Blackjack conditions improved

Blackjack conditions improved

May 6, 2014

With the advent of the continuous shuffle machines there was a panic amongst the community of blackjack advantage players that the profitable game as they knew it was set on a fast track to extinction; card counters need a game in which the pack, or typically the multi-pack shoe, is dealt approximately down to the last quarter of the cards, where the best advantages can be obtained, prior to the shuffle; the shuffle machines effectively reshuffle the card shoe every couple of hands, which removes any possibility of advantage.

I've also myself noted the proliferation of the CSMs in my casino visits over the last ten years, so I assumed the panic was justified.

I was in a casino in the UK the other day where I noticed what seemed to be the reversal of this trend. Of the three blackjack games in the pit I'd wondered into, all were being manually dealt from an old-style card shoe. The dealers were dealing to a depth of approximately three quarters of the pack, followed by a five minute manual shuffle, the ritualistic proffering of the cut card to one of the players to make the "cut" and finally the cutting off of about one and a half decks prior to replacing the cards back into the shoe for the next round of play.

All very enjoyably retro, I thought.

I spoke to one of the table staff about it, who said there "might be some shuffle machines upstairs" if I was interested, but that customers preferred the manual-deal games. I'm not sure of the actual extent of the connection between customer preference and the resurgence of manual deal games, but it seemed to at least come into the mix according to this girl.

I didn't come across any shuffle machine games at all as I wondered around the floor.

This was Friday evening, but there was also at least one £5 minimum table, which is obviously good for the informed, casual player who likes to play a controlled game with relatively low average loss rate on the basis of accurate basic strategy play. For that matter, low minimums are good for any player.

All in all, this was a surprising insight into that quite rare phenomenon of improved customer conditions in the gambling industry.

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