Ford: “That’s a CSM table.” Mike: “CSM?” Ford: “Continuous Shuffle Machine. The cards are re-shuffled into the shoe every few rounds. You can’t count at that table!” Mike: “Uhhhh. Please don’t tell Colin or Ben.” Mike finally fessed up. It was as much our fault for not training him to look out for CSM. The reason the CSM causes the house edge to go down ever so slightly is because of a phenomena known as the “cut card effect” (this increases the probability slightly of getting tens and blackjack when a CSM is used). Now before you rush out and play blackjack on a table that uses a CSM, listen to the rest of the story.

1. Csm Blackjack Odds Poker

House Edge Of CSM Versus Shoe Blackjack Games It’s true that it’s impossible to count cards when playing a blackjack game that uses a CSM. It’s not true that the house edge for those games is affected. A 3:2 blackjack game using six decks and typical rules has a house edge of about 0.43% when using a shoe. On average, you’ll receive a blackjack about four times per hour, and the diminished payout will cut significantly into your odds of walking away with a profit. The traditional 3:2 payout is one of the rules that make the game fair for players. You really shouldn’t play otherwise. Avoid games that use a Continuous Shuffling Machine (CSM). The house holds the edge over any recreational blackjack and wants faster games to capitalize on this advantage. A CSM allows casinos to deal around 20% more hands per hour. The exact amount that casino stand to make from faster blackjack tables varies based on different factors.

In 2000 Shuffle Master introduced the first Continuous Shuffling Machine (CSM) for the game of Blackjack. Their machine was called “The King” and its main purpose was to help casinos foil card counters. In fact, the ads for Shuffle Masters Continuous Shuffling Machine proclaimed, “The King continuous shuffler is the card counters worst nightmare.”

For years casinos have been trying to thwart card counters who gain an advantage at blackjack by using expert play. While card counting isn't illegal, casinos don’t take kindly to it. In Las Vegas, casinos are allowed to bar players they suspect of counting. In Atlantic City, casinos can't ban players but they can limit the size of their bets and shuffle up on any player suspected of counting.

Card counters all over the country do their best to disguise their skills to avoid getting caught. It has become somewhat of a cat and mouse game and casinos would like nothing better than to eliminate card counting permanently.

Shuffle Master heavily lobbied casinos for the benefits of using CSMs for their Blackjack games. They claimed the advantage of a continuous shuffler is three-fold:

1. It eliminates card counting.
2. It speeds up the game by eliminating shuffling time.
3. It offers substantial cost savings because it uses four decks instead of six or eight in the shoe.

Six years later many casinos around the world have adopted the Continuous Shuffling Machines for use in their blackjack pits, much to the displeasure of players and dealers alike. We spoke with several dealers and the consensus among them is a strong dislike for the automatic shuffler. Shuffling gives them a welcome physical and mental break from the game. While shuffling, they can talk and interact with the players and friendly conversation can also help their tips.

How A CSM Works

After a hand is over the cards just used are placed back into the shuffler to be mixed with the other cards in the shoe. Shuffle Master’s King uses an elevator system to randomize the cards. As the elevator is moved up and down, cards are randomly inserted into one of the 19 shelves in the elevator. The shuffler randomly selects a shelf of cards to deliver into the shoe. Because of the non-linear process, every discard re-inserted following a hand has a chance of appearing in the next round.

Although Shuffle Master says The King differs from their competitor's continuous shufflers because the others use a linear design, most CSMs do the same thing. They put the discards back into play and do away with the dealers having to physically shuffle the cards at the end of a shoe.

The House Edge

The continuous shufflers have no benefits for the player and have been dubbed the 'uncomfortable shoes.' It eliminates card counting for the skilled player and has a major disadvantage for the basic strategy player: it speeds up the game!

When the CSM was first introduced, many players felt it would likely increase the house edge. As it turns out this is not entirely true. Michael Shackleford--The Wizard of Odds--did a mathematical analysis of Continuous Shuffling Machines and found that there was a very slight reduction in the house edge.

In a four deck game the edge is 0.034 percent and in an eight-deck game it is 0.014 percent. Before you get excited about the slight reduction remember that when casinos use a CSM the speed of the games is increased by about 20 percent. The basic strategy player stands to lose more in the long run because they are exposing more money to the house edge.

It’s a treat to visit a casino that offers double and single deck games and it would be unfortunate to see them eliminated altogether. Even a multi-deck shoe game is preferable to the Continuous Shuffling Machines. The best way to make yourself heard is by refusing to play Blackjack at casinos that use a CSM for their Blackjack games.

10 Crimes of Blackjack

By Henry Tamburin

Many players make horrible mistakes when they play blackjack. Here’s a list of the 10 worst crimes a player can make.

1. The crime: Believing blackjack is all luck.

If you think that all you need is a little bit of “luck” to win at blackjack, I strongly suggest that you stop playing the game. Blackjack is not all luck. The reason? The odds of winning are not the same from one hand to the next because the removal of a card from a deck of cards will affect the odds (sometimes in your favor, other times in the dealer’s favor). It’s true that on individual hands, or even a single playing session, luck can influence the outcome, but in the long term, the player’s skill will overtake luck and a player can win more than he loses, or at the minimum, play almost even with the house.

2. The crime: Not using basic strategy.

In was back in 1956 when a group of scientists changed the game of blackjack forever when they statistically determined the absolute correct way to play every hand. This strategy became known as the basic playing strategy and by using this strategy to play every hand, the house edge can be reduced to a minuscule 0.2 to 0.5% (depends on the rules and number of decks). The bottom line is this: blackjack is not a guessing game. If you hold a 10-5 and the dealer shows an 8 upcard, there is one and only one correct play. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing in a Midwest casino, in Las Vegas, or Atlantic City, or whether you just lost five hands in a row, or just won five hands in a row, or whether you are winning a lot or losing or lot, the correct play for this hand is to hit. To be skillful at blackjack means you almost have to be robotic and make the same correct plays according to the basic playing strategy hand after hand after hand. You don’t hit 10-5 against a dealer 8 sometimes and stand othertimes. You always hit. If you can’t or won’t accept this, then you should hang up your playing cards and play a different game because you will never make it at blackjack.

3. The crime: Betting on side bets.

Nowadays, casinos have implemented side bets on blackjack tables as a way to increase their revenue because their edge on the game itself is razor thin. These side bets are cheap; usually, it only costs a buck to make them and they come in all different flavors: Pair Square (bet that you will be dealt a pair); Lucky Ladies (bet that you’re initial hand totals 20); Bonus Blackjack (bet that the dealer or player gets a blackjack), and so on. The problem with these side bets is that the house edge is high and although you might get lucky and win a few side bets, in the long run you’ll be donating a lot of money to the casino coffers by making these bets.

4. The crime: Using a Progressive Betting System.

The majority of blackjack players use some form of progressive betting which means the player sizes his bet based on whether he won or lost the previous hand. The problem with progressive betting systems is that they don’t change the casino’s edge one iota. The odd of winning the next hand in blackjack isn’t dependent on what happened in previous hands (it is influenced by which cards were removed from the deck). So a player who uses a progressive betting system is deluding himself into thinking he has found the way to beat the house.

5. The crime: Playing with a Continuous Shuffling Machine.

A continuous shuffling machine (CSM) is an automatic shuffler that randomly shuffles the cards after each round. Many casinos are replacing the traditional automatic shuffler with CSMs. The reason is because when a CSM is used, the house edge remains virtually the same from one round to the next. When a casino uses a CSM, they can also get roughly 20% more hands dealt per hour vs. a traditional automatic shuffler. The more hands that a recreational player faces per hour, the greater will be the player’s theoretical loss. So playing on a table that uses a CSM is a no-no. You should always play where the dealer is using either a traditional shuffler (where about 70% of the cards are dealt from the shuffler before all the cards are shuffled), or in a single- and two-deck game where the dealer manually shuffles the cards.

6. The crime: Playing a single-deck game that pays 6-5 for blackjack

Many casinos have implemented single-deck blackjack games where a player receives only a 6-5 payoff for a blackjack instead of the traditional 3-2 payoff (a 6-5 payoff means on a $10 bet you would get paid $12 for a blackjack instead of $15).These games are really bad news because the 6-5 payoff increases the house edge to roughly 1.4%. It’s a real crime to play any game where the casino pays only 6-5 on blackjacks.

7. The crime: Not scouting the tables

The playing rules are not necessarily the same from one table to the next or for that matter from one casino to the next. You shouldn’t just jump into a game without first knowing what the rules are and whether there are better rules on other tables. For example, a table where the dealer hits soft 17 is worst for a player than if the dealer stands on soft 17. Blackjack players should know which rules are player-friendly and which favor the house, and then scout the tables to find the best set of player-friendly rules.

8. The crime: Playing when tired or inebriated

How many times have you seen the bleary-eyed player playing blackjack? Or the player that has consumed one to many alcoholic drinks. If you are tired, you shouldn’t be playing blackjack because you will be making too many playing mistakes. Ditto for consuming many alcoholic drinks while playing. Playing blackjack skillfully requires concentration and anything that disturbs your concentration will result in you losing more money (that’s why drinks are free to players).

9. The crime: Not paying attention to the cards on the layout

Not too many recreational players pay attention to the cards on the layout. That’s a big mistake. For example, if you have seen a disproportionate number of small cards vs. large cards in the first couple of rounds after a shuffle, now would be a good time to bump up your bet slightly. On the other hand, if you see nothing but aces and faces in the early rounds, you should definitely not increase the size of your bet.

10. The crime: Not getting rated

Csm Blackjack Odds Poker

You should always get rated when you play blackjack. The reason? This allows you to receive comps from the casino (free meals, free rooms, free shows, etc.). It cost you nothing to get rated. Just sign up for their player’s card and show it to the dealer every time you play. Your level of comps depends upon your level of play. You can always check with a casino host to find out what kind of comps you will be eligible to receive based on your betting level and the amount of time you play. The comps you receive will lower your cost of playing and sometimes they will turn a negative expectation game (where the house has the overall edge) into a positive expectation game (the game with the comps will result in the player having the monetary edge). The point is that you won’t get any comps unless you get rated, so don’t miss this opportunity to get your share of the billions that casinos give away annually to players just for playing.