How to Use Sleight of Hand in Magic

A common synonym for magic tricks is prestidigitation, which means quick fingers. A magician depends largely on sleight of hand techniques to manipulate cards and other objects secretly. Sleight of hand is sometimes called leger de main, which means light of hand.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Palm. Palming is the secretly holding of an object in the palm of an apparently empty hand. It's most familiar use is with the trick of pulling a coin out of someone's ear.

2. Ditch. To ditch an object is to secretly dispose of it, such as when a seated magician seems to pick an object off the table but instead slides it off into his or her lap (also called lapping).

3. Steal. A magician steals an object when he or she secretly takes it from someone else. Street magicians often steal a spectator's wallet and then hand it back to the spectator's amazement.

4. Load. Loading a deck of cards involves secretly putting the card that's needed for the trick in a certain position of a deck. A common way to load a deck is called "3 kings," in which the deck is placed in a specific order while still appearing to be random.

5. Switch. To switch is to secretly exchange one object for another. This technique is used in the bill switch trick.

6. Simulate. A magician makes it appear to the audience that something has happened when it really hasn't. An example is simulating a shuffle of a deck of cards while keeping the same card on the bottom of the deck.

7. Misdirect. A staple of magic shows is the pretty assistant, who draws the audience's attention away from the magician while he or she sets up the trick.

Tips & Warnings

• David Copperfield is said to have used sleight of hand to convince a mugger that he had no wallet.