5 ms·

What's the mirror/prism for? I'm assuming this is a legit game - is it just to make games of Blackjack go faster?

by trothamel 9y ago

sanswork 9y ago
So they can check if they have blackjack without flipping the cards.
- le-mark 9y ago
  Wow how is that not cheating by the house?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    It's actually there simply to speed up the game. In blackjack, the house plays by a fixed set of rules: If cards are A, do B, if cards are C, do D. So there is no benefit to the dealer for knowing what his down-cards are. It saves everyone time: If the dealer has blackjack everyone loses anyway so there's no point to having everyone take the time to play that round.
    - ColinWright 9y ago
      That's not entirely true. Players might (stupidly) still choose to play, including doubling-down and/or splitting. In that case the player would lose more, so the hand should be played out. It depends on the house rules as to whether that's an option.
      - ryandrake 9y ago
        You're right, my explanation left that out. It depends on whether the casino believes they will make more money by letting stupid players play or by dealing more hands per hour.
      - downandout 9y ago
        Not exactly. In "European style" blackjack, the dealer does not take a hole card until all hands have been played. House rules then dictate whether the extra money from doubles/splits is returned or taken in the event the dealer eventually draws a blackjack.
  - ColinWright 9y ago
    Because the rules in a casino about what a dealer does are independent of what the dealer holds.
  - dmurray 9y ago
    Because it's the rule and everyone knows about it. You could play the game without this with the exact same rules and the same odds, but it would be much more complicated to settle the bets at the end of the hand.
  - sanswork 9y ago
    Because it gives no advantage to the house. The cards are dealt if the house has blackjack then they have blackjack the prism doesn't change that only allows the dealer to know since dealer blackjack automatically wins against any player hand except blackjack.
lando2319 9y ago
the old way of doing it involved cupping your hand around the card and trying to look at the card discretely. The issue is someone could be standing behind you and get a glimpse. Not to mention with the old method the dealer would actually see their hole card. Let's say the dealer shows a 10, then when they check, they see they have another 10 as their hole card (face down). The dealer could intentionally or unintentionally give away what their card is, causing someone who normally wouldn't hit on, let's say 17, to take a hit, since the dealer would beat them anyways. With these little windows, the dealer only see IF they have a blackjack, not the actual card itself. This happens because the markings for 10s (10, J, Q, K) are all offset slightly to the right. Then the Ace is offset slightly up (the dealer turns it before sliding it into the window). I use to be a casino dealer. (edit: typo)

What's the mirror/prism for? I'm assuming this is a legit game - is it just to make games of Blackjack go faster?

sanswork 9y ago

So they can check if they have blackjack without flipping the cards.

le-mark 9y ago
Wow how is that not cheating by the house?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ryandrake 9y ago
  It's actually there simply to speed up the game. In blackjack, the house plays by a fixed set of rules: If cards are A, do B, if cards are C, do D. So there is no benefit to the dealer for knowing what his down-cards are. It saves everyone time: If the dealer has blackjack everyone loses anyway so there's no point to having everyone take the time to play that round.
  - ColinWright 9y ago
    That's not entirely true. Players might (stupidly) still choose to play, including doubling-down and/or splitting. In that case the player would lose more, so the hand should be played out. It depends on the house rules as to whether that's an option.
    - ryandrake 9y ago
      You're right, my explanation left that out. It depends on whether the casino believes they will make more money by letting stupid players play or by dealing more hands per hour.
    - downandout 9y ago
      Not exactly. In "European style" blackjack, the dealer does not take a hole card until all hands have been played. House rules then dictate whether the extra money from doubles/splits is returned or taken in the event the dealer eventually draws a blackjack.
- ColinWright 9y ago
  Because the rules in a casino about what a dealer does are independent of what the dealer holds.
- dmurray 9y ago
  Because it's the rule and everyone knows about it. You could play the game without this with the exact same rules and the same odds, but it would be much more complicated to settle the bets at the end of the hand.
- sanswork 9y ago
  Because it gives no advantage to the house. The cards are dealt if the house has blackjack then they have blackjack the prism doesn't change that only allows the dealer to know since dealer blackjack automatically wins against any player hand except blackjack.

lando2319 9y ago

the old way of doing it involved cupping your hand around the card and trying to look at the card discretely. The issue is someone could be standing behind you and get a glimpse. Not to mention with the old method the dealer would actually see their hole card. Let's say the dealer shows a 10, then when they check, they see they have another 10 as their hole card (face down). The dealer could intentionally or unintentionally give away what their card is, causing someone who normally wouldn't hit on, let's say 17, to take a hit, since the dealer would beat them anyways. With these little windows, the dealer only see IF they have a blackjack, not the actual card itself. This happens because the markings for 10s (10, J, Q, K) are all offset slightly to the right. Then the Ace is offset slightly up (the dealer turns it before sliding it into the window). I use to be a casino dealer. (edit: typo)