I have this friend named Richard Turner who is one of the greatest handlers of playing cards in history. He bills himself as a "Card Mechanic" or sometimes as "The Cheat." Put simply, if he deals cards to you, you will get what he wants you to get and everyone else in the game will get the cards he wants them to get and there's no f'ing way you'll ever catch him controlling the deal. It's an amazing, seemingly-impossible skill and it would be impressive even if he could see what he's doing.
Oh, I guess I forget to mention: My friend Richard is blind.
He wasn't when I met him around 1981. He could see a little, though less with each passing year. Losing his vision completely has only caused one little snag in his act. Every now and then, he has to ask spectators to tell him if the cards are all facing the same way. You can check out Richard's skills in some of the videos I've embedded in this site. Or you can see him next Thursday evening on the Season 4 opener of Penn and Teller: Fool Us.
If you've never seen that show, it's on the CW Network. Each episode, several magicians perform feats and they win a prize of sorts if Penn & Teller are unable to figure out how they did what they did. This mostly means if Teller is unable to figure out how they did what they did.
Penn & Teller: Fool Us was originally a short-lived series produced in Great Britain. I played a part in the decision by the CW to acquire and revive it for American television and right at the start, I told them to get Richard Turner on it. Earlier this year, the folks at CW called and told me it was finally happening and they offered to fly me to Vegas for the "taping" — we still call them that though no tape is involved — which was in early April. Unfortunately, I was then dealing with Carolyn's situation and so I had to pass. You can see what happened when the show is broadcast this Thursday and in umpteen retransmissions after that.