Friday, January 7, 2022

Snow Day and shuffling skills

Overnight we got a snowstorm, very pretty if you don't have to go out in it. Local schools declared a snow day, not even virtual learning, a merciful decision. Snow days are good for your mental health.

7 am views from bedroom.



I've resumed my practice of opening the window first thing and just breathing in the air for a couple of calming minutes. It smells different every day. Today crisp.

I've been playing cards in the evening, to get away from screen time, and find I need to up my shuffling game.  

I tried to learn to riff, but my hands just don't have the strength to bend the pack the way you need to. Even doing it with only a few cards in each hand is painful and the cards are slippery. I made a couple of pretty fountains, but no shuffling.

So I tried the faro shuffle, supposedly much harder than the riff, where you interleave the cards from a corner. Did it first time. Do that's my go to now. 

Turns out new cards are difficult to riff, and the way the manufacturer cuts them determines how you shuffle, cards face up or down. Who knew? 

I also found that shuffling leads you into two paths. One is the cardism beloved of card trick fans, manipulating cards into waterfalls and other configurations without spraying them all over. . 

The other is the religion of statistics, where bearded guys can tell you exactly how many times you have to shuffle to get anything approaching a random array.  Casinos have machines for this function. I notice the card shuffling world seems to be largely a boy's club.

Me, I'll be happy to just get a new array each time, rather than the ascending order bunch of spades, or solid block of hearts,  etc you get when shuffling hasn't worked.

Who knew that there would be so much technical learning to do before I can have a quiet few minutes of patience.

19 comments:

  1. It looks so pretty! As long as you don't have to be out n it for long.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I meant to say: who'd have thought there would be so much in shuffling?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I haven't played with actual cards in years. I do have a pack or two around here somewhere. I used to be able to do the riff(?) and then the bridge. I suppose I still can. I'll have to seek out the cards and try. I always understood that you had to shuffle them three times to get a good random sequence. I play solitaire on my devices now. Spider solitaire is my go to using 2 packs. Don't think I could shuffle two packs at one time though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can also use the shuffling method I use for tarot cards that are too large to shuffle in the traditional way -- just put them in a big messy pile on the table and whirl them around with your hands like you're mixing something in a bowl!

    My Rare One has a manual card shuffler -- a little metal machine that shuffles cards while being cranked by hand. Thanks goodness for it! Especially when we play canasta, which involves multiple shuffling of four decks of cards at once!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That throwing down and stirring around method is recommended by the bearded statistics blokes.
    Canasta had a resurgence around here in the last couple of years, after seemingly being something you read about in period novels and women's magazines.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good idea to breath in winter fresh air upon rising. Card shuffling, new cards are so slippery!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yay snow day! I am a very clumsy card shuffler.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Snow is pretty though in all honesty, I wouldn't like to look out my bedroom window and see that. It looks very cold.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, SP, it's really good for your spirits in any season to just breathe and look out. As you see I have a nice view. After that the day can start.

    Steve, thank you for the solidarity on the shuffling front. After crawling around the third time to fish out cards from surprising distances, I was a bit demoralized.

    Pam, it's not as cold as right before snow. But yes, cold, and I'm a fan of the changing seasons except when they get under way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I used to be a very fine card shuffler. I have lost my touch though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is beautiful snow! I love to smell the early morning air too and when we get a big snow I love to open the door and listen. The muffled quiet you get with such snow is wonderful to me.

    I'm with you on shuffling cards. I have a hard time with it due to arthritis and other problems. I'm happy you are enjoying your evening card games!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm with Steve, on both fronts!

    Chris from Boise

    ReplyDelete
  13. I haven’t played patience in a long time. Good idea!

    ReplyDelete
  14. We played cards hours and hours a day as children. The neighbors would be horrified at our playing poker, and mom said Think of the math they are learning. Ditto 21, and many other games.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yes,Joanne, we played 21 in the family, and the rapid subtraction you do, and the number combinations you recognize without having to calculate them, were definitely useful skills. Cribbage, too.

    About the snow day -- my teacher neighbor across the street told me the other day she has never been so exhausted. Never saw her today. I bet she stayed in bed. Didn't even sweep off her car.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I grew up in a card playing family, from War to Rummy (for all her faults my mother was a patient and determined card player) to Gin Rummy and even Honeymoon Whist for snow days when I was home from school...my dad taught me cribbage when I was 12 and generously "let me win" until the day he realized i was not only better at card shuffling, I was beating him regularly at cribbage. =)
    I have the same problem you do, Liz and find the best way for me to shuffle is to deal the cards out face down in a string of four or five and then do the shuffle shuffle once they've been gathered up. I've just started solitaires again and my old favorite is still a two-deck game called 40 thieves. It takes up a lot of space and is devilishly hard to win, but that's part of its charm.

    When I first saw those pictures this morning I thought, hey, that's my back yard too...Charlie insisted yesterday he had to go out and guard the yard, but he got as far as the porch seat and insisted the yard was safe, let me in NOWWWW...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Who knew all of this? I sure didn’t.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Me neither until I innocently thought a few hands of solitaire with actual cards might be a nice nonscreen thing. Such a learning curve, or rabbit hole, as the case may be.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hah - patience teaching patience! I've never been able to master shuffling and most often end up playing 52 Pick Up instead.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for commenting. I really appreciate your taking the time, and taking part. Please read the comments and see if your question is already answered!