Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
The semiprofessional sharper who is unable to execute the riffle
The semiprofessional sharper who is unable to execute the riffle shuffle stack makes use of the "overhand shuffle stack." It involves considerably less skill than the riffle shuffle stack, and will not pass in fast company. However, there are plenty of chump games available that will stand for this nonsense.
The sharper puts the cards to be stacked on the bottom of the deck.
The sharper puts the cards to be stacked on the bottom of the deck. During his shuffle he milks the deck, pulling down one card from the bottom and one card from the top at the same time. On these two cards he shuffles off two cards fewer than the number of players in the game. He repeats this maneuver once for each card he wants to stack. He lets the next card project slightly from the deck, shuffles the remaining cards on top. He is now set for the deal. The wanted cards are spaced out so that they will fall to the dealer, or perhaps to a confederate, during the deal. The cut is then canceled or avoided as explained in the section on the pickup stack.