New Look Bicycle Cards: 809 Mandolin Back

Bicycle Cards: 809 Mandolin Back
by United States Playing Card Company

Standard Bicycle playing card deck with a Brand new look from United States Playing Card Company!

Design: Paul Harris directed the development of the new 809 Bicycle back with USPCC. Paul worked with three world class artists (including Garrett Thomas) to create a soothing traditional looking back that's instantly trusted as part of the Bicycle family. And yes, this classic looking deck even features the trademarked Bicycle Ace of Spades, Joker and the traditional box.

Quality: Richard Turner worked directly with USPCC manufacturing to ensure the new Bicycle 809 Mandolin has a superior cut and quality. These are exquisitely crafted decks! Once you feel these cards you will never want to put them down.

Get these new decks here!

Herculez Gomez: Kickin' it with Cards

Herculez Gomez

U.S. Men's National Soccer Team
Position: Forward
Date 0f Birth: April 6, 1982
Height: 5-10
Weight: 165
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada 
Club: Puebla F.C. (Mexico)
Hobbies: Magic

The U.S. Men's National Soccer Team takes on the Czech Republic tonight at 8 p.m. ET at Renstchler Field in Hartford, Connecticut.  Fans in the stadium and watching on ESPN will witness the performance that for some players may determine their fate for making the squad headed to World Cup in South Africa next month.

Herculez Gomez has fast feet but even faster hands. As the team relaxes on a train ride to Hartford follow those cards and check out one of his many card tricks.

Aaron Fisher's: FREE "Double Lift" Lesson!

Aaron Fisher, creator of the One-Hand Popover and Search and Destroy, and author of the Paper Engine has had a great year. So great that he put some thoughts about the double lift The following video is from him to you. After watching it, your double lift will get better.

There are two types of magicians: those who have been caught doing a Double Lift and those who lie about it.

Every card magician uses the Double Lift; it is one of the most essential sleights in card magic but using it CORRECTLY is not as straight forward as you may think.

Learn how to improve your performance from the master of card magic. In this casual session Aaron Fisher dissects the all important Double Lift and shares his personal tips on giving you a leg up. If you use the Double Lift today, you owe it to your audience to watch what Aaron has to say about it.

Happy New Year from Aaron Fisher and Tannen's Magic!

Aaron Fisher: Double Lift (Windows Media)
Aaron Fisher: Double Lift (Quicktime)

Right-click on desired video and select 'Save Target As...' to save the movie files to your hard drive.

Bicycle 125

While the art of magic has persisted and evolved over thousands of years, the vast majority of us today have one thing in common and one company to thank - the United States Playing Card Company. 

It started in Cincinnati one-hundred and twenty-five years ago and quickly grew to become the worldwide leader in playing card design and manufacturing. Since then - hundreds of designs and over a billion decks later - it is still here and still in a league of its own.

Commemorating 125 years of design and development, the Bicycle 125 : Anniversary Edition playing cards feature a distinctive, vintage aesthetic - and a signature metallic foil on the special edition tuck case.  Theory11 presents a collaboration that can officially come to light - the Bicycle 125's.

Available here in a refined red and deep blue.

Mario's Magical Creations

Mario's Magical Creations: a vintage-inspired series by Mario Marchese 

New York-based magician and tinkerer Mario Marchese, a.k.a. Mario the Magician, has spent his downtime over the past couple of years crafting beautiful, vintage-inspired close-up magic illusions from found objects and re-purposed materials. Mario's favorite creations, chosen especially with Tannen's Magic loyalists in mind. These are truly works of art, intricate and intriguing. Each item is made-to-order and completely handmade, so you will receive a collector's item that is uniquely yours and one-of-a-kind (design of box or tin will vary).

Take a look at Mario's five new creations Bouncy Ball Mayhem, Corinda's Coin Box, Old Tin Card Rise, Tarot Mind Mystery, Think of a Card Box here!

James Galea Down Under

James Galea is Australia's number one magician. Constant television and radio appearances and his own series for the Nine Network (Urban Magic) have seen James in constant demand not only in his home country but internationally both in the corporate arena and as a headliner world-wide, performing at the Flamingo Las Vegas and Hollywood's legendary Magic Castle.James Galea is vastly different to the stereotypical 'pull a rabbit out of a hat' magician - he breathes new life into the dying art of magic and trades the traditional rigid tuxedo and stiff top hat for a pair of sneakers, jeans and a tee shirt. Energetic and effortlessly cool, James presents the art of magic with a wicked sense of humour disarming audiences with his youthful charm and astonishing them with his talent.

James started learning magic at age 14 from someone he thought was a magician. He later found out that his mentor moonlighted as a professional con man who cheated in high stakes poker games. While his colleagues were learning how to make hankies disappear from old magic books Galea learnt how to deal aces from the bottom of the deck from a professional card shark.

It was in the field of close up magic that James' unique talent was discovered. His charismatic performances soon attracted notice and at just 19 years of age, James was awarded 'Australia's Best Close-Up Magician'.

In 2009 after sell-out seasons Australia-wide of his live show I HATE RABBITS, James took to the stage as an actor starring in LYING CHEATING BASTARD, a play he co-wrote about Australia's most successful conman. The critics were unanimous in their praise for the play and Galea's performance and the show will now tour internationally throughout 2010/2011. Galea is currently in development for several TV shows in the US and Australia.

Take a look at his version of Sam the Bellhop by Bill Malone The 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala.

Playing the Race Card

On a comedy bit on The Daily Show With John Stewart, Larry Wilmore performs magic tricks to show white people how to play the race card. At 2:50 in the video he goes into his ambitious card routine with some nifty moves.

In 2006, Larry Wilmore began appearing regularly on The Daily Show With John Stewart, where he is billed as the "Senior Black Correspondent" or a derivative form of the title, such as the "Senior Executive Commander-in-Chief Who Happens To Be Black Correspondent" (following the election of Barack Obama). His work on the show frequently centers on humorous observations of the black experience in American society.

Wilmore was featured in Genii Magazine in March 2009 in the fowling articles.
1. Creatively Speaking with Larry Wilmore by David Regal
2. South Side Opener aka Red-Hot Brother by Larry Wilmore
3. The Flop-Over Double by Larry Wilmore

XCMeijin: Knuckle Busting

Just hold onto your seats and watch XCMeijin, 20, an Extreme Card Manipulator from New South Wales, Australia as he prepared for the 2009 World XCM Championships.

Competitors are judged based on the following criteria:

Creativity - how creative you are (not just moves but overall)
Routining - how your uncut routine flows
Difficulty - what the difficulty level was
Cool Factor - and overall coolness of the video
Technique - Technique is the difference between good moves and crappy moves, moves that are properly executed and those that aren't.

Time Warp: Dan and Dave Buck

Discovery Channel's series Time Warp, in which MIT scientist and teacher Jeff Lieberman -- along with digital-imaging expert Matt Kearney -- uses new technologies to bring truly never-before-seen wonders into a form that your body can actually process. Using the latest in high-speed photography, the Time Warp turns them into a thing of both beauty and learning.

Dan and Dave Buck are featured on "The Fine Art of Cheating" at playing cards episode. Dan and Dave Buck demonstrate several techniques card cheaters might use to hustle someone in a game of poker or blackjack. Checkout some of Steve Forte's gambling protection books here. 

The MacMillan Switch was created and first published by Dan MacMillan. It is expertly taught by Jason England on the new "Foudations DVD".

The Botton Deal method used is from "The Expert at The Card Table" by SW Erdnase. It is also expertly taught by Jason England on "Foundations DVD"as well.

Spencer Peterson: Click, click, click...

Spencer Peterson, 16, has been doing magic for the last five years, but only became seriously interested in sleight of hand in the last two. Last week, Spencer took 1st Place in the Junior Close-up Competition at the The Canadian Association of Magicians’ Camaraderie 2009 Convention in Montréal, Canada.

This New York City teenager is constantly trying to master difficult and esoteric sleights with a deck of cards. Aside from his interest in sleight of hand and puppies, Spencer has a passion for photography. He has been going to Tannen's Magic Camp for four years and has been working at Tannen's Magic Shop in New York City for the last year. He is fluent in French.

On a daily basis, Spencer says: “I strive to achieve total awesomeness... and hopes to do so by doing card magic and by taking pictures.”

"The David Stone coin DVD's contain some of my favorite sleight of hand coin routines, I use his coin in cap routine often. John Bannon's Dear Mister Fantasy is by far one of my favorite books on card magic alonng with Totally Out of Control by Chris Kenner, which has routines using cards, coing, rope and even business cards. I also love Surfaced by Chad Nelson, a DVD teaching the Clipshift; the Clipshift is a move with cards which can accomplish a ridiculously visual color change, a beautiful vanish of a card and an truly invisible control of a card from a dribble." - Spencer": Check them out here!

See Spencer's hands in action in this video titled "repro retro":

Poll Results: What Is Your Favorite Card Packet Trick?

The winner of the Tannen’s Magic Blog Poll “What Is Your Favorite Card Packet Trick?” is MacDonald’s $100 Four Ace Trick with 45% of the voting. The trick was published in 1972 by Tannen’s Magic and is a classic version of an ace assembly. An ace assembly is a trick were the four aces each start in a separate pile of four cards. Three of the aces vanish from their respective pile to assemble together in one pile. When Frank Garcia performed it in on a nationally televised show, then California Senator George Murphy said, “This is absolutely the most spectacular card trick I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Phil Goldstein’s B’wave came in second with 29% of the votes and Michael Skinner’s Ultimate Three Card Monte came in third with 12% of the votes. A future contender worthy of interest for the poll may be Royal Scam by John Bannon. NFW, Twisted Sister, and Wild Card all tied with 1% of the voting.