Gambling theory and card/coin tricks

[Tony.T]

Best books on these two subjects?
Im a beginner when it comes to magic and
beginner to intermediate when it comes to
gambling theory. Anyone?



Tony Tarantino

[KeyToTheMint]

In my opinion the best beginners book in magic is The magic
book by Harry Lorayne It might be out of print but its worth
tracking down a copy. Other good beginners books

1-Mark wison's complete course in magic
2-Royal Road to Card Magic-Jean Hugard
3-The amateur Magicians Handbook-Henry Hay

All books include both card and coin effects except royal
road to card magic.

[maurile]

For card magic, the Card College series by Roberto Giobbi the best resource by far. It is a huge improvement over the older books, IMO. It has clear explanations and illustrations, and a sensible progression of sleights and flourishes to work on (accompanied by some very cool effects for each new move it teaches).

But if you want to start off very cheaply, get The Royal Road to Card Magic by Hugard and Expert Card Technique by Hugard & Braue. They are the classic older texts, and are available very cheaply from Amazon, B&N, and Borders.

The Giobbi books are more expensive and will have to be ordered from a magic shop (Hank Lee's is a good one), but they are well worth it. I highly recommend Card College! Start with volume 1 and work your way through them.

For coin magic, Modern Coin Magic by JB Bobo is the old classic. It is to coins what Royal Road is to cards. Unfortunately, there is no coin analogue of Card College.

I personally think that the best resources on coin magic happen to be videos instead of books. The three most popular videos to start with are the Roth videos, the Stone videos, and the Ammar video. A review of all three can be found here.

KeyToTheMint listed some other great books that you can't go wrong with. Many successful magicians started out with Wilson's book (although I personally like Magic For Dummies by Pogue better as an introductory magic book). And you'll never hear a bad word said about Lorayne's or Hay's books.

By the way, head on over to The Magic Cafe. It is to magic what 2+2 is to poker.

[Piper Tim]

Ditto on the Magic Cafe site. It is an incredible site.

For books: Card College is hands down the best. Easy to follow illustrations, good writing, and logically organized. I've been slowly working my way through them.

Other interesting books: Expert at the Card Table by SW Erdnase is considered the classic treatise on card cheating. It is cheap too.

Phantoms at the Card Table is a fascinating read about cheating as well and covers a lot of cheating moves. Second deals, that sort of thing.

I used both of them and the Card College books to work on some sleights.