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Learning a new effect and the instructions said "do a Zarrow shuffle".
I'm not familiar with this. Is this a fancy name for a standard shuffle or something new altogether?

Hayalp!

Zarrow shuffle is the shuffle used in the Triumph. Both piles face down and you got yourself a Zarrow.

PS, are you reading "Tangled Web" by any chance?

Unless I'm mistaken, the Zarrow shuffle is a way to riffle shuffle the cards without changing their order at all. I especially like to use it with tricks involving preset decks. Very handy if specs don't know what they're looking for.

MysteryMan is correct. Invented by Herb Zarrow. It's the table riffle shuffle (the style used by dealers) and it's turned false.

The move sleightly crazy is referring to is the faro shuffle. This can be found on Expert Card Technique by Braue and Hugard.

Steve

I'm not reading Tangled Web, but 'Two Shuffles Harry' which seems to be a great little routine.
Can anyone point me in the direction of any books that show this with diagrams?

Not sure of books but the Gerry Griffin Complete card magic series (DVD) has a great tutorial of the Zarrow on disc 6. I also believe ther is a zarrow DVD where the man himself takes you through the workings of the shuffle.

It is a very nice false table riffle shuffle when done well.

Maybe my mistake was in the word "Standard". Isn't the Zarrow where the top card of the bottom packet gets moved to the top of the top packet?

(While looking like everything's shuffled)

Lord Freddie wrote:I'm not reading Tangled Web, but 'Two Shuffles Harry' which seems to be a great little routine.
Can anyone point me in the direction of any books that show this with diagrams?

i have been looking for that routine for yonks...

what book are you reading it in?

Blapsing_Beard wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:I'm not reading Tangled Web, but 'Two Shuffles Harry' which seems to be a great little routine.
Can anyone point me in the direction of any books that show this with diagrams?

i have been looking for that routine for yonks...

what book are you reading it in?

It's in Harry Lorayne's Apocalypse, the first one.

greedoniz wrote:I also believe ther is a zarrow DVD where the man himself takes you through the workings of the shuffle.

Herb Zarrow on the Zarrow Shuffle.

It's excellent and, in my opinion, there's nothing like seeing the originator of a move or effect explain it, because you can get an insight into their thinking.

The basic shuffle isn't too difficult, but some of the variations, though very deceptive, will take a fair bit of practice.

I don't know the routine you're working on, Lord Freddie, but any kind of false shuffle might work instead of the Zarrow.

The zarrow shuffle is taught on Ninja 1 or 2 I believe.. not that Im recommending buying them , but if you have them.. its basically a false tabled riffle shuffle in which the selected card ends up on top of a half face up / half face down deck and is on the triumph routine.

I'd like to clarify something. The Zarrow Shuffle is a false table (riffle) shuffle. In its basic version, it has nothing to do with selected cards moving, things being face up, or face down, or anything like that.

There are more advanced techniques, and it can be applied in lots of ways, such as the effect I.D. mentions, but if a trick description says to do a Zarrow Shuffle, it's almost certainly asking just for a false shuffle.

Then again, I'm sure we all know how inadequate some magic instructions are!

It does keep all the cards in order.
Thanks for your help everyone. I have been poring through my old tomes hoping to find it explained with some diagrams, but sadly not.

Does anyone know roughly what year it came into being? I'm assuming it's from the last 30 years so a lot my older books won't have it.

The effect I'm reading mentions it casually as if it's a standard thing without any explanation of the shuffle. Tut tut!

Lord Freddie wrote:Reading mentions it casually as if it's a standard thing without any explanation of the shuffle. Tut tut!

Let me take a pop at this one: Card Fictions?

got to agree with part timer... get the Herb Zarrow dvd!


or i could counfuse things a little by saying its the same as a shank shuffle but with top cover