by Demitri » Jul 25th, '05, 08:01
Born to Perform is a great place to start. It covers the basics - handling the deck, sleights - and gives some very powerful effects that work in real world situations. Just do some searches on it - you'll find tons of great reviews.
I don't know about the ellusionist dvd. I've heard it's a good dvd, but I don't have firsthand knowledge of it.
You seem to be on the DVD side, which is fine. I would say alongside Born to Perform - you may want to check out Richard Kaufman's Basic Card Technique. It doesn't teach you any effects, but it covers a TON of material as far as sleights, moves, and counts are concerned. It's a great dvd for a beginner, since it actually focuses on mechanics and technique.
If you're open to other suggestions, aside from dvd's there are many books that will teach you the basics. However, since you only mentioned dvd's, I'll stick to that genre.
I'd say go with Born To Perform - and if you can afford it, Basic Card Technique.
