Shuffling Machines, and Which Ones Kill Counting
Updated
There are two kinds of machine at a blackjack table and the difference decides whether counting is possible at all. An automatic shuffler shuffles a shoe and hands it over — harmless. A continuous shuffler feeds played cards back in after every round, and that ends counting completely.
- ASM (automatic): shuffles between shoes. Counting works normally.
- CSM (continuous): cards go back in every round. Counting is impossible.
- Tell them apart by watching where discards go — a tray, or back into the machine.
- A CSM also deals more hands per hour, so an ordinary player loses faster.
The two machines
An automatic shuffling machine shuffles one set of decks while another is in play. The dealer takes a shuffled shoe from it, deals through to the cut card, and swaps. Nothing about the game changes: cards leave the shoe and stay gone, so the composition shifts as the shoe empties and counting works exactly as it always did.
A continuous shuffling machine is a different device. After each round the dealer feeds the used cards straight back into it, and it reinserts them at random depths. The shoe is effectively topped up permanently.
Why a CSM ends counting
Counting works because dealt cards are gone. When the tens have left, what remains is ten-poor, and you can know that. A CSM returns them, so the composition never drifts far from its starting point — the count never gets anywhere.
Online the same effect is achieved in software rather than hardware. First Person Blackjack reshuffles after every round, which is a CSM taken to its limit: not a shallow count, but no count at all.
It is not a matter of difficulty. There is no information to track. A CSM table is closer to a game dealt from an infinite deck, and no counting system helps against that.
How to tell which one you are at
Watch one round. Where do the used cards go?
Into a discard tray beside the dealer, growing through the shoe — automatic shuffler, or hand shuffle. Counting is on.
Back into a machine after every round, with no discard pile building up — continuous shuffler. Counting is off.
The other giveaway is the cut card. A CSM table does not need one, because there is no shoe to reach the end of.
The cost that applies even if you never count
A CSM removes shuffle breaks, so the table deals appreciably more hands per hour. The house edge per hand does not change — but you play more hands, so you stake more money in the same evening, and the amount the house keeps scales with what you stake.
For a player with no edge, a CSM table is a faster way to lose the same percentage. That is worth knowing regardless of whether you ever intended to count.
It is worth putting a number on it, because “more hands” sounds harmless. Our figure for a six-deck game with the dealer standing on soft 17 is 0.456% per hand. Multiply that by the rounds you actually play and by your bet:
| Rounds per hour | Cost at a 10 bet | Cost at a 25 bet | Cost at a 100 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 56 (a full seven-seat table) | 2.55 | 6.38 | 25.54 |
| 76 (five players) | 3.47 | 8.66 | 34.66 |
| 116 (three players) | 5.29 | 13.22 | 52.90 |
| 248 (heads up) | 11.31 | 28.27 | 113.09 |
The right-hand columns are the whole argument. Nothing about the game got worse — the edge per hand is identical — and yet an evening at a fast table costs several times what the same evening costs at a slow one. A CSM moves you up this table without changing a single rule, and so does an empty table.
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By Martin Kosek · every number on this site is computed by us, not copied.
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