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How to Hold Bicycle Playing Cards Correctly – Video Podcast for Magicians

by Merchant of Magic 20 Comments

Hold Bicycle Playing Cards

One of the Most common problems we see beginners face involves how they hold a deck of Bicycle Playing Cards whilst performing their magic tricks.

 

When magicians come to the magic shop for help or tuition, we tend to do an initial assessment. We ask them to perform a magic trick, and take note of what’s working we’ll for them, and what needs more work. This is some of what we say about holding your playing cards: Dominic Reyes talks about how to improve the way you hold your Bicycle Playing Cards:

 

 

 

How not to hold your Bicycle Playing Cards.
If you are a beginner, you may get nervous when you show people your magic tricks. Nerves make you tense. Being tense can lead to you hold the Bicycle playing cards very close to your body, at waist level. This is not a great position for several reasons:

1) A deck position that is low and close to the body means you have to look straight down at the playing cards, instead of making eye contact.

2) The background to the action is you groin. Not as appealing as a background with your smiling face in it instead!

3) Your arms are held close to your body, so you tend to cover up and block much of the action from your spectators.

4) You look nervous and as if you are trying to hard. That transfers to the attitude of the spectators as they focus on how you are feeling, rather than the magic trick.

5) It looks as if you are hiding something. Your body language is giving off signals that danger is present. On a subconscious level, you are telling the spectators they need to watch out for ‘moves’ even more closely.

How to hold Bicycle Playing Cards correctly.

1) Hold the deck of bicycle playing cards with a light touch.

2) Make sure your arms are forward and away from your body slightly.

3) Your hands should cover the front of the deck as little as possible.

4) Any fingers that aren’t doing something  should  be open slightly and out of the way, so as much of the playing cards are as visible as possible.

5) The deck should be above waist level.

6) Move the playing cards around gracefully with finesse as if you regard it as a precious item that you respect and want to display. Imagine a sales person showing you an expensive watch or antique.

Do This: Take a couple of hours and watch a shopping channel. Pick a show where they are selling expensive jewelry.

Notice how the presenter handles the items and displays them.Look at how you handle your playing cards and imagine they are on show in the same way. Be aware of how your hands handle your playing cards and if they cover the deck.

Related Posts: 

How Bicycle Playing Cards are made

How to make your Bicycle Playing Cards Last Longer

 

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Filed Under: Card Magic Tricks Tagged With: bicycle playing cards, dominic reyes, Magic Shop, magic tricks, playing cards, Video Podcast

Comments

  1. Gary says

    February 18, 2013 at 4:32 pm

    Thanks for the great tips

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 18, 2013 at 4:59 pm

      Your welcome Gary!

      Reply
  2. Mark Colfer-Henderson says

    February 18, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    This is excellent! I have taken steps back to relearn my core basic skills again. Thanks again.

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 19, 2013 at 11:32 am

      Thanks Mark

      Reply
  3. Larry Wilson says

    February 18, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    Your suggestion to study t.v. presenters displaying fine jewelry is truly inspired. Any performer who pursues this idea will be rewarded tenfold for their time. This is the finesse that cannot be taught. But, it can be learned.

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 19, 2013 at 11:33 am

      Doing that helped me greatly. Not just with my card work, but for coin work too.

      Thanks for posting Larry

      Reply
  4. Kelly Cummins says

    February 18, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    Great advise!thank you very much 🙂

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 19, 2013 at 11:33 am

      Your welcome Kelly. Hope the practice is going well!

      Reply
  5. bernardo says

    February 19, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    Thank you. Great advise. Small details that make a big difference

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 21, 2013 at 12:07 am

      indeed they do! Thanks for commenting

      Reply
  6. Kevin Craig says

    February 24, 2013 at 11:23 am

    Dominic is on the ball again! We so often forget how things look to the spectator, especialy if we have been performing a trick for a long time. It’s well worth re-looing at your material with fresh eyes. Thanks Dominic.

    Reply
  7. The Merchant of Magic says

    February 25, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Thanks Kevin, Great to see you stopping by the blog!

    Reply
  8. Magic Monkey says

    March 23, 2013 at 8:47 am

    Great advice. As you say, we need to see the effect from the spec’s point of view.
    I think the tendency to hide the cards from full view is probably an unconscious action to avoid any slights being obvious; eg. if I’m holding the deck very openly and then want to carry out a classic pass I unconsciously assume it will look obvious that I’m up to something when I cover it for a moment.
    But of course, that’s where misdirection comes in. In reality if I hide the deck they are more likely to watch it; as you say it alerts the spec to something fishy going on.
    Good stuff, thanks Dominic

    Reply
  9. Clint Havel Imperial says

    April 25, 2013 at 3:44 am

    great advice thank you so much

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      April 25, 2013 at 10:03 am

      Your welcome!

      Reply
  10. Greg Craddock says

    August 27, 2013 at 11:34 pm

    Brilliant Dominic, its all in the detail, master the basics and you become a great magician, & you are a great magician.

    Reply
  11. ROY says

    December 21, 2013 at 11:21 pm

    Great job never looked at holding cards as i did when i saw your D.V.D. big help all the best and have a very Merry Christmas from Australia

    Reply
    • Dominic Reyes says

      January 2, 2014 at 10:39 am

      Thanks Roy! Hope you and yours have a wonderful New Year!

       

       

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Doing Card Tricks - Do Not Use These Words How to do Magic Tricks says:
    June 5, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    […] Posts: How to hold Bicycle Playing Cards Correctly  […]

    Reply
  2. Make Your Playing Cards Last Longer - 10 Tips for Bicycle Playing Cards says:
    July 26, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    […] How to hold Bicycle Playing Cards Correctly […]

    Reply

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