User Guide

by
Nick Pudar
Card brand names and back designs used in StackView are registered
trademarks of The United States Playing Card Company in the United States and
other countries.

Copyright 2006 by Nick Pudar

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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. 3
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 11
WHAT IS STACKVIEW? ............................................................................................................................. 11
CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................ 12
Events.................................................................................................................................................. 12
Stack Values and Position Values ....................................................................................................... 13
USER INTERFACE ...................................................................................................................................... 13
BACKGROUND AND CREDITS .................................................................................................................... 16
Credits................................................................................................................................................. 18
CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS USERS GUIDE .............................................................................................. 18
WHATS NEW IN VERSION 5?.............................................................................................................. 20
REFERENCE: DECK................................................................................................................................ 24
DECK VIEWS ............................................................................................................................................ 24
Default Full Deck View....................................................................................................................... 24
Piles View ........................................................................................................................................... 24
Poker Deal View ................................................................................................................................. 24
Point of View....................................................................................................................................... 24
STACK VALUES ........................................................................................................................................ 29
POSITION VALUES .................................................................................................................................... 30
SELECTED CARDS ..................................................................................................................................... 30
REVERSING CARDS IN THE DECK WINDOW .............................................................................................. 31
REFERENCE: STACKVIEW CONTROL ............................................................................................. 32
CONTROL TAB .......................................................................................................................................... 32
Arrange Cards .................................................................................................................................... 32
Conventional Shuffles ......................................................................................................................... 37
Faro Shuffles....................................................................................................................................... 53
SELECTION TAB ........................................................................................................................................ 63
Deck Visual Indicators........................................................................................................................ 64
Force Selection ................................................................................................................................... 68
Free Choice From Spread................................................................................................................... 69
Free Choice with Special Handling .................................................................................................... 71

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 Swap Cards Selection ......................................................................................................................... 77
SESSIONS TAB .......................................................................................................................................... 80
Recording Sessions ............................................................................................................................. 81
Working with Session Files ................................................................................................................. 84
Controlling Sessions ........................................................................................................................... 84
REFERENCE: PILES CONTROL .......................................................................................................... 88
CREATE PILES .......................................................................................................................................... 88
Cut Cards............................................................................................................................................ 89
Deal Cards.......................................................................................................................................... 93
PILES VIEWPOINT ..................................................................................................................................... 98
PILE CONTROL MATRIX.......................................................................................................................... 102
SELECT / RETURN ................................................................................................................................... 105
Selection Pile .................................................................................................................................... 105
Selected Card.................................................................................................................................... 106
Return Pile ........................................................................................................................................ 106
Return Position ................................................................................................................................. 108
Reverse Selected Card ...................................................................................................................... 108
Move Only......................................................................................................................................... 109
COMBINE ................................................................................................................................................ 109
Secondary on Top ............................................................................................................................. 109
Primary on Top ................................................................................................................................. 109
RIFFLE SHUFFLE / GILBREATH PRINCIPLE .............................................................................................. 109
Random ............................................................................................................................................. 110
Protect Block..................................................................................................................................... 110
Gilbreath View.................................................................................................................................. 111
CUT PILES .............................................................................................................................................. 112
Cut Pile and Portion ......................................................................................................................... 113
Place Cut Portion ............................................................................................................................. 113
Reverse Cut Portion.......................................................................................................................... 114
AUSTRALIAN DEAL ................................................................................................................................ 115
Select................................................................................................................................................. 116
Start................................................................................................................................................... 117
Number ............................................................................................................................................. 117
Reverse.............................................................................................................................................. 118
Inverse............................................................................................................................................... 119
SWAP PILES ............................................................................................................................................ 122
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 First Pile ........................................................................................................................................... 122
Second Pile ....................................................................................................................................... 123
Reverse First Pile.............................................................................................................................. 128
Reverse Second Pile.......................................................................................................................... 128
SPECIAL .................................................................................................................................................. 128
Elmsley Count ................................................................................................................................... 129
Jordan Count .................................................................................................................................... 130
Turn Over Pile .................................................................................................................................. 131
Inverse............................................................................................................................................... 131
REFRESH DECK....................................................................................................................................... 132
REFERENCE: CUSTOM DECK ........................................................................................................... 133
USER INTERFACE .................................................................................................................................... 133
RETAINED VS. NEW STACK VALUES ....................................................................................................... 135
CONTROL BUTTONS................................................................................................................................ 136
Import Current Deck from StackView............................................................................................... 136
Transfer: New ................................................................................................................................... 137
Transfer: Retain ................................................................................................................................ 137
Reset: New ........................................................................................................................................ 137
Reset: Retain ..................................................................................................................................... 138
Reorder Retained Stack..................................................................................................................... 138
CREATE A STANYON VARIATION DECK .................................................................................................. 138
Stanyon Variation Results Output..................................................................................................... 139
IMPORTING A DECK ................................................................................................................................ 142
TRANSFERRING A DECK ......................................................................................................................... 143
SAVING YOUR CREATED STACK ............................................................................................................. 143
REFERENCE: CUSTOM MNEMONICS ............................................................................................. 144
DEFAULT MNEMONIC FILE ..................................................................................................................... 144
CREATING CUSTOM MNEMONICS ........................................................................................................... 144
SAVING A MNEMONIC FILE .................................................................................................................... 145
REFERENCE: BACK DESIGN ............................................................................................................. 147
REFERENCE: JOYAL SHUFFLEMETER.......................................................................................... 148
ANALYSIS TABS ..................................................................................................................................... 148
Spread ............................................................................................................................................... 149

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 Permutation ...................................................................................................................................... 150
Distribution....................................................................................................................................... 151
Group................................................................................................................................................ 152
Break................................................................................................................................................. 153
SHUFFLE INDEX ...................................................................................................................................... 154
REFERENCE: STACKVIEW TEST ..................................................................................................... 155
ACCESSING STACKVIEW TEST ............................................................................................................... 156
DECK RANGE.......................................................................................................................................... 156
Full Deck........................................................................................................................................... 156
Stack Value Range ............................................................................................................................ 156
Current Deck Position Range ........................................................................................................... 156
STACK SEQUENCE .................................................................................................................................. 157
Forward ............................................................................................................................................ 158
Backward .......................................................................................................................................... 158
Current Order ................................................................................................................................... 158
Random ............................................................................................................................................. 159
TEST VALUE ........................................................................................................................................... 159
Card Value........................................................................................................................................ 159
Stack Value ....................................................................................................................................... 160
Random Mix...................................................................................................................................... 162
TEST CARD ............................................................................................................................................. 162
Current Card..................................................................................................................................... 162
Next Card.......................................................................................................................................... 163
Previous Card ................................................................................................................................... 163
Random Card.................................................................................................................................... 165
Additional Note:................................................................................................................................ 165
TIMERS ................................................................................................................................................... 165
Durations .......................................................................................................................................... 165
Enable Timers ................................................................................................................................... 167
MNEMONICS ........................................................................................................................................... 167
Enable Mnemonics............................................................................................................................ 167
Auto Hint........................................................................................................................................... 169
CONTROL BUTTONS................................................................................................................................ 170
Test.................................................................................................................................................... 171
Next ................................................................................................................................................... 173
Show.................................................................................................................................................. 174
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 Hint ................................................................................................................................................... 175
Cards Remaining Progress Bar ........................................................................................................ 176
TEST RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................ 176
REFERENCE: STACKVIEW ADVANCED TEST ............................................................................. 179
ACCESSING STACKVIEW ADVANCED TEST ............................................................................................ 179
DECK ORDER .......................................................................................................................................... 179
Starting Deck Order.......................................................................................................................... 179
Current Deck Order.......................................................................................................................... 180
KNOWN CARD ........................................................................................................................................ 180
Top Card ........................................................................................................................................... 180
Bottom Card...................................................................................................................................... 180
DESIRED CARD ....................................................................................................................................... 180
Random Card.................................................................................................................................... 181
Specified Stack Value........................................................................................................................ 181
DESIRED POSITION ................................................................................................................................. 181
Random Position............................................................................................................................... 181
Specified Position Value ................................................................................................................... 181
TEST QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................................... 181
Cards to Cut...................................................................................................................................... 182
New Top Card Stack Value ............................................................................................................... 182
New Bottom Card Stack Value.......................................................................................................... 182
ANSWER INPUT ....................................................................................................................................... 182
Answer Entry..................................................................................................................................... 182
Answer Response .............................................................................................................................. 183
TIMERS ................................................................................................................................................... 185
Durations .......................................................................................................................................... 186
Enable Timers ................................................................................................................................... 187
CONTROL BUTTONS................................................................................................................................ 188
Test.................................................................................................................................................... 189
Next ................................................................................................................................................... 190
Show.................................................................................................................................................. 191
Cards Remaining Progress Bar ........................................................................................................ 192
TEST RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................ 193
Time .................................................................................................................................................. 194
Percent Correct................................................................................................................................. 194
Score ................................................................................................................................................. 194
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REFERENCE: STACKVIEW SEARCH............................................................................................... 196
DECK SETTINGS...................................................................................................................................... 197
Start Deck ......................................................................................................................................... 197
Target Deck....................................................................................................................................... 197
Deck Match Setting ........................................................................................................................... 197
Threshold Trap ................................................................................................................................. 197
MANIPULATIONS AND MOVES ................................................................................................................ 199
Maximum Moves ............................................................................................................................... 199
Identify Manipulations to Include in Search ..................................................................................... 199
CONTROL BUTTONS................................................................................................................................ 200
Starting the Search............................................................................................................................ 200
Interrupting a Search........................................................................................................................ 200
SEARCH PROGRESS INDICATION ............................................................................................................. 201
Estimated Possible Search Time ....................................................................................................... 201
Interim Results .................................................................................................................................. 201
TRANSFER LIST TO SESSIONS ................................................................................................................. 202
REFERENCE: MENUS........................................................................................................................... 203
FILE ........................................................................................................................................................ 203
Open Deck ..................................................................................................................................... 203
Save Deck As ................................................................................................................................. 203
Save Deck As Default........................................................................................................................ 204
Open Session ................................................................................................................................. 204
Save Session As ............................................................................................................................. 204
Open Search .................................................................................................................................. 205
Save Search As .............................................................................................................................. 205
Open Mnemonic ............................................................................................................................ 206
Save Mnemonic As......................................................................................................................... 206
Save Mnemonic As Default ............................................................................................................... 206
Print............................................................................................................................................... 206
Exit.................................................................................................................................................... 207
VIEW ...................................................................................................................................................... 207
Deck .................................................................................................................................................. 207
Controls ............................................................................................................................................ 207
Deck File........................................................................................................................................... 208
Session File ....................................................................................................................................... 208

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 Mnemonic File .................................................................................................................................. 208
Search File........................................................................................................................................ 208
Threshold Trap File .......................................................................................................................... 208
TOOLS .................................................................................................................................................... 209
Custom Deck ..................................................................................................................................... 209
Custom Mnemonics........................................................................................................................... 209
Joyal ShuffleMeter ............................................................................................................................ 209
Piles Control ..................................................................................................................................... 209
Set Back Design ................................................................................................................................ 210
StackView Test .................................................................................................................................. 210
StackView Advanced Test.................................................................................................................. 210
StackView Search.............................................................................................................................. 210
WINDOW ................................................................................................................................................ 210
Cascade............................................................................................................................................. 210
Open Window Selection .................................................................................................................... 211
HELP....................................................................................................................................................... 211
Open User Guide .............................................................................................................................. 211
About................................................................................................................................................. 211
APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE EXERCISES .................................................................................................. 212
SPECIFYING THE ORDER OF A STACK...................................................................................................... 212
ANY CARD TO ANY NUMBER WITH FAROS ............................................................................................. 217
WORKING WITH SESSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 221
APPENDIX 2: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS........................................................................ 229
WHO DO I CONTACT IF I HAVE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS?.............................................................................. 229
THE PROGRAM CRASHED. WHAT NOW? ................................................................................................. 229
I THINK I FOUND A BUG IN THE SOFTWARE. THE RESULTS DONT SEEM RIGHT. WHAT DO I DO?............ 229
HOW DO I LEARN MORE ABOUT STACKED DECK MAGIC? ........................................................................ 230
IN THE CUSTOM DECK WINDOW, WHY DONT THE CARDS DRAG-AND-DROP CORRECTLY SOMETIMES? .. 230
WHY IS EVERYTHING SO BIG ON MY SCREEN?......................................................................................... 230
WHEN WILL AN APPLE MAC OR A POCKET PC VERSION BE WRITTEN? ................................................... 230
HOW DO I CREATE MY OWN STACKS? ..................................................................................................... 231
HOW DO I MAKE A SPECIFIC STACK BE THE DEFAULT STACK THAT STACKVIEW USES WHEN IT LOADS?. 231
ONE (OR MORE) OF THE WINDOWS IS MISSING FROM THE SCREEN. WHERE ARE THEY? .......................... 232
WHAT ARE ALL THE SPECIAL FILE FORMATS THAT STACKVIEW USES?................................................... 233
WHAT IS A THRESHOLD TRAP?............................................................................................................... 234
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 HOW DO I RESET/RE-ASSIGN THE STACK VALUES WITHOUT DISTURBING THE CURRENT DECK ORDER?... 234
IS STACKVIEW SEARCH USEFUL? ........................................................................................................... 235
ARE THE STACKVIEW TEST TIMERS ACCURATE?.................................................................................... 235
WHY ARE THERE INVERSE PARAMETERS ON MANY OF THE EVENTS? .................................................. 236
Example 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 236
Example 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 236
Example 3 ......................................................................................................................................... 237
ARE THERE VERSION INCOMPATIBILITIES? ............................................................................................. 237
APPENDIX 3: SESSION COMMANDS ................................................................................................ 239
APPENDIX 4: STACKVIEW FILE STRUCTURES ........................................................................... 269
DECK FILE .............................................................................................................................................. 269
SESSION FILE .......................................................................................................................................... 270
MNEMONIC FILE ..................................................................................................................................... 270
SEARCH FILE .......................................................................................................................................... 271
THRESHOLD TRAP FILE .......................................................................................................................... 271
INDEX ....................................................................................................................................................... 272

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Introduction
What is StackView?
StackView is a computer based tool for magicians to explore various aspects of
controlling a stacked deck. There are many procedures and manipulations that
magicians can do with a deck of cards. It is easy and desirable to practice and
explore these techniques with cards in hand. However, the exploration of the
effects these techniques have on a stacked deck becomes troublesome; it is
cumbersome and time consuming to re-stack the deck each time you want to try
a procedure. As a result, the percentage of innovative stacked deck material in
the literature is miniscule when compared to the main body of non-stacked deck
work. It is actually quite remarkable that many of the great stacked deck
procedures had been developed with deck in hand. It is a tribute to the
ingenuity (and patience) of some of the great thinkers in the magic community.
The purpose of Stackview is to explore stuff with cards in a simulated manner.
As the knowledgeable card worker will realize, the software is focused on a
specialized form of stacked deck. You will note throughout this manual that
many aspects of card magic are referenced by name. StackView includes several
published and well known stacks for you use. However, you will not find any
explanation of what any of it means in this manual; it is assumed that you
already know what it all means. If there is anything unfamiliar, I urge you to
learn about it from the literature or in your magic community.
Throughout this users guide I will use the Aronson Stack in my examples. Since
this is the stack that I now use, it makes it quicker for me to write up the
examples without having to look up the correct Stack Values. StackView includes
several published and well-known stacks that can be selected for use in the
program. In addition, you can also create your own custom stacks with an
interactive deck builder.

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Conceptual Structure
Events
The procedures that you can do to cards are called Events in StackView. These
Events are performed on the cards at three levels: 1) the deck, 2) a pile, and 3)
a card.
There are Events that logically apply to the entire deck. An example would be a
standard Faro shuffle. StackView provides a large range of Events that can be
performed with the entire deck. These Events are found in the main StackView
Control window among its several tabs.
Some events are performed on a subset of cards. In StackView, the subsets are
called Piles. The Pile Events are found in a special Piles Control window, which
can be accessed from the Tools menu. Some of the Piles Events are similar to
those that can be done with an entire deck. However, there is more control of
the features of these Events from within the Piles Control window. In addition,
there are some unique Events that only apply to Piles such as the Elmsley Count
or the Australian Deal. (All Pile Events can be applied to the entire deck by first
creating a single pile of 52 cards.)
There are a few Events that can be done to a single card. These Events are
limited and are applied to the Deck window directly. For example, you can
reverse a card in the deck by double-clicking on the card with your mouse cursor.
You can also have a card selected and returned to the deck, where its selected
status is retained. Another example is when you double-click on a card in a
visible poker hand while you are in a Poker Deal view. In this case, double-
clicking is equivalent to performing a discard.
Several Events have an inverse setting. This setting performs the Event
backwards. For example, if you do a Faro shuffle followed by an Inverse Faro
shuffle, the deck will be back to its starting order. Inverse Events are most

12
helpful when you are trying to construct a routine, and need to know what the
starting order of the cards should be before you do an Event to them.
Once you have a sequence of Events that you like, you can record them as
Session files. A Session file is equivalent to a macro that will re-play a sequence
of Events. You can edit the Session sequence and play them back all at once, or
one step at a time.
Stack Values and Position Values
Throughout the StackView users guide and software, the phrases Stack Value
and Position Value are used. It is important to understand the distinction
between these terms. The term Stack Value refers to the secret value that is
assigned to a specific card in your stack. For example, in the Aronson Stack, the
Three of Spades has the Stack Value of 17, regardless of where the card may be
in the deck. The Position Value refers to a cards position from the top of the
deck. If the Three of Spades happens to be the second card from the top of the
deck, it will have a Position Value of 2.
User Interface
In order to best view the various features of StackView, set your computer
monitor resolution to its highest setting. (A resolution of 1024 x 768 works well.)
If you use a lower resolution or a small screen, you will have to scroll around the
screen at times to see all of the display windows. The individual windows are
not resizable.
The user interface design was selected for ease of use. StackView allows you to
perform various Events to the cards. Each Event has varying degrees of
parameter control. Once you have set your Event parameters, you execute it by
pressing its command button. The effect of the Event can be immediately seen
in the Deck window.

13
All activities in StackView occur sequentially. While not everything that you can
do with cards is a predefined Event, you can create your own events which are
built up of sequence of existing Events. These sequences of Events can be
saved in special macro files called Sessions.
There are several specialized task windows that are used in StackView. The key
one is the Deck window. This window shows the full deck of cards in its current
state with both the stack values and position values showing (if not disabled).
The cards will be shown in whatever context is required by the Events you
process (such as poker deals, Gilbreath view, piles control, etc.).
The StackView Control window is the main deck interaction area. Here, found on
one of three tabs, you can control which stack you are using, have cards
selected and returned, shuffled, cut, controlled, as well as establishing the back
design and color. In addition, you can record your sessions for later playback.
When the Sessions mode is turned on, all recordable Event buttons change color
and have red button faces.
The Piles Control window allows you to create subsets of cards, called Piles. The
Piles related Events allow you to perform functions to a single Pile, or to a
combination of Piles.
The Set Back Design window allows you to select which back design and color
your cards will display when cards are reversed in the deck.
The Custom Mnemonic window provides you with special tables of mnemonics
for the stack values and position values that are editable. You may save your
own mnemonic file as the default for StackView to use.
The Joyal ShuffleMeter module is an analysis tool as presented in Martin Joyals
The Six-Hour Memorized Deck (1997 Hermetic Press).

14
The Custom Deck window provides you with an interactive tool to create your
own stacks. You can choose to create your stack by specifying every card in the
deck, or you can create a Stanyon Variation stack by specifying the first five
cards of the stack. You can save your created stacks and even set one to be the
default stack to be used by StackView.
There is a full featured Search tool which allows you to explore the card move
sequence that is required to get from a starting card sequence to another target
card sequence. The card sequences can be the whole deck or just a portion of
the deck. In addition, you can set the search process Threshold Trap
parameter to respond to a near match. A near match is defined by the number
of cards that do match. For example, you may have the target set as the entire
deck, but are interested in knowing when an interim search result actually hits
45 cards or more. This ability to set Threshold Traps augments the brute force
of computer searches with your own creativity. You can also specify if you want
the Search process to stop or just save the interim results to a file for later use
when a Threshold Trap is triggered.
There are also two special test tools for testing your knowledge of your stacked
deck. Each test tool can be run with or without a timer running. When the timer
is activated, you will get a final score to monitor your progress. The main
StackView Test module is the primary quizzer that allows complete control of
how the cards are presented, and which cards will be tested. You also have the
option to view mnemonic hints during the test. The StackView Advanced Test
module provides you with complete control for testing your ability to control
desired cards to desired locations.
You can view various saved StackView user generated files as text documents
with the View menu command.

15
As much as possible, StackView is error-proofed. When certain logical
combinations are not consistent, certain choices are disabled. In other cases,
pop-up dialog boxes will appear to explain certain constraints. Also, when
parametric errors are input, specific error reports are provided in pop-up dialog
boxes. As such, all error conditions are trapped and dealt with. In the event
that you experience any crashes or incorrect event handling, please send me an
email with as much detail of the experience as you can to:
nick@stackview.com.
Background and Credits
Even though I had been a reasonably serious student of magic (and in particular,
card magic) for over thirty years, it wasnt until 2002 that I discovered stacked
deck magic. It is probably more correct to say that I subconsciously chose to
ignore stacked deck magic, since my personal magic library had a healthy dose
of stacked deck material.
During 2002, I learned a couple of stacks, and sought out as much material as I
could get my hands on (books and internet forums). Along this new learning
path, I came up with a new stacked deck idea to find multiple selected cards
under seemingly impossible conditions. The basic premise for the handling was
inspired by Steve Beams routine called Multiple Impact. My method allowed
for genuine shuffling by the spectators before and after the cards were selected.
While my methodology seemed to work flawlessly, I could not convince myself
that it would work every time. I had an intuition that there might be some rare
situation of spectator handling where the method would not work.
Since my method required a stacked deck, real spectator choices, and a lot of
mental processing, the opportunity to practice the method and test its
robustness was challenging. The only way I could figure out how to assure
myself that my method worked or didnt work would be to write a computer
simulation of the entire handling. It would have to simulate a deck of cards that
16
starts in stacked order. There would be random shuffling, random card
selections, more random shuffling, and finally, the program would have to
simulate my method of discerning the cards before comparing them to the actual
selected cards.
I used to be computer literate over twenty years ago; my programming skills had
seriously atrophied. So, with just a bit of determination, I re-learned how to
write programs in real time in order to simulate my card routine idea. The
original code was not pretty, but it worked. I was able to run several hundred
thousand simulations, and found that indeed, my intuition was correct there
were some failure modes in my method. My handling would correctly identify
the selected cards only 97 percent of the time. So I scrapped the idea. (And I
was unable to identify any satisfactory adjustments or constraints that would
eliminate the failure mode.)
In the end, I had a purpose-built simulation (entirely text-based user interface)
of a specific handling with a stacked deck of cards. Around that same time
(early 2003), I was rediscovering the stacked deck material in Michael Closes
Workers Number 5. In particular I was amazed that he ever discovered what
he did with the effect Tut Tut. I could just imagine Mike doing Faro shiffles
and inspecting what happened to the deck, and being surprised in finding that
nice sequence. I wondered if there might be an easier way to explore what
might be hidden in stacked decks, as well as a way to explore what happens
when you do things to the deck. Simon Aronsons Try the Impossible also
contributed to my curiosity in no small way.
It occurred to me that my little simulation was in interesting starting point, and if
I just put in a little more (hah!) effort, I might end up with a useful utility
program for magicians. With further blind confidence, I started down that path.
Once I got going, I could not stop, and the further I got, the more ideas I got on

17
how it should look and how it ought to work. The current product you have
before you feels right (for now).
Credits
Special thanks go to Simon Aronson, Martin Joyal, Richard Osterling, and Juan
Tamariz for their counsel and kind permission to include their stacks in StackView.
Additional thanks go out to Ron Bauer, Eugene Berger, Michael Close, Dick Dale,
Dennis Loomis, Stephen Minch, Ramn Riobo, and Jim Sisti for their guidance
at various stages of this project. More special thanks to Martin Joyal for
permission to include the Joyal ShuffleMeter from his book The Six-Hour
Memorized Deck. Further thanks are extended to the US Playing Card Company
for permitting the use of their back designs in StackView. Extra special thanks
also go to my son Jim, who at the age of 10 coached me on Visual Basic
programming and software design.
Conventions Used in this Users Guide
Throughout this Users Guide, there will be several conventions used with
terminology. I want to describe some of them that I am aware of.
When referring to positions of cards in the deck, the Top card is the top-most
face down card of the deck when held in dealing position. Similarly, the Bottom
card is the face card of the deck. When the Aronson Stack is shown in the Deck
window as shown in Figure 1, the Jack of Spades is the Top card of the deck,
and the Nine of Diamonds is the Bottom card of the deck. For more information
on the visual aspects of the Deck window, see page 24.

18
Figure 1
The examples used throughout this Guide tend to use the Aronson Stack for
discussion purposes. I have tried to point that out wherever possible. I have
chosen that stack in the examples since it is the stack that I personally use.
That way, it was easier to write and edit while minimizing potential errors. As
you will see, StackView is stack-agnostic.

19
Whats New in Version 5?
There have been many new features and adjustments made to StackView since
version 4. Below is a summary for those familiar with earlier versions.
A major new feature is the ability to create separate Piles of cards. There
is complete control for how the Piles are created. Once Piles are created,
there are many Events that you can execute with the Piles.
In the Deck window, the position values of the cards are shown just below
each card (in a gray color). The stack values are shown just above each
card (in black). Any combination of these indicators can be turned on or
off. In addition, you can specify that the position values count from the
back of the deck or from the face of the deck.
StackView now allows you to reverse cards in the deck. Just about every
Event in StackView now has some degree of control to reverse one or
more cards in the deck. When a card is reversed, its back design is
shown. On the Tools menu is a new Set Back Design dialog box which
provides you many current and historical brands to choose from.
Double-clicking on the face of any card in the Deck window will reverse
that card in the deck. If you are recording a Session, a ReverseCard(X)
Event for that specific card will be recorded; in this case, the X will be
the name of the card. At playback of the Session Event, that specific card
will become reversed, regardless of where it is in the deck. If you double-
click on any of the Position Value indicators, the card at that position will
become reversed. While the effect of double-clicking on the card face or
the Position Value is the same, the difference is in what is recorded in
Sessions. If you double-click on the Position value while recording a
Session, whatever card is at that specific position will be reversed at
playback. The recorded Event will be ReverseCard(X), where X will
20
 be a numerical Position Value. The ReverseCard Event does not work
while viewing a Poker Deal.
In previous versions of StackView, the word reverse was used to
perform an Event backwards. For example, if you did a Faro shuffle
followed by a Reverse Faro shuffle, the deck would be back to its starting
order. In the current version of StackView, the work reverse now is
associated with a card that has been turned over (reversed) in the deck.
The new word for reversing Events is inverse. Now, doing an Inverse
Faro after a regular Faro will return the deck back to its starting order.
In the Poker Deal, you can now deal up to 10 hands. While the Deck
window is displaying the poker hands, you can double-click on any card in
play, and StackView will discard that specific card. It will be replaced with
the next card from the remaining talon. The discarded card is replaced to
the bottom of the remaining talon. If you double click on a cards Position
Value, the card at that specific position will be discarded. The discard
specification of double-clicking on either the card face or its position
allows for more precise control when recording StackView Sessions. The
discard feature will help the curious explore and develop rich poker
routines.
The Ireland Stack has been added to the standard list of stacks in the
drop-down listbox.
In the StackView Test module, you can use Mnemonic hints to help you
learn your stack. The Aronson mnemonic pairings are the default set.
However, you can customize your own set and save it for use by
StackView.

21
 There is a new Advanced Test module that will be of significant value in
gaining full control of your stack. (My strong advice is that you do not use
the timer when you are first using this tool.)
Martin Joyal has provided kind permission for me to include his
ShuffleMeter deck analysis tool. For more information on the ShuffleMeter,
see his book The Six-Hour Memorized Deck, Appendix B.
In the StackView Control window, on the Control tab, there is a new
button called Refresh Deck View. This button will force the Deck
window to be displayed in the standard view if you currently have Poker
Hands or Piles showing. If Poker Hands are showing, it is equivalent to
assembling the poker hands with the Assemble Poker Deal Backwards
Event. If Piles are showing, the Refresh Deck View button will re-stack
the piles in order, so that Pile 1 is at the top of the deck, and the last Pile
is at the bottom.
StackView has traditionally shown the deck faces without regard to what
might actually being done with the cards. StackView now handles this
situation by assuming that the cards are spread face down on the table.
The standard view now assumes that you are looking at the card faces
from the bottom and through the table surface. A new feature now
allows you to toggle your view of the cards to look at the cards also from
the top of the table. Since cards can now be reversed in the deck, and
there is more flexibility with Piles, it became important to be able to look
at the deck from both sides. The directional view feature is available in
the StackView Control and Piles Control windows, but not for Poker Deals.
In the Deck window, if you hover your mouse arrow over any face down
card with your mouse, a small tool tip image will appear to show you
what the card is.

22
 On the Selections tab of the StackView Control window, there is a new
button that will reverse all of the currently selected cards.
As a new card selection Event, you are now able to Swap two cards in the
deck under a multitude of procedural controls. For example, you can
Swap different colors, same suits, etc.
In the Piles Control window, there is an option in the Riffle Shuffle Event
that allows you to visually explore the Gilbreath Principle.
In the Piles Control window, you can now fully explore the impact of the
Australian Deal with many new customization control parameters.
In the Piles Control window, you can also explore Elmsley and Jordan
counts, and their affects.
Your saved Session files are now macros that can be called from other
Session files. This allows a sequence of Events to be referred to by a
single macro Event that can be used in other Sessions.
The Custom Deck module has been moved from the StackView Control
window (as a tab) to its own window. It can be accessed from the Tools
menu. A new feature of the Custom Deck window is more visual clarity of
whether your custom deck is retaining the stack values of the original
deck from the Deck Window.

23
Reference: Deck
The Deck window shows you all of the cards in the deck. Every time an event is
performed, the Deck view is updated automatically to show the effect. If
enabled, the Stack Values, Position Values, and Selected Card Status is shown.
If the Deck window is closed, you may reopen it by selecting it from the View
menu, and select Deck.
Deck Views
Default Full Deck View
The default Deck view shows the full deck in two rows. The top row shows the
first 26 top cards of the deck, and the second row shows the 26 bottom cards of
the deck.
Piles View
The Piles view in StackView shows separate Piles. Each Pile is numbered. The
Piles are positioned on the screen in a way to minimize the size of the window.
The Deck window is resized for each Pile definition. Piles can have as few as 1
card, or as many as 52 cards.
Poker Deal View
On the Control tab of the StackView Control window, you can perform Poker
Deals. You can deal from 2 to 10 poker hands. The poker hands are shown in
the Deck window in separate piles, with the balance of the deck in the remaining
pile.
Point of View
Imagine spreading a deck of cards face down on a glass table surface. Now
imagine going under the table and looking up at the face of the cards through
the glass. This is the point of view that StackView shows you in the Deck

24
window. There are two places in StackView where you can change your point of
view to look at the cards from above the table.
The first place is on the Selection tab in the StackView Control window, where
you have the option to select your view from either beneath or above the table.
This option selection operates in the default Deck view. Also, when you choose
one of these option selections, the Deck window will be forced to the default
view regardless of what the current view was.
The second place in on the Piles Control window. Here, you also have the option
to select your view from beneath or above the table. However, in this case,
these option selections will only affect the Piles view.
Figure 2 shows the Aronson stack in the default full deck view when viewing
from beneath the table. Note that the Jack of Spades is the left most face up
card. When you change views to viewing from above, as in Figure 3, you will
note that the Jack of Spades is now the right-most face down card. This is
exactly as you would see it if you actually did look above and beneath the spread
deck.

25
Figure 2

26
Figure 3
If you look at opposite sides of a Piles view as in Figure 4 and Figure 5, you will
note that each individual Pile is correct. However, the relative positions of the
Piles do not move. This is intentional to help you more readily keep track of
which Pile you are looking at.

27
Also note that in each case, the Stack Values and Position Values are correctly
placed in each view.
You may not change the Point of View for Poker Deals.

Figure 4

28
Figure 5

Stack Values
The Stack Values are the special numbers assigned to each card in your stack.
In the Aronson stack, the Stack Value of the Jack of Hearts is always 34,
regardless of where it is in the deck. If enabled, the Stack Value is always
shown just above each card in the Deck window. The Stack Value is shown in a
black colored font.
On the Selection tab of the StackView Control window, there is a checkbox
labeled Show Stack Values. When this checkbox is checked, the Stack Values
are displayed in the Deck window. When the checkbox is not checked, the Stack
Values are not displayed.
29
Position Values
The Position Value of any card is its ordinal position in the deck. StackView
allows you to set the ordinal count from either the back or the face of the deck.
The default count starts from the back, with the top card being position 1, and
the bottom card being position 52. When the count starts form the face, the
bottom card is position 1, and the top card is position 52. You can set from
which direction you count on the Selection tab of the StackView Control window.
If enabled, the Position Value is always shown just below each card in the Deck
window. The Position Value is shown in a gray colored font.
On the Selection tab of the StackView Control window, there is a checkbox
labeled Show Position Values. When this checkbox is checked, the Position
Values are displayed in the Deck window. When the checkbox is not checked,
the Position Values are not displayed.
Selected Cards
When a card is selected, if indicated, it is shown in three ways. First, the card
image in the Deck window is highlighted in a yellow color. (Even if the card is
reversed in the deck, if selected, its back design will have a yellow highlighted
color.) The second indication of a selected card is its bolded Stack Value
indicator. The third indicator is the name of the card in a text string field on the
Selections tab of the StackView Control window.
On the Selection tab of the StackView Control window, there is a checkbox
labeled Highlight Selections. When this checkbox is checked, the selections are
indicated in the Deck window, and in the selections text string field. When the
checkbox is not checked, the selections are not indicated; the cards are not
highlighted with a yellow color, the stack values are not bolded, and the card
names in the selections text string field are replaced with asterisks. For more
information on Sessions, see page 80.

30
Reversing Cards in the Deck Window
Double-clicking on the face of any card in the Deck window will reverse that card
in the deck. If you are recording a Session, a ReverseCard(X) Event for that
specific card will be recorded; in this case, the X will be the name of the card.
At playback of the Session Event, that specific card will become reversed,
regardless of where it is in the deck. If you double-click on any of the Position
Value indicators, the card at that position will become reversed. While the effect
of double-clicking on the card face or the Position Value is the same, the
difference is in what is recorded in Sessions. If you double-click on the Position
Value while recording a Session, whatever card is at that specific position will be
reversed at playback. The recorded Event will be ReverseCard(X), where X will
be a numerical Position Value. The ReverseCard Event does not work while
viewing a Poker Deal.
In the Deck window, if you hover your mouse arrow over any face down card
with your mouse, a small tool tip image will appear to show you what the card
is.

31
Reference: StackView Control
The StackView Control window is where most of the key activities are generated.
The window has three tabs from which you select your actions. From the
Control tab, you will be able to establish which stack you will be using, and do
several standard (and not so standard) deck controls, including poker deals. On
the Selection tab, you can have cards selected, and control the visible nature of
the Deck window. On the Sessions tab, you can record your sessions for later
playback.
If the StackView Control window is closed, you may reopen it by selecting it from
the View menu, and select Controls.
Control Tab
The Control tab has three main sections of Events. The Arrange Cards section
allows you to establish the stack you are using, as well as reset the stack order.
This section also contains the Poker Deal controls. The Conventional Shuffles
section provides some standard Events for you to control your deck. The Faro
Shuffles section provides you with a complete assortment of Events to explore
full deck Faros. Most Events also give you the option to reverse cards in the
deck.
Arrange Cards
Set Stack
StackView has several of the well-known stacks built in to its code. You can
access these stacks with the Set Stack Event; there are quite a few to choose
from. There is also a stack called Default, which you can define.
When you perform the Set Stack Event, the Deck window gets reset to the
specified stack, and in that stacks original order. If you had any card selections
or reversed cards in memory from prior events, they will be erased. The new
stack that is displayed will only show the stack as it was saved with no selections
32
or reversed cards. (When stacks are saved, they only retain the stack values,
card values and card positions.)
Before you press the Set Stack button, you must indicate which stack you want
to use from the drop-down list. There are several well-know stacks to choose
from.
One of the choices is labeled Default (StackView.svf). If you have saved any
stacks as the default, it will load automatically when you press the button (or
when StackView loads initially). If there is no default file saved, then the New
Deck (Bicycle) stack will be loaded as the default. For more information on
creating Default stacks, see pages 204 and 231.
The standard stacks that you can choose from include: Aronson, Eight Kings,
Ireland, Joyal (CHaSeD), Joyal (SHoCkeD), New Deck (Bicycle), New Deck
(Fournier), Nikola, Osterlind, Si Stebbins (3), Si Stebbins (4), Stanyon, and
Tamariz.
(You can also open any saved file by selecting the Open Deck command from
the File menu. For more information, see page 203.)
Reset Current Deck Order
When you perform the Reset Current Deck Order Event, the Deck window resets
the order of the currently loaded deck to its original stack order. This means
that Stack Value 1 will be on top of the deck, and Stack Value 52 will be at the
face of the deck. If you had any card selections or reversed cards in the deck,
they will be retained. If you would like to clear any selected cards or reversed
cards, you may do so on the Selections tab. For more information see page 64.
Poker Deal
The Poker Deal Event allows you to deal out from two to ten hands of poker. At
the end of the poker deal, the Deck window displays the hands in separate piles.
Any un-dealt remaining cards are shown in a single additional pile.
33
Before you press the Poker Deal button, you must specify the number of hands
to deal. Even though the cards are shown in their respective hands in the Deck
window, the deck is ready for additional Events to be performed. After a deal,
the StackView deck order in the computers memory reflects the poker hands
being assembled Backwards as described in the next section, titled Assemble
Poker Deal.
When cards are being shown in poker hands, you may discard one of the cards
by double-clicking either the card face or the cards Position Value indicator.
When you double-click the card (or its Position Value indicator), that card will be
sent to the bottom of the remaining talon, and the top card of the talon will be
added to the poker hand.
For example, if you start with the Aronson stack and do a five hand poker deal,
you will see the cards as in Figure 6. If you were to double-click the Five of
Hearts, you will see that the Five of Hearts is now at the bottom of the talon,
and it has been replaced with the next card of the deck (talon), which is the
Queen of Hearts as shown in Figure 7.

34
Figure 6

Poker Deals and Discards will retain any selected cards or reversed cards status.
If you are in a Sessions recording mode when discarding a card, the Event will
be recorded differently depending on where you double-click. In the example
above, if you double-clicked the face of the Five of Hearts, the Event would have
been recorded as PokerDiscard(5H). If you had double-clicked the Five of
Hearts Position Value (the number 8 beneath the card), the Event would have
been recorded as PokerDiscard(8).

35
Figure 7

When played back, the Event PokerDiscard(5H) would try to discard the Five of
Hearts. However, the Event PokerDiscard(8), when played back, would try to
discard whichever card is in the 8th position of the cumulative poker hands.
For more information on Sessions, see page 80 and 221.
Assemble Poker Deal
After a Poker Deal, you will need to reassemble the deck. StackView provides
you with three alternative assembly techniques.
After a Poker Deal, even though the default deck order is an implied Backwards
assembly, you should use the Assemble Poker Deal Event button to explicitly
reassemble the cards. This is particularly important if you are recording a
Session for others to examine. To use this button, you must specify the order of
assembly by selecting the appropriate choice from the drop-down list.
Backwards Assembly
36
The face up undealt block of cards is placed on top of the face up last hand
(dealers hand) to create a new larger block. (i.e. If you dealt a a 5 Hands Poker
Deal, the undealt cards are placed on the 5th hand.) The new larger face up
block of cards is placed face up on the preceding face up hand. (Continuing the
example, the new block is placed on the 4th hand.) This is repeated until all the
hands are collected.
Forwards Assembly
Some poker demonstrations may require this order of reassembly.
The face up undealt block of cards is placed on top of the first dealt hand to
create a new larger block. The new larger face up block of cards is placed face
up on the second face up hand. This is repeated until all the cards are collected.
Unwind Assembly
Finally, you may also perform a poker demonstration that unwinds the poker
deal for the next part of the routine. Unwinding a poker deal returns the deck
back to the same order it was before the poker deal. Select the Unwind choice
from the drop-down list. (It is not my intention to teach unwinding techniques,
but rather to provide the capability for Session recording.)
Refresh Deck View
The Refresh Deck View button repaints the Deck window to its default full deck
view. (See page 24.)
Conventional Shuffles
This section provides Event controls for some standard shuffle and card handling.
Some of the Events give you the option to simulate the shuffles with purely
random handling, or with specific control.
Riffle
The Riffle Shuffle Event simulates a standard shuffle where the cards are cut,
and the two halves are randomly interlaced together, as in Figure 8. You have
37
the option to protect a specified block of cards at either the top of the deck or at
the bottom of the deck. You also have the option of reversing either half of the
deck before the riffle shuffle is completed.

Figure 8
Random
When the Random selection is chosen, the deck is cut randomly near half, and
the two sections are randomly interlaced together as they would be with a true
riffle shuffle. The interlacing starts with a randomly chosen half, progresses
randomly, and finishes with a random half.
38
Protect Block
When the Protect Block selection is chosen, you also have to specify how many
cards to protect in the block, and whether the protected block is from the top or
bottom of the deck.

Number
Enter the number of cards to protect in the Number field. You may enter as few
as 1 card, or as many as 52 cards to protect. StackView will try to randomly cut
the deck in the middle of the unprotected cards, and then randomly interlace the
two halves while protecting the appropriate block of cards.

Location
Using the Location drop down list, select either the Top or Bottom block for
protection. When StackView executes the riffle shuffle, the appropriate block of
cards will remain unshuffled at the requested part of the deck.
Reverse Top/Bottom Block
You may check only one of the two boxes to reverse one of the blocks of cards
before the shuffle is executed. If you are protecting a block of cards, the
protected block is determined after the appropriate half is reversed. For example,
starting with the Aronson Stack, Figure 9 shows the result of protecting ten cards
at the top of the deck, but first reversing the top cut portion. You can see that
in this random shuffle, the initial cut was made 33 cards deep. The top half was
reversed and shuffled while protecting the top ten cards (Stack Values 24
through 33).

39
Figure 9

40
Overhand
The Overhand Shuffle Event simulates a standard hand to hand shuffle as
demonstrated in Figure 10. The right hand holds the deck from below, and the
left thumb draws small groups of cards from the top of the right hand portion.
Each successive group of cards settles on the prior group, until all of the cards
have been shuffled off into the left hand. You have the option to protect a
specified block of cards at either the top of the deck or at the bottom of the deck.
Random
When the Random selection is chosen, the deck is shuffled in a purely random
manner. The groups of cards that are drawn by the left hand will vary in size
randomly and separately.
Protect Block
When the Protect Block selection is chosen, you also have to specify how many
cards to protect in the block, and whether the protected block is from the top or
bottom of the deck. In either case, (Top or Bottom), the protected block will
need to be cut back to its correct position after the overhand shuffle.

Number
Enter the number of cards to protect in the Number field. You may enter as few
as 1 card, or as many as 52 cards to protect. StackView will protect exactly the
amount of specified cards, and then randomly overhand shuffle the balance of
the deck. A final cut is executed to get the protected block to the correct end of
the deck.

Location
Using the Location drop down list, select either the Top or Bottom block for
protection. When StackView executes the overhand shuffle, the appropriate
block of cards will remain unshuffled at the requested part of the deck.

41
Figure 10

Cut
The Cut Event is just a straight forward complete cut of the deck. A portion of
the top of the deck is cut and placed to the bottom of the deck to complete the
cut. StackView provides some options in the Cut Event.
42
Random
When the Random option selection is made, the portion of cards that is cut from
the top of the deck is purely random. The random cut can be anywhere from 1
to 52 cards in size.
Precise
When the Precise selection is made, you must also enter a number from 1 to 52
in the provided field to specify how many cards are to be cut.
Special Random
When the Special Random selection is made, you must also select one of the
options from the dropdown list box. The choices include:

Quarter
The random cut will be approximately a Quarter deep from the top of the deck.
The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 8 to 17 cards.

Third
The random cut will be approximately a Third deep from the top of the deck.
The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 11 to 22 cards.

Half
The random cut will be approximately a Half deep from the top of the deck. The
actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 16 to 35 cards.

Two Thirds
The random cut will be approximately Two Thirds deep from the top of the deck.
The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 28 to 39 cards.

Three Quarters

43
The random cut will be approximately Three Quarters deep from the top of the
deck. The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 34 to 43 cards.

Shallow
The random cut will be less than half of the deck deep from the top of the deck.
The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 5 to 24 cards.

Deep
The random cut will be more than half of the deck deep from the top of the deck.
The actual random range that is cut is anywhere from 28 to 47 cards.
Reverse Top/Bottom Block
You may check only up to one of the two boxes to reverse one of the blocks of
cards before the cut is executed. If the Top Block is reversed, it refers to the
original top portion of the deck that is reversed before the cut is completed.
Similarly, if the Bottom Block is reversed, it is the original bottom portion of the
deck before the cut is completed.
Run Single Cards
The Run Single Cards Event is similar to an Overhand Shuffle, except that the
cards that are being shuffled in to the left hand are being run singly (one at a
time). You specify the number of single cards that will be run, and then the
balance of the deck is tossed as a block onto the shuffled cards. As an example,
starting with the Aronson Stack, if you specify 10 cards in the input box, and
press the Run Single Cards Event button (leave the other two settings
unchecked), you will get the new deck order as shown in Figure 11. Essentially,
the top ten cards were set in the reverse order, and cut to the bottom of the
deck.

44
Figure 11
Inverse
When the Inverse checkbox is checked, the Run Single Cards Event will be
performed backwards. Doing an Inverse Event gets the deck to the order it
would have been in before doing the same regular Event.

45
Reverse Run Cards
When this option is selected, the single cards that have been run into the left
hand are turned over as a block before the final block is thrown on top of them.
For example, starting in Aronson order, doing the Run Single Cards Event with
12 cards, with the Reverse Run Cards option selected will result in the deck order
shown in Figure 12.

46
Figure 12
Shift Top Block
The Shift Top Block Event moves a specified number of cards from the top of the
deck to a specified position in the balance of the deck. You must specify the
number of cards to move in the Block field, and you must specify the depth of
the insertion point in the Depth field. For example, starting with the Aronson

47
Stack, doing a Shift Top Block Event with a Block setting of 10, and a Depth of
20, you can see the resulting deck as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13

You can see that the top 10 cards were cut, and moved to an insertion point 20
cards deep into the remaining block. When you specify Block and Depth, the

48
sum of your two numbers can not exceed 52. If the sum was greater than 52,
there would not be enough cards in the remaining Block for the specified Depth.
Inverse
When the Inverse checkbox is checked, the Shift Top Block Event will be
performed backwards. Doing an Inverse Event gets the deck to the order it
would have been in before doing the same regular Event.
Reverse Top Block
When this option is selected, the top specified block will be turned over as a
block before it is inserted at the specified depth. For example, starting in
Aronson order, doing the Shift Top Block Event with a Block of 5 and a Depth of
35, with the Reverse Top Block option selected will result in the deck order
shown in Figure 14.

49
Figure 14
Move Card
The Move Card Event moves a single card from a specified position to another
specified position in the deck. You must specify the originating position in the
From field, and the destination position in the To field before pressing the

50
Event button. For example, starting in Aronson order, doing a Move Card with a
From 20 and a To 5 will result in the deck order as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15

51
Inverse
When the Inverse checkbox is checked, the Move Card Event will be performed
backwards. Doing an Inverse Event gets the deck to the order it would have
been in before doing the same regular Event.
Reverse Card
When this option is selected, the single card that is being moved will be turned
over during the Event. For example, starting in Aronson order, doing the Move
Card Event with From 10 and a To 40 settings, with the Reverse Card option
selected, will result in the deck order shown in Figure 16.

52
Figure 16

Faro Shuffles
A Faro shuffle is a perfect interleaving of cards. StackView offers many
variations and controls in simulating Faro shuffles.

53
InFaro
When the InFaro shuffle is executed with the Standard option button selected,
first the deck is divided exactly in half (26 cards in each half). The cards are
then perfectly interleaved so that the original top card is shuffled in (under) the
top card of the bottom half block. Staring in Aronson order and doing a
Standard InFaro shuffle will result in the deck order as shown in Figure 17. You
can see that the original top card is now in the second position, and the rest of
the deck is perfectly interleaved.

54
Figure 17
An interesting fact about this shuffle is that if you do 26 consecutive InFaro
shuffles, the deck will end up in completely reversed order. Another 26 InFaro
shuffles will return the deck to its original order. (Not very practical however,
see the similar information regarding the OutFaro shuffle on page 56.

55
OutFaro
When the OutFaro shuffle is executed with the Standard option button selected,
first the deck is divided exactly in half (26 cards in each half). The cards are
then perfectly interleaved so that the original top card is shuffled out (over) the
top card of the bottom half block. Staring in Aronson order and doing a
Standard OutFaro shuffle will result in the deck order as shown in Figure 18.
You can see that the original top card is still in the top position, and the rest of
the deck is perfectly interleaved.
An interesting fact about this shuffle is that if you do eight consecutive OutFaro
shuffles, the deck will end up in its original order.

56
Figure 18
Special Faros
In both the InFaro and OutFaro shuffles, you have additional parameters to
control by selecting the Special option button. (Special Faros are also referred to
as Partial Faros.)

57
From Top
The From Top field allows you to specify how many cards to cut in the top half
before doing the Faro shuffle. You may specify from 1 to 51 cards to cut. The
sum of From Top and Interior Position may not exceed 52.
Start Weave
You must specify whether the Faro weave should start at the Top or the Bottom
of the deck. See the examples at the end of this section.
Interior Postion
The Interior Position field allows you to specify how deep into the bottom half
the Faro weave should start. If you had set the Start Weave option to Top, then
the Interior Position depth is counted from the top of the remaining portion of
the deck. If you had set the Start Weave option to Bottom, then the Interior
Position depth is counted from the bottom of the remaining portion of the deck.
The sum of From Top and Interior Position may not exceed 52.
If the Interior Position field is left empty, the implied value is 1, which is the top
card if you set the Start Weave option to Top. Similarly, the implied value of 1
would be the bottom card if you set the Start Weave option to Bottom.
Example 1
Starting in Aronson order, and doing a Special OutFaro shuffle with a From Top
set to 15 cards, Start Weave set to Top, and Interior Position set to 30, will result
in a deck order as shown in Figure 19. With these settings, the top card of the
cut portion is the Jack of Spades, and the top card of the remaining portion is
the Eight of Clubs. Therefore the 30th card down in the remaining portion is the
Four of Clubs. You will note that the Jack of Spades is to the left of the Four of
Clubs since it is an OutFaro. (Had it been an InFaro, the Jack of Spades would
have been to the right of the Four of Clubs.) Also note that positions 46 through

58
52 are cards from the original top portion that did not have any cards to weave
into. They just finish at the bottom of the deck.

Figure 19

Example 2
Starting in Aronson order, and doing a Special InFaro shuffle with a From Top
set to 20 cards, Start Weave set to Bottom, and Interior Position set to 18, will
59
result in a deck order as shown in Figure 20. With these settings, the bottom
card of the cut portion is the Five of Spades, and the top card of the remaining
portion is the Queen of Diamonds. Therefore the 18th card from the bottom in
the remaining portion is the Ten of Clubs. You will note that the Five of Spades
is to the right of the Ten of Clubs since it is an InFaro. (Had it been an OutFaro,
the Five of Spades would have been to the left of the Ten of Clubs.) Also note
that positions 1 through 5 are cards from the original top portion that did not
have any cards to weave into. They just finish at the top of the deck.

60
Figure 20
Inverse
When the Inverse checkbox is checked, the Faro Shuffle Event (Standard or
Special) will be performed backwards. Doing an Inverse Event gets the deck to
the order it would have been in before doing the same regular Event.

61
This feature can be useful in preparing a stack that you want to openly (Faro)
shuffle before you begin performing. For example, you would use your favorite
stack, but you also want to see you shuffle the deck before you begin. You can
use StackView to do two Inverse OutFaro shuffles. Arrange the deck as shown
in the Deck window, and put the cards in the case. When you are ready to
perform, take the cards out of the case, perform two OutFaro shuffles, and your
stack will now be in the correct order.
Reverse Top Block
When this option is selected, the From Top specified block will be turned over as
a block before it is Faro shuffled into the remaining block. For example, starting
in Aronson order, doing a Special OutFaro with a From Top specification of 10, a
Start Weave from the Top, and an Interior Position of 12, with the Reverse Top
Block option selected will result in the deck order shown in Figure 21.

62
Figure 21

Selection Tab
As the name implies, the Selection tab allows you to simulate the selection of
cards. In addition, there are several settings to control how the deck displays in
the Deck window.

63
Deck Visual Indicators
Whenever you perform any Events with StackView, the results of your actions
are shown in the Deck window. The Deck window will also show several pieces
of information: the Position Values, the Stack Values, and whether a card has
been selected, are all things that you may or may not want to be visible. You
can also change whether the Position Values are counted from the face or the
back of the deck. You are also able to change the view of the deck from
between the top and the bottom of the table. Figure 22 shows a close-up of a
couple of selected cards.

64
Figure 22

When a card is selected, if indicated, it is shown in three ways. First, the card
image in the Deck window is highlighted in a yellow color. (Even if the card is
reversed in the deck, if selected, its back design will have a yellow highlighted
color.) The second indication of a selected card is its bolded Stack Value
indicator. The third indicator is the name of the card in a Selections text string
field.

65
Highlight Selections
When the Highlight Selections checkbox is checked, any selected cards will be
fully highlighted. The selected card will be highlighted with a yellow color. The
Stack Value will be in a bold font. And the Selections text field will contain the
name of the card.
When the Highlight Selections checkbox is unchecked, the card is not highlighted,
and the Stack Value font is not bolded. Also, the Selections text field data will be
replaced with asterisks (***).
Show Stack Values
When the Show Stack Values checkbox is checked, the Stack Values of each card
are displayed above the cards. When it is unchecked, the Stack Values are not
displayed. Having this ability to turn the Stack Values on or off is useful in
practicing certain effects where you must test your ability to discern certain cards.
Show Position Values
When the Show Position Values checkbox is checked, the Position Values of each
card are displayed below the cards. When it is unchecked, the Position Values
are not displayed.
Count From Back/Face
The default position count is to count from the top/back of the deck to the
bottom/face of the deck. The top card is position 1, and the bottom card is
position 52. However, in some routines and practice sessions, it is practical to
count the deck in the opposite direction. StackView gives you the option to
display the Position Values in either direction.
When the Count From Back option is selected, the Position Values are shown
counting from back to face. When the Count From Face option is selected, the
Position Values are shown counting from face to back.

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Selections Text String Field
The Selections text string field shows the names of the cards that have been
selected in earlier activities. If the Highlight Selections checkbox is unchecked,
the card names will be replaced with asterisks (***).
Every time a card is selected, its name will appear in the Selections field. If the
same card is selected more than once, its name will appear more than once.
The Selections field will retain the order of the cards as they are selected, and
duplicate selections will be recorded.
There is no practical limit to the number of cards that can be selected.
View Deck From Beneath/Above Table
The default view of the deck is from the bottom of the table. StackView allows
you to change the view as though you were looking at the deck from the top of
the table. You do this with the option buttons provided.
When you select the View Deck From BENEATH Table (main) option, you will be
looking at the cards as though they were spread face down on a glass table, and
you were looking at the cards from beneath the table.
When you select the View Deck From ABOVE Table option, you will be looking at
the cards as though they were spread face down on the table, and you were
looking at the cards from above the table.
For more detail on the Point of View, see page 24.
Clear All Selections
When the Clear All Selections button is pressed, all selected cards are returned to
their unselected mode. The highlighting is turned off. The Stack Value font is
no bolded. And the Selections text field is cleared.
When the selections are cleared, the order and orientation (reversed or not) of
the cards are retained.
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Clear Reversed Cards
When the Clear Reversed Cards button is pressed, all reversed cards are turned
over to the original orientation. (If the deck is viewed from the bottom of the
table, as in the default mode, all the cards will be face up when this button is
pressed.)
When the reversed cards are turned back over, the order of the cards, and their
selection status will be retained.
Reverse All Selections
When the Reverse All Selections button is pressed, all of the selections will be
individually turned over in the deck.
Force Selection
With StackView you may influence the card that is selected and returned to the
deck. Once you establish the parameters of your force, you press the Force
button, and the Event is executed.
A card that is forced will become a selected card, and will be highlighted. For
more information on controlling the view of selected cards, see page 66.
When a Force Selection Event is recorded in a Session, it will appear as two
Commands. The first Command is the Force portion of the Event, and the
second Command is the Return portion of the Event. For more information see
page 85.
Force Card
You indicate the Force Card by specifying the Position Value of the card you want
forced. The reason the Position Value is used (and not the Stack Value) is that
you must know where the card is before you can force it.
For example, starting with an Aronson stack, perform two OutFaro shuffles, and
use StackView to Force with a Position parameter of 10. The 10th physical card

68
from the top of the deck, the Eight of Clubs, will be forced, even though its Stack
Value is 16. If you had actually wanted to Force the card with the Stack Value of
10 (the Ace of Clubs), you would have to use a Position parameter of 37 because
the Ace of Clubs is the 37th card from the top.
Return Card
Once a card is forced, you can have it returned to the deck randomly or in a
controlled location.
Anywhere
When the Anywhere option is selected, the forced card will be returned to a
random place in the deck.
Controlled Position
When the Controlled Position option is selected, you must also specify the
Position Value for the card to be returned to in the provided text box. For
example, if you want the forced card returned to the top of the deck, you enter
the number 1 in the text box.
Reverse Forced Card
If the Reverse Forced Card is checked, the card will be turned over before it is
returned to the deck.
Free Choice From Spread
With StackView you may have a card freely selected and returned to the deck.
Once you establish the parameters of your free choice selection, you press the
Free Choice From Spread button, and the Event is executed.
A card that is chosen will become a selected card, and will be highlighted. For
more information on controlling the view of selected cards, see page 66.
When a Free Choice Event is recorded in a Session, it will appear as two
Commands. The first Command is the Free Choice portion of the Event, and the
69
second Command is the Return portion of the Event. For more information see
page 85.
Select Card
The selected card can be completely random, or partially constrained.
Any Card
If the Any Card option is selected, the free choice will be completely random,
and any card in the deck is equally likely to be selected.
Specific Section
If the Specific Section option is selected, the selected card will still be a free
choice, but the selection will be constrained to a specific portion of the deck.
You must specify whether the constrained portion of the deck is the Top Third,
Middle Third, or Bottom Third from the dropdown list.
Return Card
Once a card is freely selected, you can have it returned to the deck randomly or
in a controlled location.
Original Position
If the Original Position option is selected, the freely chosen card will be returned
to it exact same position it was in before it was chosen.
Anywhere
When the Anywhere option is selected, the freely chosen card will be returned to
a random place in the deck.
Controlled Position
When the Controlled Position option is selected, you must also specify the
Position Value for the card to be returned to in the provided text box. For
example, if you want the freely chosen card returned to the tenth position in the
deck, you enter the number 10 in the text box.
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Specific Section
If the Specific Section option is selected, the return position will still be a random
outcome, but the return placement will be constrained to a specific portion of the
deck.
You must specify whether the constrained portion of the deck is the Top Third,
Middle Third, or Bottom Third from the dropdown list.
Reverse Selected Card
If the Reverse Selected Card is checked, the card will be turned over before it is
returned to the deck.
Free Choice with Special Handling
In stacked deck magic, and in particular some of Simon Aronsons material, cards
are selected by spectators with special handling. StackView provides some
dedicated events to simulate the special handling. These special handlings allow
the spectators to select one or more cards in a seemingly fair and free way with
no touching of cards by the magician.
You must first select one of the special handlings from the dropdown list. When
you select one of the choices, the graphic box will change to a depiction of what
the special handling is. The picture shows the before and after condition of the
deck with each handling. Each of them is described below.
In each of these handlings, you must instruct the spectator to cut specified
approximate sizes. For example, you may ask the spectator to cut
approximately a third of the deck.
Cut Select Next
The Cut Select Next special handling has options for one, two, or three card
selections. This description will describe the selection of one card in detail.

71
For the Cut Select Next 1 Event, the spectator first randomly cuts about half of
the deck. The cut portion is called Block A. Block A is placed on the table. Then
next card the top card of the remainder of the deck is the selected card. It is
placed on top of Block A. The new balance of the deck is called Block B. Block B
is placed on top of the selected card, and the deck is squared up. See Figure 23
for the graphical depiction.
To execute the Cut Select Next 2 Event, the same sequence is followed, but the
random cuts should be approximately a third of the deck, and the cuts are
increased to select two cards. See Figure 24 for the graphical depiction.
To execute the Cut Select Next 3 Event, the same sequence is followed, but the
random cuts should be approximately a quarter of the deck, and the cuts are
increased to select three cards. See Figure 25 for the graphical depiction.

Figure 23

72
Figure 24

Figure 25

Cut Select Next Face

The Cut Select Next Face special handling has options for one, two, or three card
selections. This description will describe the selection of one card in detail.
For the Cut Select Next Face 1 Event, the spectator first randomly cuts about a
third of the deck. The cut portion is called block A. Block A is placed on the
table. Another cut is made of approximately a third of the deck. This is called
Block B. The selected card is the face card (bottom cad) of Block B. Block B is
placed on top of Block A. The new balance of the deck is called Block C. Block C
is placed on top of the stack of Blocks A and B, and the deck is squared up. See
Figure 26 for the graphical depiction.

73
To execute the Cut Select Next Face 2 Event, the same sequence is followed, but
the random cuts should be approximately a quarter of the deck, and the cuts are
increased to select two cards. See Figure 27 for the graphical depiction.
To execute the Cut Select Next Face 3 Event, the same sequence is followed, but
the random cuts should be approximately a fifth of the deck, and the cuts are
increased to select three cards. See Figure 28 for the graphical depiction.

Figure 26

Figure 27

74
Figure 28

Cut Select Next Repeat

The Cut Select Next Repeat Event is identical to doing two Cut Select Next
Events in sequence, but in each case, approximately a third of the deck is cut
each time at the start. This description will describe the selection of two cards in
detail.
For the Cut Select Next Repeat Event, the first spectator first randomly cuts
about a third of the deck. The cut portion is called Block A. Block A is placed on
the table. Then next card the top card of the remainder of the deck is the
first selected card. It is placed on top of Block A. The new balance of the deck
is placed on top of the selected card, and the deck is squared up. The sequence
is repeated. The second spectator randomly cuts about a third of the deck. This
cut portion is called Block B. Block B is placed on the table. Then next card
the top card of the remainder of the deck is the second selected card. It is
placed on top of Block B. The new balance of the deck is called Block C. Block C
is placed on top of the selected card, and the deck is squared up. See Figure 29
for the graphical depiction.
To execute the Cut Select Next Repeat 2 Event, the same sequence is followed,
but the random cuts should be approximately a quarter of the deck, and the
sequence is increased by one round to select a total of three cards. See Figure
30 for the graphical depiction.
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Figure 29

Figure 30

Reverse Selected Card(s)

There are three checkboxes (one for each possible special handling selection)
that stipulate whether any or all of the selected cards should be reversed in the
deck.
By checking one of the checkboxes, that corresponding card will be reversed in
the deck during the selection Event.
Only the relevant checkboxes will be enabled. For example, if you are selecting
a two-card selection special handling, only the first two checkboxes will be
enabled.
You may specify any number or combination of cards to reverse.

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Swap Cards Selection
The Swap Cards Event allows you precise control of swapping the positions of
two cards in the deck. You have the option of having the swapped cards be
Selections or not. Before pressing the Swap Cards button, you must select one
of the control options and any additional parameter settings.
Random
When the Random option is selected, the positions of two completely random
cards are swapped. Depending on the status of the No Selections checkbox, the
swapped cards may or may not become Selections.
Specified Card Stack Values
When the Specified Card Stack Values option is selected, you must also indicate
the Stack Values of two different cards. Those two cards positions will be
swapped. Depending on the status of the No Selections checkbox, the swapped
cards may or may not become Selections.
Specified Card Positions
When the Specified Card Positions option is selected, you must also indicate the
Position Values of two different cards. The two cards at those positions will be
swapped. Depending on the status of the No Selections checkbox, the swapped
cards may or may not become Selections.
Different Colors
When the Different Colors option is selected, the positions of two completely
random cards are swapped. However, one of the cards will be a red card, and
the other will be a black card. Depending on the status of the No Selections
checkbox, the swapped cards may or may not become Selections.
Same Color
When the Same Color option is selected, the positions of two completely random
cards are swapped of the same color (red or black). You must also specify
77
something about the color. If you check the Random checkbox, StackView will
randomly select the color for you. If you check the Red or Black checkboxes, the
appropriate color will be set for the random swap. Depending on the status of
the No Selections checkbox, the swapped cards may or may not become
Selections.
Different Suits
When the Different Suits option is selected, the positions of two completely
random cards are swapped with different suits (clubs, hearts, spades or
diamonds). You must also specify something about the suits.
If you check only the Random checkbox, StackView will randomly select both
suits for you.
You may also check the Random checkbox and any one of the other suits. In
that case, one of the cards will be randomly selected among the specified suit
cards, and the other card will be from a random other suit. For example, if you
select the Random checkbox and the Heart checkbox as shown in Error!
Reference source not found., the two swapped cards will be a randomly
selected Heart card, and a randomly selected non-Heart card.

Figure 31
You may also specify two suits for the swapped cards. For example, if you select
the Diamond and Club checkboxes as shown in Figure 32, the two swapped
78
cards will be a randomly selected Diamond card and a randomly selected Club
card.

Figure 32

Depending on the status of the No Selections checkbox, the swapped cards may
or may not become Selections.
Same Suit
When the Same Suit option is selected, the positions of two completely random
cards are swapped with the same suit (clubs, hearts, spades or diamonds). You
must also specify something about the suit.
If you check only the Random checkbox, StackView will randomly select the suit
for you.
You may also check any one of the Suit checkboxes. and any one of the other
suits. In that case, both cards will be randomly selected among the specified
suit. For example, if you select the Spade checkbox as shown in Figure 33, the
two swapped cards will both be a randomly selected Spade card.

79
Figure 33
Depending on the status of the No Selections checkbox, the swapped cards may
or may not become Selections.
No Selections
The default condition of the No Selections checkbox is the unchecked mode.
When it is unchecked, the two swapped cards will become Selections. When the
checkbox is checked, the two cards are swapped, but they do not become
Selections.
Sessions Tab
A Session is a sequence of Events that you have recorded for later playback.
This feature helps you practice your routines by simulating them for you and
leaving the results for further study. You can play back the recorded Session
Events one Event at a time, or all at once. You can also send your Session files
to others to play back with their own copy of StackView.
Session files that have been recorded with earlier versions of StackView will not
work with version 5. You must re-record them for them to work with the latest
version. Similarly, Sessions recorded with version 5 will not work with earlier
versions of StackView. If you are sharing Session files with others, make sure
that everyone is using the correct version of StackView.

80
Recording Sessions
Recording a Session is similar to creating a macro. It is a sequence of Events
that can be saved and played back later. Once the Session is initiated, all
Recordable Events that are executed will be listed in the Session list box to the
left of the control buttons.
Record Button
The Record button toggles from the Record mode to the Stop mode. Its
label changes to indicate what will happen when you press it next.
When you press the Record button, your subsequent actions in StackView will be
recorded as Events in the Sessions list box. When the Sessions record mode is
turned on, all recordable Event buttons change color and have red button faces.
If you are in recording mode, the text above the button will read Currently
Recording. If you are not in recording mode, the text will read Not Recording.
When you have finished recording your Session, you should press the same
button, now labeled Stop, to prevent additional Events from being added you
your Session.
Recordable Events
With your Session in record mode, all Recordable Event buttons change color
and have red button faces. When you press one of the Recordable Events, the
Event and its parameters are entered in the Session list as Session Commands.
Newly recorded Session Commands are always added to the bottom of the list.
You will find more information on rearranging Session Commands below. When
dealing with Sessions, the terms Event and Command are interchangeable.
However, the term Event refers to what happens to the cards, and the term
Command refers to what the Event is called in the Session file. The list in the
Session list box can be called the Session Events list and also the Session
Commands list.
81
For example, if you specify an OutFaro shuffle with special parameters as shown
in Figure 34, you will get a Session Command entered in the Session list that
reads:
OutFaroSpecialTopReverse(10, 5)

Figure 34

This particular Command title contains some of the parameter information in its
name. The additional data appears as parameters in the parentheses.
Another example is the Swap Cards Event as shown in Error! Reference
source not found.. You will get a Session Command entered in the Session list
that reads:
SwapDifferentSuits(X, S, 0)

82
Figure 35

83
In this case, the parameter X represents the Random Suit, the S represents
Spades, and the 0 represents the unchecked No Selections condition.
For complete details on the Session Command names and parameters, see
Appendix 3: Session Commands on page 239.
Working with Session Files
Once you have recorded a Session, you may save them for later use. For more
details on saving and opening Sessions, see the detailed information on page
204.
If there is no active Session in StackViews memory, the text above the Session
list box will read No current session. If there are Session Commands in the
Session list box, but the Session has not been saved (or it has been saved, but
new changes exist that have not been saved), the text above the Session list box
will read Current Session NOT saved. If the Session is newly saved or newly
opened from an existing file, the text above the Session list box will show the file
name.
Controlling Sessions
When you have Session Commands in your Session list box, you can control
them individually or as a group. To control an individual Session Command, you
must first highlight it by clicking it with your mouse pointer. A highlighted
Session Command appears as shown in Figure 36.

84
Figure 36
Play ALL Current Session
This button will automatically scroll down the entire list of Session Commands
and perform each Event. The Deck window will update after all the Events are
completed. After the whole Session has completed playing, the final Session
Command will remain highlighted.
Play Current Event
This button will perform the single Event that is selected and highlighted in the
Session Events list. Since Select/Return Events happen in pairs, selecting either
the Select or the Return Event before pressing the Play Current Event button will
result in the pair of Commands getting executed in the correct order as a single
Event.
After a single Event is executed from the Session list, the next Command is
highlighted. If the last Command was the one that was executed, it will remain
highlighted, but you will get a pop-up dialog box to remind you that you are at
the end of the list.

85
Move Event Up
This button will move the selected Event up one position in the Session Events
list. (You select an Event by clicking on it, and it will become highlighted.) Since
Select/Return Events happen in pairs, they will move together, and be treated as
a single Event.
Move Event Down
This button will move the selected Event down one position in the Session Events
list. (You select an Event by clicking on it, and it will become highlighted.) Since
Select/Return Events happen in pairs, they will move together, and be treated as
a single Event.
Clear ALL Session Events
This button will prompt you to clear all of the Events in the Session Events list.
If you answer Yes to the question, it will clear all of the Events. Be sure to
confirm that your Session has been saved by checking the text above the Session
list box. If there is a file name in the text, then the file has been saved. For
more information on this text indicator, check on page 84.
Delete Current Event
This button will delete the highlighted Event in the Session Event list. (You
select an Event by clicking on it, and it will become highlighted.) There is no
undo option to revert back, and there is no confirmation requested for deleting a
single Event.
Insert Session File as Macro
You can have a Session Command call another Session file as a separate macro
sequence. This is useful when you have created a special sequence of Events
that you would like to use in another routine. When you press this button, you
will get a pop-up dialog box requesting a Session file to use as a macro. Session
files have a .sys extension. (For more information on Session files, see page

86
205.) To use a Session file as a macro, the file must be in the same directory as
the StackView program.
As an example, if you want to use the file MyMacro.svs as a macro, the
Session Command will appear in the Session list box as Macro(MyMacro.svs).
When the macro event is run, the entire called Session file is run at once. Macro
files can contain other nested macro files. However, you can only call macro files
up to ten levels deep. In other words, if Macro1.svs calls a Macro2.svs
which calls a Macro3.svs, etc., you can only go as far as Macro10.svs. If you
try to nest one more level, you will get an error message.
When a macro call is complete, the next Command in the calling Session will be
executed (unless you are playing back one Event at a time).

87
Reference: Piles Control
The Pile Control window provides versatility of control by letting you perform
Events on subsets of cards called Piles. When Piles are created, either randomly
or under your control, you have a great deal of control with individual Piles or
combinations of Piles.
The general sequence of actions with Piles is that you must first create the Piles
you are interested in. The Deck window will show the cards in their respective
Piles, and each one will be numbered. You can create up to eight Piles. Once
the Piles are created, you have many Events to choose from to perform on
individual Piles or with pairs of Piles.
You specify which Piles you want to work with through the Pile Control Matrix,
which is described on page 102.
You access Piles Control from the Tools menu on the menu bar. When the Piles
Control menu selection is checked, the Piles Control window is visible. When the
Piles Control menu selection is unchecked, the window is hidden. When the Piles
Control window is closed, the Piles Control menu item will become unchecked.
Create Piles
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to create Piles: by cutting the cards, or
dealing the cards. Each way of creating Piles can be done with precise control,
or varying degrees of randomness.
You must first identify how many Piles you
want created by entering a single digit from
1 to 8 in the Create Piles field as shown in
Figure 37. Before you can press the Create
Piles button, you must specify how you Figure 37
want the Piles created.

88
Cut Cards
When Piles are created by cutting the cards, the cards are cut from the top (back)
of the deck in sequence. For example, if you want four Piles created by
randomly cutting the cards, the result you will get is four Piles that are each
approximately a quarter of the deck. Pile 1 is the first quarter cut, Pile 2 the
second, Pile 3 the third, and Pile 4 the balance of the deck. The Piles will display
in the Deck window as shown in Figure 38. The Piles shown in Figure 38 were
created from the Aronson Stack in its starting order. You can see that Pile 1
came from the first quarter cut of the deck, and so on.

Figure 38

89
Pile Specifications
You have complete control of how the cards will
be cut through the Pile Specifications frame as
shown in Figure 39. Each Pile specification row
has specific controls. The Random option will
result in a Pile with a random number of cards.
The Specified option will result in a precise
number of cards to be cut for that Pile. The text
field is used to indicate the number of cards to
cut for the Pile. The single letter at the right of
the text field is either an A for approximate
or E for exact. (You can not edit the single
letter it is there as an indicator.)
To cut Piles, you must select the Cut Cards
option in the Pile Specifications frame.
If all of the specifications are set to Random,
and all the text fields are empty, StackView will
cut the Piles so that they are of random, but
approximately equal size. Figure 39
If a Pile specification is Random, and you specify
a number in the text field, that Pile will be cut randomly, but the number of cards
will approximate the number you entered in the text field.
If a Pile specification is Specified, the Pile will be cut precisely to the number you
enter in the text field.
If all of the Pile specifications are Specified, then the numbers in the text fields
must add up to 52.

90
You can use any combination of Random and Specified Pile settings, with any
numbers entered in the text fields. As long as one of the Piles has a Random
setting, the Piles will be scaled logically so that the entire deck is used.

For example, the settings shown in Figure

40 call for 5 Piles. The first Pile is Specified
to 10 cards. The second Pile is Specified to
2 cards. The third Pile is set to Random
with an approximate number set to 40
cards. The fourth and fifth Piles are also
Random, but both of their approximate
numbers are set to 20 cards. Clearly, the
numbers do not add up to 52 cards.
However, since at least one of the Piles is
Random, StackView will logically adjust the
Piles while preserving the implied Pile ratios
by scaling the random numbers. Starting
with the Aronson Stack, these specifications
result in the five Piles shown in Figure 41.
(This is a random outcome, and you may
not get the exact same result from the
same specifications.) Note that Pile 1 has
exactly 10 cards, and Pile 2 has exactly 2 cards Figure 40
just as specified. Since Piles 3 through 5 had
40, 20, and 20 cards specified respectfully, StackView scaled the remaining 40
cards (12 were already consumed in the first two Piles) while preserving the
requested ratios. In this particular random outcome, as shown in Figure 41, Pile
3 got 20 cards, Pile 4 got 10 cards, and Pile 5 got 10 cards.

91
Figure 41

Also note the Stack Values of the cards in each Pile. You can see that the Piles
have been cut to the table one Pile at a time.

92
When you specify the number of Piles you want in the Create Piles text field, the
Pile Specifications frame will disable the rows of the Piles that are not relevant.
(Note that Piles 6 through 8 in Figure 40 are not enabled.) The enabled/disabled
rows will get updated when the Create Piles text field has been changed, and
you have shifted focus away from it by clicking on any other control. To reset
the Piles Specification frame to enable all of the rows, press the Refresh Deck
button in the lower left corner of the Piles Control window. See more
information about the Refresh Deck button on page 131.
Deal Cards
When Piles are created by dealing the cards, the cards are dealt one at a time
from the top of the deck onto Piles on the table as specified in the Pile
Specification frame. There are three ways in which the Piles can be dealt. The
first way is that the Piles are dealt so that each Pile is completed before the next
one is started. The second way is alternating the deal so that each Pile gets one
card at a time, in the same manner as a poker deal would occur. The third way
is that the cards are randomly dealt in no particular order, with one or more
cards being dealt onto a Pile at a time. As with cutting the Piles, you have
specific control of how the dealing will occur with the Pile Specifications.
Complete Specified Piles
With Complete Specified Piles, the cards are dealt singly onto each Pile before
the next Pile is started. You have complete control of how the cards will be dealt
through the Pile Specifications frame as shown in Figure 42. Each Pile
specification row has specific controls. The Random option will result in a Pile
with a random number of cards. The Specified option will result in a precise
number of cards to be dealt for that Pile. The text field is used to indicate the
number of cards to deal for the Pile. The single letter at the right of the text
field is either an A for approximate or E for exact. (You can not edit the
single letter it is there as an indicator.)

93
To deal complete Piles, you must select the
Deal Cards option in the Pile Specifications
frame. You must also select the Complete
Specified Piles option.
If all of the specifications are set to Random,
and all the text fields are empty, StackView will
deal the Piles so that they are of random, but
approximately equal size.
If a Pile specification is Random, and you
specify a number in the text field, that Pile will
be dealt randomly, but the number of cards
will approximate the number you entered in
the text field.
If a Pile specification is Specified, the Pile will
be dealt precisely the number of cards you
entered in the text field.
If all of the Pile specifications are Specified,
then the numbers in the text fields must add Figure 42
up to 52.
You can use any combination of Random and Specified Pile settings, with any
numbers entered in the text fields. As long as one of the Piles has a Random
setting, the Piles will be scaled logically so that the entire deck is used.
For example, the settings shown in Figure 43 call for 4 Piles. The first Pile is
Specified to 10 cards. The second Pile is Specified to 2 cards. The third Pile is
set to Random with an approximate number set to 40 cards. The fourth Pile is
94
also Random, but its approximate number is
set to 10 cards. Clearly, the numbers do not
add up to 52 cards. However, since at least
one of the Piles is Random, StackView will
logically adjust the Piles while preserving the
implied Pile ratios by scaling the random
numbers. Starting with the Aronson Stack,
these specifications result in the four Piles
shown in Figure 44. (This is a random outcome,
and you may not get the exact same result
from the same specifications.) Note that Pile 1
has exactly 10 cards, and Pile 2 has exactly 2
cards just as specified. Since Pile 3 and Pile
4 had 40 and 10 cards specified respectfully,
StackView scaled the remaining 40 cards (12
were already consumed in the first two Piles)
while preserving the requested ratios. In this
particular random outcome, as shown in Figure
44, Pile 3 got 31 cards, and Pile 4 got 9 cards. Figure 43
Also note the Stack Values of the cards in each
Pile. You can see that the Piles have been dealt to the table one card at a time
until each Pile is complete.
When you specify the number of Piles you want in the Create Piles text field, the
Pile Specifications frame will disable the rows of the Piles that are not relevant.
(Note that Piles 5 through 8 in Figure 43 are not enabled.) The enabled/disabled
rows will get updated when the Create Piles text field has been changed, and
you have shifted focus away from it by clicking on any other control. To reset
the Piles Specification frame to enable all of the rows, press the Refresh Deck

95
button in the lower left corner of the Piles Control window. See more
information about the Refresh Deck button on page 131.

Figure 44

96
Alternating Piles
When you specify Deal Cards, one of the further
options you have is to select Alternating Piles as
shown in Figure 45. When you deal Alternating
Piles, the cards are dealt singly to each Pile that
you specify, in sequence.
Number of Cards to Deal
You may specify the number of cards to deal in
the text field provided. If you leave the text
field blank, all 52 of the cards will be dealt into
the number of Piles you specified in the Create
Piles field. If you specify the number of cards to
be dealt, StackView will deal that many cards
into the correct number of Piles as specified, and
the balance of the deck will become an
additional Pile. (This final Pile is not dealt it is

just placed on the table.) For this reason, if you Figure 45

specify the number of cards as less than 52, you
may only request up to seven Piles, since StackView needs the eighth Pile for the
balance of the deck.
You may not specify fewer cards to be dealt than then number of requested Piles;
each Pile needs at least one card.
Regular Alternating Sequence
When you select the Regular Alternating Sequence, the cards will be dealt just as
they would in a poker deal. Cards are dealt one at a time, and one per Pile,
starting at the first Pile. Once every Pile gets a card, the dealing returns back to

97
the first Pile, and continues one card per Pile. This continues until the specified
number of cards are all dealt.
Random Alternating Sequence
The Random Alternating Sequence is similar to the Regular Alternating Sequence
with the exception that the order of the Piles that the cards are dealt to is
random for each round of cards. For each round of dealing, each Pile gets one
card, but the sequence will be different each time.
For example, Figure 46 shows the outcome of a Random Alternating Sequence
deal of all the cards into four Piles. The starting deck order was the Aronson
Stack. You will note that the set of first card from the face of each Pile contains
the first four Stack Values. The set of second cards from the face of each Pile
contains Stack Values 5 through 8. However, the order of the deal was different
for each round. As you study the Piles further, you will see that the order of
Piles dealt in each round is random.
Complete Random Sequence
The Complete Random Sequence is similar to the Random Alternating Sequence
except that it is not limited to one card per Pile for each round. In this deal, one
or more cards are placed in each Pile until all the specified cards are exhausted.
There is one constraint with this deal. For the first round of cards dealt, one
card will go to each Pile in a random sequence. After the first round, one or
more cards will be dealt to the Piles randomly. The purpose for this constraint is
to ensure that each Pile will get at least one card.
Piles Viewpoint
Imagine spreading a deck of cards face down on a glass table surface. Now
imagine going under the table and looking up at the face of the cards through
the glass. This is the point of view that StackView shows you in the Deck

98
window. There are two places in StackView where you can change your point of
view to look at the cards from above the table.

Figure 46

The first place is on the Selection tab in the StackView Control window, where
you have the option to select your view from either beneath or above the table.
This option selection operates in the default Deck view. Also, when you choose
one of these option selections, the Deck window will be forced to the default
view regardless of what the current view was. In other words, if you are in a
Piles view, and you change the viewpoint from the Selection tab in the StackView
Control window, you will lose your Pile display; it will default back to the
standard Deck view.

99
The second place in on the Piles Control window. Here, you also have the option
to select your view from beneath or above the table. However, in this case,
these option selections will only affect the Piles view. When you are in the Piles
viewing mode, you must use the Piles Viewpoint options on the Piles Control
window to change the point of view.
It is possible to confuse yourself if the Point of View settings are different in the
two locations. When you switch between regular Deck view and Piles view, the
cards would appear to turn over without your intervention.
Figure 47 shows the Aronson Stack in the Piles view (after being cut to four
random piles) when viewing from beneath the table. Note that the Jack of
Spades is the left most face up card in the first Pile. When you change views to
viewing from above, as in Figure 48, you will note that the Jack of Spades is now
the right-most face down card in the first Pile. This is exactly as you would see it
if you actually did look above and beneath first Pile.
When you compare the opposite sides of a Piles view as in Figure 47 and Figure
48, you will note that each individual Pile is correct. However, the relative
positions of the Piles do not move. This is intentional to help you more readily
keep track of which Pile you are looking at.
Also note that in each case, the Stack Values and Position Values are correctly
placed in each view.

100
Figure 47

101
Figure 48

Pile Control Matrix

The Pile Control Matrix may look intimidating at first. Once you understand its
functionality, it will become second nature to use. Each of the seven Pile Events
use the Matrix to specify which Piles the Event will operate on.
The heart of the Matrix is an eight by eight grid of checkboxes. When you create
a number of Piles, the Matrix will disable a portion of the Matrix, since it can not
be used. For example, before you create any Piles, the Matrix will appear as
shown in Figure 49. As an example, after you create five Piles, the Matrix will
appear as shown in Figure 50. Essentially, the Matrix will resize itself based on
the number of Piles that are present.
102
 Each Row of the Matrix represents the
Primary Pile that an Event will use, and the
Columns of the Matrix represent the
Secondary Pile for the Event.
You may place a check in any one of the
active Matrix boxes. If you check another
box, the first one
will be cleared
automatically.
Figure 51 shows
a check that
indicates the 2nd
Pile as the
Figure 49 Primary Pile, and
the 4th Pile as
the Secondary Pile.
All Pile Events require a Primary Pile to be identified.
Some Pile Events may or may not require a
Secondary Pile to be identified. Some Pile Events
require that both the Primary and Secondary are
identified. When only the Primary Pile is used by an
Event, the check can be made in any box in the Figure 50
desired row of the Matrix.
Some Pile Events allow for both the Primary and Secondary Piles to be the same,
while others do not. If it is not allowed, you will get an appropriate error
message.
103
 There are two additional sets of checkboxes
as part of the Matrix. There is a column of
boxes to the left of the Matrix, and a row of
boxes above the Matrix. These boxes are
used to identify which Pile should be
Reversed (turned over) before the event is
executed. These additional boxes are used
by only two of the Pile Events (Combine
and Riffle Shuffle).
The Matrix
example in
Figure 52
indicates that
there are six
Piles. The
Figure 51 Primary Pile
is Pile 3, and
it will be Reversed before the Event executes.
The Secondary Pile is Pile 5, and it will not be
Reversed during the Event.
When a Pile Event allows use of the Reverse
checkboxes in the Piles Control Matrix, there is a
blue bold letter R in the frame of the Event.
Figure 53 shows the letter R in the frame of the
Combine Event. Figure 52

104
Figure 53

Select / Return
The Select/Return Event allows you to have a card selected (random or forced)
from a Pile (specified or random), and then returned to a Pile (same or different,
specified or random). You have the option to have the selected card take on the
StackView Selected status, and also the option to Reverse the selected card.
Selection Pile
The Selection Pile is the Pile from which the card will be selected. You have two
options to choose from.
Primary
You select this option if you want to specify the Selection Pile. You must indicate
the Primary Pile in the Pile Control Matrix by checking a box in the appropriate
row.
Random
If you want the Selection Pile to be a Random choice, you select this option. If
there is a check in the Pile Control Matrix, the Primary row information will be
ignored.

105
Selected Card
There are four options to specify which card from the Selection Pile will be the
Selected Card.
Top
This option results in the Top card of the Selection Pile becoming the Selected
Card.
Bottom
This option results in the Bottom card of the Selection Pile becoming the Selected
Card.
Random
This option results in a Random card from the Selection Pile being chosen as the
Selected Card.
Specified
For this option, you must specify the position of the card you want selected from
the Selection Pile. The card positions are counted from the top of the Selection
Pile. You must enter the position number of the card you want selected in the
text field box provided. If you enter a number that is greater than the number
of cards in the Pile, you will get an error message, and the Event will be blocked.
Return Pile
The Return Pile is the Pile to which the card will be returned. You have six
options to choose from.
Secondary
You select this option if you want to specify the Return Pile. You must indicate
the Secondary Pile in the Pile Control Matrix by checking a box in the appropriate
column.

106
Primary/Same
You select this option when you want the Return Pile to be the same as the
Selection Pile (regardless of how the Selection Pile was specified). For this
option, the Secondary Pile information in the Pile Control Matrix is ignored.
Random Not Same
You select this option when you want the Return Pile to be randomly selected,
but different than the original Selection Pile (regardless of how the Selection Pile
was specified). For this option, the Secondary Pile information in the Pile Control
Matrix is ignored.
Random Any
If you want the Return Pile to be a Random choice (including the original
Selection Pile as a possibility), you select this option. If there is a check in the
Pile Control Matrix, the Secondary row information will be ignored.
New Pile Random
This option has the Selected Card being placed as a New Pile (single card)
somewhere among the existing Piles. The New Pile will take on a random Pile
number. Since StackView can only handle a maximum of eight Piles, this option
requires that you are starting with at most seven Piles, since it creates an
additional Pile.
New Pile Specified
This option has the Selected Card being placed as a New Pile (single card). The
New Pile will be assigned the specified Pile number, which is entered in the text
field box provided. If the number entered in the field is greater than the number
of Piles that will exist after the Event, the Pile number will be assigned to the
next value. Since StackView can only handle a maximum of eight Piles, this
option requires that you are starting with at most seven Piles, since it creates an
additional Pile.

107
Return Position
You may specify where in the Return Pile the Selected Card will be placed. If the
Return Pile is a New Pile, the Return Position options will be ignored since there
is only one card in the New Pile.
Top
This option results in the Selected Card being returned as the Top card of the
Return Pile.
Bottom
This option results in the Selected Card being returned as the Bottom card of the
Return Pile.
Same
This option results in the Selected Card being returned to the Same position in
the Return Pile as it was in the Selection Pile. This option could potentially
generate an error if the Same position in the Return Pile does not exist.
Random
This option results in the Selected Card being returned to a Random position in
the Return Pile.
Specified
For this option, you must specify the position the Selected Card will occupy in the
Return Pile. The card positions are counted from the top of the Return Pile. You
must enter the position number in the text field box provided. If you enter a
number that is greater than the number of cards in the Pile, you will get an error
message, and the Event will be blocked.
Reverse Selected Card
If this box is checked, the Selected Card will be Reversed during the Event.

108
Move Only
If this box is checked, the Selected Card will only be moved and will not take on
the StackView Selected card status. (In other words, this option does not record
the card as a Selected Card for highlighting, and it will not appear in the Selected
Cards text string on the Selection tab in the StackView Control window.)
Combine
The Combine Event simulates picking up one Pile and putting it on top of another
Pile to combine them. The destination Pile is always defined by the Primary Pile.
You must specify the Primary and Secondary Piles with the Pile Control Matrix.
You may also specify reversing either or both of the Piles. For more information
on using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.
Secondary on Top
When you specify Secondary on Top, the Secondary Pile will be placed on top of
the Primary Pile.
Primary on Top
When you specify Primary on Top, the Secondary Pile will be placed beneath the
Primary Pile.
Riffle Shuffle / Gilbreath Principle
The Riffle Shuffle Event simulates riffle shuffling two Piles together into a
combined Pile. The destination Pile is always defined by the Primary Pile. You
may protect a portion (top or bottom) of one of the Piles. You also have an
option to view the results of your shuffle in a special Gilbreath mode to explore
the Gilbreath Principle.
You must specify the Primary and Secondary Piles with the Pile Control Matrix.
You may also specify reversing either or both of the Piles. For more information
on using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.
109
Random
When you select the Random option, the two specified Piles are riffle shuffled
together in a random manner. The destination Pile is always defined by the
Primary Pile.
Protect Block
While Riffle Shuffling, you may protect a specified block of cards from either Pile
at either the Top or the Bottom of the deck. The protected block of cards will
remain intact and will not get shuffled.
You must select the Protect Block option to enable the rest of the parameters.
Block
Primary
When you specify the Primary option, the protected block will be in the Primary
Pile.
Secondary
When you specify the Secondary option, the protected block will be in the
Secondary Pile.
Portion
Top
When you specify the Top option, the protected block will be the Top portion of
the specified Pile.
You must also indicate the number of cards to protect in the text field provided.
You may not enter a number larger than the number of cards in the specified
Pile.
Bottom
When you specify the Bottom option, the protected block will be the Bottom
portion of the specified Pile.
110
You must also indicate the number of cards to protect in the text field provided.
You may not enter a number larger than the number of cards in the specified
Pile.
Gilbreath View
If you select the Gilbreath View option by placing a check in the provided
checkbox, the Deck window will show the results of the Riffle Shuffle in a special
way. The shuffled Piles will show their new order, but the Piles will not have
been pushed flush. One of the Piles will be upjogged in the display. Figure 54
shows the results of a Gilbreath View when two piles are shuffled with one of the
piles reversed.

111
Figure 54
In the Gilbreath View, the upjogged cards are always from the Secondary Pile.
Cut Piles
The Cut Piles Event simulates cutting one of the Piles, or cutting a portion of a
Pile and placing it onto another existing or new Pile. The Primary Pile is the one
that gets cut, and the Secondary Pile is where the cut portion gets placed. You
may also specify reversing the cut portion of the Primary Pile.
You must specify the Primary and Secondary Piles with the Pile Control Matrix.
For more information on using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.

112
Cut Pile and Portion
Cut Pile
Primary Pile
Select this option when you want to specify which Pile will initiate the Cut.
Random Pile
Select this option when you want StackView to randomly select which Pile will
initiate the Cut.
Cut Portion
Cut Random
Select this option when you want the Cut Portion to be a random number of
cards.
Complete Pile
Select this option when you want the Cut Portion to be the entire Pile of cards.
Cut Specified
Select this option when you want the Cut Portion to be a specified number of
cards. You must also enter the number of cards in the text field provided. The
number you enter must not be more than the number of cards in the Pile. If you
selected a Random Cut Pile, and specify a large number of cards, you may get
an error message if there are not enough cards in the randomly selected Pile.
Place Cut Portion
Complete Cut Primary/Same
You select this option when you want the Primary Pile to get a Complete Cut
(regardless of how the Secondary Pile was specified). For this option, the
Secondary Pile information in the Pile Control Matrix is ignored.
Top of Secondary
Select this option if you want to place the Cut Portion onto the specified
Secondary Pile. For this option, the Pile Control Matrix must be used.
113
Top of Same
Select this option if you want to place the Cut Portion back onto the same Pile.
This is useful if you also use the Reverse Cut Portion option described below.
Top Random Any
Selecting this option will have the Cut Portion placed on any of the existing Piles.
There is a possibility that the cards may be replaced on the originating Pile.
Top Random Not Same
Selecting this option will have the Cut Portion placed on any of the existing Piles,
except for the originating Pile.
New Pile Random
When you select this option, the Cut Portion will be used to create a new Pile in
a random position. Normally for this option, you need to have seven Piles to
begin with since the eighth Pile will be used for the Cut Portion. However, if the
entire originating Pile is cut (either specified or randomly), then a new eighth Pile
can be created.
New Pile Specified
When you select this option, the Cut Portion will be used to create a new Pile in
the specified Pile position. Normally for this option, you need to have seven Piles
to begin with since the eighth Pile will be used for the Cut Portion. However, if
the entire originating Pile is cut (either specified or randomly), then a new eighth
Pile can be created.
Reverse Cut Portion
When this option is selected, the Cut Portion is turned over (reversed) before it is
put in its destination position.

114
Australian Deal
The Australian Deal, also known as the Down/Under Deal has traditionally
stipulated one card for both the Down and the Under card movements.
StackView provides significantly more control for this handling. You may now
incorporate specified Downs and Unders, as well as random values for each.
You can control whether the cards are reversed as they are handled in a
specified or a random way. You can also have one of the cards become a
selected card. Finally, you can perform the Inverse function on your
specifications to assist you in creating new routines with this handling.
You must specify the Pile you want to work with by placing a check in the
appropriate row in the Pile Control Matrix. The Secondary Pile information will
be ignored. For more information on using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.
The Pile you are using will always be held in the orientation that is represented
by the Point of View being above the table. For example, in Figure 55, the Point
of View is the standard Beneath the Table view. The top card of the Pile is the
Jack of Spades. The Australian Deal will start with the Pile face down in your left
hand, and the first card handled will be the Jack of Spades. For more
information on Point of View, see page 24.

115
Figure 55

Select
You may specify one of the Down cards to become the elected card by checking
one of the checkboxes.
Final Card
When you specify the Final Card option, the final Down card will be the selected
card.
Random Down Card
When you specify the Random Down Card option, a random Down card will be
the selected card.

116
Start
You may specify the starting condition of the Australian Deal by selecting one of
the Start options.
Down / Under
When the Down/Under option is specified, the first card will be placed Down on
the table.
Under / Down
When the Under/Down option is specified, the first card will be placed Under the
cards in the remaining packet.
Number
You may specify how many cards are handled for each of the Downs and Unders
in the deal. When there are more Downs to deal than there are cards left in
your hand, the deal will finish when the last card is placed on the table. When
there are more Unders to deal than there are cards left in your hand, the Unders
will continue looping until the Under count is done.
Standard
When you select the Standard option, exactly one card will be dealt for each
Down and Under. This is the standard handling for the Australian Deal.
Specified
When you select the Specified option, you must also enter values for the number
of cards for each Down and Under in the text fields provided.
You may enter any combination of Exact and Random settings, but you may not
have both an Exact and Random value set for the same Down or the same Under.
If you have selected the Specified option and have left both the Exact and
Random fields empty for the Down or Under handling, it will default to an Exact
1 setting for the respective Down or Under.
117
Exact
When you place a value in either of the two Exact fields, that
is how many cards will be dealt for the respective Down or
Under.
For example, if you enter a 2 and a 1 in the Exact fields as
shown in Figure 56, the deal will always place 2 cards Down
followed by 1 card Under.
Random
When you place a value in either of the two Random fields, Figure 56
that is the upper limit how many random cards will be dealt
for the respective Down or Under. Each time a Random Down is encountered
within the same deal, a new random number is calculated.
Likewise, each random Under within the same deal will have
a new random number within the limit specified.
For example, if you enter a 3 and a 2 in the Random fields
as shown in Figure 57, the deal will place 1, 2, or 3 cards
Down followed by 1 or 2 cards Under. Each successive
Down will generate a new random number up to a value of 3.
Each successive Under will generate a new random number
up to a value of 2.

Reverse Figure 57
You have the option to control how any of the cards may be
Reversed while the Australian Deal is being performed.

118
No Reverse
When you select the No Reverse option, none of the cards will be turned over
during the deal.
Reverse Selected
When you select the Reverse Selected option, the selected card will be reversed
when it is dealt Down. For this option, you must also specify whether the Final
or Random Down card will become the selected card as described on page 116.
Reverse Cards
When you select the Reverse Cards option, you have the opportunity to specify
how the Down and Under cards are reversed, by filling in the appropriate
checkboxes. Either All the Down and/or Under cards are reversed, or they are
Randomly reversed. You may specify any combination of All and Random
allowed.
All
When a check is placed in the All checkbox beneath the Down label, all of the
Down cards will be reversed. When a check is placed in the All checkbox
beneath the Under label, all of the Under cards will be reversed.
Random
When a check is placed in the Random checkbox beneath the Down label, the
Down cards will be reversed randomly. When a check is placed in the Random
checkbox beneath the Under label, the Under cards will be reversed randomly.
Inverse
The Inverse option performs the requested sequence in reverse. This is helpful
when designing sequences that employ the Australian Deal.
For example, Figure 58 shows Pile 1 with the first ten cards of the Aronson Stack.
When the Australian Deal specifications are executed as shown in Figure 59, the
new Pile 1 order is shown in Figure 60. With that Pile sequence, adding the
119
Inverse check as shown in Figure 61 will undo the first deal and get you back to
the Pile as shown in Figure 58.

Figure 58

120
Figure 59

Figure 60

121
Figure 61

Swap Piles
The Swap Piles Event allows you to switch the positions of two of the Piles with
some specifications.
You must specify the Piles you want to work with by placing a check in the
appropriate row and column in the Pile Control Matrix. For more information on
using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.
The two Piles that will be switched are called the First and Second Piles. You
specify the nature of the Pile selection by choosing the appropriate options for
each Pile.
First Pile
Primary
When you select the Primary option, the First Pile will be the one specified in the
row information of the Pile Control Matrix.

122
Random
When you select the Random option, the First Pile will be chosen randomly.
Includes Selected Card
When you chose the Includes Selected Card option, the First Pile will include a
selected card. If no Pile has a selected card, you will get an error message. If
more than one of the Piles has a selected card, one of those Piles will be chosen
randomly.
Random with no Selected Card
When you chose the Random with no Selected Card option, the First Pile will not
include a selected card. If there are no Piles without a selected card, you will get
an error message. If more than one of the Piles is without a selected card, one
of those Piles will be chosen randomly.
Second Pile
Secondary
When you select the Secondary option, the Second Pile will be the one specified
in the column information of the Pile Control Matrix.
Random
When you select the Random option, the Second Pile will be chosen randomly.
Includes Selected Card
When you chose the Includes Selected Card option, the Second Pile will include a
selected card, if such a Pile is available.
If no available Pile has a selected card, you will get an error message. If more
than one of the Piles has a selected card, one of those Piles will be chosen
randomly.
The Swap Piles Event establishes the Piles in order; the First Pile is established
before the Second Pile. Because of this, there is the possibility of a logical error

123
condition for the Second Pile. For example, the Swap Piles specifications as
shown in Figure 62 may generate a logical error. The First Pile has a Random
setting, and the Second Pile has an Includes Selected Card setting. Note in
Figure 63 that only Pile 3 has selected cards. Since the First Pile is selected
randomly, it is possible that it will be assigned Pile 3. In that situation, since
there are no other Piles with selected cards, an error message will appear as
shown in Figure 64.

Figure 62

124
Figure 63

125
Figure 64

Random with no Selected Card

When you chose the Random with no Selected Card option, the Second Pile will
not include a selected card.
If there are no Piles without a selected card, you will get an error message. If
more than one of the Piles is without a selected card, one of those Piles will be
chosen randomly.
The Swap Piles Event establishes the Piles in order; the First Pile is established
before the Second Pile. Because of this, there is the possibility of a logical error
condition for the Second Pile. For example, the Swap Piles specifications as
shown in Figure 65 may generate a logical error. The First Pile has a Random
setting, and the Second Pile has an Random with no Selected Card setting. Note
in Figure 66 that only Pile 2 has no selected cards. Since the First Pile is selected
randomly, it is possible that it will be assigned Pile 2. Since there are no other
Piles without any selected cards, an error message will appear as shown in
Figure 67.

126
Figure 65

Figure 66
127
Figure 67

Reverse First Pile

When you select the Reverse First Pile option, the First Pile will be turned over
before it is swapped with the Second Pile.
Reverse Second Pile
When you select the Reverse Second Pile option, the Second Pile will be turned
over before it is swapped with the First Pile.
Special
The Special section in the Piles Events allows you to do a few special handlings
to a single Pile.
You must specify the Pile you want to work with by placing a check in the
appropriate row in the Pile Control Matrix. The Secondary Pile information will
be ignored. For more information on using the Pile Control Matrix, see page 102.

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Elmsley Count
An Elmsley Count will be performed on the specified Pile. The Elmsley Count will
be performed with the Pile held in the Above the Table Point of View. (For more
information on Piles Viewpoint, see page 98.) For example, Figure 68 shows the
Above the Table view of the four Aces just before the first Elmsley Count in Dai
Vernons famous Twisting the Aces routine. After the Elmsley Count, the Above
the Table view of the four Aces is shown in Figure 69.

Figure 68

129
Figure 69

Jordan Count
A Jordan Count will be performed on the specified Pile. The Jordan Count will be
performed with the Pile held in the Above the Table Point of View. (For more
information on Piles Viewpoint, see page 98.) For example, Figure 70 shows the
Above the Table view of the Ace through Four of Hearts with the Four of Hears
reversed. After the Jordan Count, the Above the Table view of the four cards is
shown in Figure 71.

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Figure 70

Turn Over Pile

When you select the Turn Over Pile option, the specified Pile will be turned over
and returned in its starting position.
Inverse
The Inverse option performs the requested sequence in reverse. This is helpful
when designing sequences that employ the Elmsley or Jordan Counts. (If you
use the Inverse option with the Turn Over Pile Event, you will undo the turning
over action, so there will be no visible change.)

131
Figure 71

Refresh Deck
When you press the Refresh Deck button, the Piles will be reassembled in order,
from the top to the bottom of the deck. The Deck window will return to the
standard view.

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Reference: Custom Deck
StackView has a Custom Deck module that will give you much greater control of
creating and setting up stacks. Whether you use a stack that is not already
provided in StackViews built in set, or you want to rearrange your existing stack
in a special order, you will find the manual process in the Custom Deck module
useful in your explorations. In addition to the manual process, there is an option
to automatically create Stanyon Variation stacks by specifying the first five cards
of the stack.
User Interface
You access the Custom Deck module from the Tools menu. When the Custom
Deck menu selection is checked, the Custom Deck window is visible. When the
Custom Deck menu selection is unchecked, the window is hidden. When the
Custom Deck window is closed, the Custom Deck menu item will become
unchecked. The initial card layout is shown in Figure 72. The Custom Deck
layout has two sections separated by a long horizontal dividing line. Above the
line is your custom deck design area. The Stack Positions are represented by
open position slots. The slots are numbered from 1 to 52, and the numbers
correspond to the positions from the top to the bottom of the face down deck.
Below the dividing line is the set of card indices in their home position. The
cards that are below the dividing line are those that have not been placed into a
stack position yet. You can move the card indices around on the screen to build
and edit your stack.
It is important to note that the Custom Deck you are building does not affect the
official stack in the Deck window until you finalize your stack by transferring it.
A card index can be in one of two places: 1) below the dividing line in its own
home position, or 2) above the dividing line in one of the stack position slots.

133
Figure 72
You move the cards around by dragging-and-dropping them. To do this, you
place your mouse pointer over the card index you want to move. Click-and-hold
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the mouse button down. You may now move the card index around. (Actually,
you will see the card index outline move.) When you have positioned the card
index where you want it, release the mouse button, and the card index will drop
into that place. However, the dragging will require some specific knowledge of
how StackView handles your actions
1. StackView identifies the target drop area by the exact tip (point) of the
mouses arrow icon. Depending on the drop area, you will get different
behavior. If the tip of the arrow slightly misses your desired target, you
may get unexpected behavior.
2. If you try to drop a card index onto another existing card index, the
attempt will be ignored, and there will be no change.
3. If you try to drop a card index onto an open card slot, it will move to that
location.
4. If you try to drop a card index onto any gray background space, the card
index will return to its original home position below the dividing line. This
can happen unexpectedly while trying to drop a card index onto an open
slot if the tip of the arrow is on the small sliver of gray between slots.
5. The best handling to minimize these types of errors is to have the tip of
the mouse arrow in the center of the card index while you are moving it,
and to position it carefully before releasing the mouse button.
6. If the card index disappears completely, you can always press the Reset:
New button to return all of the cards to their original position, or re-import
your stack.
Retained vs. New Stack Values
While you are building a Custom Deck, the Stack Values associated with the
cards may have one of two states, New or Retained.
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The New state has no Stack Values associated with any cards until the Custom
Deck has been arranged and finalized. At that point, the Stack Positions are
assigned as the new Stack Values during the transfer to the main Deck window.
Whenever the Custom Deck is in the New state, the Stack Value labels will all be
above the dividing line, and above each of the card slot positions. When the
card indices are moved around while in the New state, the Stack Value labels will
stay above the dividing line (because they have not been finalized).
There are only three ways to have Retained Stack Values: 1) you imported a
deck into the Custom Deck module, 2) you created a Stanyon Variation Deck,
and 3) you completely arranged a Custom Deck from the New state, and then
pressed the: Reset: Retain button, as described on page 138.
When the Custom Deck is in the Retained state, the Stack Value labels will stay
with the card indices when they are moved around.
You will want to use the New state when you are creating a brand new stack,
and you want to assign new Stack Values to each card. You will want to use the
Retained state when you want to rearrange an existing stack and maintain each
cards Stack Values.
Control Buttons
Import Current Deck from StackView
This button will Import the current deck from the Deck window to the Custom
Deck design area. When the deck is imported to the Custom Deck area, the
Stack Values are retained by StackView, and you will be left in the Retained state.
In addition, the Selected and Reversed states of each card are also imported, but
not displayed. If the cards are transferred back to the Deck window with
retained Stack Values (see more on page 137), the Selected and Reversed states
of each card will be also transferred, but in the newly defined positions from your
Custom Deck work.
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Transfer: New
This button will Transfer the completed stack above the dividing line to the Deck
window for further manipulation in StackView. All position slots above the
dividing line must be filled before you can press this button. When the Custom
Deck is transferred with this button, the Stack Values that are transferred will be
reset to the Stack Position values, regardless of whether you are in the Retained
or New state. In other words, when you press this button, the card occupying
the first slot will get a Stack Value of 1, the second slot a 2, and so on, all the
way to 52.
Transfer: Retain
This button will Transfer the completed stack above the dividing line to the Deck
window for further manipulation in StackView. All position slots above the
dividing line must be filled before you can press the button. When the Custom
Deck is transferred to the Deck window, the sequence of cards will be the same
as in the custom stack design area. However, the Stack Value designations that
go with the cards will be the same as when they were retained. In addition, if
you imported the Custom Deck cards before doing the Transfer, any Selected or
Reversed card conditions will be kept and transferred.
You may only use this button if the cards have true Retained Stack Values
associated with them. Otherwise, you must use the Transfer: New button to
transfer a newly created Custom Stack. As described earlier, there are only
three ways to have Retained Stack Values: 1) you imported a deck into the
Custom Deck module, 2) you created a Stanyon Variation Deck, and 3) you
completely arranged a Custom Deck from the New state, and then pressed the
Reset: Retain button.
Reset: New
This button will cause all of the card indices above the dividing line to return to
their home positions below the line. If you had imported the deck, pressing this
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button will clear the Stack Value assignments from each card. The Stack Value
labels will be positioned above the open card slots above the dividing line. You
will be left in the New state.
Reset: Retain
This button will cause all of the card indices above the dividing line to return to
their home positions below the line. Stack Values assigned to the cards will be
Retained and the Stack Value labels will position themselves above the card
indices. You will be left in the Retained state, and all cards with Retained Stack
Values will have their Stack Value labels move with the indices.
If you completely arrange a Custom Deck from the New state, and press this
button, the Custom Deck will behave as though it was imported. The Stack
Values of the cards will be retained.
Reorder Retained Stack
When you press this button, all of the card indices will be positioned above the
dividing line in the Retained stack order that you had previously imported or
established. This button is only enabled when Retained Stack Values exist in the
Custom Deck.
Create a Stanyon Variation Deck
To create a Stanyon Variation stack, you must fill out the first five position slots
with card indices before you press this button. There are two constraints on the
five cards:
1. The first four cards must include one of each of the suits in any order.
2. The value of the fifth card must not be the same as the value of the first
card. (For example, the first and fifth card may not be both Aces.)
The fifth card should technically match the suit of the first card, but StackView
uses only the value of the card to build the stack. If the suit of the fifth card
138
does not match the suit of the first card, StackView will automatically put the
correct card index there after you press the button.
Only the first five cards matter. The rest of the card indices can be anywhere
(above or below the dividing line) when you press the button to build the
Stanyon Variation stack. If you violate any of the constraints, you will get an
appropriate error prompt. (For those of you who may be interested, there are
8,225,568 different possible Stanyon Variation stacks. A few of them are quite
interesting.)
Once you press the button, the rest of the deck will automatically be positioned
above the dividing line. If you create a Stanyon Variation stack from the New
state, the Stack Value labels will reflect a new stack numbered sequentially from
top to bottom. If you create a Stanyon Variation stack from the Retained state,
each card index will retain its original Retained Stack Value label.
Stanyon Variation Results Output
After you have successfully built a Stanyon Variation stack, a special line of text
will appear below the button.
For example, if you enter the first five cards of the original Stanyon Stack, as
shown in Figure 73, and press the button to build the rest of the stack, you will
get a results output as shown in Figure 74.
The first part of the output tells you what the first card in the stack is. The
second part of the output tells you the cycling order of the suits. The third part
of the output shows the card increments that you need to use to calculate the
next card in the new stack. Each suit has its corresponding increment value.
(The first suit with the first increment value, the second with the second, etc.)

139
Figure 73

140
Figure 74
In the above example, to determine the next card after a Diamond card, you
need to add 2 to the Diamonds value, and then increment the suit based on the
141
suit cycle. So, the card after the Nine of Diamonds would have to be the Jack of
Clubs (9 + 2 = 11 for the Jack, and Clubs because it comes after Diamonds in
the suit cycle). Continuing the example, to determine the value of the next card
after a Club, you add an increment of 3, and its suit will be a Heart. To
determine the value of the next card after a Heart, you add an increment of 4,
and its suit will be a Spade. And to determine the value of the next card after a
Spade, you add an increment of 5, and its suit will be a Diamond since you have
to loop back to the beginning of the suit cycle.
The card increments can also have negative values based on the first five cards.
When you calculate the value of the next card, if the value goes above 13 (King),
you just cycle around to the Ace. For example, a calculated value of 16 cycles
around to a Three. (This is also known as casting out the 12s.) Likewise, if
you have negative increments and end up with a calculated negative number,
you just cycle back around towards the King. For example, if you get calculated
value of -2 cycles back to a Queen.
Importing a Deck
You Import a deck from the Deck window by pressing the Import Current Deck
from StackView button as described on page 136. When you Import a deck, the
Stack Value of each card is Retained for the duration of your Custom Deck work
unless you press the Reset: New button (page 137). (For more information on
the full detail of Retained Stack Values, see the information on page 135.)
The typical use of an imported deck is to re-order it for a particular routine, while
still retaining the original Stack Values. After the deck is re-ordered, it is
transferred back to the Deck window by pressing the Transfer: Retain button.
From there, you can save the file in that new order for later access as described
on page 143.

142
Transferring a Deck
You transfer your custom deck to the Deck window by pressing either the
Transfer: New button or the Transfer: Retain button as described 137. The
difference is whether the Stack Values are Retained. (For more information on
the full detail of Retained Stack Values, see the information on page 135.)
Saving Your Created Stack
After you have successfully transferred your Custom Deck to the Deck window,
you can save your stack by using the Save Deck As menu item as described on
page 203.
If you would like to save your custom stack (or any stack) as the default stack to
start with when the program loads, you need to save it as your Default Stack.
The Default Stack must be named StackView.svf and it must be saved in the
same directory as the StackView program. There are two ways to do this:
1. The easiest way to create a default stack file is to select the Save Deck As
Default item from the File menu (page 204). This will create the
StackView.svf file using the current deck and order that is in the Deck
window. It will save the file to the correct directory automatically.
2. The other way to create a default stack is to use the Save Deck As item
from the File menu (page 203). When prompted for the filename, enter
the name StackView and make sure to save it in the same directory as
the StackView program.

143
Reference: Custom Mnemonics
Many magicians use mnemonics to learn their stacks. Once a stack has been
learned with confidence, most people quickly forget the mnemonic aids that were
so instrumental at the beginning of the learning process. StackView provides a
Custom Mnemonics capability that is integrated with the StackView Test module
as described on page 167.
Default Mnemonic File
StackView always opens a Default Mnemonic File when the program loads. If
you have not yet defined your own Default Mnemonic File, StackView uses the
Aronson Mnemonic set as the default. If you do create your own mnemonic file,
you can save it as the default. After that, whenever StackView loads, it will also
load your Default Mnemonic File into memory.
Creating Custom Mnemonics
To view and edit the current mnemonic file, select the Custom Mnemonics item
from the Tools menu (page 209). You will see the Custom Mnemonics editing
module as shown in Figure 75. When the Custom Mnemonics menu selection is
checked, the Custom Mnemonics window is visible. When the Custom
Mnemonics menu selection is unchecked, the window is hidden. When the
Custom Mnemonics window is closed, the Custom Mnemonics menu item will
become unchecked.
There are two tables: one for the Card Value mnemonics and one for the Stack
Value mnemonics. By editing the text in the fields, you can customize your
mnemonic associations.
There is a button labeled Restore Aronson Default, which, as its name suggests,
will reset the mnemonics to the Aronson set.

144
Figure 75

If you would like to start your editing from another existing mnemonic file, you
use the Open Mnemonic item from the File menu (page 206).
When you edit the fields, your entries are only saved to memory if you move out
of the field or press the Enter key. If you edit an entry without changing fields
or pressing Enter, the new data will not register in the appropriate memory
variables. You can change fields by pressing the Tab key, or by clicking in a new
field with your mouse.
Saving a Mnemonic File
Once you have established your custom mnemonic settings, you can save your
file. Just select the Save Mnemonic As item from the File menu (page 206) and
you will be prompted for a file name. You can also set your custom mnemonic
145
file as the default mnemonic set to use when StackView loads by selecting Save
Mnemonic As Default item from the File menu (page 206).

146
Reference: Back Design
Many of StackViews Events allow you to reverse cards in the deck. When a card
is reversed, a Back Design will show. StackView uses a red Bicycle Rider back
design. However, StackView allows you to select a Back Design from a
predefined set. You can also select the color of the Back Design.
From the Tools menu, select the Set Back Design item (page 210) to open the
Back Design module. When
the Back Design menu
selection is checked, the Back
Design window is visible.
When the Back Design menu
selection is unchecked, the
window is hidden. When the
Back Design window is closed,
the Back Design menu item
will become unchecked.
Select one of the back designs
from the dropdown box as
shown in Figure 76. Finally,
specify either Red or Blue by
clicking on one of the options.
Finally press the OK button,
and the back design of all of
the cards will be set to your
specification.

Figure 76

147
Reference: Joyal ShuffleMeter
The Joyal ShuffleMeter is a stack analysis tool used to assess the randomness of
a decks order. It is not my intention to describe the full details of the
ShuffleMeter; for its details, you are referred to Martin Joyals book, The Six-
Hour Memorized Deck, Appendix B. It was published in 1997 by Hermetic Press,
Inc.
You access the Joyal ShuffleMeter from the Tools menu on the menu bar. When
the Joyal ShuffleMeter menu selection is checked, the Joyal ShuffleMeter window
is visible. When the Joyal ShuffleMeter menu selection is unchecked, the window
is hidden. When the Joyal ShuffleMeter window is closed, the Joyal ShuffleMeter
menu item will become unchecked.
The Joyal ShuffleMeter will automatically update itself whenever the Deck
window contents change.
Analysis Tabs
There are five tabs in the ShuffleMeter window. Each provides a different
perspective on the degree of randomness of the shuffled state of the deck.
Each tab contains a set of numbers labeled average. These numbers refer to the
average value for that parameter from a large sample of well-shuffled decks.
The cumulative differences of the actual to the average values indicate the
degree of randomness of the deck.
Martin did ask that I reprint a small disclaimer from the book:
I do not claim that the ShuffleMeter is the only means of measuring the shuffled
qualities of a deck, nor the best means. It is even possible to trick the
ShuffleMeter. However, the indications it provides are useful, particularly in
determining if the characteristics of a card setup are close to those of a well-
shuffled deck.

148
Spread
The Spread tab (Figure 77) shows a visual representation of the state of the
deck. The parameters at the top of the tab indicate the cyclical nature of the
deck.

Figure 77

149
Permutation
The Permutation tab (Figure 78) presents an analysis of the permutations of the
thirteen consecutive four-card packets in the deck.

Figure 78

150
Distribution
The Distribution tab (Figure 79) presents an analysis of color and suit
distributions among the four quartiles of the deck.

Figure 79

151
Group
The Group tab (Figure 80) provides an analysis of the number of groups of colors,
suits and values throughout the deck.

Figure 80

152
Break
The Break tab (Figure 81) provides an analysis of the number of breaks in
pattern of the colors, suits and values.

Figure 81

153
Shuffle Index
In the upper right hand corner of the window is the Shuffle Index as shown in
Figure 82. The index is derived from the three component differences of the
Break tab. The formula is:
Shuffle Index = 2 * Color Breaks + 4 * Suit Breaks + 13
* Value Breaks

Figure 82

The values of a well shuffled deck range between 0 and 110. Any values above
110 indicate some level of regular patterns or sequences.
The Shuffle Index will be indicated by a floating arrow with the index value
shown above it. There is an L at the left end of the bar indicating a Low
degree of patterns and sequences in the deck. At the right end of the bar, there
is an H indicating a High degree of patterns and sequences in the deck. The
right edge of the bar is proportional to an index value of 250. It is possible to
have an index reading greater than 250; in these cases, the arrow is shown off
the right edge of the bar, with the correct index value shown above it.

154
Reference: StackView Test
StackView includes a quizzer module called StackView Test that helps you test
your knowledge of your favorite stack. It can test for Card Values, Stack Values,
or a random mix. It can test you in the forward, reverse, current deck order, or
random sequence. You can also specify a portion of the stack to test, either by
Stack Values or Position Values. StackView Test will report the elapsed time of
your test so that you can see how well you know your stack cold. You control
the pace of the test by clicking special buttons on the screen. You can specify
the Test and Show times so that StackView Test can run automatically. You can
disable the timers and just run the test at your own pace. Finally, if you use
mnemonics during the learning stages, you can enable the mnemonic hints that
you established (page 144).
StackView also allows you to test your knowledge of the next or previous card in
your stack. For example, what card comes after Stack Value 18? (Seven of
Spades in Aronson) Or what Stack Value comes before the Three of Diamonds?
(11 in Tamariz)
During the test, StackView will maintain a progress bar to show you how many
cards are remaining in the current test.
The StackView Test approach does not require you to enter your answers to the
questions. It is an honor based approach. As fast as you can think of the
correct answer, you can move on to the next test item. You will be your own
judge as to your true knowledge of the stack. This testing module is designed to
help you with your speed and accuracy so that you can learn your stack cold.
You may also want to disable the Deck window to avoid inadvertent peeking at
the deck during a test. This is up to you.

155
Accessing StackView Test
You access StackView Test from the Tools menu on the menu bar. When the
StackView Test menu selection is checked, the StackView Test window is visible
as shown in Figure 83. When the StackView Test menu selection is unchecked,
the window is hidden. When the StackView Test window is closed, the
StackView Test menu item will become unchecked.
Deck Range
The StackView Test module allows you to test however many cards you want to
test in a testing session, and which ones, by specifying one of the Deck Range
options.
Once the test begins, you may not change the Deck Range of the test. During a
test, those options are disabled.
Full Deck
You select this option if you would like to test the entire deck of cards.
Stack Value Range
When you select the Stack Value Range option, you must enter the Start and
Finish numbers for your desired portion of the deck. Since this is a range of
Stack Values, the order of the current deck in the Deck window will be
disregarded.
Current Deck Position Range
When you select the Current Deck Position Range option, you must enter the
Start and Finish numbers for your desired portion of the deck. Since this is a
range of Position Values, the specific cards at those Positions of the current deck
in the Deck window will be used for the test.

156
Figure 83

Stack Sequence
The StackView Test module will test you once for every card in the selected
portion of the current active stack in the Deck window. You need to select which
sequence will be presented to you with the Stack Sequence options.
Once the test begins, you may not change the Stack Sequence of the test.
During a test, those options are disabled.

157
Forward
When you select the Forward option, its behavior will depend on the Deck Range
setting.
If you have selected the Full Deck or the Stack Value Range, as your range, the
Forward option will cause the order of the cards to be presented to you in their
original Stack Value sequence. The order of the current deck in the Deck
window is disregarded.
If you have selected the Current Deck Position Range, the Forward option will
cause the order of the cards to be presented to you in their current Position
Value sequence.
Backward
When you select the Backward option, its behavior will depend on the Deck
Range setting.
If you have selected the Full Deck or the Stack Value Range, as your range, the
Backward option will cause the order of the cards to be presented to you in the
reverse order of the original Stack Value sequence. The order of the current
deck in the Deck window is disregarded.
If you have selected the Current Deck Position Range, the Backward option will
cause the order of the cards to be presented to you in the reverse order of the
current Position Value sequence.
Current Order
The Current Order button is only enabled when the Full Deck option for the Deck
Range is selected. When this option is selected, the deck will be tested in the
order as it appears in the Deck window. If you want to test the full deck in its
shuffled order, use the Current Deck Position Range, with Start and Finish values
of 1 and 52, and set the Stack Sequence to Forward.

158
If your Deck Range has a partial deck setting, and you want to have the test use
the current order, you should use the Forward option.
Random
When you select the Random option, the specified Deck Range will be presented
to you randomly during the test. Each card will be shown only once during the
test.
Test Value
The Test Value option will determine what piece of information will be asked for
during the test. You must select one of the options.
Once the test begins, you may change the Test Value of the test. During a test,
those options are enabled.
Card Value
When you select the Card Value option, you will be shown the Stack Value as the
example shows in Figure 84. The Stack Value will always be shown on the left
side of the card pair, and you need to identify the Card Value before you move
on to the next card.
When the Card Value option is selected, a small blue arrow between the card
pair is displayed pointing to the right, as highlighted in Figure 85. This indicates
that StackView Test is asking for the Card Value.

159
Figure 84

Figure 85

Stack Value
When you select the Stack Value option, you will be shown the Card Value as the
example shows in Figure 86. The Card Value will always be shown on the right
side of the card pair, and you need to identify the Stack Value before you move
on to the next card.

160
When the Stack Value option is selected, a small blue arrow between the card
pair is displayed pointing to the left, as highlighted in Figure 87. This indicates
that StackView Test is asking for the Stack Value.

Figure 86

Figure 87

161
Random Mix
When you select the Random Mix option, you will be shown the either the Card
Value or the Stack Value randomly throughout the test. When the test is asking
for the Stack Value, the Card Value will always be shown on the right side of the
card pair, and you need to identify the Stack Value before you move on to the
next card. Similarly, when the test is asking for the Card Value, the Stack Value
will always be shown on the left side of the card pair, and you need to identify
the Card Value before you move on to the next card. The test card will change
randomly throughout the test, unless you change the Test Value option selection.
When the Random Mix option is selected and the test has begun, a small blue
arrow between the card pair is displayed pointing to either the left or right side,
depending on the random Test Value. When the arrow points to the left as
shown in Figure 87, you are shown the Card Value on the right, and are asked
for the Stack Value on the left. Likewise, when the arrow points to the right as
shown in Figure 85, you are shown the Stack Value on the left, and are asked for
the Card Value on the right.
Test Card
You are able to specify which relative card is tested for, with respect to the
shown card or Stack Value.
Once the test begins, you may change the Test Card of the test. During a test,
those options are enabled.
Current Card
If you select the Current Card option, an equals sign will be shown between
the cards as shown in Figure 88, and you will be tested for the same card
information. For example, with the Aronson Stack, if the test shows you a Stack
Value of 24 with an equals sign, you are being tested for the Current Card

162
value of Three of Diamonds. Likewise, if the test shows you a Jack of Clubs and
an equals sign, you are being tested for the Current Card Stack Value of 33.

Figure 88

Next Card
If you select the Next Card option, a plus sign will be shown between the cards
as shown in Figure 89, and you will be tested for the Next Card information to
the one you are being shown. For example, with the Aronson Stack, if the test
shows you a Stack Value of 24 with a plus sign, you are being tested for the
next Card Value of the stack, which is the Seven of Hearts. Likewise, if the test
shows you a Jack of Clubs and a plus sign, you are being tested for the next
cards Stack Value of 34.
If the test card shown is the last card in your stack, you will be tested for the
next cyclical value, which is the top card of your stack (Stack Value = 1).
Previous Card
If you select the Previous Card option, a minus sign will be shown between the
cards as shown in Figure 90, and you will be tested for the Previous Card
information to the one you are being shown. For example, with the Aronson
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Stack, if the test shows you a Stack Value of 24 with a minus sign, you are
being tested for the previous Card Value of the stack, which is the Eight of
Spades. Likewise, if the test shows you a Jack of Clubs and a minus sign, you
are being tested for the previous cards Stack Value of 32.
If the test card shown is the first card in your stack, you will be tested for the
previous cyclical value, which is the bottom card of your stack (Stack Value = 52).

Figure 89

Figure 90
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Random Card
If you select the Random Card option, StackView will randomly select from
among the Current Card, Next Card, and Previous Card options throughout the
test. The equals, plus, and minus signs will be updated automatically (even
though the minus sign shows when you initially select this option).
Additional Note:
If you select Current Deck Position Range or Stack Value Range as your Deck
Range setting, StackView will use that range of cards to test you with. However,
the answers for Next Card and Previous Card will extend beyond your range by
one card. For example, if your partial range is from Start value of 5 to Finish
value of 10, and you selected Next Card, when you are tested for card 10, the
answer will be the information about card 11 (not card 5). Likewise, cyclicality
(if your range includes the first or last card of the deck) does not apply to the
range, but rather to the entire stack.
Timers
You can set the amount of time that you are tested on a card before you are
shown the correct answer. You can also set the amount of time the answer is
shown to you before you are automatically tested on the next card. You may
also chose to not use the timers, and have the next test card be prompted by
you.
Once the test begins, you may not change the Timer settings.
Durations
You enter the number of seconds you want for the timers in the Test Duration
and Show Duration text input fields, as shown in Figure 91. You may enter any
time between 0.1 seconds and 60 seconds. You may use decimal times such as
2.5 seconds. Any time entry will round to the nearest tenth of a second. For

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example, if you enter a Test Duration of 3.44 seconds, StackView will round it to
3.4 seconds.

Figure 91

The Test Duration is the amount of time that the test question is shown before
the answer is automatically shown to you. The Show Duration is the amount of
time that the answer will be displayed before StackView automatically moves on
to the next test question.
During the test, two progress bars will activate beneath the pair of testing cards.
The top bar corresponds to the Test Duration, and it will move from the left to
the right as the test timer elapses, as shown in Figure 92. During this time, the
test question is active. The bottom bar corresponds to the Show Duration, and it
will also move from the left to the right as the show timer elapses, as shown in
Figure 93. During this time, the answer is being shown.

Figure 92

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Figure 93
As the timers cycle, the progress bars will indicate how much testing time has
elapsed for each part of the test.
Enable Timers
The Enable Timers checkbox is checked as the default setting. If you uncheck
the box, the progress bars will disappear, and the timer inputs will be disabled.
In addition, the test will not have any timers operating. You must press the Next
button to advance the test to the next card. Finally, with the Enable Timers box
unchecked, there will not be an elapsed time reported at the end of the test.
Mnemonics
StackView Test incorporates the Custom Mnemonic settings as aids in learning
your stack. For more information on working with the Custom Mnemonic
settings, see page 144.
Once the test begins, you may change the mnemonic settings of the test.
During a test, those options are enabled.
Enable Mnemonics
When the Enable Mnemonics box is checked, the mnemonic aids are activated.
A new button labeled Hint will appear in the control button area as shown in
Figure 94 (unless the Auto Hint option is also selected).

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Figure 94
When mnemonics are enabled, and the Auto Hint feature is off, you will be
shown the mnemonic of the card that is being shown in the test question. For
example, Figure 95 shows the Stack Value of 23 with its Aronson mnemonic aid
of gNoMe. This mnemonic aid will help trigger the answer for you. When the
answer is being shown, as in Figure 96, the answer cards mnemonic aid is also
shown.

Figure 95

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Figure 96

Auto Hint
When the Auto Hint option is selected, you will be shown both parts of the
mnemonic pair during the test portion of the question. The Hint Button will be
removed from the control button area.
If the Test Card is activated as the Next Card or Previous Card setting, the
mnemonic aid for the answer card is set correctly to the Next or Previous card.
For example, Figure 97 shows the hint for the Next Cards Stack Value starting
from the Five of Hearts. In this case, the next card in the Aronson Stack is the
Two of Diamonds, and its Stack Value mnemonic is ToMb.

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Figure 97

Control Buttons
Beneath the pair of test cards are the Control Buttons. There are three main
buttons and an extra Hint button that appears when the mnemonic aid is
enabled. The buttons will dynamically change their appearance and function
based on where you are in the testing sequence. When StackView is not testing,
there will be a green Ready indicator below the control buttons as shown in
Figure 98. When testing is in progress, the indicator below the buttons will read:
Testing in red, as shown in Figure 99.

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Figure 98

Figure 99

Test
The top center button is the Test/Stop control. It is used to start and stop the
test. When you first press the Test button to start the testing sequence, it will
toggle to display Stop, and the status indicator will read: Testing. The lower
right button will read: Start, and the lower left button will indicate Show with
the blue arrow overlay. Figure 100 shows what the buttons look like after you

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press the Test button. At this stage, the test timer has not started counting yet.
It will begin timing only after you press one of the two lower buttons.
Once the test begins, the current question will be displayed only as long as the
Test Duration setting permits (if the Enable Timers box is checked page 165).
If you do not press a button during the Test Duration opportunity, the answer to
the question will be displayed only as long as the Show Duration setting permits.
If you do not press a button during the Show Duration opportunity, the next
question will be shown. This cycle will continue throughout the rest of the
defined test.
If you press the Stop button at any time during the test, the whole test is
disabled, and no elapsed time is reported. (If you want the test to complete
with a reported elapsed time, you must end the test correctly by pressing one of
the lower buttons when the Finish button is showing, or by allowing the final
Show Duration timer to finish.)

Figure 100

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Next
The lower right button is the Next control. It is used to advance the test to the
next card without showing the answer to the current question (unless the answer
is already showing).
The Next button will read: Start at the beginning of the test, as shown in
Figure 100. Pressing it in this mode begins the test and the test timers. At the
end of the test on the last card, the button will read: Finish as shown in Figure
101. Pressing it in this mode will end the test, stop the timers, and report the
elapsed time (if the Enable Timers box is checked).
Throughout the rest of the test, the button will display: Next. Pressing the
Next button will advance the test to the next card question, and it will restart the
timers as well as the progress bars. If you press the Next button during a Test
Duration opportunity, StackView will advance to the next question without
showing you the answer to the current question. If you press the Next button
during a Show Duration opportunity, the test will automatically stop showing you
the current answer, and will advance to the next card question. It will also reset
the timers and the progress bars.
When you are very comfortable with your stack, you will find the Next button
useful to quickly move through the stack since you already know the answer.
This process helps you with speed.

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Figure 101

Show
The lower left button is the Show/Next control. It is used to show the answer to
the current question, and also to advance the test to the next card. When the
button just reads Show, pressing it will display the answer to the current
question. When the Show button has a blue arrow overlayed on it, pressing the
button will advance the test to the next card. The blue arrow points to the
button to the right (Next), which indicates that the Show button has taken on
the functionality of the Next button.
The Show button has two modes with separate functions. Depending on the
current state of the test, the button will be in one of the two modes.
One of the modes reads: Show with a blue arrow overlayed on the button. In
this mode, the Show button behaves exactly like the Next button. It will advance
the test to the next card question as described in the preceding section. When it
is pressed in this mode, it will toggle to the other mode (Show with no overlayed
arrow).

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When the Show button is in its regular mode (no overlayed arrow), pressing it
will stop the current Test Duration timer, and the answer will immediately be
displayed. It will also turn on the Show Duration timer.
At the beginning and end of the test, the Show button will have the blue arrow
overlay. It can be used to start and finish the test (just like the Next button).
When you are still working on knowing your stack cold, you will find the Show
button useful to pace yourself and learn your stack better. You can keep your
mouse pointer over the Show button and focus your attention on the test cards.
The one button will advance you through all steps of the test procedure.
Hint
The Hint button, as shown in Figure 102, is only visible if the Enable Mnemonics
box is checked and the Auto Hint box is not checked (page 144). The Hint
button is only active during the Test Duration opportunity. When you press the
Hint button, the mnemonic aid for the answer card is immediately displayed
beneath the unanswered card, as shown in Figure 103.
When you are in Auto Hint mode, the Hint button does not appear.

Figure 102

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Cards Remaining Progress Bar
During an active test, there is a vertical progress bar to the right of the test
cards that indicated how many cards remain in the test, as shown in Figure 103.
Test Results
When a timed test has completed, StackView will report the total elapsed time
for the test. The elapsed time will include both the Test Duration and the Show
Duration times. The report is presented beneath the Control Buttons as shown
in Figure 104.
Assuming you answered all of the questions correctly, a time of 50 seconds for a
full deck with all random settings is excellent.

176
Figure 103

177
Figure 104

178
Reference: StackView Advanced Test
As the name implies, StackView Advanced Test is for advanced users who
already know their stack cold. It is designed to help you practice the any card
to any number methodology with a great degree of control of how the test is
conducted.
While the regular StackView Test module allows you to specify the number of
cards that will be shown in the deck, StackView Advanced Test always tests you
with 30 cards. At the end of the timed test, you will be given a performance
report.
Accessing StackView Advanced Test
You access StackView Advanced Test from the Tools menu on the menu bar.
When the StackView Advanced Test menu selection is checked, the StackView
Advanced Test window is visible. When the StackView Advanced Test menu
selection is unchecked, the window is hidden. When the StackView Advanced
Test window is closed, the StackView Advanced Test menu item will become
unchecked.
Deck Order
You may specify the deck order for the test by selecting one of the options. You
also have the control of whether the deck is randomly cut before the next test
cards are shown.
Starting Deck Order
When the Starting Deck Order option is selected, the deck will begin in its
original stack order for the first set of test cards. The order of the current deck
in the Deck window will be ignored.

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You may also place a check in the Random Cut checkbox. Doing so will cut the
deck randomly before each new set of test cards. If you do not place a check
there, all of the test cards will be chosen with the deck in Starting Deck Order.
Current Deck Order
When the Current Deck Order option is selected, the deck will begin in its current
order from the Deck window for the first set of test cards.
You may also place a check in the Random Cut checkbox. Doing so will cut the
deck randomly before each new set of test cards. If you do not place a check
there, all of the test cards will be chosen with the deck in Current Deck Order.
Known Card
For the StackView Advanced Test, it is presumed that you know the identity of
the Top or Bottom card of the deck. You must select one of the two options
indicating your knowledge.
Top Card
If you select the Top Card option, the Top Card of the deck will be shown to you
during the test. The image of the Top Card will appear in the leftmost card
picture. The label above the card will read Top Card.
Bottom Card
If you select the Bottom Card option, the Bottom Card of the deck will be shown
to you during the test. The image of the Bottom Card will appear in the leftmost
card picture. The label above the card will read Bottom Card.
Desired Card
The Desired Card is the target card in the any card to any position challenge.
During the test, the image of the test card will appear in the second card position.
You have two ways of specifying the Desired Card.

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Random Card
When you select the Random Card option, the Desired Card is randomly chosen
for each set of test cards.
Specified Stack Value
When you select the Specified Stack Value option, the Desired Card is the same
card for each set of test cards. It is determined by the Stack Value that you
enter in the text field provided.
Desired Position
The Desired Position is the target position in the any card to any position
challenge. During the test, the image of the target position value will appear in
the third card position. You have two ways of specifying the Desired Position.
Random Position
When you select the Random Position option, the Desired Position is randomly
chosen for each set of test cards.
Specified Position Value
When you select the Specified Position Value option, the Desired Position is the
same Position Value for each set of test cards. It is determined by the Position
Value that you enter in the text field provided.
Test Questions
Given a set of test cards presented, there are three logical test questions that
can be asked in the any card to any position challenge. You must select one of
the question types for the StackView Advanced Test.
Once a StackView Advanced Test session is active, you may change the Test
Question that will be prompted by selecting a different option.

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Cards to Cut
When this question is selected, you must identify how many cards must be cut
from the top to the bottom of the deck, so that the Desired Card becomes
positioned to the Desired Position (with the Known Card starting in the
appropriate position before the cut).
New Top Card Stack Value
When this question is selected, you must identify the Stack Value of the Top
Card after the appropriate number of cards has been cut from the top to the
bottom of the deck, so that the Desired Card becomes positioned to the Desired
Position (with the Known Card starting in the appropriate position before the cut).
New Bottom Card Stack Value
When this question is selected, you must identify the Stack Value of the Bottom
Card after the appropriate number of cards has been cut from the top to the
bottom of the deck, so that the Desired Card becomes positioned to the Desired
Position (with the Known Card starting in the appropriate position before the cut).
Answer Input
During the StackView Advanced Test, you must enter the correct answer into the
Answer Input box.
Answer Entry
When a new set of test cards is being shown, the Answer Input box has a blank
field with a flashing cursor and a grayed question mark button as shown in
Figure 105.
Based on your selected Test Question, it will appear above the input field.
After you enter your numeric answer to the question, you must press the Enter
key (or Return key).

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Figure 105

Answer Response
If your answer was correct, the gray question mark button will turn green and
display the correctly entered number. For example, Figure 106 shows the
Response to a correct answer given.
If your answer was incorrect, the gray question mark button will turn red and
display the correct answer that should have been entered. For example, Figure
107 shows the Response to an incorrect answer given.
After the Answer Response is displayed, you may press the Enter key to
immediately move on to the next set of test cards. This will help you develop
speed with the advanced test.

183
Figure 106

184
Figure 107

Timers
You can set the amount of time that you are tested on a set of test cards before
you are shown the correct answer. You can also set the amount of time the
answer is shown to you before you are automatically tested on the next set of
test cards. You may also chose to not use the timers, and have the next set of
test cards be prompted by you.
Once the test begins, you may not change the Timer settings.

185
Durations
You enter the number of seconds you want for the timers in the Test Duration
and Show Duration text input fields, as shown in Figure 108. You may enter any
time between 0.1 seconds and 60 seconds. You may use decimal times such as
2.5 seconds. Any time entry will round to the nearest tenth of a second. For
example, if you enter a Test Duration of 3.44 seconds, StackView will round it to
3.4 seconds.

Figure 108
The Test Duration is the amount of time that the test question is shown before
the answer is automatically shown to you. The Show Duration is the amount of
time that the answer will be displayed before StackView automatically moves on
to the next test question.
During the test, two progress bars will activate beneath the pair of testing cards.
The top bar corresponds to the Test Duration, and it will move from the left to
the right as the test timer elapses, as shown in Figure 109. During this time, the
test question is active. The bottom bar corresponds to the Show Duration, and it
will also move from the left to the right as the show timer elapses, as shown in
Figure 110. During this time, the answer is being shown.
As the timers cycle, the progress bars will indicate how much testing time has
elapsed for each part of the test.

186
Figure 109

Figure 110

Enable Timers
The Enable Timers checkbox is checked as the default setting. If you uncheck
the box, the progress bars will disappear, and the timer inputs will be disabled.
In addition, the test will not have any timers operating. You must press the Next
button to advance the test to the next card. Finally, with the Enable Timers box
unchecked, there will not be an elapsed time reported at the end of the test.
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Control Buttons
Beneath the set of test cards are the Control Buttons. There are three buttons
that are used to control the test flow. The buttons will dynamically change their
appearance and function based on where you are in the testing sequence. When
StackView is not testing, there will be a green Ready indicator below the
control buttons as shown in Figure 111. When testing is in progress, the
indicator below the buttons will read: Testing in red, as shown in Figure 112.

Figure 111

Figure 112

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Test
The top center button is the Test/Stop control. It is used to start and stop the
test. When you first press the Test button to start the testing sequence, it will
toggle to display Stop, and the status indicator will read: Testing. The lower
right button will read: Start, and the lower left button will indicate Show with
the blue arrow overlay. Figure 113 shows what the buttons look like. At this
stage, the test timer has not started counting yet. It will begin timing only after
you press one of the two lower buttons.

Figure 113

Once the test begins, the current question will be displayed only as long as the
Test Duration setting permits (if the Enable Timers box is checked page 183).
If you do not press a button during the Test Duration opportunity, the answer to
the question will be displayed only as long as the Show Duration setting permits.
If you do not press a button during the Show Duration opportunity, the next
question will be shown. This cycle will continue throughout the rest of the
defined test.
If you press the Stop button at any time during the test, the whole test is
disabled, and no elapsed time is reported. (If you want the test to complete
with a reported elapsed time, you must end the test correctly by pressing one of

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the lower buttons when the Finish button is showing, or by allowing the final
Show Duration timer to finish.)
Next
The lower right button is the Next control. It is used to advance the test to the
next set of test cards without showing the answer to the current question (unless
the answer is already showing).
The Next button will read: Start at the beginning of the test, as shown in
Figure 113. Pressing it in this mode begins the test and the test timers. At the
end of the test on the last card, the button will read: Finish as shown in Figure
114. Pressing it in this mode will end the test, stop the timers, and report the
elapsed time (if the Enable Timers box is checked).

Figure 114

Throughout the rest of the test, the button will display: Next. Pressing the
Next button will advance the test to the next card question, and it will restart the
timers as well as the progress bars. If you press the Next button during a Test
Duration opportunity, StackView will advance to the next question without
showing you the answer to the current question. If you press the Next button
during a Show Duration opportunity, the test will automatically stop showing you

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the current answer, and will advance to the next card question. It will also reset
the timers and the progress bars.
Since StackView Advanced Test expects you to enter the correct answers, when
you press the Next button, you will be attributed with a wrong answer.
Show
The lower left button is the Show/Next control. It is used to show the answer to
the current question, and also to advance the test to the next set of test cards.
When the button just reads Show, pressing it will display the answer to the
current question. When the Show button has a blue arrow overlayed on it,
pressing the button will advance the test to the next card. The blue arrow points
to the button to the right (Next), which indicates that the Show button has taken
on the functionality of the Next button.
The Show button has two modes with separate functions. Depending on the
current state of the test, the button will be in one of the two modes.
One of the modes reads: Show with a blue arrow overlayed on the button. In
this mode, the Show button behaves exactly like the Next button. It will advance
the test to the next card question as described in the preceding section. When it
is pressed in this mode, it will toggle to the other mode (Show with no overlayed
arrow).
When the Show button is in its regular mode (no overlayed arrow), pressing it
will stop the current Test Duration timer, and the answer will immediately be
displayed. It will also turn on the Show Duration timer.
At the beginning and end of the test, the Show button will have the blue arrow
overlay. It can be used to start and finish the test (just like the Next button).
When you are still working on knowing your stack cold, you will find the Show
button useful to pace yourself and learn your stack better. You can keep your

191
mouse pointer over the Show button and focus your attention on the test cards.
The one button will advance you through all steps of the test procedure.
However, since StackView Advanced Test expects you to enter the correct
answers, when you press the Show button, you will be attributed with a wrong
answer, and the correct answer will be shown in a red button by the Answer
Input field.
During the StackView Advanced Test, pressing the Enter key is equivalent to
clicking the Show button.
Cards Remaining Progress Bar
During an active test, there is a vertical progress bar to the left of the Control
Buttons that indicates how many cards remain in the test, as shown in Figure
115.

192
Figure 115

Test Results
When a timed test has completed, StackView will report the test results. total
elapsed time for the test. The elapsed time will include both the Test Duration
and the Show Duration times. The report is presented beneath the Control
Buttons as shown in Figure 116.

193
Figure 116

Time
StackView will report the total elapsed time for the test. The elapsed time will
include both the Test Duration and the Show Duration times.
Percent Correct
StackView will report the percentage of questions that were answered correctly.
Score
The final score is a composite of the time and percentage answered correctly.
The formula is:

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Score = (# Correct * 3 / seconds) * 100

A score of 100 is excellent.

195
Reference: StackView Search
StackView Search is a special tool which allows you to search for a sequence of
manipulations that will get a deck from one known order to another known order.
This is a very computationally intensive process, so some search sessions may
take a long time to find a solution. However, it does provide the student of
stacked deck magic a new tool for designing routines and exploring possibilities.
The search feature allows you to limit the search space to tightly defined
manipulation parameters, as well as allowing you to trap the results during a
search if a close match is found.
With StackView Search, you set the starting deck and the target deck from saved
deck files. You also specify whether the entire target deck must match, or only a
specific range of card positions. You must also specify the maximum number of
moves to try. Finally, you must identify the complete or specific set of
manipulations to try per move.
As you identify the search parameters, the total possible search time is updated.
In the most extreme condition, if you select all possible manipulations to try
(16,071) and the maximum number of moves (26), you will see that the
estimated time will be quite large (1.8 E +95 Millennia). This is not a joke.
Doing a complete search of 26 possible moves with 16,071 possible
manipulations per move, results in a very large number of combinations to
search through. Due to this size problem, StackView allows you to specify fewer
moves, and specific ranges of manipulations to try. This results in shorter
possible search times.
During a search, you can continue to use all other parts of StackView, and it will
not affect the search task.

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When a match is found, the successful sequence of moves is recorded in the
listbox that can then be transferred over to the StackView Sessions window for
testing and saving.
Deck Settings
Before a Search can begin, you must specify several parameters. You must
identify: a Start Deck, a Target Deck, the Maximum Moves to try, and the
specific Manipulations to include in the Search.
Start Deck
Press the Set Start Deck button to select a saved deck file ( .svf) from your
computer. This saved deck order will be the deck order that StackView Search
will start from.
Target Deck
Press the Set Target Deck button to select a saved deck file ( .svf) from your
computer. This saved deck order will be the deck order will be the deck order
that StackView Search will try to match as the target.
Deck Match Setting
You must also specify whether the whole or partial Target Deck should be
matched in the search. If you specify Whole Deck Match by selecting its option,
the search process will try to match the entire Target Deck order. If you specify
Partial Deck Match by selecting its option, you will be prompted to specify the
Starting and Ending positions of the partial range. With the Partial Deck Match
option selected, the search process will only try to match that partial deck range
of the Target Deck.
Threshold Trap
You can also specify a Trap event by setting a threshold number of cards to
match in the search progress. For example, even though you may want a whole

197
deck match, you may be interested in seeing a partial solution of 45 cards or
more. You would then be able to use your own judgment to figure out the rest
versus continuing a long search. In other words, for you, 45 cards may be close
enough. If a Threshold Trap does occur, StackView will pause the search and
show you the manipulation sequence. You can choose to stop or to resume the
search.
When you press either of the Target Deck option buttons, a dialog box will open.
If you check the Threshold Trap checkbox, you must also specify how many
cards in the search range should match for the Trap Event to occur. The value
you enter must be less than the number of cards being searched for in the range.
For example, if you are doing a whole deck match, the Threshold value must be
less than 52 cards. As another example, if you are doing a partial deck match
with a range from 5 to 10, the Threshold value must be less than 6 cards.
When you specify a Threshold Trap, you must also specify whether you want the
Search to be interrupted when a Trap Event occurs, or if you want the Trap
Events to be saved to a special Trap file ( .svt).
When a Trap Event does occur with the interrupt setting, the Search will be
interrupted, and the sequence of Moves that created the Trap condition will be
listed in the listbox. Above the listbox will be the label Threshold: X, where X
indicates the number of card matches that occurred. If the Save Traps to File
setting is set, the Threshold: X label will be listed in the saved text file along with
the accompanying sequence of Moves.
The purpose of the Threshold Trap feature is to incorporate some human
judgment into the Search process. For example, even though you may want a
whole deck match, you may be interested in seeing a partial solution of 45 cards
or more. You would then be able to use your own judgment to figure out the
rest versus continuing a potentially long search. In other words, for you 45

198
cards may be close enough. If a Threshold Trap does occur, StackView will
show or save the results for you to study further.
There are two important things to remember when using the Trap feature. First,
when a Trap does occur, StackView will suspend the search, and it will wait for
your further input. So, if you want the search to run unattended, you must
disable the Trap feature, or select the setting to save the Threshold Traps to a
file. Second, with the Trap feature enabled, the search time will be slightly
longer. There will be an approximate single digit percentage increase in the total
search time.
Manipulations and Moves
You must specify the nature of the Search space by identifying the Moves and
Manipulations.
Maximum Moves
Enter the value for the maximum number of Moves to try in the Search. The
largest allowable value for this parameter is 26. The larger the value, the longer
the possible search time.
Identify Manipulations to Include in Search
Each Manipulation that you want to include in the Search must be selected by
checking one of its checkboxes. The left checkbox will include All possible
variations of the Manipulation. The right checkbox allows you to narrow the
Specific possible variations of the Manipulation.
You may clear all of the Manipulation checks by pressing the Uncheck All button.
All
When you check the left box for a Manipulation, every possible variation will be
tried. For example, if you select All for Cut Deck Precise, you will see the
indicated value for Manipulations per Move increase by 51 Manipulations.

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StackView will then include all 51 variations of Cut Deck Precise in the Search
process. (A value of 52 is not included since that Manipulation does nothing to
the deck, so StackView will not waste a processing cycle to test it.)
Specific
When you check the right box for a Manipulation, you will be prompted with
range parameters to limit the number of Manipulations.
Control Buttons
Starting the Search
Once you have entered your search parameters, press the Start button to start
the search process. After the search process begins, the Start button will turn in
to a Stop button.
You may also first open a saved Search File ( .svh format, page 205) before
pressing the Start button. When you open a saved Search File and press the
Start button, the Continue Search button will appear for you to resume the
search, or press Start to begin the search from the beginning.
Interrupting a Search
You may interrupt the search progress by pressing the Stop button at any time.
The Stop button will become the Start button again, and a new button will
appear labeled Continue Search. When you press the Continue Search button,
the search process will resume from the point that it left off when you pressed
stop. If you press Start while the Continue Search button is displayed, the
current search progress will be cleared, and the search will start again from the
beginning.
You can save your interim search results in a special Search File format. From
the File menu, select the Save Search As option to open up a dialog box. For
more information see page 205.

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If a Threshold Trap occurs, the search progress will be interrupted. See more
information on page 197.
Search Progress Indication
During the search, there will be continuous updating of the expected time for
completion.
Estimated Possible Search Time
Based on the number of Manipulations per Move selected and the Maximum
Moves indicated, there will be an Estimated Possible Search Time calculated and
indicated.
Interim Results
As the search is under way, a progress bar will continue to scroll across the
screen indicating that the search is active. The first time the progress bar scans
the screen will possibly be slower than subsequent scans. This is due to a speed
calibration that takes place to adjust the Estimated Possible Search Time based
on the speed of your computer. The estimated time will continue to recalibrate
after each scan of the progress bar. If there are other activities that are taxing
your processor, you may se some fluctuation in the estimated time.
After each scan of the progress bar, the list box will display the last move
sequence that was tried. In addition, the Elapsed Time is updated and displayed,
as well as the search progress. The search progress is shown in the long,
narrow rectangle beneath the Elapsed Time. The format of the search progress
is x[p, q, r,], where x indicates at which move the search is currently at.
StackView tries all smaller combinations of moves first, and then searches
upwards. For example, if you selected 7 as your Maximum Moves parameter,
and several manipulations that result in 25 Manipulations per Move, StackView
will first try all versions of 1 move (25 manipulations will be tried). If no match
is found, then StackView will try all combinations (625 combinations) of 2 moves.

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Then 3 moves (15,625 combinations), then 4 moves (390,625 combinations),
and so on up to 7 moves (6,103,515,625 combinations). So, to continue this
example, if the progress indicator shows 6[23,4,12,25,2,19], this means that the
search has just tried a 6 move combination. The remaining numbers correspond
to the manipulation identifiers as defined dynamically by your manipulation
selections. The listbox shows the specific manipulations that are indicated by the
values on the progress status line.
Transfer List to Sessions
Once a match is found, the successful sequence will be displayed in the listbox.
You may transfer that sequence to the Sessions window by pressing the Transfer
List to Sessions button.

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Reference: Menus
The StackView menus allow you to access and control all of the features in the
program.
File
The File menu selections allow you to save and open the various special
StackView file structures. Each file structure has an unique file extension and is
described more fully in Appendix 4 on page 269.
Open Deck
The Open Deck menu selection allows you to open a previously saved StackView
deck file. StackView deck files have a .svf extension.
If the file was saved with StackView version 5.0 or later, the saved Back Design
(see page 147) will also be restored when opened. If the file was saved with
StackView versions earlier than version 5.0, the Back Design will be set to a
default Red Bicycle Rider back.
Save Deck As
The Save Deck As menu selection allows you to save the current deck (from
the Deck window) to a StackView file format ( .svf). It is important to note
that both the sequence and the stack values of the cards are saved in the deck
file.
For example, lets say you load in the Nikola stack using the Set Stack button.
The cards will show in the Deck window, and the order of the Stack Values is
sequential (1, 2, 3, 4, 50, 51, 52). Perform two Reverse Out Faro shuffles,
and the new deck order will show the Stack Values as (1, 5, 9, 13, 44, 48, 52).
However, if you save the current stack as myNikola.svf, when you open it
later, the cards will be in the same sequence as when you saved them. The
Stack Values will still read (1, 5, 9, 13, 44, 48, 52).
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If you had wanted the new sequence (6D, 5S, 3C, 4D, 2D, ) to match up with a
fresh Stack Value order (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ) you would need to use the Custom
Deck tool as described on page 234.
Save Deck As Default
When a stack is saved as the default file, it will be the one that is opened
automatically when the program starts up. The Save Deck As Default menu
selection will always name the file as stackview.svf, and the file will always
be saved in the same directory as the StackView application. (You can also use
the Save Deck As menu selection to save your stack with the stackview.svf
filename, and save it to the correct directory instead. However, the Save Deck
As Default option is easier.)
If the stackview.svf file is missing, the program will then open the New Deck
(Bicycle) stack as the secondary default starting stack.
Open Session
The Open Session menu selection allows you to open a previously saved
Session file. StackView Session files have a .svs extension.
If there are existing Session Events in the Sessions listbox, they will be
overwritten.
In StackView version 5.0, several of the command names have changed. As a
result, some Session files from earlier versions will not run in version 5.0. (For
example, the phrase reversed from earlier versions is now referred to as
inverse.)
Save Session As
The Save Session As menu selection allows you to save the current Session
(from the StackView Control window, Sessions tab) to a Session file format
( .svs).
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You do not have to stop recording your Session before you save it to a Session
file.
Open Search
The Open Search menu selection allows you to open a previously saved Search
file. StackView Search files have a .svh extension.
If the Search file contains only parameter settings, and the Search process was
not initiated, pressing the Start button will initiate the Search.
If the Search file contains an interrupted Search process, you will see both a
Start button, and a Continue Search button. If you press the Start button, the
Search will re-initiate and start from the beginning of the Search space. If you
press the Continue Search button, the Search process will resume searching from
where it left off.
If a Search file contains a completed Search and it had found a successful match,
the label above the listbox will read Match Found!!! You will also see just the
Start button. Pressing it will start the Search from the beginning again.
If a Search file contains a completed Search and it had exhausted all
combinations and no found a successful match, the label above the listbox will
read No Match Found You will also see just the Start button. Pressing it will
start the Search from the beginning again.
StackView version 5.0 uses a revised .svh file structure. You can not open
Search files saved with earlier versions of StackView.
Save Search As
The Save Search As menu selection allows you to save the current Search
activity (from the StackView Search window) to a Search file format ( .svh).

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The current status of the Search progress is saved so that when you open the
file later, you can continue from where you left off.
Open Mnemonic
The Open Mnemonic menu selection allows you to open a previously saved
Mnemonic file. StackView Mnemonic files have a .svm extension.
The Mnemonic window will open with the mnemonic setting from the saved file.
Save Mnemonic As
The Save Mnemonic As menu selection allows you to save the current
Mnemonic set (from the Mnemonics window) to a Mnemonic file format ( .svm).
Save Mnemonic As Default
When a mnemonic file is saved as the default file, it will be the one that is loaded
automatically when the program starts up. The Save Mnemonic As Default menu
selection will always name the file as stackview.svm, and the file will always
be saved in the same directory as the StackView application. (You can also use
the Save Mnemonic As menu selection to save your stack with the
stackview.svm filename, and save it to the correct directory instead.
However, the Save Mnemonic As Default option is easier.)
If the stackview.svm file is missing, the program will then load the Aronson
mnemonic set as the secondary default.
Print
When you select the Print menu item, the visual contents of the active window
will be sent to your printer. A print dialog box will appear so that you can edit
your printer settings.

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Exit
When you select the Exit menu item, you are requesting that the StackView
program shuts down. You will always receive a confirmation dialog box before
the software exits to prevent unsaved Search, Session and Mnemonic activities
from being accidentally lost.
View
The View menu selections allow you to see specific windows and files. The Deck
and Controls menu items will toggle the visibility of those two StackView
windows. The rest of the View menu items will open specific StackView file
types for your viewing in a pop-up window.
Deck
The Deck menu item will toggle the visibility of the Deck window. When the
Deck window is visible, there is a checkmark beside the Deck menu item. When
the Deck window is not visible, there is no checkmark beside the Deck menu
item. For more information on the Deck window, see page 24.
Controls
The Controls menu item will toggle the visibility of the StackView Control window.
When the StackView Control window is visible, there is a checkmark beside the
Controls menu item. When the StackView Control window is not visible, there is
no checkmark beside the Controls menu item. For more information on the
StackView Control window, see page 32.
When you toggle the StackView Control window to the invisible state, any
Session activities you have recorded will still remain in memory. When you
toggle the visibility back, the Session Events will still be retained. However, if
you close the StackView Control window by pressing the X in the upper right
hand corner of the window, you will get prompted if you have any unsaved
Session activities. If you close the StackView Control window without saving the
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Session Events, you will lose them. For more information on Sessions, see page
80.
Deck File
When you select the Deck File menu item, you will be prompted to open a saved
StackView Deck file. These files have an extension of .svf. The file will be
opened in a read-only text viewer. For more information on Deck file structure,
see page 269.
Session File
When you select the Session File menu item, you will be prompted to open a
saved StackView Session file. These files have an extension of .svs. The file
will be opened in a read-only text viewer. For more information on Session file
structure, see page 270.
Mnemonic File
When you select the Mnemonic File menu item, you will be prompted to open a
saved StackView Mnemonic file. These files have an extension of .svm. The file
will be opened in a read-only text viewer. For more information on Mnemonic
file structure, see page 270.
Search File
When you select the Search File menu item, you will be prompted to open a
saved StackView Search file. These files have an extension of .svh. The file
will be opened in a read-only text viewer. For more information on Search file
structure, see page 270.
Threshold Trap File
When you select the Threshold Trap File menu item, you will be prompted to
open a saved StackView Threshold Trap file. These files have an extension

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of .svt. The file will be opened in a read-only text viewer. For more
information on Threshold Trap file structure, see page 271.
Tools
The Tools menu selections provide you with special features in StackView. Each
menu item opens an unique window for its specialized functionality.
When a special Tools window is open, there will be a checkmark next to that
menu item. If you select that menu item while it is checked, the corresponding
window will close.
Custom Deck
The Custom Deck menu item opens the interactive Custom Deck module. In this
window you can customize your own stacks with complete control of the Stack
Values and Stack Positions of each card. For more information, see page 133.
Custom Mnemonics
The Custom Mnemonics menu item opens the Mnemonics module. In this
window you can specify your own mnemonic scheme for your stack. Your
scheme is then incorporated in the StackView Test module. For more
information on the Custom Mnemonics module, see page 144.
Joyal ShuffleMeter
The Joyal ShuffleMeter menu item opens the Joyal ShuffleMeter stack analysis
tool. For more information on the Joyal ShuffleMeter, see page 148.
Piles Control
The Piles Control menu item opens the full featured Piles Control module. With
Piles Control, you have significant control over subsets of the deck, called Piles.
For more information on the Piles Control module, see page 88.

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Set Back Design
The Set Back Design menu item opens the Back Design module. With this
module, you can specify the design and the color of the back of the cards for
your stack. For more information on the Back Design module, see page 147.
StackView Test
The StackView Test menu item opens the full featured StackView Test module.
With this module you can test your knowledge of your stack. For more
information on the StackView Test module, see page 155.
StackView Advanced Test
The StackView Advanced Test menu item opens the StackView Advanced Test
module. This module provides a testing structure for expert stack users. For
more information on the StackView Advanced Test module, see page 179.
StackView Search
The StackView Search menu item opens the StackView Search module. The
StackView Search module allows you to explore the combinatorics of
manipulations to achieve a target stack sequence. For more information on the
StackView Search module, see page 196.
Window
The Window menu items allow you to control the windows that may be open in
your workspace.
Cascade
The Cascade menu item creates a tight waterfall effect with all of the open
windows in the application. This is a convenient way to organize your
application space.

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Open Window Selection
Each open windows title will appear as a Window menu item. The active
windows menu item will have a checkmark beside it. If you want to active any
of the open windows to bring it to the top, just select that windows menu item
from the Window menu selections.
Help
Open User Guide
The Open User Guide menu item will open this document with Adobe Acrobat
Reader. You must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer. If you do not have it, you may download it for free from
www.adobe.com.
The StackView User Guide.pdf file must be located in the StackView
application directory. (The default location is C:\Program Files\StackView.)
About
The About menu option provides some basic information about the StackView
application.

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Appendix 1: Sample Exercises
Specifying the Order of a Stack
For this first exercise, we will explore how to take a given stack and set a new
specific deck order without losing the original Stack Values of each card. For
example, we will reorder the Aronson Stack into the Eight-Kings order, but still
retain the Stack Values so that we can save the deck in the new order.
1. From the Control tab in the StackView Control window, select the Aronson
Stack from the Set Stack listbox as shown in Figure 117, and then press
the Set Stack button.

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 Figure 117
2. Open the Custom Deck window by selecting the Custom Deck choice on
the Tools menu as shown in Figure 118.

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 Figure 118

3. Press the Import Current Deck from StackView button. This will place the
Aronson Stack into the Custom Deck workspace.
4. Now press the Reset: Retain button. This will move the card indexes
below the dividing line. You will notice that the Stack Values of each
index also move below the line.
5. Next, you click and drag each card index into the correct new position
above the line as shown in Figure 119 and Figure 120. You place each
index in to the new order that you want. The Stack Values will move with
each card.

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Figure 119

215
Figure 120

216
 6. After all of the card indexes are above the line, press the Transfer: Retain
button. This will place the new deck order and retained Stack Values into
the Deck window.
7. Save the deck with the Save As selection from the File menu.
You now have the Aronson Stack reordered to the Eight Kings sequence.
Any Card to Any Number with Faros
A classic exercise in card magic is to establish the correct sequence of Out Faros
and In Faros to get a specific card from a starting position to a target position in
the deck. For example, what is the Faro sequence to get the card in the 7th
position to the 20th position in the deck?
1. Using the Search tool, this is a straightforward task. We will need to
establish the correct starting target decks.
2. Start with the deck in any known sequence. In this example, we will start
with the Aronson Stack. From the Control tab in the StackView Control
window, select the Aronson Stack from the Set Stack listbox as shown in
Figure 117, and then press the Set Stack button. Save the deck with the
Save As selection from the File menu, and name the saved file as
Start.svf.
3. We now need to establish the target deck. The target deck will need to
have the Three of Hearts (the 7th card in the Aronson Stack) repositioned
to the 20th position. The easiest way to do this is with the Move Event
from the Control tab in the StackView Control window. Set the From
parameter to 7 and the To parameter to 20. Press the Move Card button
as shown in Figure 121. Next, save the target deck with the Save As
selection from the File menu, and name the saved file as Target.svf.

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 Figure 121

4. Open the StackView Search module from the Tools menu as shown in
Figure 122.

Figure 122

5. Set the Search parameters for the task at hand. Set the start deck to
Start.svf, which was saved in step 2. Set the target deck to
Target.svf, which was saved in step 3. Select the Partial Deck Match
option, and set both the Start and End range parameters to 20, as shown

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 in Figure 123. By setting the range to just this one position, all other card
displacements can be ignored since we are interested in only the 20th
position being matched.

Figure 123
6. Set the Maximum Moves parameter to 20. This will allow a generous
sequence of moves for the search process.
7. Finally select the Out Faro and In Faro manipulations. Your StackView
Search module should look like the one shown in Figure 124.

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 Figure 124

8. Press the Start button, and the solution will display in the listbox as shown
in Figure 125. You may now transfer the Event list sequence to the

220
 Sessions module by pressing the Transfer List to Sessions button. When
you now run that sequence of Events, the 7th card will move to the 20th
position.

Figure 125

Working with Sessions

For the example exploring Sessions, we will set up a practice session to locate a
selected card after a specific selection and shuffle sequence. The deck will start
in the Aronson Stack order. The spectator will randomly cut some cards to the
table. The next card from the deck becomes the selected card, which is placed
on the cut portion. The balance of the cards are placed on the selected card.
The spectator then gives the deck a legitimate riffle shuffle. You are able to look
through the cards and identify the selection.

221
We will use the Sessions tool to set up a practice sequence. Select the Sessions
tab on the StackView Control window as shown in Figure 126.

Figure 126

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1. Press the Record button. (Once you press it, the button changes to a
Stop button.) When StackView is in a recording mode, all recordable
Event buttons turn red.
2. From the Control tab in the StackView Control window, select the Aronson
Stack from the Set Stack listbox as shown in Figure 127, and then press
the Set Stack button. If you go back to the Sessions tab, you will see that
you have recorded the first Event of the Session as shown in Figure 128.

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Figure 127

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3. Select the Selections tab on the StackView Control window. In the Free
Choice with Special Handling section, select the Cut Select Next 1 option
from the listbox as shown in Figure 129. Next, press the Select button
which is beside the listbox.

Figure 128

Figure 129

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4. Select the Control tab on the StackView Control window.
5. With the Random parameter selected, press the Riffle shuffle button as
shown in Figure 130.

Figure 130

6. Your Deck window should look something like Figure 131. In order to
practice this routine, you will most likely not want the selected card to be
highlighted. Chose the Selections tab of the StackView Control window.
Uncheck the Highlight Selections box as shown in Figure 132.
7. Next, select the Session tab on the StackView Control window. Press the
Stop button to complete your recording session. Your Session window
should look like Figure 133.
8. From the File menu, select the Save Session As menu item and enter a
filename to save your session.
9. Now, to practice, simply press the Play ALL Current Session button, and
the Events will all play in the correct sequence so that you can study the
resulting deck order.

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Figure 131

227
Figure 132

Figure 133

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Appendix 2: Frequently Asked Questions
Who do I contact if I have specific questions?
You can contact Nick Pudar at nick@stackview.com with any questions, ideas,
complaints, recommendations, etc. Visit www.stackview.com for the latest
information and versions of the software.
If you would like to be added to a mailing list to be informed of updated releases
of StackView, send an email requesting to be added to the list to
nick@stackview.com. The email will not be used for any other purpose other
than informing you of a software update.
The program crashed. What now?
While I have made every effort to anticipate all error conditions and provide a
soft landing, I do realize that I may have overlooked some situations. If
StackView does crash on you, please let me know by sending me an email to
nick@stackview.com. If you can also provide any details about your computer,
and what you were trying to do before the crash, it would be most appreciated.
If the crash event is repeatable, that is even more helpful in the debugging
process.
I think I found a bug in the software. The results dont seem
right. What do I do?
If you believe the software is not behaving correctly, I would appreciate hearing
about it. I have made every effort to fully test all aspects of the software
simulations. However, I do recognize that there are a lot of complex situations
that I may not have tested. If you do find something that does not seem right,
please send me the details to nick@stackview.com.

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How do I learn more about stacked deck magic?
There are many publications written about stacked deck magic. An extremely
well documented internet site, www.joyalstack.com by Martin Joyal provides a
wealth of material and references for the serious student of stacked deck magic.
In the Custom Deck window, why dont the cards drag-and-
drop correctly sometimes?
When you are dragging a custom card index, it will be dropped onto the space
that is precisely designated by the tip of the mouse arrow. The tip of the arrow
must be on one of the gray card slots to be dropped correctly. If the tip of the
arrow happens to be between card slots, it will default back to its starting
position below the dividing line. For more detailed information about the Custom
Deck interface, see page 133.
Why is everything so big on my screen?
If the windows appear too large for your monitor, your screen resolution may be
set too small. For me personally, the optimal resolution is 1024 x 768. However,
depending on your computer hardware, you may find your own preferred screen
resolution.
To adjust the screen resolution go to your Control Panel in Windows, and adjust
your Display Settings. Another way is to right-click on your desktop, and select
Properties. On the Settings tab, there is a slide bar to adjust the Screen Area.
When will an Apple Mac or a Pocket PC version be written?
I have no plans to develop an Apple version of StackView. However, if anyone is
SERIOUSLY contemplating taking my source code and converting it to the Apple
O/S, please contact me at nick@stackview.com.
I have been told that Windows emulators should be able to run StackView on a
Mac.

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Likewise, I have no plans on developing a PocketPC version of StackView. I cant
imagine what it look like on such a small screen.
Please keep in mind that I wrote this while I was learning the programming
language (Visual Basic 6.0) in a just-in-time mode. The result is a lot of hard-
wired and inelegant code. Also there is NO documentation to explain what is
going on in the code. (This fact is troublesome at time when I try to figure out
how the software is working!)
How do I create my own stacks?
In order to create your own stack, here are the essential steps:
1. Select the Custom Deck module from the Tools menu.
2. Drag-and-drop the card indexes from below the dividing line to the open
card slots above the line until all 52 cards are positioned in your stack
order.
3. Press the Transfer: New button. This will transfer the new stack order to
the Deck window. (You may need to make the Deck window visible by
selecting it from the bottom of the Windows menu.)
4. Save your stack by selecting Save Deck As from the File menu on the
menu bar. You will be prompted for a filename and location to save the
stack to. The file extension for saved stacks is .SVF (StackView Format).
5. You now have your own custom stack.
For more information on custom decks, see page 133.
How do I make a specific stack be the default stack that
StackView uses when it loads?
If you would like to set any particular stack as the default stack to load when the
program starts, you need to save the stack as the default stack. The default
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stack must be named stackview.svf and it must be saved in the same
directory as the StackView program. There are two ways to do this:
1. The easiest way to create a default file is to select Save Deck As Default
from the File menu in the menu bar. This will create the
stackview.svf file using the current deck and order from the Deck
window. It will save the file to the correct directory automatically. When
you open the software later, it will automatically load the correct deck in
the same order as when it was saved as the default.
2. The other way to create a default stack is to select Save Deck As
selection from the File menu on the menu bar. When prompted for the
filename, enter the name stackview and make sure to save it in the
same directory as the StackView program.
For example, lets say that you want the Aronson Stack to always load when
StackView opens. Follow these instructions:
1. Open StackView
2. Select Aronson from the Set Stack drop down box (StackView Control
window, Control tab).
3. Press the Set Stack button to load the Aronson Stack.
4. Select Save Deck As Default from the File menu on the menu bar.
You have finished the next time you start up StackView, the Aronson Stack will
automatically load for you.
One (or more) of the windows is missing from the screen.
Where are they?
There are four possible reasons why one or more of the windows are missing on
your screen:
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 1. One or several of the windows have been inadvertently closed during
operation of the program. In this case, select the View menu from the
menu bar and/or the Tools menu, and then select the window that
appears to be missing.
2. One or several of the windows may have been un-checked from the View
and/or Tools menu on the menu bar. In this case, select the View or
Tools menu from the menu bar, and then select the window that appears
to be missing to re-check the selection.
3. Based on your screen resolution, one of the windows may still be open,
but out of range of your visibility. In this case, from the Window menu on
the menu bar, select Cascade. This will return the windows to the visible
range. If you are still missing windows, see items 1 and 2 above.
4. Finally, one of the windows may be behind another window. Cascading
will help this condition, but you can also directly select that window from
the Window menu on the menu bar. In this case, it will bring that window
to the front of the stack of windows, and make it the active window.
What are all the special file formats that StackView uses?
StackView uses five special file formats to save different elements of the
program interaction. For specific information about each of the file formats, see
Appendix 4 on page 269.
StackView Deck Format (.svf) files store the Stack Values and the order
of a deck of cards. The back design and color of the deck is also saved in
the file.
Session Format (.svs) files store the Event sequences of your Session so
that they can be accessed later and played.
Mnemonic Format (.svm) files store your custom mnemonics assignments.
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 Search Format (.svh) files store all of the interim parameters of an
interrupted Search activity. The parameters can be opened later to
resume the Search.
Threshold Trap Format (.svt) files store the interim Search Threshold
Trap results.
What is a Threshold Trap?
The purpose of the Threshold Trap feature is to incorporate some human
judgment into the search process in order to minimize the total search time.
Some searches can take a very long time. You may be interested to know when
a search sequence gets close to the desired conclusion. You get to assign how
many cards are close enough for your purposes so that you can add in some of
your own judgment to complete the task. For detailed information in using the
Threshold Trap settings, see page 197.
How do I reset/re-assign the stack values without disturbing
the current deck order?
After manipulating the deck, you may want to establish that deck as your stack,
and you want the Stack Values to reset themselves (1, 2, 3, 50, 51, 52).
You can do this by performing the following sequence:
1. When the deck is in the sequence you want, open the Custom Deck
module from the Tools menu.
2. Press the Import Current Deck from StackView button.
3. Press the Transfer: New button.
Now the Stack Values have been reset (1, 2, 3, 50, 51, 52).

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Is StackView Search useful?
The Search feature is useful for targeted exploration. Given the vast number of
possible combinations of manipulations, the search time can be essentially
infinite relative to our lifetimes. This is true for an open-ended unconstrained
search. Computing power is nowhere near where it needs to be for these needs.
However, with a reasonably constrained problem, StackView Search can be very
valuable in identifying the shortest path to a desired outcome.
At one point, I (very briefly) thought about setting up a SETI-like website that
would let any interested magicians share their unused computer processing time.
The website would parse out portions of the search space to find out how to get
to the Aronson Stack from a New Deck (Bicycle) order. However, a quick back-
of-the-envelope calculation suggested these efforts would be futile, as it would
still take vast millennia even if every human alive had a computer dedicated to a
portion of the search. Oh well, at least we have the comfort knowing that when
parallel processing quantum computers (people are actually working on this!)
become available, StackView Search will take advantage of the speed.
So, to make StackView Search practical today, do the following:
1. Focus on very specific desired outcomes (partial ranges).
2. Only include manipuilations that you would actually do. While StackView
can include a OutFaroSpecialBottom(12, 9) in the search, Im fairly
confident that you wouldnt want to have to actually do it in a routine.
Are the StackView Test timers accurate?
Yes, the timer is accurate. It correctly reports the elapsed time from when you
first press Start until you press Finish. However, someone may notice that if you
set the Test and Show times, and then let the test run out on its own (for a full
deck), the elapsed time will be slightly longer than it should be. The actual
reported test time will accurately reflect the total elapsed time. However, the
235
apparent extra time reflects the additional processing the software is doing that
is not part of the Test or Show times. This extra overhead time is a small
fraction of a second per card in the deck.
If you are actually testing yourself, this minor timing issue will in no way
interfere with your real test times.
Why are there Inverse parameters on many of the Events?
The inverse commands help you see what the order of the deck was before an
Event occurs. The inverse option is available on many Events throughout
StackView.
In earlier versions of StackView the inverse feature was referred to as reverse.
However, in Version 5, the ability to reverse (turn over) cards in the deck
required the shift in nomenclature.
Example 1
You want to see what the order of the deck is before an OutFaro shuffle. You
simply do an InverseOutFaro shuffle by checking the Inverse box of the OutFaro
parameters.
Example 2
In a more detailed example, suppose you wanted to construct a series of
controlled shuffles that included single card runs and a couple of Out Faro
shuffles. At the end of the shuffle sequence, you want the deck to finish in the
Joyal (CHaSeD) order. The desired shuffling sequence is:
1. Run 5 single cards, throw rest of deck on top
2. Run 4 single cards, throw rest of deck on top
3. Do two Out Faro shuffles
4. Run 3 single cards, throw rest of deck on top
236
You would like to know what the starting deck order should be so that after the
above sequence of shuffles, the deck is in the Joyal Stack order.
To do this, you must do the sequence backwards. Perform the following:
1. Set the deck in Joyal (CHaSeD) order
2. Press the Run Single Cards button, with 3 in the input box and the Inverse
box checked
3. Press the Reverse Out Faro button (Standard option selected) two times
4. Press the Run Single Cards button, with 4 in the input box and the Inverse
box checked
5. Press the Run Single Cards button, with 5 in the input box and the Inverse
box checked
The deck is now in the correct order so that after you perform the intended
sequence of shuffles, the deck will finish in the desired Joyal Stack order.
Example 3
You would like to know what position in the deck a card must be so that after
three In Faro shuffles, the card will land in the 37th position.
To illustrate how to answer this question, set your deck to the New Deck (Bicycle)
order. Note that the 37th card is the Three of Diamonds. Now do three Inverse
In Faros (Standard option selected). Note that the Three of Diamonds is now in
the 51st position. Now you know that after three In Faro shuffles, the 51st card
will relocate to the 37th position.
Are there version incompatibilities?
In Version 5 of StackView, there are incompatibilities in the Deck Format files
(.svf) and Session Format files (.svs).

237
For the Deck files, Version 5 added an additional parameter to designate the
desired back design and color. Version 3 and later of StackView Deck files will
open in Version 5. However, Version 5 Deck files will not open in any earlier
version.
For the Session file, there is no compatibility (forwards or backwards) between
Version 5 and earlier versions. If you have Session files from earlier versions,
you will have to re-record them, or edit them using the detailed Session
Command details found in the next Appendix.

238
Appendix 3: Session Commands
This section presents the detailed command structure that is expected in the
Sessions module. When you record your Sessions, each Event and its specified
parameters are properly represented in the command structure. The parameter
codes are not always intuitively obvious; this Appendix can be used to interpret
the details of the Session file. You can also use these details to construct your
own Session file as an ascii text file if you wish.
The parameters will typically have constraints. In most cases, these are obvious,
such as the number of cards in the deck or in any given Pile. However, there
may be some subtle constraints that will get reported by StackView when you try
to run the Session.
In this section, each Event is represented by a name such as:
EventName(p1, p2, pN), where pX indicates the parameters for the Event.
The table that appears beneath the Event name provides all of the parameter
options.

AssemblePokerDeal(p1)
p1 Text Specifies the re-assembly order of Poker deals
Backwards Re-assembles the hands from right to left
Forwards Re-assembles the hands from left to right
Unwind Unwinds the Poker deal so that the cards are in the same order as
they were before the deal

239
AustralianDeal(p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7, p8, p9, p10, p11)
p1 Text Specifies whether to start the deal Down or Under, and also which
Pile to apply the deal to
Dx Start the Deal with a Down card with Pile x
Ux Start the Deal with an Under card with Pile x
p2 Numeric Specifies the exact number of cards for the Down deal
x 0 < x <= number of cards in Pile
p3 Numeric Specifies the exact number of cards for the Under deal
x 0 < x <= number of cards in Pile
p4 Numeric Specifies the limit of random cards for the Down deal
x 0 < x <= number of cards in Pile
p5 Numeric Specifies the limit of random cards for the Under deal
x 0 < x <= number of cards in Pile
p6 Text or Numeric Specifies either Selected card reversal or All Down cards
S Specifies that only the Selected card is reversed
0 No Down cards are reversed
1 All Down cards are reversed
p7 Numeric Specifies whether all Under cards are reversed
0 No Under cards are reversed
1 All Under cards are reversed
p8 Numeric Specifies whether random Down cards are reversed
0 No random Down cards are reversed
1 Random Down cards are reversed
p9 Numeric Specifies whether random Under cards are reversed
0 No random Under cards are reversed
1 Random Under cards are reversed
p10 Text or Numeric Specifies which card is Selected
F Final Down card is the Selected one
R Random Down card is the Selected one
0 No card is Selected
p11 Numeric Specifies if the Australian Deal is regular or Inverse
0 Regular deal
1 Inverse deal

240
CombinePiles(p1, p2)
p1 Text and Numeric Specifies Primary Pile conditions
x 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on bottom of combined Pile and not reversed
xR 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on bottom of combined Pile and is reversed
Tx 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on top of combined Pile and not reversed
TxR 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on top of combined Pile and is reversed
p2 Text and Numeric Specifies Secondary Pile conditions
x 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on bottom of combined Pile and not reversed
xR 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on bottom of combined Pile and is reversed
Tx 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on top of combined Pile and not reversed
TxR 0 < x <= Number of Piles
Pile x is on top of combined Pile and is reversed

241
CreatePilesCut(p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7, p8, p9)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to cut
X 1 <= x <= 8
p2 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 1
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p3 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 2
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p4 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 3
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p5 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 4
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p6 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 5
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p7 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 6
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used

242
p8 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 7
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p9 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 8
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random cut of approximately x cards
Sx Specified cut of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used

CreatePilesDealAlternatingRandom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to deal
x 0 < x <= 8, (<= 7 if not complete deck)
p2 Numeric Specifies number of cards to deal
x 0 < x <= 52

CreatePilesDealAlternatingRegular(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to deal
x 0 < x <= 8, (<= 7 if not complete deck)
p2 Numeric Specifies number of cards to deal
x 0 < x <= 52

243
CreatePilesDealComplete(p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7, p8, p9)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to deal
X 1 <= x <= 8
p2 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 1
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p3 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 2
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p4 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 3
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p5 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 4
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p6 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 5
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p7 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 6
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used

244
p8 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 7
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used
p9 Text and Numeric Specifies nature of Pile 8
R Purely Random Pile
Rx Random deal of approximately x cards
Sx Specified deal of exactly x cards
X Pile is not used

CreatePilesDealCompleteRandom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to deal
x 0 < x <= 8, (<= 7 if not complete deck)
p2 Numeric Specifies number of cards to deal
x 0 < x <= 52

245
CutPiles(p1, p2, p3, p4)
p1 Text and Numeric Specifies Cut Pile
Px Primary Pile x is cut
0 < x <= 8
R Random Pile is cut
p2 Text and Numericx Specifies how much is cut
R Random cut depth
C Complete Pile is lifted during cut
Sx Specified number of x cards are cut
p3 Text and Numeric Specifies placement of cut Pile
P Primary Pile
E Equivalent (same) Pile that was cut from
(this is used when the cut Pile was Random)
Sx Secondary Pile x
0 < x <= 8
R Random Any Pile
M Top Same Pile
D Random Not Same (Different)
Nx New Pile specified (x)
0 < x <= 8
L New Pile Random
p4 Text Specifies if cut portion is Reversed
R Cut portion is reversed
X Cut portion is not reversed

CutDeckPrecise(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of cards to cut
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed
246
CutDeckRandom(p1)
p1 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed

CutSpecialRandom(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies the number of cards to cut
Quarter Random cut, approximately Quarter cut
Third Random cut, approximately Third cut
Half Random cut, approximately Half cut
Two Thirds Random cut, approximately Two Thirds cut
Three Quarters Random cut, approximately Three Quarters cut
Shallow Random Shallow cut
Deep Random Deep cut
p2 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed

ElmsleyCount(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to do Elmsley Count on
x 0 < x <= 8

247
ForceCard(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies the position of the Force card
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Text Specifies if Forced card is reversed
X Force card is not reversed
R Force card is reversed
The ForceCard Event must be followed by the ReturnCard Event.

FreeChoiceSpreadSelect(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies the position of the Force card
Any Card Totally random card is selected
Top Third Free selection from Top Third of deck
Middle Third Free selection from Middle Third of deck
Bottom Third Free selection from Bottom Third of deck
p2 Text Specifies if Selected card is reversed
X Selected card is not reversed
R Selected card is reversed
The FreeChoiceSpreadSelect Event must be followed by the ReturnCard Event.

InFaro
(no parameters with this Event)

InFaroReverse
(no parameters with this Event)

248
InFaroSpecialBottom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InFaroSpecialBottomReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InFaroSpecialTop(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InFaroSpecialTopReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseElmsleyCount(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to do Elmsley Count on
x 0 < x <= 8

249
InverseInFaro
(no parameters with this Event)

InverseInFaroReverse
(no parameters with this Event)

InverseInFaroSpecialBottom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseInFaroSpecialBottomReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseInFaroSpecialTop(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

250
InverseInFaroSpecialTopReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseJordanCount(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to do Jordan Count on
x 0 < x <= 8

InverseMoveCard(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies position of card to Move from
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies position to Move card to
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseMoveCardReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies position of card to Move from
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies position to Move card to
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseOutFaro
(no parameters with this Event)

251
InverseOutFaroReverse
(no parameters with this Event)

InverseOutFaroSpecialBottom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseOutFaroSpecialBottomReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseOutFaroSpecialTop(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseOutFaroSpecialTopReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

252
InverseRunSingleCards(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to Run
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseRunSingleCardsReverse(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to Run
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseShiftTopBlock(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies top block size
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies depth for insertion of block
x 0 < x <= 52

InverseShiftTopBlockReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies top block size
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies depth for insertion of block
x 0 < x <= 52

JordanCount(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Piles to do Jordan Count on
x 0 < x <= 8

Macro(p1)
p1 Text Specifies the Session file to run as a macro
filename filename.svs
253
MoveCard(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies position of card to Move from
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies position to Move card to
x 0 < x <= 52

MoveCardReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies position of card to Move from
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies position to Move card to
x 0 < x <= 52

OHShuffle
(no parameters with this Event)

OHShuffleBottom(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of cards to protect on bottom
x 0 < x <= 52

OHShuffleTop(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of cards to protect on top
x 0 < x <= 52

OutFaro
(no parameters with this Event)
254
OutFaroReverse
(no parameters with this Event)

OutFaroSpecialBottom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

OutFaroSpecialBottomReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from bottom for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

OutFaroSpecialTop(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52

OutFaroSpecialTopReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards cut from top
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies interior position from top for weave
x 0 < x <= 52
255
PokerDeal(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies the number of Poker hands to deal
x 2 <= x <= 10

PokerDiscard(p1)
p1 Text or Numeric Specifies the card to discard
x 0 < x <= 50
(specific position is discarded)
VS V = A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K (value)
S = C, H, S, D (suit)
(specific card is discarded)

ResetCurrentDeck
(no parameters with this Event)

ReturnCard(p1)
p1 Text or Numeric Specifies the place to return card
x 0 < x <= 52
Original Position Returns card to original position (not with Force)
Anywhere Returns card randomly
Top Third Returns card randomly in Top Third
Middle Third Returns card randomly in Middle Third
Bottom Third Returns card randomly in Bottom Third

256
ReverseCard(p1)
p1 Text or Numeric Specifies the card to reverse
x 0 < x <= 52
(specific position is reversed)
VS V = A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K (value)
S = C, H, S, D (suit)
(specific card is reversed)

RiffleShuffle(p1)
p1 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed

RiffleShuffleBottom(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to protect
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed

257
RiffleShufflePile(p1, p2, p3, p4)
p1 Text and Numeric Specifies Primary Pile
x Pile number
Tx Protect Top of Pile x
Bx Protect Bottom of Pile x
xR Pile number, reverse Pile
TxR Protect Top of Pile x, reverse Pile
BxR Protect Bottom of Pile x, reverse Pile
p2 Text and Numeric Specifies Secondary Pile
x Pile number
Tx Protect Top of Pile x
Bx Protect Bottom of Pile x
xR Pile number, reverse Pile
TxR Protect Top of Pile x, reverse Pile
BxR Protect Bottom of Pile x, reverse Pile
p3 Numeric Number of cards to Protect
x 0 < x <= 52
p4 Text Specifies if Gilbreath View is shown
X No Gilbreath View is shown
G Gilbreath View is shown

RiffleShuffleTop(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to protect
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Text Specified if either block is reversed
X No block is reversed
T Original Top block is reversed
B Original Bottom block is reversed

258
RunSingleCards(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to Run
x 0 < x <= 52

RunSingleCardsReverse(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies number of cards to Run
x 0 < x <= 52

SelectCardsCutSelectFace1(p1)
p1 Text Specifies whether the selected card is reversed
X Selected card is not reversed
R Selected card is reversed

SelectCardsCutSelectFace2(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed

259
SelectCardsCutSelectFace3(p1, p2, p3)
p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed
p3 Text Specifies whether the third selected card is reversed
X Third selected card is not reversed
R Third selected card is reversed

SelectCardsCutSelectNext1(p1)
p1 Text Specifies whether the selected card is reversed
X Selected card is not reversed
R Selected card is reversed

SelectCardsCutSelectNext2(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed

260
SelectCardsCutSelectNext3(p1, p2, p3)
p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed
p3 Text Specifies whether the third selected card is reversed
X Third selected card is not reversed
R Third selected card is reversed

SelectCardsCutSelectNextRepeat(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed

SelectCardsCutSelectNextRepeat2(p1, p2, p3)

p1 Text Specifies whether the first selected card is reversed
X First selected card is not reversed
R First selected card is reversed
p2 Text Specifies whether the second selected card is reversed
X Second selected card is not reversed
R Second selected card is reversed
p3 Text Specifies whether the third selected card is reversed
X Third selected card is not reversed
R Third selected card is reversed

261
SelectReturn(p1, p2, p3, p4, p5)
p1 Text and Numeric Specifies Selection Pile
Px Primary Pile x used for selected card
0 < x <= 8
R Random Pile used for selected card
p2 Text and Numericx Specifies which card is selected and whether it is reversed
T Top card is selected and not reversed
B Bottom card is selected and not reversed
R Random card is selected and not reversed
Sx Specified position in pile is selected and not reversed
0 < x <= Number of cards in Pile
TR Top card is selected and is reversed
BR Bottom card is selected and is reversed
RR Random card is selected and is reversed
SxR Specified position in pile is selected and is reversed
0 < x <= Number of cards in Pile
p3 Text and Numeric Specifies Return Pile
Sx Secondary Pile x used for return Pile
0 < x <= 8
E Equivalent (same) Pile that was selected from
(this is used when the selected Pile was Random)
Px Primary Pile x
0 < x <= 8
R Random Any Pile
D Random Not Same (Different)
Nx New Pile specified (x)
0 < x <= 8
L New Pile Random
p4 Text and Numeric Specifies return position in return Pile
N Creates new Pile of single card
T Returns to top card position
B Returns to Bottom position
E Equivalent (same) position as from selected Pile

262
 R Random position in return Pile
Sx Specified position in return Pile
0 < x <= Number of cards in Pile
p5 Text Specifies if card is a selection or only moved
S Specified card is a Selection
M Specified card is only Moved

SetStack(p1)
p1 Text Specifies which standard stack to load
Default stackview.svf is loaded
Aronson Aronson Stack is loaded
Ireland Ireland Stack is loaded
Eight Kings Eight Kings Stack is loaded
Joyal (CHaSeD) Joyal (CHaSeD) Stack is loaded
Joyal (SHoCkeD) Joyal (SHoCkeD) Stack is loaded
New Deck New Deck (Bicycle) deck is loaded
(Bicycle)
New Deck New Deck (Fournier) deck is loaded
(Fournier)
Nikola Nikola Stack is loaded
Osterlind Osterlind Breakthrough System is loaded
Si Stebbins (3) Si Stebbins (3) Stack is loaded
Si Stebbins (4) Si Stebbins (4) Stack is loaded
Stanyon Stanyon Stack is loaded
Tamariz Tamariz Stack is loaded

ShiftTopBlock(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies top block size
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies depth for insertion of block
x 0 < x <= 52

263
ShiftTopBlockReverse(p1, p2)
p1 Numeric Specifies top block size
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies depth for insertion of block
x 0 < x <= 52

SwapCardsRandom(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

SwapDifferentColors(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

264
SwapDifferentSuits(p1, p2, p3)
p1 Text Specifies suit of first swapped card
X Suit is Randomly selected
C Suit is Clubs
H Suit is Hearts
S Suit is Spades
D Suit is Diamonds
p2 Text Specifies suit of second swapped card
X Suit is Randomly selected
C Suit is Clubs
H Suit is Hearts
S Suit is Spades
D Suit is Diamonds
p3 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

265
SwapPiles(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies first swap Pile
Px Primary Pile x, no reversal of Pile
0 < x <= number of piles
R Random, no reversal of Pile
S Pile includes Selected card, no reversal of Pile
N Pile does Not include selected card, no reversal of Pile
PxR Secondary Pile x, Pile is reversed
0 < x <= number of piles
RR Random, Pile is reversed
SR Pile includes Selected card, Pile is reversed
NR Pile does Not include selected card, Pile is reversed
p2 Text Primary Pile x, no reversal of Pile
0 < x <= number of piles
Px Random, no reversal of Pile
R Pile includes Selected card, no reversal of Pile
S Pile does Not include selected card, no reversal of Pile
N Secondary Pile x, Pile is reversed
0 < x <= number of piles
PxR Random, Pile is reversed
RR Pile includes Selected card, Pile is reversed
SR Pile does Not include selected card, Pile is reversed
NR Primary Pile x, no reversal of Pile
0 < x <= number of piles

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SwapSameColor(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies color of swapped cards
X Color is Randomly selected
R Color is Red
B Color is Black
p2 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

SwapSameSuit(p1, p2)
p1 Text Specifies suit of swapped cards
X Suit is Randomly selected
C Suit is Clubs
H Suit is Hearts
S Suit is Spades
D Suit is Diamonds
p2 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

SwapSpecifiedCards(p1, p2, p3)

p1 Numeric Specifies first swap card Stack Value
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies second swap card Stack Value
x 0 < x <= 52
p3 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

267
SwapSpecifiedPositions(p1, p2, p3)
p1 Numeric Specifies first swap card Position Value
x 0 < x <= 52
p2 Numeric Specifies second swap card Position Value
x 0 < x <= 52
p3 Numeric Specifies selection state
0 Swapped cards are selections
1 Swapped cards are not selections

TurnOver(p1)
p1 Numeric Specifies Pile to Turn Over
x 0 < x <= number of Piles

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Appendix 4: StackView File Structures
Within StackView, there are several aspects of your work that can be saved to a
file for later retrieval. You may view (not edit) these files using the View menu
as described on page 211.

Deck File
The Deck File is saved as a .svf extension. When you save a stack with a
filename from within StackView, it is automatically given a .svf extension.
The SVF files are simply text files with a special extension. The special extension
makes it more convenient for you to maneuver through file directories when you
are saving or opening StackView files. Each Version 5.0 .svf file contains 105
lines. The first line of text corresponds to the Stack Value of the first card (top
card) of the deck. The second line of text corresponds to the name of the card
(such as JS for the Jack of Spades). The third line is the Stack Value of the
second card in the deck. The fourth line is the name of the second card. And so
on. This continues for each card in the deck. That gets you to the 104th line.
The 105th line indicates the Back Design that is saved with the deck. Earlier
versions of .svf files did not have the 105th line for the Back Design. Version 3
and later of StackView Deck files will open in Version 5. However, Version 5
Deck files will not open in any earlier version.
While it is recommended that you use the StackView program to create stacks
and save the files, you can use any text editor to create the files and save them
with a .svf extension. You must keep in mind that there is no error checking
with regard to StackView files. It is assumed that all files have been created
correctly.
Also remember that the file stackview.svf is reserved for the default stack to
load into the program when it starts up. This file must be in the same directory
269
as the StackView program. The Save Deck As Default menu selection
automatically save the current stack to the right filename and directory location
as described on page 204.
Session File
The Session File is saved as a .svs extension. When you save a Session from
within StackView, it is automatically given a .svs extension.
The SVF files are simply text files with a special extension. The special extension
makes it more convenient for you to maneuver through file directories when you
are saving or opening StackView files. Each SVS file contains an arbitrary
number of lines of text, one line for each Event from your Session. (Card
Selection Events have two lines that are kept in pairs the 1st line of the pair is
for the Selection portion of the Event, and the 2nd line of the pair is for the
Return portion of the Event.) The first line of the Session file corresponds to the
first Event of the Session, and the last line corresponds to the last Event of the
Session.
Each line contains the text for each Event of the Session. The text is case
sensitive. While it is strongly recommended that you use the StackView program
to create Sessions and save the files, you can use any text editor to create the
files and save them with .svs extensions. There is error checking within
StackView when it reads Session files. If you chose to create your own Session
files manually with a text editor, the complete set of allowable Events is found in
Appendix 4 (page 239).
Mnemonic File
The Mnemonic File is saved as a .svm extension. When you save a Mnemonic
set with a filename from within StackView, it is automatically given a .svm
extension.

270
The SVM files are simply text files with a special extension. The special
extension makes it more convenient for you to maneuver through file directories
when you are saving or opening StackView files. Each .svm file contains 104
lines of text. The first 52 lines of text contain the Mnemonics for the card names,
and the next 52 lines of text contain the Mnemonics for the Stack Values.
Search File
The Search File is saved as a .svh extension. When you save a Search state
with a filename from within StackView, it is automatically given a .svh extension.
The SVH files are simply text files with a special extension. The special extension
makes it more convenient for you to maneuver through file directories when you
are saving or opening StackView files. Each SVH file contains all of the
parameters necessary to resume a Search from wherever you left off. It is not
advised to manually edit these files, as it will surely cause error conditions when
they are read in by StackView.
Threshold Trap File
The Threshold Trap File is saved as a .svt extension. When you save a
Threshold Trap setting with a filename from within StackView, it is automatically
given a .svt extension.
The SVT files are simply text files with a special extension. The special extension
makes it more convenient for you to maneuver through file directories when you
are saving or opening StackView files. Each SVT file contains all of manipulation
combinations that resulted in a trap that met your threshold conditions. For
more information on Threshold Trap files, see page 197

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Index
Cut Cards 89
Deal Cards 93
A CreatePilesCut 242
CreatePilesDealAlternatingRandom 243
CreatePilesDealAlternatingRegular 243
Advanced Test 179
CreatePilesDealComplete 244
Any Card to Any Number with Faros 217
CreatePilesDealCompleteRandom 245
Apple Mac 230
Creating Custom Mnemonics 144
Aronson Stack 19, 33
Credits 16
Aronson, Simon 18
Custom Deck 133
Assemble Poker Deal 36
Control Buttons 136
AssemblePokerDeal 239
User Interface 133
Australian Deal 115
Custom Mnemonics 144
AustralianDeal 240
Cut 42
Cut Piles 112
Cut Select Next 71
B Cut Select Next Face 73
Cut Select Next Repeat 75
Back Design 147 CutDeckPrecise 246
Bauer, Ron 18 CutDeckRandom 247
Beam, Steve 16 CutPiles 246
Berger, Eugene 18 CutSpecialRandom 247
Bottom card 18

D
C
Dale, Dick 18
Clear ALL Session Events 86 Deck 24
Close, Michael 17 Deck Views 24
CombinePiles 241 Point of View 24
Control Tab 32 Deck File 269
Arrange Cards 32 Default Mnemonic File 144
Conventional Shuffles 37 Delete Current Event 86
Faro Shuffles 53 Double-clicking 20, 31
Poker Deal 33
Reset Current Deck Order 33
Control Window 32
Create a Stanyon Variation Deck 138
Create Piles 88
272
E H
Eight Kings Stack 33 Help 211
Elmsley Count 129 Hover mouse 22, 31
ElmsleyCount 247
Event 12
I
F Import Current Deck from StackView 136
Importing a Deck 142
File 203 InFaro 54, 248
Exit 207 InFaroReverse 248
Open Deck 203 InFaroSpecialBottom 249
Open Mnemonic 206 InFaroSpecialBottomReverse 249
Open Search 205 InFaroSpecialTop 249
Open Session 204 InFaroSpecialTopReverse 249
Print 206 Insert Session File as Macro 86
Save Deck As Default 204 Interrupting a Search 200
Save Deck As 203 Inverse vs. Reverse 21
Save Mnemonic As Default 206 InverseElmsleyCount 249
Save Mnemonic As 206 InverseInFaro 250
Save Search As 205 InverseInFaroReverse 250
Save Session As 204 InverseInFaroSpecialBottom 250
File Structures 269 InverseInFaroSpecialBottomReverse 250
Force Selection 68 InverseInFaroSpecialTop 250
ForceCard 248 InverseInFaroSpecialTopReverse 251
Free Choice From Spread 69 InverseJordanCount 251
Free Choice with Special Handling 71 InverseMoveCard 251
FreeChoiceSpreadSelect 248 InverseMoveCardReverse 251
Frequently Asked Questions 229 InverseOutFaro 251
InverseOutFaroReverse 252
InverseOutFaroSpecialBottom 252
G InverseOutFaroSpecialBottomReverse 252
InverseOutFaroSpecialTop 252
InverseOutFaroSpecialTopReverse 252
Gilbreath Principle 109
InverseRunSingleCards 253
Gilbreath View 111
InverseRunSingleCardsReverse 253
InverseShiftTopBlock 253
InverseShiftTopBlockReverse 253
Ireland Stack 33
273
 Nikola Stack 33
J
Jordan Count 130
JordanCount 253
O
Joyal Shuffle Meter
Break 153 OHShuffle 254
Distribution 151 OHShuffleBottom 254
Group 152 OHShuffleTop 254
Permutation 150 Osterlind Stack 33
Shuffle Index 154 Osterling, Richard 18
Spread 149 OutFaro 56, 254
Joyal ShuffleMeter 148 OutFaroReverse 255
Joyal Stack 33 OutFaroSpecialBottom 255
Joyal, Martin 18 OutFaroSpecialBottomReverse 255
OutFaroSpecialTop 255
OutFaroSpecialTopReverse 255
Overhand 41
L
Loomis, Dennis 18
P
Partial Faro 57
M Pile Control Matrix 102
Piles
Macro 253 Australian Deal 115
Manipulations and Moves 199 Cut Piles 112
Menus 203 Riffle Shuffle 109
Minch, Stephen 18 Select/Return 105
Mnemonic File 271 Swap Piles 122
Mnemonics 144 Piles Control 88
Move Card 50 Piles Viewpoint 98
Move Event Down 86 Play ALL Current Session 85
Move Event Up 86 Play Current Event 85
MoveCard 254 Pocket PC 230
MoveCardReverse 254 Poker Deal 33
Assemble Poker Deal 36
Poker Deal Discard 35
N PokerDeal 256
PokerDiscard 256
New features 20 Position Value 13, 30

274
 SelectCardsCutSelectNextRepeat2 261
R Selected Cards 30
Selection Tab 63
Recordable Events 81 Deck Visual Indicators 64
Recording Sessions 81 Force Selection 68
Refresh Deck View 37 Free Choice From Spread 69
Reorder Retained Stack 138 Free Choice with Special Handling 71
Reset: New 137 Swap Cards Selection 77
Reset: Retain 138 SelectReturn 262
ResetCurrentDeck 256 Session Commands 239
Retained vs. New Stack Values 135 Session File 270
ReturnCard 256 Sessions Tab 80
Reverse vs. Inverse 21 Set Stack 32
ReverseCard 257 SetStack 263
Reversing Cards 31 Shift Top Block 47
Riffle 37 ShiftTopBlock 263
Riffle Shuffle 109 ShiftTopBlockReverse 264
RiffleShuffle 257 Shuffle Index 154
RiffleShuffleBottom 257 ShuffleMeter 148
RiffleShufflePile 258 Si Stebbins Stack 33
RiffleShuffleTop 258 Sisti, Jim 18
Riobo, Ramn 18 Special Faros 57
Run Single Cards 44 Specifying the Order of a Stack 212
RunSingleCards 259 Stack Value 13, 29
RunSingleCardsReverse 259 StackView 11
Structure 12
StackView Advanced Test 179
S StackView Search 196
StackView Test 155
Sample Exercises 212 Stanyon Stack 33
Saving a Mnemonic File 145 Stanyon Variation Deck 138
Saving Your Created Stack 143 Swap Cards Selection 77
Search File 271 Swap Piles 122
Select / Return 105 SwapCardsRandom 264
SelectCardsCutSelectFace1 259 SwapDifferentColors 264
SelectCardsCutSelectFace2 259 SwapDifferentSuits 265
SelectCardsCutSelectFace3 260 SwapPiles 266
SelectCardsCutSelectNext1 260 SwapSameColor 267
SelectCardsCutSelectNext2 260 SwapSameSuit 267
SelectCardsCutSelectNext3 261 SwapSpecifiedCards 267
SelectCardsCutSelectNextRepeat 261 SwapSpecifiedPositions 268

275
T U
Tamariz Stack 33 User Guide 211
Tamariz, Juan 18 User Interface 13
Test 155
Threshold Trap 197
Threshold Trap File 271 V
Tools 209
Custom Deck 209
Version Incompatibilities 237
Custom Mnemonic 209
View 207
Joyal Shuffle Meter 209
Controls 207
Piles Control 209
Deck 207
Set back Design 210
Deck File 208
StackView Advanced Test 210
Mnemonic File 208
StackView Search 210
Search File 208
StackView Test 210
Session File 208
Top card 18
Threshold Trap File 208
Transfer List to Sessions 202
Transfer: New 137
Transfer: Retain 137
Transferring a Deck 143 W
Turn Over Pile 131
TurnOver 268 Window 210
Cascade 210
Open Window Selection 211
Working with Sessions 221

276