The Double Lift (DL) is arguably the most widely used sleight in all of card magic. Poorly executed, you'll look like a complete dufus. Perfectly executed and you look like a wizard. Seemingly a simple move, the DL is a tough move to polish to perfection and difficult to nail 100% of the time. For century's, the classic pass was thought to be the most indispensable move but move over pass; the DL is now the king of cards. This DVD is a timeless masterpiece.

Degree of Difficulty

Beginner to Expert. Wilson puts puts things in order. He assumes you don't even know what a "mechanics grip" is. He ties the introductory material up with a "quick start" segment providing three easy to learn miracles. The material gets harder from here on out. You'll find that some moves and routines have an steep learning curve.

The cool thing is, I really think a beginner could get this DVD as a starting point. There is no more important move than the DL in card magic. This will give the beginner an arsenal of hard hitting close-up magic. Then, as the novice advances, they can work on the more advanced material. Literally, this DVD will take you a long, long time to learn and perfect all of the material.

And the advanced card mage will love the Brittanica-like index of DL knowledge as well.

Teaching

Greg Wilson is like a tenured Harvard professor - only a lot more fun and a lot less boring! Each routine is performed in front of a small audience of attractive ladies donned in vintage 80s attire. He is constantly cracking jokes and flirting with the pretty ladies in his audience. During the instructional sections, Gregory moves slowly through all moves, usually several times in both slow-mo and in tempo.

Quantity of Effects

Wow! Like Wilson's Ring Leader DVD is to "ring and string" magic, this is THE encyclopedia of the Double Lift. As if the sleights weren't enough, there are a bunch of great tricks in this gem. It took me well over an hour to document the sleights and tricks that contained with this vast grimoire. So here they are:

Introduction - Greg telling you what he's about to teach you.

Basic DL - Greg does a good job explaining basic DL beginning with the mechanics of the mechanics grip and the thumb count from the biddle grip. It's a littler different from the basic DL I learned.
Strike DL - a very popular DL because of the natural moption and no get ready. Personally, I don't like it because I occasionally get a triple (Yeah, I know...lack of practice!)
Grip Strike DL - enhanced version of the Strike that adds a push over move.
Knock-Out DL - Greg's favorite and my fav as well. A litle flashy and always works for me.
The Basic Replacement - perhaps I wasn't giving this part of the DL enough attention!
Quick Start-up - three tricks to get your feet wet. These are really good tricks so don't overlook them. Includes a very nice in-the-spectators-hand transposition.

Simple Location Trick
Simple Reverse Trick
Simple Switch Trick
More replacements...

Maintaining a break after the replacement
Bernard Bilis Replacement - a flourishy replacement.
Revolve Replacement - flourishy & emphasizes the singularity of of the double (that's an oxymoron!)
Juan Tameriz Replacement - cool out jogged replacement.
Racherbaumer Replacement - another cool out jogged replacement.
Vernon Offset Replacement - Yet another reason why Vernon was a genius. Pick up a double and display it away from the deck in the air for the crowd. Table it and place the cardbox on top of the tabled card. Guess what? It's already back in the deck!

Get Readys...

No Brainer DL
Auto DL
Pinky Count DL
Thumb Count DL

More doubles...

Double from a Fan
DL from a Dribble
Dai Vernon's DL
Color Changes
DL without a Pack
Tabled DLs

Tricks...

Phoenix Aces - pluck 4 Aces from the air, one at a time. This is not a back palm production. It uses some sleights that I was not familiar with.

Weighted Aces - Wilson's version of Doc Daley's Last Trick. Using 4 aces, demonstrate your ability to tell which ace is which by weight alone. Follow up with some amazing"in the spectator's hand" transpositions. Very good trick I use all the time.

Two Wrongs Make A Right - Starts out as a pick a card trick. Only problem is that you guess wrong twice. Take the two wrong cards place face up on the deck. Snap your fingers over the deck and the correct card appears from thin air, face up on the top of the deck.

Jumping Gemini (Darwin Ortiz) - Reminds me of the Color Monte on steroids. This is a difficult trick to master. Not because of the sleights but because there are so many sequences to remember. Miss one sequence and you're fricked. As a little bonus, Wilson does a great job teaching the Elmsley count.

Ambitious Card Routine

Greg performs his ACR but does provide the explanation. It's a pretty good routine that ends in a card to card box. If you don't know the ACR I would recommend the Worlds Greatest Magic by the Worlds Greatest Magicians: The Ambitious Card DVD from L&L Publishing.

An you get bonus tricks!

Bizarre Twist (Paul Harris) - I loved this trick. You start with 3 red backed cards. You slide a black seven face down between two face down red aces. Twist the cards apart and the seven is now face up. Do the sequence again and this time when you flip the seven over it is a blue backed card.

Stop Trick - Drop a face down on the table. To the side, deal the remaining cards onto the table and ask the spectator to say stop. Drop the stop card onto the first tabled card. Flip them over and they are both red aces.

Double Monte - Two red aces and a black queen. You show the black queen and table it face down. You then show that you have two red aces in your hand. A quick spin and the two red aces become one black queen. You flip the tabled card over and it is the two red aces.

This is a resource that you will use for years to come. The tricks alone would make a solid DVD. If you need a resource to determine the best DL for you, this is going to fit the bill. Sure, there may be some lessor known DLs that are not covered here but there is sure to be a few that you'll come to cherish.

I always had a bit of trouble with the double lift (YouTuberd sick at teaching tricks) and when got it years ago, I got too busy to watch it then not even 10 minutes into this dvd and I went from doing it like an amateur to a pro.

I got this dvd to help me improve my double lift, and it definitely did, but it also blew apart my preconceived notions of what a double lift was for. Greg Wilson is the master of the double lift, and I'd recommend everyone, no matter your experience level, give this video a look.

I suppose I cannot add much to Tim's review, which is amazingly thorough; however, I cannot articulate just how excellent this teaching dvd is! I have a library of teaching videos and books, and given that the double is fundamental I am so glad to have found this much on a single (and singular) utility move. Very well done! Gregory is a wealth of knowledge and is not shy about providing what many would consider superfluous detail. Even if you believe your skill at this basic move to be fully developed, I suspect you can still benefit from this teaching video. Thank you Mr. Wilson!

I am someone who is just learning. And I am, well, not in the prime of life :-)

I became interested in magic (card magic) again after reading a book.

These excellent videos really help me learn the moves necessary to have the "tools on the truck" so the next step can be tricks.

The double lift is something that I believe one must know and this video really does the trick in explaining how to learn it.

Just a great video and thanks.

This is an older Gregory Wilson video but it is still really good. You'll enjoy learning Greg's ambitious card routine, but my favorite trick on the DVD is the Phoenix Aces. It is a quick easy four ace production from mid-air. The Four Card Trick (A.K.A. The Jumping Gemini) is also a really good trick. There isn't a whole lot of material on this DVD but it is well worth the money. If you really like this stuff, also consider getting the Pyrotechnic Pasteboards, and Card Stunts.

An excellent variety of double lifts on here. Not only does Greg go through the various methods he also teaches some great routines using the sleight. If you haven't found your favourite double lift yet, then you will most likely find it on here.

I really like this DVD. Like everythng put out by Wilson it is very well done. If you have ever struggled with the double lift this DVD will make all the bad stuff go away. I never knew there were so many methods of completing this critical move. Likley the most important move in card magic so many applications. There are a number of diffenerent uses in this DVD for the double lift but more important you will find the method that is best for you. Highly recommended and add to cart now.

What else do I have to say. C'mon guys, if you have one of his products then I am just preaching to the choir. If you don't have any of his products let this be your first. Once you watch it you will definitely want to jump onto the band wagon that is Gregory Wilson. I could say so many great things about this dvd and Gregory himself but to say one thing I feel that I would have to say all of the good things which would take hours.

Just buy it. You WILL love it. If you don't then you can hold me personally reponsible. I only say this because I know there isn't a chance in hell that you won't absolutely love this dvd. It will be in your top 5 best purchases no doubt.

This DVD is great for people doing card magic, I had being doing magic for about 3 months and this DVD improved my magic by so much in such a small amount of time (Obviously, practise is needed). I perform the Weighted Aces trick all the time, its a killer and so easy to do.
I highly recommend this. *****