Preferential shuffling?

I have read that certain casinos use "preferential shuffling." Basically they teach their dealers how to count cards and then only deal single & double deck games when the count favors the house. If the count gets too high, they reshuffle the deck. So if a player is a card counter he gets thrown out or at least backed off from playing blackjack, but the greedy casino can feel free to use the count to their advantage with impunity...classy.

I'm making another casino trip in a week or so and this has me a bit paranoid. Has anyone ever experienced preferential shuffling before? If so, what are some of the signs to watch for? I guess the obvious giveaway is a widely varying number of hands dealt out between shuffles, but every casino seems to have different standards of penetration (not to mention people joining and leaving the table constantly) so it's harder than it sounds.

The dealer should deal to the cut card. That way they can't choose to redeal at any point they fancy.

There can be less hands if the deck goes negative, as more small cards means more cards drawn.

There is a funny story in "Beat the Dealer" when Ed. Thorpe did his maiden card counting voyage to Las Vegas. At one point they were constantly shuffling. He jokingly asked if they would shuffle every time he scratched his noise. The dealer said yes, so he kept scratching his nose and she obligingly would reshuffle every single time.

I doubt very much that any casino has their dealer count cards in a systematic manner, but if they sense a card counter they reserve the right to shuffle as often as they want.

Counting cards takes some effort, and I doubt that a dealer could do it reliably.

First, I want to make it clear that this story was told to me. I did not witness this, but I believe it did happen.

It was a double deck game dealt in a joint that did not tolerate counters, and had very experienced dealers. This was back in the 1980's around Lake Tahoe.

What the dealers were trained to do was keep dealing a "fair" game until a deck ended with a hugely positive count. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that a deck has just ended +7 or better. Of course, this just meant that most of the 10s & Aces were behind the cut card, which is a counters worst nightmare.

They then false shuffled the deck so that the positive clump stayed together and then had the skill so that no matter where you thought you cut the deck, this highly positive clump would always find its way to the bottom of the deck behind the cut card.

If I had the skill, and ever wanted to just wipe out a counter, that's how I would do it. All those big bets with little hope of a 10/Ace. Over and over again. Sweet.

Quote: pacomartin

I doubt very much that any casino has their dealer count cards in a systematic manner, but if they sense a card counter they reserve the right to shuffle as often as they want.

Counting cards takes some effort, and I doubt that a dealer could do it reliably.

I must agree. Dealers have enough to worry about.
Back in the 90s in northern Nevada, a supervisor would sometimes walk by and simply say "shuffle" even when it was not to the cut card in double deck or a shoe.
Now some casinos have smart shoes, they count for the house.

Quote: 7winner

Now some casinos have smart shoes, they count for the house.

These automatic card counting software which uses special markings on the cards are very expensive. They scare away the advantage players and do very little except irritate the casual player. I don't think they are very widely used. Most casinos prefer the tried and true tactics.

Quote: pacomartin

These automatic card counting software which uses special markings on the cards are very expensive. They scare away the advantage players and do very little except irritate the casual player. I don't think they are very widely used. Most casinos prefer the tried and true tactics.

I also think the casinos are well aware that the "BJ can be beaten" concept partially drives the popularity of Blackjack. After all, only a few will have the patience and capability to do it, and the rest will lose trying. So it doesn't seem wise to reduce it to an completely unbeatable game. For example, a lot of people wont play CSM games, even though they don't count cards.

deleted