How good should a card magican be after 3 monthes

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
Riffle Shuffle, Riffle Shuffle Retaining Top Stock, Overhand Shuffle, Overhand Shuffle Controls, Hindu Shuffle, Hindu Shuffle Flash Force, Riffle Shuffle Force, Double Undercut, Glide and Double Lift Using Thumb to Attain Little Finger Break.

It's when you hit month four that your really need to pick it up and learn Elmsley Count, Jordan Count, Hamman Count, Invisible Pass, Bluff Pass, Cover Pass, Half Pass, Second Deal, Bottom Deal, Side Steal, Classic Force, Elias Multiple Insertion, Spread Cull, Classic Palm, Back Palm, Invisible Palm, Gambler's Cop, Benzais Spin-Out and Strike Double Lift.

It only gets more difficult from there.o_O
 
Nov 3, 2018
542
427
It's when you hit month four that your really need to pick it up and learn Elmsley Count, Jordan Count, Hamman Count, Invisible Pass, Bluff Pass, Cover Pass, Half Pass, Second Deal, Bottom Deal, Side Steal, Classic Force, Elias Multiple Insertion, Spread Cull, Classic Palm, Back Palm, Invisible Palm, Gambler's Cop, Benzais Spin-Out and Strike Double Lift.
You forgot the center deal. A once-legendary move taken straight from the most cunning hustlers' repertoire, this technique will be an invaluable control and will elevate your magic to the next level.
 
Jun 18, 2019
540
293
20
West Bengal, India
Riffle Shuffle, Riffle Shuffle Retaining Top Stock, Overhand Shuffle, Overhand Shuffle Controls, Hindu Shuffle, Hindu Shuffle Flash Force, Riffle Shuffle Force, Double Undercut, Glide and Double Lift Using Thumb to Attain Little Finger Break.

It's when you hit month four that your really need to pick it up and learn Elmsley Count, Jordan Count, Hamman Count, Invisible Pass, Bluff Pass, Cover Pass, Half Pass, Second Deal, Bottom Deal, Side Steal, Classic Force, Elias Multiple Insertion, Spread Cull, Classic Palm, Back Palm, Invisible Palm, Gambler's Cop, Benzais Spin-Out and Strike Double Lift.

It only gets more difficult from there.o_O
You gave me a heart attack.


What sleights and tricks should a magicain that has been doing magic for 3 monthes be able to do?
A half-decent double lift.
 

KyleA9

Elite Member
Jan 1, 2020
22
17
As someone who has been doing magic about 10 months and is mostly self-taught on Youtube (I did read the Royal Road to Card Magic, which I highly recommend), I’ll add my insight, which is probably “wrong” but whatever.

The more professional people on this website and the books probably agree with RealityOne’s list, which I wish I had when I started. But three months in, here’s what’s I had figured out that allowed me to do quite a few tricks (I was pleased with where I was):

A good double lift (probably the most important move for an amateur)
A Cull Force
One or two other forces. Need multiple forces
Overhand shuffle controls to top bottom, second from bottom, etc...
Marlow Tilt
Double undercut control
Elmsley Count

if you’ve got those down, the next moves I learned that Really made me more impressive to friends were:

a strike double lift
A false shuffle (Daniel Madison has great tutorials on this)
A smooth deck switch
Tricks using “invisible” gaff cards

I’m sure all of this does not agree with the smarter, better magicians’ theory on the topic, but I’ve found it immensely helpful.

good luck!
 
Jun 18, 2019
540
293
20
West Bengal, India
As someone who has been doing magic about 10 months and is mostly self-taught on Youtube (I did read the Royal Road to Card Magic, which I highly recommend), I’ll add my insight, which is probably “wrong” but whatever.

The more professional people on this website and the books probably agree with RealityOne’s list, which I wish I had when I started. But three months in, here’s what’s I had figured out that allowed me to do quite a few tricks (I was pleased with where I was):

A good double lift (probably the most important move for an amateur)
A Cull Force
One or two other forces. Need multiple forces
Overhand shuffle controls to top bottom, second from bottom, etc...
Marlow Tilt
Double undercut control
Elmsley Count

if you’ve got those down, the next moves I learned that Really made me more impressive to friends were:

a strike double lift
A false shuffle (Daniel Madison has great tutorials on this)
A smooth deck switch
Tricks using “invisible” gaff cards

I’m sure all of this does not agree with the smarter, better magicians’ theory on the topic, but I’ve found it immensely helpful.

good luck!
You got those down in three months? :eek: Kudos.

I've spent years with my french drop and I'm still not satisfied.

:mad:

PS:- OP, I think the above is a good, comprehensive list of moves you should know, or at least, be aware of by now (give or take a few moves). I was just implying that after some time in magic, I've realised that you don't really need multiple moves to be a decent magician (in my opinion). You need knowledge, you need practice and rehearsal to see which move is the most natural to you (Classic force might be ten times fairer than the Criss Cross force, but is it the same for you?), you need choice in your repertoire so that you have flexibility to move around, you need ideas to transform a mediocre ACR into something only you can do with brilliance and own it. And out of all them, often the last one creates the difference between magicians who are amazing and magicians who are just around average. All of us can do the first three well...
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
It's when you hit month four that your really need to pick it up and learn Elmsley Count, Jordan Count, Hamman Count, Invisible Pass, Bluff Pass, Cover Pass, Half Pass, Second Deal, Bottom Deal, Side Steal, Classic Force, Elias Multiple Insertion, Spread Cull, Classic Palm, Back Palm, Invisible Palm, Gambler's Cop, Benzais Spin-Out and Strike Double Lift.

So for those who didn't realize it (other than @Scodischarge who did pick up on it), this list was not serious... My point is there isn't any right way or wrong way to learn. My actual suggestion is to learn effects that you can perform (and the accompanying sleight of hand) and then perform them. You learn more about magic through performance for real people or in these times, at least performing live over Zoom or Discord than merely learning sleights. As for which effects, the answer is learn what excites you and what you can see yourself performing. If you are excited about it, no sleight is too difficult to learn.
 

KyleA9

Elite Member
Jan 1, 2020
22
17
So for those who didn't realize it (other than @Scodischarge who did pick up on it), this list was not serious... My point is there isn't any right way or wrong way to learn. My actual suggestion is to learn effects that you can perform (and the accompanying sleight of hand) and then perform them. You learn more about magic through performance for real people or in these times, at least performing live over Zoom or Discord than merely learning sleights. As for which effects, the answer is learn what excites you and what you can see yourself performing. If you are excited about it, no sleight is too difficult to learn.

Haha, I didn’t realize that was a joke lol. I’m so intimidated by the knowledge of you professionals! But I should’ve added that I learned those moves from learning individual tricks on YouTube, just as RealityOne suggests. But once I had those moves, I was surprised to see how many tricks I could already do (and how many Youtube/TV tricks I now knew the method behind). I hope you’ve found this thread helpful!

Pistry, I have found the “MAD Deck Switch” (Daniel Madison name for it, may have another name/credit) to be most fooling and natural for me to my friends and family.

Kyle
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jul 26, 2016
571
795
"What sleights and tricks should a magicain that has been doing magic for 3 months be able to do?"

One trick. Done cleanly and smoothly, with an engaging and entertaining presentation. That's more than can be said of many magicians who have been doing magic for 3 years, or far longer, as they learn trick after trick, but master none, settling rather for mediocrity, or worse yet, outright sloppiness. Sorry if that sounds cynical - the truth often does...
 

obrienmagic

Elite Member
Nov 4, 2014
1,469
1,422
Orange County, Ca
www.obrienmagic.com
IMO it isn’t how many sleight s you can do. It is more c can you do the sleights you already learned well? After 3 months assuming you practice about 1-2 hours a day I would suspect maybe a control, double lift, and shuffle control would be all I would be able to do. Or at least do correctly and well. You should be able to look your spectator in the eye and hold a conversation while doing any sleight. If you told me all you could do was a pass but that pass was practically invisible then I would say you are doing better than most magicians at 3 months who learned 30 sleights but cannot really perform any of them.
 
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XabierL

Elite Member
Aug 14, 2010
413
10
I would focus on effects rather than specific sleights. Assuming you started with self working tricks, slowly add effects that contain sleights, such as a force, a control, a colour change... There's no specific way of making progress, you just have to find what you want to perform and work towards that goal. If you want to be a card magician, there is no better book to start than Card College, the progression suggested there is quite amazing. Good luck!
 
Sep 11, 2020
2
0
This is based on what I could do well enough to perform for people after 4 months of being into magic. Note: I have very small hands
Gambler's cop, Strike Double Lift, Classic Pass, Strike second deal, top change, spread cull, convincing control, turnover pass, allerton control
 
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