The Online Magic Store Blog: Card Magic

A face-down card beside a squared deck on green baize, a hand resting nearby

How to do the key card trick: a self-working classic

Learn the key card trick, the classic self-working way to find a chosen card using one card you secretly know.

A hand holding a face-down deck in dealing grip over a green close-up mat, cards dealt beside it

How to do the glide

The glide lets you show the bottom card and secretly deal the one above it instead; here is the classic outline, a practice plan and two ol…

Twenty-one red-backed playing cards laid face down in three rows of seven on green baize

How to do the 21-card trick: step by step, and why it works

The classic self-working 21-card trick taught step by step, with why it works, how to present it so it doesn’t feel like maths, and variati…

An open handwritten notebook, a fountain pen and red-backed playing cards on a desk at night

How to write patter for magic: a beginner’s guide to scripting your tricks

How to write, cut and rehearse patter, the words you say during a trick, with presentational styles and a worked card trick script.

A stack of old cloth-bound books, an open book, reading glasses and playing cards on a reading table

Best magic books for beginners

Good first magic books for card magic, coin magic and general magic, compared side by side, including free classics you can download today.

Three performers’ hands: one showing a single card, one cutting packets, one holding a fan of cards

Card Magic vs Cardistry vs Card Manipulation: What's the Difference?

Card magic, card manipulation and cardistry compared: what each one is, how they differ, and which to learn first.

One hand in mid-air doing a one-handed cut, half the deck on the palm and half raised on the thumb

How to do the Charlier cut

A step-by-step guide to the Charlier cut, the classic one-handed cut, with grip, fixes for dropped cards and a practice plan.

Someone practising at a desk, holding up a single face-down card beside a deck and a practice notebook

Flap cards: learning curve and practice

How hard flap cards really are to perform, the skills around the gaff, and a step-by-step practice plan.

A hand holding up a single red-backed playing card with a blur of motion beside it

Classic effects with flap cards

The classic flap card effects, from the visible change and double change to the torn corner and colour change, and when to use each.

A hand holding a single red-backed playing card at an angle over dark velvet

Flap cards: mechanics and theory

What a flap card is, the principle behind the hinged half-card, and why the seam, grip and timing matter more than the gaff.

A clear transparent marker and its cap beside a white card and red-backed playing cards

What is the Omni Pen? The clear Sharpie explained

What the Omni Pen is, who made its routines, how it builds on the Omni Deck and whether it is worth adding to your act.

A hand holding up a clear block shaped like a deck of cards above scattered red-backed cards

Omni Deck explained: the card trick that ends in solid plastic

What the Omni Deck is, who it is credited to, what the audience sees and how to learn it, without giving away the secret.

A hand pushing one red-backed card out of a ribbon spread on green felt

Forcing decks: all cards identical

How one-way, two-way and three-way forcing decks guarantee the chosen card, and the handling habits that keep them secret.

A jeweller’s loupe over the back of a red playing card on dark wood, a fan of cards behind

Marked decks: types and systems

The published types of marked deck, from block-out and cut-out to juice and luminous readers, and how magicians use them honestly.

A hand holding a red-backed deck above an antique mirror that reflects its underside

Peek decks explained: mirror peeks and shiners

What a peek is, how mirror peeks and shiners let a magician secretly see a card, and how to use one without getting caught.

A deck, two red-backed cards, a plain silver disc, a magnet, a rubber band and a velvet pouch laid out on black felt

Gaff combinations explained: mixing gimmicks and sleights

How magicians combine gaff cards, trick decks and sleights in one routine, why it works, and the risks of adding more secrets.

Hands beside a long ribbon spread of red-backed cards on green felt, one card turned the other way

One-way decks: pattern reading

How a one-way back design lets you spot a turned card in a shuffled deck, and how magicians from Hoffmann to Downs used it.

A hand drawing a single card out of the middle of a red-backed deck

Stripper decks: narrowed cards

How a stripper deck’s tapered cards let you find a chosen card by touch, and how a card cheat’s tool became a magician’s classic.

Hands riffling the corner of a red-backed deck over a dark close-up mat

Svengali decks: principle and effects

How the Svengali deck’s long and short principle works, the classic effects it makes possible, and where its name came from.

Two hands turning a red-backed card over above three face-down cards

Double backer decks explained: cards with two backs

What a double backer card is, the classic effects it makes possible, and how to start using one without giving it away.

A pure white blank card standing against a red-backed deck on black velvet by candlelight

Double blank decks explained: the card with nothing on it

What a double blank card is, how magicians use a card with nothing on either side, and how to start working with one.

Two hands riffle shuffling a red-backed deck on green felt

How to riffle shuffle and bridge a deck

How to do a clean table riffle and finish with the bridge, without ruining your cards.

Red-backed cards and blank white cards scattered on a dark wooden table

Blank decks explained: blank-face and blank-back cards

What blank-face and blank-back cards are, what magicians use them for, and how to start using blank cards in your card magic.

A green baize card table around 1900 with an oil lamp, a pocket watch, poker chips, cards and an old book

Who was S. W. Erdnase?

The 1902 card book The Expert at the Card Table is still in print, but nobody knows for certain who wrote it; here are the clues and the le…