CSM:s and more...

I went to my local casino and Discovered two things that I had not expected. They had a shuffling machine, and if there were only one player he had to play at two places (hands?) at the same time.

1. The machine is called "Starshuffler". Does anyone know anything interesting about that particular machine? I know there have been discussions here about whether or not CSM:s are beatable to some extent...

2. Is it common that you have to play "for two" when you are alone? And does it make card counting much more difficult(at a game where they have no CSM of course)?

Mikael

Do you mean to say that even if a player only wanted to sit and play one hand, the house rules dictated they HAVE to play 2 hands, if at the table alone?
@^o
Surely, I must be mistunderstanding you here.
@^S
If not, what area/region is this casino in?
If you are right about this policy, I would tend to believe it won't last very long. I can't see how this rule would exactly endear the casino to the average player, whom I assume would avoid the casino like the plague, for fear of being forced to bet more than he/she is comfortable with. But I might be wrong.

@^/
Cyclops

Casino Regina has more hidden house rules than any casino in the world. I know they try their hardest, but let's just say the fact that they have a virtual monopoly on a small market (350k people) shows in the way they handle themselves.

M.

"Do you mean to say that even if a player only wanted to sit and play one hand, the house rules dictated they HAVE to play 2 hands, if at the table alone?"

Yes that�s right.

"If not, what area/region is this casino in?"

It is in Sweden, and I am beginning to feel like they have done everything the wrong way, a Shuffling machine and this strange rule.

Mikael

that most casinos will offer as poor a game as they think most of the suckers...er, I mean public will tolerate.

I think you are also probably right that they could only get away with this in a place where they have a virtual monopoly.
Can you imagine a Vegas casino (or even a midwestern boat) trying to get away with this? they'd be out of business pretty soon.
I'd be real tempted to just not patronize a joint like this at all.
(Unless their BJ was otherwise a really good game!)
@^D

Take care,
Cyclops

I've been to Casino Regina for big poker tournaments a few times. Every time I've been there, I've run afoul of a random house rule. Incidentally, they don't post their house rules anywhere that I could find, for any game.

The biggest one: Their BJ games are ENHC, and they don't advertize it anywhere. Fortunately, I noticed that when players double, the dealer merely stacks up the chips and deals 1 card. This aroused my suspicion enough to ask, and sure enough, it's ENHC. Next hand I get 88 v A - good thing I asked :)

I don't mind casinos having wacky house rules (and the Casino Regina poker room has enough of them!) but to not have them posted anywhere seems very wrong, especially when these house rules are in direct contravenance with established routines in, oh, every other casino on the planet.

M.

Up to about a year ago, you had to play two boxes to get heads up at all casinos, now they "may" allow one box to be played. Such rules are also common in continental Europe.

and you're the only one left?