Card Cheating

[RyanHazlewood]

I'm mostly a sleight of hand kind of magician and that's the magic I know and love, however I have never tried gambling sleight of hand. I know some moves but I want a dvd to help me get started. I'm thinking of buying Jason England's Foundation but I just want to be aware of all my options. I second guess getting Daniel Madison's Mechanic because I fear it is too advanced. Please tell me where you think I should start thanks

 

[SyntheticMirror]

Without question, Foundations by Jason England is what you're looking for. He is (IMO) the most qualified and best teacher of this subject matter, period. None of it is EASY to learn, but Jason teaches everything in a way that makes it clear what to do and what NOT to do.

 

[TeeDee]

If I were you, I'd start with Jason England's material. I have no wish to trample upon Mr Madison's carefully-crafted stage persona but we're all magicians here so I think it wouldn't be too unfair to reveal that his techniques are not exactly "the real work" when it comes to moving at the card table. Of course, if you're interested in gambling sleight-of-hand then you'll probably want to study every resource you can get your hands on eventually, but I'd recommend getting your grounding with people who know how things really work. In the realm of DVDs, that means Jason England's Foundations, Steve Forte's Gambling Protection Series, Richard Turner's The Cheat collection and Damien Nieman's Fast Company.

 

[Tyler M.(6)]

I have gotten Foundations and i have to say that if you are a beginner he does teach these things very well. I will let you know that there are some things on there that are extremely difficult and will take a LOT of practice to do well. I haven't gotten good at them, so i focused more on different methods to achieve the same result. A lot of what you will find on these dads is extremely helpful however you should be ready for some practice and dedication. Gambling sleights are my favorite sleights to do, they are very fun and can be applied to just about anything so I would say get them without question. What to get specifically is up to you, if you are looking for some easier methods or more difficult sleights then you may want to find out what specific things you want to learn and search for those specific things, but Foundations is a great place to start. Jason England is an amazing teacher and you can't go wrong. It really is up to you and should be based on what specifics you want to learn. Mechanic, anything by Jason England, and anything to do with false shuffle/ deals is great. I would just simply suggest do a little research and find out what suits you and what you want to accomplish. Hope that helps.

 

[RyanHazlewood]

Thanks for the input guys, really I appreciate it and I think it would be best for me to start with Foundation and then really get the love for it in order to branch off and try other things. And don't worry I ready for some hardcore many hour practice sessions.

 

[slicksleights]

I've got a couple of his single videos and they are very good, but I watched his Penguin lecture last night and he was awesome, learnt so much from it, granted I had a foundation is card cheating sleights to start with so not sure how a beginner would fair with it but for $30, money well spent.

 

[Ang]

Expert at the card table is one of the only books you'll need for card cheating, though it is a bit of a hard read.

 

[TeeDee]

Expert at the card table is one of the only books you'll need for card cheating, though it is a bit of a hard read.

It's definitely an essential resource for any magician, whether gambling-focused or not, from historical, technical and theoretical viewpoints alike. It's definitely far from being the only book you need for card cheating if you want to develop the full gamut of skills, though. There are many moves and ideas that weren't around in Erdnase's day, or that were around and weren't touched on in the book for various reasons.