My first post as a regular user! Wow! Am I sitll allowed to post here in the New users room?!
Anyway, my question:
I have read and learned the sleights from Royal Road and I'm currently reding Card College. I've done volume one and onto volume two. I've picked up one or two good tricks along the way but I want to find some more, really GREAT tricks which I can learn using sleight of hand, NOT gaffed tricks or packet tricks or whatever. It feels in a way that I am learning all these sleights, just well....just to know them. There are many I haven't really had a use for yet and I just want to know where I can find some GREAT card tricks. Should I get any DVDs? Are there any more books you could would recommend me, or can anyone assure me there will be some great tricks in the next few Card College books?
All replies appreciated,
-Niko

I just became a regular user too!

I haven't seen the Card College books, so I can't comment on that. Maybe Expert Card Technique is worth a try? I have it, but I haven't started going through it yet much, so I'm not sure.

Paul Harris' Art of Astonishment books have some GREAT card tricks. Also, if you haven't seen these DVDs yet: Ammar's Easy to Master Card Miracles series and Bill Malone's On the Loose series -- these are the best place to start in my opinion. The magic is strong. The ETMCM series is not exactly difficult sleight of hand; you'd be using things like double lift, elmsley count, double undercut, etc. Some of the stuff on the Bill Malone series is a little bit more advanced, but still doable certainly. I would start at one of these before moving on to more advanced stuff.

I generally only work on the sleights or flourishes that are going into a trick or routine that I am planning on performing, there is plenty of great material in Royal Road that, with a little updating, you probably could build an entire set out of. It takes a lot of searching to find the material that you really feel 'in tune' with and I don't think it is ever a bad idea to seek out as many sources as you can to find what effects really connect with you. It CAN get expensive in both time and money, but it doesn't really HAVE to be, if you give a little forethought to what it is you want to do. That said, Ammar's card vids are really good and there are plenty of others that can help give a context to the sleights you are learning (and more importantly - WHY you are learning them).

Get the Easy to master card miracles DVD or VHS set. They are the best set of videos on cards ever produced. Hands down. I have never in my over eleven hundred post history ever seen a single negative review. There is a reason why. They include the very best of the best card tricks, performed and explained very well by Michael Ammar.

Expert Card Technique or Daryl's set are great because you'll sometimes see a trick and CREATE a new way of doing it or find a solution to a problem you find in your way.
Doing other people's tricks is great, but creating new illusions is something very nice too. As everything from art to math, if you master the craft it's easier to do what you really want.

It looks like Michael Ammars DVDs are the ones to get then... should I start in order, get volume 1 first etc? Or are there any volumes whihc you think are the best and I should get first?
thanks for all the advice,
-Nik

Hi Nik,

Have you checked out Larry Anderson's Jaw Droppers CDs?

They have some card effects too... And a lot more impromptu stuff, most of which you can present anywhere anytime.

Watch what other's are doing and if know many sleight's, you shouldn't have much trouble duplicating their effects. I don't do alot of sleight's (yet) but I know quite a few and many times I will watch a performance and I can figure out how it can be done. Many effects can be accomplished using different methods, so while you may not do a particular effect using the exact method, you can still get the same effect. Most people (I believe) use the Frustration count when doing Jim Pace's "The Web". I don't like the Frustration Count, so I use the Glide instead and I have great success with that.
Book's and Video's are great but don't discount the value of watching other's perform.
Iven