One of my excellent correspondents points out that by calling these essays, “Thought of the Week” I am giving the impression that the website is not properly maintained and kept up to date.

So I said I would discuss electronic tables. Recently these have been installed in one Las Vegas casino (Excalibur) poker room replacing all of the standard tables.

For those who have never seen an electronic table, you can see one here. They work quite well.

There are also clear advantages and disadvantages, which I shall discuss briefly here, and in a somewhat expanded version in an upcoming Card Player column.

Here are the ones I mentioned in the column:

Pros:

• Faster game
• No tipping
• No dealer errors
• More sanitary
• Accurate player tracking
• Uniform rules

Cons:

• Less socializing
• No hand tells
• Some player training involved
• Less room for player excuses
• Profit and loss tracking

You can read about these in the magazine . Let me mention another couple of advantages I did not have room for:

Flexibility.
These tables can deal a wide variety of games and limits, so the lack of a trained dealer will not keep you from playing Omaha or even stud. Particularly in small venues like bars where no trained dealers are available, especially around the clock, players can still get a game. You can even set the table to not time anyone out, so friends can sit for hours and play at a slow pace if the room does not mind.

Lower stakes. Few cardrooms can afford to deal very low stakes, like, say, $.25-$.50 no limit. The tables can deal it without the expense of a dealer’s hourly rate and benefits, so they can charge a commensurate rake and still have a game going.

Another potential negative:

Federal reporting. Currently casinos must report all cash transactions by any individual totalling more that $10.000 in a 24-hr period. This means of yo buy into a game for $5K and four hours later cash out for $5k, that triggers a reportable transaction. Of course, the also report via W2-G’s any gaming win over a certain amount. The only reason poker wins are not reported is that the house cannot keep track of them. With electronic tables, they can! There is already a requirement on the books that you must keep contemporaneous written record of each gambling session win and loss with table number , buy-in, cash-out, net and some identifying feature. Most pros do this, but casual players certainly do not. But if an electronic table can report exactly these parameters, even monthly $4-$6 players may face audits and penalties for non-compliance. Of course, this may not happen, and the government may suddenly decide it does not want to intrude in private citizens lives at that level.

I missed a few weeks, which I should have warned you abut. I was in Florida for a week, visiting the “Sunshine” State the same time as tropical Storm Fay. Betty and I visited my mother who is 94 and in an assisted living place, and watched rain.

We stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino twice for quick visits. This is the Seminole casino on Hollywood, FL which has essentially put all of the gambling cruise ships out of business. Unfortunately, the Hard Rock has state set limits (unlike the defunct cruises) which, which now better than the old $10 pot-size limit, are still very small stakes.

The (and various racinos) now offer no limit hold’em. You can play $1-@2 blinds with a buy-in of $40 min to $100 max, $2-$5 blind NL with a $100 buy-in (min and max), and (this is the weird one for me) $5-$10 blind NL with $100 buy-in, min and max. That’s right,. folks, you can play at a no limit table where you are only allowed to purchase ten big blinds.

I like to think I understand poker theory, but I have no idea how that game would play. In theory, the shorter your stack, the more selective you should be. But when you are putting in 10% of your stack to see your first hand, I don’t know. If you wait two orbits, you will be down to $70 and still have to put in a $10 blind. Do you push with any hand Q-8 or better?

If anyone has a clue how this game should be played (for profit, not just to push until you win) please write to me. i will post it here with full credit if it makes sense.

I played two brief sessions of $1-$2, as I like to have some depth. The first session, I played for 20 minutes down about $10 when I picked up K-K in the big blind. Five limpers and I raised to $15, getting two callers. On the flop of Q-10-4, I pushed. one caller, who held K-Q. Turn 6, river Q. He explained to me that there was no way he could fold.

Next session, I played for abut 20 minutes and had about $90 left. I was UTG to the two blinds and a $4 straddle. I limped, planning to reraise. four more limpers, and the straddler raised to $16. I pushed. Only the straddler called, holding Q-Q. Flop A-5-4. Turn 2. River Q. Yes, once again I lost to a rivered two-out queen (though he did also have 3’s to chop).

I played a bit more until Betty was done shopping, and we left. After two river two-out queens, I decided the site was rigged.

The Hard Rock has moved the poker room to a store front, and it is now non-smoking, which is great. Now if only the State of Florida will allow players to gamble for money, they could help both the populace ad the state’s coffers.

Meanwhile, a Las Vegas casino (Excalibur) has gone to all-electronic tables. I will comment on these next week.