Poker players at the Hollywood Park land casino in California will
soon be able to try out a cutting edge way to play their fave game
at the new ePoker Room now under construction.
The up-to-the-minute facility uses small touch screen computer monitors
on a poker table rather than using dealers and real chips. ePoker
players load a personal card with credits, bought with cash they can
deposit at the table. The poker software then deals cards on the players'
screens, which can be shielded as desired.
"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,"
Phyllis Caro, Hollywood Park director of poker operations, told local
media reporters. "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 any time."
Caro believes that whilst ePoker may not make dealers unnecessary,
it could comprise as much as 40 to 50 percent of all land casino poker
games over the next five years.
There may be an unexpected boost for Internet poker in this, too;
clients who become comfortable with "technology playing"
in ePoker Rooms will likely find the transition to Internet play easier
and more convenient.