Casino owners fear shuffle trackers because they utilize various techniques that only they can understand. While casino countermeasures have managed to slow down card counters from playing on the tables, it has been forty years since casinos have tried to study shuffle tracking in order to find a way to discover some weakness but to no avail.
The method used in casino shuffle tracking is to cut the huge amount of tens and aces and place a huge bet when they know that such cards are due to come. Some shuffle trackers use sophisticated technologies in going about with their illegal activity. They utilize computerized simulations for every shuffle they encounter, compute for optimum bet sizes using the Bayesian level of certainty which is applied to their degree of confidence in predicting the outcome, accumulate data on the size of dealer grabs, and others.
But how much advantage does a shuffle tracker gain from the house? No one can really tell. This is dependent on the kind of shuffle and its varied variables as well as other factors, such as the betting patterns of the tracker.
Different studies have estimated that casino shuffle tracking can net an advantage ranging from 1 - 4% although there is no value in tracking many shuffles just as there are many blackjack games that do not provide sufficient cards for a card counter. So how can the house put an end to casino shuffle tracking? Frankly speaking, it is unlikely that they can. Shuffle trackers can be easily detected so casino employees can be trained to detect them. However, casino personnel do not understand the basic methods of advantage play.
Any player who manages to score a bunch of wins will consequently be barred from the house. But for the casino, it's going to be a case of a little too late. However, casinos should not worry too much about shuffle trackers. Only few people have become successful in their attempts.
There are many factors that can contribute to the failure of casino shuffle tracking. For example, a huge amount of low value cards might cut by another player. The desired tens and aces might eventually go to the dealer. Likewise, there is a chance that you can go wrong in estimating the position of the high cards. A card or two might be dropped by the dealer. While you might perfectly estimate the exact location of high cards, you can still have an inaccurate assessment of your advantage which can result to consumption of your bankroll.
In the end, casinos need not worry about the possible threat that shuffle trackers might bring to their investment.