Patent ID: 8702100

Claim:
A playing card delivery system comprising: a playing card input area for receiving a complete set of playing cards, the complete set comprising at least one deck of cards; a playing card output area; a shuffling apparatus configured to produce sets of randomized playing cards from the complete set of cards received in the playing card input area; a first mechanical playing card-moving device configured to move playing cards from the playing card input area to the shuffling apparatus; a second mechanical playing card-moving device configured to move sets of playing cards from the shuffling apparatus to the playing card output area; and a processor programmed to execute instructions for control of the shuffling apparatus; wherein the processor is programmed to direct the shuffling apparatus, in cooperation with the second mechanical playing card-moving device, to: a) deliver a first randomized set of a first number of playing cards and comprising a partial hand to the playing card output area for delivery to a player position before completion of a shuffling cycle; and b) in the same shuffling cycle, and from the complete set, deliver at least a second randomized set of a second number of playing cards to the playing card output area for delivery to the same player position to augment the partial hand, in at least a second dealing segment of the same game round; and wherein the second number of playing cards of the second set is the same as the first number of playing cards of the first set.