Here is another question. I have been practicing the material in Royal Road to Card Magic. After I have mastered this material, then what material do I advance to afterwards?

Expert Card Technique by Hugard and Braue

I am practicing the sliding key card right now. I am well practiced and very good with the sleights up to the sliding key card sleight/principle. I have yet to master the sliding key card. I am good with glimpses and the key card. It's very easy to get a glimpse of the top or bottom card. Generally, I will glimpse the top card because I can do it without drawing the slightest suspicion and then I can easily control the card to the bottom and retain it there using various overhand shuffles. I like to move into Gray's Spelling trick when using the key card. A classic trick but very effective when you do it right with the various sleights using the overhand shuffle. I keep that trick and two other card tricks as backup for a card trick involving the classic force. The classic force is definately well worth the effort and practice. I am getting good with that force. I am examining Richard Sander's Tagged card trick to determine if the Classic Force is feasible in his trick.

As Ayli said, move on to Expert Card Technique if you like what you got from H&B in Royal Road. After that, if you want to continue your card magic education by expanding your repertoire of skills and technique, start buying the Card College books (in order); if you want to start building a repertoire of classic effects and routines, start buying books by Dai Vernon, Harry Lorayne, and others. Start with Vernon's Inner Card trilogy and Lorayne's Close-Up Card Magic. These books don't get recommended enough here.

At first glanced, I questioned whether Royal Road to Card Magic was worth the buy. I had bought both the DVD and the book and I am learning from both. I practiced alot of sleights to where I was comfortable doing them and performing them without anybody being able to detect that I was actually doing sleight of hand. When you are able to perform the sleight of hand that is taught in RRTCM in front of real spectators and have it go undetected by every spectator you perform for, then you have mastered those sleights and you can now move on to the next sleight of hand techniques to master. I now see very clearly, that it was very wise to learn practice and master the techniques taught in Royal Road to Card Magic. It is the foundation for the rookie card magician and without it, you can never evolve to become a master. I am doing very well with techniques I have mastered so far from the book and DVD but I have mastered half of what is taught, but I still have much more to master. I am looking forward to eventually working my way up to the pass. I have taken to heart Paul Wilson's advice to not skip ahead so I have not been doing it and actually, it has helped tremendously. I like Gray's spelling trick and I can do it cleanly and baffle people with such a simple classic trick and they have no idea how I do it, because of the various glimpses, overhand shuffle sleights and key card principles that I apply in the trick. Had I skipped ahead, all I would know is a glimpse, key card principle and a hindu shuffle control (only because I was taught a very good hindu shuffle control by a magician before I purchased RRTCM). I have mastered some of the sleights already which I have not gotten to yet in the RRTCM because I learned them before ever knew this book has existed. It has definately made me a much better card magician. I of course perform some of these tricks adding my own personal style to make them much better than the way they are presented in the book and DVD.

I second that, Expert Card Technique's by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue is the next step to the Royal Road to Card Magic. All of the sleights you learned from the Royal Road, will be further fine tuned along with completely new sleights with tons and tons of card effects. It's 448 pages of some of the best sleights/effects you'll ever come across in a single book.

Expert card technique all the way!