Sound Waves and Shuffle Signatures

Here is a little fact you may not know. If you know the sequence a series of cards is in, and you record them being shuffled, a wave form analysis will tell you what order those cards are now in.

Wave form analysis is just a graphic representation of sound. You probably have a sound recorder program on your PC which can do this, since such programs are usually installed on your PC to begin with.

The sound a shuffle makes is the key to how perfect it is. A perfect shuffle will sound completely uniform. The graphic representation will be a line consistently bobbing up and down the same distance each time as the cards alternate in sequence. If the dealer drops a card, that will show up as a delay on the graphic representation. Looking at the graphic, you can work backwards and predict the card order perfectly, provided your recording did not pick up too much background noise.

Obviously, you can't take a tape recorder into a casino, so what use is this?

Well, some enterprising individuals might be able to leave a mobile phone in a strategic position and get a decent recording. But, while it is fun to talk about this James Bond-type stuff, you would need to know the device laws in your area first to be sure you will not end up in jail with this approach. Also, many casinos have too many noisy slot machines to make this approach viable in any case.

Second, some online casinos such as Dr.Ho.com have been experimenting with real dealers who deal via webcast as if you were actually physically there. The shuffle procedure of terrestrial casinos are performed. They can't prevent or detect your taking a recording, or indeed noting down the card sequences.

Finally, by practicing and recording riffles yourself and observing the wave form graphic, you may be able to enhance your abilities concerning what happens to the sequence of cards. You won't be able to do this perfectly without a graphic aid, but even just knowing that the cards have been riffled fairly uniformly or not can give you a significant advantage.