Magic
I’ve been an amature magician for over 10 years now and have learned a few cool card tricks, slights and other useless junk to keep people entertained at parties and the like.
I guess it’s the esoteric nature of the art that intrigues me.
I am in the process of creating some guides on how to perform the tricks and will link to them from this page.
I will include video and full text walk through with as many tips as I think of.
I know more card tricks than anything, so they will probably be more prevelant.
I don’t claim to have invented any of these tricks and have linked to any relevant sources in the articles. I just enjoy performing and teaching them.
A few tricks I am working on posting:
- Two Card Monte
- Perfect Poker
- Self Turning Cards
- Jumping Card
It may be a few weeks before these are finished as I want to include as much detail as possible!
My Interest
My interest in magic started in December 1999 when David Blain’s Magic Man was shown on Channel 4 over the christmas period.
I recorded it incase I missed it but ended up watching it obsessively, frame-by-frame.
The camera men and editors obviously didn’t know too much as they were constantly being moved by David and some slight slip-ups were left in.
Several months, and one grainy video cassette (VHS FTW!), later I had honed several simple card tricks and started to test them on my close family and friends.
After about six months I had worn the patience of my loved ones fairly thin and they had started to run when I pulled a deck of cards out!
The obvious next step was to approach random people in pubs and clubs.
I didn’t take long to get into the swing of things after a few false starts with dropped decks, communication problems due to loud music and suchlike.
Quiet blatant tells and slip ups seemed to go mostly unnoticed 
If only I had thought drunk people are easier to fool sooner…
Seems like a no-brainer looking back on it, but it was quiet a revalation!
I had hit a mini gold mine as I could perfect tricks I had been working on for months and earn free drinks and even get a few phone numbers for doing it.
Finding the perfect magic / intoxication mix was tricky though and some tricks just were’nt appropriate in certain places.
Clubbers didn’t appreciate cards being thrown at high speed and people at a house party didn’t like being ripped off at poker. 
You live, you learn.
I still enjoy learning new magic tricks methods and slights but rarely get out to practice on real, live people any more.
I considered creating these videos soon but have been soo busy with other projects, they just got shelved. Better late than never, I guess!
Just remember…
Magic is the art of misdirection!