RE: Shuffle Master (was Re: [ba-poker] Bay 101 trip report)

["Dave Horwitz" <dhorwitz(deleted the rest)>]

Alan Bostick wrote:
> On Saturday, February 5, 2005, at 11:24 PM, Dave Horwitz
> wrote: 
>> Then I notice a black square shaped cover in the center
>> of the table, at an angle, with a red button and a green
>> button. I'm baffled. Ask the dealer if it's there to
>> check for black jacks. It's a shuffle master! Very cool.
>> Too bad the cover isn't translucent so you can watch it
>> work. These things are the nuts! Last time I saw
>> something of this ilk it was in Reno years ago (BJ
>> table?). It was exposed, *slow* and jammed. This thing
>> was fast and usually done by the time the flop betting
>> was done. You could tell because the green button lit
>> up. Dealer said they count down the deck when they
>> shuffle too. Cost: 16K. Even the slower dealers must
>> have been turning 50 hands an hour. Every now and again
>> a dealer did a light weight scramble before putting the
>> deck in the machine. NOBODY asked for a deck change!
>> Maybe that was an anomaly.   
> 
> Do they actually shuffle the cards well?  I have my
> doubts. 
> 
> The next hand, the spaded-and-then-Shuffle-Mastered deck
> came out of the machine.  I'm picky about shuffling,
> asked to be dealt out.  Five players anted up[1], and the
> hand was dealt.  The upcards were, in succession, the 4,
> 5, 6, 7, and 8 of hearts.    
> Technically it wasn't a misdeal, but no one wanted to
> play the hand.  The 4 brought it in, and everyone else
> folded.  
 
> That's the only sample I've seen of the deck being in an
> initially ordered state prior to being Shuffle-Mastered,
> and the outcome was one of lots of order remaining in the
> deck.  I would want to run more tests before I said
> flat-out that the Shuffle Master's shuffling is no good,
> but I am not optimistic.  Shuffle Master's Web site
> claims that the shuffled decks are truly random; they
> don't give a precise specification of what that means,
> and I'm dubious of "randomness" that is generated purely
> mechanically.         

Not related to the "randomness" but my observation that
a translucent cover would be nice was accompanied with
"how do you know it's working?". Dealer said "good point.
You can hear the motor running but that only indicates
that the motor is running".

-Quick