Washing Cards
Written by Jack Jones
When the pit boss doesn’t like how hot the cards are on a table he might bring over eight new decks to fill the blackjack shoe. Before the dealer shuffles, she might spread each deck across the table to see if the cards are all there and then start swishing them around. This is done so the casino can achieve some degree of randomization to the deck, and the process described about is called washing. Washing is when a card-shuffler spreads the cards face down on the table and then proceeds to mix them up, flat-handed, in a washing-like technique before going through the standard shuffling process. Card washing is supposed to remove and sequencing of the cards that new decks will sometimes have.
Some casinos will wash cards, while other won’t. It really depends on their standards as some casinos just shuffle between three and seven times. Other casinos wash the cards between every single hand.
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