In our earlier tutorials we noted the crucial concept of culling cards
from those that have been discarded. Stacking the deck by culling the
discards is still easiest method for culling and stacking a deck.
However, with just a small amount of practice, a dealer can learn to
stack a hand in the "normal" course of
riffling and shuffling. The first method we will describe is
known as the undercut shuffle.
Undercut Shuffle
To begin the undercut shuffle, the dealer?s first move is to cull a
group of cards by either culling from discards or from his riffle
shuffle. Of course, the culling by way of a riffle shuffle is the only
method of culling if discards are not visible.
To begin our discussion, let us suppose that the dealer has used the
discard-gathering method for culling a group of cards. Suppose that
in turn he has four culled cards in
total.
Culling such cards to the top is usually smoother and more natural
appearing in the discard method. But the dealer will want to get those
same cards to the very bottom of the deck.
To do so, the dealer lifts the deck in his right hand for an
overhand shuffle and then rapidly slides his four culled cards, one by
one, with his left thumb into his left hand. He then proceeds to go with
an overhand shuffle moving the rest of the deck in his right hand on top
of the four culled cards he placed in his left hand. At that point, the
key cards have been moved to the very bottom of the deck where they are
now ready for the undercut.
Suppose that the four cards are now on the bottom and the dealer is set
to deal six hands. The dealer then grasps the deck in the right hand as
if for an overhand shuffle. With his left thumb and his left two center
fingers, he grasps both the top and
bottom cards of the deck and pull them together into his left hand in
the move known as the undercut. Then with his left thumb, the dealer
rapidly shuffles four cards from the top of the deck in his right hand
on top of the two cards he holds in his left hand. At this point, the
desired culled card is now the sixth card in the stack and ready to be
dealt to the dealer himself. The dealer then continues his process in
rapid fire fashion until all cards are placed where he wants them.
Finally, the cheater pulls yet one more card into his left-hand and
juts that card towards him ever so
slightly. He then overhand shuffles the deck a few more times, putting
the cards on top of the card jutting out. The cheater then completes his
blind shuffle by sliding all of the cards from beneath the break-card
with his right hand, placing them back on top in the proper sequence
once again. The additional shuffling is critical as it serves to
completely hide the earlier process.
Overhand Stacking
Suppose the cheater begins with a culled pair of aces on top of the deck
by virtue of his collecting discards. He now wants to stack those cards
so that they are dealt to him in a six-handed game.
To place the cards, the dealer holds the deck with his left hand. >From
the lower portion of the deck, he then pulls out about half the deck out
with the right hand. Using his left thumb, he rapidly slides five cards
from the right-hand portion on top of the two culled aces in his left
hand. With his left thumb, he then pulls off one more card from the
right-hand deck portion. As before, he then places that card so it
juts out slightly from the back end
of the deck. Next, he overhand shuffles the rest of the right-hand
portion on top of the card jutting out, completing his blind shuffle by
pulling out all of the cards below the break-card with his right hand.
By placing them on top of the cards still in his left hand he once again
has his five cards above the two aces on top of the deck.
Next, he transfers the entire deck to his right hand to begin an
overhand shuffle. Rapidly pulling off the top six cards from the top of
the deck with his left thumb he simply slides those cards back on top of
the deck. Done properly, the cards are now in reverse order, an ace on
top followed by five cards, followed by an ace.
The dealer then repeats the initial process to gather another five cards
on top of the ace, creating a situation where the two aces will go
directly to the dealer during the first two rounds. Generally speaking,
the cheater will then produce a few more blind shuffles or false riffles
to give the appearance of further shuffling the deck.
The one drawback in using the overhand stack method is moving the
stacked cards off the top of the deck and then promptly sliding them
right back in place. However, that move is followed by executing an
overhand blind shuffle and perhaps even a false cut so as to completely
eliminate any suspicion.
