Dear Mark,

How often does a casino change their decks in blackjack? I sat at a table for about four hours and watched them change the deck every hour. Does this sound right to you? Bobby G.

Missing from your inquiry was the number of decks on the game, making a precise answer impossible. Besides, Bobby, deck replacement rules vary from casino to online casino. In the casinos that I have worked, we changed single decks every hour, double decks every two hours, and decks used in shoe games at the shift change (10 AM, 6 PM, 2 AM). Cards in all casinos are swapped out more frequently on single and double deck games. The higher substitution rate with fewer decks compensates for the increased wear and tear from additional use and shuffling. I have even changed single decks out as often as every thirty minutes for break-in dealers whose nervous sweating in normal limit play softened the cardboard for easy butchering. In high limit play, these sorry souls know. Then there is the player who is killing the house, encouraging us to change the cards (i.e.luck) possible without frightening the high rollers away. When playing online blackjack you never have to worry about the decks being changed.