Card Magic

I have always loved card magic. When I was a kid, my dad knew 3 card tricks. He taught one to my brother, one to me, and kept one a secret. It was great fun having a trick that my brother didn't know, and it was almost equally fun trying to figure out how he did his. From then on, I've greatly appreciated and enjoyed close up magic in general, but card tricks in particular. The decades of practice that go into refining the skill of a really great sleight of hand artist is deeply impressive to me. Any idiot can wave their arms around in a poofy shirt while set designers and stage hands do all the real work, but with expert sleight of hand it is purely a practiced skill.

Recently, through the magic of YouTube, I've been revisiting various tricks as performed by some of my favorite magicians. One such man, whose enormous skill is matched only by his encyclopedic knowledge of the history and culture of his art, is Ricky Jay. Below is my personal favorite segment from his one hour "Don't Believe Your Eyes".