Shuffle
Can you name a player that you haven’t seen shuffle chips during the World Poker Tour or World Series of Poker episodes? The sound of shuffling chips can be heard in poker rooms around the world. It happens to be my favorite trick, because once you learn it, you can’t stop. Another popular name for the shuffle is “riffle.”
Before you begin
Trick Difficulty - 2
Chips needed - 6 or more (even numbers work best)
Tutorial
To start this trick, place two stacks of chips (3 chips per stack) side by side on a table.
Practice on a table with a soft surface (such as a poker table) or on a hard pillow. A softer surface will make it easier to lift each stack properly.
For each stack use a different color of poker chip. This will allow you to see if the chips were properly shuffled.
The tutorial will explain how to perform the trick with your right hand.
Start by placing the thumb on the lower left corner of the left stack and the index finger on the upper left corner. The middle finger is placed in the space between the top of the two stacks. The ring finger is placed on the upper right corner of the right stack and the pinky on the lower right corner.
Others like to place the thumb at the middle of the left stack, the index finger in the space at the top of the two stacks, and the other three fingers on the right side of the right stack. I believe this method is harder because you don’t have as much control over the left stack. By using two fingers on the sides of each stack you have much more stability.
Lift up on both stacks with the middle finger. As you lift, lightly push each stack in with the fingers holding the outside edges. Ease up on the pressure applied by the middle finger, let gravity takes its course, and the two stacks will come together as one, alternating chips from each stack.
Once you learn the trick, you don’t even actually push the stacks in. You can use all of your fingers to lift up the stacks and by lifting a little bit more with the middle finger, the chips will easily fall into place.
The Shuffle mousepad makes a place to practice this chip trick on. The mousepad has a soft cloth surface with padding that will allow you to easily pick the chips up. It makes a great gift for the poker player who plays online poker at home or takes a few poker chips to work to practice their tricks.
Comment #10 by David
October 4th, 2004 @ 8:39 PM
i used to do it brendans way but when i used the way from the site it became much easier.
Comment #9 by Phil
October 4th, 2004 @ 6:14 PM
I like using the grip where you put index finger on the far left of the left stack middle finger on top of left stack, ring finger on top of right stack, and pinky slightly below far right of right stack. The thumb is slightly on the right side where it pulls up while the pinky and index finger close together, then I slide my thumb over far for stability. I can easily do 9 each stack with this method.
Comment #8 by Chad
October 1st, 2004 @ 9:54 PM
I can do 5 chips on either side easily now but im having trouble with the larger stacks. Any recommendations?
Comment #7 by Derek
September 30th, 2004 @ 7:53 PM
I’ve hardly ever tried chip tricks before, because I just recently got into poker. I’ve been going through all of the tricks on this site and this one seemed to come very easy for me. Brandon the First gave a great tip. Place your pinky and index on the outside of the chips and this trick becomes an easy task.
Comment #6 by Also Brandon
September 30th, 2004 @ 1:35 PM
Ive been trying this trick using the methods described on many websites and Ive been able to do it a few times but everytime i think ive got it I cant do it again, until i read brandons method. I tried it and got it the first second and third try. Much easier. thanks
Comment #5 by Brandon
September 30th, 2004 @ 11:38 AM
Ya, it took me like 3 hours and then it finally clicked and I could easily do it.
Comment #4 by Nick
September 29th, 2004 @ 10:40 PM
It takes some time. The hardest part is getting to a point where all of the sudden something sparks and you finally figure it out, then it just takes practice to get good at it.
Comment #3 by Mike
September 29th, 2004 @ 10:06 PM
How many years does it take to learn this? I’m either hopelessly uncoordinated or my four hours of trying this is not nearly enough.
Comment #2 by Brandon
September 29th, 2004 @ 7:06 PM
I have no idea how you do it using your middle or index fingers to lift it. I put my pinky and index fingers on the outside edges of the chips to push them together and use my middle and ring fingers on the back sides of the chips for stability. I put my thumb in the space between the two chips and lift them. I can do 2 stacks of 15 consistently like this.
Comment #1 by Hunt
September 27th, 2004 @ 10:04 PM
Like note number 2 says, using your index finger for the lift is much harder than using your middle finger. I could only do stacks of 5 chips using the index finger, but when I switched to the middle finger I could suddenly do stacks of 8!