Last night the Hustler Casino (California) used continuous shuffle machines for its blackjack tournaments for the first time. The tournament director said the machines would speed up the game as the dealers would not have to hand shuffle the cards. It seemed that the discards were put into the CSM after every three hands. I found the experience frustrating and played poorly (four $55 buy-ins with no advancement.) I decided to quit supporting this tournament, but on my way home I had plenty of time to reconsider. The CSMs could be used for an advantage since the players use their tournament chips to bank the Action. For more info on how the game is "banked" see my posts for 2/15/07 and 2/17/07. I am thinking that since CSMs greatly favor the house or in this case the banker, why not just make minimum bets and try to accomplish catch-up bets and swings while acting as the banker when hopefully you have an advantage.
Wow... I am so glad for not going in that dump of a place Pine Tree. Thanks for the advice. We should meet up some time. I'm in Pasadena,Ca, but in Los Angeles all the time. Still hang out. Anyway, the introduction of the CSM is all the Casino baby. Don't go for the hype. I will tell you something though. I will make the trip to Agua Caliente next month for my second tournament. I think this is the closest Casino for real vegas style elimination play. I will be in that one and see how I do. Peace......Good post and great information. Just for that, I won't even go near there....Well, maybe not....
