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I have always used bikes and i, like many others, started with 100's...possibly 1000's! of bike fakes/gimmicks/trick cards etc. and after about 2 years of going out with a jacket BULGING with lots of gaff decks and cards i sat down with Card College and now do out with a deck of bikes, a Stealth Wallet with a couple of packet tricks in it and Rainbow Deck.

But i will admit to loving bikes, red and blue as im not racist. They handle nicely when new, i think they look proffesional and are cheap enough to leave at a gig when the clever dicky claims i must be using a trick deck.

Mark,

Unfortunately I can't make Ferrybridge this year, I'll be on the Orkney Isles, and its a long way to come down for the day So enjoy it buddy, and include me in your next visit to Merlins

Wishmaster,

I have no connection to Merlins but know them both from long ago. When Practical Magic were setting up (the current owners Jeremy and Cheryl) they were Wakefield based and I helped with overseeing what was purchased and spent 18 months dealer demming for them. Merlins were just starting up at that time so we came across each other regularly.

I don't know where in Yorkshire you are but next time you come to Merlins let me know and I'll meet up for a pint. Lawrence is also in Wakefield and Losey (Lauren) is not far away, they might also be able to make one in. Being as how I'm retired, I can always make one in for a pint most times. PM me if you are interested.

Wishmaster,


Why not come to the Ferrybridge convention? Its a Yorkshire thing, and its only £3.50 to get in




Mark

I have used bridge cards all my life and if you live in the UK you should certainly use the Waddingtons brand to allay suspicion that you use trick cards.

When I moved to North America poker size cards are more obtainable than bridge size but I still refuse to use them. British you know.

And there really is no reason not to use them. The advice you see that if you start off with poker cards you will find bridge cards easy is a load of tosh.

In the UK you should certainly use bridge cards because they are the most common ones. And if you live in the US you should immediately give up poker size cards in order to do things the British way. I really think it is about time that America came under British rule once again.
Not that we would want them of course.

Mark Waddington wrote:Wishmaster,
Why not come to the Ferrybridge convention? Its a Yorkshire thing, and its only £3.50 to get in
Mark

Hi Mark,

Sounds good to me! Is this mentioned anywhere (dates/times/prices)? I've done a quick search and can only find details of the 2008 Ferrybridge meet.

Cheers,
Wishmaster

Sunday 5th July
10am till 5pm
Ferrybridge Community Centre, Ferrybridge, West Yorks
£3.50 admittance

Lecturettes by Andrew Green and John Archer
Dealerettes round the hall
Showette at the end of the day

Theres more details on Magicweek

That help?

Mark

Cheers for the info Mark.

No problems, ill be there so give me a shout iff you see me!

Mark Waddington wrote:No problems, ill be there so give me a shout iff you see me!

Will do I can't spot anything happening that weekend, so I should be good to go.

I know EXACTLY how that goes. I actually avoided learning it till like now because i didn't think my hands were big enough. I would practice with Regular sized poker cards. I can do it now and now I dont understand how I wasn't able to do it. lol. Because of small hands, I have a lot of trouble doing things like The Classic and Invisible Pass and being able to pull off most palms and some card cuts (The Tenkai one is more of an issue of angles that relates to my hand size I think).

On another side note if anyone has tips that would help me be able to pull of the Classic Pass and Invisible pass message me? (i know that should be another topic but it seems vaguely on topic here)

I have nerve damage, arthritis, and a few other problems with my left hand, mostly from playing guitar for the past few decades. My hand is pretty much worthless, worse than the left hand. I tried Bridge size cards too. Didn't like them at all, so I went over to Poker size and just stuck with it. I still have problems, but I just keep going, have good days and bad days. I still can NOT do that 2 finger "flip" card change, can't get the card far away enough from my hand for the card(s) to spin, they always bump into my palm, but I'm still practicing using different fingers, almost got it.

It's like learning to play the guitar. If you start out on an electric guitar and then pick up an acoustic giutar you're in for some work. If you start on an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar is a walk in the park to play. Same goes for guitar string thickness. Start out with thin strings and grab a guitar with heavy strings and you'll cut your fingers to bits.

So my advice would be to start at the top, everything from there down can't be anything but easier.

Wishmaster wrote:If you then want to switch to bridge size later, you'll find the transition easy. This doesn't follow if you learn using bridge and switch to poker later.
...
However, the footnote on p149 of Mark Wilson's Complete Course (which is awesome!) gives the opposite advice when learning the one-hand cut (basic method). It says "It's best, particularly when first learning, to use the narrow, Bridge-size cards rather than wide Poker-size."

Learning something, whatever it may be, in the most difficult conditions so that you'll then become so good at it that you'll then be amazing at it in easier conditions -- learning a move with poker cards then switching to bridge cards, for example -- that's a great concept, but I don't think it always applies.

If you find that you're improving as you learn, then yes, it's probably a good idea to practise the hard way... But, if you find you get stuck, then it's best to make life easy for yourself until you become competent.

Otherwise you're just learning to do it (whatever it may be) wrongly. You'll be so good at messing it up that you'll make no progress.

I found this to be the case when learning the Hot Shot Cut. I practised and practised and practised, and just found that I was messing it up every time, and just not making progress. Then, I removed about a dozen cards from the deck, and suddenly found that I could perform the cut fairly well. So, I was now practising doing the cut WELL, but with only about 40 cards. But now all I had to do was gradually introduce more cards until I could perfrom the cut with 52 cards, which I can now do.

Oh, as for size: personally I'm about to buy some bridge cards because I do find it a real stretch to get my Boy Scout hands around a big manly poker deck (fnar fnar!).

Sure, my hands aren't THAT tiny - it's not _impossible_ for me to learn a tricky move such as the Hot Shot Cut with a poker deck, for example...

But I don't think that's really the point.

Even if I perform a tricky move like the Hot Shot Cut with a poker deck successfully, the fact that I'm having to stretch my hands so much... well, I don't think that looks very cool. I think magic should look effortless, and although I can perform this move with a poker deck, I don't think it could ever look effortless. The human hand can only stretch so far! If it's having to stretch to its limits, that will look a bit rubbish, in a way.

Another way to look at it: fundamentally, there's nothing *good* about poker size, in the same way that there is nothing *good* about bridge size. What I mean is, small hands are only small because other people have bigger hands. It's relative. So, using cards that are a little 'too big' for your hands just because other people use that size, that wouldn't make any sense.

OK, so someone might hand you a poker deck. Fine: you'll still be able to perform most of your routines, you'll just have to skip some of the more flashy moves. It's not like you won't be able to do ANYTHING.

Probably the best argument for using poker cards is the issue of gaff cards, but if like me you don't use them, then it's not an issue.

Having said that, I intend to use bridge cards generally and I do intend to buy the Extractor, but I actually think people won't notice the switch! From the photos I've seen online, bridge size and poker size Bikes are almost identical. Same back design, and (unlike many bridge cards) Bike bridge cards don't have the numbers in all four corners; they have the numbers in two corners like the poker cards. (I'd have a bridge deck, a regular poker deck plus the Extractor gimmick. I have big pockets!)

Mainly I just wanted to make the point that although a small-handed person may be able to learn most moves with a poker deck, however well they perform those moves, it may always look a bit awkward because the spectators will see that this person is really having to streeeetch their hands.

As for back colour: one advantage of red backs is that if you're palming and someone catches a glimpse of red between your fingers, they're unlikely to notice. They'll easily notice the blue. Of course, ideally your palming will be so good that this won't be an issue, but if you're palming isn't perfect, red is best.

I didn't see anything posted by The Devil's Tailor that I disagree with. Just wanted to add that I always thought it odd that on the coin side of the hobby you have gaffes commonly made at the quarter, half and dollar sizes (US currency anyway) yet you rarely see gaffe cards and decks offered in bridge size. The only that I remember seeing are the el-cheapo off brand Svengali pitch decks.