A dealing shoe or dealer's shoe is a gaming device, mainly used in casinos, to hold multiple decks of

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a Pap ...

. The shoe allows for more games to be played by reducing the time between shuffles and less chance of dealer cheating. In some games, such as

blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

(where

card counting Card counting is a blackjack betting strategy, strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and low valued c ...

is a possibility), using multiple decks of cards can increase the house edge.

History

Prior to 1961 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

casinos, all blackjack was dealt from a single deck. John Scarne proposed to the

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB or SGCB), also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with th ...

that a state ruling be enacted such that Blackjack must be dealt from a shoe (Scarne's invention). While no such ruling was ever passed, most Nevada casinos now deal from a multi-deck shoe. As gaming advisor to the

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Hilton, Scarne also introduced the shoe to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The device is so named because the earliest versions of it resembled a woman's high-heel shoe, and were often painted red or black in color.

Usage

Dealing shoes come in many colors and sizes, depending on the number of decks they are capable of holding (2, 4, 6, or 8 decks). When the cards are placed in the shoe, the dealer will insert a brightly colored blank plastic card, after using the same card to perform a cut. When this card is drawn it indicates that the current game is the last one before a new shuffle. This helps mitigate player advantage via card counting, as a significant portion (usually about 25 percent) of the full inventory of cards never comes into play. The percentage of cards that are dealt is sometimes called the ''penetration''.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book, title = Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling, edition = Rev Upd , last = Scarne, first = John, date = August 7, 1986 , publisher = Fireside, isbn = 978-0-671-63063-8 Gaming devices Playing cards