Electronic Poker Tables: Pros and Cons

by Gamekill, 23.05.2008

Quebec Casinos now have poker but all of the tables are electronic. Is the game the same?

The 'Societe des casino du Quebec' here in Canada recently approved the decision to put poker into their casinos. I was personally really excited when I heard that a few months back because I'm from Ottawa (10mins from the Casino Lac Leamy in Gatineau) and have lived in Montreal. Also, I used to work as a croupier at the Casino de Montreal and I know that there are plenty of big shooters at craps and blackjack etc... I was naturally assuming that all that action would trickle down to poker once they built the room. Then I got the bad news, all three rooms in Quebec were going to consist entirely of electronic poker tables, at least for the first few months. They are having trouble with the legislative issues surrounding operating a poker room, but have managed to secure electronic poker tables under the same clauses that allow for electronic slots machines. Terrible! I thought. Abominable even! The entire room is to be electronic! Well that's just gonna suck balls!! Or will it?

In the meantime I heard a lot of rumors about the machines and I even saw them (but never played because the limits were so low) in L.A. at the Commerce. Most people were giving the machines good feedback mentioning first the benefits and playing down the drawbacks.

Some of benefits, for those of you who aren't familiar with the electronic machines are as follows:

1- No tipping dealers (in Quebec you can't tip the pit staff or cashiers either). This likely saves me at least $50 a week.

2- The speed of the game is MUCH faster when playing low limit NL. I can't play a low limit NL game live, it's too excruciating, but these tables make it much better.

3- On your personal screen you have a few features that stand out. You get to see the results of the last hand, similar to online poker . Also, you can call over the boss casually with the click of a button instead of having to yell accross the room.

4- This one is the big one as far as I'm concerned, the machines can actually stimulate action and allow for a good poker game. I was afraid that the game would be very mechanical and tight, with tons of laydowns preflop and a lot of raise and take it. From what I can see so far this is not the case. The play is quite similar to that of a regular table. All the donkeys seem to be happy and they are gambling it up on these electronic tables.

Here are a few notable drawbacks:

1- The feel of the cards and chips is lost. The personal screen and the little access card they give you are your only tools to play the game, they do offer a bit of a feel (believe it or not) but it's crap compared to chips and cards. This drawback leads to the #2.

2- It's Harder to get tells because players look down at a screen and then all of the sudden they've acted. I keep wanting and waiting for something more definitive before it's all of the sudden my turn. I usually get a lot of reliable tells from the way my opponents hold their cards, look at their cards and throw their bets into the pot. With the electronic tables all of these tells are dimished. Also, because of the screens (and the low lighting in the casino I played in) it's harder to keep your eyes up and focused on the other players. Although these things are listed here as drawbacks, once you adjust to the game they could also act as benefits, because it's harder for you to give off tells yourself etc...

At the end of the day you good players out there know that the real tells are in your opponent's betting patterns and in their faces. All of that is more or less exactly the same. So, overall I would have to say that I am pleasantly surpised with the electronic machines. I thought they would totally blow and they are actually kinda cool.

 

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