Overhand shuffle

The overhand shuffle is the shuffle most people learn first: hold the deck in one hand and let small packets slide off into the other, again and again. It is gentle, keeps the cards the same way up unless you turn a packet, and suits tarot cards, which are larger and stiffer than playing cards. The drawback is that it mixes slowly. Mathematicians have shown that it takes thousands of overhand passes to mix a deck as thoroughly as a handful of riffles, so cards that start together tend to stay together. Readers who use it usually shuffle for a while, then cut the deck. See how to shuffle tarot cards.