Posts by Richard

“At my gaming table are Casino dealer Marty Goldstein, TV show creator Paul Wilson, cardman Allan Ackerman and power-lifter and cardman Jason England. Gents, I’d like to hear your history with Richard.” “Jon,” Goldstein says, “I met Turner in the ‘70’s, when I was working as a Black Jack dealer at the Aladdin Hotel &…

My goal is to continue upping the ante, making my show more and more difficult by creating and accomplishing sleights and gambling controls that others say are too ridiculous to even contemplate.  I have been fanatically working on what I think will be the most effective, deceptive way to take a deck of cards legitimately…

You’re probably wondering how a blind guy can deal a pat-hand with pinpoint accuracy. I won’t tell you everything, professional secrets you know, but some of it has to do with my eidetic memory and how part of my visual networks are resonating with my haptic and tactile neural networks – the networks associated with…

to go. However, I realize making it big in la-la-land would be like dropping a glass of water in the ocean, I would be a minnow surrounded by whales. I figure it would be better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a guppy in the Pacific. The two most high…

So, after contemplating Vernon’s points about exposing gambling artifice rather than tricks is acceptable, I conclude that demonstrating cheating techniques will definitely have an emotional connection and will appeal to all demographics. “Why not?”  Swindlers and cheaters fascinate most people with tantalizing thoughts of larceny, and piles of dollars on top of dollars. There is…

I’m sitting with the Professor. I want to ask him a question that is considered taboo within the magic fraternity. “Professor,” I ask cautiously, “rather than faking a second or center deal using some form of a magic trick, what do you think about performing a gambling act where all of the moves are legitimately…

J. C. Wagner reads aloud to me a review in Genii Magazine titled, “The Vernon Touch.” “Recently at The Magic Castle I had the pleasure of watching Richard Turner do some superlative coin manipulations.  He does the coin roll with five different size coins at one time which is amazing enough, but then he did…

I immediately shift the audience’s attention to five coins that I hold in my right hand. “Here,” I say, “I have five shiny silver half-dollars. Now watch closely.”  I execute a secret move and I am now rolling one coin across my left knuckles, and four coins across my right knuckles. The piece magically ends…

The big night has finally arrived, and I’m standing apprehensively behind the curtain separating me from the audience seated in the Magic Castle’s Close-Up Gallery.  The host pokes his head in and asks, “Richard, are you ready?” “I think so,” I say, as I wipe my moist hands down the legs of my pants, for…

I’m sitting in one of the new theater seats, focused on practicing when Steve Terrell asks, “Rick, can we talk?”  We move to the conference area of our newly renovated Lamb’s Players Theater.  “Rick,” Steve says, “You are now good enough to be a professional performer. With your talents, I think you are ready to…

“At my table we have top casino game protection expert Steve Forte, along with mentalist Max Maven.  Max, there are elements of magic and mentalism that are unseen. How does that relate to Richard?” “First, Jon, I think a very general statement that can be made about magic is that it helps remind us, things…

I realize that technique alone will not make it. I definitely got that message from the Castle judge whom compared me to Robinson Crusoe. So part of the mix must include appropriate dress and showmanship. Since I have wanted to emulate Maverick since I was a kid, I decide I’m going to imitate his slick,…