why not have electronic dealers

I have what I consider an interesting proposition to make. Why can't the casinos set up some kind of poker table without cards? For instance, each player has a chair with a small monitor flat on the table with some kind of visual barrier around it. The dealer would press his keyboard and each plater would receive two perfectly shuffled and cheat-proof cards. Play would proceed as usual and the flop would appear on a larger flat monitor in the middle of the table. Just go from there. Less dealing time, more hands, and much less possiblity of cheating.


Any thoughts.

I'm serious. A combination of video and real B&M poker. Why is it so crazy? More hands per hour. No problems with dealers. Less cheating. etc..

How would you know who was in the game? How would the show down work? What about stud games?

Sorry, I'm a sucker for tradition. Nice thought, but I don't think I'd care for it.

I know it's a jump but think about it. Same chips, chairs, felt, and rude players. Some indicator could be developed to follow the action and show who is in the game.


Makes sense to me with more hands and less headache, but maybe I have been reading too may GCA posts about cheating.


Anyhoo.

I like the line about same rude players! Very funny! Perhaps your device can tell a player what a moron they are when they catch runner-runner gutshot!

I have been thinking about this recently because, although I love poker, the MAIN beef I have with it is the amount of time it takes to play a session, much of which is from the shuffling, collection, set-ups, deck changes, etc. Would it ever be possible for a casino to have a automatic shuffling machine like they use in blackjack/paigow? I would think that the main reason that this is not feasible is due to the machines high costs.


But would this also take away from the human touch and the absence of people being able to visually see the cards being shuffled? So much so that some players would refuse to play? Just some thoughts, as this is the MAIN advantage that online poker has over B&M poker, in my opinion. Infuse these two together(since it would be rather difficult to get the live fish to play online), and you would have my optimal poker situations. It can't hurt to dream.


DN

Dealers are like the chlorophyl of poker. Take 'em away, all life stops.


You've heard of a heat sink? Dealers are emotion sinks. Take 'em away, we all go insane.


You think casino poker is about players and cards? Wrong. It's about the house. It's about sales. It's about product, and people, and jobs, and cash flow, no different than cars or toasters.


Tommy

in fact, you could go one step further


we could all sit in our own homes and have the cards transmitted somehow to little screens on our desks - and bet therefrom


we could all "speak" to each other via some form of electronic chatroom


i think you might have hit upon something here


forget tommy - he only plays for social intercourse - he can always go to the pub if he wants to talk to people - sad fellow that he is

All casinos have human blackjack dealers even though they could have eliminated them years ago. But the casinos can't - it would destory the game. Make the game too perfect or antisepic and most people will not play.


"Perfect" games are boring. It is the same old hogwash and wishfull thinking about creating a Utopia. It would be safe and wholesome and clean and efficient and anyone with any wit or intelligence would die of boredom. I would never live in a Utopian society (or play a Utopian game of Poker). Just like the myth of a heaven - sounds good until you actually have to go there. Hell is a much more interesting place - Dante prove that many years ago.


So you can take your clean, antiseptic poker ideas and you can go straight to heaven. That is the only place they will work. I prefer Hell. That is what makes the game of poker worth playing.


Enough said, Methinks. So lets not hear anything more of these silly ideas about making the game better.


Zeno, From Greenland - the land of Ice.

(Casinos) could have eliminated (dealers) years ago. But...it would destory the game. Make the game too perfect or antisepic and most people will not play. "Perfect" games are boring.


How do you explain the still growing popularity of the "perfect/antiseptic" slot machines, video poker, and keno? These games are getting more space on casino floors while poker rooms are getting squeezed out.

Tradition. People are rooted into certain styles and expectations of how gambling is done. Tradition is one of the most unyielding of human characteristics.


You must "beat the dealer" at blackjack (the title of a famous blackjack book) - but "beat the machine" at other games. I have seen a few blackjack machines before at a small Indian casino but not many people played and the slot bandits bring in more money and they were replaced. It may change slowly but it will take a long time, if ever.


Dealers could be replaced and make the Blackjack games more profitable per square foot of casino space, just like slots etc.


And yes, the ugly, antispetic games are taking over more casino space every day. But things ebb and flow and the tide will change - maybe. If not, Poker Players will all fade away slowly into the soft twilight of oblivion.


But seriously - (Now, imagine a round yellow face with an arrow through its head).


-Zeno

ah, but if the product were inferior, eventually the consumers would go elsewhere to shop. so it IS about the cards and the dealer and the suhffle, and the chips and such. the 'feel' of poker would change too much and be unattractive to newcomers. besides, half the fish i play are the oens causing all the delays. they couldn't handle it if the game moved any faster.

I can't speak for the slot's, but the future felons, ex felons, stinky bodies, and ugly personalities at the poker tables where I play may have something to do with poker rooms getting squeezed. That and the fact that I'm trying to take your money directly and not the "house's" money.

there are without a doubt 2 types of gamblers. those who choose to plug in to the system and those who choose to unplug from it. all of us pokerheads are obviously of the first variety. there are probably more of the second kind, those who make the slots and video poker so profitable and give us cheaper steaks in the casino restaraunts, but we don't like to talk about them. poker is social. period. and it always will be, that is why it is sooooooo beautiful. dealers ARE (and will always have to be) a part of that, besides without them who would we be able to complain to or about?? J.Brown