Just when I decided to learn to count cards I found out that all casinos in Portugal( where I live) use continuous shuffling machines. I first thought that the advantage of counting would be lost but now found a book, BJ therapy that states " Suppose you chose to count 3 rounds at a full table with 7 spots. That is close to .3 or 30% of the pack. You have a 70% chance that those cards will take at least 30% of the pack to reappear. You are facing 70% of the count; with 30% chance of the cards reappearing.It is all reciprocal; as you choose to count more cards the significance of your count goes down.
Approximately the best profitability would be in counting 2 and ½ decks (about 2/3rds of the pack is the actual maximum) before you let the count “expire,” but for me the approximate 30% solution is best.
The BJF is: EC=effective depth or C; BJF=SA+3*(BA+PA+RA), using EC instead of C.
In both examples it would seem to be very shallow penetration, but from a careful reading of Theory of Blackjack (all editions would have this information) by Peter Griffin, all the hands played are at that depth. It is if you were allowed to play thousands of shoes by first seeing 75 cards + burned, played the round (and included the players cards now on the layout, which helps too –so never let the top counted round “expire,” in your running count until the end of each round). The edge is not spectacular but it is still an edge and few casinos will believe it is there; just look at the odd fact the true count divisor is always the total number of decks in the pack again! It is too strange, but the income player, with a black chip and higher bankroll, would do well to play these games, raise their bets ferociously (at least for now) and milk that casino for every possible comp. "
Any thoughts on counting cards with continous shuffling machines? Thank you