In this step, you will use the same shuffle as in Step 2 to begin with a simple form of segment location.
Drill Number Four
1. Using the same 6 decks of cards from drill number three, take the 78 cards with the edges marked and break them into two equal piles of 39 cards each.
2. From the remaining 4½ decks, count off 78 cards and place them in the shoe. These non-colored cards will represent the cutoffs.
3. Take one pile of 39 cards with the colored edges facing you and place them in the discard tray. This pile will represent the first ¾-deck dealt from the previous shoe. This segment is called the “bottoms,” which is what we’re tracking in this drill.
4. Place the remaining pile of non-colored cards (3 decks) on top of the 39 colored cards in the discard tray.
5. Take the remaining pile of 39 cards with the colored edges facing away from you and place them on top of the stack in the discard tray.
6. Take the 1½ decks of cutoffs from the shoe and place these on top of the stack in the discard tray. Illustration 5 shows what the pre-shuffle stack will look like.
7. Break the 6-deck stack into two equal 3-deck piles. “Pile A” on the left, from the player’s view, will contain the cards with the colored edge, representing the ¾-deck bottoms. The other pile will be “Pile B” (see Illustration 6).
8. Grab 39 cards (¾-deck) from Pile A, then grab the same amount from Pile B, riffle them together, and place the riffled cards in a prominent spot between the two piles, creating your final stack.
9. Repeat Step 8 three more times, so all the cards have been shuffled to complete the final stack (see Illustration 7).
Result—The 1½-deck segment located on the top of the post-shuffle file contains all the bottoms, as represented by the marked edges.
Information You Will Possess—If you’ve maintained a running count of the first ¾-deck, you’ll know the value of 50% of the cards within the top 1½-deck segment. Let’s assume your running count for the ¾-deck is +7.
How to Use this Information—With knowledge that the top 1½-deck segment of the final stack contains extra low cards, by placing the cut-card at the 1½-deck point from the top of the stack, you bring this non-preferable 1½-deck segment to the very bottom, thus cutting the segment with the extra low cards out of play. A simple method to play through the shoe is to determine your adjusted running count at the start of the shoe based on your information. Here is a procedure to do so:
Look at the 6 decks in terms of 8 segments of ¾-decks each.
One segment contains the bottom ¾-deck with a known value of +7, which means the remaining 7 segments contain a total value of -7.
Since your known segment was merged with a second segment of unknown value, you can divide the value of the total unknown segments (-7) by the number of unknown segments ((-7), resulting in -1.
If we use this -1 estimate as a value for the segment merged with the bottoms (+7), we add -1 to +7 and adjust our running count at the start of the shoe to +6 (since we are cutting these cards out of play), betting and playing accordingly throughout the shoe.
Note: As you progress in your training, you’ll be exposed to methods and formulas much stronger than this simplified method. The method presented here is a good starting point and is workable.
Recap on Estimating the Value of the Unknown Segment Being Merged with a Known Tracked Segment—Determine the size of the segment you are tracking (¾ deck). Now determine the number of unknown segments (7). Now determine the total count of all unknown segments, which is the offset to that of your known segment count (-7). Divide the count of all the unknown segments by the total number of unknown segments (-7/7 = -1). Add this result to the count of your known segment, using this count at the start of the shoe (+7 + (-1) = +6). segment of the final stack contains extra high cards, by placing the cut-card at the 1-deck point (usually the minimum number of cards you’ll be permitted to cut) from the bottom of the stack, you will bring that one deck of unknown cards to the top of the stack. Your preferable 1½-deck segment containing the bottoms will be located immediately following that one-deck of unknown cards. There are a few ways you can strategically approach this.
One simple method is to play through the first deck betting the minimum, then when one deck has been played, you’ll have reached your segment containing the extra high cards. Using the above procedure for determining the value of a segment, you’d play through this 1½-deck segment starting with a running count of +6, betting and playing accordingly.
Drill Number Five
1. Using the same 6 decks of cards from drill number three, take the 78 cards with the edges marked and break them into two equal piles of 39 cards each.
2. From the remaining 4½-decks, count off 78 cards, and place those cards in the shoe. These non-colored cards will represent the cutoffs.
3. Take one pile of 39 cards with the colored edges facing away from you and place them in the discard tray.
4. Place the remaining pile of non-colored cards (3 decks) on top of the first 39 cards in the discard tray.
5. Take the remaining pile of 39 cards with the colored edges facing you, and place them on top of the stack in the discard tray. This pile will represent the last ¾-deck dealt from the previous shoe. This segment is called the “tops,” which is what we’re tracking in this drill.
6. Take the 1½ decks of cutoffs from the shoe, and break them into two equal piles of 39 cards.
7. Take one of the ¾-deck cutoff piles and “plug” it at least one deck down from the top of the stack in the discard tray (see Illustration 8). Note:
We’re using a different method of cutoff placement here called “cutoff plugging,” where in the previous drills we used a method call “cutoff topping.”