Card shoe for multi-deck automatic card shuffling machine

A card shoe comprising:

• a frame member with a housing;
• a shuffled card area within said housing;
• a pusher to move cards from said shuffled card area to an output section;
• and
• a card retention member positioned between said shuffled card area and said output section, said card retention member configured to, when open, allow cards to be pushed by said pusher from said shuffled card area into said output section and, when closed, support cards in said output section in a generally vertical orientation.

A method of advancing cards to a dealer access point comprising:

• (i) using rollers to move individual cards from a group of unshuffled cards from an automatic card shuffler into a card-receiving area of a card shoe attached to said automatic card shuffler;
• (ii) responsive to a pre-established number of cards being moved into said card-receiving area of said card shoe, activating a pusher to move cards from said card-receiving area of said card shoe to a card output section of said card shoe;
• (iii) retaining said cards in said card output section in a substantially vertical orientation;
• (iv) returning said pusher to a home position;
• and
• (v) repeating steps (i)-(iv) until all cards have been moved into said card output section of said card shoe.