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POCKET ACES

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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Aug 23, 2008

The Poker Times They Are a Changing ... But Don't Be Afraid

I wasn't surprised by the announcement that we'd be seeing video-type poker machines in poker rooms soon. The technology has been around a long time and now it appears to be perfected. The newest word from PokerTek Inc. stated that it would be putting their version of dealerless hold'em into action in Las Vegas soon. Shortly after that press release came my way, I discovered another that stated the Excalibur, that Camelot-themed casino on the Strip, would be converting its previously very successful poker room to the new tech method of playing.

Before we go into the meat of this article, let me first state that I strongly believe this whole electronic poker idea might not work, even though noted poker authority David Sklansky has become a paid consultant for the company, and states he thinks the technology is great.

I believe it was last year that PokerTek or some competitor put out a lot of hype about electronic roulette machines. I saw this equipment when it was installed at Sam's Town on a Friday evening. I was curious because I'd seen something like this before for blackjack at Ellis Island Casino. The blackjack item took up a lot of real estate and required an energetic change person to man the booth, and encourage players. I watched the play constantly, mostly evenings. The casino awarded a free play on the machine to people who cashed payroll checks at the cage but even that didn't seem to stimulate action. Never did I see a full "table." In fact, it seems only two or three people played it at any given time when I was observing. The casino eventually nixed the idea and put the equipment in moth balls and moved in a couple of table games.

I attribute the failure to the fact that Sam's Town patrons are old-time gamblers who haven't caught up with the electronic age. They like the look and feel of chips and green felt, the interchange with dealers, and the pride that goes with taking a stack of chips to the cage to redeem them for cash.

Now, returning to poker, and the real thing we need to fear. I'm presuming PokerTek is the company that will be in full swing at Excalibur since the two releases more or less coincided with each other but even if it's a competitor, the scenario is the same.

In an article about the Excalibur decision, noted gaming columnist Howard Stutz quoted the VP of Casino Operations at the Excalibur. It was the one statement that most poker players, mangers dealers, and even casino execs fear the most. VP Todd DeRemer said, "In the past three years, interest in poker has declined significantly at the Excalibur."

The other shoe just dropped.

When I was actively playing poker, Excalibur was one of my favorite haunts. People were not coming there to take on the poker champs and celebs you find at the high-end casinos. They came to play down-and-dirty poker in Las Vegas for fun and (maybe) profit. The limits were affordable for short-term visitors and Vegas residents on salaries and fixed incomes.

Unfortunately due to my (salaried) workload I haven't been observing much poker in the past three year so I didn't know the attendance was dropping drastically at Excalibur. I'm wondering if other rooms are experiencing the same slowdown. If so, then in reality it's not the mechanical poker room we should fear; it's the fact the fewer people are playing poker. And if that's the case, it doesn't matter how a poker room gets its games on. In truth, the electronic version will work because plenty of youngsters love to play electronic games and they might even want to play for money.

I don't think the upscale casinos will dump their rooms in favor of machines. I say this because even before poker became a fan favorite the big places managed to provide poker for their patrons. That's good for employment security too, at least for a handful of career poker dealers. In other spots they might have to retrain for other sickly table games or get out of the gaming business in favor of some other future.

It seems these electronic monsters are showing up in many gaming arenas. By sheer numbers, they might catch on and if they do, those of us who play recreationally, for affordable (to us) limits, might just have start swimming 'cause we don't want to sink like a stone.