Shoe (cards) must be dealt from a shoe (Scarne's invention). While no such ruling was ever passed, most Nevada casinos now deal from a multi-deck shoe. As gaming advisor to the Havana Hilton, Scarne also introduced the shoe to Puerto Rico and Cuba. The device is so named because the earliest versions of it resembled a woman's high-heel shoe, and were often painted red or black in color. Dealing shoes come in many colors and sizes, depending on the number of decks they are capable of holding (2, 4, 6, or 8 decks). When the cards are placed in the shoe, the
Cut (cards) the cards before they are dealt. If a cut is requested by a player, it must be granted by the dealer. In formal player dealt settings, such as in a casino or during a tournament, an offer to cut the deck is mandatory and the designated player must perform the cut, generally by inserting a cut card (a plastic card about the size of a playing card, usually solid-colored) into the deck; the dealer then makes the actual cut at that point in the deck. When the dealer is not a player (i.e. a casino employee), the cut is mandatory