Poker Card Shuffling

For poker we use the ISAAC pseudo random number generator (PRNG) instead of the SG100 that is implemented in our backgammon server. The name ISAAC is an acronym for Indirection, Shift, Accumulate, Add, and Count. It was designed by Bob Jenkins in 1996 and is considered cryptographically secure. To date, no known attacks have become known that affect the practical security of ISAAC. More information can be found on the official ISAAC website.

For the shuffling of our poker cards we make use of the random numbers generated by ISAAC. Furthermore, at FatBetPoker the Knuth shuffle algorithm is is our method of choice. Allegations about biased shuffles can be discarded, in fact the opposite is the case. Along with a reliable random number source (such as ISAAC) the Knuth shuffle generates completely unbiased results.