Bicycle Poker Cards
Mfr: The US Playing Card Company
Available in red or blue from most good magic dealers.
Cost: £2 - £3
What's included: Deluxe cellophane wrapping, cardboard box (to carry them in), really annoying seal sticker, which is a pain in the butt to remove, some useless American adverising cards, 2 jokers, 52 playing cards, 4 suits, 13 cards per-suit.
Basically... what I'm trying to say is that they are just regular playing cards, but of the best tried-and-tested quality you'll find.
Rating: 10 out of 10
Review:
OK, aside from the irritating sticker, and the ridiculous description given above (
), these are really quite the best cards to use for standard card magic.
They've a nice plastic coating which keeps them in decent condition over and over again, and the case is robust and seals properly every time (if you look after it!).
Beginners and pro's alike use the Bicycle deck, and to this end, you'll notice that most gaffed/gimmicked card decks and packet tricks come with Bicycle backs.
You'll see them in films, magic shows and most US convenience stores.
Unfortunately, they are pretty expensive here in the UK, but you can get them from £1.99 a deck from a certain online magic shop!
Using cheap decks of bridge cards from the local newsagent will lead to major headaches, and you'll be making life difficult for yourself... really.
The only thing I'd NOT recommend these for is card manipulations, which you may want to consider thinner special manipulation decks for.
But generally, if you're starting out in card magic... GET YOURSELF SOME BICYCLE CARDS. They will instantly earn you credability in front of other fellow magicians, and they'll serve you well.
Also made by the US Card Co. are BEE decks, which are of exactly the same quality except that the back design is right to the edges, as opposed to the Bicycle decks, which have the usual white border.
It is quite handy to get hold of a deck of BEE cards also, as they prove invaluable for Monte tricks and the like, where white borders may reveal too much about how the cards are moving.
There you have it! Bicycle Poker Cards... the magician's choice!