The future of poker - Antonio Esfandiari

It’s been described as the ‘future of poker’ (Antonio Esfandiari) and ‘like playing poker on a Space Invaders machine’ (PokerPlayer, Issue 17), and seeing as PokerPro tables have started appearing in casinos in the UK we thought we’d better bring you the lowdown. They’re the world’s first electronic poker tables that dispense with the need for a dealer, fully automating the game of Hold’em by shuffling, dealing, working out pots and never getting in a strop because you don’t tip after a big win.

Two times tables

PokerPro tables are currently installed in Aspers Casino, Newcastle, and Ladbrokes Casino in Paddington, but they should start multiplying at an alarming rate. Sitting at an electronic table might not be to everyone’s taste but they come with such a huge upside that they’re sure to catch on.

To play on one you create an account and charge money to a card. You then sit at the table, insert your card, choose how much money you sit down with and join the game. The touchsensitive screen lets you squeeze your cards out by cupping your hand over them and betting is as simple as clicking on various denominations and hitting the Confirm button, although we’d like to see ‘half-pot’ and ‘pot’ buttons, which would streamline the betting process.

There are a few other things we’d like to change. When you place a bet you have to hit the Confirm button on your screen before the bet becomes active. And this means that you can move all-in, look for a reaction of the other players and then take your chips back and fold. You could argue this isn’t any different to stacking your chips and appearing to move them towards the line on a traditional table, but it definitely has a bigger impact. It’s an easy fix, too: any betting you do could remain invisible to other players until you’ve confirmed your actions.

Also, before you get used to the technology it’s far too easy to leave your cards unprotected. When we sat down at Aspers, the majority of players were using their PokerPro card to reveal and shield their hole cards, but unless you cup your hands around them, the players next to you can easily peek over – as one particularly honest player admitted to us. This isn’t a failing of the technology, rather people’s use of it, although we’re sure PokerTek could devise some sort of individual shield, which would eliminate the problem.

Drinks ban

On a slightly more frivolous note, there are no drinks holders built into the table. This might be a deliberate move – drinks and electronics don’t mix – but seeing as the tables are going to be mostly unsupervised, we can see a lot of people sticking them up there anyway, and if they’re not held in place they’re far more likely to go over.

Minor quibbles aside we love PokerPro. You get more hands dealt (around 50-60% more hands per hour on average, with either a standard rake or a flat fee – we paid £3 per hour), the casinos don’t have to pay dealers, and you can start a game as soon as there are two or more people. Whether it gets adopted by the big-hitters for high stakes play is another story, but for low-tointermediate level cash games it’s a lot of fun.

It also provides the answer to smaller venues that want to host Hold’em but don’t have the resources or the custom required to keep dealers on standby in case punters want a game.