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I recommend switching decks at least once an hour while practicing. Even though it means having two decks open, it saves money in the long run because your cards will last much longer. Also, spread out your cards on a tray in the fridge for a couple of hours after heavy use. The reason this...

If I showed you the top card of a deck, turned it over and put (apparently) that card in your hand, then told you I'd make the card change, everyone who posts on this site would think I'd done a double lift. And yes, chances are I would have done. However, if I did that for a layman (if I...

Criss Angel's style certainly isn't my cup of tea, but as far as I can see there's no sensible argument against using stooges and camera tricks. Ultimately, magical effects occur in the mind of the spectator, in Criss Angel's case, the audience watching on TV. Regardless of whether everyone you...

It really comes down to how you handle cards, which is based on your performance persona. If you're presenting mentalism with a deck of cards and what to appear to have no card handling ability whatsoever, then something mundane looking would be best. However, if your routines are flashy and...

It's ridiculous to attempt to turn doubles over the way a layman would turn a single. If you asked a lay person to spread out the cards for you to select on there's no way they would perform a Le Paul spread or a fan, or even spread the cards smoothly between their hands, yet there's no...

I got by with the Hindu shuffle bottom-card force for ages. It's easy, reliable, and gets the job done efficiently. But like harapanong says, there's no reason not to start learning new techniques. The way to practice the classic force is to try forcing a card even when your trick doesn't...

I've got one red and one blue deck. Never opened, and probably never going to be unless I get a load more. Although I was thinking about opening one and getting each card signed by a different "big-name" magician. So if you see someone at next year's Blackpool Convention being a groupie with a...

The easiest way to make your pass invisible is to have a good look at a couple of videos of people who perform the pass as you would like to. Then look at your own pass and spot the differences. I'm presuming you're talking about the classic pass (or variants). Key points are to make sure the...

I think a good next step would be Expert Card Technique (again by Hugard & Braue). If you've got a bit more to spend then go for the Card College series. You'll already be familiar with the material in some of the early chapters so you'll be able to get through them quite quickly, but I reckon...

It is definitely worth getting if you're serious about this stuff and if you already have a good grounding in card handling. Even though you may not learn a whole lot of new sleights or effects, the opportunity to have this insight into the Professor's thinking is unmissable. He has thought...

My favourite screw-up was when I was performing in a bar. I was doing some kind of ambitious card-type thing, and the selection was on top of the deck. I turned over a double to show an indifferent card then colour changed it, leaving the indifferent card on top and revealing the selection...

It really depends on your style of performance. The best magicians/sleight-of-hand artists are those who's personality supersedes the actual tricks that they do. No one can give a list of effects that all card workers MUST be able to perform. However, there are some classic plots and effects...

Looks: Red Aladdin 1001, Red Tally-Ho Circle (the ones with the gold strip), black Tally-Ho Circle Quality: Any Tally-Ho, Arrco US Reg Handling: I find that if a deck isn't overused, and you swap decks fairly frequently while training, then handling doesn't really vary much as long as you're...

My recommendation is always offer cards to be selected in the same way as your favourite force requires, so that there's never any discrepancy between having a card selected fairly and forcing a card, unless you have a particularly good justification for having a card selected in a different...