Curiosity - 1 Deck Dealer Shoes (1 Viewer)

[SetToBean]

Hiyo, new member here.

Down in Australia, one of our major casino chains deals poker using a 1-deck shoe instead of pitching from a handheld deck. The shoes even have a detachable tray that the dealer cuts the deck onto and then inserts into the shoe - haven't been able to find any for sale to consumers and the casino staff were (no joke) seemingly unaware what a dealing shoe was when I asked them, so no idea where to get their specialist ones.

I've adopted them for my quasi-regular home games. I see them as a pretty wonderful tool - makes dealing in rotating-dealer games quicker on average without increasing exposure risks from sloppy pitching, even for first-time players, and makes it harder to pull any dealing tricks since most of the cards are for all intents and purposes inaccessible with any reasonable "grip" on the shoe.

Posting out of curiosity to see if anyone has any insight into why it hasn't taken off in other countries/the US, at least in home games (based on the fact that I've never seen any poker vlog or other casino footage/video showing one being used outside of Australia). Seems like a fairly cheap way to skip some of the issues with novice dealers and cheating risks.

 

[Timmah]

Hi and welcome! I’ve worked in table games for over 25 years. I personally haven't seen a one deck shoe until now. All of the single and double deck games were hand held when I was a dealer. Most casinos around here (Indiana) have gone away from single and double deck games. The reason is that the more decks in play, the greater the house advantage. Most casinos here use a 6 deck shoe cutting off 1.5 decks off the back. When we had single deck, we would cut the deck in half then deal. They do that to thwart card counters. On a full table you would only get two rounds then shuffle again.

My guess the reason a one deck shoe hasn’t taken off in the US in casinos is house advantage. They pack the tables with 6 deck shoes so why give up house advantage dropping down to one? However, it seems perfect for your home game.

 

[allforcharity]

It's a bit of a clunky thing sitting on the felt. It also takes more time to deal from a shoe than from your hand.

 

[SetToBean]

Hi and welcome! I’ve worked in table games for over 25 years. I personally haven't seen a one deck shoe until now. All of the single and double deck games were hand held when I was a dealer. Most casinos around here (Indiana) have gone away from single and double deck games. The reason is that the more decks in play, the greater the house advantage. Most casinos here use a 6 deck shoe cutting off 1.5 decks off the back. When we had single deck, we would cut the deck in half then deal. They do that to thwart card counters. On a full table you would only get two rounds then shuffle again.

My guess the reason a one deck shoe hasn’t taken off in the US in casinos is house advantage. They pack the tables with 6 deck shoes so why give up house advantage dropping down to one? However, it seems perfect for your home game.

Hi, thanks for the replay.

Those 1-deck shoes are used for poker, not for blackjack. Australia doesn't have pitch blackjack anywhere (rip).

The Crown casinos in Melbourne and Perth use this particularly wacky shoe for carnival games though. It's held vertically, very odd stuff.

H

 

[SetToBean]

It's a bit of a clunky thing sitting on the felt. It also takes more time to deal from a shoe than from your hand.

That's true, although I've found this is offset by having two hands available to do other dealing tasks at all times during the hand, not just after the point the deck is dropped in a pitch game.

 

[ekricket]

These were in use in the older days for Faro.

I picked up a single deck shoe about 10 years ago in place of a Faro box since an authentic was so expensive. It was a hard thing to find.

Then I found an authentic Faro dealing box labeled as a single deck shoe on eBay. Picked it up cheap and still use it!