L'Auberge du lac?

[79strad]

Went to L'auberge du lac today to check it out. It was very busy, barely a seat to be hard at a table. One thing of interest happened though - the dealers use a machine to shuffle the decks. They put a giant stack of cards (8 decks) into it, and it shuffles it by itself.

Now this in itself isn't very interesting, but while taking the cards out of it the dealer spilled them out into the open. The pit boss made her put them back in for a reshuffle. We then waited a full TEN MINUTES for the machine to shuffle the cards. How could it possibly take ten minutes, unless something different than a random shuffle is happening? Is the machine putting the cards back into original order, and THEN shuffling them? Is it doing its best to shuffle the cards in a manner that will be mostly advantageous for the house? I find it suspicious, any thoughts?

[Mikeaber]

Originally Posted by 79strad

Went to L'auberge du lac today to check it out. It was very busy, barely a seat to be hard at a table. One thing of interest happened though - the dealers use a machine to shuffle the decks. They put a giant stack of cards (8 decks) into it, and it shuffles it by itself.

Now this in itself isn't very interesting, but while taking the cards out of it the dealer spilled them out into the open. The pit boss made her put them back in for a reshuffle. We then waited a full TEN MINUTES for the machine to shuffle the cards. How could it possibly take ten minutes, unless something different than a random shuffle is happening? Is the machine putting the cards back into original order, and THEN shuffling them? Is it doing its best to shuffle the cards in a manner that will be mostly advantageous for the house? I find it suspicious, any thoughts?

If this is just an automatic shuffler like Shuffle Master, and not a Continuous Shuffle machine, several things are taking place inside the machine. For one thing, it counts the cards each shuffle to insure that none are missing. It has "slots" inside where it emulates washing, stripping and riffling cards with the same effect as a hand shuffled stack results in. It takes a while! Normally, this shuffle takes place while a second stack is used to play the game. There is plenty of time on a 6-deck shoe to allow shuffling of a second stack to take place.

[tribute]

I played at 'L Auberge last week. Yes, all tables remain full most of the time. I believe the shoes are all 6-deck. It's a nice place, but I prefer driving the extra distance to Kinder and playing at Coushatta. Coushatta is never as crowded, has better conditions, and a good $10 DD game. Steakhouse not bad, either. The only reason I stayed at 'L Auberge was a comped room. After 5 or 6 trips to 'L Auberge, I am still in the minus column.