Darwin Ortiz

Who is Darwin Ortiz?

Darwin Ortiz is a magician, who is an authority on gambling and card manipulation.

Ortiz was born and raised in New York City, where he had a keen interest in card tricks since childhood. In 1974, he dropped out of NYU Law School and pursued card magic full-time. During that time, he initially supported himself playing blackjack and as an instructor at Harry Lorayne's memory school in New York. Ortiz is a contemporary and close friend of the influential US coin magician, David Roth, and was initially mentored by the seminal British/US close-up performer, Derek Dingle.

Ortiz later became a consultant to a number of casinos in the United States, Europe, Africa, UK and Australasia, and was a regular featured presenter for a succession of years at the World Gaming Congress in Nevada.

Ortiz is the author of books on gambling and magic. The most recent book on his original routines was Scams and Fantasies With Playing Cards. His book Strong Magic focuses on practical presentational techniques for close-up magicians.