Casino & Table Games
Card dealer shoe
A card dealer shoe is a casino device that holds multiple decks of playing cards and feeds them one at a time during dealing.
Key points
- Used in multi-deck table games, especially blackjack, where more than two decks are in play.2
- Cards sit in a slanted holder; the dealer draws from the front one card at a time.24
- The shoe speeds up dealing and is intended to reduce opportunities for cheating by the dealer.13
Where this term is used
Related terms
Casino games
Card shoe
A broader synonym for the same device.
Casino games
Dealer cut cards
Plastic cards used to separate the discard pile from the shoe.
Casino games
Blackjack strategy card
A reference card showing the mathematically correct play for every blackjack hand.
Casino games
Blackjack rules dealer
The specific rules a blackjack dealer must follow when hitting or standing.
Casino games
Blackjack shoe
A shoe used specifically for blackjack, typically holding 4–8 decks.
Casino games
Casino shoe
Another term for the same dealing device used in casinos.
Sources
- Shoe (cards) en.wikipedia.org Defines the shoe device and its purpose in casino games.
- Glossary of blackjack terms en.wikipedia.org Provides typical shoe sizes and blackjack-specific context.
- Faro (card game) en.wikipedia.org Supports the claim that the shoe reduces dealer manipulation opportunities.
- Glossary of poker terms en.wikipedia.org Confirms the shoe is used in poker and other card games.
Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.