I'm new here and have a few questions

Rasengan · Mar 27, 2008

Hey,
I'm quite new to card magic and have some questions about it.
What cards should I use while doing tricks? 100% plastic or some bicycle? and what cards do you use?
What are the basic moves like double lift... that I should be able to do?
What are sleights?
What are some beginner tricks?

2ndDeal · Mar 27, 2008

Rasengan said:
Hey,
I'm quite new to card magic and have some questions about it.
What cards should I use while doing tricks? 100% plastic or some bicycle? and what cards do you use?
What are the basic moves like double lift... that I should be able to do?
What are sleights?
What are some beginner tricks?

I recommend you to use any United States Playing Card Company produced deck. Many people around here will start to say that some deck is better than other, but the differences aren't that big.

Sleights are the secret moves to do magic. There is much more in magic, than just sleights.

I recommend that you buy vol. 1 of Card College (it's a book series). It teaches you basic sleights, and some beginner-friendly tricks, and it also answers most of the questions that will rise as you progress in magic.

Farrell · Mar 27, 2008

1. Bicycles are practically the best cards but overall it is about personal preference.
2. There are to many basic moves to list, the most common are controls and forces.
3. Sleights are maneuvers the same as moves.
4. Again, to many to list.

I'd recommend checking out the Royal Road to Card Magic book.
(http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Road-Card-Magic/dp/0486408434)
It's a very cheap and very resourceful book for beginners.

Deryn · Mar 27, 2008

Goodness, well first of all welcome to T11 and the world of magic. You certainly have a lot of questions

To me, cards... there are so many cards out there.. regular, special, custom, color variants... just stick with Bicycle decks.. I'm willing to bet, 100% of magicians out there use or have used Bikes in their lives.

Basic moves can be learned in any good card magic book. Go to the bookstore or library. There are also plenty of DVD's on the market to get you started... "Royal Road to Card Magic"

You pretty much said "sleights" and "beginner tricks" in the same breath and I'll tell you sleights are not at all beginner.

Start slow, acquire a knack for everything.. after that, you'll get there.

Take your time and don't get discouraged.

Rasengan · Mar 27, 2008

Ok, thanks for the good reply.
But are these bicycle black cards plastic or only plastic coated?
and are 100% plastic cards good for tricks?

Rmana · Mar 27, 2008

For a beginner DVD, I suggest Oz Pearlman's "Born To Perform". It has a lot of good basic moves and some impressive beginner level tricks.

As for cards, if you get standard Bicycles it's good to learn with those. When I was first learning I was using really old cards which made it hard for me to pick some stuff up. Try learning with a relatively fresh pack... Another deck that's commonly available that you might want try are "Bee" decks. They're the same price as Bikes, and IMHO, feel a bit better. But they don't have borders which makes some things not look right at first. And finally, if you can find them and they aren't too expensive to you, look for "Tally Ho" cards. I've never known someone who did magic that didn't like them. They aren't too expensive. Maybe a dollar more than bikes depending on where you are.

Check your town for Your Local Brick and Mortar Magic Shop and maybe they can help you out...

Rasengan · Mar 27, 2008

I live in quite small country, Estonia, and here isn't everything available. I can get one bee deck, then there are also those tally ho poker decks.
oh and there's one tricking book translated to estonian from Bob Longe. anyone knows about that book, is it worth?

Farrell · Mar 27, 2008

Tally Ho's are definitely the way to go, the fact they are the only ones you can get is a bonus.

Rasengan · Mar 27, 2008

But does it matter is it bridge or poker? the poker and wider than bridge

Manitoba-Amateur · Mar 27, 2008

I would say get a pack of both bridge and poker size cards. You may encounter some moves that require your fingers to move the way they don't want to or your hand to move a strange way. When you practice with bridge it makes it easier (smaller size) to get comfortable with the move. once comfortable, you can move on to the poker size. When performing use poker. If you only want to buy one pack for now buy the poker size. If a move seems difficult you can practice with a quarter or even half the pack.

I know it's already been said but royal road to card magic is the way to go. If you got the cash and you're a visual learner, try the dvd's. If you can learn from books get the book... it's about 60 bucks cheaper... at least in Canada.
Enjoy!

Tenchu · Mar 27, 2008

Use only poker size cards. Even if you have small hands. Get used to them.

Aris.SA · Mar 27, 2008

use TH9 they are the best ever

Aos · Mar 27, 2008

Tally-Hos are by far the best bang for the buck.

owen.christian · Mar 27, 2008

If you go to http://www.erdnase.com/search.html and click the download button you can get The Expert at the Card Table for free in pdf form. It's a good book.

Morphweasel · Mar 27, 2008

Hi Rasengan,

Welcome to the wonderful world of card magic

As said before, go for the Tally Ho cards. They are definately worth the money! I actually started with bridge size cards myself, because they don't sell USPCCo's cards in the Netherlands, and most of the non-brand cards are bridge size here.
Anyway, I think it is good to just get any cheap deck you can find, just to practice with. You can then use the Tally's to perform with, once you get the hang out of it. Especially when you are doing some hard sleights or fancy ways to shuffle cards for example (flourishes), your cards will be killed before you know it. I actually killed an entire deck, just to practice card springing and riffle shuffeling. So if I were you, I would buy a cheap bridge size deck and that more expensive deck of Tally Ho's.

Also, there are many things to start with for a beginner. Most of Ellusionist's dvds are for beginners actually. As said before, Penguin Magic's Born to Perform is a great dvd, but maybe a bit too hard for a beginner. You should check that one out once you know the basics. Also, Theory11 itself sells some beginner tricks. Check out the 1-on-1 section and look for Aaron Fisher's card fundamentals.

Good luck buddy, and let us know if you have any more questions

~Morphweasel

illusionist14 · Mar 27, 2008

I would recomend something like OZ pearlmans born to perform dvd. Start off with some basics, then move on to some single trick dvds, which have some sleights a little harder.

Aos · Mar 27, 2008

+1 for naruto reference in the name
Um, I would recommend staying as far away from oz pearlman and brad christian as possible. I find them to be bad magicians, the latter being the worst of the two. The best thing you can do is figure out who is a very very good card magician and listen to what he has to say. You don't want to be taught by somebody who is still learning.

RichmanMatthew · Mar 27, 2008

Aos said:
You don't want to be taught by somebody who is still learning.

Best sentence ever posted on Theory11...

I would like to congratulate you for starting here instead of Ellusionist....

Enough of a random rant, I would recommend you get the RRTCM. It is about ten dollars. Easily your moneys' worth.

Rasengan · Mar 28, 2008

But what these sleights actually are, I haven't got that yet?

And is there a name for card manipulation? I wanna learn few stuff about that.

2ndDeal · Mar 28, 2008

Rasengan said:
But what these sleights actually are, I haven't got that yet?

And is there a name for card manipulation? I wanna learn few stuff about that.

Sleight means a secret manouver that makes magic tricks happen. There are numerous different sleights that archieve different things.

Card Manipulation is a form of stage magic. IMagician produces playing cards from thin air. Check out Ineski's Talent act from media section.