talkmagic.co.uk

Two brief incidental comments:

As Iain pointed out combining a stack with a marked deck can create some real impossibilities. It adds an extra level of complexity to anyone trying to work out the method, but also puts extra limits on the performance conditions. Up to you to decide if that's your idea of fun or not...

Don't worry too much about material being outside your performance level. If nothing else it will give you a fascinating read and something to aspire to. Learning a tricky move like a faro isn't insanely hard but will take mucho practice and opens up some handy new avenues (eg. Mr Grue's point about using it to get into Mnemonica) and gives you something to do when the telly's boring.