How Well Do You Know the World of Sleight of Hand?

Sleight of Hand: An Overview

• Sleight of hand refers to fine motor skills used by performing artists to entertain or manipulate, often associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing, and stealing
• Sleight of hand pioneers include Dan and Dave, Ricky Jay, Derek DelGaudio, David Copperfield, Yann Frisch, Norbert Ferré, Dai Vernon, Cardini, Tony Slydini, Helder Guimarães, and Tom Mullica
• The phrase "sleight of hand" means "quick fingers" or "trickster fingers," and it is often used in close-up magic, where the audience is close to the magician
• Sleight of hand depends on everyday items as props and the use of psychology, timing, misdirection, and natural choreography to accomplish a magical effect
• Sleight of hand during stage magic performances is not common, but the most common magic tricks performed with sleight of hand on stage are rope manipulations and card tricks
• Sleight of hand is notoriously used to cheat at casinos and gambling facilities throughout the world, and common ways to cheat at card games using sleight of hand include palming, switching, ditching, and stealing cards from the table
• Cardistry is closely related to sleight of hand, and it is the art of card flourishing that is intended to be visually impressive and to give the appearance of being difficult to perform
• Card throwing is meant to be visibly impressive and does not include magic elements, and it consists of throwing standard playing cards with excessively high speed and accuracy, powerful enough to slice fruits like carrots and even melons
• Magician Ricky Jay popularized throwing cards within the sleight of hand industry with the release of his 1977 book Cards as Weapons
• Some magic tricks, both close-up and on stage, are heavily connected to throwing cards
• Sleight of hand is not a branch of magic but a separate genre of entertainment, and many artists practice sleight of hand as an independent skill
• The term "sleight of hand" frequently carries negative associations of dishonesty and deceit at many gambling halls, and many magicians known around the world are publicly banned from casinos, such as British mentalist and close-up magician Derren Brown, who is banned from every casino in Britain.