I have been trying to get some poker detail on the electronic poker games at the Plaza, but have not found anyone who has played there. Of course, I did stir up some ranting guy who wanted to trash the whole idea of electronic poker. So, I wrote this response to him and thought it was detailed enough to want to keep it here:
Well, I think the majority of the players agreed with you.
The electronic games did not seem to catch on.
I could never see the comparison with solo home play.
It is electronic, but I could not only see, but joke and talk to the other players and in some cases do it more freely because dealers did not jump into every conversation. It never felt like playing at home.
Many chip and card game errors could not be made at these electronic tables: all those out of turn plays, all those misdealt and early revealed cards, all those wild tosses of folded cards that require a card protector.
Impossible.
There was no need to watch every detail of the dealing to see it was done correctly, or to try to figure when a quiet spoken guy was raising or just calling.
I did not have to fear a dealer might by mistake pick up my cards or misread the winning hand and pay another player my pot.
No dealer monitoring was necessary.
At Excalibur that was a real benefit because they would bring in a pretty fine looking stripper who danced around a pole, so who wanted to keep watching for dealer error?
And I like a lower rake. And I like that the machine required no one dollar tip out of every pot.
And I liked not having to wait for dealers to change or for chips to be reloaded in dealer trays or for those big old collection boxes to be collected by big guards who knew just how to bump the knees.
Also, I liked that the more sophisticated players had to learn an entirely new set of tells.
I'm not too sophisticated. It gave them less of an edge over me.
I also like that it often attracts less sophisticated players so the table selection issue is more in my favor.
Slot players might feel more comfortable at this game than one with chips and cards.
Monitoring play time for comps would be more possible too. The largest live games downtown right now, those at the Nugget, earn food comps that are only good on one day. They are earned after four hours of play; there are no additional comps earned when playing hour 5 to whatever. It is done without any real electronic record of play so I feel I have to remind the floor when I come in, and look at my watch, and know just when I started to play.
And I liked that my arthritic fingers did not have to manage to get chips unstuck or load them without dropping into trays at cash out.
I very much liked it that the chips (the dirtiest bits of shared material in the entire casino) were not passing around all the current diseases of the other players to every player at the table. I can take a wipe to the play area and I am good to go.
In some places too, I liked the lower stakes, so I've played the Four Winds Lake Michigan electronic game when it was 50 cent and one dollar blinds. It may have been like that in Excalibur. Perhaps it is at the Plaza. No one has given much poker detail yet.
Since we have plenty of live games and chips for your taste, I'd be interested if some venues offered this variety for me and other folks who like this sort of game. I also think it might allow the casinos that can't support person dealt games and keep closing down poker rooms to still offer live poker.
That is clearly what happened at the Four Winds.
That could redeem the El Cortez.
In fact, it might put a live poker game into every downtown casino instead of just two. I'd love it if the Four Queens had one because that is where I like best to play.
When the Plaza had a live game, they had to limit the hours because they did not have the staff, and they would actually close down full tables. I suspect if their electronic game becomes popular, it will stay open as long as there are players.
Here is a link to a full discussion:
http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101996
Well, I think the majority of the players agreed with you.
The electronic games did not seem to catch on.
I could never see the comparison with solo home play.
It is electronic, but I could not only see, but joke and talk to the other players and in some cases do it more freely because dealers did not jump into every conversation. It never felt like playing at home.
Many chip and card game errors could not be made at these electronic tables: all those out of turn plays, all those misdealt and early revealed cards, all those wild tosses of folded cards that require a card protector.
Impossible.
There was no need to watch every detail of the dealing to see it was done correctly, or to try to figure when a quiet spoken guy was raising or just calling.
I did not have to fear a dealer might by mistake pick up my cards or misread the winning hand and pay another player my pot.
No dealer monitoring was necessary.
At Excalibur that was a real benefit because they would bring in a pretty fine looking stripper who danced around a pole, so who wanted to keep watching for dealer error?
And I like a lower rake. And I like that the machine required no one dollar tip out of every pot.
And I liked not having to wait for dealers to change or for chips to be reloaded in dealer trays or for those big old collection boxes to be collected by big guards who knew just how to bump the knees.
Also, I liked that the more sophisticated players had to learn an entirely new set of tells.
I'm not too sophisticated. It gave them less of an edge over me.
I also like that it often attracts less sophisticated players so the table selection issue is more in my favor.
Slot players might feel more comfortable at this game than one with chips and cards.
Monitoring play time for comps would be more possible too. The largest live games downtown right now, those at the Nugget, earn food comps that are only good on one day. They are earned after four hours of play; there are no additional comps earned when playing hour 5 to whatever. It is done without any real electronic record of play so I feel I have to remind the floor when I come in, and look at my watch, and know just when I started to play.
And I liked that my arthritic fingers did not have to manage to get chips unstuck or load them without dropping into trays at cash out.
I very much liked it that the chips (the dirtiest bits of shared material in the entire casino) were not passing around all the current diseases of the other players to every player at the table. I can take a wipe to the play area and I am good to go.
In some places too, I liked the lower stakes, so I've played the Four Winds Lake Michigan electronic game when it was 50 cent and one dollar blinds. It may have been like that in Excalibur. Perhaps it is at the Plaza. No one has given much poker detail yet.
Since we have plenty of live games and chips for your taste, I'd be interested if some venues offered this variety for me and other folks who like this sort of game. I also think it might allow the casinos that can't support person dealt games and keep closing down poker rooms to still offer live poker.
That is clearly what happened at the Four Winds.
That could redeem the El Cortez.
In fact, it might put a live poker game into every downtown casino instead of just two. I'd love it if the Four Queens had one because that is where I like best to play.
When the Plaza had a live game, they had to limit the hours because they did not have the staff, and they would actually close down full tables. I suspect if their electronic game becomes popular, it will stay open as long as there are players.
Here is a link to a full discussion:
http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101996
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