[links_slayer]

So I was playing in a 7 player cash game last night. One of the guys there insisted on shuffling the cards "upside down" to get the bend out of them. Whatever, get the bend out of those ****y paper cards. The beef I (and another guy there) had was that he was staring at the deck when he was doing this, and his "upside down" shuffle was the last one before he offered a cut. I guess I wasn't worried so much that he knew what card he (or anyone else) was getting, but more that he knew what cards he (or anyone else) wasn't getting. Were we wrong?

Let's not even talk about his string betting: He's in the SB and throws in one chip to call the BB, I'm in the BB and immediately say check, and he says, "I'm not done betting." I said, "Yes you are." He says, "I wasn't done moving my chips around." The host says, "Too bad." I kinda felt bad for the guy...he lost 4 buy-ins in about 2 hours (2 of them to me )

[OnTheButton]

We used to have some "upside down, granny shufflers" in our home game, that would do the same thing you are describing.

What we did:

1. Ask them to give the last few riffles with the faces down prior to the cut.

2. Told them to come over a few minutes early before the next game, so we could teach the the proper way to shuffle a deck for poker. [(optional - wash) face down, corner grab - riffle, riffle, riffle, box, riffle, cut, deal]

Now everyone shuffles the "right" way with just a little investment of time to teach them all.

[jamby]

Guilty.

I shuffle paper cards upside down too. Most of my home game regulars use paper cards when hosting and the bend the cards quickly develop makes me nuts. FWIW, I always finish by shuffling right side up so no cards are known when it counts.

[mothmandan]

I played in a game on Friday where the guy hosting did that (not on the final riffle though). I think it happens because most of the "friendly home games" have players that insist on bridging the cards after each riffle instead of just pushing the deck back together. The paper cards are garbage, but they can last a while if the players don't abuse them and a simple shuffle with no excess card bending is used (in my case the casino shuffle for my region is - wash, riffle, strip the bottom 1/3 of the deck, riffle, riffle, riffle, cut).

My tolerance for issues like this has really gone down lately. Maybe I have been taking poker too seriously but between the overused paper cards, dice chips, bad shuffle techniques, bizarre house rules, string raises, and lack of some sort of padded playing surface so that I don't have to slide cards off the table to look at them (a cheap felt or even a table cloth), the games I have been playing have really been driving me crazy.

As you mentioned Links - winning can make these issues less of a sticking point, but it still sucks to have to play poker police at someone elses game.

Dan

[NoFear]

I am disappoint in you Jamby, you still play paper card.

I would not allow upside down shuffling....period.

[Derf Design]

I agree, no upside down shuffle at all.

What are these paper cards you speak of

I always keep a set or two of plastic cards in my trunk just in case I run into a game using paper cards. Every time so far, the House buys the cards from me if I'm ready to leave the game.

[jamby]

LOL, not when I'm hosting. I'll play with just about anything though when others do, including dice chips. I used to bring my gear to others homes and found that it was universally unappreciated once they had their own, regardless of the quality.

Originally Posted by NoFear

I am disappoint in you Jamby, you still play paper card.

I would not allow upside down shuffling....period.

[jamby]

Not really related to shuffling etiquette, but rather to paper vs. plastic cards. At least 70% of the folks that I play with actually prefer paper cards and request them when quality plastics are used instead. They like the feel of them and the fact that they aren't slippery.

As far as difficulty that folks have with proper shuffling, paper cards definitely suffer quickly and thus the bend that develops and is referred to in the OP. I tend to think that a bit of reverse shuffling is easier on friendships and egos than is trying to train folks how to do something (shuffle) that they already think they know how to do.

[MarkC79]

Originally Posted by jamby

LOL, not when I'm hosting. I'll play with just about anything though when others do, including dice chips. I used to bring my gear to others homes and found that it was universally unappreciated once they had their own, regardless of the quality.

I agree 100% with this comment. The 2 games I've played at used dice chips and 4 aces chips. When playing with the dice chips they players commented how the person with the 4 aces chips had those "nice" chips. Ugghhh...I tried to bring some copags once and we used them for a moment but someone quickly wanted a new setup with his deck of real WPT paper cards...More Uggghhhh...I just bit my tongue and decided I would never again bring any gear to someone else's game unless they showed some appreciation and desire for higher quality gear. Once I get my own game going, it will be a different story. I might setup a checkpoint and confiscate all dice chips/paper cards at the door.

[beyondtilt]

have him shuffle at least once the right way and then mandatory cut, unless he's a magician or has a photographic memory you should be ok.
in friendly home games it will happen, i have used the cut card more to cover the bottom card because all upside down shuffles will flash the bottom card as well.
good luck
and then pool some funds and buy some plastic cards