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.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. 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 thread ]

  2. 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 thread ]

  3. 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 thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.