Excalibur Casino Bets On Fully Automated Poker Tables

Published on 14 Aug 08 13:23 by Drakhor

The era of dealers, cards and clattering chips is over - at least in the Excalibur in Las Vegas. As one of the first casinos world-wide it is going to shift its poker room to fully automated tables.

On August 18th, the poker room in the Excalibur is supposed to close down for one or two weeks to carry out this conversion. The Excalibur pioneers in this area. Different casinos have already added the tables into their repertoire, but a complete shift of a big casino is currently unique.

The automatic poker table of the American company PokerTek is called PokerPro, replacing the dealer by a computer. Cards and bets are displayed on a big screen in the middle of the table. Furthermore, each player has his/her own screen in front of him/her which shows the events, the own cards and possible actions.

Pros and Cons

Why should anybody sit down at such automated computer tables, many readers now certainly ask. There's neither a dealer nor cards. Painstakingly learned chip tricks with which the fishes were supposed to be impressed are also disappearing. You could simply stay at home in front of the screen already. But you have to think a bit further and consider the advantages of automated tables. After all, you go to the casino to play poker, not to play with the chips. And the human opponents with their reactions are still present.

Many online players complain about the slow dealing of cards in the casinos. In comparison, you only play few hands and are bound to one table. With a computer table, such points disappear completely. According to the provider you play on average 50% more hands than on a classic table. In addition you no longer have to tip the dealer. This is of course an advantage for the players as they have more money in their pockets at the end of the evening.

Definitely counted amongst the losers are the dealers and other employees of the casinos though. The Excalibur already announced far-reaching lay-offs of its employees.

Origin of photo material: PokerTek