Magic card tricks have been one of the most common of illusions that many magicians use to enthrall and captivate audiences. Many people seem to be quite fascinated on how magicians try to work up a deck of cards and use it for doing a variety pf tricks such as guessing a hidden card, getting a mentioned card at will or making one disappear into thin air. But whatever card tricks that performer uses, it usually starts with the deck itself.

Contrary to what the audiences may think, the deck of cards that a performer is using is in no way ordinary. They are usually a special set of cards that are specifically prepared in order to perform a variety of tricks. This can be done in many various ways. If a performer makes use of ordinary cards, there are some techniques used to make them especially useful for magicians for their tricks.

What most magicians usually do to make their deck of cards "special" is by using marked cards. Card marking is actually a process in which seemingly ordinary playing cards are altered in such a way that only the person marking the cards is aware of it. Card marking is also usually being used by card sharks in cheating and profiting from betting card games.

In magic, card marking is an especially effective method of altering cards for the purpose of performing astonishing magic tricks. Marked cards can allow magicians to identify certain cards for magical effect. The most common card marking method has been punching holes on certain cards that only the performer can effectively distinguish. But card marking has also become more sophisticated with the use of advances in technology.

Newer methods of card marking make use of what is now called as shade technology. An example would be luminous marked cards. These are cards that make use of luminosity of the cards when a device such as a special pair of sunglasses or contact lens is used on them. Without the device, the cards may look like ordinary cards to onlookers. But with the sunglasses on, the cards can be seen differently along with the marks made on them.

There are also cards that are marked by the way that a deck of cards are designed. Some special cards may contain visible but tiny marks that can only be read by trained magicians who can read the tiny marks that double as codes. Sometimes marked card readers use eyeglasses in order to better read the tiny but unnoticeable to the untrained eye type of marks on the cards. These types of cards are usually designed so that the marked cards can be read from even a distance while another person may be holding them.

Marked cards outside the magic arena are used by some as a means to cheat at casinos or when gambling. In order to prevent this from happening, there are also other ways in which people can detect whether marked cards are being used. One of the most common ways of detecting them is by riffling or shuffling them. This method is commonly called as a gambler's riffle test.

It is simply done by riffling the cards carefully. If a deck of cards is marked, the marks will usually be noticed as if dancing from the back of the cards just like a cartoon drawn on each card back. This can be effective in detecting marked cards with physical marks such as tiny holes or depressions on them.