Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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cards:faro_shuffle [2015/03/12 16:31] stephenminchcards:faro_shuffle [2016/11/29 17:04] – Added Dorian citation. stephenminch
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 ====== Faro Shuffle ====== ====== Faro Shuffle ======
  
-This shuffle seems first to have appeared in the anonymous gambling text, //A Grand Exposé of the Science of Gambling//, 1860, p. 4 of the 2010 edition. The author describes the shuffle in conjunction with a sanding technique to facilitate a perfect weave. This was essential because the trimming of mid-nineteenth-century cards left rough edges that worked against perfect interlaces. This sanding approach was described in newspaper of the late 1800s, such as Chicago's //Inter Ocean//, July 10 1875, p. 5; and Brooklyn's //Standard Union//, Dec. 8 1888, p. 5. Interestingly, Alex Elmsley rediscovered the idea of sanding the edges of the cards to make faro shuffles easier for the British cards of the time; see //[[http://askalexander.org/display/13104/The+Collected+Works+of+Alex+Elmsley/296-297|The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Vol. 2]]//, 1994, p. 295. The quality of playing cards eventually improved so that sanding was no longer necessary.+This shuffle seems first to have appeared in the anonymous gambling text, //A Grand Exposé of the Science of Gambling//, 1860, p. 4 of the 2010 edition. The author describes the shuffle in conjunction with a sanding technique to facilitate a perfect weave. This was essential because the trimming of mid-nineteenth-century cards left rough edges that worked against perfect interlaces. This sanding approach was described in newspapers of the late 1800s, such as Chicago's //Inter Ocean//, July 10 1875, p. 5; and Brooklyn's //Standard Union//, Dec. 8 1888, p. 5. Interestingly, Alex Elmsley rediscovered the idea of sanding the edges of the cards to make faro shuffles easier for the British cards of the time; see //[[http://askalexander.org/display/13104/The+Collected+Works+of+Alex+Elmsley/296-297|The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Vol. 2]]//, 1994, p. 295. The quality of playing cards eventually improved so that sanding was no longer necessary.
  
 Two early contemporaneous works on crooked gambling that described the faro shuffle (without sanding work) were Joseph Koschitz’s //[[http://askalexander.org/display/10346/Koschitz+s+Manual+of+Useful+Information+Concerning+Marks+and+Stamps+Portable+and+Fixed+Devices+Manipulation+of+Cards+and+Other+Matters+if+Interest+to+Lovers+of+Draw/30|Koschitz’s Manual of Useful Information]]//, 1894, p. 26; and John Nevil Maskelyne's //[[http://askalexander.org/display/13160/Sharps+and+Flats+A+Complete+Revelation+of+the+Secrets+of+Cheating+at+Games+of+Chance+and+Skill/230|Sharps and Flats]]//, 1894, p. 204. Both descriptions lack details about the grips on the halves of the deck, but the illustrations provided by Maskelyne seem to suggest the palms-down "butt shuffle" grip, and Koschitz uses the term "butt-in". Two early contemporaneous works on crooked gambling that described the faro shuffle (without sanding work) were Joseph Koschitz’s //[[http://askalexander.org/display/10346/Koschitz+s+Manual+of+Useful+Information+Concerning+Marks+and+Stamps+Portable+and+Fixed+Devices+Manipulation+of+Cards+and+Other+Matters+if+Interest+to+Lovers+of+Draw/30|Koschitz’s Manual of Useful Information]]//, 1894, p. 26; and John Nevil Maskelyne's //[[http://askalexander.org/display/13160/Sharps+and+Flats+A+Complete+Revelation+of+the+Secrets+of+Cheating+at+Games+of+Chance+and+Skill/230|Sharps and Flats]]//, 1894, p. 204. Both descriptions lack details about the grips on the halves of the deck, but the illustrations provided by Maskelyne seem to suggest the palms-down "butt shuffle" grip, and Koschitz uses the term "butt-in".
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 Persi Diaconis notes that S. Victor Innis was the first to publish the fact that eight out-shuffles bring a fifty-two-card pack back to its original order. See his //Inner Secrets of Crooked Card Players//, 1915, p. 13. Persi Diaconis notes that S. Victor Innis was the first to publish the fact that eight out-shuffles bring a fifty-two-card pack back to its original order. See his //Inner Secrets of Crooked Card Players//, 1915, p. 13.
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 +The use of a perfect (faro-like) shuffle to gather four Aces distributed in a sixteen-card packet was noted by "Dorian" in //[[http://askalexander.org/display/38784/The+Magic+wand+and+magical+review/168|The Magic Wand]]//, No. 7 No. 8, Apr. 1917, p. 122; "The 'Simplicitus' Four-Ace Trick".
  
 {{tag>technique}} {{tag>technique}}