The Erdnase System of Cull Shuffling

In most card games where there is a stake at issue the scrutiny is so close and the rules are so strict, that the expert card handler finds little opportunity to make an open selection of any particular cards. The slightest action that indicates such a purpose invites suspicion, and there is an old adage much quoted that runs, "If suspected, quit." However, we shall describe a new method of making many selections without a possibility of the design being detected, and in a manner so natural and regular that not a movement is made that indicates anything more than the purpose of thoroughly shuffling the deck.

The necessary preparation for the cull shuffle is to note at what particular number the first of the desired cards will stand from the top when thrown on the deck, and at what number the next will stand from the first, and so on for as many cards as are to be culled. For instance, if there are three desired cards, the first the eighth from the top, the next the fourth from that, and the next the sixth card further down, their order is fixed in the mind as eight, four, six. The lowest desired card is eighteenth card from the top of the deck, but the count is made from one desired card to the other. If the desired cards were together, the first one the eighth from the top, and the others the next two cards, the count would stand eight, one, one.

The calculation of the positions the cards will take when thrown on the deck is made before the dealer gathers them up to shuffle, or as he is doing so. It is a very simple matter to note the order in which two or three desirable cards lie, or, for that matter, five or six. In some games the note is made as the tricks are taken. In others the last cards that are faced on the table give sufficient choice. For instance, if two hands are shown in a Poker game, one holding a small pair and the other a side card to match the pair, a glance would determine the order the three of a kind would take when thrown on the deck. Of course, it would not do to make up the desired cards from one hand. Lightning don't strike in the same place often, and the dealer would naturally feel a little diffident about holding the same good cards that were contained in the last hand shown. The Cull Shuffle will bring the desired cards to the bottom of the deck. As a first example we will cull two desired cards.