Posted under poker
Can you envision walking into a well known Vegas casino 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 hotel Excalibur is now testing with this new ground-breaking idea of automating everything from the dealers, to the actual poker tables. Executives from the hotel are going to equip the areas with 12 digitial machines for a six-month trial period.
The North-Carolina based industry PokerTek is in charge of the computer machines, which are redoing the way poker will be played in Las Vegas. The company already has 230 machines around the world, with the biggest located in Casino du Montreal (a total of 25 machines were installed in this Canadian casino hotel).
So what are the downsides of this renovation? For starters, about 40 Excalibur poker dealers will be searching for new careers. Some of these dealers have been laboring at the casino since its opening in 1990. Todd DeRemer, Excalibur’s Vice President of Casino Operations, says that the poker dealers will be offered other dealer jobs in the same casino hotel.
According to DeRemer, the makeover is being made to give rookie players a chance to play this popular game without feeling intimidated. He had already played these new machines before deciding upon the transformation. “It’s not intimidating”, he says, “We think that aspect will bring back the players”.
The improved machines will allow the players to play Texas hold’em, seven card stud and Omaha. 40-inch flat screen tv’s, which are located in the core of the table, will show each table’s community cards, gambler’s stakes and the pot.