This is the shuffle ordinarily used by card players, but in spite of its almost universal use it is rarely done neatly or even smoothly. Nearly always the cards are bent far too much and then pushed together clumsily.
[Note: The riffle shuffle, also known as the dovetail shuffle, has existed since the 19th century. While casual players often use it, magicians have refined it for precision and deception. See Erdnase’s handling in “The Expert at the Card Table.” – RJW ]
The proper way to execute the shuffle should be acquired at the outset, not for appearances’ sake alone but because it will enable you later to apply various secret manoeuvres to the shuffle with ease and certainty. Here is the proper procedure:
- Place the deck on the table in front of you, its sides parallel with the edge of the table. With your right hand cut off half the cards and place the packet end to end with the other packet.
- Put your hands on the packets, your thumbs against the adjacent inner corners, your index fingers resting on the backs near these ends and your middle, ring and little fingers against the outer sides. Your hands thus assume identical positions on their respective packets.
- Seize the packets between the thumbs and the middle and ring fingers. Raise the inner corners with the thumbs, bending the cards very slightly against the downward pressure of the index fingers.
[Note: This method minimizes wear on the cards and sets you up for deceptive shuffles like the Zarrow or push-through false shuffle. Also note that as you raise the corners the packets rotate slightly so that when the riffle is complete the deck looks like Fig. 14 – RJW ]
- Begin to release or riffle the ends of the cards of each packet so that they interweave. Regulate this release of the corners so that a card, or several cards, falls from each packet alternately.
- When this action has been completed and all the ends of the cards are interlaced, seize the outer ends of the packets between the thumbs and the index and middle fingers and push the packets inwards, telescoping them until they are almost but not quite flush.
- To square the deck neatly and gracefully, place the thumbs at the middle of the inner side of the deck, their tips touching one another, and the index fingers against the ends near the outer corners. Now move the thumbs outwards along the side of the deck and the index fingers inwards along the ends, and by their pressure squeeze the cards flush. When the tips of the thumbs and index fingers meet at their respective inner corners, the deck will be squared perfectly.
The riffle shuffle has its greatest use when the performer is seated at a table. It can effectively be alternated with the overhand shuffle.
[Note: Alternating between overhand and riffle shuffles adds naturalism and disguises method in many routines. Dai Vernon emphasized such alternation for convincers. – RJW ]
Riffle Shuffle Control
To retain a card or cards on the top or the bottom of the deck by means of this shuffle is a simple matter.
Retaining a Card at the Top of the Deck When the cut is made for the riffle shuffle, the card to be retained becomes the top card of the cut packet. Therefore you have merely to see that all the cards of the left-hand packet have fallen before you release the last few cards of the right-hand packet. When the packets are telescoped the required card will again be the top card of the deck.
A packet of six or eight cards can be retained on the top in the same way by holding them back until all the cards of the left-hand packet have fallen. It is not advisable, however, to use the manoeuvre with more than that number of cards.
[Note: Retaining too many cards disrupts the illusion of randomness; six to eight is the upper limit before suspicion rises. This aligns with Vernon’s philosophy on “naturalness.” – RJW ]
Retaining the Bottom Card or Cards In this case the cards to be controlled are on the bottom of the left-hand packet. In grasping that packet with the left thumb and fingers, do not seize all the cards; allow a small packet to remain on the table and raise only the corners of those above it. The first cards to fall from the right-hand packet will fall on top of these cards; therefore, when the deck is squared, the card or cards being controlled will again be on the bottom of the deck.
[Note: This move subtly simulates a complete shuffle while perfectly preserving the position of key cards on the bottom of the deck. Spectators can see that the top cards are being mixed, but they can’t tell if the bottom cards are. What I sometimes will do if I have four of a kind on top, I will overhand shuffle them to the bottom, then to several riffle shuffles, keeping them there. Then I will either use cuts or another overhand shuffle to bring them back to the top of the deck. – RJW ]
Sometimes it becomes necessary to add one card to the top of the deck. This can easily be done by the riffle shuffle. In lifting the corners of the left-hand packet, press the index finger on the top card of that packet and draw it a little over the left thumb. It is an easy matter then to hold it back until the last card of the right-hand packet has been released.
Riffle Shuffle in the Air
It is surprising that in this nation of bridge players so many persons who know how to make a neat riffle shuffle at the table do not know how to make the same shuffle away from a table. To be able to riffle shuffle in the air is a particularly useful weapon for the card conjurer who has to perform under varying conditions. This form of the riffle shuffle is not difficult, but it does require some practice to perform it neatly.
- Take the pack face downwards in the right hand with the thumb at one end, the middle, ring and little fingers at the other, and the index finger bent so that its nail rests against the middle of the back of the top card. Turn the pack to a vertical position with the thumb at the top and the faces towards the left.
- Place the left hand, palm upwards, a couple of inches to the left of and a little above the tips of the right fingers. Bend the middle of the pack outwards by pressing outwards with the right forefinger at the middle and the thumb and fingers inwards at the ends. Allow about half the cards to fall forward on to the left fingers in a horizontal position.
- Place the tip of the left thumb momentarily on the back of this packet and move the left forefinger up to take its place.
- With the tips of the right fingers bend the left-hand packet upwards and place the left thumb on the middle of its upper end. The two packets are thus held facing each other and with exactly the same grip by each hand—thumbs at the top, index fingers at the middle of the backs, and the other three fingers gripping the lower ends.
- Turn both hands palm downwards, bend the ends of both packets upwards by pressure against the forefingers, and hold the packets with the inner ends close together in the shape of a shallow V, the point of which is away from the body.
- Allow cards to slip from each thumb alternately, interlacing the corners.
- Press the packets flush by bringing the hands together, and square the pack.
If the positions are taken correctly it will be found that the lower end of each packet will be held firmly between the first phalanx of the index finger at the back and the first phalanges of the other three fingers at the face. The grip must be held firmly until all the cards have been riffled off by the thumbs.