Playing the hand you’ve been dealt isn’t just a figure of speech for Richard Turner... it’s a way of life.

Richard Turner is a 68-year-old resident of San Antonio, Texas, who is widely considered to be the best card mechanic and one of the most skilled up-close magicians in the world. His exceptional talent, wit, composure, and eloquence have made him a highly sought-after stage performer and a motivational speaker for Fortune 500 companies. Over the years, he has mesmerized and entertained millions of people, including notable figures like Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Colin Powell, Brad Pitt, Muhammad Ali, among others.

Richard has received numerous awards and nominations for his mastery of the art of magic. Among them is the prestigious "Close-up Magician of the Year Award," which is the magic industry's equivalent of the Oscar. His unparalleled ability to handle a deck of cards has been showcased on various worldwide television shows, including an unforgettable performance on "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," where Penn Jillette praised him by saying, "Richard Turner is one of the most accomplished sleight-of-hand artists in history. He fooled us with every single move he made!"

In addition to being the world’s most skilled card shark, Turner is a 6th-degree karate black belt. His black belt test – ten rounds, each lasting three minutes, against a fresh opponent every round – was so grueling it was televised and featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times Sports Section.

Turner has also designed and created a series of board and puzzle games and produced a bestselling DVD series on advanced card techniques that casinos and card players worldwide study. Due to his remarkably delicate “feel” for individual playing cards, he has been the Touch Analyst for U.S. Playing Card Co., the largest card manufacturer in the country, known for producing the finest quality cards preferred by professional magicians and gamers.

But what makes all of Turner’s accomplishments genuinely incredible is that he is blind – and has been since childhood. Turner contracted a retina degeneration disease when he was nine, and his sight quickly diminished. “One day, I could see the blackboard; the next day, I couldn’t,” he says.

As a teenager, Turner’s anger and despair over his blindness drove him to drugs and then to drug dealing. At an early age, however, he found that being blind empowered him to develop an enhanced sense of touch, and once he picked up a deck of cards, his life changed.

“I developed my mind’s eye to an exceptional degree,” Turner says. “And I tested myself through the risky mental and physical challenges of martial arts fighting, shark hunting, cliff-diving, and the high stakes of underworld gambling.”

Turner is like no one else on the planet, so his story is similarly unique. Like his incredible mind, his adventures transcend time and space. As such, his story focuses on his almost superhuman physical abilities, martial arts prowess, and wizardly card skills, all of which serve as the framework for his life story.

Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/unimpressedpodcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/unimpressedpodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.