I remember reading once that every time you shuffle a deck of cards, it's almost certainly the first time any deck of cards has ever been in that configuration. Seeing how outrageously large 52! is puts this into perspective.
Most likely not true, since many shuffles are from a sorted deck (original buy, result of playing out some game, etc...). The 52! possibilities are certainly not uniformly spread in real life.
With enough shuffles then you'll likely hit never before seen territory.
Agreed. Except I suspect most shuffles are people playing cards, and many (most?) games put a lot of order back into the deck, again returning to well trodden decks.
With enough shuffles then you'll likely hit never before seen territory.