Card shuffling

SocietyRed · November 2004

I have a question about card shuffling at live games. I see that on all WPT events the dealer always shuffles the cards by hand. My biggest fear is that I walk into the casino and see a card shuffling machine at the table. I know casino Rama dealers shuffle cards by hand. Is that a common practice all over or how realistic would it be to see a card shuffler at a table. Maybe its the paranoid freak in me but I would hate to have the casino have any control over the outcome of the game.

Red

Pigga · November 2004

uh-oh, sounds like a b+m is rigged thread

j/k

out here at river rock they have built in shuffling machines into the table and i have no problem with it, it actually speeds up the process, one deck is shuffling while we play a hand, so this way we get more hands per hour. i've never seen anyone shuffle the cards by hands except when they get a new deck on the table, just to mix it around before it goes into the shuffler

Hork42 · November 2004

From what I've heard about these automatic shufflers, are that they are quite good at mixing the cards up. They speed up the game (most of the time), as they shuffle the next deck while the current hand is being played. They also do a lot to save the dealers from sore fingers (can get quite brutal shuffling cards for 10 hours straight)...

A couple of problems: When there's no flop, you have to wait for the shuffler to finish.. Also, they are known to be prone to jamming. But I don't think these issues happen too often.

Pigga · November 2004

Hork42 wrote:

A couple of problems: When there's no flop, you have to wait for the shuffler to finish..

thats true, its barely noticeable though, like 30 seconds usually

Hork42 wrote:

Also, they are known to be prone to jamming. But I don't think these issues happen too often.

doesnt happen too often, i might notice it once or twice per session (like 5-6 hours (If that.....))

all in all, they definately speed up the game, and it does do a really good job at shuffling the cards, rarely do i ever see it bend any cards either (or damage), i've been to river rock many times and just my last visit was the first time i'd ever seen decks replaced while playing (few creases, very noticeable) but i think its b/c of people bending them funny

st0neC0ldNutz · November 2004

Does anyone know how many times an automatic shuffler actually shuffles the cards?
I once read that for a deck to be actually "random" a minimum of 8 shuffles is needed....I have never seen a dealer do 8 shuffles....
and since some people can actually track cards through a shuffle...should we be more happy when we see a machine?
I feel it is more random when a dealer shuffles, but since they don't shuffle that many times I think card trackers could have an advantage here....what do you guys think?

:canada: