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I have recently bought the Royal Road to Card Magic and a couple of packs of Bicycle cards.

I am trying to master the basic overhand shuffle controlling the top and bottom cards. My problem is that I seem to be very clumsy and am letting the cards slip about too much. Is this simply a matter of more practice needed or could the newness of the cards be a factor?

I have tried with old decks of cards and find the opposite problem, they stick badly. My wife is telling me that I am expecting too much from myself too soon. Is she right or am I missing something basic?

New cards are very slippy and can be difficult to handle if you're not used to them.

Just persevere - eventually they'll get a little rougher and will be much easier to handle.

You could use fanning powder to quicken the process, but I wouldn't bother - they'll "age" quickly enough.

Good luck!

Agree with you on fanning powder - it's a good thing to use to quicken the roughness/learning process. A good thing to get for beginners. Also makes fanning easier to lern (obviously!).

The easiest way to apply the powder is to put a bit in a plastic bag, throw in the deck, close the bag well and shake. I think that process is described in one of Jeff McBried's videos.

Thank you both. It is excellent to be abble to ask questions like these and get an answer from experienced magicians who have been through the learning process

It's actually more than acceptable for the cards to slip around and for your shuffles to be less than perfect.

Granted, you don't want to be dropping cards left right and centre, but to give the audience the signs that you can handle a deck of cards 'perfectly' would immediately ring alarm bells in their heads. They may assume that every trick you do is down to sleight of hand, even if they are self-working tricks.

So, aim to make sure you can execute your controls properly, but don't worry so much about it looking messy. After all, if it looks messy, the specs would never think that you are controlling the cards in any way.

Hopefully that makes sense and others would agree to an extent?

Johnny Wizz wrote: My problem is that I seem to be very clumsy and am letting the cards slip about too much.

Join the club - I feel as though I've drunk 10 pints of Guinness and my hands just wont do what I want. I'm sure the both of us will get better with practice (I hope!)

Rob

I mentioned this on another forum. Whenever I sit down to watch a programme on tv, this is a great time to practise. From what I have learnt so far is not to look at your hands when performing sleights as this directs audiences attention to your hands. Just sit back, watch the footie or whatever soap your into and shuffle shuffle shuffle!

Thanks

Najis

Zack wrote:It's actually more than acceptable for the cards to slip around and for your shuffles to be less than perfect.

that is true, but you do need to have enough control for when you jogg the cards out, to be able to 'slip' the card only one way, and not the other. as for the aging problem, ive found that playing a few rounds of poker, or better yet low life (fast moving card game, gets the cards bending-etc), can help new cards age. after about 3 hours of lowlife, mine are just perfect. poker is nice too, but theres less of the cards being moved around, plus i lose too much money that way

Thanks again for all the responses. I have started practising whist watching TV. Good tip, it keeps your eyes off the cards. I don't know low life but I will play a game of pairs with the grandchildren, that will age the cards fast enough. As for the rest, its clearly just practice, practice, practice.

That's the spirit practice practice practice, who would ever have thought that something as simple as shuffling would be be difficult?

The answer probably none of us but we all get there in the end

Johnny Wizz, welcome to TM. Have to say I had exactly the same problem when going throught the first chapters of Royal Road TCM. However a month on now, it has improved so much, just a case of practise and confidence with handling the deck, also your speed and fluidity will naturally improve.
I also very much agree with if your shuffling is too clean then people will suspect something is going on. Try concentrating on your performance and what you say to the spectators, they won't care how you shuffle the cards as long as they think they are lost in the deck.