Beginner to Card Techniques

IanDD · Nov 8, 2017

Hi Folks,

I am very new to card techniques and started learning stuff on YouTube probably about six months ago. Luckily I got directed here by a friend of a friend, as there is so much conflicting information on YouTube, and I would rather learn correctly.

I have started learning some of the very basics, riffle shuffle, riffle pass through, stock control, and started trying some riffle stacking. I have been doing some faro shuffling as well, as I find it such an elegant shuffle.

I was highly recommended Jason England's video's, but was wondering if there was a recommended order to purchase things in, or is it best to go with the foundation courses and build from there?. The techniques are labelled "Easy, Intermediate and Advanced", but I am not really sure what moves are most beneficial to learn in what order.

Many thanks for any help

Maaz Hasan · Nov 8, 2017

The best things you want right now are books. You can get some fairly cheap ones that will help you. Here is a list I made a while back, look through the "cards" section.
I would start with the Royal Road
https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/cheap-books-for-beginners-list.49213/#/post-467974
(If you have the money, you may want to look into card college, as it will work you through most of the stuff from these books over it's 5 volumes. It is quite pricey though).

IanDD · Nov 9, 2017

Maaz Hasan said:
The best things you want right now are books. You can get some fairly cheap ones that will help you. Here is a list I made a while back, look through the "cards" section.
I would start with the Royal Road
https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/cheap-books-for-beginners-list.49213/#/post-467974
(If you have the money, you may want to look into card college, as it will work you through most of the stuff from these books over it's 5 volumes. It is quite pricey though).

Hi Maaz,

Many thanks for the reply, I have started reading Erdinase EATCT, but have to admit I find it very hard learning from books as I dont think I am proficient enough in the terminology to follow along properly, hopefully that is something that will get better in time.

I think I am more of a visual learner as I find it a lot easier in to watch someone like Jason perform on a video, then replicate his hand placement and movements, where as with a lot of the books I find it very hard to see the hand placement properly, I will definitely keep refering to the books and hopefully as my knowledge of the different techniques and what they are called progresses I will understand more

Fox13 · Nov 9, 2017

Go with books, compliment with good videos.

"Being more of visual learner" is just an excuse you give yourself. The fact is you are not accustomed to learning from books, therefore it is more tedious. There is so many details explained in the books that you cannot miss them while reading. The same details are often not all given in video tutorials, and since you are only beginning, you do not yet know what details to look for in a video. So, get the details from books, then use the videos to see what it should look like.

Also, note that EATCT is a somewhat old book, and we are not used to such a language. It is difficult just reading it, let alone learn the techniques. If you can get an annotated version (by Vernon or Ortiz), it really helps. But I suggest you start with other books like Royal Road and Expert Card Technique, they are easier to read.

jakeherndon24 · Nov 9, 2017

IanDD said:
Hi Folks,

I am very new to card techniques and started learning stuff on YouTube probably about six months ago. Luckily I got directed here by a friend of a friend, as there is so much conflicting information on YouTube, and I would rather learn correctly.

I have started learning some of the very basics, riffle shuffle, riffle pass through, stock control, and started trying some riffle stacking. I have been doing some faro shuffling as well, as I find it such an elegant shuffle.

I was highly recommended Jason England's video's, but was wondering if there was a recommended order to purchase things in, or is it best to go with the foundation courses and build from there?. The techniques are labelled "Easy, Intermediate and Advanced", but I am not really sure what moves are most beneficial to learn in what order.

Many thanks for any help

Ellusionist has a thing called "How to be a magician" that teaches the basics and sends you a kit with sponge balls and a couple other knacky things. I believe it's $30 which I funded back when it was on kickstarter, and I have to say it was worth it. I'm more of an intermediate myself and I still bought and learned a couple new routines from it.

Maaz Hasan · Nov 9, 2017

IanDD said:
Hi Maaz,

Many thanks for the reply, I have started reading Erdinase EATCT, but have to admit I find it very hard learning from books as I dont think I am proficient enough in the terminology to follow along properly, hopefully that is something that will get better in time.

I think I am more of a visual learner as I find it a lot easier in to watch someone like Jason perform on a video, then replicate his hand placement and movements, where as with a lot of the books I find it very hard to see the hand placement properly, I will definitely keep refering to the books and hopefully as my knowledge of the different techniques and what they are called progresses I will understand more

Expert at the card table is a very hard to read book, and isn't the one you should start out with. Check out the Royal Road. It is much easier, and for beginners. Not easy, but significantly easier than Erdnase. You need to work through moves a few times before you get them. And if it is super hard for you, then try Card College, as it is super easy to understand.

There are very few videos that can walk you through the basics. Jason England's stuff is great... but a lot of it is advanced stuff that you don't need as a beginner. You wont get much out of watching a ton of videos and not knowing what to do with the moves.

jakeherndon24 said:
Ellusionist has a thing called "How to be a magician" that teaches the basics and sends you a kit with sponge balls and a couple other knacky things. I believe it's $30 which I funded back when it was on kickstarter, and I have to say it was worth it. I'm more of an intermediate myself and I still bought and learned a couple new routines from it.

You could go with that...
Or buy Mark Wilson's Complete Course and the Gimmicks separately. A lot more info, and a lot cheaper.

It's 70 bucks for HTBAM, and you only get 47 tricks and a few props that you probably wont even use.

jakeherndon24 · Nov 9, 2017

Maaz Hasan said:
Expert at the card table is a very hard to read book, and isn't the one you should start out with. Check out the Royal Road. It is much easier, and for beginners. Not easy, but significantly easier than Erdnase. You need to work through moves a few times before you get them. And if it is super hard for you, then try Card College, as it is super easy to understand.

There are very few videos that can walk you through the basics. Jason England's stuff is great... but a lot of it is advanced stuff that you don't need as a beginner. You wont get much out of watching a ton of videos and not knowing what to do with the moves.

You could go with that...
Or buy Mark Wilson's Complete Course and the Gimmicks separately. A lot more info, and a lot cheaper.

It's 70 bucks for HTBAM, and you only get 47 tricks and a few props that you probably wont even use.

Thanks Maaz. I would go with the option that Maaz posted. Sounds like a better deal to me.

IanDD · Nov 12, 2017

Many thanks Guys,

That is my xmas presents sorted this year, one daughter is getting me Royal Road and the other is getting me Card College

I am a bit older than most beginners as this is a hobby that helps me wwith my OCD, and PTSD as I am an ex-veteran. I am not really learning to perform if that makes sense, but if I am going to learn I want to learn correctly.

Maybe I was a bit quick to judge by trying to jump straight to EATCT, rather than trying some newer material, so many thanks for your recommendations

I will definitely be giving the above books a good go

RealityOne · Nov 12, 2017

IanDD said:
Many thanks Guys,

That is my xmas presents sorted this year, one daughter is getting me Royal Road and the other is getting me Card College

I am a bit older than most beginners as this is a hobby that helps me wwith my OCD, and PTSD as I am an ex-veteran. I am not really learning to perform if that makes sense, but if I am going to learn I want to learn correctly.

Ian:

Being a bit older just means you are a bit smarter then all the kids around here.

Card College is amazingly well done. It has diagrams in the front of your hands and the deck so you can understand the terminology used throughout the book. Each section has written explanations as well as illustrations of each step. At the end of each explanation are checkpoints that you can use to make sure you are doing it right. Roberto Giobbi also has a DVD set for the first two books. That is expensive but well done. I don't think the DVDs are necessary because the books are so good. Also, I'll make the same offer here as I have elsewhere, if you have a problem with anything in the Card College series, I'd be glad to work with you so you learn it right.

Enjoy, they are great books.

Juvator · Nov 15, 2017

IanDD said:
Many thanks Guys,

That is my xmas presents sorted this year, one daughter is getting me Royal Road and the other is getting me Card College

I am a bit older than most beginners as this is a hobby that helps me wwith my OCD, and PTSD as I am an ex-veteran. I am not really learning to perform if that makes sense, but if I am going to learn I want to learn correctly.

Maybe I was a bit quick to judge by trying to jump straight to EATCT, rather than trying some newer material, so many thanks for your recommendations

I will definitely be giving the above books a good go

I made the same mistake trying to start with EATCT first as well haha.
Luckily I had also purchased the Royal road at the same time because it seemed useful as well.
Turned out I bought the right book and the "wrong" harder book. Which I will save for much later

DavidL11229 · Nov 17, 2017

I have many books and the Jason England videos. I agree with everyone above about the books and you should definitely have them. I still recommend the videos but only in addition to the books. It's too hard to cram all of the essential stuff into a video. Books can cover more ground and breadth of knowledge is important in card magic. As for what order to learn, Card College is presented in what the author has concluded is a proper sequence. So is Royal Road to Card Magic.

Foundations is not in a constructed sequence, nor are they meant to be a complete course. They are nothing more than bundles of videos that were originally each meant to stand on their own.

If practical, buy all of the Foundations videos as you save some money buying the bundles and I recommend them as a whole. If you aren't sure you are ready to go that route then just buy a couple of the individual videos based on your reading. Either the ones that seem the most interesting to you or ones that you think would most benefit from watching it in action. Don't worry too much about the difficulty labels on the videos as long as you have good books, you have the basics covered. If you picked a more advanced level video because it was the move that fascinated you the most it would just give you something to work on and aspire to.

If I were just starting I would get all of the Card College books and all of the Jason England Foundations videos. Then after working through much of that I would come back here and ask again and check old threads for interesting books.

The simplest solution is as given in previous posts- just get Royal Road to Card Magic. Also pick the one non-bundled video that interests you the most and find out for yourself if they provide sufficient value for you.