What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
I.M. Magician
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What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 2nd, 2015, 3:29 pm

I used to do lots of card tricks a million years ago but don't remember a single one so I am starting over. I learned some of them from Rufus Steele books and other places. All without sleight of hand. I only do a few sleights with cards and at this point, don't intend to start learning any more sleights.

What are your favorite books containing really good no sleight card tricks? I do have Destination Zero and expect to open it shortly. Perhaps you have favorite resources you can suggest here.

What I don't like are card tricks which use multiple decks, lots of counting, and take too long to complete. I always found those to be confusing and rediculous. My goal is to build a routine of around six effects I can do at a moments notice with a regular deck of cards.

Any help would be appreciated!

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby performer » December 2nd, 2015, 3:35 pm

There are a whole bunch of them. The Bob Longe Books are pretty good. Or Card Tricks Without Skill by Paul Clive. Or Scarne on Card Tricks or whatever the bloody title is, The Karl Fulves books on self working card tricks published by Dover. The massive Encyclopedia of Card Tricks is another.

Oh, there are too many to list. You won't find books on easy card tricks hard to find, that is for sure. I personally did very well with Wilfrid Jonson's Card Conjuring for example.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » December 2nd, 2015, 4:15 pm

I think Performer pretty much ran the gamut in the books he listed. Although there are many more out there, the ones he referenced could fill a lifetime of study. My personal favorite is Scarne's book, because there are many entertaining tricks with interesting and varied plots. If you never did a sleight, you could still blow people's minds once you have mastered some of the tricks in that book. I would only add a word of unsolicited caution based on what I have learned the hard way - and that is that it is best to work on one at a time and master it, rather than giving into the temptation to roam all about from one trick to another like a kid in a candy store. Otherwise, when the brain gets filled up with too many tricks and methods, it forgets, and then one ends up with a bunch of tricks that are hesitant and not smooth, or in many cases not even remembered, the net result being mediocre performances. Spectators are far more impressed with a couple card tricks neatly performed with entertaining patter than a whole slew of tricks not even half mastered. And when the tricks are mattered, one can relax and put his/her own personality into them, and concentrate on showmanship, which is what counts most anyway.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Mark Collier » December 2nd, 2015, 4:31 pm

Roberto Giobbi's Card College Light series is a great source of self working card tricks with interesting presentations:
http://www.robertogiobbi.com/site/shop/page/2/

Harry Lorayne

Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Harry Lorayne » December 3rd, 2015, 10:27 am

I've written quite a few books JUST FOR YOU - but sure, stay away from them!!

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 3rd, 2015, 10:40 am

Hello Harry! Can you please suggest two books where I should begin my journey? I would certainly appreciate it!

Harry Lorayne

Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Harry Lorayne » December 3rd, 2015, 11:12 am

Unfortunately THE CLASSIC COLLECTION, Vol. 1 is out of print. But TCC, 2, 3, 4 and 5 still available. As is THE MAGIC BOOK. You might just benefit greatly from my 4-vol. "Best Ever" DVD set. Anyway, go to harryloraynemagic.com to see all that's currently available. Any questions, you can go to my personal email address - harrylorayne@earthlink.net. Best - HL.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 3rd, 2015, 11:25 am

Thank you Harry! I will begin seeking out one or two of those books today.

I also want to thank performer, MagicbyAlfred, and Mark Collier for their input as well. I am going to take a good look at Scarne on Cards.

My goal is not a gigantic one so I am confident that I will succeed. I want to be able to carry around an ordinary deck of playing cards and do a handful of really good card tricks for anyone wanting to see some. I used to be able to do that decades ago but with time, my card magic knowledge has melted away.

A four ace trick needs to be one of them because I love four ace tricks.

The bottom line is that I am tired off people asking me to do a card trick and I tell them that I don't know any.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby performer » December 3rd, 2015, 11:30 am

Harry's books are great and I have always considered him to be the greatest magical writer of them all but the original poster asked specifically for books with no sleight of hand whatsoever. The only reason I did not mention Harry's books is that although there are some excellent self working tricks in his books the majority of the tricks he describes do take a moderate amount of skill to accomplish.

Still, I think it would be indeed a good thing for I.M.Magician to expand his horizons a trifle and learn a small amount of basic sleight of hand. For that then Harry's books are the best way to go.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Smurf » December 3rd, 2015, 11:35 am

The Scarne book you would want is Scarne on Card Tricks. He also has a book Scarne on Cards, but that is geared toward playing card games and gambling.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby performer » December 3rd, 2015, 11:37 am

I.M. Magician wrote:
A four ace trick needs to be one of them because I love four ace tricks.

The bottom line is that I am tired off people asking me to do a card trick and I tell them that I don't know any.


Four Ace tricks? Here is one of the greatest and no skill whatsoever is required except presentation skills which are the most important skills of all. I am a massive fan of Poker Player's Picnic as a self working card trick. For some reason beyond my comprehension I see daft twits on the internet decry it yet it is one of the strongest tricks in my repertoire and gets great reaction. Alas however, it is given away freely on the internet by various idiots who do not appreciate its value and before long will be as well known as the 21 card trick. I expect to be dead by then so it won't matter to me that much but I still think it is a bloody shame that is exposed and dismissed by all and sundry as a mere beginner's trick. It is far more than that. It is a self working masterpiece.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby luigimar » December 3rd, 2015, 11:48 am

I already know you like John Bannon, so I would also recommend other books by him. He has the "High Caliber" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy" books available on his website http://www.johnbannonmagic.com/books.html. I do some of those effects and they are great.
luigimar

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby performer » December 3rd, 2015, 11:59 am

You know, I.M. Magician admits to knowing a few sleights. It might help to know what sleights he already knows how to do. I have always said you don't need more than about 5 moves to be a great card magician. By all means learn more but you only NEED around 5. If he knows the sleights I am thinking of then Harry's books may be quite suitable for him after all along with a host of others.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 3rd, 2015, 12:10 pm

Double lift, faro shuffle, and the Elmsley count. Do the last two qualify as sleights?

There may be a couple more but I can't think of any others I know right now. I haven't handled a deck of cards for a very long time.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Bill Mullins » December 3rd, 2015, 12:16 pm

Jim Steinmeyer's series of books "Impuzzibilities" are full of non-sleight tricks. One of the best ones is his "Nine Card Trick", from the first (2002) volume.

Explained here.

Denis Behr has [url=http://www.conjuringarchive.com/books.php?type=artist&letter=S&open=Jim+Steinmeyer
]indexed[/url] the books.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Anthony Vinson » December 3rd, 2015, 12:35 pm

Glad Harry weighed in. I was going to mention his books if no one else had thought to do so. Yes, there are lots of "semi-automatic" tricks to be found in any of Harry's books, but familiarity with only a couple of basic sleights will afford many more excellent effects. You won't go wrong with any of the available volumes of The Classic Collection!

Peter Duffie's Effortless Card Magic is filled with real gems, as is the newish John Carry book. Again, a toolbox of basic sleights will yield far greater results! Elmsley, double lift and turnover, a control or two...

Best of luck!

Av

Harry Lorayne

Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Harry Lorayne » December 3rd, 2015, 2:10 pm

I've written it so many times, it's redundant. You can do miracles with three basic things - a good control (a force can be considered a control), a good double lift/turnover and a good palm.

I don't ordinarily come up with, or write, effects/routines with passes, culls, top changes, seconds/bottom deals, pinky counts, diagonal palm shifts, etc. Know why? 'Cause I can't do 'em!

Over the decades I've written many routines based on perfect faros because I used to do 'em a lot. No more, 'cause of my arthritic fingers and because I work only with borrowed decks, and it is impossible to do perfect faros with some of those!

One of the basic concepts within my current book, JAW DROPPERS!, is eliminating faros and other hard-to-do-well sleights. And, interestingly, eliminating the hard-to-do-well sleights makes the effects/routines much, much, better! Anyway...

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Barden » December 3rd, 2015, 5:19 pm

I.M.

If you want to get a good preview of Scarne on Card Tricks, search for it in Google Books. There is a extensive preview of the material there. Just click on "Preview this book" under the description.

-Barden

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 3rd, 2015, 5:35 pm

I really do appreciate the continued feedback. Thank you Barden, Harry Lorayne, Anthony Vinson, Bill Mullins, luigimar, and Smurf for all of your help.

If you went back to one of my original posts here on the Genii Forum when I first joined, you will see that I said I was joining this magic chat site and only this one because of the caliber of its members and I still feel that way. It's still a privilege schmoozing with all of you. You are all a cut above the rest and I am honored to be a part of the Genii Forum. No kidding!

Anyway, I have to sort through all of your thoughts and come up with say four books and learn two effects from each. That's eight card effects which I think is an excellent start.

I will keep you informed of my progress. In essence, which effects from which books. I am hoping that this thread will help others like myself who want to break into performing card magic for laymen.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Richard Kaufman » December 3rd, 2015, 8:58 pm

My Knack Magic Tricks has a pretty good selection of card tricks with virtually no sleight of hand.
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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby P.T.Widdle » December 3rd, 2015, 9:01 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:My Knack Magic Tricks has a pretty good selection of card tricks with virtually no sleight of hand.


I second that. A great all-round beginner book in general.

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby I.M. Magician » December 3rd, 2015, 9:02 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:My Knack Magic Tricks has a pretty good selection of card tricks with virtually no sleight of hand.


Is that still in print?

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Bob Cunningham
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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby Bob Cunningham » December 3rd, 2015, 9:12 pm

I.M. Magician wrote:Is that still in print?


Yes, here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Knack-Magic-Trick ... gic+Tricks

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Re: What are the best books to find no sleight card tricks?

Postby chetday » December 4th, 2015, 2:04 pm

Jon Racherbaumer's Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields has several of my very favorite non-sleight of hand tricks.


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