The Mathematics Of... Shuffling

from the ain't-so-random dept

dsg writes in with a link to a great article about some researchers who were asked by casinos to look at whether or not card shuffling machines really shuffled the cards randomly. They actually determined that a card counter who understood how those machines worked could double or even triple their odds. The advantage goes away, though, if they run the cards through the machine twice, which I imagine all casinos now do.
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  • identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 2 Oct 2002 @ 10:38am

    Wouldn't...

    Wouldn't simply cutting the deck before you place it in the machine be equally effective?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2002 @ 1:38pm

      Re: Wouldn't...

      This zig-zag pattern that they observed isn't really changed by cutting the deck. You'll find it more difficult to predict the top card, but knowing this zig-zag idea will still make prediction easier than a totally random deck.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        cardman, 3 Oct 2002 @ 1:22am

        Re: Wouldn't...

        cutting the cards has real effect on the ordering of cards if you know the pattern. There are loads of conjuring tricks based on this - people assume that cutting the cards is a useful thing to do. In the long run it isn't.

        link to this | view in chronology ]


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