This is from “Riffle Shuffle Systems”. I found it easier to do by swapping the right hand and left hand actions, so this is that description. This method sets up the deck so that in a five-handed poker game, the first player receives all three Kings and the dealer receives all three Aces. The instructions below have been rewritten to reverse the left and right hand actions from the original text.
Continue reading “Marlo’s Stacking Two Sets of Three”Marlo’s Two-and-Two Combination riffle stack
Ed Marlo was a prolific and brilliant creator, but his writing style was dense, technical, and often difficult to follow. He wrote for experienced magicians, using highly specific terminology and offering exhaustive variations without always clarifying the core method. As a result, powerful ideas—like his two-and-two combination riffle stack—can be buried beneath layers of complexity.
What follows is a clearer, more accessible explanation of Marlo’s two-and-two combination stack. I’ve aimed to preserve the mechanics and intent while making the method easier to understand and apply.
Continue reading “Marlo’s Two-and-Two Combination riffle stack”5 HANDS – ONE RIFFLE SHUFFLE
This is from Marlo’s Magazine Volume Number 6. As he states, this requires a great deal of practice to accomplish. But I find it fun to play with. Read through Marlo’s instructions and then below that I have some of my own notes.
Continue reading “5 HANDS – ONE RIFFLE SHUFFLE”Another Bottom Riffle Runup
Still playing with the bottom riffle concept. I was looking for a single shuffle stack using the bottom run up, but without the need to have a crimped card. This is where I am at this moment. It is a work in progress.
Continue reading “Another Bottom Riffle Runup”Bottom Run Up – Riffle Stack
I am still exploring the topic of riffle stacks. I came across this one in Ed Marlo’s “The Cardist,” Vol. 4. It builds the stack at the bottom of the deck during the shuffles as opposed to building the stack at the top of the deck. The problem with many of the riffle stack techniques that build at the top is that unless you are super-humanly good you will end up slowing down the shuffle as you near the top of the riffle so you can insure that you have the correct number of cards controlled by your thumbs. This change of speed occurs at the point in the shuffle where other players attention is the sharpest.
Not to mention how difficult it is to accomplish. As Marlo says:
Continue reading “Bottom Run Up – Riffle Stack”JEAN HUGARD in one of his card books has described run-ups
The Cardist, Vol 4
from the top of the deck, in which it is necessary to hold
back a certain number of cards with each thumb in making the
riffle shuffle, at the finish of the riffle…I found this
very difficult of accomplishment at that time with any speed
or regularity in the riffle…FRANKLY, I STILL DO years later,
Just Lucky Riffle Stack
I stumbled upon this stack when reading a trick in James Swain’s book 21st Century Card Magic. The trick was “Just Lucky Eight Card Stack.” Swain mentioned the stack came from Alex Elmsley. Elmsley decsribes the stack in the book Collected Works of Alex Elmsley, Vol 1, in a trick titled “Just Lucky.”
Continue reading “Just Lucky Riffle Stack”An even easier Riffle ‘n’ Roll
Check out the other version at https://robertjwallace.com/riffle-and-roll/.
The setup in the version is very simple. Have the spectator shuffle the deck. Take the deck back and spread the cards face up, removing the aces as you find them, dropping them to the table.
Continue reading “An even easier Riffle ‘n’ Roll”Riffle and Roll
This is my version of Jack Carpenter’s “Riffle ‘n’ Roll” from his book “The Expert’s Portfolio No. 1”. I am a fan of Carpenter’s work and recommend any of his books.
The main reason I came up with this version is that I found his method to be a little cumbersome with holding multiple breaks. This version eliminates that, but with the expense of using a card with a breather crimp.
Quoting from “The Expert’s Portfolio No. 1”:
Continue reading “Riffle and Roll”Easy Riffle Stacking
In the normal method of riffle stacking you start with the four aces on top. When you do the shuffles you hold back cards with both the right and left hands, dropping the cards held by the left thumb under the cards held back by the right thumb. At each shuffle the number of cards held back by the left stays the same, but those held by the right decrease.
Continue reading “Easy Riffle Stacking”Riffle stack
This is something I am playing with.
Effect
The basic effect is that four aces are placed into the deck at random locations and then the deck is shuffled multiple times. Then five hands of poker are dealt out, with the dealer getting the four aces.