You don't know what you are talking about. He said poker players, not magicians. Bikes won't last one round in holdem poker.

KEMs are WASHABLE.

If you believe what's out there, it's pretty much a proven fact that in terms of durablility, Kems will last for a long long long long long long time. So long that you can buy individual cards to replace the ones you've lost.

Now I don't actually own a set (yet) but I've been thinking of grabbing some from ebay, used of course. I realize they probably don't work so well for many magician's sleights. Out of curiosity, my question is: how are they for false deals? Do they "slide" easier ie. less friction when you remove them in your dealing, or are they worse than regular Bikes, bees, etc for those purposes? This has nothing to do with my next paragraph...

I'm actually thinking of buying them not for magic, but to actually play with. I like to play Euchre, Rummy, etc but my friends tend to warp the heck out of any regular cards we use and a deck doesn't last a night after it gets beer soaked and covered in potato chip grease. We end up going through a couple a night. I just want 1 Kem deck to play with so the cards don't get all gross by 1 a.m. ...I bet Domino players don't have this problem.

Kem cards have a sort of rough finish which I find helps with seconds etc. There are other cheap 100% plastics available which do not compair to Kems. The disadvantage for magi is they can not be crimped or faned very well. They sound exspensive but they do last and last. I think them worth buying and trying. I think Bee make a 100% plastic card also but I have not had any. There was another card maker I think called Copaq they were nice cards also but I have not had any for years.

They last very very long.

Fournier has very good 100% Plastic Cards.

The advantage of the Fournier 2818 is that they produce the same sound
on dealing seconds,tops or bottoms because of their surface.
These cards are 'very loud' compared to Bicycles, Tally's or Hoyles.

They are more expensive but last very much longer and therefore are a
good investment if you drill practice different deals for instance.

Scafidi7: I don't know KEM cards but Fournier's 100% Plastic Cards like the Fournier 2818. They definitely slide easier because the edges hardly wear off.

I took mine to the beach the other day. WORKS GREAT. Just wash the sand off when you get home.

I have always said that you can still do card tricks in the rain.. lol

Only for paper cards. The plastic cards can be cleaned and reset to "new" condition hundreds of times.

That's like using a metal condom Or a wooden book. It's just the wrong material, for magicians at least. In my opinion, that is.

"It's just the wrong material, for magicians at least. In my opinion"

It depends on what you're used to.

From:
http://www.jamyianswiss.com/clinic/sidelings.htm

"Conley also showed off a surprising discovery that he practically stumbled upon while working with the plastic bridge-size KEM cards that are standard-issue in most casinos. (In what would be taken as heresy in some magicians’ quarters, Conley does much of his best work with plastic cards. You go with what you know.)"

If you go to the above link and go about halfway down the page, you can read about one gentleman who does some good things with Kems - I've never seen him do this stuff, but it was an interesting read.

Aside from how your audiences FEEL about the cards when they look at and touch them... the rest is not so much correctness as it is habit.

I found the KEM cards felt funny... though that was twenty years ago. They seemed stiff and slippery at that time. It seems there is better available today. Sounds good to me. Anyone know where I can find these advertised?

I ended up ordering a set from Ebay, I was going to get used ones from a casino, but people seemed to be selling them new. Hopefully it's not like that phony Bee scam I partook in, unwittingly.

Again, I'm really just looking for some cards to "play" with on Saturday nights with the boys (and gals).