'My hands are too small' ● Beginner CARDISTRY TIPS

You're a beginner cardist? Having trouble learning easy one-handed cuts and flourishes? This Q&A tutorial video should help you grasp the basics!

'My hands are too small for the Charlier/Scissor/Thumb/Revolution Cut' is the most popular type of comments we get from you, so we address them first. We also share some tips on how to enhance your practice routine and what can you do as a finger stretching exercise or how to take advantage of your grips when performing more advanced cardistry moves.

Here's a list of all questions and answers:
0:00 Intro
0:34 'My hands are too small for the charlier cut'
4:32 'im 13 and i can do it'
5:13 'You are left handed, crazy to follow'
5:45 'my fingers are not long enough :c'
6:15 'No they aren't. Trust me. I thought the same at first when i started practicing it. But if u just keep practicing u will be able to do it perfectly within like 2 weeks. Don't give up mate. Cardistry is all about practicing.'
6:29 'Now that's a terrible tutorial'
6:46 'Can you explain, how to get such big hands, that you can clear packets in the scissors cut?'
8:51 'IN THE INTRO THERE IS TRIGGER BUT IN THE TUTORIAL THERE ISNT TRIGGER WTF'
9:22 'Forget the clickbait title. Its Not beginner expect the thumb cut'
9:57 'I can get the basic Charlier cut but having trouble getting my hand to do the Running Charlier. I can’t bring the curled index up far enough for my other fingers to pull the top packet down and under.'
11:22 'Im begginer and it took me 3 days to master the charlier cut. Bad explanation bad still works if you practice enough'
11:35 'I'm a beginner and these are very difficult to perform let alone follow.'
11:52 'Looking at how you do yhe thumb cut, you must have some looooong fingers. My middle finger will not wrap around like that. And i have pretty big hands. Geez'
12:31 ''Basically everything cardistry is impossible for anybody with small hands to do :I My hands are basically miniature''

Regardless if you were looking for some easy tricks to shuffle cards like a pro to impress your friends at a poker table or during a game of UNO, or if you're an aspiring cardist/magician yearning to master some classic one-handed flourishes, you're in the right place!

Ditch all the 'small hands' excuses and start practicing now!

Flourishes in the intro (in no particular order): Siesta by Alejandro Portela, Plinko, Mantra by Tobias Levin of DealersGrip/Anyone, Kryptonite by Dan and Dave Buck, Judo Flip by Franco Pascali, Pluto by Alex Melnik, Scissors Cut, Revolution Cut.

Additional footage credits:

Check out Mahdi Gilbert:

✩ OUR SHOP ✩

Watch #decemberboys unbox and review some of the best playing cards:

•••

•••

Follow us:

[tayyibah]

I’ve never been more called out in my entire life.

[errolangbaka]

Every time I start learning a new flourish, after a while my brain automatically goes ”holy shit, how am I gonna be able to stretch my fingers that far?” But I keep at it, and after a few weeks or so, the cut feels really natural and no trouble at all.

[eversosleight]

I used to say my hands were to small, and they were and are small. Then I decided to force myself to learn cuts, sleights, and tricks that I thought were impossible. I learned to perform them with little tweaks and fine tuned then over time, customizing each move to my hand size. I shocked myself by doing what I thought I would never do.
It is possible!

[Chirp]

I’ll be honest, this video was just what I needed. Instead of simply saying “YoU cAn dO iT” you actually showed someone doing cardistry without a hand. That surprisingly helped. Yes I know this is an old video but idgaf.

[Poke_Doll]

I'm a 26 year old woman with extremely small, almost child-like hands & I definitely have a lot of difficulty starting out any trick just as anyone else would but I was determined to figure it out one way or another even if there's no specific tutorial made just for me & I've always found that if I just watch any normal tutorial then adjust it & basically invent a custom modified way that works just for me it will surprisingly work as long as I sit there for 2-3 hours & keep doing it until I get it.
The same thing applies with slight of hand illusions too, I used to truly think that would be impossible for me since it's always a guy with massive hands that are the best at it but just like in cardistry you essentially "figure it out" by modifying & practicing your own methods instead of relying on what others do.

[tonyburn]

The fella with no hands at the beginning is a true inspiration.

[lamontarnold]

Man you are fluent with the one hand.
I'm trying. I practice like my cards are my fidget spinner.
Thanks for your advice and time. It is greatly appreciated

[thederpynarwhal]

To think someone that mainly does tutorials thinks that being rude is the only way to get people to stop complaining and is the best way to motivate people... 🤔

[orgamimaster]

The thing is did he prove his point about peoples hands being too small but the guy with no hands didn't do the charlier cut

[tracymoskal]

Did it. Can't believe it but I did it twice in a row. After 1 solid day of practice. Thanks for the video.

[c.ssturmer]

I think this video did fix my perspective. I've always complained about my micro hands that have discouraged me from so many things. In magic, cardistry, and guitar, but the truth is that I get discouraged easily, I'll try harder! Thank you so much.

[BaritoneUkeBeastLife]

December Boys, I need you to know how much I truely apprecieate your hard word, time spent and complete generousity you have contributed to the cardistry community and me with these detailed and amazing tutorials. Today is my second day of practice as yesterday was the first time I ever heard of Cardistry and the incredible art form that it has evolved into. I don't know how Cardistry has escaped my notice all these years until now, but I am very grateful to have found it. You are an incredible teacher and extremely talented as a performer. I am a new subscriber and plan on dedicating many hours, months, years worth of practice to this beautiful and fun art form by learning from your videos. Thanks again.

[Baldur]

So I started learning cardistry as self assigned physiotherapy for a torn ligament in my thumb. And I've never been nimble fingered. I found this video because I couldn't understand how people's hands actually do these cuts, I thought my hands were too small. After 3 weeks of practice I can charlier cut with both hands and I'm almost at a point where I can do scissor cuts. It takes time for everything in your hand to get used to these movements.

I will say, one thing that helped me early on was using my other hand as a cage over the hand doing the cut, so when things wanted to go flying I wasn't playing 52 pickup.

[ernieoporto]

idk why but this video alone taught me so much and I was able to do the thumb cut within 30 mins just by pausing and playing your segment at 12:17 in the video. Thank you!

[sevenfoldist]

What you said is totally true.

I have small hands because I'm fat. At first glance, cardistry is near impossible in my mind.

But I can assure you guys, hand size is NOT the problem. This video made me re-learn my one handed cut, that I hated back a few years ago. And only after 1 hours and a half, I can do one handed cut without even looking at my hands, much like a fidget move when I'm holding a deck of cards.

It's about how you adapt the techniques shown to your own ways and hand size.

I was furious with one handed cuts before. Now, I can just do it with any decks that's in my hand at the moment. It's truly amazing.

[TheBoogerJames]

12:14 EDIT: my previous comment was very negative so I will to to make it more constructive. This method DOES NOT help someone with smaller hands. I have normal size hands and even sqeezing the cards cannot get my fingers and thumb into those positions. However I'm still able to do this trick so I want to share how I do it. Firstly, getting the cards tucked under your thumb is the most important part to start. I position the deck in a way that I'm able to hold about half the deck with my thumb tip. This puts the inside top edge of the deck about halfway between my knuckle joint and the end of my thumb. The opposite side of the deck I then try to bring in as close to my palm as possible. For me that rests slightly past my first finger knuckles (not in the palm as he shows in the video). In this position my middle finger can only reach about 2/3 to 3/4 up the deck. It absolutely cannot reach over the top of the deck which I expect 90% of you are in the same boat here.

Now instead of pulling way with your finger you need to let gravity do the work. Open your fingers away from your hand and let the half of your cards not held with your thumb fall against your fingers to form a V. Tuck your pointer and ring fingers underneath and let the cards rest on your middle finger. push upwards with your tucked fingers so that the loose part of the deck is now held horizontal to the floor resting on your two curled fingers and your middle finger. Continue to push up with your pointer and ring finger until you have created an angle at which your middle finger can get around to the side of the packet. At this point you can then grip the packet between your middle and ring/pointer fingers and finish the trick as shown in the video.

What frustrated me most about this video is that he says people with smaller hands can do all these tricks (and he's 100% correct), but he doesn't show the modifications needed to do the tricks with smaller hands. As I call out above, they key is to find the core necessities of the trick in terms of holding the cards and then use gravity and proper balancing of the cards to do the work your hands cannot. It does make the tricks more difficult to learn and a little more precarious but still doable with enough practice.

[kzathefox]

I watched a video demonstration of the Charlier cut. Watched the instructions, and said that my hands were too small. Then realized that a disease I suffer from, weakens my hands considerably. Then I watched this video. No excuses. After practice, I can now Charlier cut with both my small, tremor ridden hands👍🏾

[leperkhansulli]

Fairly late comment, but thank you for this video. I searched "small hands cardistry" not because I have particularly small hands but I was hoping for tips to adjust your grip to perform one-handed cuts.

[DaydreamsOfArne]

Came for the tip on the revolution cut and got a reality check that I lacked practice. So I said screw it reduced the cards and did it non stop for 3 hours. Now I can do it at a decent speed! Thanks

[kaushikroy]

My heart cried when I see you handling those Jerry's 😢