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.Videos
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146 Responses to “Shuffle”
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Pages: « 15 … 9 8 [7] 6 5 … 1 »
Comment #70 by ProPain
December 22nd, 2004 @ 2:12 AM
ok, so I found this to be one of the most frustrating things ever, but hey I finally got it with 2 stacks of 3. Im the man! I can do it. Now lets move to 2 stacks of 4. I am more useless then when I started. Any tips for doing more chips?
Comment #69 by Steve M
December 21st, 2004 @ 11:25 AM
Okay Howard .. lots of good stuff said .. I’ll tell ya what I kept in mind while learning it. And as someone who spent much time in his life learning slight of hand with cards, I can tell you its a very good general concept. Same with juggling - I was able to teach myself that in one night this way. I just started trying chip tricks and I find the principles very helpful. 1)Easy does it - my instant reaction trying these things was to make an over-studied setup and motion and to ‘grab’ and ‘hold’ the chips with much to much force. RELAX. Pretend the chips are made of Orofors crystal and handle them gently. 2) Step by step - the guy who mentioned starting with 1 chip had the right idea. Get it broken down into small accomplishable steps. A similar idea that I used was to take a stack of 3 - pretend it was the ‘left stack’ - hold it that way, GENTLE, lift, release. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO RELEASE THE 3 CHIPS SO THAT THEY HIT THE TABLE LIKE - ladada - evenly, quickly - chingchingching. If you are holding to tightly, you can’t do this. Very gentle hold, very gentle release. Then, take another stack of 3 and pretend it’s the right stack. Hold it that way with you’re newly found “firm yet baby-gentle” touch - and release…chingchingching. Then you can approach both of them that way.
Now, here’s the way I put that step by step and general firm-delicate idea together. When I was a kid they had the game “pick-up-sticks” - Im sure there is an equivalent now. The idea was you had this big mess of oversized sticks like toothpicks piled up, and you had to slide one out without moving the rest. You went very gently (you didnt GRAB) the stick, so slid it out and quickly but smoothly pulled you had away from the pile(before you accidentally touched another stick).. THATS THE IDEA I USE HERE - delicate firm, lift RELEASE AND GENTLY BACK YOUR HAND UP AND AWAY at same time
Comment #68 by Neil
December 21st, 2004 @ 10:39 AM
I finally started to get this one last night while playing around watching the poker on TV. Mad really, I’ve been able to do twirl and butterfly for ages, but this one really had me stumped. I have literally been wanting to do it since I saw Phil Helmuth do it on Late Night Poker years ago (thats the UK program thats been running here for quite a while).
But anyway its true, once you get it you can’t stop…
Just in case anyone was wondering, I’m doing it the same way as the site instructions.
Comment #67 by Ken
December 20th, 2004 @ 10:34 PM
hey webmaster….i need some help……see i can shuffle like 2 stacks of 8 but after i get to the top they wont stand sturdy…how can i get them to stay put?…..ne1 can help me
Comment #66 by Howard
December 18th, 2004 @ 2:11 PM
i cant get it….Please help me.i tried all of the mthods and i feel really weird. its not coming to me so if anybody has tips on the method on this site, that would be great. i can get it once every 20 tries..on a good day
Comment #65 by mikkey
December 17th, 2004 @ 4:44 PM
i got it!!!
Ok, all u gotta do is read about the first 30 comments nd u could do it within the hour. thanks for the help yall.
Comment #64 by Billy Bob
December 15th, 2004 @ 7:26 PM
i lernt how 2 do this so fast my mamma could damn near harly beleeve it. this trick right here helped me git into the local junior colege. thanx pokerchiptricks.com!
Comment #63 by Beth
December 15th, 2004 @ 12:01 AM
I learnte to do it in a evening, and for me the *secret* was when I cut down to just two chips, break into stacks of one. Anyone can instanly do it with two chips. Do it over and over for a long time, then add two more chips. Suddenly its easy.
Comment #62 by Reg
December 10th, 2004 @ 1:31 PM
This is quite possible the most difficult trick bar the butterfly, i’ve been practicing for hours and still cant shuffle cleanly. Are the chips supposed to drop with force(hearing a sound) or just slowly pile up?
Comment #61 by Reg
December 9th, 2004 @ 5:05 PM
Ive been trying thise for a few hours now, im using the ring finger inbetween method. They chips seem to want to riffle on the way up, i cant get them to fall into place. Any ideas?