Let’s be real for a second here. False shuffles don’t really work. I’ve always loved false shuffles ever since my first foray into the magical arts. There are two specific shuffles I’ve always loved, the Truffle shuffle & and the Zarrow shuffle. I’ve practiced both continuously for over a decade. Over time though, I realized something that all card magicians realize at one point or another. It’s always better to let the participant shuffle the deck, if you truly want to convince them that it’s in a randomized state. Consequently, false shuffles become this weird moment where you’re halfway committed to convincing them you’re mixing the deck, but you can’t truly go all the way and give them the deck. I usually throw some in before I do my ACAAN (the effect I do the most that requires a stack) because I feel like it can’t hurt. However, I want to move the shuffles from the “it can’t hurt to do” category and move them into a “this is a highly deceptive aspect of the effect” category.

I feel a little silly putting all that practice into the shuffles, when I arguably should have been practicing/studying deck switching techniques (if convincing the participant of the deck being shuffled was my goal). Yes, it’s less convenient to carry around another deck and choreograph a deck switch than it is to do a false shuffle on the spot. However, I’d rather sacrifice convenience for strength of effect.

What follows is my attempt to get the most out of our treasured, well practiced, and beloved false shuffle techniques. The idea is essentially asking the participant if they want to shuffle the cards and through some sneaky strategy, increase their chances of replying with a no. What follows are two gambits that accomplish this with significant accuracy.

“Can you shuffle like this?”

Here is a subtlety that applies specifically to a false in-the-hands riffle shuffle (it is your choice as to which one you use). If you don’t do any in-the-hands false riffle shuffles, you won’t be able to use this. The shuffle itself needs to be done standing. You are going to be taking advantage of the fact that there are far fewer people who can riffle shuffle and bridge in the hands, compared to those who can riffle the cards together on the table. This is how it goes. As you start the trick you do your in-the-hands false riffle shuffle, while asking them: “can you shuffle the cards like this?” You are essentially banking on the probable chance that they will say no. For now, let’s say they say no. An important point, due to the fact that they’ve answered your question, they’ve accepted that the shuffle they saw you do was genuine on some cognitive level. If they say yes, and can do the riffle, let them shuffle and do a different trick. There are ways to significantly minimize the chances of this happening, which I’ll get to in the next paragraph.

You want to ask someone that you feel can’t shuffle that way. You do this by soft Sherlockian analysis. Ideally, you have prior knowledge of whether they can riffle shuffle or not. You can observe them during a prior trick where you’ve asked them to “give the cards a really good shuffle”. Perhaps they’ve openly shared insecurities about shuffling. How many times have you heard someone say “oh god I’m so bad at shuffling” or “I don’t even know how to shuffle cards”? Let’s say you don’t have prior knowledge and decide to throw this ploy into your performance for fun. You might observe that they have long nails, or that they’re wearing finger jewelry, making shuffling an awkward task to do. Look for these aforementioned markers, and the chances of this gambit paying off will improve substantially.

Let’s continue. When they say no, say something along the lines of: “Alright, that’s OK, but can you give it a cut like this then instead?” As you ask them that question, give the deck a cut in your hands. Do a sloppy, in the hands, spread type cut. Unless you’re performing for Captain Hook, they’ll be able to take the cards off you and mimic you. Now invite them to “mix” (but really just cut) the deck again & again, and to stop whenever they want. Now they think that they could’ve riffle shuffled the deck, but are cutting over and over instead. It should feel like an “in the moment solution” that you give them. Many people don’t realize cutting the deck over and over doesn’t disturb a stack, it’ll feel like a real mixing of the cards. Plus, they would’ve seen you “riffle shuffle” the deck before you gave them the deck anyways. Remember, you are not giving them an opportunity to shuffle in any other way here. It is simply: “Can you do this? No? Okay, how about this?”

When you take the cards back, you have a fully stacked deck that’s been seemingly thoroughly shuffled by both you and the participant. By doing this gambit you are deliberately calling attention to the false shuffle that you are doing. Why would it be a false shuffle if you’ve just invited them to do the same thing? It’s a weird logic-trap that plays really deceptively. Try it out.

“Or do you trust me?”

This came about when I attended a Dani Daortiz lecture. He threw the deck on the table nonchalantly, letting the deck smear itself on the close-up pad. He then said “this is the best false shuffle in magic.” This was a poignant point in the lecture for me, and it’s something I’ve remembered ever since. His point was that if you seemingly don’t care about the cards or what order they are in, your participants won’t either. If you’re carefully holding the deck, gingerly handling each card, it’ll tell your participants that the order of the deck matters. I’m telling you this because I think it’s important you capture that same energy when you do this ploy. Throw the proverbial deck on the table with your words and body language. Keep this in the back of your mind as you perform.

You’ll want to use this gambit in a casual, relaxed performance and environment. Maybe you’re laying on the floor of your living room with your friend, showing them card tricks, for example. Maybe you’re at the bar with your colleagues after work and the bar has a deck of cards behind the counter, you get the idea. The situation is this. The deck is (obviously) in stack or in a setup and you’re doing your favourite false shuffle before the trick starts. At some point you say to them “okay and do you want to give these a mix as well? Or do you trust me? It doesn’t really matter.” Say this as if you don’t care, maybe shrug as you say it.

There was a video that I came across on social media that encapsulated the moment I’m describing perfectly, it was a video of a magician performing for an MMA fighter. What I’ve found in my experience is that many people will say “I trust you” and let you continue on with the effect, because you’ve signalled to them that the condition of the order of the deck doesn’t matter. I think the option to shuffle is enough proof for them that the deck could be shuffled. You’re giving up the control of the deck and offering them to shuffle, why wouldn’t they trust you? You’re also giving them an option to skip the shuffle and get to the interesting part of the effect. Give it a shot every time you perform a card trick (with or without a special order) to see the hit rate for yourself. You can see why you’d want to do this in a casual situation. If you were on stage or performing for parlour, this wouldn’t work at all.

Concluding Thoughts

I’d recommend coming into the effect prepared with an effect that can be done FASDIU, in the case that they do accept to shuffle. If you take advantage of these verbal ploys, each stacked deck effect you perform will be under the pretence that they could’ve shuffled the deck. Arguably, that is the main logic trap you want to interlace every stacked deck effect you perform with. These two verbal ploys are a start, but there’s more to be done to fully move false shuffles out of the grey zone. Please email me if you have any thoughts!