I started a long winded blog about this issue and then I deleted it. Let’s just summarize with, electronic tables may have their place in this world. Cruises, small casinos in small towns that might otherwise not have poker, maybe even Sit’n’Goes, Satellites or Heads Up tables, my rumpus room (if such a room existed.) Might even be a place for people to fool around while waiting for a seat in a real poker game.
People do not come to Vegas to play poker this way. Tourists love to talk to dealers (I spent a lot of time dealing to tourists.) Tourists don’t care about the speed of the game (I was a tourist myself and if I lost my buy-in too early I had to go to bed. Faster game = faster loss.) Tourists don’t care about the rake (ask a tourist about the rake and a likely answer will be “what’s a rake?”) Even locals are paying $4.00 rake plus $1.00 jackpot rake instead of flocking to the casinos with the $3.00 rake or El Cortez which is still at an amazing $2.50.
I was at the gym yesterday and one old man says to the other old man “Have you heard about the Excalibur? I hope it catches on, save me on dealer tokes.” Other old man does not respond. (I’m guessing he didn’t agree but didn’t want to argue. Otherwise he’d have agreed, right?) This is for you old man, over 40 people lost their jobs but you can save a couple of bucks. Hey, life is grand. Here’s a crazy idea, just don’t tip you cheap _________. I’m sure the dealer won’t miss the two bucks you probably put out in a session.
And while I’m ranting about poker games and tables and dealers, why aren’t more dealers wearing cute ChezChani hand beaded rings?
