Ruffled by The Shuffle and Card Clumping

[BJgenius007]

Blackjack...

Specifically, the deck. Removing one or more ten-value cards and/or Aces from the deck can dramatically increase the house’s edge, and few players will notice the difference between a deck of 52 cards and a deck of 48, or even an eight-deck shoe from which half a deck has been removed... buuuuttttt…

What if the machine shufflers arrange it so that many of the 10-count cards are at the end of the shoe, behind the cut card? Isn’t that the same thing as removing them to give the House a huge advantage?

Let's say that the machine shufflers put an above average number of 10-value cards in the middle of the shoe. By default, most people cut the shoe in the middle too. Now, the dealer places the front half of the cut to the back and puts the card in about a deck's worth from the end. Now, there are a higher than average amount of 10-value cards that are no longer in play - thus, giving the House a HUGE advantage!

ASM doesn't need to place ten face cards in the middle of the shoe. The machine can place those face cards anywhere. When entering that clump, both dealer and players got 20, so they push. In reality, ASM would put like 13 or 14 face cards in the face card clump but they also insert two non-face cards into the clump so it doesn't look suspicious. As long as the two non-face card is not ace, the clump will increase house EV by reducing the possibility of Blackjack for the reason OP stated. Also in somewhere of this same shoe, there is the ace clump that has five, six or seven aces mixed with three or four small cards in a nine or ten card sequence. Simply adding these two steps will dramatically add house advantage.

 

[DSchles]

Is there ever a point in time when you're going to stop spouting this nonsense all over the internet? Do you figure that, if you beat everyone over the head with it frequently enough, we'll finally accept your point of view?

Don

 

[LC Larry]

The REAL reality is....ASM's do nothing of the sort that you describe. They also don't know what game is being played.

 

[Nightshifter]

ASM doesn't need to place ten face cards in the middle of the shoe. The machine can place those face cards anywhere. When entering that clump, both dealer and players got 20, so they push. In reality, ASM would put like 13 or 14 face cards in the face card clump but they also insert two non-face cards into the clump so it doesn't look suspicious. As long as the two non-face card is not ace, the clump will increase house EV by reducing the possibility of Blackjack for the reason OP stated. Also in somewhere of this same shoe, there is the ace clump that has five, six or seven aces mixed with three or four small cards in a nine or ten card sequence. Simply adding these two steps will dramatically add house advantage.

Exactly... I frown when someone says that over billions of hands the TC blah blah blah blah... Well what if the machine is purposely manipulating the cards at the right moments... not all the time mind you but just enough to give them an extra percentage yearly without it being blatantly apparent. This totally distorts the mathematics and puts the unwary AP at a disadvantage not to mention it's the perfect way to subvert counting and keep the rules acceptable to the locals LOL! I mimic the exact thing at home as to what these 'chipped' ASMs are doing and it's devastating to the players unless you know how to counteract it or just leave. Harrah's 'tribal '' casino over here has chip readers installed at all the tables which may or may not be tied into the shuffler to keep the table drop within a certain percentage.

 

[Nightshifter]

The REAL reality is....ASM's do nothing of the sort that you describe. They also don't know what game is being played.

Well yeah Leisure Suit Larry ! But like a few other respected players had mentioned several times... what if the ASM's are chipped to do otherwise. We all know that the ASM's can read the cards... that's a fact! Every AP knows the math works, but it won't work when the game is subverted some how (to put mildly...LOL).

 

[LC Larry]

It ain't happenin'

You card counters are a paranoid bunch.