1. Use the top shuffle to find the perfect card.
Place the long edge of the deck of cards on the bottom of the last three fingers. Your index finger should support the top edge of the deck. Wrap it around your pinky finger to support the bottom. Your thumb should be on the front of the card with the card facing vertically and the back of the card on your finger.
Hold a deck of cards in your hand with your thumb centered on the bottom edge of the card and your index finger centered on the top edge.
With most of the cards drawn from the center of the pile into the swinging hand, gently slide a few cards from the top, holding them in the palm of your hand with your supporting thumb. Use your thumb to press these cards against the fingers of the auxiliary hand, then use the shuffling hand to let the auxiliary hand’s cards fall to the top of the pile.
Repeat this shuffle. Using the thumb of your auxiliary hand, take more cards from your shuffled hand until most of the cards return to your auxiliary hand. If the shuffled hand does not have enough cards to shuffle, leave the remaining cards on top of the backing hand pile.
Tilt your supporting hand slightly to vertical so you can see the cards face up. Find the card you want in your hand.
2. Raise the perfect card to the top of the deck.
When you are sure of the card you want to put in your hand, drag the remaining cards onto it so that the desired card is at the bottom of the pile. Drag your thumb to the desired card in your hand. Grip it between your thumb and forefinger and move it across the deck.
After your face card pops up to hide your moves, continue shuffling the remaining cards.
Slide the card up to lock it in place. Place the last three fingers firmly on the top card while shuffling the remaining fingers from the deck.
Use other cards to provide better cards for yourself and other cards for others. For example, if you are playing poker, you want the first 5 cards to be a good hand for you.
If you’re playing a partner game like euchre, consider putting more bonus cards in your deck and give the top to your partner as well.
3. Reverse the order of the hole cards.
Once you have all the perfect cards on top of the deck, use the top shuffle to rearrange the deck and place the cards face down. Alternately hold the entire deck and use the thumb of the supporting hand to remove a card from the deck until you have gone through the entire deck.
There is no more perfect hand now, and you can use your hole cards to get a good hand and put everyone else on top.
4. The command card goes into your hand.
Cut the deck in half and place each half on the table to shuffle. Press your fingers to the bottom of each deck and lift the inner corner of the deck. Control the card drop and shuffle. When you reach the top of the deck, leave the correct number of cards between the two cards in your hand so that they fall towards you when you shuffle.
Between each card you want is the number of players minus one, which is you.
It’s best to get very few cards between the first shuffles, as you can always shuffle to add more cards.
This is especially useful for games like poker, where you have to deal with multiple people at a poker table.
