Virtual Poker Tables Hope to Tap Into Vegas

A North Carolina company is hoping to capitalize on the "future of casino poker" by eliminating chips, cards and dealer.

PokerTek's fully electronic tables have gained a following on cruise ships and on Indian reservation casinos. The question is, will PokerTek be able to tap into Las Vegas poker rooms and lure the gamblers to give up a felt table for a computer touchscreen?

"It's two trends. It's poker, which is really a huge hit right now, and it's labor-saving technology, which is really popular with the casinos," said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. "It's a great idea and it's an idea that's in keeping with a lot of trends."

PokerTek's PokerPro tables has the capacity to increase hands played per hour by 50 percent over a dealer run table, according to PokerTek CEO Lou White. This means an increased rake for the casino - a percentage of each pot collected by the house-and at the same time I eliminates the cost of a dealer's salary and benefits.

"Poker players want to play more hands," White said. This way, players get more action, and they don't have to worry about tipping a dealer either.

Although this might be seen as a huge advantage to some, many still can't give up traditional play.

"I like the chips and you know, I like to have people play with the chips and do tricks with the chips," said Harold Schmidt, a 40-year-old from Fredericksburg, Va., who busted out of this year's World Series of Poker on the first day of play. "Here, what are you going to do, tap your fingers on the screen?"

But many are also catching on. Rodney Dofort, vice president of casino operations for Miami-based Carnival Corp., installed a table on a Carnival cruise ship just this spring.

"We were a little skeptical, because poker is essentially an interactive game," Dofort said. "We were quite pleasantly surprised by the almost immediate acceptance of it that first week." Carnival has since signed an agreement with PokerTek to put the tables on up to 30 ships over the next three years.