Are you Having Trouble Shuffling the Deck?

Are you having trouble riffling a deck? If so, I’m here to help you troubleshoot your riffling technique. The first step we need to take is to turn you off and then turn you back on again and we’ll see if that works.

Shuffling v.s. Riffling

If you’re having trouble riffling a deck, there are a few things that might be hindering you. But, before we get into all of that, I’ll quickly go over the difference between shuffling and riffling. Riffling is when two stacks of cards are equally laced together, like this. Shuffling is the combination of riffling, stripping and boxing maneuvers that make up the complete shuffling procedure.

Troubleshooting Your Shuffle

Okay, now on to troubleshooting.

1. Do not wear lotion when shuffling.

First things first… Are you wearing lotion? Or are your hands greasy for some reason? This will make it difficult to shuffle the deck, or take cards out of the shoe, since the cards feel slicker and won’t do what you want them to.

So, that’s why it’s good not to put on lotion before handling the cards. If you absolutely need to put lotion on, than do it at the beginning of your break when you have 20 minutes to spare. This way your hands aren’t so slick when you return to your table. Another thing I would see dealers do is this. Squirt a little lotion on the top of your hands and then only rub the top of your hands together. Never rub the lotion on the bottom portion of your hands.

2. Use fresh cards.

Second, if you’re at home, practicing your shuffle and you’re having trouble riffling, then ask yourself, “When was the last time I got new cards?” If your cards are old, dirty, grimy or full of dust and dirt, then this will make it difficult to shuffle the deck. The cards will clump together instead of smoothly riffling.

That’s why the casino will change their cards every 2 hours for a handheld game and every 8 hours for a shoe game. Now, how do we fix this problem? Unfortunately, the only solution to this problem is to buy new cards.

3. Check whether your corners are cut.

The third and last troubleshooting problem we’re going to go over is cut edges. Again, if you’re at home practicing, then this applies to you. Take a look at the cards you’re having trouble with. Do they look different than the cards you normally see the casinos use? Are the corners cut off? You might be having trouble shuffling because of the missing corners. Did someone say, “Case of the Missing Corners”? No fear, Sherlock Holms is here! And Watson!

No, seriously, you need those corners in order to riffle and if the card is missing its corners then you’re going to have trouble riffling. Again, the solution to that problem is to buy new cards. When buying cards, make sure that they are “uncut” meaning they still have their corners. The cards that I offer at my Amazon store are uncut, have never been opened and of casino quality.The link is in the description above.

Are you having trouble riffling the deck? Or maybe you have a solution to some of these riffling problems?