A cut card is a plain plastic card, usually brightly coloured, that is used to cut a freshly shuffled deck and then placed inside the shoe to show where dealing stops. When it comes out, the round finishes and the cards are reshuffled. How deep the dealer places it decides how much of the shoe is played.
A cut card is used to cut the shuffled cards and to mark the reshuffle point in a shoe.
In punto banco it goes in front of the seventh card from the end, and its appearance signals the last coup.
Blackjack casinos usually reshuffle with one or more decks still undealt.
The share of the shoe dealt before the cut card is called penetration; it doesn't change odds for a basic strategy player.
Meaning
Marker card for cutting and the reshuffle point
Baccarat placement
In front of the 7th card from the end
Lightning Blackjack shoe
8 decks, reshuffled after about 4
Online RNG games
No cut card: reshuffled every round
What a cut card is
A cut card does two jobs. First, after the shuffle, someone (often a player) slides it into the stack, and the cards are split at that point and the two parts swapped: the cut. Second, the dealer then places it a chosen distance from the back of the cards before loading the shoe. When dealing reaches it, that shoe is nearly over.
It's made of plastic, the same size as a playing card and usually a bold solid colour, so it can't be mistaken for a card in play and makes a card's face hard to glimpse at the bottom of the deck. This glossary entry covers how it's used in blackjack and baccarat, and what it means for your odds.
How the cut card is used in a shoe game
The dealer shuffles all the decks together, by hand or machine.
A player is offered the cut card and inserts it anywhere in the stack.
The dealer moves the cards above the cut card to the back, completing the cut.
The dealer places the cut card at the house's chosen depth from the end and loads the shoe.
One or more cards may be burned, then dealing begins.
When the cut card appears, the current round is finished and the cards are reshuffled.
In punto banco, the Wikipedia baccarat article (opens in a new tab) describes the cut card going in front of the seventh card from the end, with its appearance indicating the last coup of the shoe. Blackjack has no single standard depth. The Wikipedia blackjack article (opens in a new tab) notes that casinos limit penetration by ending the shoe and reshuffling when one or more decks remain undealt.
Cut card depth and penetration
Penetration is the share of the cards dealt before the reshuffle. You can work it out from the number of cards behind the cut card. A deck is 52 cards, so six decks hold 312 and eight decks hold 416.
Penetration for common cut card positions
Shoe
Cards behind the cut card
Cards dealt before it
Penetration
8 decks (baccarat, 7th from end)
7
409
About 98%
8 decks, about 4 decks cut off (as reported for Lightning Blackjack)
208
208
About 50%
6 decks, 2 decks cut off
104
208
About 67%
6 decks, 1.5 decks cut off
78
234
75%
6 decks, 1 deck cut off
52
260
About 83%
Wizard of Odds reports that Evolution's Lightning Blackjack uses an eight-deck shoe reshuffled after roughly four decks are dealt. Baccarat shoes, by contrast, are dealt almost to the end.
Why casinos use a cut card
The cut gives players a hand in the order of the cards, which guards against a stacked deck such as a cold deck. The marker also hides the bottom card and makes the end of each shoe predictable for staff.
In blackjack, penetration matters for one group: card counters, whose method depends on seeing a large share of the shoe. Card counting is a matter of history and theory here; it isn't illegal in Britain, but casinos can refuse to deal to anyone. Shallow cut cards, continuous shuffling machines and RNG games that reshuffle every round all leave counting very little to work with, as our card counting page explains.
Does the cut card change the house edge?
For a player using basic strategy without tracking cards, the depth of the cut card makes almost no practical difference. The edge comes from the rules: the number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, and whether blackjack pays 3 to 2 or 6 to 5. Wizard of Odds' blackjack house edge calculator (opens in a new tab) treats a cut-card shoe and a continuous shuffler as separate cases, but the rules matter far more. Our blackjack house edge page covers each rule's effect.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a cut card in blackjack?
It's a plastic marker card used to cut the shuffled cards and then placed in the shoe to show where dealing stops. When the dealer reaches it, the round in progress is finished and the cards are reshuffled. Casinos usually leave one or more decks behind it. Our blackjack shoe answer explains how shoes work.
Where does the cut card go in baccarat?
In punto banco the cut card is placed in front of the seventh card from the end of the shoe. When it appears, it signals that the next coup will be the last before a reshuffle. With eight decks that means around 98% of the cards are dealt. Our coup entry explains baccarat rounds.
Why do players get to place the cut card?
Letting a player cut gives the table confidence that the order of the cards hasn't been arranged in advance. It's a simple protection against stacked decks. The dealer then places the cut card again at the house's chosen depth for the reshuffle point. See shuffle for more on how casinos randomise cards.
What is penetration in blackjack?
Penetration is the share of the shoe dealt before the reshuffle, set by where the cut card goes. Cutting off two of six decks gives about 67%, and cutting off one gives about 83%. It mainly matters in card counting theory; rules such as 3:2 payouts matter far more for everyone else. Our number of decks page covers related rules.
Do online casinos use a cut card?
RNG table games don't: the software reshuffles for every round, so there's nothing to cut. Live dealer games use real cards and shoes, so you may see a cut card or a shuffling machine on screen, depending on the game. Our page on live versus RNG games compares the two formats.
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