Blackjack hardware question

[MyMindIsGoing]

I seen a thing on black jack tables (on TV) that the dealer has a small "thing" in front of the chip tray. It is about the size of a match box. There seem to be a smal slot thin enough to put some cards in, horizontaly. What is this? Some counter for number of hands the dealer delt or what? I seen some types with a few buttons on it also.

[CORed]

It's probably a reader so the dealer can check for blackjack.

[playersare]

it's for dealers to check for blackjack in the hole, without letting him/her see what the down card is if it is not.

there are two types of systems that most casinos use. one is "tech-art", which is a slit/prism viewer using specially printed cards that only aces and face card pips can be seen in the corners. then there is "no-peek" where black strips are marked in relevant corners of the cards, and slit underneath a light sensor which flashes green (no blackjack) or red (blackjack). some no-peek systems will automatically flash once the cards are slid in, others you slide the card in first, then push a button to activate the light sensor.

there might be a few ghetto casinos in rural nevada that still manually check for blackjack in the hole, but all strip and/or corporate owned properties now use some sort of discreet viewing system on all tables.

[MyMindIsGoing]

Thanx for the answers /images/graemlins/smile.gif