I'm new here and have a few questions

[Rasengan]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Rasengan]

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

[Manitoba-Amateur]

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]

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

[Aris.SA]

use TH9 they are the best ever :P

[Aos]

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

[owen.christian]

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.:D

[Morphweasel]

Hi Rasengan,

Welcome to the wonderful world of card magic :P
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]

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]

+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]

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]

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]

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.

[r29]

well welcome to T11
yea pretty much what the others have said Royal Road to Card magic is goodo for the basics slieghts..as for cards Bicycles or if u want the gaurdian by T11 i found them amazing nd those should last u awhile other then that have fun enjoy nd one last tip PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!

[Rasengan]

But are these ordinary bicycle playing cards plastic? the ones I have at the moment are so hard and almost don't bend.

[PjPinsonnault]

No, Bicycle Bee, and Tally Ho cards are not made of plastic. They are made from card stock, which is like a thick, flexibly stiff paper, basically.

Stay away from plastic and plastic coated for magic purposes, and you'll save yourself a lot of frustration.

Welcome. Prepare to become obsessed.

Pj

[dragon521]

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

Lol, so you think after a certain point in your magical career you become the perfect magician? There are always new ticks, sleights, books, DVDs and material coming out. The magician that thinks he's so perfect, that he doesn't have to improve or practice sleights and presentation, is not a perfect magician, but rather a really sucky one :)

As for a good starting point I say go to your local library and pray they have the RRTCM. If they don't look in a local magic store or order it online. If you find you like card magic and want to pursue it, I would then reccomend buying the whole Card College Series. It is a hefty investment but it will be well worth it. Hope I was helpful.

[Aos]

You think after a certain point in your magical career you become the perfect magician?

Who said that? I said you don't want to be taught a trick/sleight/etc by somebody who is still learning it. Just because there are new ones doesn't mean the old ways of doing the older effect are invalid. Also, I meant that you want to be taught by somebody good enough to create their own _good_ effects.

And yes, given the right conditions there is a perfect way of doing something.

[Rasengan]

Thanks for all the advice. But could anyone name any good beginner tricks that aren't hard to learn but look good?

Thanks

[manipulation4food]

wow, your lucky i looked at this post. now to start off on my experties!

1. For magic any cards will do, i recommend for performing and practicing normal bicycles/tally ho's. You can get both at Kardwell.com or a local cvs or supermarket.

2. Sigh basic moves. There are so many depends what you want to be able to do. I have put off learning a pass for 5 years. Finally i'm just starting to practice it. But things like double lifts, passes, forces, controls, exchanges. So many things if you want specifics you can pm me but if i told specifics on here my post would be a page long.

3. WHAT ARE SLEIGHTS? hah they're pretty much sneaky moves if you want to have it simple.

4. Nothing is a beginner trick, unless you really mean expert card handling. But for tricks that are soo easy and i still do now. I would recommend penguinmagic. Tryout the Renegade or Do as I do. Both are cheap and hard hitting. I love them and they're impromtu and they're my openers.

5. Now ones that look good. All look good just depends on your taste.

[iq92]

First of all, welcome!

I'm trying to stay on topic here and avoid the arguments so here's what I have to say:

1. I started out by using just random decks, both plastic and paper. I used plastic decks, very thin, and smaller than regular Bikes, but I switched after finding difficulty in some maneuvers. After a while, you kinda have to get used to the norm, which for me are Bicycles. Since you're just starting out, there's really no need to get fancy decks, unless of course you want to. Bikes for me are already suitable enough, for practice and even for performance. It's very much comparable to other decks out there and they're quite versatile. Also, try to get used to using them, poker size too, since these are widly used and very common.

2. Sleights are basically "the moves". They're what you do to accomplish the effects. Lifts, passes, changes, palming and many others. Definitions of these, how to do them, and the different sleights, are too many to mention. Of course, the more basic ones can be found in one of the sources said by the posters above. Get them down. Start with the simpler ones, like grips and lifts. I used to think grips were not very important but actually, they are.

3. I started out with tricks that came from ordinary magic books. They were not very popular and I just found them in the libraries. The first tricks I learned were self working and didn't require too much sleights. You got to start somewhere right? Find ones that are easy to do, then work your way towards the more complicated tricks. You'll develop your skills gradually, so don't worry about it.

That's it for now. Any more questions, just ask. Good luck to you! :D

[Rasengan]

thanks a lot, manipulation and iq
but then one complicated card trick is actually a bunch of sleights? that's how I understand

[Rasengan]

I've got another question:
Should I get myself two of the same decks?? Because I know that some tricks require two same decks or cards.

[Aos]

Depends on if you know such tricks... Usually I open two identical decks and take one card from one put it in the other, giving me doubles in both and 52 cards in both. It is quite easy to get away with a single pair of doubles in your deck. I've even had spectators grab the deck out of my hands after a trick where I used a double and they couldn't find it (they were looking for the wrong card heh).

[Rasengan]

I was looking that Oz Pearlman DVD born to perform, and there was one trick called something like transpo, and that was really cool one, that I would like to learn. But here's another question, how many are there that kind of tricks that require 2 same cards/decks?

[Aos]

How many are there that kind of tricks that require 2 same cards/decks?

InfiniTy. Everybody always makes up new oNes. And some of those require a cRazy amount of duplicates.

[iq92]

Ok, the possibilities are actually endless here, tricks are always getting made and remade. You can't put a definite number if you're asking for "the number of tricks that use these" or the like. When you start to get better or when you get more experience, you'll be able to make your own modifications to other effects. Doubles are only 1 of so many other ways to accomplish different effects. Sometimes you won't even need doubles and such if you know or come up with a different handling of an effect.

As for your question on complicated tricks, it's not necessarily complicated if it requires a lot of sleights. Also, some effects use only a few sleights but are still complicated. There are other factors that make the effect complicated or simple. Misdirection, patter, memorization are some. Sleight of hand is only one way to accomplish an effect, there are others too, like i mentioned.

Maybe it's just your perception of "complicated". At first maybe an effect is complicated but if you practice it a lot, it becomes more simple to perform.

Again, good luck :)