TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin First time Casino visit

When you say constant, are the cards shuffled for each hand and during the table deal?

Correct, my wife was on the management team for years that owned three casinos on the island. Our close friend is the Managing Director of three others, we have had long talks about the BlackJack odds and believe me, they know their games better than the bettor. They have all gone to 5 or 6 deck shuffling shoes. Only RainMan could figure out of the deck was heavy or not.

Cards are constantly shuffled, or when the dealer clears up a hand and places those cards in the machine, they are shuffled back in. Not sure which. Either way, at best, when you are dealt a new hand, it is essentially a freshly shuffled 4 (or 5 deck). Every time. Every hand. They never have to stop action to shuffle, there is no "cut" card (as the shoe never ends). Casino's love them. Real players hate them. I won't play with them. Evil !

Looks like I won't be playing blackjack on island anymore.

I need to jump in here. If you don't count cards and alter your bets(or play) with the count, it doesn't matter whether they use constant shuffle machines or not. Your expected value is the same as if the house shuffles deep into the deck.

Atlantis (Starz) never had shuffling machines, and there are always some $5 tables. That's one of the reasons it's our favorite.