How to Shuffle a Deck of Cards

Shuffling a deck of playing cards is usually the first step to playing any card game. There are many different ways to shuffle cards, from a simple overhand shuffle to the more advanced Hindu shuffle or Riffle shuffle, or even the showy Faro shuffle. We’ll show you how to perform each one, step-by-step, from easiest to hardest.

Doing a Standard Shuffle

Hold half the deck in each hand. Bend them down toward the table so that your thumbs, and the short sides of the cards, come together. Slowly move your thumbs away from each other to riffle the deck and let the cards fall together.

Section 1 of 5:

Overhand Shuffle (Easiest)

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Hold the deck of cards horizontally in your dominant hand. Place your pinky, ring, and middle fingers on the short side of the cards facing away from you, and place your thumb on the short side of the cards that is closest to you. Use your index finger as support on the top side.^{[1]
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- When you hold the cards, make it so that the backs of the cards face out and the front of the cards, which have the numbers and symbols, face your palm. This way, they stay hidden.
- This is an ideal method for shuffling tarot cards, too, since it won’t bend or damage the cards.
- This method is also great for kids just learning to shuffle and play cards.
Move the deck downward so that it taps the palm of your free hand. Make sure that the cards in the deck are aligned. When they hit your palm, they should hit around where your palm splits into your fingers.^{[2]
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Lift the deck while leaving about half of the cards in your palm. Bring the deck back up. As you do, loosen your grip so that about half of the cards are left behind in the palm of your off hand. It doesn’t matter which half, but most people leave behind the top cards. Hold the cards you left behind loosely in your palm.^{[3]
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- To help with this, adjust the pressure your fingers put on the cards, “rocking” your fingers slightly so that you loosen your grip on some cards.
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Keep picking up cards from the back and dropping them to the front. Continue lifting and dropping cards into your other hand until you’re out, then do the same process several more times to completely shuffle the deck. As you become more comfortable with this method, you'll be able to do it more quickly.^{[4]
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Research source} Do this 7-10 times to completely shuffle the deck.
- Make this a bit easier by using the thumb of your off hand to reach out and “pull” some of the lifted cards into your palm.
- Remember to shuffle the cards with a light touch. If you grip them too firmly with the shuffling hand, it will be difficult for them to be gently released into the palm of your other hand.
- Once you’re good at it, practice lifting some cards from the bottom of the stack in your palm while dropping cards from the front of the lifted stack. This way, you can shuffle continuously.

Section 2 of 5:

Hindu Shuffle

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Hold the sides of the deck with your ring and thumb. The Hindu Shuffle is like the reverse of the Overhand Shuffle. Instead of dropping cards into your palm, you pull cards into your palm.^{[5]
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Research source} To start, hold the entire deck face-down in your off hand, so that you’re pinching the long edges between your thumb and ring finger, and your index finger rests on top.
- If this is too awkward, feel free to hold the deck loosely in your palm.
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Grip the top cards of the deck with your dominant hand. Hold your dominant hand so that your palm faces you. Then, bring this hand behind the deck, and use your thumb and ring finger to grip the topmost cards of the deck.^{[6]
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- Pretend like you're about to place the cards into the palm of your dominant hand. Instead of placing them, though, your fingers curl around to the deck to grip those top cards.
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Pull the top cards up into your palm. Now, slide the top several cards up away from the deck and let them settle into the palm of your dominant hand. Loosely curl your fingers around these cards to keep them secure.^{[7]
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- Once the cards are free of the deck, your grip on them relaxes to let them fall into the palm of your dominant hand.
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Repeat this process until you’ve pulled all the cards. Keep sliding cards off the top of the deck and letting them fall into your palm until you’ve gone through all the cards. Then, put the cards back in your off hand and repeat the process 5-6 more times to thoroughly shuffle the deck.^{[8]
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- It’s a good idea to “cut” the deck every few cycles, which just means taking the top half of the deck and placing it beneath the bottom half, which shuffles them even more.

Section 3 of 5:

Riffle Shuffle

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Hold half the deck lengthwise in each hand. Split the deck more or less in half. Then, hold either half in your hands so that each thumb is placed on a short side, and your middle and ring fingers hold the opposite side.
- Your index fingers rest on top of the cards, while your pinky fingers support the bottom edge.
- Hold the cards so that your thumbs are very near to each other.
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Gently bend each half of the deck downward. Carefully pinch the fingers of each hand toward each other, bending the halves of the deck downward. Be gentle! Don’t use so much force that you bend the cards permanently—just enough that you feel a little resistance.
- For a table riffle (easy), hold the cards over a table so that they’re just above the table’s surface, ready to riffle.
- For an in-hand riffle (harder), hold the cards so that the non-thumb sides are supported by the middle joints of your ring, middle, and pinky fingers, curling those fingers under the cards to “catch” them when they riffle.
Bend the half-decks back a bit more and use your thumbs to move slowly up the edge of the cards. The cards in the two halves of the decks should riffle together, creating a shuffled deck.^{[9]
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Bend the cards up and let them fall for a “cascade” flourish. This is an optional, extra step that gives the shuffle a bit more pizazz. Once the cards are riffled, bend them up towards you, in the opposite direction that they were bent before. Keep your thumbs on the top to keep the cards in line. Then, release your thumbs and move your hands slightly apart so the cards "cascade" downward.^{[10]
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- This is also called “bridging” the cards after a riffle.
If you'd like to shuffle the deck even more thoroughly, just repeat the entire process. Make sure the cards are completely shuffled by “cutting” the deck after a couple riffles—just move the top half of the deck to the bottom.

Section 4 of 5:

Faro Shuffle (Hardest)

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Hold the deck upright in your non-dominant hand. Hold the deck so that your thumb rests on the long side of the deck. Your index finger rests on top, your pinky on the bottom, and the rest of your fingers on the side opposite your thumb.^{[11]
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- The Faro shuffle is called a “perfect” shuffle. Like the riffle, the cards alternate, but in the Faro, they alternate perfectly—1 card from one half of the deck, 1 card from the other, and so on.
- The Faro is difficult, and works best with a pristine, unbent deck and lots and lots of practice.
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Grab and slide the top half of the deck down and away. Use your dominant hand to grab the topmost half of the cards, sliding them down and away from the rest of the deck so that you hold half the deck in each hand.^{[12]
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Research source} Again, grip it so that your thumb is on the long side, your pinky is on bottom, and your ring and middle fingers are on the other long side.
- Rest your index finger on the flat surface of the top card for stability.
- This shuffle works best if the deck is cut perfectly in half, so do your best to slide away as close to half the deck as you can.
- Make this a one-handed Faro by holding both halves in one hand: one half with your thumb and forefinger, and the other with your forefinger and other fingers, so that the halves are parallel.
Move the half of the deck in your off hand so that it rests on the top edge of the other half. Angle the halves so that they’re not perfectly parallel—pretend the edges where they meet are a hinge that’s slightly bent inward. Also, the short edges shouldn’t touch completely—the halves of the deck should only actually meet at the corners.^{[13]
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Press the halves of the deck together gently to combine them. If the cards are positioned right and your grip is proper, the cards will start to naturally mesh and alternate into each other as you push the bottom half of the deck up into the top half.^{[14]
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Research source} Move slowly, and pay close attention—if they’re not alternating very well, start again. It sometimes helps to wiggle the halves together slightly, just to encourage them to mesh.
- If you want to add a cascading flourish in the next steps, only push the bottom half about ⅓ - ½ of the way up into the top half.
- The same idea applies if you’re doing this one-handed. Just push the halves of the decks together with your fingers.
Hold the cards so that their backs face your palm, with your fingers gripping the short sides. Use your free hand to gently band the cards toward the palm of the hand that’s holding them. This preps a cascade to finish off the shuffle.^{[15]
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Slowly and gently loosen your grip, but keep the cards bent. As your grip slackens, the cards will cascade together, forming a single pile in your hand. The shuffle is complete!^{[16]
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Section 5 of 5:

Other Card Handling Techniques

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The Waterfall Fluorish isn’t a shuffling method, exactly, but it does look cool. This is when you hold the cards in one hand and let them fall into your other hand, like a waterfall! It’s great for impressing a table of players, or for adding some flair to magic tricks.
When shuffling, it’s often necessary to “cut” the deck, or put the bottom half on top, to further randomize the cards. It’s not the most exciting move, but you can add some pizazz with special cuts like the Charlier Cut or the Revolution Cut, which are flashy one-handed techniques.

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Which is the easiest method?

NatureCat333

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The overhand shuffle is the simplest type of shuffling, and can be learned quite easily, whereas rifle shuffling looks the coolest but is the toughest to learn.

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Do this kind of shuffles damage the cards?

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It actually "breaks" the cards, which means makes them looser and easier to shuffle.

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Is it okay to just smear the cards around?

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Yes. Some people have difficulty with other methods of shuffling, so if you take time and smear the cards very thoroughly, they will be well shuffled. However, it's helpful to learn other methods too, because sometimes there may not be space to smear the cards.

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Tips

If you need an easier method, it’s perfectly fine to spread the cards on the table and mix them together with your hands.

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Practice always makes perfect! Nobody ever shuffled perfectly on their first try, so keep at it.

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