The era of live dealers and real poker chips in the Excalibur poker room has suddenly come to an end. The casino has closed its poker room at midnight on Sunday night and is working on installing 12 poker pro electronic poker tables from FokkerTech. When the room reopens at 6 p.m. on Friday, it will open its first poker room in Las Vegas with only electronic tables.
According to Todd DeRemer, Excalibur’s vice president of gaming operations, the property has been electronicized to shock poker rooms that have been “decreasing in customer base” over the past three years. 안전 토토사이트
“In 2005, poker took off and everyone added rooms,” DeRemer explained. “A small number of players spread between different rooms. From our perspective, bringing a table with poker gives us an opportunity to pique the interest of different types of players.”
And according to DeRemer, that kind of player is someone who was born during the online poker boom, or someone who is simply uncomfortable sitting at a live poker table.
“We love playing online poker, but we think there are some people who want the option of playing and interacting with humans at stake,” he said. “This gives our customers the opportunity to play poker and be fearless.”
Excalibur is one of 11 casinos in Las Vegas operated by MGM Mirage. Scott Gertner, MGM’s senior vice president, said Excalibur’s poker room transition was “not a company-wide trend.” “It’s very suitable for Excalibur,” he said. “Exalibur is entry-level when it comes to the stakes. We think this product is suitable for that group of players.”
DeRemer said he visited California’s Fantasy Springs Resort-Casino last winter to see the poker pro poker room work, and was impressed by the room’s atmosphere. “It’s a customer base that we see in Excalibur,” he said.
Before Sunday’s shutdown, the Excalibur Hotel had about 50 employees, 40 of whom were dealers. The new e-poker room will have only 18 “poker hosts.” The vast majority of people who lost their jobs in poker rooms were moved to other positions within the organization, DeRemer said.
Excalibur will continue to offer low-stakes games ranging from $2 to $4. There will even be low-stakes games ranging from $50 to $1. DeRemer said that in order to spark interest in the new format, the casino will also offer a “free roll” with $250 awarded to the winner. Texas Holdum, Omaha, and 7-card studs will be offered. In addition, the rake in the poker room will drop from $4 per hour to $3 per player.
Earlier this month, PokerTek installed poker-pro tables at its new Hosche Casino Chicago Land in Indiana. It also opened poker rooms in Montreal, Michigan, Connecticut, and Atlantic City. Overall, the company has set up 230 poker-pro tables around the world. Chris Halligan, CEO of PokerTek, said, “I’m beyond words happy that an operator boasting the quality of Excalibur is opening a 100% poker-pro room on a strip.”
“It’s a commentary on how far PokerTech and Automatic Poker have come in such a short space of time,” Halligan said. “Over the past year, the acceptance of the game has increased considerably and continues to grow as our footprint expands.”
“I’ve been running poker rooms for 20 years, and I can’t wait to see what games Excalibur and PokerPro will offer,” added Vito Kasu, PokerTek’s Western Regional Director and former PokerTek manager. “We’re going to have a great tournament schedule every day and a tremendous player promotion, and beyond that, we’re going to have games that PokerTek can’t offer. For example, our Pod Limited Omaha game will receive 30 hands per hour. No game is as popular as the PLO, and only PokerPro can offer that speed.”