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Hi,
this is my first post, so hello everyone

During the last couple of months, I have worked on my faro shuffles and they've gotten pretty good so far. I don't get a perfect shuffle in each and every situation (especially in performance), but it's getting better.

The (hilarious?) question now is: What can I do with it? So far the only 2 routines that use the faro that I know are Darwin Ortiz's "Unholy Three" and "Ultimate Oil & Water".

After having put so much effort into learning the faro, I'd really appreciate if you could point me to a couple of tricks that use the faro!

Would you generally say that the faro shuffle is an important tool, or is it just a fancy thing that's not worth the effort?

Cheers,
Mike

Aunt Marys terrible secret uses the faro quite effectively although it is quite a lengthy routine.
I also use it for an aces production called 'Cardboard computer' which the only source I am aware of is Gerry Griffins complete card magic (the expert extreme volume)

Welcom, Spacemonkey --

The faro can be a great tool and is nice because it can be done in the hands or tabled. If you can find it, Andrew Wimhurst's "Card Artistry" video has some good uses for the faro, as does Martin Nash's "Charming Cheat" videos. Also, I believe that Richard Turner has a bit on this (can't remember which DVD). There are other uses, but the faro lends itself nicely to gambling routines and demonstrations.

Unshuffled!!!! I want to say that's Jon Allen's, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, Harry Lorayne has a great 2-card location effect, the name of which I don't know, that uses the Faro. Darwin Ortiz's Sy Stebbins Secret isn't a trick, but a very clever way to order a brand new, seemingly random shuffled deck, and relies on a Faro...get it down reliably, and you'll find all sorts of applications.

LobowolfXXX wrote:Unshuffled!!!! I want to say that's Jon Allen's, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think it's Paul Gertner's.

Paul Gertner's Unshuffled is the only time I use the faro. It is the best trick I know of with the shuffle. You do need to do it multiple times in the routine. If you don't do a perfect faro each time you do it in the routine it looks worse and worse by the end. Watching Paul do it you'd think its self-working

Apologies to Paul...I knew I only had about a 50-50 shot of getting the credit right, but I also knew it would get corrected shortly.

Quickly stacking two, four, or eight hands of poker in your favor. For entertainment purposes only, of course.

The Collected Works Of Alex Elmsley, I think volume 2, has a whole section dedicated to effects using the Faro. It's been many, many years since I read it so can't remember or recommend any.

There are many applications for the Faro Shuffle. One being, it's great to do to break in a deck of cards! Chris Kenner has an effect (I think it's called Paint by Numbers) whereby the 4 Royal Flushes are "painted" onto a canvas using a Faro.

I think it's worth learning it Spacemonkey simply because it's quite fun to do.

I love doing fancy cuts, fans, shuffles etc. and yet very few of these have a fundamental use in magic, unlike the DL for example. I do them mostly because they are quite thereaputic and I like cards a lot.

Mind you, it's always nice to have a use for a certain technique, especially if you're a beginner. I think there must be several good ones mentioned above.

My opinion of the Faro is that it can be used analogously with the Perfect Riffle shuffle. If a trick needs one, you can substitute it for a perfect Faro easily. The difference of course is that one is vastly more difficult than the other.

Mark.

RobLaughter wrote:Quickly stacking two, four, or eight hands of poker in your favor. For entertainment purposes only, of course.

I did that for a spec the other day, and she was totally blown away. Of course, part of the excitement may have been that I stole her wallet in the process...it was for entertainment purposes...my entertainment

It's also used in an excellent Marlo ace cutting routine.

Takes the aces to 17, 19, 21 and 23rd positions allowing you genuinely cut them from the deck.

Check it out.

I also use it to position cards 2nd 4th 6th an 8th from the bottom to change 4 indifferent cards into 4 selections.

Mikehosker wrote:It's also used in an excellent Marlo ace cutting routine.

Takes the aces to 17, 19, 21 and 23rd positions allowing you genuinely cut them from the deck.

Check it out.

I also use it to position cards 2nd 4th 6th an 8th from the bottom to change 4 indifferent cards into 4 selections.

Hey, Mike. Thanks for the info. Which Marlos video/book are you referring to?

I've been wondering the same thing ever since I devoted several weeks to learning to faro. One potential application struck me the other day while reading a trick in Card College that requires a pre-arranged deck.

Depending on your style of faro (I do a corner-to-corner faro, rather than butting two whole sides together, which looks pretty strange to me), you could pre-arrange your deck, then faro four times. Then, you can display your deck, which would look quite random, and faro four times while you introduce the effect. That way, it'll look like you've started with a random order and just shuffled the deck more, but really you've restored your prearranged order and can proceed with your trick.

Anyone else think this is a decent/dumb idea?