Which Deck?

6th

Can anyone recommend a deck of cards? Good quality, nice finish. I could just pick up a pack in a spar etc but some cheap ones are rough and poorly finished.

Do you have a brand you prefere? Where do you buy yours?

Anything else I should consider?

Cheers

6th

Voodu Child

Bicycle brand cards are very popular, mostly because they're very common, cheap, fairly good quality. You don't even need to go anywhere near a specialist shop, you'd find them anywhere, they're just a popular 'general purpose' brand.

You'd find some older guys who prefer non-coated cards, but plastic-coated are the most common, and its pretty important to be comfortable handling 'any' deck that you come across. People will often ask you to show them tricks with their cards, and you don't want to be not able to because they're 'not the right kind'.

Bridge cards are a little narrower than poker cards, if you have small hands they can help alot, especially if you're trying to learn flourishes like one-handed shuffles etc.

6th

Yeah I just want to find a pack I can buy a few of and just get used to moving them about etc.

Popinjay

Then I'd agree with Voodoo on the Bicycle cards or possibly Aviators which are nice too (Not as nice though). As he said bridge cards tend to be a bit narrower - they're still a lot more common around the place too although poker cards are becoming more widely spread. The wider deck can be handy as since a lot of what you'll be handed will be bridge decks, they'll be a bit easier to use after practising with a bigger deck.

6th

Anyone know if somewhere in Dublin has them handy so I can just walk in off the street?

zuroph

casinoshop.ie, are based in dublin, not sure if they have a store or not, but stock all grades of cards, bicycle are a nice deck with the airflow finish, ur as well off learning with bike poker sized decks, they're pretty standard for magic.

Popinjay

Just on the phone trying to find that out for ya. Turns out most of the shops don't have 'em although a few might stock B's - another similar but not quite as good deck. Magictricks.co.uk have recently limited their order to 6 decks max. There's an Irish magician in the Yellow pages who sells them on when he has a few extra (The guy I do my work for has gotten 40 or 50 decks off him in the past). I'd like to point out that I don't - and never have worked - for the guy selling them but I'm not too sure about putting his name up here.

6th

Cheers for that. Feel free to post a link to his site if he has one. I'd like to support irish shops etc were I can.

Popinjay

He's at www.abcmagic.net or abcmagic@iol.ie for email. The name is Pat Fallon. I've never seen him myself but I'm told he's pretty good too.

bigslick

Popinjay wrote: »

He's at www.abcmagic.net or abcmagic@iol.ie for email. The name is Pat Fallon. I've never seen him myself but I'm told he's pretty good too.

Met Pat many times. Real sound guy! Argubaly the most knowledgable guy on magic in Ireland.

Have dealt with him in the past and can say enough about him

But on topic, i use solely bicycle stock. have used them all my magic 'life' and they are just perfect for tricks and flourishes.

6th

Excellent to here the same advice from so many people.

zuroph

bikes are the standard in magic, most of the gimmick cards etc ul find online are made to fit in with them.

horgan_p

+1 for bikes.

dont bother with the ghost or black tiger decks.
they just scream gaffed

oeb

A second vote for casinoshop.ie here, I deal with them all the time for bikes. Delivery is quick and cheap, works out about 30 quid + 3 quid delivery for a brick (12 packs). You will have them within two days.

6th

I ordered a few packets from casinoshop so hopefully I'll be having a shuffle in the next couple of days.

Thanks again.

Mr Magnolia

If you're not happy with the cards you've ordered then consider asking in the poker forum. I would only play with the best.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

oeb

Plastic playing cards are really really sub standard for magic.

Use bikes, tally hos or bees

King of Kards

How much are the bicycles from casinoshop? I get mine from the States because i find it much cheaper, I get them for about $1 a deck.
Try next time and get some Guardian decks they look so good!

6th

€2.95 a deck and then €3 postage, I got 4 decks and the postage is still €3.

If I'm going to be buying more I will start looking at cheaper options.

6th

Just got them and they have a real nice feel to them. I got the black ones to.

zuroph

Enjoy! tgry not to open decks til u have to, and flex the decks back to square as often as possible. if ur going to carry in your pockets, tape the bottom edges of the box to protect them, as they tend to wear quickly in the pocket and eventually damage the cards. if ur serious about getting life out of them, look for a card protector like this..
http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Guard-Brushed-Playing-Protect/dp/B000L3YCI2



As well as extending the life of the deck, they really look the part!

6th

trés sexy, I might be tempted!

King of Kards

I had one of those, it's made of stainless steel and it warps to easily. Try and get one from Joe Porper his are made from aluminum and they are excellent, i've had mine for 5yrs and it's still perfect. www.porperoriginals.com

oeb

I have a cheap budget guard, but to be honest I never use it. Decks don't last me long enough. If I am preforming I go through a deck a night, minimum

Popinjay

I made my own. I was lucky enough to find one of those card sets that gives you the whole '50 great party games' or what have you. I found it pretty cheap and it came in a black box just big enough to fit a poker deck. There was a bit of writing on it so I wrapped the whole think in Black tape a few times. It has that whole rough and ready street look.

Since then I've graduated to a lovely leather one with a loop to put a belt through and a pop-button close. I like to pick up novelty decks of cards (like a really nice round deck I have amongst others) and I found a set called 'Texas Hold-Ems' or similar. The cards themselves all have three 'bullet holes' through the whole deck and they came with this cool little holder. The black one was getting a little scruffy so I picked up that set. Don't use the cards often but the tan leather holder is great.

dionsiseire

if your going to buy card buy bicycles for sure, lots of packet tricks all come in bicycle including a favourite of mine, I.D.

that and coherence in magic is important, bicycles are easily gotten and if you needed a stacked deck or to switch in another deck or cards from another deck if you have the same deck again its less suspicious, ive started and stuck with bicycles, because if im doing impromptu stuff for people and they ask for a packet trick i normally do, chances are that packet trick is a bicycle deck, so i need just cause to switch it in

mcaul

Ta for the comments all

Standard bikes are €2.49 / deck, but seconds are available for €15 / 12 decks. http://www.casinoshop.ie/shopexd.asp?id=133

Free shipping order over €59 and when you put "boards" into the coupon box 10% magically disapears off your bill.


Will have a few new styles in stock at end of month.

thehomeofDob

Popinjay wrote: »

He's at www.abcmagic.net or abcmagic@iol.ie for email. The name is Pat Fallon. I've never seen him myself but I'm told he's pretty good too.

I met Pat when I was younger, about 12 or 13. I had just started getting into magic and wanted some advice. He was really helpful, had me over to his house, showed me some tricks and how to perform them, and gave me some general tips and pointers. Too bad life got too busy for magic

oeb wrote: »

Plastic playing cards are really really sub standard for magic.

Use bikes, tally hos or bees

+1 I had always used bikes, but Tally Hos and Bees are also very good! Red Bees can be helpful when palming if you have smaller hands than the cards, they blend in better than the white sides of Bikes.

The Ghost and Black Tiger decks look amazing, but as was said earlier, they tend to scream gimmicked deck. I found people were more comfortable around a deck of cards that looked familiar to them, and regular bikes look familiar to everyone.

magic Leon

hey guys there's a magic shop in limerick that sells them too. €5 euro a deck and will probably post aswell. support irish thats what i say.
Leon
www.leonandersen.com

zuroph

6th, hows the practise coming along?