How to Shuffle Cards for Bridge

Practice can help improve your shuffling technique

Bridge is a common card game played with a standard deck of 52 paying cards. Like most other card games, it is important for the order of the cards to be random before being dealt to avoid patterns that can create an unfair distribution of the cards. There is no particular type of shuffle that a player has to perform during bridge, but the standard overhand shuffle with a solid technique will help mix the cards. Bad technique on the part of the shuffler can result in sections of the deck not being shuffled at all.

Things You'll Need

• Deck of playing cards

Instructions

The Overhand Shuffle

1. Place the deck of cards in your non-dominant hand (for most people, this would be the left hand), holding it by the ends with your thumb on one side and your middle and ring finger on the other side. Your index finger should be raised and not touching the deck.

2. With your other hand, hold the cards gently with your thumb gently pressed on the top side of the deck and your other fingers pushing softly against the back of the deck. Your palm should be cupped underneath the deck.

3. Lift the hand gripping the cards by the sides. Most of the cards will lift, but your other hand will prevent all the cards from lifting.

4. Move the hand that just lifted back down into the other hand, allowing the cards to fall in your other hand.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 at least 5 times or until you believe the deck is sufficiently shuffled.

Tips & Warnings

• Cutting the deck during shuffles will help with the shuffling process. To do this, simply take the top half of the deck of cards and place it at the bottom of the deck. You can also make this part of the shuffling process interactive with other players. The shuffler can ask another player to grab the top card and place it somewhere in the deck. The shuffler will then cut the deck where the card player placed the top card.

• Any shuffle takes practice to perfect. Keep an eye on how well the cards are shuffled the first time you try the overhand technique to determine if you need shuffle even more.

References

• Pokerology.com:" Learn to Shuffle Cards"
• 21ace.com: "How to Shuffle Cards"

Resources

• Learn to Play Bridge