Dealing & Shuffling 101
by Alex J. Coyne © 2017 Great Bridge Links
As it turns out, it’s not just about knowing when to hold ‘em – a lot of cards, whether it’s a game of poker or bridge or a magic show cantered around tricks, is down to how you shuffle and deal the cards. We looked around for some of the best resources… Here goes!
Shuffling along
To teach yourself the various types of shuffles, we’d suggest that you head off to YouTube and take advantage of the thousands of videos available. Just type the kind of shuffle into the search bar and pay attention. (This has the advantage that you can play it back over and over and over again until you get it versus asking someone to show you a hundred times over.)
There’s the overhand shuffle, the Hindu-shuffle, the Blackjack shuffle, the riffle-shuffle and the Corgi-shuffle. There’s also the pile-shuffle and the Mexican spiral-shuffle. Yes, there are even more. Head to YouTube and have fun with it!
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using an automatic card shuffler to do the job for you – if you’re playing in a hurry or if your hands just can’t keep up with the quick shuffling the way they used to. There are great ones available from Amazon, cheaply too! My kids loved the automatic shuffler when their hands were little.
Learning the Deal
If you want to learn how to be a professional casino dealer, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of the best offerings in casino dealer / croupier courses we could find – some online, some local. Let us know if you’ve heard of any others we can add!
The Casino Institute is based in San Diego and offers some of the best casino dealer courses around. According to their website, they also offer assistance when you’re done and out looking for a job to use your newly-learned skills. You can also visit their Facebook page over here.
The Casino Dealer School offers courses in poker, roulette, craps and Pai Gow poker. As an added bonus they also seem to offer CPR courses, too, we’re guessing just for in case someone ever keels over when dealt a terrible hand.
Tony Shelton Dealer School, or TSDS for short, offers courses in poker, blackjack, roulette and others
The Anne Arundel Community College offers a casino dealer school as part of its program.
Mizrachi Dealer Academy claims to have one of the first certified online poker dealing courses and we’d say it’s worth a look. It’s even gotten some news coverage on ESPN.
Casino College Online has more online courses on offer dealing mainly with poker and blackjack.
The Idiots Guide to World of a Professional Dealer – fun article.
Holding the cards
OK so you got to know when – or how – to hold ’em too! There are some wonderful card holders on the market for small hands, or hands that don’t work well enough to hold cards. Our favourite brand, when my kids were young, was the Card Holda. It has since gone off the market but there are many others. Click on the images to shop.
The Wooden Card Rack with Pencil from Baron Barclay is a lovely way to rack your cards Only $12.95
This Fan Shape plastic card holder from Seven No Trump will hold a lot of cards so is perfect for games like bridge. $4.95 USD
The Card Holda! My little girl and I played many a card game using these to help her hold all her cards. Card Holda is one of the first card holders to be designed and presented with children in mind. Great for the elderly also! Just $16.99.