The manufactures of the shuffle machines claim that the shuffle that occurs inside that black box is entirely random. I disagree and here's why.
Some time back I got my hands on a video of the inner workings of a Shuffle Master (don't recall the model number). It was the two sets of decks style, one would be shuffling while the other was in use. I was able run the video at various speeds, stop and reverse it at any point.
Here's how it works.
There are three chambers with elevating floors in each chamber. The machine opens and the dealer places the decks in the middle chamber which is the only one exposed. The door closes and the magic begins.
First the two outside chamber floors rise to the top.
The middle floor starts rising, as it raises it starts depositing cards in the left chamber (in effect reverse stacking). When half the deck is in the left chamber it switches and starts reverse stacking into the right chamber. While this action is happening,
The two outside floors are lowering and the center is rising in coordination.
When half the deck is in the left chamber and the other half is in the right, the two outside chamber floors start to raise alternately dumping cards back into the center while that floor is lowering until all the cards are back in the center.
In effect this action is exactly the same as if someone cut the cards in half and riffled the entire six decks together in one action. The above action is repeated 7 times. So if you took six decks, cut them in half and riffled them 7 times you get the same result.
The manufacturer of the machine claims that the number of cards that are dumped into the center chamber from each side is random therefore the shuffle is random. Here’s where I disagree.
After watching this video several hundred times it finally hit me. Every time the two outside chamber floors reached the top they each had two or three cards (every time). If the number of cards dumped from either side was truly random there would be times when there would be a large imbalance of cards in the outside chambers when they reached the top. This tells me that it’s not random at all but controlled by some built in algorithm.
Some time back I got my hands on a video of the inner workings of a Shuffle Master (don't recall the model number). It was the two sets of decks style, one would be shuffling while the other was in use. I was able run the video at various speeds, stop and reverse it at any point.
Here's how it works.
There are three chambers with elevating floors in each chamber. The machine opens and the dealer places the decks in the middle chamber which is the only one exposed. The door closes and the magic begins.
First the two outside chamber floors rise to the top.
The middle floor starts rising, as it raises it starts depositing cards in the left chamber (in effect reverse stacking). When half the deck is in the left chamber it switches and starts reverse stacking into the right chamber. While this action is happening,
The two outside floors are lowering and the center is rising in coordination.
When half the deck is in the left chamber and the other half is in the right, the two outside chamber floors start to raise alternately dumping cards back into the center while that floor is lowering until all the cards are back in the center.
In effect this action is exactly the same as if someone cut the cards in half and riffled the entire six decks together in one action. The above action is repeated 7 times. So if you took six decks, cut them in half and riffled them 7 times you get the same result.
The manufacturer of the machine claims that the number of cards that are dumped into the center chamber from each side is random therefore the shuffle is random. Here’s where I disagree.
After watching this video several hundred times it finally hit me. Every time the two outside chamber floors reached the top they each had two or three cards (every time). If the number of cards dumped from either side was truly random there would be times when there would be a large imbalance of cards in the outside chambers when they reached the top. This tells me that it’s not random at all but controlled by some built in algorithm.
