“Pick out your favorite card and then I want you to sign your name on it,” said Chad Reibman, spreading out a deck on an outdoor table at Tully’s coffee shop on S.E. 27th Street. The woman sitting across from him complied, and Reibman went on to show her how, with the flick of his wrist, he could make the ace of hearts bearing her signature move from any part of the deck to the very top, and, eventually, how the same maneuver could make her card appear neatly folded in a tiny box on the table beside him.

“How does he do that?” asked her friend, sitting next to her.

Reibman, a 38-year-old father of three, is a Mercer Island magician, but that’s not all. He lives a double life in just about the most extreme sense of the word. By day he is a stock broker of 18 years, managing investment portfolios for his clients. By night, he takes on the persona of G.G. Green, magician and slight-of-hand artist performing at public and private venues up and down the west coast.

“People that know me feel like I really just come to life when I do magic,” said Reibman. “I feel that way too.”

Reibman said he first got interested in magic at age 8 when his cousin showed him how to turn a blank piece of paper into a one dollar bill.

“Ever since I’ve been passionate about it,” he said.

As a child, he said, he would give performances at birthday parties and for his friends, but he gave it up when he got to be 13 or 14 and magic wasn’t cool anymore. Then, at his eldest daughter’s request, he dusted off his old tricks and gave a show for her fourth birthday party about five years ago.

After that, he was hooked. He chose a stage name “G.G. Green,” which he derived from his middle name, Gregory, and his wife’s maiden name, Greenlick. He said he had adopted Greenlick as a second middle name when they were married.

When he told his friends and colleagues that he was going to work as a magician in his spare time, they were a bit surprised.

“The biggest response I get is people are blown away,” he said. “I think part of it is they sense that it’s really one of my passions and they’re inspired.”

Reibman said what he finds most rewarding about magic is the reaction that he gets from people he performs for.

“Showing somebody something that seems impossible and having them share the experience, it creates an extraordinary moment,” he said.

In this age of technology, he said, live magic shows surprise people because they take place without the help of special effects.

“It kind of hits people right at the core,” he said. “It’s not technology related. This is personal. It’s in close proximity. It’s real.”

Over the past few years as a performer, Reibman said he has learned how important it is to do what you love.

“Life is so short, and people have a tendency to get in a rut and not follow their passions,” he said. “You can’t just clock in and clock out.”

Reibman’s wife, Jennifer, said ever since her husband took up professional magic, it has infiltrated their daily life, with the whole family helping out during shows and their 9-year-old daughter, Mariah, even opening some performances with a trick of her own.

“It’s become part of the culture of our household,” she said. “We’ll be at the movies and he’ll be sitting there with a deck of cards or some coins in his hand. He sort of brings it everywhere with him.”

Chad Reibman said he practices about four hours every day, and on busy weeks gives four or five performances. Even so, he said he still gets a little nervous before a show.

Chad and Jennifer Reibman both said that, despite his busy schedule, Chad is able to spend quality time with his family because the stock market closes early in the day and he makes an effort to make time at home count.

“I don’t watch any TV,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you who was in the Superbowl last year.”

Even so, he said, he does feel like he lives a double life with two such different jobs, although sometimes the two will cross over when he fiddles with a deck of cards as he talks to a client on the phone, for instance.

“In some ways it’s an escape; it’s just so different,” he said. “But in other ways its very similar because a lot of it is connecting with people.”

Chad Reibman said the same marketing techniques that he has had to use as a stock broker have carried over into promoting himself as a magician, which he does through word-of-mouth referrals, his Web site and YouTube.

One of the biggest challenges that he said he faces as he promotes magic shows is reminding people that booking a magician is an entertainment option and isn’t just for kids.

“People in our generation, they don’t really think of the idea of going to a magic show,” he said. “Part of my challenge is to, in a way, re-create an art that’s kind of lost.”

He said there are many magicians out there; there are even magician conventions in Las Vegas and a professional society called The Academy of Magical Arts.

“I have magician friends and we talk and compare notes,” he said. “For the most part it’s a very communal, fraternal kind of thing.”

He said between all the birthday and office parties that happen in the area, there is plenty of business for everyone, though it would be hard to make a living as a magician alone.

The Web site gigmasters.com, where you can book various types of entertainers, lists 206 magicians in the Seattle area.

Reibman said he tries to differentiate his shows from those of other magicians by making the experience as up-close and personal as he can and involving spectators. He said he gets ideas from books and his magician friends, but he comes up with his own tricks as well.

In the end, he said, his brand of showmanship comes down to his own enthusiasm for what he is doing.

“It’s all in your head,” he said. “I think it’s cool so other people do too.”

As far as the secrets behind his tricks, Jennifer Reibman said Chad doesn’t even let the family in on most of those.

“He really thinks the thing is just enjoying it, not figuring out how to do it,” she said.

Chad Reibman, or, rather, G.G. Green, charges between $250 and $1,000 for private shows, which range in length from 45 minutes to three hours and can accommodate audiences of all sizes. He performs about once a month at the Islander, usually on the first Sunday of the month.