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I recently purchased the How To Do The Faro Shuffle download but am struggling. I've no idea what Close means when he says to release pressure with the thumbs. When I attempt the faro, I tent the cards using "too much pressure for the cards to weave" but when I release the pressure, the cards don't weave either. Is there something I'm missing?

just concentrate on the first couple of cards. make sure the ends of the deck are flat, then you can bevel them a little. Using little pressure, get the first few cards to weave together and the rest tend tp follow.

Thats about as much as I know on it

I hate the faro, I've never managed to get it quite right.

Can't offer much help with it, but good luck

I'm hoping I can help some what but my descriptions maybe a bit poor but I will try my best. I'm also left handed so it might be opposite.

Firstly I cut the pack evenly and hold both packs in a charlier cut hold (fore and pinky on short ends, two fingers and thumb on long ends).

Have them held so that your right hand is palm down and left hand palm up but both decks are the same way around.... unless you want to mix face up and down.

On the right hand (Palm down ) I move my forefinger to a biddle position and the left hand pinky is moved to join your ring and middle finger.

I then bang the two ends to be faro'ed togethe so they are even and flat.

Staring with the bottom of the deck gently see saw the nearest card corners with a little (tiny tiny) pressure so you feel the cards pressing on the forefinger of your left hand and pinky on your right ( the opposite end to which you are faro shuffling).
Once the first few go the rest should follow. Do not try to force them as you'll just bu**er up your card edges. If it doesn't eake juset bang the short sides again and retry.

It works for me this way....most of the time

Thanks guys. I'm still struggling, but am now taking the path of a bad magician by blaming my tools. I've some new decks on order...

What's frustrating with the Close book is that the technique seems to boil down to a single sentence that just doesn't make sense to me. Ah well.

This is much easier with newer cards. Maybe if you get the "feel" you can continue with older decks.

I imagine Close has been doing this so long he's forgotten how he learnt - so how can he teach it?!

How far have you got with the technique - I only learnt this a while back maybe I can give a few tips?

I've got the grip down, can cut to 26 more or less okay, am fine squaring up the packets by butting them together, and can just about get the packs to tent upwards when I push the right-hand packet square against the left.

According to Close, I should then be releasing pressure slowly with my thumbs, which will trigger the cards weaving together. Sadly, when I release pressure, all that happens is the cards slowly untent again. I shall report back when my new decks arrive and let you know if I have better results with them.

I can sympathize. I can do a Faro shuffle but not perfect. I, too, was struggling with with the descriptions I got from books. It wasn't until a friend showed me how to do it that I started getting the knack. The weird thing is that I don't know how to describe it. It's a knack thing. There's a pressure sweet spot that you'll recognize and I can only explain it with the term muscle memory.

I guarantee though that once you get it a couple of times, you'll never forget it. Now to get the perfect faro...that's another story.

BTW, have you tried faro-ing the corners first?

I tried to learn the Faro once a few years ago from a DVD, couldn't get it, and gave up. Last month, I was sitting around messing with a pack of cards and thinking of a new routine when I just cut the deck, pushed the two halves together, and all of a sudden they practically Faroed themselves. Since then, I've had no problem.

When I Faro, I'll cut the deck into two halves and align the corner of one packet with the middle of the second and start the weave there. I find that, using this method, it's easier if you don't bevel the cards.

Still waiting for my new decks to arrive. Good old Royal Mail. In the meantime, though, I've been practicing with a deck that I'd previously used for practicing tabled, top-down, faros, and despite it being quite beaten up I've had a reasonable amount of success using Close's method. I'm still not sure I'm doing it quite right[1], but my hit rate on perfect faros is slowly creeping up. I've only been completing the shuffle when I achieve a perfect weave, and have managed to take the deck all the round twice now.

Returning the deck to its initial order... it is a good feeling.

[1] I think what he means by releasing pressure with the thumbs is to actually turn the thumbs inwards. You're releasing pressure but sideways from where the decks meet.

Learning how to do the perfect faro is close to first learning the faro. Try to explain it to someone who can't do it... it's almost impossible.

Books, DVD's can only help, give you the right start, but to master it you need to try try try.

I couldn't do the Faro Shuffle at first. Suddenly I was able to do it, without having any idea why. Meanwhile I get a perfect Faro in 19 out of 20 times, but it still doesn't feel as if I had changed anything from the start.

Time will solve the problem.

I know exactly what you mean. The most frustrating thing is the way in which, when you do a perfect faro, it feels easier than when you do an imperfect faro.

I'm definitely getting better at doing it, which is comforting, but I'm not really aware of why I'm getting better.

In Card College, Gobbi recommends just starting to Faro a few cards at the top of the deck to get used to it. Dulled corners can also be a problem.
Ian Kendall's Virtual Sessions cover a Faro as well as much more. His Faro is top-down, wherears Michael Close recommends bottom-up. I am practising (I also have MC's CD) but don't find the top-down any more difficult and it's easier to control which card from which block goes first. I would recommend you check out Ian's site though: http://virtualmagicshow.com/vsession/index.php

My hit rate is climbing. I'm currently finding the in faro easier than the out faro, but can take a deck all the way round in under ten minutes, with a few consecutive perfect faros to keep me excited.

I've found ways of adapting the grip to my spade-like hands which seems to help enormously. I have the index finger of my left hand further over the left side of the deck where the weave begins. I place my left little finger underneath this corner, and have my right index finger above.

Also, I angle my right little finger so it's virtually parallel with the deck. This helps me keep the edges square and allows for a more stable application of pressure on the right deck.

Most of this is quoted from a previous post.

The more common way of being taught how to perform the shuffle (e.g. in Card College - where I initially learnt it) is to weave the cards short end to short end, but it is also taught corner to corner. What I have found is a happy median is best - square the two halves and place them end to end, which helps to keep the cards square, and then, concentrate the pressure of the weave upon the corners nearest you - this helps keep the weave tight and also works if card edges become a little frayed as well, as corners tend not to become as easily frayed.

Secondly a firm but gentle grip is required. This is probably the best piece of advice (one that Giobbi gives along with many others). The grip I use changed over the period of learning the shuffle, in that my two thumbs have come a lot closer together during the weave. This keeps it much tighter and under much greater control. I can't emphasise enough how helpful this is. If part way through the weave you see it about to go wrong it is possible with a kind of 'pulling' motion of the fingers to correct for it. Unfortunately, this is just a knack.

As for cutting the deck in half, this is a challenge in itself, but what will help is making sure the deck is tightly gripped when cutting. If they are loose, then the cards will spread out slightly, and what will look to be two sections of equal width won't necessarily be two halves of the same number of cards. If you want to demonstrate taking a deck from new order, and back again, you can simply remember what cards to cut to.

Hope this helps. I also recently posted a performance of the faro shuffle.....Here