I've been keeping an eye on the Shuffletech shuffler for a while. It was announced months ago and seemed to be taking the route of vaporware with repeated "almost there" updates. Well units have finally shipped and I've been following the reviews on the HPT and 2+2 forums. The news has been good from a functionality standpoint, reasonably fast, effective, can de-jam itself unlike ShuffleMasters. Biggest knock on it seems to be the noise. It is not silent like the casino shufflers though it is hard to tell exactly how loud it is.
Here's a video of the machine in action. Speed of an auto-shuffler is always going to be slower than a decent manual shuffler but it is not going to be a holdup for a full table cash game. Looks like it takes about 60 seconds for a cycle and you are not going to find a ring game getting in 60 hands/hour.
Anyway, I'm going to continue monitoring the threads to get more feedback on these units. If these things are all they are advertised to be then we can expect to see a trial run at our game.
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4 comments:
That's pretty cool lookin, tho does it have to be mounted? Also, how much does the thing cost?
It does not have to be mounted. It can be either free standing or there is a table mount accessory sold separately.
The unit itself is five bills and the adapter assembly for tables is another bill on top of that.
The 2+2 thread on it said that a lot of noise comes from the card edges hitting the inside walls of the shuffler and there was speculation that lining the inside with some material would cut down on the sharpness of the noise like the felt pads for the Rock Band drum set. Since the shuffler would need to rotate through different venues I was thinking that a thin table height rolling cabinet would work to house the shuffler. A lid and some sound-proofing should cut down on the noise.
A guy who has one of the first production units had a game on Saturday night and is going to post feedback about the unit after a full run through. Still waiting on that report.
Thank goodness someone finally made an alternative to ShuffleMasters which are horribly expensive and that's even if they would sell it to you, which they won't. I wonder if this will change ShuffleMaster's mind about making their product available to the home market. I mean what's the harm? A chip manufacturer I could understand more from a potential fraud stand point but a shuffler? I don't get it.
I have to disagree,
I bought one even after reading these BLOG's to install in my custom table I built myself and WOW, what a difference in the number of hands we were dealt on our Saturday Night game.
Normally we would see 80 - 100 hands a night, after I installed this, 130 plus....
I even took several brand new decks and ran them through at the more aggressive shuffle setting and not one back to back consecutive/suited card appeared. Also, I have never received the same hand, suited matched, twice in a row since the purchase. One player stated he did but wasn't sure if it was of the same suit.
I bought this one for around $500.00 (ShuffleTech) which I think was well worth it to see these kinds of results. Of course we are running two decks at all times and with a full table, you'll never have to wait on the shuffler.
I flush mounted this and it is the talk of all the other games I go to in the area on a weekly basis.
I hope I don't start a BLOG war about this because really, I like having the best looking along with the most professional table in Upstate NY.
Anyone in the area want to come see, you’re more than welcome to come by for a demo. Bring your chum because we have sharks infested waters.....
I also posted this on two other BLOG sites as a cut copy paste for I hate to type but my feelings are strong. Thanks
I think depending on the type of game your running, and I don't promote raking but if you do the math with in your formatted setup, well enough said.
Also, it's started out to be a friendly local small town game with only a few selected invited and now the word is the most professional game around and each week seems to be bringing more players in that's why my second table is on the drawing board.
I'll stick to my guns and challenge anyone who wants to hands played per night average. Like I mentioned before, you need to play two decks simultaneously and with 5 or more players, you will never have to wait on the shuffler. Just open the door and place the deck in front of the next dealer. I'm also part engineer and to be honest, this thing is really sofisticated for the home game use and for the money..........
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