funny things with cards that don't always look natural and the spectators, in my experience, could careless as long as they're being fooled and entertained.

I just watched Harry Lorayne on DVD yesterday and he was using and recommending a thumb count. His DL looked pretty unnatural to me at times - even holding the double away from the deck (I've been scolded by magicians for doing this). However, he is wildly entertaining. I don't think the spectators ever thought, 'Wait a minute, I think he counted two cards with his thumb!' even though a magician could detect Lorayne's thumb count. Furthermore, there are times within his script where he wants the spectators to think that something funny has happened. In other words, Lorayne seems to be weaving odd looking moves throughout his routine to keep the spectators off balance.

I have noticed that everytime a magician on YouTube uses the break DL where he goes to the bottom corner of the "top" card with thumb and index finger and turns the card over, the comments are filled with posts about the magician using the DL...

It seems to me this is the most common method that non-magicians call to be a DL, and should be avoided.

As much as I dislike people showing off tricks on YouTube they haven't fully mastered yet, a lot can be learned by the comments posted below... Good and bad...


-Widding

The best DL is the one that looks exactly like you do a single lift. However you lift one card, you should make your DL look like that...or change how you lift one card to look like how you do a DL.

Aaron Fisher gives a GREAT little video lecture here;
http://blog.ellusionist.com/aaron-fishe ... t-for-you/

That was great...thanks for the tip. I got new perspective on the DL.