shuffling

AmbitiousMind

I came from a closeup magic background as I discovered tarot. I preformed professionally for years after college and have a Magician's Membership at the world famous MAGIC CASTLE in Hollywood, CA.

There's tons of shuffles out there to learn if you want to!

The riffle you speak of is normally called (in magic circles) a TABLE SHUFFLE.

You can do a table shuffle many different ways. The most common is for laymen to split the deck and with their thumbs, riffle the ends together.

For gamblers, normally you split the deck and riffle just the corners keeping the bottom cards from 'flashing'. THis is how I normally shuffle the deck.

Lacing is called an OVER HAND SHUFFLE when dropping the cards into your hand or HINDU SHUFFLE when grabbing the cards into your hand.

Then there's faro shuffles, where you split the deck and intertwine the edges together in your hands each card alternating from one half into the other half. 8 perfect faro shuffles gets the deck back to the exact same order as it started. Great for stacking decks. You can do a table faro, two hand faro or even a one-handed faro.

The faro shuffle is my shuffle of choice when handling a regular deck.

My name AMBITIOUSMIND actually comes from a very popular closeup card trick called THE AMBITIOUS CARD TRICK...
 

FireRaven

All of the above!

Hmmm...I tend to be a riffler unless the cards are too big for my hands. Even then, I'll try to get the riffle going just at the corners before pushing them together. If the deck is just too big, I'll lace, but I don't really like that method, because I end up with chunks of unmixed cards. When I really need to loosen up, I mix all the cards face down on the table for several minutes, noting any that "turn up" before I intend them to.

In all cases, after I stack the deck up, I give it a good press with the palm of my left (non-dominant) hand while repeating my question one last time. I pick up the cards, and wherever the deck "breaks" is where I begin to lay my spread from.

-FireRaven
 

PlatinumDove

I dislike lacing for the reason that it doesn't seem to mix the cards up too well, and I end up with, as Fore Raven said, chunks of cards that are still together.
 

Alta

Yes, me too. Lacing just seems ineffective to me. If you must lace, I suggest fanning to select the cards rather than dealing.
 

Emeraldgirl

I'm a lacer/mixer. I do both. I can't riffle well and I am afraid to damage my cards. When I mix I am very gentle with them.
 

goddesscarlie

I'm a lacer, and I've had no troubles with unmixed cards. I like to just shuffle and shuffle when I'm doing something like reading or watching tv etc, so my cards are always well shuffled.
 

.::Cerridwen::.

goddesscarlie said:
I'm a lacer, and I've had no troubles with unmixed cards. I like to just shuffle and shuffle when I'm doing something like reading or watching tv etc, so my cards are always well shuffled.

That is how I do it, I will watch TV or talk to my husband and just shuffle away. I tend to drop the cards everywhere if I don't pay much attention though *LOL* I need more practice.
 

goddesscarlie

.::Cerridwen::. said:
That is how I do it, I will watch TV or talk to my husband and just shuffle away. I tend to drop the cards everywhere if I don't pay much attention though *LOL* I need more practice.

Depending on the deck, I can just do it for hours, with my eyes closed. Probably in my sleep!! :D
 

Crescent

I riffle and bridge the cards..... on both sides, to keep them from bending. I also do an over hand shuffle, you all call it Lacing.
I prefer doing a riffle, especially with new decks, it loosens them up some, especially those with shiny plastic cardstock.
 

greycats

Let me count the ways . . .

Since I have a number of decks that don't shuffle well no matter what method is used, I've begun to deal out stacks of cards as a method of mixing them up. With a deck that has an even number of cards, I deal out an odd number, usually seven, and continue dealing out seven at a time so that at the end I have seven stacks. I then pile the stacks together in no particular order.

If a deck can tolerate shuffling, I'll do some lacing before and after the dealing. The lacing insures that a sufficient degree of randomness is introduced and the dealing assures a thorough mixing.

I used to always riffle my decks, and I can confirm that riffling causes some wear. That said, I still have the first deck I ever bought for myself (RWS 1972) and it is still useable. I still riffle my sturdier decks occasionally, but riffling is no longer my primary method of mixing cards.

What I've discovered in my years of laying out cards is that while shuffling does wear cards, the surfaces that the cards touch wear them out as much or more. I try to be sure my hands are clean, or at least not greasy from cooking or hand lotion, and I make sure that I lay the cards out on a clean, smooth-textured cloth. A deck with oils on it will attract dirt like a magnet and even slightly rough surfaces will wear away at a flimsy plastic coating.

A person is ordinarily careful about cleanliness and surfaces when he or she reads with the cards, but it is even more important to take these precautions when you use the deck for study because you typically handle the cards more extensively. I put enough wear on my Wheel deck through studying it that I felt I had to buy another copy. ;)