Bicycle Playing Cards UK – Which Deck for Magicians?

Bicycle Playing Cards UK Magicians Most Popular Deck of Playing Cards

Aum Thakore writes: ‘I only have one small problem. I don’t have good cards, but I’m planning to get some soon. I’ve seen many many deck reviews. Please tell me which deck should I buy?‘

Hi Aum. That’s a question we get asked so often at the magic shop. The Bicycle Playing Cards UK range is massive so it can be quite confusing to decide which deck of cards to use. However, the answer is actually very simple.

These are the playing cards that almost all magicians use every day :

That’s it, all you need! Bicycle Playing Cards UK Poker Size with either red or blue backs (red are the most popular) are the ‘standard’ playing card used by magicians all over the world.

There are a huge range of alternative decks, but those are mainly designed for collectors, or magicians wanting a different design for style or routine purposes. Some decks claim that they have a superior quality, card stock, cut, or finish, and you can pay a great deal of money for many ‘rare’ decks. However, for your card practice and performance, you really only need a normal poker size, air cushioned deck like the standard bicycle deck.

Collecting decks of cards is great fun, sometimes a valuable investment, and allows you to add style and showmanship to your performances, but that’s only just the icing on the cake, when it comes to learning magic. Pick up a a deck of Bicycle Playing Cards UK standard cards and start practising and performing right away. Spending time reading reviews isn’t magic practice, it’s just ‘shopping’, and it won’t make you a better performer. Forget about all the different decks that are on the market, it’s just a distraction..

Hope this helps you

Dominic Reyes

Flash Paper – What is the best way to use it?

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

What’s the best way to use flash paper in your magic tricks?

Flash Paper is great for many different magic tricks. A bit of Flash Paper is perfect for jazzing up a routine, so your magic tricks have more… Pizzazz! For example, if you want to vanish something you can wrap it in flash paper and set it alight to make your item magically vanish in a ball of flames! You can use it to produce items too! Check out Kieron Johnson’s To The Max for a REALLY great routine that uses flash paper.

There are also magic tricks designed for use with Flash Paper. For example, the Flash Gun Electronic, this is a device that shoots flash paper out in a fireball from your hand! A great beginning or finish to any stage magic trick. There is Jay Sankey’s In A Flash. In this magic trick, a signed coin wrapped in Flash Paper burns a hole through half of the deck of playing cards and stops on the back of the spectator’s signed card!

Also check out Flash Notes, these are great for any money magic trick. Flash Notes are specially printed pieces of Flash Paper that look like bank notes. These Flash Notes allow you to borrow a banknote, screw it up into a ball or fold it up and then secretly switch it for the Flash note. When you set the Flash Note alight, it bursts into flames and disappears just as quickly it is very convincing that your spectator’s money burns into nothingness!

Flash Paper is a great way to add that extra something to your magic tricks. However, you should be aware of the safety issues as well. Make sure you act and perform responsibly when using any flash product, for your spectator’s safety, not just yours!

The Magicians Wife Test

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Why using a magicians wife test isn’t always the best way to try out a new magic trick

Guy writes:

‘I bought a book explaining a card effect from you, I read the plot and set it up. As there was no sleight of hand, it was easy to do and practice. A lovely effect. Now my first victim on any magic is my wife (part of wifely duties is to put up with being the guinea pig on magic effects – aside from the other wifely duties). And obviously by now she knows all the sleights and tricks. After it was done she told me how the trick was accomplished; it didn’t fool her.‘

Hi Guy,

Many thanks for sharing this with us. One of the problems with using a friend or a family member as a guinea pig is that they begin to learn methods, and that’s what they begin to see when a performance is going on. Like us, they stop seeing and enjoying the ‘magic’, and they follow all the wrong things.

I never show my wife a trick first now as it can put me off performing it to a lay audience. My wife can see all the things I know a lay person will not see. My wife isn’t taken in by patter and generally doesn’t find me interesting if I start to talk about some psychological study, she knows what I know! If I begin talking to her about a subject that she knows to be just patter it won’t engage her, it just doesn’t have any effect. Other people who you don’t know, even friends you don’t see much of will be hooked in by your patter and then you can entertain them with the trick.

It can be good to test a routine with a ‘magicians wife test’ but the more wife tests you do, the wiser she will become and the harder it will be to get a great reaction. Look at a room full of magicians and how they can give great magic very little applause or reaction as they have an idea of what is going on. Methods are what are running through their minds when you perform, which means you never connect in the same way as you do to a completely lay audience.

Sometimes though an effect can also fall flat on one audience and go through the roof with others. The real secret is to work an effect with different audiences to see if it is ‘for you’ or not.

I hope this helps

Ben Williams

P.s You may also find this free ebook useful: