Who shuffles and who cuts, formalities? (1 Viewer)

[krafticus]

Shuffle ahead is stupid. I have to deal over someone scooping the previous hand. They are usually slow as hell, and I deal fast. Not only deal into the pile the SB is scooping, but then i have deal over that shit for at least 2-3 more positions. There is always more misdeals when i play at shufe ahead games. At least when the person to my right scoops the cards, I have a few extra seconds to deal to a clearer area on the table. I have no patience when dealing. None.

 

[bivey]

I've played in both types of games. Don't really care, but my players do. I think shuffling ahead is interesting and possibly advantageous because it give the shuffling player two more seats to complete shuffling* before it is their turn to act. After that I can't see a difference.

*Of course this requires a competent shuffler.**

**What's really a hoot is the situation where the incompetent shuffling player wins the previous pot and it's huge. They can neither stack their chips nor shuffle the cards to be of any use to themselves in the hand immediately following their big score. In the second hand after the scoop they are of no use to anyone and the game comes to a grinding halt.

 

[bivey]

Shuffle ahead is stupid. I have to deal over someone scooping the previous hand. They are usually slow as hell, and I deal fast. Not only deal into the pile the SB is scooping, but then i have deal over that shit for at least 2-3 more positions. There is always more misdeals when i play at shufe ahead games. At least when the person to my right scoops the cards, I have a few extra seconds to deal to a clearer area on the table. I have no patience when dealing. None.

Sorry Mark, I didn't read the whole thread. My bad!

 

[krafticus]

Sorry Mark, I didn't read the whole thread. My bad!

My bad, I'm exhausted. I was trying to be semi-funny and semi-truthful at the same time. I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

[Chicken Rob]

**What's really a hoot is the situation where the incompetent shuffling player wins the previous pot and it's huge. They can neither stack their chips nor shuffle the cards to be of any use to themselves in the hand immediately following their big score. In the second hand after the scoop they are of no use to anyone and the game comes to a grinding halt.

This happens far more with shuffle behind than shuffle ahead, just because of positional advantages.

 

[Mental Nomad]

We rotate the deal and always run two decks, but we don't have a rule about who shuffles...

Someone who isn't currently dealing shuffles. Whoever won the last pot doesn't shuffle. Whoever is really bad at shuffling or hates shuffling doesn't shuffle. Someone else always does. It always works out. Very often, the person who just finished dealing shuffles, because they had the stub and the burns nearby, and were the natural person to scoop the rest of the cards... but if the dealer wins the pot, someone else will grab the cards and start shuffling them.

The only hard and fast rule we have is that someone must cut the cards other than the person who deals them - and, critically, only a single over-hand cut onto the cover card is allowed. (Virtually impossible to do a false cut that way, so even if the shuffle was controlled, the top is lost.)

We use the cover card to keep track of whether the deck is ready to run... after shuffling, you put the cover card on top of the deck; that's the sign that it's ready to hand to the next dealer. Dealer peels off the cover to whoever he offers the cut to; that person cuts onto the cover cards and the deal begins.

If a dealer is handed a deck without a cover card on it, it means it wasn't shuffled...

We also don't make everyone deal - some people aren't comfortable. And if someone just won a hand and is stacking chips, but is due to be the dealer, someone else always jumps in and deals for them. My crews includes a lot of long-time card players, and keeping things moving seems to come naturally.

 

[doakwolf]

^ ad hoc is good for these mentioned reasons!

 

[bergs]

Shuffle ahead is stupid. I have to deal over someone scooping the previous hand. They are usually slow as hell, and I deal fast. Not only deal into the pile the SB is scooping, but then i have deal over that shit for at least 2-3 more positions. There is always more misdeals when i play at shufe ahead games. At least when the person to my right scoops the cards, I have a few extra seconds to deal to a clearer area on the table. I have no patience when dealing. None.

I saw someone shuffle ahead at Krafty's game once. Kraft cut off the guys head with a very dull plastic snowshovel from True Value. Broke the snowshovel too - they don't make 'em like they used to.

Wouldn't have believed if it I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. Put the head on the bar as a warning and stuffed the body in a garbage bag. Fuck that guy. Nobody liked him anyway.

 

[bergs]

We also don't make everyone deal - some people aren't comfortable. And if someone just won a hand and is stacking chips, but is due to be the dealer, someone else always jumps in and deals for them. My crews includes a lot of long-time card players, and keeping things moving seems to come naturally.

This would be so incredible at my game. The nine of us would just sit there and stare at each other for 10 hours with wide eyes, and then we'd all rack up and be like "Hey, I broke even tonight". Cards still in cellophane in the box.

 

[abby99]

IMO @Mental Nomad covered all the bases. Cuts should always be one-handed, placing part of the deck on the cut card and then picking up and placing the other part of the deck on top. It doesn't matter, really, who shuffles and cuts, as long as it's not the same person. Our group also uses the position of the cut (cover) card to indicate when a deck is ready to be cut. Although I prefer to shuffle behind, well, different strokes for different folks.

@bergs: You crack me up!

 

[Andrew Marks]

The issue with shuffle ahead as I see it is that you are allowing the person who is the next dealer to shuffle the cards he will deal. If everyone knows each other fine, but that does give the future dealer some control over the order of cards, no?

 

[Pokerdweebz]

The issue with shuffle ahead as I see it is that you are allowing the person who is the next dealer to shuffle the cards he will deal. If everyone knows each other fine, but that does give the future dealer some control over the order of cards, no?

If someone else has the option of cutting and you also use a cut card how is the dealer going to cheat?

 

[bergs]

If someone else has the option of cutting and you also use a cut card how is the dealer going to cheat?

I've always wondered this. It's preferable to playing a game of twister with shuffle behind, jump down, spin around, and pick a bale of cotton.

 

[BGinGA]

The issue with shuffle ahead as I see it is that you are allowing the person who is the next dealer to shuffle the cards he will deal.

Not if the current BB does the shuffling. BB shuffles, places the shuffled deck to his right with the cut-card on top. After the current hand, SB (now the dealer) cuts the deck onto the cut-card and starts dealing the new hand..... just like a real dedicated dealer.

Having the current BB shuffle means that the player who acts last (and has the most available time) doing the dirty work, and the deck is right where it needs to be when he's finished.

The only advantage of shuffling behind is that the dealer doesn't have to dodge the BB shuffling, which really isn't a problem.

 

[rowlin]

BB shuffles in our turbo donkaments.

 

[200 Motels]

Having two decks on the go seems to confuse the feeble minded in our home games.

What's worse is it's a home game that usually has 2-5 poker dealers attending and no one uses a cut card or a button. If someone busts and they decided to be dedicated dealer then they'll whip out a button but otherwise they're heathens.

Also, cutting is a way of changing your luck in our home games vs an anti-cheat measure. Cutting option is usually waived.

 

[DJ Mack]

What's really a hoot is the situation where the incompetent shuffling player wins the previous pot and it's huge. They can neither stack their chips nor shuffle the cards to be of any use to themselves in the hand immediately following their big score. In the second hand after the scoop they are of no use to anyone and the game comes to a grinding halt.

Yeah been there, done that. In that case we've almost always had the person to the right of the winner/shuffler jump in and start grabbing the cards and doing the shuffle. There's never been an objection, and why would there be?

This description fits my wife to a T even when she doesn't win a big pot. She can't shuffle cards for shit. She's also not comfortable dealing but if we're hosting she'll sit in and throw some money in the pot for at least the first hour or so. That's why we have a button. The physical dealer doesn't really matter and neither does the scooper/shuffler so long as it's not always the same two people shuffling and cutting hand after hand.