Hold'em no limit tournament, how many decks?

Hello people,

Today I was told by somebody that in a professional game of poker, where there is alot of players (e.g. 9 players) they use more than one deck of cards.

Is this correct?
Because I didn't believe it myself!

Yes, casinos dont use cards a long time. Some times only a hand or 2. with people constantly touching them they can get stuff on them and also, players can mark them by bending them, etc.

Sorry, let me explain, I don't mean changing decks ocassionally.
I mean whether they integrate 2 or more packets in to a single deck where there is a large number of people at the table.

Sounds ludicrous to me so I am just clarifying!

Are we talking poker? No there will never be the option of 5 aces in a deck, is that what your asking?

Yes that is what I mean!

So there would for example be 8 Aces where 2 packs are merged!

I know it sounds ludicrous Just had to make sure

Well, if that's what you mean, then no. There is no casino or legitimate home game that plays hold'em with more than one deck of cards. In theory you could actually feed 22 players off of one single deck of cards...

22 player * 2 cards each = 44 cards

3 flop cards

1 turn card

1 river card

3 burn cards

44 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 52 cards. So there is no reason at all to have more than one deck.

You should never see more than 11 at a poker table. Any more than that and it can start screwing with the odds to catch your outs. Most stay at 10 so you have 20 hole cards + burn and flop 4 + burn turn 2 + burn river = 28 cards. This represents just 2 cards over half the deck. This way things can stay more random because there are more cards to draw from.

For any type of tournament I run I plan on having 2 decks per a table if using paper cards or 1.5 decks if using plastic playing cards. This will make sure you have enough to last. As tables break down you should have enough to keep playing and we always open a new deck at the start of the final table.

But by 2 decks you mean using 1 at a time, then half way through switching the old cards for new cards. Wording gets confusing

Sorry yes, you never have more one deck in play at a time.

Yes, obv. My point was that theoretically you could serve 22 off of one deck based entirely on total cards needed, therefore there is absolutely no need ever to have a double deck used for play.

How do you figure this? The odds of catching an out that you need is unchanged based on how many people are at the table. It is based on seen and unseen cards.
Examples (hole cards and flop exactly the same each time).

1. HU game. Flop comes out. You see your two cards and three flop cards. Five SEEN cards. The odds of you hitting an out you need is X.

2. Nine person table. Flop comes out. You see your two cards and three flop cards. Five SEEN cards. The odds of you hitting an out you need is X.

3. Twenty-two people sitting around one really big-ass table, being silly and all trying to play off of one deck. Flop comes out. You see your two cards and three flop cards. Five SEEN cards. The odds of you hitting an out you need is X.

In each case above, absurd or not, your odds of hitting your needed out on the turn or river is the same. It isn't based on how many cards remain in the dealer's hand, it is how many cards are seen and unseen (five and forty-seven, respectively).

Doyle Brunson has claimed in a book..that he'd expect to see a 23 person table if only as a novelty on some site someday......this being because online you don't need any burn cards.

I wouldn't play that game tho....because while the odds may not be different, the number of potential callers would be obviously different.

This, I would agree with. There are already enough bad calls made at standard tables, you'd get twice as many or more with 22 people.

I think what you mean is using two decks and alternating decks every hand. We do this at my home game because obviously if the decks arent shuffled perfectly every time you can recognize what cards are near each other.


Way this works is, dealer deals and sb gets next deck, he/she shuffles the next deck and uses it for the next deal while the deck used currently is passed onto the next person and so on.

Yeah, that's what we do as well to keep things moving. But...that's not what he was asking. He actually meant that his friend was talking about double decking the game...so there would be two of every card available...8 aces, etc.

ah ok, yea, wording was kinda rough so I didnt know if he meant double deck or that.

casinos swap decks every other hand. then they change out the decks every few hours.

Only if they are using the "auto shuffler" in the table.

Otherwise it is usually with the dealer rotation, by player request (after a full round of use), or if there is some noticeable problem with a card.