False Shuffle

A false shuffle is a shuffle which is not genuine. The purpose of a shuffle is to mix the cards; a false shuffle is designed to give the illusion of a regular, random shuffle, while allowing the magician to keep control of the placement of the cards. A false shuffle can be used to retain a single card or small stock of cards, maintain separation of the reds and blacks, or even to control the order of the entire deck.

For controlling a single card or small group of cards, see stacking, control, and jog shuffle.

In-the-Hands False Shuffles

False Haymow Shuffles

• Charlier Shuffle in New Era Card Tricks by August Roterberg (1897, p. 46)
  • Also as "Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order (Fifth Method)" in The Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase (1902, pp. 168-169)
  • Also as "The Hay-mow or Charlier False Shuffle" in Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard (1938, p. 171)
• Sid Lorraine's Slop Shuffle in Subtle Problems You Will Do by John Braun and Stewart Judah (1937, pp. 34-35)

False Overhand Shuffles

• G. W. Hunter False Shuffle in The Magazine of Magic, March 1920 (Vol. 7 No. 4, p. 81)
  • Also in Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard (1938, p. 167)
  • Also in The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 1 by Harlan Tarbell (1941, p. 254)
  • Also in Expanded Lecture Notes by Dai Vernon (1970, p. 14)
• Erdnase Blind Overhand Shuffle ("Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order (First Method)") in The Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase (1902, pp. 163-165)
  • Bob King's Erdnase Blind Overhand in The Annotated Erdnase by Darwin Ortiz (1991, pp. 243-245)
• Alex Elmsley's Casual False Shuffle in Riffle Shuffle Technique, Part III by Karl Fulves (1984, pp.158-159)
• Gordon Bruce False Shuffle in Five Times Five: Scotland by Peter Duffie (1998, pp. 16-17)
• Dan Garrett's Underhanded Overhand Shuffle in Garrett Does the U.K. by Dan Garrett (1991)
  • Bob Farmer's World's Greatest Overhand False Shuffle in Genii, December 2004 (Vol. 67 No. 12, pp. 22-23)
• Alex Elmsley's Continuous Pick-Up Shuffle in "Alex is At It Again" (1997)
  • Pascal Monmoine's Complete Overhand False Shuffle in Apocalypse, May 1984 (Vol. 7 No. 5, p. 923)
• Steve Beam's Underhand Shuffle in Semi-Automatic Card Tricks, Vol. 2 by Steve Beam (1995, pp. 186-187)

Optical Shuffles:

• Rezvani's Complete False Shuffle in The Magic of Rezvani by Maurice Sardina (1949, Dariel Fitzkee trans., pp. 13-14)
  • Also as "The Optical Shuffle" in The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (1948, p. 131)
  • Harry Lorayne's Expert Full-Deck Overhand in Apocalypse, January 1994 (Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 2309-2310)

False In-the-Hands Riffle Shuffles

Strip-Out-type Shuffles:

• Ireland's Perfect False Riffle Shuffle in Ireland's New Card and Coin Manipulation by L. L. Ireland (1935, pp. 5-7)
• Hay's False Dovetail Shuffle in The Amateur Magician's Handbook by Henry Hay (1950, pp. 60-63)
  • Vernon On the Hay False Dovetail Shuffle in The Vernon Chronicles, Vol. 3: Further Lost Inner Secrets (1991, pp. 44-49)
• Guy Hollingworth's False In-the-Hands Waterfall Shuffle in Drawing Room Deceptions by Guy Hollingworth (1999, pp. 169-177)
• Eric Anderson's
• Guy Hollingworth's In-the-Hands Triumph Shuffle in Drawing Room Deceptions by Guy Hollingworth (1999, pp. 251-256)
• Lennart Green's False Angle Riffle Shuffle on Green Magic, Vol. 2 by Lennart Green (2000, VHS)

Unweaving Shuffles:

• Rezvani's Dovetail False Shuffle in the Air in The Magic of Rezvani by Maurice Sardina (1949, Dariel Fitzkee trans., pp. 15-16)
  • The Inverted V Shuffle in Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard (1938, pp. 169-171)
  • Off the Table False Riffle Shuffle in Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (1940, p. 76)
• Allan Ackerman and Steve Forte's Bottom Up Zarrow in Classic Handlings

Waterfall Unweaving Shuffles:

• Ravelli's Waterfall Shuffle on Here I Go Again, Vol. 2 by Bill Malone (2007, DVD)
• Jerry Andrus'
• Real Green Shuffle on Green Magic, Vol. 4: Shuffling Green by Lennart Green (2003, DVD)
  • Benjamin Earle's Earl Grey Shuffle After Midnight DVD set Benjamin Earle's "Psychological Shuffle"
• Hank Miller's
• Karl Hein's Heinstein Shuffle in Genii, April 2001 (Vol. 64 No. 4, pp. 50-52)
• Derek DelGaudio's DelGaudio Shuffle ("Truffle Shuffle") in Genii, October 2008 (Vol. 71 No. 10, pp. 20-21)

False Weave/Faro Shuffles

False Weave/Greek Shuffles:

• Erdnase Blind Weave Shuffle "Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order (Fourth Method)" in The Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase (1902, p. 168)
  • Also as "The Roumanian 'Fan' Shuffle" in Farelli's Card Magic by Victor Farelli (1933, pp. 44-45)
  • Also as "The Weave or Greek Shuffle" in Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard (1938, pp. 171-172)

False Faro Shuffles:

• Max Katz's Interlace False Shuffle in the Air in Hugard's Magic Monthly, July 1947 (Vol. 5 No. 2, p. 333)
• Dr. Sawa's False Faro Shuffle in Sawa's Library of Magic, Vol. 1 by Richard Kaufman (1988, p. 49)
  • David Williamson's Phony Pharo in Apocalypse, June 1990 (Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 1794-1795)
  • R. Paul Wilson's Non-Faro” (c. 2003)
• Homer Liwag's False Faro Shuffle in Genii, October 1993 (Vol. 56 No. 12, p. 804)
  • William Eston's False Faro Shuffle in MAGIC, December 2003 (Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 100-101)

False Hindu Shuffles

• John Cornelius' Oh-Calcutta Shuffle in Apocalypse (Vol. 5 No. 3, March 1982, p. 604)
  • Also in Card College, Vol. 4 by Roberto Giobbi (2000, p. 904)

On-the-Table False Shuffles

Strip-Out False Shuffles

• Charles Miller's Strip-Out False Shuffle in Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (1940, pp. 67-68)
  • The Pull Out Shuffle in Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson (1960, pp. 47-48)
• Dai Vernon's Triumph in Stars of Magic (Series 2 No. 1, 1946)

Pull-Through False Shuffles

• The Pull Through Shuffle in Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson (1960, pp. 43-47)
  • Artanis' False Shuffle in Close-Up Magic of Frank Garcia, Part 1 by Frank Garcia (1982, pp. 53-57)
  • Push-Through Shuffle in Revelations by Dai Vernon (1984, pp. 208-211)
  • Vernon On the Push-Through Shuffle in The Vernon Chronicles, Vol. 1: The Lost Inner Secrets by Stephen Minch (1987, pp. 44-47)

Unweaving Shuffles

• Erdnase Blind Riffle Shuffles in The Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase (1902, pp. 165-168) as "Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order (Second Method)" and "Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order (Third Method)"
  • • Also in Hilliard's False Riffle Shuffle in Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard (1938, p. 169)
    • Also in The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 1 by Harlan Tarbell (1941, pp. 255-256)
    • Also in More Magic of the Hands by Edward Victor (1942, p. 21)
  • Larsen and Wright's L. W. False Shuffle in Genii (Vol. 1 No. 6, February 1937, pp. 11-12)
• Gamblers' False Shuffle in Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (1940, pp. 70-71)
• E. J. Oeink in Riffle Shuffle Technique, Part III by Karl Fulves (1984, pp. 118-122) as "M.J. Oeink's False Shuffle"
• Herb Zarrow's Full Deck Control ("Zarrow Shuffle") in The New Phoenix (No. 346, July 20, 1957, p. 210)
  • • Also in Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson (1960, pp. 49-51)
  • Gary Plants'
  • David Ben Zarrow book
• The Shank Shuffle in The Shank Shuffle by Ed Marlo (1972)

Rosetta Shuffle

• Lennart Green's False Rosetta Shuffle on Green Magic, Vol. 4: Shuffling Green by Lennart Green (2003, DVD)