Why Do BJ Dealers Shuffle after Two Rounds of Heads-Up Play?

Question about change to blackjack at my favorite place to play. I won't mention the name, but it has been there since 1941. After reopening, the $25 single-deck table went to $50. I can live with that. My question is that they went to redeal after only two hands, so if I was the only person at the table, they would redeal after possiblly only 8 cards are dealt. Is there a house advantage to redealing single deck after only two hands?

[Editor's Note: We asked Arnold Snyder to answer this question. Which he did.]

If you play high-level blackjack and the dealer reshuffles after only 8-10 cards have been played, the game would be unbeatable with a card-counting system.

I suspect that your casino sweats card counters and now employs this particular countermeasure to foil them. The other possibility is that a new table games manager was hired and he is paranoid about card counters beating the games and simply instructs all single-deck dealers to shuffle after the second round. Single-deck games are most vulnerable to being beaten by card counters.

The good news is that this countermeasure will have no effect whatsoever on a player who’s not counting cards. In fact, it could even make the game slightly better. What happens in single-deck games when the dealer makes a judgment call on when to shuffle is that if lots of low cards come out of the deck, with lots of pair splits and hitting with small cards, it results in more of the deck being depleted, causing the dealer to shuffle up right when the remaining deck is rich in high cards. But if a lot of the high cards come out, with lots of players getting 20s and 21s, the deck will still have enough cards to deal another round when most of the cards remaining are of low denominations. This effect is detrimental to all players, not just card counters.

But when the dealer always deals the same number of rounds, regardless of how many, on average you’ll get a perfectly random mix of cards. This is better for the players who aren't card counters.

If you ever decide to start playing with an advantage over the house by counting cards, you won’t find much advantage in this casino if they maintain that policy of dealing only two rounds, even when there’s only one player heads-up with the dealer. In that event, it would definitely be time to start looking for a new favorite place to play.

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Comments

Kevin Lewis Jul-23-2020

The good old...

Obviously, the questioner is referring to the El Cortez. They've always been very very sweaty about their single-deck games (I've been shuffled up on after increasing my bet to $15!!), but the last time (pre-pandemic) I was there, they were only dealing one single deck game--and I think it was $25 minimum. If they've gone to two hands and shuffle, there is now officially no reason to play at the El Cortez. Thud.

black jack Jul-23-2020

Sweaty Spaniard

I’m assuming that ElCo is even more wary of card counters since they started dealing all single deck games face up after the reopening. Pit folks and dealers are just as disgusted as the rest of us with this new development. Looks like the only decent single deck game in Las Vegas is now another Covid casualty...

Mike Scudiero Jul-23-2020

I noticed it too

I played at that particular casino for about a half hour a couple weeks ago and noticed the quick shuffle as well. Of course, that didn't stop me from going from $10 to $25 a couple of times when the first hand was almost all low number cards. (Yes, I won the $25 second hand bet both times this occurred, btw). The female pit boss was glad to see me leave, I think, even though I only cashed about about $80 ahead.

rokgpsman Jul-23-2020

Tighter and Tighter

Due to the long shutdown period, then having a lot less people playing after they reopened, the casinos have already lost millions of dollars. This hurts the smaller places a lot more than the huge corporate-owned ones. So you can figure they are looking for ways to make some money in a variety of ways. They may give you free parking and lower room rates to bring you in but the games might be more like Atlantic City with changes not good for the player. Different supervisors might implement their own ideas to help their casino so you could see variations from one shift or day to another. It's going to be like a yoyo as the adjust from doing extra things to attract people, then drive them away with bad decisions that send players to another casino.

Hoppy Jul-23-2020

Single Deck in A.C.

I recall reading that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin wouldn't play unless they were dealt from a single deck - Sounds like a good plan.

That Don Guy Jul-23-2020

re: Hoppy

Doonesbury referenced Sinatra playing blackjack in 1985:

https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1985/06/15

Dave in Seattle. Jul-23-2020

Single deck?

I prefer double deck, if I can find it.

Adam Cohen Jul-23-2020

Now where to  I go

I have no idea when I will go back to vegas but I miss it. I always played at the El Cortez the single and double-deck games that paid 3:2. They were 5 or 10 bucks and sometimes I would go  play at the big boy 25 buck table. I enjoyed all the pit bosses coming over and talking to me like they were my friends when I knew they were seeing if I counted. I do not.  So now where can i find a decent 3:2 game in vegas 10 bucks a hand would be nice

Hoppy Jul-23-2020

Re: Doomsbury

Frank plays at a table - it fills up. So does the dealers toke box. He was frustrated by the lack of "teamwork" by the dealer.

Question of the Day - 23 July 2020

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