Does anyone know any good websites for teaching card tricks?
If any of you have gone to any, I'd like something with a relatively large database, clear instructions, videos/diagrams if possible, and varying skill levels.

Manbabies for all.

Love,
Teh Mikus

Spork will hook you up.

:p

I was dissapointed to find this not a demonstration of Spork's magical skillZ

Now here's a thread I like

Recently I have been big-time into magic in general, but especially card tricks. They're just so cool. I'm actually almost to the level of trying to get a paid walk-around gig at a restaurant. That's my goal this year

Ok, firstly, do you want to impress your friends with a few card stunts, or do you want you want to learn card magic? There's a huge difference. If you want to impress your friends I'll gladly hook you up with a few little tricks anyone with 3 or more fingers could do. Send me a PM. If you really want to learn card magic you're looking at a bit of financial outlay.

Firstly, you need good cards. Bicycle brand Rider Back playing cards made by The US Playing Card Co. are your best bet. They're cheap (in the US anyways) and plentiful. Get yourself a few packs. You need something that handles well if you want to perform a miracle.

Secondly, if you want to do real card magic that isnt the type of stuff your grandpa would do (as impressive as some of these tricks are to laypeople, dont get me wrong), you're going to have to pay for them. Unless you're really dodgy, there's no way around it, you'll need a credit card. There is an absolute wealth of magic material out there. Books, DVDs, videos, mpeg files, e-books, etc etc etc, but they all cost moolah.

A magic trick is someone's work of art, like a painting or a peice of music or whatever. That's why you pay money for it. Teaching magicians are people trying to earn a living by teaching others how to entertain the public with their inventions. Respect.

Ok now, my favourite site is Penguin Magic. They'll teach you everything, but nothing for free. I've got several card DVDs and Instant Downloads (they're cool, for $5-10 dollars you get a detailed explination of how to do an effect in instantly-available downloable mpeg form), as well as vanishing tricks, spongeballs, money and coin tricks, and my favourite the metal bending routine from them.

If you're serious about learning card magic, you'll want this DVD:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=618

It teaches you everything from fundamentals like how to properly hold the cards, the essential sleights, how to control a selected card from lost in the middle to the top or bottom of the pack, how to force a card, a few cool flourishes like fans and colour changes (where one card visually changes into another), some really nice fake-cuts, and best of all 4 killer routines including my all-time favoruite card trick, the ambitious card routine. Born to Perform is the best investment you can make if you really want to become a card magician.

But yeah, that DVD is $30. Bit of an outlay. Buy a deck of Bikes and play around with it. Do a Google search for "key card principle", "do as I do", and "double lift". Yeah they're simple sleghts that seem really lame, but trust me, when presented properly they will absolutely floor any audience.

Learn a trick and show it to your parent, your brother, your best friend, whoever, and fall in love with the reaction you get. It's addictive

I cant leave you dissapointed, Martyn...

http://www.sporksrule.com/magic/nfw.avi

Sorry bout the shinyness, night time here and there aint many lighting options in my room.

Is this one all cooled up with the slomo and super deep voice man?

I HATE people that do that... and this goes for ANYTHING.

Especially those kids and their crazy car videos...

Nice vid Spork. Flawless except at 200% I'm the kind of guy that won't pay for "how to" stuff, I'll watch and figure it out myself

Thanks

With card magic I'm at the stage where I can watch just about anything and figure out what is going on. But trust me, when you're starting out it's bloody confusing. And a little daunting.



Haha, no

This one is all me. And my crotch. And 4 slightly confused jokers.

So... you play poker much? :p

Yes! Didnt learn all those fake cuts and shuffles for nothing

Another thing I didnt mention is how important presentation is. Yeah you could probably figure out the sleights behind and how to do just about any magic trick if you watch it enough times, but you'll never really appreciate or understand the psychology behind the presentation of an effect unless you hear it or read it from someone who has performed it many many times. Presentation is a good 2/3rds of magic. When do you learn towards the spectator? What's a good line to use for missdirection? How do I ditch the gimmick? When should I establish eye contact? How and when should this effect be used in a routine?

The NFW effect I did above works with a very limited view and no sound because it is so visual, but add some uncomplicated descriptive patter to it and it takes on another whole level. Convincingly telling someone what they think they are seeing is such an important part of selling just about any effect.

*humps magicalspork*

<.<

I can do magic too, not quite as good as you, I specialise in more specific things. eg. FIRE magic

I love finger flame throwing.

Cool! I love flash paper. It's fun when you startle an audience with a nice puff of flame. It sets people up beautifully

Satanic rituals.

Man...it would be so cool to know how to do little tricks. Spork, do you know of any good places to learn those little party-tricks just for a little fun?

Well there are few sites around like:

http://web.superb.net/cardtric/tricks.htm

or if you just wanna look kinda cool:

http://users.lk.net/~stepanov/magic/bct/017.html

But they really wont teach you much. The large majority of free tricks, unless they're presented amazingly well, are rather lame.

Your options are very limited unless you know how to control or force a card.

If you just want to watch some magic, check out this site:

http://www.magicvideodepot.com/

Or the Penguin Magic link I posted above. They have demo videos of the effect being performed for just about everything they sell.

If you really want to learn how to do an ultra-easy effect that will impress your half-drunk poker playing buddies, PM me

Pretty sweet, Spork.

I can riffle shuffle to impress my poker buddies, and badly force a card. And I mean BADLY. <.<

I've been quite tempted for a while to get into magic, but have never had the time

Maybe when I've got a job

I can deal from the bottom of the deck, and when laying cards down I can put a lot more down than it looks

Sorry, I guess I should have also added the criteria of being FREE...
:(@Penguin Magic

Well when you find a site that has tricks as good as the books and DVDs on Penguin for free, please tell me :p

I think of it as an investment.

Well it's an investment in awesome, that's for sure. But I'm not really the "become a magician" type, I just want to impress chicks :p

Haha. Yeah good luck with that.

Have you thought about maybe learning how to make stuff vanish? I dont think card tricks fly too well with most girls. They'll last maybe 1 or 2 and then get bored.

Hey maybe you'd like some of the shock magic currently available? Freaking out chicks is a good way to get their attention. There's some really cool stuff around like sticking a needle through your arm, eating glass, shoving a lit cigarette into your fist and making it dissapear, crap like that.

Oh, and mentalism! Mentalism can be really cool. Correctly predicting a birthday, phone number, middle name, anything like that is something they'll remember you for.

I should probably get a few of those basic card tricks down to impress people in college when I casually do intense things with them.. <.<

I saw the card behind the ace you hooligan.

Firstly, which ace? There's 4... And 4 face-up jokers initially. that doesnt really explain anything.

Watch it in real speed and tell me you saw something. This is why magic is not usuaully performed 2 inches from the spectator's eyes in super-slow motion :p

It was played in regular speed, unless my computer teh haxored your hands! >.> <.<

yeah it was the last ace in the vid. i sawr it too played at realspeed. not that obvious, but there are a few of us with quick eyes here at massassi.

I thought I saw something there watching normally, but when I slowed it down and zoomed it in lik 1000% I didn't see it...

well yeah, that's because there's zero detail at 1000% :p

That's cos there's nothing to see. I swear! :p

What does it mean to 'Force a card'?

Forcing a card is causing someone pick a certain card. A good force will give the illusion that the card was chosen randomly from the middle of the deck, but usually the magician is forcing what was initially the top card.

A good force, such as the classic force, is completely indetectable. The classic force takes years to master, (I hardly ever even try it), but the magician can give an amazing impression of completely free choice.

The force is important for any trick that requires the spectator to pick a duplicate card, a pre-positioned card (like say you want them to pick the card next to a joker), or maybe a gimmicked (not normal) card. It's also useful for knowing, before it is even selected, what card the spectator will chose. The magician can pick any card in the deck, control it, and then force it. Knowing their card puts you several steps ahead