{"id":8480,"date":"2026-10-29T00:03:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/?p=8480"},"modified":"2026-10-29T00:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:39:45","slug":"a-quick-overhand-shuffle-poker-stack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/a-quick-overhand-shuffle-poker-stack\/","title":{"rendered":"A Quick Overhand Shuffle Poker Stack"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a magician, I like tricks with gambling themes. I\u2019ve looked into a number of techniques for stacking a deck to deal a poker hand, so I was happy to stumble across Ian Baxter\u2019s \u201cPokerun-Up\u201d in Harry Lorayne\u2019s Best of Friends, Volume 3<\/em>, pages 65\u201367<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effect is straightforward. Four aces are on the table. Someone chooses how many poker hands to deal. After a few short overhand shuffles, I deal the hands and get the four aces myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baxter devised the routine, and Lorayne\u2019s published explanation includes an alternative to using a crimp. I use that approach with a small change that removes one of the preparation steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Getting ready<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the aces face up on the table, I ask how many hands to deal: three, four, five, or six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say the answer is five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I glimpse and remember the fifth card from the bottom<\/strong> of the remaining deck. In Baxter\u2019s original procedure, four cards are moved from the top to the bottom, beneath a crimped card. By spotting the fifth card from the bottom, I already have four cards below my key. There\u2019s no need for that opening transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a different number of hands, I spot the card that many positions from the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loading the cards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I get a little-finger break beneath the top four cards, then place the four aces face up on the deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a Braue Secret Add-On<\/strong>, I display the aces while secretly loading the four indifferent cards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Lift the eight cards above the break as a packet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Peel the first ace onto the deck with the left thumb and turn it face down.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Repeat with the second and third aces.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Drop the remaining five-card packet onto the deck, then turn its face-up ace face down.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The aces have apparently just been displayed and turned face down. The preparation is finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Three short shuffles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For five hands, the counts are six, six, four<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First, I run six cards singly in an overhand shuffle and throw the rest of the deck on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I repeat that: run six, then throw the rest on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For the last shuffle, I take the top and bottom cards together on the count of \u201cone,\u201d then run three more cards singly. I throw the remaining deck on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That last shuffle has four counted actions, with two cards taken together on the first action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finding the key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Now I need to bring my glimpsed card to the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Following Lorayne\u2019s approach, I cut to bring the key near the top. As I talk about the aces being lost, I spread small groups into my right hand and casually turn that hand to show their faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When I see my key, I replace the cards and retain a break beneath it. A cut brings it to the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then I deal five poker hands, giving myself the last hand. The four aces arrive together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other numbers of hands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The same procedure works for three through six hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hands<\/th>Key spotted from bottom<\/th>Break beneath top<\/th>First run<\/th>Second run<\/th>Final count<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    3<\/td>3rd card<\/td>2 cards<\/td>4<\/td>4<\/td>2<\/td><\/tr>
    4<\/td>4th card<\/td>3 cards<\/td>5<\/td>5<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr>
    5<\/td>5th card<\/td>4 cards<\/td>6<\/td>6<\/td>4<\/td><\/tr>
    6<\/td>6th card<\/td>5 cards<\/td>7<\/td>7<\/td>5<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The final count always begins by taking the top and bottom cards together. The remaining cards are run singly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How I introduce the aces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I always use aces for this. I\u2019ll often begin with my two-step cull to bring them to the top of the deck. Then I deal them face up onto the table while talking about card cheats looking for good cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That gives me a reason to find and display the aces before starting the stack. From there, I ask how many hands to deal and go into the procedure above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Credit: Ian Baxter\u2019s \u201cPokerun-Up,\u201d published in Harry Lorayne\u2019s<\/em> Best of Friends, Volume 3, pp. 65\u201367. The glimpsed-key approach comes from Lorayne\u2019s afterthoughts. My handling uses a key already the appropriate distance from the bottom, eliminating the opening transfer, and often begins with my two-step ace cull.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a magician, I like tricks with gambling themes. I\u2019ve looked into a number of techniques for stacking a deck to deal a poker hand, so I was happy to stumble across Ian Baxter\u2019s \u201cPokerun-Up\u201d in Harry Lorayne\u2019s Best of Friends, Volume 3, pages 65\u201367. The effect is straightforward. Four aces are on the table. … <\/p>\n

    Continuar leyendo “A Quick Overhand Shuffle Poker Stack”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-magic","category-overhand-stack"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Bob","author_link":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/author\/admin\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8480"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8482,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480\/revisions\/8482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}