My intro - Hi Everybody!

[HandSkillz]

Hey everyone, my stage name is Skillz or Hands, but please call me "B". I'm really excited to discover and join the forums, this looks to be an excellent community.

I've lived all over the country - Baltimore, Miami, Chicago, Portland - but currently I reside in DC.

My goal is to be a combination Cardist/Magician, flourishing, sleight of hand, and performing come very naturally to me, but only recently have I started dedicating myself to learning the craft.  Daniel Madison is the performer to whom I can most closely relate. As far as whether I'm a collector or not..I guess you could say I am in that I'm collecting in search of the best possible deck for flourishing and sleight of hand (I'm open to suggestions). I'm not one to leave a deck sitting unopened for too long.

What got me into all of the above - nothing feels more natural to me than having a deck of cards in my hand. I joined the forum because I see years of experience in the fingertips of the people on the boards, and I feel like with some focus and guidance I could be great at this.

Thanks in advance for the greetings, I look forward to being an active member of this wonderful community!
-B

[Anthony]

Welcome to the site B, this is a great community, a lot of very helpful people from every angle of the playing card industry. Enjoy!

[Don Boyer]

Welcome aboard, B.  Good to have a new face around here, always.

As far as a BEST deck, whatever the application is, that's something that's very much up to the individual.  You need to know your own preferences as to what makes an ideal deck for you.

Try a simple experiment.  Pick up a bog-standard pack of Bicycle Rider Backs, Tally Ho (either the Traditional Circle Back or Trad. Fan Back) and Bee Diamond Backs and give them a go.  The Bicycle and Bee decks are nearly as common as dirt, while Tally Ho will be a little harder to find outside of New York City, but most magic shops will carry them.  Break in those three decks, work with them for a little while and see which you like the best.  Also, determine whether you like the cards' slip and glide as is or whether you prefer something more slick.  Once I know that, I can make many different recommendations for you to try out.

Among the standard decks USPC puts out, I'd say the consensus among most cardists is that they prefer Tally Ho.  Having said that, many like using Bicycle for practicing because they're decent and the most cheap when bought in bulk while still being of acceptable quality, and some want Bee instead for the better durability.  In terms of stock, Tally Ho has traditionally been somewhere between Bicycle and Bee in terms of firmness, with Bee being the firmest.  But just because someone else likes a deck, doesn't mean you'll take a shine to them in the same way - everyone's preferences are unique.

And DON'T feel obligated in some way to go chasing down the rarest and costliest decks in your pursuit for the best deck for you!  You're best off getting something that's both affordable and easily obtained, especially when you factor in that it's the deck you'll want to be using most often (and thus will be wearing out frequently).  If you want them for your personal fun or pleasure, that's one thing, but for day-to-day usage, you'll be burning through cash at a pretty nasty pace...

(In case you didn't guess, I'm the guy that most people want TL:DR from...  )

[Rob Wright]

Welcome B, Jump right in. You should post some videos of your work.

[xela]

Hey cupcake, I'd love to have you show me your hand skills.

[ronyo_faukx]

Hey cupcake, I'd love to have you show me your hand skills.

I dunno, noone cuts. spreads and fans better than you Alex.

[HandSkillz]

Welcome aboard, B.  Good to have a new face around here, always.

As far as a BEST deck, whatever the application is, that's something that's very much up to the individual.  You need to know your own preferences as to what makes an ideal deck for you.

Try a simple experiment.  Pick up a bog-standard pack of Bicycle Rider Backs, Tally Ho (either the Traditional Circle Back or Trad. Fan Back) and Bee Diamond Backs and give them a go.  The Bicycle and Bee decks are nearly as common as dirt, while Tally Ho will be a little harder to find outside of New York City, but most magic shops will carry them.  Break in those three decks, work with them for a little while and see which you like the best.  Also, determine whether you like the cards' slip and glide as is or whether you prefer something more slick.  Once I know that, I can make many different recommendations for you to try out.

Among the standard decks USPC puts out, I'd say the consensus among most cardists is that they prefer Tally Ho.  Having said that, many like using Bicycle for practicing because they're decent and the most cheap when bought in bulk while still being of acceptable quality, and some want Bee instead for the better durability.  In terms of stock, Tally Ho has traditionally been somewhere between Bicycle and Bee in terms of firmness, with Bee being the firmest.  But just because someone else likes a deck, doesn't mean you'll take a shine to them in the same way - everyone's preferences are unique.

And DON'T feel obligated in some way to go chasing down the rarest and costliest decks in your pursuit for the best deck for you!  You're best off getting something that's both affordable and easily obtained, especially when you factor in that it's the deck you'll want to be using most often (and thus will be wearing out frequently).  If you want them for your personal fun or pleasure, that's one thing, but for day-to-day usage, you'll be burning through cash at a pretty nasty pace...

(In case you didn't guess, I'm the guy that most people want TL:DR from...  )

Thanks Don, the tips are greatly appreciated!  I just went nuts and bought several different decks, though I don't think any of them happen to be tally-ho stock - I'll have to check out some vipers.  The deck I most enjoy practicing with (for every day use that is) are the Red Bicycle Masters from Ellusionist.  Dan and Dave's v3-7 reprints are the best decks I've used as far as flexibility is concerned.  I also have played around with but not completely broken in some White Artisans, White ghosts, Fathoms, etc (they seem basically the same as the masters as far as stock and finish is concerned), and I have some rarer decks that are unopened for a rainy day.

As far as progress, it's slow but certain.  My fanning has improved, but the fans aren't as big as I would like (the one handed close looks pretty good), my sybil cut is great, but it doesn't look as smooth as it feels.  I finally have done a handful of perfect Faro shuffles.  I think I need to learn more palming methods.  Most importantly, I need to learn how to make my flourishes look more smooth and effortless.

Soon I'll be comfortable enough to post videos, but I'm not quite there yet
-B

[Don Boyer]

Welcome aboard, B.  Good to have a new face around here, always.

As far as a BEST deck, whatever the application is, that's something that's very much up to the individual.  You need to know your own preferences as to what makes an ideal deck for you.

Try a simple experiment.  Pick up a bog-standard pack of Bicycle Rider Backs, Tally Ho (either the Traditional Circle Back or Trad. Fan Back) and Bee Diamond Backs and give them a go.  The Bicycle and Bee decks are nearly as common as dirt, while Tally Ho will be a little harder to find outside of New York City, but most magic shops will carry them.  Break in those three decks, work with them for a little while and see which you like the best.  Also, determine whether you like the cards' slip and glide as is or whether you prefer something more slick.  Once I know that, I can make many different recommendations for you to try out.

Among the standard decks USPC puts out, I'd say the consensus among most cardists is that they prefer Tally Ho.  Having said that, many like using Bicycle for practicing because they're decent and the most cheap when bought in bulk while still being of acceptable quality, and some want Bee instead for the better durability.  In terms of stock, Tally Ho has traditionally been somewhere between Bicycle and Bee in terms of firmness, with Bee being the firmest.  But just because someone else likes a deck, doesn't mean you'll take a shine to them in the same way - everyone's preferences are unique.

And DON'T feel obligated in some way to go chasing down the rarest and costliest decks in your pursuit for the best deck for you!  You're best off getting something that's both affordable and easily obtained, especially when you factor in that it's the deck you'll want to be using most often (and thus will be wearing out frequently).  If you want them for your personal fun or pleasure, that's one thing, but for day-to-day usage, you'll be burning through cash at a pretty nasty pace...

(In case you didn't guess, I'm the guy that most people want TL:DR from...  )

Thanks Don, the tips are greatly appreciated!  I just went nuts and bought several different decks, though I don't think any of them happen to be tally-ho stock - I'll have to check out some vipers.  The deck I most enjoy practicing with (for every day use that is) are the Red Bicycle Masters from Ellusionist.  Dan and Dave's v3-7 reprints are the best decks I've used as far as flexibility is concerned.  I also have played around with but not completely broken in some White Artisans, White ghosts, Fathoms, etc (they seem basically the same as the masters as far as stock and finish is concerned), and I have some rarer decks that are unopened for a rainy day.

As far as progress, it's slow but certain.  My fanning has improved, but the fans aren't as big as I would like (the one handed close looks pretty good), my sybil cut is great, but it doesn't look as smooth as it feels.  I finally have done a handful of perfect Faro shuffles.  I think I need to learn more palming methods.  Most importantly, I need to learn how to make my flourishes look more smooth and effortless.

Soon I'll be comfortable enough to post videos, but I'm not quite there yet
-B

Technically speaking, Tally Ho stock as a separate entity no longer exists - or at the least is not available to people placing custom orders.  But there is no denying that many people like them over a pack of Bikes, though Bike stock isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Many of the custom decks you mentioned are coating with Magic Finish.  New red Masters, D&D's v7 decks, White Artisans, Ghost, Fathoms - they're ALL Magic Finish.  You can actually tell not just from the performance, but the smell when first opened - it's a sharper, more chemical smell than standard Bikes off the drugstore shelf.  I like to call it the "great equalizer", since it's now the default finish for custom decks and tends to give all of them the same slip and glide characteristics.  The last remaining major difference that affects performance is the stock itself, and these days, there are exactly two choices: Bicycle and Bee Casino.  For all practical intents and purposes, you could simply call them "thinner" and "thicker", although the stock is defined by thickness within a range and the two ranges actually overlap!

Check out the "Fact or Fiction" topic at the top of the Playing Card Plethora.  Some of the info there is old or inaccurate, but it's still worth reading for the info that isn't.