Card Shuffler

[Inthezone]

anyone know where i can buy a Card Shuffler that fits into a poker table. looked on the internet but cant seem to find any

[Martini]

Join the club. A lot of people want something like that but they are super expensive and I don't even think that they will sell them to individuals. Thought I read that they will only lease them to casinos.

There was a blip on the radar about one that would be available for home use at a reasonable price but I haven't heard any more about them after they announced their product.

[Hands_of_Fate]

anyone know where i can buy a Card Shuffler that fits into a poker table. looked on the internet but cant seem to find any

It's under 500 bux and you can find it here:
http://shuffletech.com/

A youTube on how it works:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZjJnaiTN9VM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZjJnaiTN9VM</a>

And an ad for it:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/74i4dZuBvqU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/74i4dZuBvqU</a>

I love the "you only use the highest grade chips to check-raise your aggressive opponents' and they show the crappiest chips known to man.


In any case,  I'm on the wait list for the product release at a 10% discount (it'll be just over $430 to me).. email this guy and tell him u heard about it on this forum:


======================================
From: <htoyama@shuffletech.com>
To:  <snip>
Subject: Re: Early Bird!
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:04:29 -0600

Thank you for your interest in Shuffle Tech.  Your name has been added to
our list for 10% off.  We will contact you as soon as we are ready to ship.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you hear about us?


Best regards,


Hiro Toyama


----- Original Message -----
From: <snip>
To: <htoyama@shuffletech.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 10:38 AM
Subject: Early Bird!



>I WANT ONE
>
> Put your name on our Early Bird list so you can be the first to own a
> fully
> automatic shuffler. Act now as this is a limited time offer!
>
> We will contact you as soon as we are ready for mass-production, which is
> expected to be early 2008. No down payment is required and you are not
> obligated to purchase when the product is available.
>
> In addition to being one of the first to own a shuffler, you will
> automatically receive a 10% discount on your order, by simply having your
> name on the list. Please note that the 10% discount will apply towards
> your
> first purchase only, one unit discounted per customer. Also, your purchase
> must be made within 30 days after the product availability date.
>
> To put your name on our list, simply send us your email address with the
> subject line Early Bird! and we will contact you when the product is
> available!
> htoyama@shuffletech.com
>
> Please note that Shuffle Tech is not responsible for email failure. The
> official availability notice date will be posted on our website. Initial
> orders will be shipped in the order they are received
>
>
>

[Inthezone]

has anyone got one of these? does it work good? it looks good for the price

[Martini]

Thanks Hands_of_Fate. Pretty sure that's the one I saw a post about. I will be very interested to hear a review about how it works. From the YouTube videos I'm a bit disappointed in what I see so far.

* As pointed out already, lame chips in the ad makes me suspect of how in tune these guys are with the home poker enthusiast, their core market. At least the cards weren't paper.
* Mechanism looks like a glorified automatic card shuffler toy you can get at the corner drug store.
* Actually mimics the shuffling action instead of the card distribution method that the Shufflemaster machine does.
* "Flush mount" configuration appears to leave an unnecessary huge hump above the level of the table.
* Product has been announced for a while now and is still vaporware.

But it does do a strip shuffle and if it can adequately emulate the full shuffling process quietly without jamming I think it will find a market.

[sunderB]

I am also very intrigued by this product.  A concern I have is that the cards come out of the tray on the side.  No video of how this works on the flush mount - do you get the cards from under the table?  Definitely would not like that.

After checking out their website, I noticed that they are local to me.  I'm going to give them a call next week to see if they have a demo/prototype in their office that I can check out.  If they let me, I'll post my report here.

[Martini]

Good point sunderB, didn't even occur to me that the tray would be under the table. Wouldn't seem to be necessary since the videos clearly show the cards being reloaded into the top tray. But who knows?

[Nerre]

* As pointed out already, lame chips in the ad makes me suspect of how in tune these guys are with the home poker enthusiast, their core market. At least the cards weren't paper.

That issue has been discussed before, and it's a matter of protected designs. If you want to use "expensive" chips in advertising you will most likely have to pay the manufacturer of the chips a "license fee" to use (the image of) their chips.

I think it came up in a topic about why they use "cheap chips" in some poker shows on TV.

[Martini]

Well whoever designed dice chips must be rolling in dough then because everyone uses those things. Can they not buy blank clays for their ad? And how much would licensing be anyway? If I'm tying to sell something for $500 each I would think that the investment in licensing some better looking chips would be worth the expense. I would guess that the majority of people who look down on dice chips would not know about any licensing issues preventing the use of better looking chips.

[Eralis]

sunderB, have you tested this? I was really hoping for a review. And I would also like to know if you have to take the cards out using the tray. Would seem kinda retarded to pick up the cards from under the table.

[sunderB]

Sorry, it's been crazy at work and I have not had a chance to contact them (I used to work real close to them, but now I am about 40 minutes away).

The question has been addressed by them and here is a quote from a message someone received from them.

Dear Early Bird,

Due to our rigorous Quality Assurance process, we have delayed initial shipments of the machine until late April.

We regret having to delay launch by two months, but we feel that our factories need the additional time to ensure quality mass-production. We appreciate your patience and assure you that the improvements in reliability resulting from improving our supplier base are well worth the extra time.

Also, regarding the flush mount kit, we’d like to clarify two frequently asked questions. First, when the machine is flush mounted, there is a switch at the bottom of the machine that can be switched to flush mount mode, which causes the cards to eject from the top door rather than the presentation tray underneath the table. Secondly, we’ve redesigned the face plate so that it’s now matte black and much smaller than the original plate featured on our website. The installation manual and the template will be posted on our website in the near future.

We will be back in touch with you in the near future to provide individual Coupon Codes that each early-bird can use to receive their discount on your initial order.

We will be in touch with you soon.

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

Hiro Toyama

[sunderB]

I left a message with a secretary and I am waiting on a call back to see if I can go in to test a prototype.

[sunderB]

UPDATE :

I just spoke with the designer of this (Hiro) and he said that he has the original prototype in his office right now.  He informed me that from testing the prototype, they were able to locate a few kinks that needed to be worked out.  As a result, he would rather have me wait until his shipment arrives in about two weeks.  At that point he stated that he would be happy to give me a chance to come in and test out the final Shuffletech unit for the purpose of providing feedback here (and CT). 

I am out of town through 3/21-3/30 so I am hoping I can get in there the week of 3/31-4/4.

What I can say through my conversation with him is that he is very concious of producing and releasing quality product which I think is a very good sign.  His first shipment will be enough to supply preorders plus some extras, and then he will be going to China for a few weeks once those are shipped to oversee the mass production. 

[austin5string]

Man, if he puts out a decent product at $500 he's gonna sell a freakin' boatload of them..

Anxious to read your review after you get a chance to see one..

[Martini]

Man, if he puts out a decent product at $500 he's gonna sell a freakin' boatload of them..

Anxious to read your review after you get a chance to see one..

Yeah, I'd have to say if it is quiet enough and doesn't jam up it would seem like there is quite the sales opportunity. Would be extra groovy for the top to open by push button like the casino shufflers but I think the market will gladly take what he is advertising as long as it lives up to the billing.

[Grinder]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but IMO this product is crap. I just have this crazy feeling it will eat my KEMs or something. 

[pauld22]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but IMO this product is crap. I just have this crazy feeling it will eat my KEMs or something. 

Any first hand experience to back this opinion?  Or do you just think it will be crap?

I only ask because if you have some hands on experience with this others will want to know.

[Grinder]

Yes, I've had bad experiences with auto-shufflers but no, not with this particular product.I suppose you can say I'm a little biased, but that's mostly because I know too many dealers. I also have never seen the advantage of using one of these things when any competent person without major arthritis can learn to shuffle properly.

Anyway, I guess I should add something positive to the thread here, so... if you like auto-shufflers, this one appears to be a better product than most of the others out there. But it's based solely on this video, I haven't used it. It just seems like an awful lot of money when you could just as easy learn to shuffle, for free.

[Jambine]

I’m a bit skeptical myself.  The only decent unit I’m aware of is ShuffleMaster, and even those require a lot of TLC.  If the if the Shuffletech is everything they say, I expect we will start seeing a lot of them in casinos pretty soon.

[Grinder]

If the if the Shuffletech is everything they say, I expect we will start seeing a lot of them in casinos pretty soon.

Just another prime example of machines taking jobs away from the hard-working American. Five years from now we'll see auto-dealers with robot arms to rake the pot. 

[R-Ho]

Man, you just planted a scary thought.  How long before we sit down at a table and all we have in front of us is a video screen with virtual chips and cards.  Every player seated inputs betting data into their personal terminal and never touches a real chip or a card.  Sorta like online poker, but you're at a casino looking at your competition.

R-Ho

[OldWestGambler]

Man, you just planted a scary thought.  How long before we sit down at a table and all we have in front of us is a video screen with virtual chips and cards.  Every player seated inputs betting data into their personal terminal and never touches a real chip or a card.  Sorta like online poker, but you're at a casino looking at your competition.

R-Ho

This article is from almost two years ago.

http://www.sportandtechnology.com/features/0391.html

They're here!

[R-Ho]

http://www.sportandtechnology.com/features/0391.html

They're here!

OMG, I haven't been to a B&M casino for about a year, but I didn't realize.  Re your link...

"The latest high tech innovation sweeping through the US is a computerised live poker room..."

Sweeping through the US !?! Please someone, say it isn't so...

R-Ho

[Jambine]

....This article is from almost two years ago.

http://www.sportandtechnology.com/features/0391.html

They're here!

And thank the poker gods, they have been a miserable failure

.... there is a thread on them in here somewhere