Finnaly a card section, a good place for us to share ideas about one of the purest forms of magic, so first of, since nobody seems to know about anyone elses favorite type of magic, lets try to get to know eachother. I perform mainly card style illusions, and sleight of hand. i prefer not to use gimicks, and if i do use them, they're made by me.... what about you guys

I just started card magic and am going to purchase royal road to card magic. hopefully, it will help me learn some important card info.

Everyone says ONLY good things about Royal Road. Im sure youll learn LOTS.

and by lots we mean lots and lots and lots

I agree. Royal Road is a WONDERFUL book. It was the first magic book I got and I skimmed through it picking out some tricks here and there. Then last week I started going through it thoroughly, practically studying it. I am very, very pleased and I've found quite a few gems that I missed when skimming through. Whatever you decide, good luck.

I do mostly card tricks with regular decks. A few of my fav tricks are Triumph effects, 2 card monte, red hot mama, transpositions, a version of Twisting the Aces, Zero Chance, etc..

The only gimmicked decks i use are the invisible deck, and rising card.
I use a stripper deck once in a while, but i'm more weary about using it now cos there are people out there who actually grab your deck and say stuff like 'lemme make sure it's not a stripper deck of cards ' or something like that. heh.

I do mostly card magic, as well, and very few effects with gimmicked cards. I prefer being able to pick up any deck and do magic with it. It is always great when you can use a borrowed deck! RRTCM is a terriffic book, one of my favorites. Also love triumph as an effect. Do you guys do the Triumph false riffle shuffle for that? That was the first false riffle shuffle I learned. Though lately here in the northeast it has been so rainy and humid that I find the cards bind a bit more in that shuffle, so it is a little more iffy to execute well.

What is everyone working on currently? I have two effects I am putting effort to right now. One trick is Paul Harris's Immaculate Conception. I think that is a beautiful routine, and want to master it. Does anone here do it? The other effect is Carlyle's Homing Card, which is a card to pocket routine. I've never been very comfortable with palming, and this trick requires good palming, so I thought it would be a good trick to learn. I am using the Card College version of that trick.

I am working on improving the finer points in card magic right now, and some stuff of my own

I'm currently working my way through "By Forces Unseen" by Ernest Earick. I'm also studying Royal Road in my free time.

hey bravesaint if ya really want to take your card magic up a notch you should look into some of darwin ortiz's stuff. he has a lot of great books and videos out. i really dont know m\why more people dont talk about him. warning though his stuff is by no means easy you should be able to do a perfect faro shuffle, zarrow shuffle, everything from double lifts to 5 card lifts, and have a decent pass. my personal fav. trick of darwin's is a nine card location where you have nine different people memorize nine different cards and then you shuffle the deck and use nine different cuts to find every single one, the last card appears in a box that has been on the table the whole time (and it was signed)

I will look in to that, thanks allot

I'm a beginner as well and i'm only into cards. I have stripper, svengali, brainwave, ultimonte, twisted sisters, perfect, the special assortment deck and regular decks of course! My last order included Card College vol 1 and when i have some time in a few weeks i'll read it over and over and practice and practice. My next order will include NFW, color monte, invisible deck (my brainwave isn't that good anymore, didn't buy it here...), maybe Card College vol 2 and some regular decks.

You won't be dissappointed with Card College. I think it is the best teaching book out there, along with the Royal Road to Card Magic. You will find that as you go through a chapter and learn a new sleight, there will be a couple of very good to outstanding tricks that are taught based on the new sleight. It's a great way to learn; you build up your skills and your bag of tricks. Have fun!

Books are all great, but nothing beats sitting down with a deck of cards and just playing with them, and trying to make up whatever possible. Think of a tricks then try to design it, thats how you really learn magic is through inventing and perfecting sleights, etc. The best way to learn anything with cards is through just messing around with them until you come up with something