I was playing blackjack the other night and they were using shuffle machines. Is this a beatable game. 75% of the cards were dealt out of the shoe and everything, 6 decks, DAS. Please let me know. Thanks.
I was playing blackjack the other night and they were using shuffle machines. Is this a beatable game. 75% of the cards were dealt out of the shoe and everything, 6 decks, DAS. Please let me know. Thanks.
> I was playing blackjack the other night and
> they were using shuffle machines. Is this a
> beatable game. 75% of the cards were dealt
> out of the shoe and everything, 6 decks,
> DAS. Please let me know. Thanks.
There are essentially three types of shuffle machines commonly in use, at least in the USA. It sounds like you saw non-continuous automatic shufflers. With these, the game is dealt from the shoe in the usual fashion, while a second pack of cards is being shuffled by the machine. When the cut card comes out, the dealer simply swaps packs.This arrangement can be counted in the usual manner. In fact, they are actually good for the straight counter, as they speed up the game.
Second is the evil CSM. This is easy to spot, as the cards are dealt directly from the shuffler. The King Continuous Shuffler, by ShuffleMaster, is the most common type, and can be identified by the "King" logo on the side. After each round, or at least every few rounds, the cards are reinserted into the machine. This means that every round is essentially like the first round from a freshly shuffled pack, and these devices cannot be beaten by counting cards.
Finally, there is the Random Ejection shuffler, by CasinoVisions. This can be spotted by a clear plastic chute over the top, which the cards go through. This unit has two modes of operation. It an be used as a non-continuous automatic shuffler for single, double, six or eight deck games, or it can be used as a continuous shuffler where it is loaded with 6 or 8 decks and set to spit out slugs of one or two decks, for the infamous "fake single deck" or "fake double deck" games.
If you see what appears to a single or double deck game dealt from one of these shufflers, look closely at the cards. If it is a legitimate 1 or 2 deck game, the backs of the cards in the shuffler will be a different color than those presently in play.
If the backs of the cards are all the same color, stay away. In the typical "fake double deck" game, what you are actually playing is an 8 deck shoe game with only 1.5 or so decks being dealt. There may or may not be a small sign on the table saying something like "Handheld multi-deck game."
BTW, if your 75% DAS game was H17 and no surrender, it is only marginally beatable via counting, even if it was hand-shuffled.
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