Finally bought a Shuffletech (1 Viewer)

[Mac128k]

They don't seem to get much love here but I've always wanted one. Finally found a decent deal on one and went for it.
I wish I did this much earlier in my hosting career!

I just got it so we'll see if I am still jazzed after using it for a game. Believe it or not, shuffling has been something new players fear. Most people suck at it and it can really drag down the game - especially when we are shorthanded. I think this thing will really help.

I need to clean it a bit. Handles both poker and bridge well.

 

[grantc54]

I really liked mine when it worked! Noisy but everyone liked it and it seemed to speed the game up a bit.

 

[David O]

I have one that is new in the box. I took it out to try it but never put it into play yet. It works good just I had to put my game on hold for a bit. Hope to get the game restarted after the holidays! If not I will have one for sale!

 

[upNdown]

They don't seem to get much love here but I've always wanted one. Finally found a decent deal on one and went for it.
I wish I did this much earlier in my hosting career!

I just got it so we'll see if I am still jazzed after using it for a game. Believe it or not, shuffling has been something new players fear. Most people suck at it and it can really drag down the game - especially when we are shorthanded. I think this thing will really help.

I need to clean it a bit. Handles both poker and bridge well.

How do you plan to use it? Will you mount it on the table or on a cart or have it freestanding? Will people pass the deck to whoever's seated near it, or what? I'm just curious, because I've always thought about one, but not sure how it would work for a self-dealt game.

 

[SixSpeedFury]

Some members have had a love/hate relationship with Shuffletechs

 

[Irish]

I love mine, I've had one in my main table for 6+ years now without issue. It's a little noisy, but you get used to it and it's saved me hours upon hours of shuffling (I usually steady deal for my games). They're especially nice during tourneys when you're down to 2-3 people. It jams once or twice a night at most unless I'm using older cards.

 

[Mac128k]

How do you plan to use it? Will you mount it on the table or on a cart or have it freestanding? Will people pass the deck to whoever's seated near it, or what? I'm just curious, because I've always thought about one, but not sure how it would work for a self-dealt game.

We pass the shuffle and deal so I think we'll still run 2 decks and I'll drop one into the machine while the other is dealt. I'll put it on a little cart next to me.

On the noise issue I'm a little surprised. I didn't find it to be very noisy. I'd be shocked if it was louder than the music and talking.

 

[Old State]

I have always been interested since I first saw auto shufflers at the casino.

Is there an improved design in recent years? I had heard you can only use poker sized cards and that they only recommend Copag. Is this still true? I own 20+ card setups and all but two are bridge sized.

My crew and I hate poker sized cards...though if I wasn't shuffling I probably wouldn't care as much.

 

[namsupak]

I have one that is new in the box. I took it out to try it but never put it into play yet. It works good just I had to put my game on hold for a bit. Hope to get the game restarted after the holidays! If not I will have one for sale!

Let me know if you ever want to sell it, I may be interested.

I have always been interested since I first saw auto shufflers at the casino.

Is there an improved design in recent years? I had heard you can only use poker sized cards and that they only recommend Copag. Is this still true? I own 20+ card setups and all but two are bridge sized.

My crew and I hate poker sized cards...though if I wasn't shuffling I probably wouldn't care as much.

I have 2 of these shufflers and I have taken both partially apart, there are some physical differences between the two and also they behave different so I think there are two batches leading me to believe that there is actually some programming difference between the two. Oddly the one that appears to be the older one is a bit better.

The actual tray elevator appears to be the same size. While you can use bridge sized cards in there, when I tried it the small width difference seemed to cause more frequent jams, it didn't appear to be a huge increase but with the way this thing shuffles a card gets spit out of the little tray sometimes and finds its way above the little guard that holds the cards down.

We use poker sized cards and the jam rate is probably 1-2 per hour. I have also noticed that this is heavily weighted to the end of the night. If we play a 7-8 hour session, the first 4-5 hours is pretty jam free, then as the night goes on the jam rate increases. I believe this is because the rollers and or cards get dirty and then the cards just slip in the machine.

Anyhow if you have any questions about them I can try to answer them for you.

 

[Nex]

Sorry for necro-ing.

I might be in the market for an auto shuffler in a couple of months, but a quick search pretty much only resulted in this thing and some casino-grade shufflers that aren't even sold at all but only rented (Deck Mate), or not sold openly with prices only negotiated when you contact the respective company (Shuffle King) and 3rd party sources hinting at about three and a half grand for just a refurb unit already.

Since there was no definite answer on this -- it's said the Shuffletech is only made for Copag plastic cards. Do they work with other plastic cards as well? I've seen a Youtube video where someone shuffled KEMs with it but not much more. Does any Shuffletech owner have experience with using it with Fournier plastic cards? Regular paper cards (Bicycle et al)?

I'm sort of intimidated by those negative reviews on Amazon claiming these break down just after a few months and support being nonexistent. I'm interested in a shuffler, I'd even drop a couple hundred bucks on it, but I of course expect it to be able to handle my cards and to last years of semi-heavy usage before breaking.

 

[grantc54]

I'm sort of intimidated by those negative reviews on Amazon claiming these break down just after a few months and support being nonexistent. I'm interested in a shuffler, I'd even drop a couple hundred bucks on it, but I of course expect it to be able to handle my cards and to last years of semi-heavy usage before breaking.

I would suggest avoiding Shuffle Tech. I got about a year and a half from mine, had it repaired and got another 4 months and now they don't return any e-mails.

Grant

 

[justsomedude]

Sorry for necro-ing.

I might be in the market for an auto shuffler in a couple of months, but a quick search pretty much only resulted in this thing and some casino-grade shufflers that aren't even sold at all but only rented (Deck Mate), or not sold openly with prices only negotiated when you contact the respective company (Shuffle King) and 3rd party sources hinting at about three and a half grand for just a refurb unit already.

Since there was no definite answer on this -- it's said the Shuffletech is only made for Copag plastic cards. Do they work with other plastic cards as well? I've seen a Youtube video where someone shuffled KEMs with it but not much more. Does any Shuffletech owner have experience with using it with Fournier plastic cards? Regular paper cards (Bicycle et al)?

I'm sort of intimidated by those negative reviews on Amazon claiming these break down just after a few months and support being nonexistent. I'm interested in a shuffler, I'd even drop a couple hundred bucks on it, but I of course expect it to be able to handle my cards and to last years of semi-heavy usage before breaking.

If you're seriously considering a casino unit, there is a US dealer for the refurbed Deck Mates... https://www.ebay.com/itm/One-Deckma...566054?hash=item3f9aa6db66:g:t38AAOSwImRaZk7p

I think some people here have had success with this seller. And have even gotten spare parts when fixes/maintenance were needed down the road. But don't hold me to that - I'm just going from memory.

 

[DoubleEagle]

I had one for one game. It was so noisy the players asked me to put it away. Sold it the next day.

 

[DoubleEagle]

Shuffle tech was supposed to introduce a new model. Never happened as far as I know.

 

[Nex]

I've seen that one DeckMate unit. Way out of the price range I was thinking about dropping for a shuffle machine though.

Of course it already was obvious to me those casino grade models would be faster, better, and overall higher quality than these Shufflemasters, I was just wondering how far those (relatively) cheap ones would get me, and if that maybe was already enough for my expectations. Seeing the overall vibe of the Amazon reviews being repeated here, I guess I'll better stick to hand shuffling for starters.

 

[grantc54]

I've seen that one DeckMate unit. Way out of the price range I was thinking about dropping for a shuffle machine though.

Of course it already was obvious to me those casino grade models would be faster, better, and overall higher quality than these Shufflemasters, I was just wondering how far those (relatively) cheap ones would get me, and if that maybe was already enough for my expectations. Seeing the overall vibe of the Amazon reviews being repeated here, I guess I'll better stick to hand shuffling for starters.

Just to clarify, Shufflemasters are also a casino grade shuffler ($$$$) AFAIK. Shuffle Tech is the less expensive option ($300-$600) that is generally unreliable.

Grant

 

[Nex]

Sorry, I confused all the similar sounding company names. I meant the Shuffletechs. The cheapest of them all.

 

[grantc54]

Interesting, after being reminded of never hearing back I just sent an e-mail and got a quick response. Maybe customer service has improved? I will keep you posted.

 

[namsupak]

Sorry for necro-ing.

I might be in the market for an auto shuffler in a couple of months, but a quick search pretty much only resulted in this thing and some casino-grade shufflers that aren't even sold at all but only rented (Deck Mate), or not sold openly with prices only negotiated when you contact the respective company (Shuffle King) and 3rd party sources hinting at about three and a half grand for just a refurb unit already.

Since there was no definite answer on this -- it's said the Shuffletech is only made for Copag plastic cards. Do they work with other plastic cards as well? I've seen a Youtube video where someone shuffled KEMs with it but not much more. Does any Shuffletech owner have experience with using it with Fournier plastic cards? Regular paper cards (Bicycle et al)?

I'm sort of intimidated by those negative reviews on Amazon claiming these break down just after a few months and support being nonexistent. I'm interested in a shuffler, I'd even drop a couple hundred bucks on it, but I of course expect it to be able to handle my cards and to last years of semi-heavy usage before breaking.

KEMs and Copags work the best in the two I have. I have gone 8-10 hour sessions with only about 1 jam an hour an average or less with Kems and Copags. These are poker "wide" sized. I have used fourniers, bicycles, desjgn, da vinci, and dal negros in the machines but all of them had a significantly higher jam rate. The shufflers seem to be sensitive to cards that are too slick or are too thick like paper. Also if the cards are too stiff it seems to have a bit harder time. I think for the price it is worth it. We have had a lot of success but the machine does require some upkeep. I have emailed for customer service and it is non existent. And when I had to make a small repair I just did it myself with some parts from radio shack. If you can find these for like 300-400 I think its worth taking the leap.

now you mentioned above 3rd party sources with shufflers for 3.5k, if you find a good working unit for 3.5k - buy it. I would buy a refurb deckmate for sure. The last time I talked to shuffle king it was about 9k for one of their new machines.

 

[allforcharity]

There's a guy that runs a dealer school in Florida that has two used Shuffle Techs for sale for $350 each. @Lemonzest and I bought a bunch of chips off him, so he's reliable. That's where all the Palm Beach Cruise Line chips came from. If anyone's interested, I'm sure I can forward an e-mail address.

 

[grantc54]

Interesting, after being reminded of never hearing back I just sent an e-mail and got a quick response. Maybe customer service has improved? I will keep you posted.

Fyi, sent mine in to be repaired again. Will let you know how it turns out.

Grant

 

[namsupak]

I checked out the shuffle tech site again and now there is a repair form indicating Belford electronics, Inc is taking care of their repairs. That is new because I didn't remember that being there before. So maybe the service issue is solved. Let us know what happens when you get it back Grant.

 

[grantc54]

I checked out the shuffle tech site again and now there is a repair form indicating Belford electronics, Inc is taking care of their repairs. That is new because I didn't remember that being there before. So maybe the service issue is solved. Let us know what happens when you get it back Grant.

The repair depot I sent it to this time is the same repair depot as Oct 2016 (Belford electronics), so that isn't really a change.

Thanks,
Grant

 

[namsupak]

The repair depot I sent it to this time is the same repair depot as Oct 2016 (Belford electronics), so that isn't really a change.

Thanks,
Grant

Oh well maybe I missed that on their site, when I looked before I didn't remember any mention of where it was being sent so i thought maybe that was new. Well still good luck on the repair. I have two of these and one is working fine but the other one is giving me more jams, so I wonder if it is a mechanical or electronic issue.

What is the problem that is happening with yours?

 

[grantc54]

Oh well maybe I missed that on their site, when I looked before I didn't remember any mention of where it was being sent so i thought maybe that was new. Well still good luck on the repair. I have two of these and one is working fine but the other one is giving me more jams, so I wonder if it is a mechanical or electronic issue.

What is the problem that is happening with yours?

Mine started jamming a lot and then the tray (inside the machine) would get stuck near the bottom and wouldn't return to the top. The first time I sent it in for repair it was just jamming and required a power cycle to fix.

Grant

 

[grantc54]

Fyi, sent mine in to be repaired again. Will let you know how it turns out.

Grant

It was received June 5th at the repair facility. I have been unable to get an email response thus far as to status. I have tried several times and will keep trying.

My experience to date is that it takes a long time to get a response (month to year) but I have been able to eventually get one.

Grant

 

[grantc54]

UPDATE I just received notification from my US shipping box that the shuffler has arrived.

Very strange that I didn't get a response to my inquires but they ultimately have come through.

Grant

 

[RocAFella1]

UPDATE I just received notification from my US shipping box that the shuffler has arrived.

Very strange that I didn't get a response to my inquires but they ultimately have come through.

Grant

That's good to hear. I wonder if they're still selling a lot to keep the company in business.

I just wish there was an option between the Shuffletech and the Shufflemaster.

 

[WedgeRock]

So for those that have invested in one, is a shuffletech worth the money?

Unreliable and prone to break seems like it causes more headaches than it solves....

 

[grantc54]

So for those that have invested in one, is a shuffletech worth the money?

Unreliable and prone to break seems like it causes more headaches than it solves....

I bought mine refurbished so it was 1/2 price. I've had it repaired once for $75. So total investment so far is $375 and I've gotten ~64 games out of it. So we'll see how many more I get but $6 per game has been worth it so far.

Grant