Six degrees of separation holds up on Steam: there are probably two or three people standing between you and donk. Checking the exact number takes a minute — the CYBERSHOKE handshake finder walks friend lists and shows the chain, not just the count.
What Steam handshakes are
A handshake is one link in a chain of friends. Zero means the player is already on your friend list. One means you share a mutual friend. Two means two people sit between you, and so on. The bigger and more connected your friend list, the shorter the path to anyone.
The idea is old, but Steam makes it testable: friend lists are visible, so the chain can be calculated instead of guessed.
How to check your handshakes to a pro player
Open the handshakes page, point it at your profile and at the player you are looking for, and you get the chain back. The result comes with the intermediate links, so you can see exactly who connects you to the pro.
The finished chain can be shared as a screenshot — that arrived together with a counter of unique searches, which shows who people look up most often.
How many handshakes to s1mple or donk
There is no single answer — it depends on how many friends you have and how connected they are. An active player with a few hundred friends usually lands within two or three links of a well-known professional. A profile with twenty friends collected over ten years will take longer, or the search will find nothing at all.
The most searched names are the recognisable ones: s1mple, donk, m0NESY, ropz. That is what the unique search counter tracks — who the community is curious about right now.
What the search needs to work
The main requirement is open friend lists. Steam lets people hide friends in privacy settings, and if the list is hidden on your side, on the target's side or anywhere in the middle, no path can be built through that person. That is why the search resolves instantly for some players and comes up empty for others.
The profile itself has to be public too. A private profile looks like a dead end to the finder, even with hundreds of friends behind it.
Why bother
Honestly, the practical value is small — it is entertainment and a screenshot for the team chat. But it does show how small the CS world is. People you added after a random public match turn out to be the link to players whose Majors you watch.
Short chains tend to belong to those who play a lot of public servers: an evening across CYBERSHOKE modes runs through dozens of random teammates, and some of them stay on your friend list.
FAQ
What are handshakes on Steam?
The number of links in the friend chain between two profiles. Zero means they are your friend, one means a mutual friend, two means two people in between.
How do I find out how many handshakes I have to s1mple?
Open the CYBERSHOKE handshake finder, enter your profile and the player's profile — it builds the chain and shows the intermediate links.
Why does the search find no chain?
Most likely a hidden friend list or private profile somewhere along the way. Steam allows hiding friends, and no path can pass through such a profile.
How many handshakes to a pro player is normal?
Two or three for an active player with a large friend list. Profiles with a handful of friends end up further away or unreachable.
Source
Check your own chain on the handshake finder page; the rest of the services and modes are on the CS2 page.