I work with cards a LOT (meaning that I mostly do cards) and I was considering a card guard. How effective are these? Are they worth it, or are they just "gimmicky" (in the non magician translation of that word).

They are amazing, get a couple.



That's all that needs to be said really, but in order to convince you here are some points:

-They keep decks straight even when in humid weather and in your pocket, which means the deck won't bow or have any "pop" in it, which makes every sleight possible... Some decks that have a "pop" it in you cant do certain things smoothly.

-They protect the box and the cards while in your pocket or in a case, lengthening the life of your box.

-They look cool!

-I see it as a sign of proffesionalism, a way of saying "these cards are serious buisness". I have never had a problem with anyone thinking they are gimicked in any way, but that is mostly how you present and handle things yourself. If you can pull a deck out and people are already thinking that you might be using gimicks, they are going to think that with a card guard....

-You can have a card engraved on one, for use in a magic effect.




They are really cool, I like the brushed ones better, as the polished ones ususally end up looking like the brushed after a week in your pocket


Get the porper if you can afford it, the rounded edges means placing the deck in the card guard won't rip up your box(especially packs with window's), and since the end is curved, its a little bit more adjustable to how the pressure is diverted along the pack.

If you tend to leave a couple cards in the deck, the regular silver looking ones tend to put a lot more pressure near the inside end of the deck, and not so much at the outside.

This really isn't a problem, as my cards are always straight, but something to think about.

After having had these chrome or brushed ones .... my vote is for the PORPER Clip. This one is pressing the cards flat, the formerly ones look nice, that IMHO all they do.

Hello CardMaker! Where can one purchase these?
Thanking you,
Gerard

Thank you MacGyvre for your opinion on the card guard. I have recently been debating whether or not to invest in one of these. I had a few concerns about them: 1. you already mentioned this, but the fact that some people might be thinking that it is a gimmick. I am not too concerned with that now, since you already answered this question. 2. I suppose for every deck you carry with you, you must have a case. Otherwise it would seem odd that you put the cards in the guard and then into your pocket, then pull them out later (deck switch) without the case. I'd appreciate some more input on whether or not you keep more than one card guard on you at a time.

Thanks in advance,
Jason Krueger

My problem is when I take the cards out of the box and put the empty box in my pocket. It would always sqash for some reason. Now I just throw it down somewhere. Will the cardgaurd keep an empty box from squishing, squashing, or crushing?

Also, how much do the porper gaurds cost?

I have several different feelings about the card guard. First of all, if you are going to buy one, the Porper card guard is really the way to go. It is specially machined to do the job, so it is unlikely to spring out of shape on you from use. It is not simply a piece of bent metal. Second, it is the original. The others are generally not really good copies of it. You can get it from just about any of Joe Porper's dealers. Hocus Pocus has them. They are actually called the "card clip." When you see them on the web site, several differences will become apparent to you, not the least being that they are much more expensive than the imitations -- about $30. The reason that the imitations exist in such quantity is that Joe quit making them for a long time.

Now, my thoughts about using them are these:
1) They will not protect the case unless the cards are inside the case. So you should not put the empty case in your pocket, unless your pocket is otherwise empty.
2) Although the card clip or card guard tells magicians that you are "serious" about what you are doing, I don't know if that is the message they send to the spectator. It smacks of the pool hustler who brings his cue to the pool hall in a handmade case, uncases it, screws it together, and proceeds to clear the table -- kind of a "watch out for this guy, he's going to take you for every dime you have in your pockets" kind of message. I don't want the layman to have that feeling when I approach them, so I have stayed away from them.
3) I don't have any problems keeping my cards in shape without one, so for me, they are solving a problem that doesn't exist.

The Porper Card Clip can be bought e.g. here: http://www.hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/ and costs about $30. So much????? Well, you always get what you pay for. And here you get a REAL helper to protect and flatten your cards w/o having to add the advertising cards of a new deck to achieve pressure to the cards.
It's black and looks good, too.

When performing, using multiple (gaffed) decks - how many decks do your spectators see actually during your act? 1? Yes, 1 ... not alwyas the same ... but only 1 deck in use; and THAT is protected. So where is the problem to pull out your (first) deck with a card clip. The card clip is put aside and all further deck switches can easily be made.

Hope I could help.

..."quick" Bill hit me

Interesting comments on here.....I use a Porper clip, but don't carry it whilst performing. I usually take at least two decks with me to a gig with one in the clip. That deck is the one I use in performance and another deck goes into the clip...and so on. On a similar point ..I always use a brand new deck for each gig (at the end of any signed card effect I give the card away, so the pack gets thinner). By the end of the night the pack is thrown away and a new one is used next time. D

A NEW DECK?? Wow. I don't use BRAND new ones because they're just a liiiittle bit too slippery and I don't want to worry about dropping cards. I like a deck that's had a good couple of days of breaking in. I'm going to try to find the porper clip

There's a great article in the latest issue (March?) of Genii magazine on Joe Porper. It reveals the orgins of the Porper original Card Clip, as well as other Porper inventions and innovations. When you look up the word "quality" in a magician's dictionary, you'll see a picture of Joe Porper!