DATELINE: Golden Nugget, Atlantic City

It seems that some gamblin' fellas o'er there at "The Shore" in At-LAN-tic City done won bunches of money playin' somethin' called "mini-baccarat ". Like over $1.5-milion !

But they ain't all collected their winnin's yet, . . . 'cause the Golden Nugget Atlantic City is a claimin' it was hornswoggled by the playing card maker. It seems some Missouri playin' card maker was s'posed to deliver pre-shuffled cards, . . . and they maybe wasn't pre-shuffled, . . . and them sharpie gamblers noticed, . . . and they took advantage, . . . as DonDiego supposes they should'a.

Anyways lawsuits is begun to fly about, . . . like the casino against the playin' card maker for not a'shufflin' the cards, . . . and the casino against the players for a'cheatin', . . . and the players against the casino for not payin' 'em like they's s'posed to, . . . and even claims that the casino done de-scriminated 'gainst some players 'cause they was Asian. Huh! Who'd'a thunk it, . . . Asian gamblers at the New Jersey Seashore !

Anyways, . . . poor old DonDiego hopes he can find hisself asettin' at a blackjack table with a unshuffled deck someday, . . . and he hopes the reader can too.

Ref: nj.com
[n.b. Poor old DonDiego cannot vouch fer the veracity o' this heh website he's a citin'. On the one hand, it could be true; on the other hand, it done come outta New Jersey.]

But seriously folks. DonDiego hasn't been to The Shore for several years, . . . but he does not recall ever sitting at a blackjack table where the casino dealer didn't shuffle the cards. This would seem a straightforward anti-cheating casino policy. Do casinos not shuffle cards at a baccarat table?

So casinos in NJ don't shuffle the multiple decks used in Mini Bac??? Hmmm... guess I'll book a flight asap!
As a longtime Baccarat player I've never heard of such a thing! I've played the game in casinos in cities as various as Las Vegas, Vancouver, Paris and Moscow and the shoes at the start of a fresh table are always filled with cards from new, sealed, unshuffled decks. But before they are ever put into the shoe the decks are first checked by the dealer (and occasionally the pit boss) to ensure all the decks are complete. They are then spread out all over the table and mixed together by hand by the dealer to start the shuffle. They push and slide the cards together around the table for a few minutes. Then the cards are swept together, and piled up into one or two stacks. Random sized blocks of cards then are selected from the resulting pile and hand shuffled together. This is to attain even more of a mix of the decks. Finally, they are put into the shoe. The entire process can take quite a while, depending on the speed and dexterity of the dealer. It can easily take 10-15 minutes for the process of filling a shoe with new decks to be completed. The same steps are followed (minus that initial check for all cards in all suits) each time the cut card is reached when dealing hands from the shoe. Again, it's a good shuffle that takes several minutes to achieve. I have seen shuffling machines start to replace this manual shuffle routine at Baccarat/Mini Baccarat in recent years, but it's not widespread yet in my experience. So, I do find this story very strange. But hey, if that's really what they do then maybe I finally have a reason to go visit AC!

I'm officially issuing a travel advisory to anyone visiting Atlantic City.

(but it has nothing to do with shuffling practices of the dealers there..
my advisory comes on the heels of me viewing the HBO documentary, "It Aint East Bein' a HO"
)

It's a scam with crooked dealers in cahoots with players. Quite a few Asian gangs have gotten busted all over the country on this.
You would THINK the casinos would have started to use shuffle machines by now.

I thought they all used Shuffle Master machines by now!

Were you BANNED there too ???


Rick

Umm, . . . no.

In fact, given that he actually hadn't been banned here on LVA, . . . DonDiego has never been banned anywhere. His record is pristine. His reputation is unblemished.

There was, however, one time, . . . at a gaming emporium in the State of Nevada, where "the suits" tapped him on the shoulder at a blackjack table and informed him his play was no longer welcome. They invited him to play any other game, but refused to deal blackjack to him.

Oh, . . . and one other time on the Strip, back when DonDiego ordered fruit juice while playing, . . . a harmless affectation, . . . the "eye-in-the-sky" must've been watching, because his fruit juice, . . . delivered by a charming young lady who scampered off without even waiting for a tip, . . . must've contained 50% vodka. DonDiego smiled at the ceiling-camera, . . . and calmly departed the table.

Ahh, . . . those were the days, . . . hundreds of good blackjack tables all along the Strip.

I'm with mistrhia comments on this. Never seen or heard of opening a deck of cards and dealing them. It's always: pull back your bets while we change the cards and the dealers and pit bosses go through the routine.

I don't understand one thing. I read where the Missouri company that issued those cards apologized for not having pre-shuffled cards. I've never seen decks that the cards are pre-shuffled. In any card game that I've seen them put out new decks, the decks are spread o the table and the dealer goes through them to make sure none are missing. I've seen this done in any game like poker, black jack, pai gow and baccarat. Have they changed things to save time and now just play with pre-shuffled decks? Never have heard of that before.

Here's some background on casinos employing pre-shuffled decks: Using Pre-Shuffled Playing Cards by Bill Zender.
Mr. Zender is a pretty well-established gaming expert.

And here's the New Jersey Gaming Regulations covering the use of pre-shuffled decks. The pertinent portions of the referenced Chapter 69E GAMING EQUIPMENT begins on page 111.

It seems casinos can (at least in New Jersey) and do use pre-shuffled decks. Apparently it started at big-stakes baccarat, where players are permitted to peak at the cards and abuse them by creasing, bending, etc., . . . so the decks are used only once.
It's not surprising that, in spite of pretty strict procedures at the card manufacturer, that some decks eventually made it to a casino un-shuffled. Stuff happens.
But that the casino employees couldn't see the pattern of cards as they were dealt and stop the game is surprising.

: : : EDITED TO ADD : : :

A portion of the regulation also states that the pre-shuffled decks still have to be inspected by the casino before use, and resealed with an indication that they've been inspected before being stored prior to use.

It seems to poor old DonDiego that the manufacturer of the cards is responsible for delivering un-shuffled decks. That's tough nuggies for the manufacturer if the casino sues them. They do seem liable.
But if the casino does not check that they are, in fact, shuffled prior to introducing them into a game, that's tough nuggies for the casino. Don Diego cannot see how it is legal to withhold the players' winnings.
The players did nothing wrong. At this baccarat table the players did just what players counting cards do every day at the blackjack tables. And in the State of New Jersey the Courts have determined card-counting is legal. [In Nevada, the issue of card-counting legality has never been adjudicated.]