at my local cardroom, winstar casino, the wait is typically at least 1 hour...if you're lucky. they recently installed 4 of these tables, and i played one prior to getting a seat in a real game.

i think some people are missing some of the benefits to the machines.
1. some people who don't know any better come to a b&m room to get interaction from real people. while people say they'd rather just sit at home on the comp if they don't have chips, you're missing the point of there actually being real people sitting around you.
2. the guy talking about collusion might not realize there actually is a call floor button on the machine, and there is a guy not 20 ft away from the tables.
3. at my casino, the lowest live limit is 4/8, but you can play 1/2 on the machines...this allows some people to play at a more comfortable level. also, for the poker newbies, this allows you to get a feel for the game without having to look like a total donk at the live table.
4. adding to the live peole thing, you actually can still pick up tells on people rather easily at these things. it takes away some tells like how they may throw their chips in the pot, but adds others like how they hit the bet or check button etc.

having said all that, i don't really like the things. as i see it, it's just a way to keep the fishies happy. however, if you want to find the softest games, you know where to look.

one last note....i wonder how much they had to pay chan and dolly to endorse these bad boys. you know there's no way in hell that chan is playing the 1k/2k at a video machine.

[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] mflo