Hi,

My name's Philip and I have started playing with cards for a few months. I have bought several books and DVDs. Here are some of them.

Mark Wilson’s Complete Course to Card magic
Royal Road to Card Magic
Several Oz Pearlman and Jay Sankey DVDs
And some other ones too.

I find that most of these are tricks scattered all around. It's good to learn tricks but is there any more organized way to learn card tricks? How did you guys start?

I think Royal Road to Card Magic is pretty good in this sense but I cannot perfectly get down all the sleights just by reading. Maybe it's me as I see most people here have no problems with that book.

Is there any DVD set that is like a course and steadily builds up your skills? I have read many posts and found out that Michael Ammar's Easy to Master Card Miracles is a good start. But isn't that a bunch of tricks in each DVD too? I also heard that Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleight is a really comprehensive dictionary of card sleights, but have no tricks at all. Currently I hope to purchase a few DVDs to supplement my books. I really cannot afford all 8 DVDs of the Daryl series and the 9 DVDs of the Ammar series. Oh, also, I find Jerry McBride's Art of Card Manipulation very interesting.

Do you guys have any suggestions on which volumes I should get? Or are there any other DVDs that are good?

Nice to meet you guys here And thanks for this wonderful forum

Philip Chau

When I was starting in card magic, I read through each chapter of Royal Road. Then when I got to the end I went back through, and practice the slieghts. It was a longer process, But it helped me out alot. You might look into Card College, It is very simple to read and goes through a little more organized proccess...But the main key is practice all the time. When you are sitting on the couch watching tv, Pick a slieght and work on it constantly. Be Patient.

I think Oz Pearlman's "Born To Perform" is a good DVD supplement to Royal Road to Card Magic.

I personally have a collection like yours, scattered material.

I have found Mark Wilson's "Complete Course in Magic" to be a good teacher of the basic sleights.

Philip,
if you're serious about card magic, the best thing you can do IMO is to study Roberto Giobbi's Card College books. These books not only teach you moves and tricks in an intelligent and highly organized way but they teach you how to perform card MAGIC. The series is called "Card College" for a reason.

I learned from The Royal Road to Card Magic and Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic to begin with. I then visited magictricks.co.uk and downloaded their simple sleights/controls package, which helped!
I then purchased the Easy to Master Card Miracles by Michael Ammar - Volume One.
He goes through most of the main sleights/controls when revealing his routines. With these four materials, you have a solid foundation.

Karl Fulves also has some good books - for starters, try Self-Working Card Tricks

In Mark Wilson’s CCIM Check out the tricks on pages 70, 114, 119, 50 and 44 - nothing too complicated, and I get nice reactions from spectators.

In Royal Road to Card Magic, look at Chapter 6 (page 68 onwards, once mastered, look at the trick called A Meeting of Minds - simple, yet really effective

Once you’ve grown in confidence, a cheap DVD that has been of great help to me to add some spice, is 10 ways to Force a Card, beats the normal 10-20 and criss cross force.

A Svengali deck is always nice addition to a card routine, and not prior knowledge experience is needed. Royal Magic does a DVD, 25 tricks with a Svengali deck, which are all the instructions you'll need to begin with.

Anyway, hope this helps

I also highly recommend Royal Road to Card Magic and the Card College series. I prefer RRTCM because it was my first real magic book. There are many great routines in there and the sequence laid out in the book is perfect for anyone interested in learning cards.

I believe R Paul Wilson was working on a DVD for the RRTCM book but I am not certain if this is still happening. He is a HUGE fan of the book and would do it well.

Until then, go through the books and be patient. You will see results quickly but card magic is a lifetime of study.

Another great book is Expert at the Card Table. When you get to that stage of card magic, I recommend Darwin Ortiz's Annotated Erdnase.

Roberto Giobbi's 'Card College' books are the best investment you can make, I just wish that I had bought mine sooner. They take you through everything in an organised order are are worth the expense. They come in volumes so you don't have to buy lots of volumes at once and they are great to keep as reference books,

Dizzy

I used the Harry Lorayne books.

Get cc1, then scan your RRTCM. It sure will help.

Mike Close gave me this information.
I have NEVER gained so much help as what I learned from this NEW book. And I have been at this magic game for over thirty-five years.
Buy it!
The Ostrich Factor. Available at H&R Magic Books. Here's a link:

http://www.magicbookshop.com/cgi-bin/warehouse/perlshop.cgi

OOPS, let me clear up something; Mike Close only gave me the link. The quote is mine.
Enjoy the book. It honestly is the best book I have read in years. It has helped me to improve my magic in every way.
KW

I actually was wondering this same thing a few days ago. I've been confussed about where to start, so thanks for the advice!

Michael Ammar has an excellent DVD called "Amazing Secrets of Card Magic" which provides a lot of the basics before heading into ETMCM. Another great DVD as well is Richard Kaufman's "Basic Card Technique". Understand, these are not substitutes for the works recommended above, but rather serve as a good place to start building a framework.

Flimnar

Hi,

Thanks for all the advise.
That was really helpful!
I would definitely check out CC1
By the way, KenW, the link you posted didn't work.
Has anyone tried it?

Philip

Royal Road to Card Magic (Jean Hugard, Fred Braue)
Card College (Roberto Giobbi)
Easy to master card miracles series (Michael Ammar)


By the way...it's not Jerry but Jeff McBride . His videos are great but only feature card manipulation. If you like card manipulation those are the best you can get! (Card Manipulation = card production out of thin air, doing fans, vanishing and reproducing cards, palming cards for production, etc... These type of magic is best suited for stage and not close-up.)

If you want card tricks you can do now, try the Michael Ammar card videos, they are for beginners but have high impact material.... easy to follow instructions, and a great lay out.

The best way to study is to get a mirror set on the table in front of you and perform all the slights you learn over and over in front of it until you fool your own eye.

Get some 3/5 cards and start a cue sheet for each trick you learn, organize them into topics like
1 transformations
2 pick a card
3 other card in impossible location
4 mutilated and restored card

once you have this catalog of tricks all you need do is go back pull out a few tricks that fit well together and routine them into a good performance.

Make sure that you not only have all your slights in perfect working order but then you must work on presentation. The best routine can be dull and worthless when set to broken patter and bad body language.


Just some tips, if you would like more pm me and I will help you get started.

Michael Macdonald

I go too for the Card College books. You basically need only Vol.1-3, that enough for a god start.

Magixx

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the advice. I really find making up a catalog useful! It helps me focus a lot!
Now I'm just working on perfecting some of the sleights and also on my presentation and image. I think it's even more important that the secret of the trick.
I have also done some tricks for my family and friends and the reactions are so good. Now, I'm also working on building up my performance confidence, just trying to show a trick whenever it's possible.

Philip

Stay away from Penguin Magic. They sell Knock-offs and terrible quality items.

ben

Most of us on this site did not benefit from the Card College volumes. (I appreciate that I am a new user, but am by no means new to card work). Royal Road was my way in and found it more than sufficient. That old thesis of learn a sleight, learn a trick put me in good stead in my opinion. What's crucial is the amount of time you can assign to practise and study, no book, DVD or manuscript will get you there quicker than the dedicated hours required. Relentless practise and enthusiasm will get you where you want to be.

Let me clarify above, most of us did not benefit from Card College because it wasn't around when we started out - not that it isn't a beneficial series.

KenW,

Thank you and thanks to Mike Close for the interest in THE OSTRICH FACTOR. You can order the book from Richard Hatch at:

http://www.magicbookshop.com/ (I have corrected link listed above.)

Or you can order it from me directly at my web site.

There are a number of threads on this forum which discuss the book. Just search for Gerald Edmundson or The Ostrich Factor. Email or PM me if you have questions.

Thanks again. I’m glad you like the book! I hope it helps you with your practice and rehearsal.

All the best,

Gerald