I STILL don't believe it's possible to have the cards go off the thumb and fingers at the same time.

Take a piece of paper, cut 2 slits in it, grab the outer ends, and try to rip it so the middle piece falls to the floor, I think that can be compared to it. I haven't seen anyone who claims it goes off both at once where it does look that way, it just looks like they go off the thumb as usual. They go off the thumb while I do it, and the fingers are where the force comes from, since the cards need to spring off from something to get momentum to move down. Where would they get momentum if they went off both sides at once?

I spring the cards from my fingers, not my thumb. Everyone has different ways of doing it. I know many people who spring from the corners of the deck, and I just don't like the look of it. Then again, if they are doing it like that, they obviously don't like the way I am doing it, so it is personal preference.
I find, for me, I get more control using the fingers, not needing the fourth finger to apply any pressure, I just don't find it necessary.

That said, congratulations cosmopop1 on now being able to do it in one fluid motion, practice pays off!!!

Its possible to spring the cards only with the thumb and the pinky. Not practical, but not impossible.

J

Put the bent first finger on the back of the deck. By exercising pressure with this finger, you have more control.

Am I the only one who springs from the thumb and middle finger?

Hmmm. So now that I've gotten pretty good at this I tried it in front of a mirror which I hadn't bothered to do before. And it seems that the cards go so much towards me that there is a shortening of perspective.

In other words, from my point of view it looks really great. From someone elses point of view it looks like the cards travel a couple of inches only. It looks... awful really.

So I guess it's back to the drawing board. Difficult to spring from my fingers because of my long (guitar) finger nails. Hmmm.

...and...

Almost 7 weeks after writing that I suddenly changed grip one day just to give the impossible side grip one more try. And now it suddenly worked all by itself.

All that corner springing has made the release so even that I can now spring from the short sides. This was absolutely impossible before without uncontrolled bursts. The advantages to this side grip are:

- The angle is better, not almost sideways like before when I used a corner grip on opposing corners.

- The landing of each card is flat in stead of a corner-sprung card which lands while "shaking" a lot more. They are easier to catch when sprung from a side grip.

- The sound is better! Now they have that almost whistling sound. Which is cool.

- Deck doesn't get warped diagonally when springing a lot.

So for new frustrated readers trying to learn this: Try beginning by holding a grip with middle- and ring finger on each side of the outer right corner, and thumb on the very inner left corner. It is softer to bend a deck that way than by gripping on the short sides of the deck and therefore easier to aquire the smooth release nack required.

After a long time of doing that you can either change into a grip on the short sides of the deck like I now do (with all four fingers on the outside, but with pressure mostly from the first two) or the even more difficult corner springing with only your pinkey or only your ring finger on the outer right corner.

Whatever method one eventually ends up on, my point is that it requires less pressure to bend the deck from the corners, especially when using one finger on each side of a corner. So there will be a shorter period of picking up cards from the floor.

Amazing Noobini: Thanks for your posts. That you keep coming back to report on what you're learning is, I think, one of the most useful things about internet forums.

And when I get around to dedicating myself to card springing, I'll be sure to come back here and re-read your posts.

Keep at it.

Jeff

Jerry's Encyclopedia and XB have some of the best tips that I've ever come across.