Nielsen cards are only $5 a deck currently on his site. This is new not powdered deck. The faces are really bright white and large pips compared to ordinary cards.

I believe the main reason for using the special cards are you can produce more without have to obtain more cards more often. Remember, you do not want to throw off so few cards that you tell your audience that something is not right.

If you can only back palm 7 cards I think you need to work on your skill more at this point. You should be able to back palm three quarter of a deck if not a whole deck. Then using the special cards makes it easier, unless you then prefer the ordinary cards.

Are you breaking in the cards as described in Ganson's book? Do you use the Card clamp? Are you practicing every day?

Bill

The only time I have had real success with manipulation cards was with split fans. I could be confident with single productions. Although you can use more cards when using manipulation cards, I prefer to use standard Bee brand cards. Also, they are cheaper so I don't mind losing some on stage.

You can get great deals on cards and other things at the 99 cent stores

Cheap cards often don't fan well, as they are not finished the same way as Bicycle brand decks are (air cushioned).

Yes, cheap cards are just that.. cheap for a reason. They also do not fan well at all and would have to be treated with fanning powder to even get them to fan better.

They also tend to break down faster and not live up to the bending and abuse we often put the cards through. The best advice is to try them out and see what works for you.

Kyle

I have a hard time getting my brain around the idea of backpalming an entire deck of bikes!!! Is this really possible.. I"m not a BAD back palmer.. but WOW!

Backpalming an entire regulation deck is not only nearly impossible but entirely unecessary. The production of what appears to be an endless source of cards is achieved in many ways. Steals and re-loading any hand is an ongoing facet of card manipulation.

Randy is right. There is no need to even try to attempt to backpalm an entire deck or even half of one.

If you work your routine effectively, you should be able to make steals as well as work off the pack to achieve the look of endless productions.

Kyle

In one of Jeff McBride's videos, he recommends to just use "modified" bee's. They're pretty much just regular brand new bee's that have been manually made flimsy. The way to do it is: Using the edge of a ruler, strip away the coating of the cards one by one. This is done numerous time to both sides of the cards in different orientations. This will definitely make the cards flimsier, but it will also make the deck thick as stacked. So, after howmuchever cards are done, fanning powder is applied and the cards are pressed with 'cardpresser' or something heavy for a while. After that the cards are ready to use.
I hope this will help. I've never actually done it myself.

Funny thing about cards... many years ago, when I did a split fans routine in gloves (sorta kinda along the general lines of Ganson), I tried dozens of different cards, both poker and bridge size. In the end, I settled on poker Bikes, even though my hands are about medium-size. I used three packs of about 25 cards each, and found my fans were far larger than with bridge, and that I had no trouble back-palming them.

I've heard a similar method using a wooden pencil (the kind with flats). Rolling the card around the pencil gives it tiny creases spaced one pencil side apart. You only do this on the length of the card, not across the short side. These tiny creases allow the cards to curl quite nicely for gripping between your fingers without losing any stiffness otherwise. I don't know where I heard (or read) this, but it works.