The Sanas (etymology) of Faro

[Mullins, Bill]

>From my other hobby, magic and conjuring, comes another use of the word
"faro".  To a magician, a faro shuffle is an in-the-hands, perfect riffle
shuffle of a deck of cards.  That is, it is a shuffle in which the deck of
fifty two cards is divided in half, and each group of cards is perfectly
interweaved with the other.

An "out faro" is when the interweaving is such that the original top card
stays on top, and the original bottom card stays on bottom.  An "in faro" is
such that the original top card is now the second card from the top, and the
original bottom card is now second from the bottom.

If a magician is "faroing" a deck, he is performing a faro shuffle, or "does
a faro".

For a deck of 52 cards, eight out-faros restores a deck to its original
order.  52 in-faroes restores a deck to its original order.