Abstract

In an automatic card shuffler, cards already played are placed in first and second trays. Sensors arranged in the trays detect the presence of cards to automatically initiate a shuffling operation. The cards in the trays pass through the card mixer, where they are interweaved in a random fashion and deposited in a compartment arranged beneath the mixer. A carriage carrying a card ejector is reciprocated up and down by a reversible linear drive, activated when the shuffling operation begins and terminated substantially upon termination of the shuffling operation to locate the card ejector at a randomly determined position along the card receiving stack. If the stack of cards in said compartment reaches at least a minimum predetermined height, detected by a sensor arranged within the compartment, the card ejector is moved into the compartment to eject a group of cards, preferably of the order of two decks. The aforesaid ejected group of cards may then be placed in a dealing shoe. The random selection of a group of cards within the card compartment may be controlled by a solid state electronic random generator comprised of either discrete solid state components or a microprocessor. In another alternative embodiment, the randomly ejected group of cards is automatically transferred to the dealing shoe.