riffle shuffling

[teawoman]

Great thread, Nisaba. The link 'how to riffle' is wonderful. He shows slowly and step-by-step, It's a modified riffle, corners only, no arching thing afterwards. For a deck that's thin, flexible, and not thickly coated this might be non-damaging. Anyway, it was fun to watch!

My one riffle experience was at a tarot workshop with two famous presenters. One of them began the segment by realizing that he/she had forgotten to bring up his/her own cards and asked to borrow a deck from a participant in the front row. The presenter then proceeded to energetically riffle those borrowed cards! I was flabbergasted.

 

[Farzon]

I riffle sometimes but veeeery carefully. Means, I just lifting the two packs up and let the cards glide or of my hands. No bending.

Usually I start with a stack shuffle, dealing the cards in packs of two or three at a time to five or seven or six stacks (whatever feels right). I rearrange them and then pull cards from the pile and lay them up on top, then a few on the bottom etc. You can also do an overhand shuffle that way, I think it's called wave shuffling.

 

[Sirena84]

I am a riffler too ..
I riffle a couple of times, then I do overhead shuffling until I am done connecting to the energy of the situation and people involved and have some visualisation.. I don't cut for selecting the cards.. I fan them out in a semi circle big enough so I can sit in the semi circle, keep visualising, hover my hands over them and use my intuition to pick the cards.. This method has rarely failed me so far...

 

[Amanda]

Which is my lover hand ? I need to know this

I wondered about the lover hand too..

 

[Bookwight]

Wow, nisaba, a client who actually asked if you minded. She’s a treasure!

I wondered about the lover hand too..

The lover hand, ah. You will be let into the secret when you’re ready.

As for my shuffling… For a while, I used to wash (swirl them all around on the table). But I discovered that this quickly damages the cards: makes the edges chip and/or go fluffy, makes the corners fold, makes lamination peel. So I stopped doing that. (Besides, you end up with reversals, which I no longer use.)

I also used to riffle, albeit very gently — and NEVER bridging them, even though I love bridging normal playing cards (love that zzzip!). I just stopped riffling tarot cards last year because I noticed some of my newer decks developing a warp to them pretty damn fast. Their card stock seems to be much thinner than my old favourites.

So now I just lace overhand, and deal into random piles. Always very gently. I want my decks to last.

 

[gregory]

I have no idea what this lacing and so on mean. I went to wiki - don't get that lot either but I do know that the way overhand is being described I have never seen anyone do it. So either I am very thick, or it isn't done as described - even as described by nissy here. Makes no SENSE

 

[Bookwight]

I may have been using the wrong term by saying "lacing"? Maybe I should've just said overhand. Goes to show, I never know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it's demonstrated in this video (only 2 and a half minutes, and pretty clear):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5tLNHuvf6s

 

[gregory]

Thanks. That doesn't look at all the way it sounds in words. Also - riffle shuffling I do on a TABLE, not like he does...

 

[nisaba]

Which is my lover hand ? I need to know this

<clears throat>

It was an interesting typo. given that they are nowhere near each other on the keyboard. But still a typo.

There must be fifty ways to leave your lower, as Paul Simon says.

 

[Laura Borealis]

I don't think I've ever seen someone overhand shuffle in person. Only in videos. I tried to learn, once, but it felt awkward and I didn't enjoy it.

I riffle but not the same way I've seen in any video, either. I have my hands basically covering the backs of my two stacks, and I only shuffle the corners together. It doesn't damage the edges at all - I've never seen edge damage. It may bow them over time, but I've had decks bow that I've barely used - I think bowing has more to do with humidity and card stock.