First electronic poker room to open in Vegas

<img align="right" src=http://www.liquidpoker.net/staff/Pindarots/Juli08/electronictable.jpg style="margin:5px; border: 0px solid black;">The Excalibur Casino will be offering only electronic poker tables from 22nd of August. On the 18th of August, the room will close down for the renovation and they will reopen on the 22nd, becoming the first electronic poker room in Las Vegas.

You won't see any dealers or chips anymore on these tables. The new system has its advantages and disadvantages. No more dealers means no more tipping, and less rake (because they need less staff, rake is going down). Other advantages one can think of are that it speeds up the game, makes chipcounts easier and there will be no more discussions about flashing cards or acting out of turn (although these can be pretty entertaining). Also, if a casino wants to cheat (for example, making sure more people hit the board to increase rake), it would be easier to reprogram the software rather than to get dealers to cheat without people noticing. Let's just hope they don't and everything is protected enough

But this also means there will be fewer physical tells for the players, maybe less emotion at the table and the feeling of having a pile of chips in front of you will be missed. This might mean less fish will be drawn to these tables, because they'll miss the enthusiasm and excitement of real poker and prefer to brag about their pile of money or chips instead of just digital money.

<img align="right" src=http://www.liquidpoker.net/staff/Pindarots/Juli08/digitalcards.jpg style="margin:5px; border: 0px solid black;">The picture on the right shows how it works when getting cards dealt, you just hold your hand to prevent others from seeing your cards, after you've seen them you can flip them over again. Community cards will be shown in the middle of the table on the central screen as you can see above.


This system has been up and running in a few places around the world so far, Montreal and Atlantic City to name a few, but now it's finally coming down to Las Vegas as well.

What do you think? Is it an improvement or not? And would you play there rather than in a normal casino?

hrm i might try it out. They should link these to Pokerstars money =]

well internet guys wont have trouble playing live anymore :D

I haven't played live (yet) but it seems like it would be much less exciting/interesting.. :/

i agree with night it will almost the same as playing online

i think this will be highly unpopular with the internet players

if you are looking for this you might as well stay at home and sit behind your own comp in comfort. i guess a bunch of people visiting vegas but looking not to spend too much money might be interested in it. after all lots of people play the slotmachines too tho i cant see why,

that that would suck so much

its like you are there in your own world, sounds pretty bad imo
I think the regular experience, with a dealer, cards and chips, are much more natural and cooler than playing on a computer =]

I would not play on these tables.

I prefer the classic live poker.

this sucks.... you can better stay home.

If i want to play digital poker i'll play online.....at home...in my chair....by my fridge....etc.

Thats sad that poker is taking this turn. I also feel sorry for the all the dealers that will be out of work in the next 10 or so years after the 80% conversion. The only REAL poker games will probably be found in the older vegas casinos. I think it would be refreshing to chill at a table with your homies and play some good ol REAL poker, while doing some chip tricks and hanging out with a drink.

i think it will be cool, nice option to have as long as all of the casinos dont do this

this is a terible idea

The tables are called PokerPro and are actually pretty popular... Or alteast they are here in Bulgaria. I don't think it would attract less fish to the tables because all the fish will see is just another slot machine to gamble on. I've played many times on these and they're okay, although live poker is way cooler with all the chips and stuff. I don't think the digital poker stands any chance to the live poker tables, even if it's faster and more convinient for the players.

Btw the reason they are so popular and spread in Bulgaria is our legislation, which treats them as slot machines and casino's have to pay less taxes, compared to the expensive live tables (high taxes).

On August 14 2008 13:54 TalentedTom wrote: this is a terible idea

Agreed

I am interested in seeing the long term affect because short term I saw that fish love poker and these tables didn't stop them, waiting list in the 100s in montreal for 30+ tables

they have these at crown casino in melbourne.
the electronic tables cater for the lower limits (50c/$1NLHE, $1/$2NLHE and $2/3PLO) but any limit higher than that is all genuinely live ^

and btw the fish absolutely LOVE these tables

On August 14 2008 15:16 chessjerk wrote: Show nested quote + On August 14 2008 13:54 TalentedTom wrote: this is a terible idea Agreed

i mean, every once in a while the feel of live chips, live dealer and the atmosphere of live poker is fun. digitalizing everything is kind of frugal, if they are doing it for costs only. like some others said if you wanna play this, you might as well set up webcams for pokerstars. no more chips tricks. no more fancy shuffles from dealer. no more 'dealer/fate' correlation. fish are probably less prone to tilt as bad since they see exact amounts instead of chip stack sizes...

its like, a good idea, in theory, but i like the regular live poker better than the idea of this, and internet poker is the best, obv

If the casino let's me multi-table against tables full of fish then I think it's worth it. I think it takes away from the experience of physical cards, chips, the dealer, the shuffling of chips, and other stuff that make live poker fun. Sure the math might get a bit easier with the the number more readily accessible to you but then it's so quiet and boring cause everyone is just looking at their screen.

Btw I'm waiting for pokertracker/PAHUD to somehow strike a deal to have their services on these electronic poker tables =P

On August 14 2008 12:17 Nazgul wrote: i think this will be highly unpopular with the internet players if you are looking for this you might as well stay at home and sit behind your own comp in comfort. i guess a bunch of people visiting vegas but looking not to spend too much money might be interested in it. after all lots of people play the slotmachines too tho i cant see why,

QFT

nothing beats shuffling/playing with your chips *chik chikikik*, being dealt real cards, spitting at your cards as you muck 'em...

the "feel" of playing live poker will be gone... might as well play at home...

i cant play without a mouse

Anyone else think minraising would be more common at these tables?
onk stabs raise button*
onk grins!*

And there would be no need at all for any kind of verbal interaction.
"I'm all in."
"Yeah, I can see that, idiot."
@_@

..and the griping about "misclicks"? =/

It's like this in the MTL casino.,..

at first its nice, but it gets boring pretty quick, and people don't like it after a while,.... your missing out on the feeling it feels to play poker with chips, and also, it doesnt speed up the game at much, because they is no clock, so people can take 5 minutes for a decision

Yay, one tabling online poker at a casino! ^_^v

I've never played live poker but I don't think this will eventually take over the entire part of live poker that's still done with real cards, chips and an actual dealer that has a heart (and maybe even a brain) and everything. I think too many people will like the normal way of playing live poker and once they miss out on people playing because of this they would accomodate the customer. Not sure, but we'll see... I think it will all be alright...

Why didn't they make a simple screen around the displays?
I can see many many many ways this can go wrong. You lift your hand to grab a drink and your cards are open for everybody to see. Not to mention the fact it's very annoying and uncomfortable to have to sit with your hand in the same position all the time.

On August 15 2008 03:56 Golden Ghost wrote: Why didn't they make a simple screen around the displays? I can see many many many ways this can go wrong. You lift your hand to grab a drink and your cards are open for everybody to see. Not to mention the fact it's very annoying and uncomfortable to have to sit with your hand in the same position all the time.

Nah, it's probably like you hold your hand there when cards are dealt and when you've seen them, you tap the screen and they flip over so that you'll only see the back of them.

On August 15 2008 01:20 Muhweli wrote: Yay, one tabling online poker at a casino! ^_^v

LOL!

On August 14 2008 13:54 TalentedTom wrote: this is a terible idea

WTF THIS SUCKS

meh
i think id probably do better at these tables to start off but i think id rather play around with chips and shit

This is prolly a great opportunity to take advantage of all this fish trying something new. Once the novelty wears off it sucks though.

PS- I wonder if your screen turns into a big red fold or all in when. I wonder if they thing talks and says "bet 1000 from player 6", "call from player 4" etc.

don't like the idea, and i'll never play at a casino that has this.

fuck the hating, non-knowing cunts

this was fun in macau

can i bring my underwear?

On August 15 2008 03:56 Golden Ghost wrote: Why didn't they make a simple screen around the displays? I can see many many many ways this can go wrong. You lift your hand to grab a drink and your cards are open for everybody to see. Not to mention the fact it's very annoying and uncomfortable to have to sit with your hand in the same position all the time.

very stoppid

On August 15 2008 15:46 eightfourO wrote: don't like the idea, and i'll never play at a casino that has this.

ok never play at a casino that has this

dumb

u fucking dumb cunts this is awesome for anyone who hates retarded dealers (there are plenty) and retards who count up their chips slower than i dunno wtf (there are plentier).

and its obviously nothing like online poker.. dont be retards or ill ban someone, plz.

On August 14 2008 13:54 TalentedTom wrote: this is a terible idea

maybe fucking try it, fisshhhhh

my head hurts


at least i dont take out drunken aggressions on my non-existing wife, lp is a great substitute for her

<3

dude this is horrible the best part about live poker is teh dealer. i mean just yesterday me and doomer were playinng 5/10 NL Live at daytona and 3 people tipped teh dealer at the same time, I said yo i would tip you too but i havent won a hand, the dealer without missing a beat replies "then play better" GG OWNED. Gotta love teh smart asses.

(this is jorge btw)

hahaha @ the dealer punking you that's awesome, but yeah i gotta admit i hope this doesn't take a trend on in vegas... could you imagine the wsop ..the entire room playing on electronic tables :-(? just doesn't seem right

can i 24 table this?

I don't like this idea very much the ability for the casinos to cheat in this environment is going to be overwhelming and quite honestly it is taking away from the game of live poker. If players wanted to look at a screen they would stay on their couch and play online!

if they get really soft play, i might enjoy them occassional

i agree with Nazgul this is pretty stupid imo if u feel like playing on a monitor it d be much more comfortable sitting in front of pc at home

funny thing is this tables came to Bulgaria like .. 8 months ago and they r pretty popular too but thats nothing to be suprised of since not many people play online here ( or even play and know what Hold Em is)

On August 14 2008 14:06 n1ck wrote: The tables are called PokerPro and are actually pretty popular... Or alteast they are here in Bulgaria. I don't think it would attract less fish to the tables because all the fish will see is just another slot machine to gamble on. I've played many times on these and they're okay, although live poker is way cooler with all the chips and stuff. I don't think the digital poker stands any chance to the live poker tables, even if it's faster and more convinient for the players. Btw the reason they are so popular and spread in Bulgaria is our legislation, which treats them as slot machines and casino's have to pay less taxes, compared to the expensive live tables (high taxes).

N1ck is right lads - this is brilliant for decent players, these tables are a big hit through europe because they are cheap for the casinos to run and what they actually end up doing is being an easy way into poker for non poker players who are intimidated by going to a live poker table with dealer, chips, sharks etc.

However as soon as these donks think they know what they are doing and feel more comfortable they soon end up on the felt and are ready to hand over their cash to those of us who are willing to accept their charity!!!

All the casino opperators accept that they will always have live tables but with the poker phenomenon as it is at the moment these "tables" give the punters what they want at little cost to the operator which means the casino can still profit to enable them to keep going with their live card rooms which are notoriously difficult to make much cash from.

As for the results being rigged to have the flop hit more I can absolutely and categorically tell you that this is not the case - I work in the industry and supply technology based solutions to the casino industry worldwide - and I can tell you that getting any technology product into Nevada in particular takes 2-3 years minimum to prove and verify that the cards are truly randomly generated.


So my advice is to get on these tables and munch on the seafood or follow them from electronic tables to the felt but whatever you do - dont tap the glass...........

+ Show Spoiler +

QFT

Remember you don't have to play them if you don't want to and they WILL and DO attract people who are intimidated by the live game and they will use this as a stepping stone to real live games = more fish.

Agree if ALL real live tables were gone and replaced by this then that would suck but it's never going to happen - Excalibur had a shit card room anyway.