Interesting. In poker rooms the dealers shuffle the deck of course, but also in-between hands they spread the cards out on the table and circle them around each other before stacking them and shuffling (they also cut the deck a few times as they shuffle). These machines can’t do that, or at least aren’t designed to do that.
> Card counting, is a difficult way to make some money. <
Well, in my 20s I spent considerable time at home practicing card counting. It became a pastime of sorts. Then I took a trip to Atlantic City. I was full of confidence when I first sat down to a blackjack table. I got wiped out.
I don’t think card counting theory was at fault. I just ran into a streak of bad luck. But I learned my lesson. No more trips to the Atlantic City blackjack tables. My gambling money went into index mutual funds instead.
Casinos love gamblers that have a “system “ unless it somewhat works then it is blatant cheating.
Other than a Right Tackle, it’s hard to think of someone more gay than a ‘serious’ gambler.
His interest in cards began with a chance encounter in 1958. At age 13, at Tannen's Magic Emporium in New York City's Times Square, Diaconis met Alex Elmsley, a soft-spoken Scottish computer scientist and magician who had mastered the "perfect shuffle". Sometimes called the "faro shuffle" or simply "the technique", the perfect shuffle involves splitting a deck into two stacks of exactly 26 cards each and perfectly weaving them together like a zipper, alternately interleaving one card from each hand. Very few people can do it correctly in less than 10 seconds. Diaconis is one.
The perfect shuffle has been used by gamblers and magicians for centuries because it gives the illusion of randomly shuffling the cards. But it is far from random. In fact, if you perform the same sequence of perfect shuffles eight times in a row, the deck will magically restore its original order.
Diaconis likes to demonstrate the perfect shuffle by taking a new deck of cards and writing the word "RANDOM" in thick black marker on one side. As he performs his sleight of hand with the cards, the letters get mixed up, appearing now and then in ghostly form, like an imperfectly tuned image on an old TV set. Then, after he does the eighth and final shuffle, the word rematerialises on the side of the deck. The cards are in their exact original sequence, from the ace of spades to the ace of hearts.
Back in Tannen's Magic Emporium, Elmsley explained the subtle mathematics behind the trick. Imagine that you number a new deck of cards from one to 52, where one is the card at the top of the deck and 52 is the card at the bottom. As you perform the perfect shuffle, cards move to new positions in the deck. For example, the card originally at position two will move to position three, while the card at position three will move to position five, and the card at position 27 will come back up to position two, and so on.
Prof Diaconis is now 77, and still consulting with casinos and Internet search engine companies.
If I recall correctly, besides his ability at shuffling cards, Diaconis could also flip a coin and have it come up ‘heads’ 50 times in a row - so if you’re using coin flips to illustrate randomness, you don’t want Diaconis flipping your coin.
I had a fabulous cleaning woman who had been banned from every casino in Vegas. She rearranged a lot of things in my house and told me to call her if I forgot where she’d put them because she absolutely knew. I wasn’t her only client either.
Machines have to randomize the shuffle. Ultra precision presents a problem . . . Eight perfect shuffles returns the deck to the original order.
My brother was a card counter. He was also an engineer an oddly dyslexic. He was good with numbers. Perhaps this is what made him good at card counting. He explained to me he could only do it for about an hour as it was mentally taxing in the extreme. He would take a break and then go back.
Once in Vegas his buddy was following his bets and thus, they realized he was a card counter. This was in the old days before multiple decks from a shoe. Some “very polite” gentlemen firmly suggested he play anything he wanted to play except black jack. They gave him tickets for food, shows, etc. then firmly suggested, “enjoy our casino, games of chance and food and shows, but Mr. Smyth do not play Black Jack.” He got the message.
My brother was a card counter. He was also an engineer an oddly dyslexic. He was good with numbers. Perhaps this is what made him good at card counting. He explained to me he could only do it for about an hour as it was mentally taxing in the extreme. He would take a break and then go back.
Once in Vegas his buddy was following his bets and thus, they realized he was a card counter. This was in the old days before multiple decks from a shoe. Some “very polite” gentlemen firmly suggested he play anything he wanted to play except black jack. They gave him tickets for food, shows, etc. then firmly suggested, “enjoy our casino, games of chance and food and shows, but Mr. Smyth do not play Black Jack.” He got the message.
Used “a hidden video camera to record the workings of the card shuffler through a glass window.” Clever. Mezrich’s 2003 book Bringing Down the House is very interesting and true. The pro gamblers made $60K on a good night and were kicked out of every casino in America. So they wore disguises and continued scoring big time in major casinos.
Yeah but, when you’re bored it’s a way to pass time
I prefer to hustle my friends in their dining room table but, the mathematics of a six deck shuffle ate fun.
I only hate idiots who take a card they shouldn’t
.