Live Casino Shoe Shuffles
An important consideration for any serious blackjack player is their chosen casino's shuffle policy. And by shuffle policy I am not referring to how well casinos shuffle their cards, or whether and to what extent machine shuffling occurs as against manual shuffles. What I am referring to is the point at which the shoe is re-shuffled and re-stacked ready for a new deal.
Why is this so important? Basically, the further into a shoe that deal proceeds, the more effective card counting strategies become and consequently the better astute players' returns become.
While there are a number of methods employed for counting cards, they are all based on the same underlying more 'high card rich' the remaining shoe is, the better the player's chances of winning. This is because a high card rich (ie many tens and picture cards) deck results in more blackjacks being dealt (which typically pay the player 3:2) and more dealer busts on forced hits. Counting strategies are simply methods devised to enable players to gauge to what extent the remaining shoe is high card rich, and bet accordingly.
Now the deeper into the shoe the deal proceeds, the better the player's ability to assess the nature of the remaining shoe via the running count, and the more opportunity he or she has to apply this knowledge and bet to the count. If for example a shoe was dealt to the last card and a player's running count with only a couple of dozen cards left was very high, they would be armed with a very accurate picture of the nature of the remaining cards.
In simple terms, the deeper into the shoe a player can penetrate, the sharper the picture he/she has of remaining cards. Unfortunately casinos, well aware of this, are eager to keep players' picture as hazy as possible and one of the ways they do this is to re-shuffle and stack the shoe well before the deal ends. Where exactly this takes place (or where the cut card is inserted) is therefore an important consideration.
Turning to live (online) blackjack, this raises the question of where live casinos typically insert their cut cards and reshuffle.
While there are a number that institute a 'regular re-shuffle', the most common policy is a shuffle approximately mid-shoe. That is, in the case where an 8 deck shoe is used (as is common practice), the cut card is inserted approximately 4 decks in. This effectively means that any player wanting to apply a counting strategy will have to bet to the count well before half the shoe is dealt, negating the opportunity to employ an effective counting strategy.
Why is this so important? Basically, the further into a shoe that deal proceeds, the more effective card counting strategies become and consequently the better astute players' returns become.
While there are a number of methods employed for counting cards, they are all based on the same underlying more 'high card rich' the remaining shoe is, the better the player's chances of winning. This is because a high card rich (ie many tens and picture cards) deck results in more blackjacks being dealt (which typically pay the player 3:2) and more dealer busts on forced hits. Counting strategies are simply methods devised to enable players to gauge to what extent the remaining shoe is high card rich, and bet accordingly.
Now the deeper into the shoe the deal proceeds, the better the player's ability to assess the nature of the remaining shoe via the running count, and the more opportunity he or she has to apply this knowledge and bet to the count. If for example a shoe was dealt to the last card and a player's running count with only a couple of dozen cards left was very high, they would be armed with a very accurate picture of the nature of the remaining cards.
In simple terms, the deeper into the shoe a player can penetrate, the sharper the picture he/she has of remaining cards. Unfortunately casinos, well aware of this, are eager to keep players' picture as hazy as possible and one of the ways they do this is to re-shuffle and stack the shoe well before the deal ends. Where exactly this takes place (or where the cut card is inserted) is therefore an important consideration.
Turning to live (online) blackjack, this raises the question of where live casinos typically insert their cut cards and reshuffle.
While there are a number that institute a 'regular re-shuffle', the most common policy is a shuffle approximately mid-shoe. That is, in the case where an 8 deck shoe is used (as is common practice), the cut card is inserted approximately 4 decks in. This effectively means that any player wanting to apply a counting strategy will have to bet to the count well before half the shoe is dealt, negating the opportunity to employ an effective counting strategy.
