The 39 cards at the bottom of the left stack are called the Track Zone (TZ) since we track the count of these cards. The 78 cards at the top of the right stack are called the Play Zone (PZ) since we will be using these cards during play.

In this shuffle, we might be able to count both sections of 39 cards on the left, in which we would have two track zones and “marry” them to create an far more accurate estimate of the Play Zone. However, let us keep this simple for now. Besides, this may not be possible because plugging the remaining cards into the shoe at the start of the shuffle may interfere with determining the correct cards in the pre-shuffle stack to count.

Cutting

To make the best of this information, you want to make the cut. You still have information without cutting, but it is far more valuable if you control the cut card. There are various methods of getting the cut card – playing multiple hands at the end of the shoe, asking for it with a suitable excuse at those times where the known cards are very high or low, team members at the table, playing heads-up against the dealer, tipping the dealer near the last round.

Let us flip the post-shuffle stack from the vertical position to a horizontal one, as it is presented to the player for the cut. If the count of the Track Zone is positive, that means the Play Zone, in solid red below, is probably positive. Normally, we think of positive as good. But the opposite is true in ST since we are talking about future cards, not past cards. A positive count means many small cards, and we do not want to get small cards. So, we cut the stack at point A below. This results in moving the Play Zone to the end of the shoe, as depicted in the image on the right below. So, we have removed low cards from the playable section of the next shoe.

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger