ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

I have heard rumors for the last week or so (including information provided in the comment section of this very blog), and today has brought official word that the rumors are true.

After slightly less than a year in operation, the Excalibur Poker Room will return to “normal”.

In other words, human dealers will return, and the electronic PokerTek tables will leave.

I’ve played at the X electro-room on many occasions, and have always enjoyed it.

According to the Associated Press, “MGM Mirage officials say they found that players prefer live dealers to automatic tables.”

I suppose this statement comes as a surprise to nobody.  Almost everybody I know prefers human dealers.  Myself included.  With a caveat.

While I think it is kind of douchey to talk down to other players with an air of superiority, there is no escaping the fact that the electronic tables do, indeed, attract a large number of less experienced live players.  Note that I did not say “bad players” … but a fair percentage seem to have some discomfort in live games.

I have some theories on why this is.

First of all, I think many electro-players have “helper” applications at home that assist them while they are playing online poker.  I know that there are dozens of programs out there that will automatically calculate pot odds, hand odds, and some of these “helper” programs will outright tell a player what to do.

Bet X amount … call … fold … etc.  While I’ve never used these apps (living in Vegas means playing primarily in B&M rooms), I have heard stories about how sophisticated these tools can be.

Someone at an electro-table once told me that he had a program that actually played for him using some kind of artificial intelligence engine, and that he merely sat back and watched.  He claimed that he made a solid side income using this program.

Was he yanking my chain as poker players are apt to do?  Maybe.  But it wouldn’t surprise me if such a tool existed.

Perhaps because of a reliance on computer tools, electro-players at the X were often a little awkward and unsure at the live tables.

Think about a person that uses a pocket calculator all of his life for even the most basic calculations suddenly being given a test where he had to do all of the math in his head.  Naturally, he would struggle.  So would any of us.  You train your brain to do particular calculations out of sheer repetition, and those who have skipped this step will be a little behind.

Also, there was a social factor.  I’ve been in online poker rooms.  I’ve seen what goes on.  There is a lot of bodacious swagger and insults that fly by the chat screen.  There is a great deal of wang-swinging.

Online … a 5′2” 110lb twenty one year-old kid can be the biggest badass at the table.  He has eight supermodel girlfriends and once shot a man just to see him die.  At a real table, this just doesn’t fly.  People can see that you are a little Poindexter.  Also, people can’t reach through a monitor and ring your neck if you impugn the esteem of their maternal parent, but the 250lb guy sitting across from you at the PokerTek table can reach across and knock you senseless.  Perhaps because of this, some players would not utter a word for hours.

Because of the non-existence of tools, and the sometimes social-awkwardness of the electro-players, they did gain a reputation for being a bit more fishy and backward than the players at say … The Wynn.

Was this stereotype justified?  In my experience … sometimes.  I certainly sat down at a few tables to find three guys dressed in a hood and wizard glasses like some kind of Laak/Raymert hybrid while playing .50/$1 No Limit.

These guys honestly thought that the dilation of their pupils would give them away.  Of course, only the very  top .1% of poker players worldwide can accurately make a play based on pupillary constriction, and probably less than 1% of players can pick up on physical tells at all.

Those who do have this skill, are certainly not playing $.5/$1 poker.

Pros wear the gear because they are playing against other pros whom they have faced hundreds of times before, and are familiar with each other’s idiosyncrasies.  Pros are also pros.  They can pick up on physical tells better than “normals”.

If you simply join a $2/$5 cash game with random people at the Venetian, however, I promise that physical tells will not be an issue whatsoever.  The only exception would be if your opponent had Tourettes and screamed “My balls are on fire!” every time he got a premium hand.  You might want to fold to that guy.

So … yes.  Electro players were sometimes a bit easier to play against than felt players.  And this is the reason that they might very well be missed by some players.

If you are either a player or predator, all hope is not lost, though.

I’m not a huge fan of rumors since they turn out to be wrong 90% of the time.  There is one floating that interests me though, and since it’s not a big deal if it turns out to be wrong … I will go ahead and address it.

I have heard that PokerTek tables are not leaving Las Vegas.  They are simply being moved to another casino.  A casino which does not have a poker room at the moment.  The speculation is that the front-runner is New York New York.

This is Las Vegas, and nothing happens until it happens, but this move would make sense.

I don’t consider a casino to be completely full-service until it has a Poker Room and even though the MGM room is just across the pedestrian bridge, NYNY has always had a bit of a hole in this regards.

Were this to happen, it also means that the electro-players, and those who like to play against them will not have to travel very far to maintain their relationship.

Last but not least, this also means that several human dealers will be getting their jobs back.  How can that be anything other than positive?

This entire situation seems to be win-win for everyone involved, and I certainly hope that the transition back to felt is a successful one.

The Excalibur Poker Room is scheduled to “go human” on July 15th.

I look forward to playing it when it does … and hopefully, checking out the new digs of the PokerTek tables.

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