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I don't really hold with marked decks, it's too much like "cheating" I suppose. Also I've always found that quickly flicking through the deck lets you easily see the marks as that part of the back "moves" as you flick through them. Are there any marked decks where this doesn't happen? I can't see how there could be but maybe I'm missing some really subtle way of marking them that wouldn't be detected this way.

I've never tried one, but "Juiced" decks shouldn't stand out.

I know you're relatively new to card magic, but do you object to all gimmicked cards or decks? If not, then your argument makes no sense.

Svengali Deck - let's hope no one looks closely.

Stripper Deck - let's hope no one looks closely.

ID - let's hope... you get the idea.

If you don't handle the deck in a way that makes people suspect marking, they won't go looking for it, in the relatively unlikely event that they know how to spot marks anyway. Well, unless they like browsing magic websites trying to make sure no one 'fools them' and see a post like yours, that explains it.

I'm not an expert, but I'd say that (starting from your current position of thinking marked cards are too dirty) once you've been doing magic for a while, one of three things will happen:

1. You never get over your magician's guilt. Sadly, this is very likely to hamper your performances.

2. You become a card purist and will shun everything but a perfectly straight deck. You might not even like stacks. It's a hard road to follow. The essence of magic is cheating, so why not cheat large?

3. You realise that gimmicks have their place and, properly used, people shouldn't have a clue what happened. Yes, they might say that there's got to be something funny about the cards, but that should only be because they simply can't figure out how you did the impossible. If they are specific, and say that the cards must be marked (or whatever), then you might have gone a bit wrong!

Wise words indeed. Thanks for getting me thinking about this - your comments make a lot of sense. Cheers!

The Fournier deck works well for me. The markings are both easy to read and hard to spot and it is a good quality deck. I bought mine for around £15 from Mike Danata and if you go in to his shop and buy it he will throw in a lovely little routine to go with it. I bought it for one use and have used it with Mikes routine every time I have been out working since i got it.

There are plenty of good reviews in here if you search for them.

Very well said Part-Timer. I used to be of the purist, non marked, non gimmicked, pretty damn ordinary deck train of thought but as admirable as that is, it's pretty limited. I no longer fear gimmicks, and this magician's guilt of which you speak? Well i had it! Lots of it! It's gone now, and i enjoy being as sly and devious as possible.

I think its made me more honest in other areas, because i do all my lying with a deck of cards in my hands.

I find the Ultimate a good one, when I first started to use it I found it difficult to see the marks, so out when my fear of spectators seeing them.

I found Hidden in Plain Sight a good book, (review here http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic25061.php) it's written in connection with Boris Wild's deck, but can be used with any.

Do not underestimate the power of a marked deck! In my very humble opinion, a marked deck is the best gimmicked deck on the market. I use mine all the time and you can perform some phenomenal effects with one. Have a look at my review of the HIPS book in the above post; it is an excellent resource for marked decks. I am wearing out my Fournier marked deck (excellent, by the way) but I have a Bicycle one on standby.

Don't forget, a marked deck can be used as a normal deck; you don't have to utilise the markings until you decide to. That's the versatility of the deck - it can be used as a standard deck, it can examined by the spectator, handled and shuffled by a spectator; in fact, you can subject a marked deck to anything you would a normal deck.

Can you say the same about any other gimmicked deck?

Depending on your performance, the audience should remain none the wiser or even suspect the possibility of a marked deck being in play. You will not truly appreciate the effect a marked deck has on the audience until you start performing with one. The HIPS book contains lots of excellent tricks and suggestions for how to perform with a marked deck; misdirection, psychology, handling tips, etc.

(Great post from Part-Timer).