Question from a newbie...

[baausley]

I am wanting to learn how to count cards and win at blackjack. I live close to an indian casino and found that at their blackjack tables they use six decks and not only that but they also reshuffle cards back into the deck after every three hands! It doesn't seem like there's any way for a counter to gain advantage there. Is this a common practice at a lot of casinos?

 

[GeorgeD]

I am wanting to learn how to count cards and win at blackjack. I live close to an indian casino and found that at their blackjack tables they use six decks and not only that but they also reshuffle cards back into the deck after every three hands! It doesn't seem like there's any way for a counter to gain advantage there. Is this a common practice at a lot of casinos?

Sounds like they have Continuous Shuffle Machines (CSM). If after every few hands they put the discards onto a tray that's part of the shoe and they go into the machine, that's it. You would never see them hand shuffle or even handle the decks.

Counting is useless with the CSM. IF the rules are good, a 6 deck shoe is a little better than 8 deck, but playing basic strategy you will lose money eventually

 

[callipygian]

Is this a common practice at a lot of casinos?

It's fairly common, but not universal. If you look hard, you can probably find a better game, although you'll probably have to travel further.

CSM's are not beatable with card counting, so don't even try.

 

[GeorgeD]

It's fairly common, but not universal. If you look hard, you can probably find a better game, although you'll probably have to travel further.

CSM's are not beatable with card counting, so don't even try.

You may also see automatic shuffling machines ASM's. The dealer puts every few nands of discards into a machine, by the shoe is not connected to the machine. He deals from the shoe until the shoe is done and then gets a new shuffled set of decks from the machine and puts them in the shoe.

Here yo9u see all the decks going into the shoe, but the dealer doesn't shuffle them ... or maybe shuffles very little.

These you can count like any shoe.

Some casinos have both ASM and CSM.