diff --git a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/BUILD b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/BUILD
index 62575f0e9eb..8e2aa88803a 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/BUILD
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ go_library(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validation:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/shufflesharding:go_default_library",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation.go b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation.go
index e40bb610e2d..78430e592a0 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation.go
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ package validation
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"math/big"
+	"strings"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validation"
 	apimachineryvalidation "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validation"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
+	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/shufflesharding"
 	apivalidation "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/core/validation"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/flowcontrol"
 )
@@ -55,10 +56,6 @@ var supportedSubjectKinds = sets.NewString(
 	flowcontrol.GroupKind,
 )
 
-const (
-	maxHashBits = 60
-)
-
 func ValidateFlowSchema(fs *flowcontrol.FlowSchema) field.ErrorList {
 	allErrs := apivalidation.ValidateObjectMeta(&fs.ObjectMeta, false, ValidateFlowSchemaName, field.NewPath("metadata"))
 	allErrs = append(allErrs, ValidateFlowSchemaSpec(&fs.Spec, field.NewPath("spec"))...)
@@ -217,6 +214,13 @@ func ValidatePriorityLevelConfigurationSpec(spec *flowcontrol.PriorityLevelConfi
 		if spec.HandSize < 0 {
 			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("handSize"), spec.HandSize, "must be positive"))
 		}
+		if spec.HandSize > spec.Queues {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("handSize"), spec.HandSize,
+				fmt.Sprintf("should not be greater than queues (%d)", spec.Queues)))
+		}
+		if errs := shufflesharding.ValidateParameters(int(spec.Queues), int(spec.HandSize)); len(errs) > 0 {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("handSize"), spec.HandSize, strings.Join(errs, "; ")))
+		}
 	} else {
 		if spec.AssuredConcurrencyShares != 0 {
 			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("assuredConcurrencyShares"), "must be zero for exempt priority"))
@@ -231,14 +235,6 @@ func ValidatePriorityLevelConfigurationSpec(spec *flowcontrol.PriorityLevelConfi
 			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("handSize"), "must be zero for exempt priority"))
 		}
 	}
-	if spec.HandSize > spec.Queues {
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("handSize"), spec.HandSize,
-			fmt.Sprintf("should not be greater than queues (%d)", spec.Queues)))
-	}
-	if !validateShuffleShardingParameters(spec.HandSize, spec.Queues) {
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("handSize"), spec.HandSize,
-			fmt.Sprintf("falling factorial of handSize (%d) and queues (%d) exceeds %d bits", spec.HandSize, spec.Queues, maxHashBits)))
-	}
 	return allErrs
 }
 
@@ -248,11 +244,6 @@ func ValidatePriorityLevelConfigurationStatus(status *flowcontrol.PriorityLevelC
 	return allErrs
 }
 
-func validateShuffleShardingParameters(handSize, queues int32) bool {
-	// TODO: performance impact from bit-int multiplication?
-	return int32(big.NewInt(int64(queues)).BitLen())*handSize <= maxHashBits
-}
-
 func hasWildcard(operations []string) bool {
 	for _, o := range operations {
 		if o == "*" {
diff --git a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation_test.go
index 19111b00a93..d51e6d751a5 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/flowcontrol/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ func TestPriorityLevelConfigurationValidation(t *testing.T) {
 				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("assuredConcurrencyShares"), int32(0), "must be positive"),
 				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("queueLengthLimit"), int32(0), "must be positive"),
 				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("queues"), int32(0), "must be positive"),
+				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(0), "handSize is not positive; deckSize is not positive"),
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -432,7 +433,7 @@ func TestPriorityLevelConfigurationValidation(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expectedErrors: field.ErrorList{
-				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(8), "falling factorial of handSize (8) and queues (512) exceeds 60 bits"),
+				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(8), "more than 60 bits of entropy required"),
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -449,7 +450,7 @@ func TestPriorityLevelConfigurationValidation(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expectedErrors: field.ErrorList{
-				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(10), "falling factorial of handSize (10) and queues (128) exceeds 60 bits"),
+				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(10), "more than 60 bits of entropy required"),
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -466,7 +467,7 @@ func TestPriorityLevelConfigurationValidation(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expectedErrors: field.ErrorList{
-				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(3), "falling factorial of handSize (3) and queues (2147483647) exceeds 60 bits"),
+				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(3), "more than 60 bits of entropy required"),
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -499,6 +500,7 @@ func TestPriorityLevelConfigurationValidation(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			expectedErrors: field.ErrorList{
 				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(8), "should not be greater than queues (7)"),
+				field.Invalid(field.NewPath("spec").Child("handSize"), int32(8), "handSize is greater than deckSize"),
 			},
 		},
 	}