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Sorry if this is the wrong section. I would like to become very good at card magic(using a regular deck at first), so I would like to ask the people with the know how, what route do I go? Can you point me to a good book, dvd etc. I don't just want to learn how a trick is done, but also how to control the card properly and manipulate them as well. I was going to get Royal Road To Card Magic but I thought I would check first?

Thanks

You should also get Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic and Bobo's Coin Guide. They will really help you in developing all aspects of magic.

That is THE way to go! I began with RRTCM and Mark Wilson. Of course you can now get RRTCM on DVD (see our advertisers) but make sure you get the proper 5 DVD L & L version. I know some people also like born to perform DVD.

I suggest you buy Allan Ackermans dvd series on expert card control. AA discuss most types of shufflers, moves and controls and his DVDs are a must for any serious card magician who are not cutting corners (pun intended!)

Start with Mark Wilson's complete course in magic. Every move is illustrated which makes it wonderful. Not a DVD don't have to spend the time to pause or rewind just read the words under each illustration and follow along. I'd also invest in a svengali deck or a stripper deck. Sure they are gimmicked but you will get instant gratification and you will learn how to be comfortable handling a deck of cards and being infront of an audience. And at the same time you can study hard and learn the moves at your own pace reading Mark Wilson's book. Also you can vary it up by switching to another section of the book to get away from cards for awhile.

As said above, Mark Wilson is a fantastic place to start and it'll also give you an intro into other areas of magic if you wanted to venture into them at some point. Then Royal Road is pretty much accepted as the main book on cards.

I'll second/third/fourth using Mark Wilson's CCIM. Its a great starter in cards and gives you the essentials (apart from a few unnecessary flourishes IMHO).

Royal Road is definitely a good book to follow this up with. After these two books you should be fairly sufficient and can then shop about to see what floats your boat after that.

If you want to get good at cards DEFINITELY buy Royal road. Also, get Mark Wilson if you want to get a far more rounded view of magic. After you go through Royal road I'd recommend expert card technique, then perhaps card college 1-5. Obviously, it'll take you a while to master all Royal road has to offer, so take your time. That's one thing royal road does well- a chapter on the sleight then tricks using that sleight, so you can be performing effects as you go though the book. Card magic is the main branch of magic that I use in my close up routines, so if you have any trouble or need some help or guidance, feel free to pm me.

I personally would stick with RRTCM - then if you make your way through that then look into others, but that does depend on wether you want to stick with Cards or Branch out' i Started out with Cards (like Most i suppose) but got Very Bored Very quickly. If you are going to look into other Areas then you could do a lot worse that Mark wilson's'.

One thing I would say though is that it isn't a great idea to do a routine for people made up entirely of card effects. I LOVE card magic (like most that's what I started out doing), but I try to include some coin stuff, and perhaps open with something like "chink a chink" or "one in the pocket" using dice or paper balls. So I would get a book on "general" magic as it were so that if you're performing impromptu and you feel like they're getting bored of the cards you can flip onto something else.
Mark Wilson is great, but even something like "Pocket book of magic" by Peter Eldin (I don't know if it's still being sold now) has got some real gems in there, especially under the "impromptu" section.

Royal Road will keep you going for ages. It's great for learning a whole range of basic techniques, and some tricks (although some of these haven't dated too well, IMHO).

Mark Wilson's compelte course is about as good value a beginner's book as you are going to find, I think. Again, you could spend years ploughing through it (look out for an effect in there called Double Thought Projection - simplicity itself, but it never fails to impress!) Card-wise, the book is slighter on technique than Royal Road, but great (essential?) nonetheless.

In time, you might progress onto Card College. Not a light read, but as far as I can gather it's the creme de la creme for would-be card men (and women). Others on this forum will be able to tell you more about it. From what I've seen of volume 1, it's fantastic.

Good to see another Scot about the place.

I personally would choose RRTCM, thats what I started with, but everyone is different. Thats the beauty of magic, its never the same, for good or bad!!!!

I am not a great card magic fan but I found Mark Willsons ccim a great book for all types of magic including cards - buy it if you haven't already

I found Michael Ammars Easy to Master Card Miracles DVDs some of the most helpful materials.Id also recommend the Mark Wilson book, Ive only had it a week or so, but its full of interesting ideas and its nice to at least know about other areas of magic, even if you dont use them!

To be honest I didnt start with RRTCM or Mark Wilsons book. I went straight to all the hard stuff like the pass. Seriously the pass was the second sleight of hand move I learnt, I think the first was the DL. Then I started doing things like the side slip/steal and after a while you get a feel for the cards and after youve built up knowledge from books you can learn new sleights very easily.

I read the Card College books 1-5 from front to back, there is some absolutely incredible routines in there. One of my favourites is this ace trick. I forgot what its called but I think its taught on volume four. I thinks its miracle aces or something similar.

Im sure some people wouldnt recommend doing what I did but it seemed to work for me!