The Faro Shuffle + FFF by Homer Liwag

[Cliff|Bumgardner]

The Faro Shuffle + FFF​

By​

Homer Liwag​

Moves Taught:
The Faro Shuffle
The Filipino False Faro or FFF with several variations

Effect Taught:
Triumph


Thoughts:
On this latest 1on1 Homer teaches you a classic, over 300 year old, sleight that every card magician should know and love. The Faro Shuffle (or Perfect Shuffle) is a beautiful, effective, and moderately easy move that can serve a variety of purposes in card magic and even flourishing.

Homer's teaching of the classic move is very good, with only one small detail left out. The fact that the faro can, after 8 repetitions, be totally false, is never mentioned. Though this is a small note, it is something that Hugard and Braue discuss heavily in Expert Card Technique and I thought it would at least be mentioned briefly. However, that one small note does not take away from the great teaching of the actual sleight itself.

Next, Homer teaches his great Filipino False Faro, a visually and audibly stunning false shuffle.
The basic concept behind the shuffle is something I thing most card workers have probably at least played with at one time or another, I know I have. But I never thought it could be as beautiful and deceptive as Homer makes it.

The shuffle is fairly easy if you have some Faro experience, but will definitely take the development of a knack and will be greatly affected by your cards as well.

Like many false shuffles, the FFF does leave the deck cut, though the individual order is not disturbed. To solve this, Homer then teaches several simple variations that retain full order very deceptively and take no more practice after learning the sleight itself.

After this, Homer teaches a beautiful Triumph routine using the FFF to make it extremely fair and simple. He also talks about a nice touch that the FFF allows you to do during the effect that completely alters the entire Triumph plot like I had honestly never thought of before.


Final Thoughts:
All in all, this is a terrific purchase for any and every card worker. The FFF is a great sleight and is gone over here in great detail. I highly recommend this download.

Note: After the original writing of this review, several good points were brought up concerning the teaching of the basic Faro Shuffle itself. As I think these points should be understood and taken into account, I have included two posts at the bottom of this review. I feel it needs to be made clear that my comments regarding this 1on1 apply mainly to the FFF as I believe that everyone should know the Faro before delving into this video as the teaching of the sleight is very basic and only taught as a prerequisite to the FFF.

__________________

I don't know... not mentioning eight shuffles will reset the order seems a little too rudimentary to leave out.

Also, does this teach tabled faro shuffling, or is it all in the hands? Is there any focus on the shuffle on a cheating device, ie a poker shuffle in which none of the bottom cards flash to the shuffler? Or shortcuts to quickly and accurately gauge a cut at twenty six by touch alone? It seems a little basic on the video.

I'm guessing that since he doesn't talk about the cycle of eight, he also doesn't talk about the difference between in / out shuffles, and how alternations can set the deck. But I don't know.

Any info from someone who downloaded the video would be appreciated.

Mike,

I felt very much the same way and no, no other applications but the in the hands Faro are taught. Again, I think this is a mistake, but I didn't factor it into my review as it clearly was not the intention on the 1on1. I feel like the intention was to teach the FFF and the Faro was just taught as a prerequisite.

I think that any card worker worth his upkeep should already at least own and be reading Expert Card Technique and have the knowledge of a Faro. This download is only applicable to those who know Faro technique and wish to expand it with Homer's FFF.

C

 

[Randomwrath]

Nice review. May I ask one thing though - the FFF, does it look identical to a Faro shuffle? And can it have a cascade or do you just need to square up? Cheers.

 

[aJohnson]

Nice review. May I ask one thing though - the FFF, does it look identical to a Faro shuffle? And can it have a cascade or do you just need to square up? Cheers.

I've not purchased this yet, but I believe he was showing it can cascade in the preview.

 

[Randomwrath]

I've not purchased this yet, but I believe he was showing it can cascade in the preview.

Hmm, I thought he might have been but I wasn't sure. What can I say, I've only been up an hour or so...

 

[spades]

I reckon I'll end up getting it. False faro shuffle... Very sweet.
Good review.

 

[Cliff|Bumgardner]

Nice review. May I ask one thing though - the FFF, does it look identical to a Faro shuffle? And can it have a cascade or do you just need to square up? Cheers.

Yes, you do cascade the deck after a fair weave.

Thanks,
C

 

[aJohnson]

Downloading it now, I'll give my 2 cents in a while.

 

[spades]

One question... Does it matter which way you cascade or does it have to be the one hand from above way, as it is in the preview?

 

[Mike_C]

I don't know... not mentioning eight shuffles will reset the order seems a little too rudimentary to leave out.

Also, does this teach tabled faro shuffling, or is it all in the hands? Is there any focus on the shuffle on a cheating device, ie a poker shuffle in which none of the bottom cards flash to the shuffler? Or shortcuts to quickly and accurately gauge a cut at twenty six by touch alone? It seems a little basic on the video.

I'm guessing that since he doesn't talk about the cycle of eight, he also doesn't talk about the difference between in / out shuffles, and how alternations can set the deck. But I don't know.

Any info from someone who downloaded the video would be appreciated.

 

[Cliff|Bumgardner]

Mike,

I felt very much the same way and no, no other applications but the in the hands Faro are taught. Again, I think this is a mistake, but I didn't factor it into my review as it clearly was not the intention on the 1on1. I feel like the intention was to teach the FFF and the Faro was just taught as a prerequisite.

I think that any card worker worth his upkeep should already at least own and be reading Expert Card Technique and have the knowledge of a Faro. This download is only applicable to those who know Faro technique and wish to expand it with Homer's FFF.

As I think many good points were brought up here, I am going to include these two posts up in the review.

Thanks,
C

 

[Mike_C]

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, a lot of it is my frustration with still not having completely nailed the tabled faro and having it up to speed (I don't do magic, BTW). Expert Card Technique is great, as is Marlo's "The Faro Shuffle" and "Faro Notes".

The problem is touch gauging 26 on the felt - I practice with paper Bee's, but then switch to plastic Kem's (casino and cardroom standard) and BAM! Back to square one. How does Steve Forte do it? I guess it's just a matter of practice.

Anyhow, the video is probably good for people who want to get their feet wet with the shuffle, particularly as a magic device, or at least it looks that way from the preview.

And check it - by alternating in / outs with a top stock, you can set any one hand in a four or eight handed game. Awesome.

For example (all of these are for four players), to set player one, it's out - out.

To set player 2, it's out - in.

To set player 3, it's in - out.

To set player four (yourself), it's in - in.

Neat stuff. I can post the combinations for setting an eight handed game, if it's of interest. I am working on setting odd numbered hands, but so far don't have anything smooth.

 

[ftlum]

Fff

This is a great false faro. It was published in Genii, but I'm sure most people glossed over it; it was described in a few paragraphs at the back of the issue. If you've seen Mike Close do his memorized deck work, this is the one he uses. He pointed out that it's a great way to fix things if you've blown a perfect faro-- instead of unweaving the deck (which doesn't make sense, if all you're supposed to be doing is shuffling), do the false faro and you can retry for a perfect faro.

 

[Jupiter]

Any serious student of Faro work should endeavour to get a hold of Alex Elmsleys Collected Works Volume II. It has a complete chapter with 20+ ASTOUNDING tricks (pretty much some of the coolest tricks I've learnt) but a lot of people don't know that Alex Elmsley was one of the earliest serious studyers of the faro shuffle. He also invented the term in and out faro, but perhaps two of the most significant and underutilised tools that he invented were that of Binary Translocations for the Faro (something I am currently working on but it takes alot of time) and also solutions for what happenes when you do get an uneven weave. You don't have to pull out the cards, you complete the uneven faro and then continue with what he suggests. Top stuff, really handy considering how hard it is to cut perfectly every time.