Welcome to magic.
http://www.theory11.com/beginners.php Watch this (A poster above me already said this.)
To start out I highly recommend a few things. I'll list them here. They may bore you a little bit so I'll post some beginner entertaining stuff too.
1.
http://www.theory11.com/1on1/AaronFisher/ Card Fundamentals Part 1: Aaron teaches the basics as though you never held a deck of cards before. I recommend it as it's only 5 bucks. You can probably find that from looking under the couch for some change =P
2. the book
The Royal Road to Card Magic This is a great book. It will teach you many many sleights. It will teach some tricks too, but I generally don't like much of of the tricks. It will teach you many things though that will make your life a lot easier in the future. They also have this book on DVD too with a teacher, I never got it so I can't recommend it, but I do know that the book helped a lot.
3.
http://www.ellusionist.com/category/dvd+training/brad+christian.do How to do Street Magic by Brad Christian. This doesn't teach many sleights or stuff with cards (well, a bit of cards), but if you have some other stuff and you are bored and feel discouraged... open this DVD up.
Ashes on Arm is my favorite, I am actually going to do that later on for a few people later on today. Some of the card stuff is also self working and requires little to no practice.
3.
http://www.ellusionist.com/category/dvd+training/brad+christian.do Get the Ninja or Crash Course series DVDs. Great stuff, a little boring... but I recommend it. The Crash Course series will teach you something called an ambitious card routine. VERY powerful stuff.
Now, these things may be a bit boring... even though the effects are great, you probably will want some stuff you can perform with only a bit of practice, I'll recommend some stuff to you now that is entertaining and you can do with just a bit of practice.
1.
http://www.ellusionist.com/product/...chin/criss+angel+-+signed+coin+in+soda+can.do
Sinful or Quarter Through Soda Can. THIS GOT ME MY REPUTATION AS A MAGICIAN IN MY SCHOOL! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! VERY VERY POWERFUL!
2.
http://www.ellusionist.com/product/dvd+training/wayne+houchin/stigmata+by+wayne+houchin.do
After I stopped doing magic for a while then got back into it... THIS GOT ME MY REPUTATION BACK AS A MAGICIAN IN MY SCHOOL 2 YEARS AFTER I DID SINFUL!
Fairly easy too.
3.
http://www.ellusionist.com/product/dvd+training/justin+miller/factory+sealed+coin+in+bottle.do
You won't believe this one.
4.
http://www.theory11.com/tricks/witness.php Witness, so easy to do it will make you cry.
5.
http://www.theory11.com/tricks/panic.php Aaron Fisher is the man. This again.... very easy.
6.
http://www.theory11.com/tricks/control.php Don't get this until you have a reputation set as a magician. Once you have better people skills and presentation, this will come easy.
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Now I'm telling you... DON'T BUY EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THIS LIST! Get 1 or 2 things tops at a time. You don't want to go spending all your money. I recommend getting one thing I listed as semi boring and another thing I list as entertaining. You will love all this stuff. I promise. If you stay with magic, you will get to know yourself better, meet new people, and have a skill other people wish they could have. People will think you have been doing magic for years if your perform just a few of these effects.
Good luck, feel free to send me a Private message on here or send me an IM on aim (my screen name is in my signature).
-Doug
