BACKGROUND

When I first got into magic, I was just a kid - 8 or 9 at the most. There was a local magic shop about 20 minutes from my house and the first time I went in I wasn't in awe like you'd see in a movie, at least, not from the "magic" that the shop contained. Rather, there were shelves full of pranks and gizmos, noise makers and colorful trinkets. A few VHS tapes and about the same number of books.

The shop keeper didn't show off any tricks or routines, in fact as far as I recall he was a typical adult who was waiting for their shift to end. I was eager to learn, and just a kid, so none of it phased me. I asked him if he had any books that could help me learn card magic and that's when I received my first real card book: Magic With Cards. That, and a Chinese Finger Trap and a Whoopee Cushion.

Honestly, as a first book for card magic, Magic With Cards wasn't that bad. It doesn't dive into the art of the Double Lift or Second Dealing, and you're not going to find mention of a Faro Shuffle anywhere... but that's just it - it doesn't teach sleights. Just routines. But, they're easy! And, it leaves the theory by the wayside to let the reader figure it all out. For a kid just starting out, it was just right.

By the time I tossed my deck away and hung up my magic cape, I only had 3 magic books in all*. But Magic With Cards ended up (somehow) staying with me. I think it was lost somewhere at the bottom of a toybox and nobody bought it at a yard sale one year so my mom just kind of put it away as a memento. When I got back into magic in my 30s, guess what book found it's way back into my house! (and no, I don't live with my mom ... but, she did bring it back when I told her of my relapse into the mystic arts)

When this book eventually made it back into my collection, I was already chapters-deep into several other books that were verbose with sleights and theory. It was no longer the prized possession I once thought it was and so I tossed it aside and it sat on my shelf for over three years without ever being opened. Jumping forward a bit though, after learning many sleights and handlings, after learning theory and how to apply my own personality to tricks and routines, re-reading Magic With Cards is an entirely different experience. These basic tricks are fundamentally amazing - you just need to make them your own.

TO THE POINT

I know it sounds like I'm writing about this specific book a lot and I know I am - but I'm not. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you already have one or more books on magic and you're just curious what to look for next. You might even have a full library and aren't interested in buying any new books (lol, yeah right) but are curious if there's a suggestion about what to flip back through. Me personally, I'm in the middle of those two - I have a decent number of books and I've read through almost all of them, but what should I buy next... or, which book should I bring back off of the shelf?

In my limited experience so far, I've found that it's very dependent on your interests. Not just in the type of magic effects, but also the style of writing. There are textbook style volumes that cover everything and there are books that cover just routines (with possibly a sprinkling of new sleights here and there). There are theory-only books, or books just on table work. Heck, Drawing Room Deceptions even has a whole section devoted to work with a paperclip -- sadly, though they all say they've read it, the half-dozen people I've spoken to about the book didn't even know that 🤦‍♂️.

I can't tell you what to read next ... well, technically I can tell you what to read next but it's up to you to decide whether or not to do it ... but, I can offer suggestions based on my current level and experience.

If you're a beginner in magic, I hands-down recommend the following ASAP:

• Card College, Vol. 1
• Card College, Vol. 2
• Card College, Vol. 3
• The Royal Road to Card Magic

If you consider yourself a beginner / intermediate conjurer, try flipping through:

• Expert Card Technique
• Expert at the Card Table
  • Alternatively: The Annotated Erdnase
• Bertram on Sleight of Hand

If you're adventurous, definitely give these a try:

• Mnemonica
• By Forces Unseen
• Principia
• The Complete Walton, Vol. 1

Now, the above are all based on "your experience" and not really your interests. Also, it's not really a list that will change much over time given that there aren't a ton of brand-new books that are going to target the beginner and be better than the classics. They can be great, don't get me wrong - but chances are, they're just rehashing what's already written.

FURTHER READING

If you're interested in book suggestions by topics, check out some of these posts:

• Table Work
  • Well, if you're already sitting at the table...
• Palming
  • Are you a palmaholic?
• Memorized Decks
  • Can you remember it all?
• Sleights & Routines
  • My favorite books about sleight of hand

The above posts might also include some video references -- no VHS tapes, but there will be some DVD suggestions and online content.

* the other two books I had when I was a kid were Royal Road to Card Magic and Modern Coin Magic.

So, you've picked you're favorite stack to memorize... now what?! Well, easy - now you have to memorize it! But, how? And is it actually easy?

There are a number of methods to memorize a deck and I don't know if it's possible to say that one's the "best" method, but I am a firm believer that there are better methods to suit your individual learning style. This post is my attempt at creating an exhaustive list (to the best of my current knowledge) of memorization methods.

Stack Type vs Approach

Before jumping in to the "here's how to memorize a stack," it might be easier to break things down by the type of stack we're looking at.

Algorithmic Stacks

Rosary stacks (i.e. the sequential / circular ones) are constructed with a formula that relates a card value to it's position. This can make it pretty easy to memorize since you only need to really memorize the algorithm. An added advantage to these types of stacks is that the algorithm can be used to determine what card is at a specific position, or what position a specific card is at!

Si Stebbins is an example of an algorithm-based stack. The formula that you need to remember is that the next card's value is 3 more than the current card. The suits alternate in Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds (CHaSeD) order. Knowing those two things, you can stack you're entire deck via the Si Stebbins system.

Others, like Eight Kings, set up a formula for 13 cards and it repeats 4 times. All-in-all, they make it pretty easy to learn the associations between different cards without much effort. There aren't many tips for memorizing the algorithms because every algorithm is different. Things like Eight Kings are silly sentences - you memorize the sentence, you know the stack.

Rule-Based Stacks

Kind of similar to algorithm-based stacks, a rule based stack is constructed by a set of rules. Yes, this does make it an algorithm, but we differentiate the two based on "algorithm stacks have one or two rules that if followed, can construct the entire deck" and "rule-based stacks have a lot of rules to help you remember where the cards are". And by "we", I mean "me"...

Different stacks use different rules (even different numbers of rules) and they can vary in difficulty.

I recently learned of the Joyal stack system (by Martin Joyal) which claims to be memorized within six hours; it has 14 rules, for example. The first rule in the Joyal stack:

This is a pretty straightforward rule that on it's own, is fairly easy to remember. But, a full stack system would have rules like this for all 52 cards in the deck which can make learning the associations of cards and their positions a little harder than an algorithm-based stack.

QuickStack's first rule, summarized to be like the above:

Oh, but, now we have to remember that QuickStack's system is for memorizing a group of 13 cards. The four groups of 13 make up the enitre deck, but the "method" is to identify the value-to-position relationships first. Hmm.

From what I've seen, most rule-based stacks come with a devised method of practicing and learning the stack itself. Joyal and QuickStack are definitely like this. Could you come up with your own method to learn them faster? Maybe! But, Joyal says it takes only 6 hours to learn, and QuickStack claims a half hour. In these cases, I'd just go with those methods.

When I first saw a list of rules to memorize a rule-based stack though, my first thought jumped to flash cards. They're pretty easy to write down and you can flip through them just like you're studying for a vocab test back in school. While you can go the more difficult route of memorizing the exact order of the cards (and skipping the original rules), from the stacks and rules I've seen so far, the rules are more helpful clues to pinpoint things like the Aces, a poker hand, etc.

Memorized Stacks

Ah, so here we are. We're at a point where we have a stack that has no formula to make it and the only rule is "this is where every card goes." Yeah, time to squeeze that brain muscle!

I don't want to retype everything directly from Mnemonica, but let's just say I did in fact sing (and record) a song to help remember every card and it's position in the deck. And I may have customized a full deck of cards while listening to it play back.

Okay, so full disclosure, I haven't gotten through the entire Mnemonica stack yet. The whole "sit down for an hour and sing to yourself" thing just doesn't fly when you're a hobbyist magician with a full-time job and kids. An hour of free time, lol. And you're supposed to do this multiple times (I think it's what, 4 hours in total?). lol.

That said, I've still read through the practice ritual and it makes sense. You're getting the order "stuck in your head" like a song that plays on the radio all summer - even if it's a bad song, you still sing along to the chorus. And while you're torturing your ears, you're drawing all over individual cards to help associate it's position with the card face itself. And then the handy dandy flash cards come to play! Always busting out the flash cards.

Through my interpretation, Mnemonica takes a direct approach to associating a card with it's position (and vice versa). Other stack guides like the Aronson stack system take a more abstract approach. In A Stack to Remember, Aronson describes his basic system that he uses in memorizing a deck of cards:

Wow. That's uhm. Hey I mean if it works, it works right? I've actually seen more guides on memorizing a deck recommend this approach than any other, regardless of the stack, so maybe it works. Even Tamariz says if there are a few cards that you just can't remember using his method, associate them with an image too! For one or two cards, I can get on board with this. For the whole deck, though, this doesn't mesh with the way I work.

Do you know what they all have in common? All of the methods of memorizing a deck of cards, that is? Repetition. Consistent repetition that associates a card with it's numeric position in the deck, the card after it, and the card before it.

Some methods will definitely take longer than others, but it also depends on you and your own style of study. If you haven't been able to tell yet, I'm a flash cards kind of guy. Write a number on one side and the card on the other and let's go to town! I actually appreciate Tamariz's approach too and am all in with it. Rather than a flash card, I'm using the actual cards themselves - just write the number of the back of the card and bam, flash card!

Tools

Flash cards!

Kidding, of course. By "Tools" here, I actually mean digital tools. We live in a modern age where we have our phones in our pockets (or hands) more and more. If you're like me, you're sitting at a computer for most of the day (or standing, if you're fancy not lazy).

There are a few sites online that offer utilities to help memorize a stack, and a few mobile apps too:

• Web
  • Memorized Stack Trainer
  • Deck Fiddler
• Mobile
  • Stack Guru (iOS)
  • The Ultimate Stack Trainer (iOS)
  • Stack Trainer (Android)
  • Mnemonicosis (Mnemonica Study) (Android)
  • MPC - Memorize Playing Cards (Android)

Will I forget the stack?

I can easily see this as a big fear of anyone trying to do memdeck work. I know I'd be scared of it too - even for something like Si Stebbins since I haven't used it much. Over time, I'm sure it gets easier but as a beginner, yikes!

Simon Aronson in A Stack to Remember says it upfront - if you don't use it for a while, you're going to get rusty. Juan Tamariz in Mnemonica says with his method of memorizing the stack, you'll never forget it. Shots fired!

Given that I mumble lower than the volume of the radio for songs I "remember" but haven't heard in a long time, I'm pretty sure I'd get rusty with Tamariz's stack too. But with enough practice, the associations are there - you just need to refresh them from time to time.

It's worth re-mentioning that memorizing a stack is just like any other sleight you know. If you don't practice your double lift, are you going to randomly demonstrate a routine that relies on it while surrounded by 20 spectators burning your hands? Let's face it, you practice your double lift. You practice your classic pass. You practice flourishes and patter and everything else that you want to perform with. Practicing a memdeck stack after you've learned it should be even easier - you just have to recite the pattern in your head! If you forget a card, well, fall back to the learning tools you used initially (or check out the tools up above).

Pick a stack, any stack. Come on, you have so many choices - just take one though, memorizing multiple is just crazy!

lol that's not true at all. You can memorize multiple. Some stacks are actually made so that you don't need to memorize all of the cards in their positions - you just need to know the "algorithm" to create the stack. Others are only partial stacks (where only part of the deck is memorized). And then, you have full deck memorization! Okay, okay - so, maybe we should put a little thought into which one we tackle then aye?

Types of Stacks

Rosary Stacks

A rosary stack is one where the deck of cards is in a sequential order. If you know the pattern of the sequence, you'll be able to determine what the next (or previous) card is at any time. These are also referred to as "Circular Stacks" or "Sequential Stacks," which now that I'm writing it out, sequential sounds more appropriate than rosary... 

But yeah, a great feature about rosary stacks is that they're circular, meaning that the first card in the deck (i.e. the one on top) is the card that comes after the last card in the deck (i.e. the one on the bottom). So you can perform as many complete cuts as you want without ruining the sequence!

Here are a couple of the rosary stacks that I've come across so far:

• Si Stebbins
• Eight Kings
• QuickStack by Doug Dyment
  • There is an updated version of this memdeck stack named QuickerStack which switches things up quite a bit. At the time of this writing, I haven't had a chance to look into it more though - but from what I can tell, it's superb. I... don't know if QuickerStack is a rosary stack or not though but I wanted to mention it regardless.

I'm sure I've come across others, but these are the ones that have stuck with me during my journey so far. Though, to be fair, while I've noted Eight Kings above I honestly consider that specific one to be more of a category of related stacks -- yes, it's a stack on it's own, but let's be fair, it's just a mnemonic.

Memorized Decks

Exactly as the name suggests, a memorized deck is one in which you memorize the position and name of every card in the deck. Whoah.

While the concept is pretty straightforward - you take a deck of cards and memorize the order - it does take effort to memorize the entire deck. Unlike Rosary Stacks which have more or less an algorithm to construct them, with memorized decks you're literally memorizing the deck.

Jumping down the rabbit hole, there are a few memdeck stacks that I want to recommend:

• Mnemonica
• Aronson Stack
• Nikola Card System

I do want to note that while I've been researching this topic, I've come across over a dozen names of stacks that appear in multiple sources. As I haven't read into them, their history, tried to learn them, or weigh their pros & cons, I don't feel comfortable including them here. I'm getting more invested into this topic so I'll definitely be updating in the future!

Partial Stacks

A partial stack is a memorized stack too, but only for a subset of the deck. Maybe it's the first 13 cards. Maybe half of the deck. I don't think I've come across a partial stack that was more than half of the deck, but honestly as long as it's not "all of the cards", it's partial.

I'm staring at my copy of Mnemonica on the shelf, partially remembering that it described a partial stack but I'm too lazy to get up. If I, personally, were to go through the process of memorizing a stack I'd go with the whole deck and if needed, only allow part of it to be shuffled (i.e. the bottom half, for example) which would make the top-half a partial stack, still fully memorized.

There are plenty of partial stacks that exist out there for single routines - but they're routine setup stacks that more often than not don't require you to memorize them for any purpose other than setting up the routine. If you find a good one though, as in, one that can be used for multiple routines then that's a keeper!

Algorithm Stacks

While diving through stacks of stacks, every once in a while I come across one that's almost a rosary stack, but not quite. It has an "algorithm" to make it, but it's not really sequential or circular. Because it has an algorithm though, you also don't need to memorize the whole thing!

The system that I see come up most frequently that fits this is Stay-Stack. It's discussed in Mnemonica and Tamariz shows a routine or two with it which is pretty nice. It's pair-based where the top card's pair is the bottom card, the 2nd card's pair is the 2nd from last card, and so on. As long as the deck stays in that order, the stack survives and some neat routines can be had.

I'm certain there are others that fit this category but this is the only one that's stuck with me so far.

Which Stack to Pick?

Ah, back to the main question! You'll notice above that, I only have a few stacks listed in each category: Rosary, Memorized, Partial, Algorithm. That's because I've only come across a few (okay, so I've come across way more -- but these are the ones I've dove in to).

Si Stebbins, Mnemonica, the Aronson Stack, and Stay Stack are stacks I've seen in a decent number of books and videos so these are the ones that I, personally, have put my time into so far. Why multiple? Because they each have different strengths for different situations.

If you're not read to memorize a full deck yet, pick up Si Stebbins or Stay Stack. These will let you get a taste of the effects that a memdeck routine can really deliver and if it's your cup of tea, shave 5 minutes from practicing the classic pass and try to remember a card or two!

Memorizing a Stack

Now that we have our stack picked out, it's time to memorize it.

Hmm... if only there were songs about stacks to help us remember!

Memorized decks, what a novel concept! I swear, if I didn't read a book on the topic I would probably think that it would be crazy to try to memorize a full deck of cards and then try to get a trick to work with it. I mean, it's 52 whole cards! In order!

I'm only partially joking, of course. I did used to think that memdeck work wasn't really anything special. You have to spend a lot of time memorizing the deck -- and if you want to be really good at it, you'll also be able to know what position a card was at even after the deck was cut. But then, the tricks weren't really that spectacular. A Card At Any Number (ACAAN) with memdeck? You still have to force something, or you have to cut or pass a number of cards. Sure, it could make it easier, but meh.

And then I read the chapter General Observations on the Memorized Deck in The Card Ideas of Simon Aronson. It's funny how simple things that you already know make a ton more sense once you hear it from someone else:

He goes on to talk about reciting his stack while brushing his teeth and whatnot, which is probably better than the muscular posing I typically do during the same activity. Then again, no reason I couldn't do all three!

I practice daily, throughout the day. Not memorizing a stack, but sleights and routines. If I'm learning a new routine, that's my primary focus. Sprinkled in between, miscellaneous sleights. But, I haven't added "memorizing a stack" into this daily conditioning and I have really been thinking about it lately.

The Stack, an Index

Don't get me wrong - I'm not writing a "pro's and con's" list here. After a lot of thought and a little research into the topic, I've come to realize that advancing this skill is a beneficial tool to have in my (or your) repertoire even if you only use it for one or two routines.

Ah, but that's just it. Unlike a double lift where it's over-use can lead to it being spotted, a stack is a different creature altogether in that you can do a number of routines back-to-back using the stack and the "sleight" here is purely in your head. Why? Because a stack is an index. By knowing the order of the cards, you know the position of cards.

Flipping my statement above on it's head, you don't need to force a card. You don't even need to have the spectator pick a card - you can have them "think of a card". Pure free will, and yet you have full control over where the card is because you know where the card is. Without ever looking at their faces!

So after you have them think of a card and you make it appear in some fantastic way you can go right into a gambling demonstration and deal the spectator a nice four of a kind while you get a royal flush. And the list goes on! Though, let's be honest, you probably don't want to do too many memdeck tricks back-to-back. Two's probably a good number, but hey, who am I to judge.

Shuffling a Stacked Deck

Oh no, the arch enemy of a stacked deck - the shuffle!

As a magician, you have a decent number of options here. The first is simple... just, don't shuffle the deck. The only reason we shuffle is to give the illusion of having a mixed deck anyways - just, don't shuffle. Will the spectator notice for a single routine that you didn't shuffle? Probably not.

Now, for a real suggestion (since we all know that shuffling is pretty much our default "convincer" move): false shuffles! If you're at a table, you have so many false shuffle options. Zarrow, push-through, pull-through, etc., etc. You can do false cuts and even null-cutting flourishes like Sybil. Do a false shuffle and your stack remains, well, stacked. Most stacks can also survive one or more cuts too (you just may need to do some math to recalculate positions). If you're standing, oh wait yeah, all the same things apply - you still have false shuffles (like a good false riffle) and flourishy cuts.

Faro shuffles are also a possibility - after seven, the deck's back in the original order. Now, you'll have to be able to do a perfect faro of course but this is a way to get the deck into a non-stacked order for a trick or two and then back into your favorite order to knock the spectator out of this world! The only caution I have for this one is having the deck cut while out-of-order would kill the stack.

Another alternative which allows for shuffling is to only have a partial stack. In Mnemonica, partial stacks are discussed and are just as effective as a full-deck stack - they're just limited to a specific portion of the deck. If say, the top 13 cards are in a special order you can just carry that (large) slug through shuffles. Even if the top (or bottom) half of the deck's stacked, you're still able to perform a convincing shuffle of the other half while maintaining order.

So, what happens if you do shuffle the deck? Or, the spectator shuffles it? Easy - something else! If you're like me and are just now learning memdeck stuff and stacks then you already have a decent number of routines built around a shuffled deck. I've always been a follower of the "shuffled deck in use" and impromptu style tricks so if the stack gets destroyed, I can just do something else instead.

Though, I guess it might be worthwhile to mention cold decking too...

What Stack to Use?

Oh boy, now that's a question! What stack indeed...

There are several stacks available, some great and some not. So pick a stack, any stack!

I've always loved table work, though it's a little ironic that almost everything I perform is standing up. In fact, the irony grows more when you hear that I actually practice most of my standing routines while sitting. Yeah, I'm messed up.

But for real though, table work has always been a passion of mine and when I think of the type of card magic I really love and work on the most - that's where it's at.

So, what exactly is "table work"? In my opinion, it's any routine that takes place while seated at, well, a table. For me, that typically involves a close-up pad and a deck of cards. Yeah, I know that you don't need a close-up pad, but hey, I'm not a pro so I take advantage of the little luxuries in life :P. When I talk to folks about it though, the conversation normally turns to gambling routines. While these are great, I think that they're just a small part of card work at the table.

I'm going to write plenty on table work in time; I've dreamt up larger field-covering articles down to smaller, single variant handlings of specific moves, all the way to theory of performance. But for what you're reading now, this is my current hit-list of how I practice and where I get my material from. I hope that it can help lead you down some fun roads too.

How I Practice

To practice table work, once you have a list of things that you want to focus on, my go-to method is to first break down the "things" into categories.

These categories are:

• Shuffles
• Cuts
• Dealing
• Shifts (or "Passes")
• Palms
• Changes
• Tricks / Routines

Why would I create categories like "Dealing" and "Shifts", or even "Changes" when talking about table work? Because, more of then than not these things are handled different when seated versus standing. When everyone's seated at a table at about the same level and all eyes are on the deck, the Classic Pass probably isn't going to cut it. Also, at the time of this writing, I'm still diving into the world of table work so for me, these are the categories I bucket everything into to help my focus and practice.

There are undoubtedly more ways to break things down and probably twice as many categories than I have above - but as a beginner myself, I'd say these are good to start with.

But yeah - categories. I will pick one "thing" from each category and practice it each day. So, perhaps today I'll spend 5 minutes practicing my Zarrow Shuffle with Up the River cuts. Then I'll do Push Off Seconds and every 5th card I'll do a Diagonal Palm Shift. Once I've dealt half the deck, I'll re-shuffle and do it another 5 times. Then I'll work on Lateral Palm Changing the top card while cutting the deck. Repeatedly, at least 20 times. And then afterwards I'll take a routine such as cutting the deck into four piles - the top of each having an Ace, the bottom of each having a King - and I'll repeat it 5 times. And there's about an hour of table work practice for the day (honestly, probably more like a half hour but to be fair, I'd be doing this throughout the day … most likely during work).

References

Holy moly, there are honestly countless numbers of books, videos, and other resources that could be included here I don't want to enumerate everything ever, but I do want to call out some of my favorites. Please note that the lists below are in no particular order other than what's come to mind first.

Books

• Gambling Sleight of Hand - Vol. 1
• Card College - Vol. 1
• Card College - Vol. 2
• Card College - Vol. 3
• Stars of Magic
• Expert at the Card Table
• The Annotated Erdnase

Unfortunately, I can only recommend books that I know of - more so ones that I've read. I'm sure there are more out there - probably even better ones too. As I come across them, I'll update my list(s) to reflect. If the lists update too frequently, I'll make a dedicated resource for them too.

Truth be told, Expert at the Card Table is only really included here because of it's classic nature. It's full of information, but it's not an easy read. Not because the content is super difficult but because of how it's written and formatted. If anything, I'd actually recommend The Annotated Erdnase over it since it has extra notes and would you believe it - a table of contents! The Card College series is amazing across the board and while it does cover a lot of non-table work, the table work included is great.

At the time of writing, I haven't finished GSOH yet but it's already at the top of my list. If you can afford a copy, I don't know why you wouldn't already own it!

I also have Cardshark and GSOH 2 on my shelf and I'm excited to dive into both. I'm expecting them to be table work books too, but we'll see.

Videos

• Classic Green Collection
• A Study on Lennart Green
• Darwin Ortiz Collection
• Confident Deceptions
• EATCT2 - Jeremy Griffith
• Troy Hooser Table Passes
• Alex Elmsley - The Tahoe Sessions
• Bill Malone - Here I Go Again
• Malone Meets Marlo

These videos contain so much info that even choosing to dedicate a year to just one of them would set you up for life. I've watched each a few times (though, some that have multiple discs I've focused more on specific discs) and jeez - I've still forgotten more than remembered.

I would love to say that I'm getting to the point where I could just pick a single video or a single book and focus on the work contained in it until I've mastered it - but I don't know if I'll ever get there. For now, I'm loving the over-exposure and learning everything possible!