Posted under Poker & Texas Hold'em Poker
Can you imagine walking into a well known Vegas hotel and seeing no poker dealers, chips, or cards? Well if this seems difficult to believe, you may be in for a big surprise. The Las Vegas based casino Excalibur is now testing with this new radical idea of automating everything from the dealers, to the actual poker tables. Chairmen from the hotel are going to equip the game rooms with 12 digitial machines for a six-month trial period.
The North-Carolina based company PokerTek is in charge of the electronic machines, which are revolutionizing the way poker will be played in Sin City. The enterprise already has 230 computers around the world, with the biggest located in Casino du Montreal (a total of 25 machines were installed in this Canadian casino).
So what are the negatives of this change? For starters, about 40 Excalibur poker dealers will be searching for new employment. Some of these dealers have been working at the hotel since its opening in 1990. Todd DeRemer, Excalibur’s Vice President of Casino Operations, says that the poker dealers will be offered other dealer careers in the same hotel.
According to DeRemer, the modification is being made to give rookie poker players a chance to play this popular game without feeling intimidated. He had already played these new machines before deciding upon the change. “It’s not overpowering”, he says, “We think that element will bring back the gamblers”.
The new computers will allow the players to play Texas hold’em, seven card stud and Omaha. 40-inch flat screen monitors, which are located in the hub of the table, will display each table’s community cards, gambler’s stakes and the pot.