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Hi, I have recently grown a big interest in magic card tricks and just come across this forum.

I've been learning the basics for about 2 months now, bought a book which taught me some main sleights using the overhand shuffle, riffle shuffle, palming cards, double lifts and a few others. For each of these there was a trick you could use with them which I practiced for a few hours a day for about few weeks before I tried them on some people at work to which I was suprised that I tricked them all.

Anyway the point of my post is I was hoping some people here could give me advice on the best way for a beginner to start? Good tricks to learn? And whether its worth buying gimmick decks or not?

Just a general point in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S: Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, wasn't to sure where to put it.

ok i recomend you invest in a book called the royal road to card magic which you can get for around £5 from amason and many other places.
there is also a dvd of the same name which I'm sure someone will provide you a link to.

then get your self some cards the standard are bycycle make poker sized, many special cards are made in this format, the cards should cost you a few quid and i recomend at least two packs to start.

now heres were i difer from a few of the card purists on this forum as i recomend you get your self a pack of stripper cards in bike format around £4, thease will allow you to do several tricks straight away as you include sleights you have learnt from royal road.
i belive this is the best all round solution allowing you to work on your presentation skills confident that you are able to perform some astounding tricks easily wile you incorporate card changes etc as you progress.

Dont buy gimmick decks to start with there not worth it and to expensive.
Essential books are 1. The royal road to card magic but by your description it sounds like you have got it. 2. Mark wilsons complete course in magic not just cards but a whole variety of different types of effects.3. J.B. Bobo modern coin magic. This is coins as you can see in the title. 4. Annemans practical magic. This is more mind reading. 5. 13 Steps to mentalism. Again more on mind reading 6.Oh also expert at the card tables very good aswell but these books are good for the beginner and you will have more than enough to keep you busy with for well over a year and all these books can be found for very cheap prices.
Now if you would rather dvds you can take your pick from royal road to card magic{ make sure it's the R.PAUL WILSON ONE.} or Art of astonishment or even daryl card encyclopedia all these are very good and great for beginers hope this helps im sure others will be along to point you in the right direction aswell.

Thanks for the help I appreicate it. The book I am currently learning from is infact The Royal Road to Card Magic, where is a good place to buy dvds from? I think I would prefer them to reading a book.

Thanks again,


ShadowZ

royal road dvd by Paul Wilson I believe -- £50 ish

Also recommend getting a book called ' Modern coin magic by Bobo '

Get a TT, some IT and thats about it to start with.. you should get six months out of those 4 things

Defiantly get RRTCM and then you should get Expert Card Technique, awesome books,

+ all the other books recommended above are true classics which teach and build on the foundations of card/coin magic.

Best of luck with your journey, but just remember one thing, never stop practicing.

Well, since Kati hasn't been around, I'll do the honors

I would recommend getting Born To Perform from Oz Pearlman. Some very vital fundamentals and routines that will take your stuff up a few notches on the impressive meter. Here's the link to that:

Born To Perform: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=618

Dominick wrote:Well, since Kati hasn't been around, I'll do the honors

I would recommend getting Born To Perform from Oz Pearlman. Some very vital fundamentals and routines that will take your stuff up a few notches on the impressive meter. Here's the link to that:

Born To Perform: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=618

RRTCM covers all of that and much more, and for a cheaper price.
Stick with RRTCM.

If you are looking for a dvd, get the 5 DVD set of RRTCM.

You could also consider The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Hugard - you can get it cheaply on Amazon. This covers what Henry Hay calls "head magic" - tricks requiring little or no sleight of hand, including calculation tricks, setups, mechanical decks and other fakes. This is complementary to the other books mentioned, because even "self-working" tricks can be improved by false shuffles and other sleights. It will also give you a good idea about the uses of stripper and other faked decks.

Barry

everything has pretty much been covered above. Mark Wilson's book is brilliant for a general overview of different areas of magic and has a brilliant cards section. One book that's not been mentioned that might be worth looking at though is Karl Fulves Self Working Card Magic and Self Working Mentalism which also has a number of very good card tricks in it (or any of the Fulves books for that matter).

I'm a beginner and I'd say get what everyone above has stated.

RRTCM is my favourite buy, I'm about half way through it and can't praise it enough for the confidence and skills it has given me.

The TT works like a charm as well after a bit of practicing you are ready for public performing.

All I would say is try not to take on to much at once, I did this at the start and things can get very confusing.

magicofthemind wrote:You could also consider The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Hugard

I all ready have this book a long with RRTCM and a David Blaine book.

Thanks to everyone who has replied here I will probably purchase another couple of books you have suggested when I finish RRTCM along with a DVD or 2.

I do have one more question, just curious to what most people say when people ask to look through the deck or see the top three cards?


ShadowZ

I picked up a couple of cheap books in Waterstones one called 101 Clever Card Tricks (I did a review in the books section) and one called Easy Card Tricks, both published by Hamlyn and a fiver each.
They use basic sleights which if you are studying RRTCM will already know and have some really good effects in there. For the price, well worth adding to your magic library.

shadow, in response to your last question, try either performing a DL to show indifferent card on top and turning pack face up to spread a few more, or p*** off the card and offer the shuffle to them. In fact, with care the pack can be spread face up and still "show" the top 3 cards as different. The latter with the spec shuffling the pack is a total convincer if done well.