Tally Ho Cards make a good alternative to Bicycle, however there is nothing that would make them superior. In addition, one of the most important advantages to Bicycle cards is that they are so common. Also, the wide range of gimmicked Bicycle backed cards and decks makes it the obvious choice for switching packs. For card manipulations, Jeff McBride likes to use red Bee brand cards since they don't have a border thus making them easier to backpalm without seeing the common white corners through the fingers. Hope that helps.