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I'm fully finished with RRTCM and have studied the book and DVD religiously!

What would you guy's suggest next? I mean there is Expert At The Card Table?
I was thinking of going to Card College 3?

Really would appreciate some thoughts guys!

Card College. I would stay away from 'Expert At The Card Table' I know its a classic that every magician has to read blah, blah, blah. In the end its really boring and there are far easier ways to do things and get better results.

Cheers bmat, I'm gonna head down to both International Magic and Davenports tomorrow and see what they have to say about it. I think the man in International Magic can be very rude at times, but has unmatched expertise compared to Davenports!

Although many people have said otherwise, I get on well with the young guy D'ports and I hope they'll both give me a bit of advice too.

I've also looked at the descriptions for the Card College series, and number 3 seems like the next step.

I don't know about recommending a book, but one thing that always confused me from RRTCM was the false shuffle - the one that retains total deck order but looks just like a regular overhand shuffle. I never felt it was explained properly, and the injogging and running of cards was, in my opinion, unnecessarily complex.

A perfect false shuffle is one of the most valuable things you can learn, for obvious reasons, and I've since learned a flawless overhand shuffle that has no running and no injogging and retains complete deck order.

So, if you were like me and thought the RRTCM false shuffles weren't too good, look into learning a decent one. I think that one ability alone is enough to create magic even without any other tricks.

I learned mine from Oz Pearlman, and it is divine.

Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights is a good purchase if youve enough money and can shop around for it, though it may well be good getting a DVD that has live routines in it, so you can 'see' what route you want to take with your magic. I can recommend M Dowdens Party Animal, I borrowed this from a friend, and it is now on my wish list-the tricks in it are about a 3/5 in terms of dificulty, but the routining is awewome! As for a book, Expert Card Technique will lead you down a good path, teaching better versions on moves such as the D/L, along with priceless presentation/misdirection advice.

Cheers guys, Card College 3 looks advantageous with moves such as the Side Steal, Bindle Pass etc, but who knows. Daryl's EOCS does look tasty, but your right, rather on the pricey side.

I personally bought a some material more geared towards effects after RRTCM. Then after a while I was able to add sleights that I felt would be more beneficial rather than learn a load of sleights that I have no real use for. Things like the elmsley count and a couple of false shuffles and cuts.

Like Queen of clubs I wasn't to happy with the false shuffles in RRCTM. So I practised the in the hand false riffle shuffle religiously for a while.

One thing I bought I found useful was Ian Kendall's virtual sessions videos. It has a good few moves to give you something to chew on.

If your pocket can stretch to it, I really would recommend Card College from vol 1. Yes you have learned a lot from RRTCM but Gobbi is far more detailed and deconstructs even the simplest moves in a way that to me was an insight. The books build on the earlier ones so starting at Vol 3 may not be greatly useful if you have not seen the intricacies of Vols 1-2.

When I am on Desert Island Discs, the 5 Gobbi volumes will be my additional book, with an inexhaustable supply of Bicycles my luxury!
(Alright, maybe some beers instead!)

queen of clubs wrote:I don't know about recommending a book, but one thing that always confused me from RRTCM was the false shuffle - the one that retains total deck order but looks just like a regular overhand shuffle. I never felt it was explained properly, and the injogging and running of cards was, in my opinion, unnecessarily complex.

A perfect false shuffle is one of the most valuable things you can learn, for obvious reasons, and I've since learned a flawless overhand shuffle that has no running and no injogging and retains complete deck order.

So, if you were like me and thought the RRTCM false shuffles weren't too good, look into learning a decent one. I think that one ability alone is enough to create magic even without any other tricks.

I learned mine from Oz Pearlman, and it is divine.

I never understood the jog thing either. I used to use and overhand false shuffle and sometimes still do. I much prefer the Zarrow shuffle although I always get one card out of place. I know how to get around it I'm just not happy with the way in which its done. So I use the false riffle shuffle with an up the latter cut. I can't remember the name of the shuffle. Strange thing is I use it all the time but I only do so because I can. I never use a full deck set up and very rarely do I use anything even partially set up. Go figure.

Just to end the thread, I ended up purchasing Expert Card Technique(against certain peoples advice) but I had it discounted, and Close Up Card Magic by Harry Lorayne which is an absolute gem!

I was just going to recommend expert card technique! I found it really useful and an ideal step up after royal road. The only thing against it is that the opening chapter is false deals which are really hard to master, and there are two many variants in there of the double and triple lifts in my opinion. I've seen on this thread that the false shuffles in RRTCM were not all that good, which I agree with. In ECT, there is a shuffle- "Charlie Miler's strip out shuffle" which is a riffle shuffle and cut that retains the deck in perfect order- well worth learning early on! The book is great value for money, and I regularly dip into my copy for a take on a sleight or a read of the presentation guide in the back. One thing that i don't like however, are the majority of effects in the back. Some seem a little bland, bu then again, there are one or two gems in there that can be adapted.

the strip out is a good shuffle and very easy to get the hang of, but you can only really do it once each shuffle else it looks a bit odd. i much prefer to use an over hand as it looks more open and innocent.

but well done on the book choice:) have you also checked out hugards 'card manipulations' and 'more card manipulations' books?

Cheers cymru1991, I know what you mean about some of the effects in the back, they really do need modernizing! Some of the stuff is under explained and hard to master,(from my initial flick through) but nothing that is impossible!

I also have a false riffle shuffle that I came up with myself, but once flicking through found it was very much prominent in the book!

Close Up Card Magic by Harry Lorayne, although it does not teach you any sleights, bar one or two, the first routine I read through properly, was well worth the £20 alone!

Joelhall, I haven't checked out the Card Manipulations book, I'm getting paid, well what should be today but for some reason is now Tuesday, so I will have a looksie!

Damn and I was going to recommend card college but as others have said I'd go from volume 1. I started at volume 2 after RRTCM and now I want to go back and get V1. I'm a big fan of the Harry Lorayne book I think there are some great effects in there. Expert card technique is great but I didn't appreciate how good it was at first - I find some of the explanation difficult but the content is brilliant.

cool

they come in 4 or 5 volumes each. if i remember right theyre around 3 q uid each. pretty sure davenports still carry them. some of the movements inside dont seem too great at first glance but are powerful if you practice and theyre right for you - i for one found some real gems