I love playing live poker. But it seems to me that traditionalists are not considering the numerous improvements that technology could bring to the game.

I never thought I would be saying this myself. I enjoy riffling chips. I love flirting with hot, young asian (female) dealers, chatting to the older guys about the way things used to be and chatting to the young guys about sports. But nearly every mistake/angle I see discussed in the brick and mortar forum would have been avoided by electronic tables.

When playing for huge sums of money as in the WSOP and other live tournaments, the only human error costing me money should be mine, not a dealer that has been working for too many hours too many days in a row.

Tournament fees need not be so high since we no longer have to account for huge labour costs and the only limitation to the number of entries in a tournament is the number of electronic tables we can get our hands on.

Is it time to embrace the technology that is out there and make the live game safe, fun and enjoyable for all?

You are right on so many levels.
Technology owns.
However, there is nothing like the live game feeling with the degens and dealers.
So debatable...

Can anyone comment on the success of the electronic tables in any WELL ESTABLISHED casino?

I couldn't agree less. I think there are already too many safeguards in place to prevent a sucker from going busto because of his stupidity. I'm not saying the wild west is the way to go, and certainly no player should ever be allowed to touch the deck. I just think that misrepresenting a hand to get someone else to muck is a part of the game. I think that coloring up and putting larger than average denom chips at the bottom of your stack is part of the game. But apparently there are already rules against these things. Next thing you know there will be a rule that you have to have Jacks to open, and check raising will be disallowed as its considered sneaky.

And I almost forgot, 10 minute penalties if you bet and your opponent folds but shows their hand and you can't beat it.

How about some other examples?
1.A dealer in Bobby's room of all places, palming 1k chips from large pots. If it can happen in there...

2. Players making illegal reraises (I see this myself a lot) where the raise was less than a standard raise and no one noticed because of the size if the pot/action etc.

3. casinos with chip denominations that are so close in color that even experienced players make bets they didn't intend to.

Experienced live players can add their own examples. The list would be 16592004 long.

"Tradition" no. "Traditionally" public poker was quite manageable. Old days, Gardenia, California draw games, Vegas Seven Stud and "limit" Holdem. Then seven card "limit" games got legalized in California, all games quite sane and tame. The relatively recent "no-limit" poker (tv and internet) phenomenon, which has produced numerous newer players, and the nature of "no-limit" has turned "no-limit" poker into a cheaters and thieves, type game, where the "house" is the zoo master, "raking" in all the money. The "house" has no interest in players cheating one another, so the chaos continues.

Clearly the market agrees. That is why electronic tables have become the norm almost everywhere there is live poker.

Naaah......

I think of Casino de Montreal as a well established casino up in those parts but after having the PokerPro tables for a short time, 1-2 years I think, they decided to get live dealers and cut back on the Pro tables. They still have some, but not nearly as many. And I saw in another post the other day that a casino down South took out the PokerPro tables and replaced them with live dealers.

Are there really any sound, logical reasons to keep live dealers vs electronic tables?

Erhm, players like to riffle chips?

Remember gentlemen, the world was flat not that long ago.

I like the security of having a live dealer at the table, especially at lower limit games. Too often players dont realize that they can't talk about their hands in multiway pots, tell people their hands after they folded, etc.

+ it'd be much easier to collude with your friends w/o a dealer there

There is none, every single place they have tried these things, they have failed miserably, except in places like cruise ships (read: lack of trained labor) or places like NC where live poker dealt by humans is illegal

Somehow, I think they took that "Poker Dogs" painting a wee bit too seriously.

Every single place? Really. None of the major, Vegas casinos have had these tables

Not a "major" casino but still a big one -- Excalibur to have to tables.

Why would you want to go see live actors in a theater when it's cheaper to just go to the movies?
In fact, why not just watch TV...they are basically all the same thing, right?

Yes, business would plummet otherwise. That's a sound, logical reason.

Hey, didn't we already have a live-vs-electronics containment thread...?

I agree with you. I think it's a matter of time. As more and more kids grow up and play casinos, they'll be more accepting. Most casino players today remember using rotary phones.

I'm torn, frankly. I, too, dig the chips and cards. But I also play a ton online, and I've played electronic tables. There are advantages and disadvantages to any system.

I think one factor may be that the casual fishy player might feel more in control of his destiny if he can touch those chips, and watch others touching them. It's more interactive, more a game that everybody is playing. On electronic tables, it seems even more likely that people would just retreat into their own little worlds, making the games even less inviting. And there's no dealer to look up, smile, and say, "Seat open! Can I call for some chips?"

And a zillion other factors.

I do think it's inevitable, though. They will become more the norm, and they make perfect sense for tournaments. Doesn't Harrah's own a big portion of one of the companies? I'm frankly surprised they haven't rolled them out already. I suspect we'll first start to see them in WSOP satellite S&Gs, and the ball will tumble from there.

Ugh... if you want to play electronic pokerz... its called the internetz.

+1

???????????

What planet do you spend most of your time on?

You're um...Well...Very "off" to say the least.

Exactly!

Those electronic tables are all over the place filling up card rooms!

I don't have a dog in this fight, but still I'm amazed at how many so-called purists will claim that e-tables or Internet poker is not "real poker" as if the physical cards and chips are an essential part of the game.

I far prefer live to Internet poker, but that's because poker for me is just a hobby and I enjoy teh social aspect of the game.

+1