Having trouble with faro...

Nov 9, 2013
141
32
I am having trouble with my faro shuffle, especially getting the bottom-most cards and the top couple of cards to weave evenly. Does anyone have any tips?
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,879
2,945
Practice more.

The tops cards should be the first ones that weave properly. Square them up well, then put the corner of one package up to the proper place on the other packet - ie: Put the top card of the right packet under or over the top card of the left packet. After that it's a matter of learning how to rotate the hands and gently push them together and it'll weave properly all by itself.

One tip - if you can't do it face down, flip the deck over.
 

Nicholas17

Elite Member
May 28, 2008
94
5
35
Kentucky
Yeah, I've read and watched a number of explanations for the faro shuffle over the years and I've always had trouble. Everyone seems to teach it different, and I think it's because it's a hard move to teach. At some point, it will just start to click. It's one of those moves where you'll just "get" it eventually. You just have to practice a lot. It's a tough one.
 
Jul 13, 2010
526
34
That`s because there are many ways (hand positions, finger positions, top-down or bottom-up) of doing an in the hand faro. Some prefer doing it from the top down, others from the bottom up. I can do it both ways and practice both because sometimes the decks have a different cut (traditional cut is best used for bottom up faros if you want the deck in a face-down position to start with. It`s also the prefered cut for table faros.) and I most often want the deck face-down (otherwise I could just flip the deck but I don`t want this).
Overall I would say the "top-down in the hands"-faro is easier for most. In the end it`s up to your personal preference.
You can find good descriptions in Card College and Close-up Card Magic, and Michael Close has a very good download on the faro.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Apr 17, 2013
885
4
The Paul Gertner Lecture covered the faro pretty well. It was used in the first trick out of the gate. To set the deck it takes fives perfect faros and to perform it ti takes four more.
 
Jul 13, 2010
526
34
AFAIK Paul Gertner also has a DVD "Unshuffling the Faro" and his "Unshuffled" is a really great trick you can find in Best of Friends Vol 1 book and on the DVD.
 
Apr 17, 2013
885
4
AFAIK Paul Gertner also has a DVD "Unshuffling the Faro" and his "Unshuffled" is a really great trick you can find in Best of Friends Vol 1 book and on the DVD.

It was the effect he opened his lecture with the other night with Penguin.
 
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