The bridge shuffle can be found in most homes across the world where any type of card game is being played. It could be a game of poker, gin, rummy, go fish, bridge, uno, or anything else involving a deck of cards. Most people who have touched a deck of cards in their life can perform the bridge shuffle with their eyes closed. It is being included on the site for those people who are unable to do it. With a little bit of practice it’s a trick that is very easy to master.

Tutorial

Begin by holding a deck of cards in your left hand. The thumb is placed on one of the short sides of the deck. The pinky, ring, and middle fingers are hold on the other short side of the deck. The index finger is touching the middle of the top card with the fingernail.

Bring the right hand in towards the cards. The middle and ring fingers of the right hand come in contact with the middle of the bottom of the deck of cards. The left thumb now releases half of the cards it is holding. The right index finger comes over the top of the released cards and moves to the middle of the top released card.

As the index finger is moving into place, the released cards are moving further and further away from the original location, but are still in contact with the middle and ring fingers of the left hand. At the same time, the right pinky moves up and to the bottom right corner of the released cards to keep them from falling. To finalize the separation of the two halves, the right thumb takes the place of the left middle and ring ringers.

At this point, each half of the deck should be held in the same way by the right and left hand. The thumb is on the inside short end of the cards. The fingernail of the index finger is touching the middle of the top card. The middle and ring fingers are on the opposite side of the cards from the thumb. The pinky is on the corner below the middle and ring fingers to give stability.

Bring both hands together so your thumbs are about an inch apart. It works well if the middle and ring fingers are touching the table at this point and the thumbs should be 2-3 inches above the table. Push down a bit with your index fingers and allow your thumbs to let go of the cards on each side. When you do this quickly, the cards from each side will mix together in one pile on the table. The cards should have overlapped each other from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch.

Once all of the cards have been released, move your thumbs down and place them top of the section where the two halves of the deck have overlapped. Move the index fingers off the top of the cards and down next to the middle fingers. The end of the cards held by these fingers will not be touching the table. Move your fingers in towards the middle of the cards, which will also lift the two outside ends of the cards further from the table. The outside edges of the cards should now be in your palms just below the base of your fingers.

Push up with your fingers on the middle of the cards and allow your thumbs to move up as well. At the same time lower your wrists. The cards should now be in an arch.

Release the pressure of your fingers that is holding the bottom of the cards. As you do this, the cards will move in towards the middle to form one pile. This does not require any down pressure with your thumbs. Just let gravity takes its course.

You have now shuffled the deck of card. Repeat as necessary.

Videos

If you have ever played poker in a casino you’ve seen countless dealers shuffle a deck of cards. They don’t do it like the majority of use shuffle cards at home. They can’t because the observant players would be able to track specific cards throughout the deck. The way most people shuffle, they expose at least the bottom cards, but this is not acceptable for a fair game which the casinos strive for. By using the dealer shuffle, you keep people from being able to see the bottom cards or any other cards during the shuffling process.

Tutorial

Begin with a deck of cards in a single pile on the table in front of you so that the long edge is horizontal. Place your thumbs on the side of the deck nearest to your body. The pinky fingers are placed on each respective side of the card. The middle and ring ringers of each hand are placed on the final side of the deck of cards, which is opposite where you placed your thumbs. It doesn’t really matter where you put the index fingers at this point, but I like to place my right index finger on the top card so that my fingernail is touching the card. The left index finger kind of floats out above the deck.

Cut the deck of cards in half by taking the top half away with your right hand and the bottom half away with your left hand. Once the deck is split take the index fingers and put them on the side of the cards which does not have any fingers. While doing this it helps to straighten out the cards which may have shifted a bit during the cut.

Move your right thumb to the lower left corner of the right card pile and your left thumb to the lower right corner of the left pile.

Remove your index fingers from the side of the cards. Put them on top of the cards in a location that is roughly the halfway point between your thumb and middle finger.

Lift up on each card pile with your thumb and put a little bit of pressure down on the cards with the index fingers. At the same time bring the two parts of the deck closer together.

Lift the thumb across the corner of the cards so that one by one the bottom cards fall out of each half of the deck. Make sure to do this fast enough so the corners of the cards from each side mix together on the table. Only about a 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of the corners need to actually overlap.

Once all of the cards have been released by your thumbs, move the thumbs back to the side of the cards closest to your body. Push the two halves of the deck together to form a single pile again.

Repeat the process as necessary.

Videos