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I quite often say something like "I'm sure you know, it's the law of the Magic Circle that every magician has to start a trick like this. Pick a card, any card..."

While it's not exposure in the traditional sense of the word, in that there's no "secret" being given away that spoils a magic effect, it's still not good form. The reason being, Pandora is an intellectual property, in the same way a book or a film is. Maybe not legally, but certainly ethically...

Oh dear, you're gonna get flamed. It's not considered good practice to ask for tutorials for commercially marketed tricks or flourishes, especially on a site which the creators are involved with. If you want to learn it, you have to get the DVD. To be fair though, I don't think it's seventy...

There's loads of old Bicycle designs that they don't make any more that are pretty rare, like the Lotus back. A-omoro decks are quite rare because apparently they only made 5,000 of them. (I've got ten of them, so I'm pretty pleased with that.) Probably the rarest ones would be original...

Oh, that's disappointing. I may have dreamed it but weren't there supposed to be 52 moves taught or something like that?

Not wanting to be overly confrontational, but my first bit of advice would be to disregard ROYm's advice. This is for several reasons. Showoff with Cards is rubbish, but it's not by Brian Tudor. His Showoff Volumes 1 and 2 videos (now available on DVD) teach some very good fundamental flourishes...

Bottom deal. Definitely. Magically, the bottom deal can be used as a switch, a change, a force, and several other things, alongside it's traditional dealing-around-a-table use. If you actually want to cheat, you'd need to have a marked or stacked deck in order to take advantage of the second...

Yes, I will be there as usual, although this time it's not all playtime as I've got to do some promotional stuff for our new sleight-of-hand mag Sinister Dexterity that's coming out soon. However, I'm happy to session with anyone who's around and willing.

Here's a few choice selections for you aside from the ones already mentioned: Gene Maze and the Art of Bottom Dealing - Stephen Hobbs - Contains a variant on the Erdnase grip and several bottom and centre dealing techniques. The Phantom of the Card Table - Eddie McGuire - The work of...

The Braue pop-up move is definitely a gem. So many people have "remembered" that they saw the bend visibly move up through the deck until the top card bent right in front of their eyes. It's essentially a PK effect, and should be given the time and space to be properly appreciated by the...

As far as I can see, the performer gets to decide how their audience enjoys the magic. I've seen magicians produce a proper emotional reaction even from hardened sceptics, normally the ones who approach magic purely intellectually, as a puzzle to be solved. I think a weak presentation can still...

Oh right, I've always had a lot of respect for Kenton Knepper's work, but I may have to reconsider now you've concluded he's a fool. Although, sarcasm aside, what grounds do you have for conclusively saying it won't work? I haven't tried it personally, but I've had good results with a similar...

In one of Kenton Knepper's books he talks about an idea of walking on-stage confidently, and just shouting "SLEEP" at the audience with a theatrical gesture. If it doesn't work, you just pass it off as a joke, but with a fairly large audience, there is a strong probability that at least a few...

If you want to use an Erdnase grip then big hands are an advantage. He even says in his book that the deck has a tendency to slide out of place after executing the deal, which a bigger hand helps to avoid. However, you will always be able to find a grip that suits the size of your hands.

There are loads of ways to acheive this. Probably I would side-jog, followed by a single-card straddle-pass to perpendicular position and then square the now-reversed card onto the bottom. This is a single action that can be done under cover of apparently squaring the card into the deck. By the...

A few of the highlights: Inner Secrets of Card Magic More Inner Secrets of Card Magic (signed by Dai Vernon) Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic (signed by Dai Vernon) Scarne on Cards (signed by John Scarne) Some original issues of Rusduck's The Cardiste Some original issues of Stars of Magic...

Thanks for that Nexusmagic. Personally, I wouldn't use that particular technique for a standard dealing-round-the-table gambling demonstration as the take feels a bit unnatural in my hands. However, I can see applications as a switch or a force, or maybe for dealing the flop in Texas Hold 'Em...

If your spectators care about whether you're using a trick deck or not, then, to my mind, you're probably not doing magic, you're just showing them a trick. I think every magician needs to understand the difference between fooling someone and creating a magical effect. The latter can be acheived...

That's quite unusual. Have you got a video of the your deal? I'm always interested in different dealing techniques.

Jonathan used to do magic, and he's got some good sleight-of-hand skills, but he's focussing just on his escapes and stunts these days.