The point is that that you have t create a mechanism that efffectively shuffles the deck in an unpredictable (some say random) manner quickly, relatovely quietly in a device that is easily accessed at the table.

Most people just sort assume that the machine mechanically preforms a shuffle the way we traditionally shuffle .... spllitting the deck in half and then riffling the cards togetther. That is not what the deckmate does and I imagine the patent applies to the shuffling process they developed along with the mechanical means they use to do that.

I did see another brand of shuffling machine used in a casino pit once ... but it was pretty apparent from what was visible of its workings that operated on a different principle and probably would not function well in a poker environment where yo need the machine to take up as little space as possible.

You realize that patents and patent applications are written to obfuscate, not elucidate?

There are tons of patents on shuffle machines. You need to look on the label of one to see which patents apply.

You can go to Google Patents or FreePatentsOnline to search for free. Even limiting the search to Assignee = Shuffle Master (FPO syntax AN/"Shuffle Master") there are like 20 different granted patents.

US Patent 8025294 may be of particular interest to those that think autoshufflers rig the deck.

**** Deckmate 2s.

Some years ago someone told me that these machines can tell you what they dealt out. They were talking about machines on the casino floor used for games like three-card-poker and pai gow. I was pretty skeptical of that until I saw someone hit a jackpot one day at a pai gow table. Sure enough, the house verified from the machine that the machine did indeed deal that particular hand.

This doesn't really prove that the machine can set the deck, but it certainly gives rise to that suspicion. And in pai gow, the house has an incentive to make sure a solid hand goes to a certain position (the dealer). Couple that with the fact that cards are dealt in a clump one player at a time, and that every spot got a hand whether a player was sitting there or not, and it made for a very suspicious situation. So much so, that eventually, I guess at the request of the regulars, the house stopped using the "random" selection of which player received their cards first (also controlled by machine) and went to the dice cup method instead.

That said, I like the poker shuffle machines because they make the game move quite a bit faster. I don't suspect that decks are being stacked. I don't see incentive for the house to care. But I give myself a small chance of being wrong about that. For example, I could see a cardroom wanting the machines to "not deal" bad beat hands until a certain jackpot threshold was reached.

Some shuffling machines are capable of "setting the deck." However, they are not used that way in poker rooms.

Rigtarding isn't allowed in LCP, so posts regarding conspiracy theories around that issue will be deleted and the posters posting them will be asked to leave the forum. Please direct any comments regarding that policy to the Moderation Discussion Thread, which is here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...sting-1532632/. Thank you.

yeah that's it.. it's rude to say "seat 4 action on you"... people today have no respect

Most of the patents I´ve read are from Tesla, they are actually quite clear. Shuffle Masters patents are just designed to take months to figure out and I think they hope someone puts resources into making a machine that can compete so they can strike it down because some silly patent can be interpreted differently. It´s pretty disgusting actually.

Patents generally only last 20 years, and Shuffle Master shuffle machines have been around since the 90's. I'm sure they've been updating the technology and filing new patents on the improvements since then. But I'd have to imagine the basics of this technology should either be patent-free or will be in the very near future.

Well I have no idea what their patent says, but the fact that they own the market and there is no other shuffling machine available from any other company (that I know of) says to me that they have a very successful patent.

AGS has stated they will have an automatic poker shuffler available for sale by the end of the year.

http://ggbnews.com/issue/vol-13-no-4...ffler-business

You can buy Shufflemasters for about $12k a pop.

Our casino bought ours (28 shufflers), and we have a contract with Shufflemaster to provide service/support for them. They send two techs every other morning to clean and repair the Deck Mate 2's.

As a previous poster mentioned, the Deck Mate 2's are extremely unreliable. Even with the techs coming in to clean/fix them every other day, they break down a lot. Add to this that they chew up cards at a disturbing pace. If you can buy used Deck Mates (the original), that's the way I'd go.

The time saved by using shuffle masters is more than just shuffling. When a new dealer taps in, they don't have to change decks, spread them to verify all cards are there [If it's set], flip them and verify they are the same color, and then wash them before beginning the shuffle. This is assuming tournament play of course but there are various minor things that add up in time saved when using the machine over a standard hand shuffle.