BJ: The Mechanics of a CSM

Has anyone ever had the opportunity to study the mechanics of countinuous shuffling machines? I am curious whether each card is truly a random card. Would a card drawn and then reinserted have any chance at all to be the next card drawn? Would any of x cards drawn and then reinserted have a chance of being drawn next? If not, for what values of x would this be the case?

The "randomness" of automatic shufflers can very from shuffles that are totally deterministic (the position of each card when reinserted into the machine determines its exact position after the shuffle, in relation to the other cards). This was true of some earlier models and a trusted friend (who played for MIT) told me that he has played these machines and there are rare times when a win is guaranteed if you can track the sequence of cards (not easy). Although it is almost impossible for a machine to produce a truly random shuffle, newer models like the shuffle king (by shuffle master) seem to be coming close. They use a sort of physical card elevator to raise and lower cards which will be inserted at various positions, combined with more traditional machine shuffing. You can see this "card elevator" as I call it when the front cover has been removed to change the cards. Some of these new shufflers are quite hard on the cards, wearing them quickly, and this may be another area that can be exploited by advantage players. As far as I know no one has yet to figure out the shuffle king. When somebody does they are in for a treat as this machine is the most common CSM currently in use. By the way, last time I checked shuffle master was offering a reward of about $100,000 for anyone who can consistantly beat the shuffle king. If anyone figures it out I really hope they are ambitious enough to see beyond the whimpy $100,000 shuffle master offers. Unfortunatly I think you would need a computer to have a chance against shuffle king.

Has anyone ever had the opportunity to study the mechanics of countinuous shuffling machines? I am curious whether each card is truly a random card. Would a card drawn and then reinserted have any chance at all to be the next card drawn? Would any of x cards drawn and then reinserted have a chance of being drawn next? If not, for what values of x would this be the case?


Many models exist and the values of x vary greatly. I discussed this in some detail in "Get The Edge At Blackjack". You have to clock the latency of each specific machine or at least brand, because they different brands operate on different design principles and machines are constantly being upgraded, some even have settings which can mix up the latency.


Once you know the specific latency of a device then you count the cards on a round by round basis and effectively play at a level of deep penetration.