On the relevance of riffle stacking

“…I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot...”

Marilyn Monroe

Howdy my lovely readers, Kanye West’s “Only One”  accompanies me as I begin my all night writing marathon for I have about 8 articles planned for this platform of mine and yet I have not been able to sit down and finish them.

For the last couple of months I’ve been recording possible topics for upcoming articles on magic using my phone’s notepad. They say if an idea is good enough you do not really need to write it down but I am not in the mood for taking a risk.

The first one of these is the one that follows:

Those who know me are aware of the next two things about my relationship with the artifice. I consider false deals my arch nemesis and riffle stacking my side kick.

While I’ve never been able to deal dishonestly in a manner in which the most critical observer would not suspect, let alone detect the action, it was riffle stacking the area which I found I had a touch for.

My first exposure to riffle stacking was in charge of the fantastic card man that goes by the name of Jason England. An authority on the subject, the man not only displayed his fantastic proficiency but he also introduced me to what many consider to be a sad truth:

There’s no secret to riffle stacking

However, that realization only made me want to master it even more…

Riffle Stacking, for those not aware of it, is the act of arranging cards during the apparently innocent act of shuffling the cards flat on the table and it is accomplished by training one’s thumbs to hold back a desired number of cards and dropping them in a coordinated sequence.

Much like the pinky count, Darwin Ortiz is probably the most important exponent of riffle stacking at present days. His contributions have been essential in demonstrating the relevance of this ruse both for gambling and magical purposes.

However, Darwin introduced a notion that is quite relevant to out discussion and that is the importance of stacking without actually looking down at the pack while you perform the action,

While many consider this to be an unnecessary effort (I myself subscribed to that group at an earlier point in my magical journey) I must now beg to differ for I must urge you to think of it as a practice exercise worthy of your consideration.

Much like a basketball player that trains with a very heavy ball, if you stack without looking when practicing at home you will find the difference to be abysmal for you will no longer rely on your gaze but on your touch. In performance, your actions will be much more relaxed and confident.

If you follow my instructions you will find that an interesting factor comes into play and that is intuition. Once you develop your touch, you will "know" if you are one card off. At first I thought it was just me but you will be amazed at how many times your gut is right on the money.

Also, while you ideally want to use the same grip for all your riffle shuffle work, it is best to practice the present subterfuge with all of the grips you know and may use. I find that stacking from an Erdnase bottom stock retention grip is not the same as doing it from a Marlo grip or a royal road type of grip.

Personally, I think the easiest of them all is Marlo’s for it allows the pack to bevel in a way that is very helpful when trying to stop at numbers beyond four cards.

It was during my recent time vacationing in Uruguay that I realized how important it is for one to keep a strict practice routine when it comes to certain areas of sleight of hand, riffle stacking probably being the one in which lack of consistence becomes evident really quickly.

Therefore, I try to squeeze an hour of Stacking drills everyday as I sit down on the computer. Follow my lead and you will be amazed. On the other hand, if you stop stacking for a few weeks you will be frustrated and probably consider collecting stamps instead.

Before I leave you I’d like to touch on a final aspect in hopes of demystifying the present topic. Riffle Stacking is not only useful for when one wants to stack a hand of four aces for a five handed game for it is also an economical device that affects your card magic as a whole.  Plus, it looks much better than an overhand shuffle!

I know that I have been rather short but I hope my cryptic approach will make you want to learn more about this fantastic area of sleight of hand I so deeply care about.

Bea Miller’s “Enemy Fire” delights my ears as I say goodbye to you lovely readers, I really do hope you have enjoyed reading through my thoughts on the stacking of cards and so on.

Professor Moriarty must now leave the building.

“…Millions of years ago, the first lizard crawled out of the water and hit the second lizard over the head with a rock. Thus, the first serial killer was born…”

Dexter Morgan