dananddave.com is about advancing the art of magic, and more specifically, close-up magic
Welcome. Our names are Dan and Dave Buck and this is our website. At its core, dananddave.com is about advancing the art of magic, and more specifically, close-up magic. Our forte is card magic and flourishes, in which you'll discover most of the products in our store and discussions in our community relate too. However, we love all types of magic, which is why dananddave.com is a great place to explore, learn, discuss, and share in all the fields of magic.
Through this site, we offer our own unique thinking on card magic and aim to promote the most creative magicians of our time, as well as present an invaluable catalog of books and DVDs for your own convenience of growing your magical knowledge and repertoire.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN MAGIC?
Long story... When I left school I had to do whatever I could to make money because of my home life situation and the only jobs I could get were paying less than I needed so I got into gambling but instead of making money I ended up in serious debt. I started to learn every cheating technique I could to help me make back the money I'd lost. I became very successful with the techniques I'd learnt and made more money than I ever needed but unfortunately I got greedy, I was young and naive and made a stupid mistake that got me banned from casinos…
DID YOU GET ARRESTED?
No, fortunately the techniques I'd learnt were memory based card-counting techniques so the method only existed in my mind, therefore there was no evidence, only suspicion, and for casinos that's enough...
HOW DID YOU GET CAUGHT?
I got cocky with my skills, and lazy too, I can't really tell you too much about what happened. Lets just say I was asked politely to leave... My feet didn't touch the floor until I was out in the rain. Anyway. After that I tried a few other casinos to realize that the ban was nationwide.
Soon after I developed a love for poker and wanted to make a living at it, I heard of a poker circuit in Leeds and got involved, after learning the basics of poker and standard moves with the deck; shuffling, dealing etc, I began to learn sleight of hand so that I could continue cheating within the gambling community, but it was like history repeating itself, I got good, I made money and I got cocky and lazy and got caught and had to deal with different consequences than those dealt by the casino.
IS THAT SOMETHING YOU CAN ELABORATE ON?
I'll tell you what I can... There was a standard technique I'd use once in a while at new tables; I'd ask to check the deck... As a new player the others were always okay with this; I explained that I'd been conned before and didn't want to take any risks, whilst checking the deck I'd pull wanted cards behind the spread cards - a technique known as Culling in the magic industry - once the cards were behind, or now on top of the deck, I’d palm them off with my right hand as the deck went back to the table with the left... the right hand would then reach the edge of the table and the cards would be dropped to my lap - a technique known as lapping in both professions. I'd then be able to switch any amount of these cards in with dealt cards whilst in play later and get rid of any excess cards by palming them to the bottom of the deck on my deal.
So, I was in a pub Kitchen in Barnsley and there were 4 of us in play at a small table, the stakes were low and all of the players were new to me, as was the location. It was about 20 minutes in and at the point of lapping that I messed up. A vital part of lapping more than one card is to add a curve to the cards by slightly bending them so that they fall as one... something I failed to do, and so the cards fell individually. They all landed on my lap, but the player to my right spotted one of the cards land. He grabbed my arm and pushed me back into my chair, he then grabbed the cards. There are very few excuses for having four Kings on your lap amid play, so the only thought I had was RUN; which in hindsight probably made the situation worse. I don't remember anything after that, only the fear.
WHAT HAPPEND TO YOU?
I had a lot of broken bones, have a lot of scars, I had surgery on my left knee and collarbone, I was out cold for 2-weeks and in a wheelchair for 6-months, which would have been a lot less if I had stayed in hospital but when I got my memory back I became so scared and paranoid that they were coming back to finish me off that I self-discharged and made my way home in the early hours of the morning in a wheelchair that i stole from the patient in the next room. I stayed locked in my bedroom most of the time, just me, a TV and a deck of cards, and that's where the magic began. I learnt a lot of lessons and when you come so close to losing your life your outlook on everything changes. I wanted to be fair, and take care of my life but I knew I'd never put the cards down... Magic seemed to be the most obvious answer.
Ellusionist is committed to producing original content designed to get the best audience reactions
Our People
Ellusionist was founded by Brad Christian, a professional magician with over 25 years of experience. Brad has assembled a team of like-minded, experienced professional magicians to make his dream of teaching magic a reality. Ellusionist will not repackage stale, old magic tricks. The Ellusionist team is committed to producing original content designed to get the best audience reactions, and will do anything necessary to continue to deliver exciting new magic to the world.
Our Magic
There are many places to purchase magic videos and magic tricks. Ellusionist is different – each of our training videos has been expertly produced by the Ellusionist staff of professional magicians. Every second of the training has been filmed and edited with the single goal of putting great magic in your hands. Simply put, if the training video cannot effectively teach you to perform the trick and get great audience reactions, Ellusionist will not release it.
Our Community
With over 70,000 members in our forum, the Ellusionist magic community is the largest of its kind on the internet. No other magic training website provides this level of ongoing support to its members. Our members are helping each other learn the magic that is available from Ellusionist, and are driving all of us to continuous improvement of the performance of magic. Our community knows that magic is an art and a discipline, and requires the best training and highest quality original equipment that is only available from Ellusionist.
Our Pledge
For almost a decade, Ellusionist has brought the magic community some of the most mind-ripping and exciting online magic tricks in the industry and always will. Look around! From magic tricks, to card tricks, to levitation, you are now seeing the best magic has to offer.
Pioneered by some of the most respected, ground-breaking creators in the magic industry, theory11 is your source for the latest and greatest magic tricks, instructional magic DVD's, & playing cards. You won't find these products anywhere else.
You won't find our level of customer support anywhere else. But don't take our word for it. Jump in. Explore.
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what does theory11 mean?
theory11 is a group of 11 individuals united in a strategic alliance under one goal, one mission, and one objective: to advance the art of magic.
Every product you see on theory11 is produced in house by our elite team of industry-leading performers, creators, editors, and producers.
Guided by some of the best creators in the magic industry, this site is your key to the epicenter of online magic training & card flourishing.
We are a magic store by magicians for magicians. we offer a wide variety of magic effects with strong audience impact. our offerings range across all magic areas, from street magic over mentalism to stage illusions and include items from well known magicians like derren brown, jay sankey, david blaine, criss angel, david copperfield and many not quite so famous but equally intriguing performers. most of our products have a low to medium difficulty level, but some require more practice. each product listing includes a detailed effect description and many have video clips illustrating the effect.
every magic trick you buy from us comes with detailed instructions, quality equipment and many include dvds illustrating the handling. we carry already carry over 10000 products and continuously grow our product catalog. if you are looking for a special item we don't have yet, contact us and we will do our best to find it for you. we only sell brand new, factory sealed, original items. should you have any questions, please contact us at support@wizardhq.com or at (800) 540-0238
we set ourselves apart through our dedicated customer service. we want your shopping experience with us to be a good one and offer a 30 day money back guarantee on most of our magic products; this is unique for magic stores; should you ever receive a defect product we even pay for return shipping.
we also pride ourselves for our fast and efficient operations. we ship all orders within 1 business day, offer free ground shipping and low expedited and international shipping rates. ultimately you decide how much you pay for shipping by selecting a shipping speed based on your preferences. we keep you informed about your order each step of the way. we send you email to let you know when your order will ship, once it has shipped with a confirmation number and provide your secure online access to your invoices.
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