Computerized Poker Tables Available at Hollywood Park Casino

Hollywood Park Casino in California plans to open a computerized ePoker room, where players will participate in the poker game using a touch screen computer screen laid out on the poker table.

In the new ePoker there are no chips, and bets are done through a players' card that is preloaded with money. The game also doesn’t have a dealer, and all the cards are dealt automatically and is seen as animation on screen.

Players will also have the ability to secretly view their hands by cupping the picture of their cards, making them seen only to them.

In an interview given to channel KCAL 9 News, Phyllis Caro, director of poker operations at Hollywood Park, says the new ePoker room has a lot of advantages over traditional poker games. "This is the fastest form of Poker, because the computer does all the mathematics, it does the split pots, the dealer doesn’t have to stack the chips, split the chips up or pass them to the players," she says. "Here you're in a licensed environment, your money is secure. You can deposit money in the cage, in the casino; you can withdraw it at the same time."

Caro predicts that while to new ePoker game will not make the dealer obsolete, in five years she expects the dealer free games to make up 40% to 50% of all casino poker games.

Pokerteam.com's analysts say the new ePoker will bring more money to the casino, because there will be no need to pay for dealers. Without dealers, there are no sick days, no vacation days, there is no possibility for card counting and it is much harder to cheat the tables.

The player also benefits as there is no need for tips, the game is completely randomized, and there is no time wasted on shuffling. Also, playing ePoker in the casino may be safer because you are playing a shore casino and not a foreign, internet casino.

Construction of the ePoker room for the Hollywood Park Casino will start next week, and it is expected to be embraced by regular poker players, that are already accustomed to online poker software versions played on the internet. With so many advantages of the new poker game, you wonder how no one else has already thought of this before.

John Tucker - Editorial Manager