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 … 11 10 [9] 8 7 … 1 »
Comment #90 by Jim
May 14th, 2005 @ 9:15 PM
I am having difficulty with the bottom two chips not stacking/just hitting each other!!! Any suggestions on how to get the bottom to stack??
Comment #89 by kleptodathief
May 14th, 2005 @ 8:46 PM
im reading all this and don’t EVEN have pokerchips lol…how easy is this if u never even touched a pokerchip and have fairly small fingers …thanx
Comment #88 by Danny
May 10th, 2005 @ 1:00 AM
I’m kinda getting it. The chips certainly separate and mix, but they don’t have that “shuffling” motion. Just more practice I suppose?
Comment #87 by Charles
May 8th, 2005 @ 10:24 AM
A trick that takes very long to learn, but I figured it out, and can easily do stacks of eleven!
Comment #86 by Nick
January 7th, 2005 @ 5:59 PM
Yes…that’s me in all of the videos. At least in all of them up right now (hint hint at what’s coming soon…). It’s amazing how much practice time you can get doing other things like playing online poker, answering phones at work, watching TV, etc.
And I agree, a soft surface definitely helps when learning this trick.
Comment #85 by Ray
January 7th, 2005 @ 5:45 PM
Nick, is that you in all the videos? Whoever can do all these tricks is a) very talented and b) must have no life LOL.
I’m working on the stacks of 4, 3 is pretty easy now. And for Ahmed you’d be amazed the difference between a hard top and even a barely soft piece of felt or something. Just a TAD of softness makes a TON of difference.
Comment #84 by xerxes
January 7th, 2005 @ 5:27 AM
I lift with my thumb, can do 8×8 no prob. Helps to lift the stacks toward one side instead of straight up. Push the bottom chips together a little before lifting up on the sides of the rest. When you get to the top, the stack likes to topple. Immidiatly push the top chips together so their weight holds the others in place as you move your hand down to straighten them. At first I was trying to riffle all the chips with my thumb, but after you get the first ones started, you just lift the edges of the others and they magically fall into place.
Comment #83 by Nick
January 5th, 2005 @ 3:52 PM
Once you really get the hang of it, you’ll even be able to do it on a hard top. I do it on my desk at work or at home without a problem now.
Comment #82 by Ahmed
January 5th, 2005 @ 3:51 PM
i can pretty much do it everytime on a pillow but can’t do it on a hard table top.. is that normal? I’ve yet to try it on a poker table top with the felt but I wanna know if im doing something wrong
Comment #81 by Dave K
January 4th, 2005 @ 3:11 PM
Like any other skill, you must commit it to muscle memory. Should take no fewer than 3000 repetitions to be “capable”. Remember- Repetition is the Mother of skill.