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| The magic edge-sort killing card shoe |
Imagine this!...A young UNLV student in Gambling Innovation class has just received a patent for a new card shoe she developed that will make Edge-Sorting impossible at all card games including baccarat, at which, as you all know, poker legend Phil Ivey edge-sorted his way to more than $20 million in winnings...or I should say 20 million in temporary winnings, as courts on both sides of the Atlantic decided edge-sorting is cheating, and I certainly concur.
So how does it work?
Young Brittney Martino's invention uses flashing lights to obscure the backs of the cards. Instead of explaining exactly how it works, I will take the liberty to copy and paste PlayUSA's description of it in its article.
“The purpose of the light(s) is to overlay colors or tones and white background on the back of the playing card. The wavelength, pattern (e.g., discontinuous distribution of light) and intensity of the shone light being sufficient to reduce optical contrast of different colors and/or shades on the back of the first playing card. The pattern can disrupt visible perception of the actual pattern printed on the back of the playing card. The emitted/projected pattern may be significantly different from the printed pattern, or only slightly vary from the printed pattern to confuse optical/visible reading of the printed image.
“Where the back of the card, for example, has red-and-white colors, the emitted light should be sufficiently red to color and blend the white into the red; when the back of the card is greenish, the emitted light should sufficiently match the green, and similarly with single colors or multiple colors on the backs of the cards and the emitters.”
Okay, you got through all that, and I say it is mighty impressive, perhaps the biggest table-game/game protection invention since Arthur Miller's hole-card reader device, now omnipresent on blackjack tables in virtually all casinos worldwide that take a hole card before players' hand decisions.
Except there is one little mitigating factor as to the new invention's usefulness.
Sorry to say, Brittney, as I know you are extremely excited about this and surely anticipating the millions in royalties coming your way, but your edge-sorting device is....
USELESS!
Well, I should say, "ALMOST USELESS!"
WHAT?
I'll tell you what...
I am simply saying that if casino personnel do their jobs and listen to, and implement, all the game protection procedures I and others have taught them, their casinos would need this device about as much as I need to shut my mouth!
Again simply stating, if the proper shuffling procedure in all table games (regardless whether or not automatic shufflers are in use) is strictly followed, then we do not need yet another high-tech gadget to protect us from doing our jobs.
I assume, based on my visits to train casinos, that many of you reading this article do not know how damn easy it is to nip edge-sorting in the bud without having to resort to this gadget, whose annoying flashing-light-and-color display are sure to bother some of your playing customers!
So how do we nip edge-sorting in the but? It's as simple as wiping out dice-sliding in craps by assuring that both dice tumble and hit the back wall.
We simply make a "turn" part of our shuffle process. This means to rotate half the cards in each pack being shuffled 180 degrees. So if you're currently doing the riffle...riffle...strip...and repeat, you now need to riffle...riffle...strip...TURN...and repeat.
It's that simple.
But you mustn't forget to have your dealers perform the turn before putting the cards into the automatic shufflers.
If you'd like to see the correct shuffle procedure including the turn, just search it in YouTube.
I don't know about you, but I am tired of seeing how technology has to entirely protect our table games when our human dealers and floor staffs can still do the bulk of the work.
So please...let's adhere to table-game-protection training and not table-game-technological reigning!
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