Electronic poker tables rock!

I just got back from playing on one of the new PokerTek electronic poker tables at the Excalibur, and I really liked it. Despite feeling a little foreign at first, it was easy to get used to and nice to see exactly how much cash everyone had in front of them. You could set them to auto-muck, sit out (yes, just like online ) and pull up the previous hand. And no dirty chips to pass around so I actually felt like I could pop a Tic Tac without minions of bacteria accompanying it into my mouth.

They had a high hand jackpot in the form of a wheel spin for aces full or better, and I didn't know about it until the guy next to me got aces full of nines and called the floor guy over. I'd had aces full of queens an hour or so earlier, so I asked if it was good retroactively. He pulled up my hand history and I ended up winning $50 on the wheel. Add that to the $86 I won playing .50/1 NLHE and it was a nice take. The biggest pot was one where I raised preflop with AK and got two callers, who both somehow ended up all in on an AxK flop. I had them both covered. One had a bad ace and the other had queens. Niiiiiiiice.....

Anyway, the electronic tables were great and I'd stay at the Excalibur next time I'm in Vegas just to conveniently play them. They also spread low-limit PLO there but I didn't get the chance to sample that.

nice I live near a casino that used to just have slots and they put in electronic blackjack tables with a real dealer that takes your money and pays you , very lucrative I'm sure and they are doing a big expansion so I'm hoping for some electronic poker tables . gambling isn't even allowed here but they get away with it somehow . was everyone looking around at each other like a real live table ? did you get any reads off people ?

jaymfc said:

was everyone looking around at each other like a real live table ? did you get any reads off people ?

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Yes, but there was far more watching the screen than watching each other, especially preflop. Instead of each player looking at their cards in turn everyone looked at them as soon as they popped up. Reads were just as possible but of course there were no chip-handling tells, or knowing someone was getting ready to muck. A fair amount of conversation went on among players, to the point where I found myself distracted a time or two. It wasn't as serious as atmosphere as you'll find at some other poker rooms. Almost everyone was from somewhere else -- and some were good players, some not. I sat with people from Scotland, Britain, and Bulgaria. In a way some of the crowd was more open with potential tells because of the semi-social atmosphere.

sounds fun. but if i were going to play on an electronic interface, i'll rather stay at home and play online. live games, u gotta have the chips and the cards imo.

For every electronic table that is played,a dealer loses his job.

If I want to play electronic poker, I'll just fire up pokerstars or FullTilt in the privacy of my own home.

The reason I go to Vegas (or other live rooms) in the first place is the physical interaction with the cards, chips, dealer, and other players. Its the reason I bought a chip set this last Christmas so I could practice handling a chip stack properly (and play Mah-jong with them too).

arahel_jazz said:

If I want to play electronic poker, I'll just fire up PokerStars or FullTilt in the privacy of my own home.

The reason I go to Vegas (or other live rooms) in the first place is the physical interaction with the cards, chips, dealer, and other players. Its the reason I bought a chip set this last Christmas so I could practice handling a chip stack properly (and play Mah-jong with them too).

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You have a point. (physical interatction with other players? do you wait for people out back when they put a bad beat on your? )

Anyway I didn't think about the benefits of these machines until the OP mentioned some features that made me think of why I might prefer them some day over the dealt tables.

1) Easier to use: people who have never played poker might not feel intimidated to sit down and play a game that looks similar to other casino games.

2) Lower limits: OP says the stakes were .5/1...more people and worse players would be willing to play at lower stakes.

3) No mistakes: The players can't act out of turn, you can see exactly how much money each player has, quicker seperations when side pots happen, no miscounts or misdeals.

4)PLO! Even more FISH! And SOOOOO much quicker than using a dealer while playing pot limit.

There are probably a lot more ups and downs, and to be quite honest while I'm living at the shore this Summer I'll probably head to AC quite a few times. If there is a choice between the live and electronic version though, I'm still goin straight to the poker room with the dealers. There's just somethin about the sound of the chips and the texture of the felt that get's a poker player amped up.

Electronic poker? - isnt that rigged? lol

I do feel sorry for the dealers. Two things to mull over though.
1. Do they take a higher rake than at live places or do they have them lower since they don't have to pay for the dealer?

2. No more tipping dealers for those that do.

beardyian said:

Electronic poker? - isnt that rigged? lol

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Obviously!

Like some of the others - if I want glass felt and electronic cards - I'll stay home. It's 'Poker for Dummies' and 'Profits for casinos', that's it - imo.

I'll stick with the feel of the felt, the sound and feel of real chips, live conversation, and most of all - REAL CARDS.

About the 'health factor' mentioned, if you're concerned about putting that TicTac in your mouth, what in world would you be doing in a casino shoulder-to-shoulder with THOUSANDS of people touching everything electronic?

nevadanick said:

Like some of the others - if I want glass felt and electronic cards - I'll stay home. It's 'Poker for Dummies' and 'Profits for Casinos', that's it - imo.

I'll stick with the feel of the felt, the sound and feel of real chips, live conversation, and most of all - REAL CARDS.

About the 'health factor' mentioned, if you're concerned about putting that TicTac in your mouth, what in world would you be doing in a casino shoulder-to-shoulder with THOUSANDS of people touching everything electronic?

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I feel the same. I have to drive quite a ways to get to a casino. If I'm gonna make the trip, I want it to be and feel like "real" poker. Now, if they put some of these somewhere close to my house w/o the option of "real" poker, then I would be doing that a lot more.