Fri, 04/15/2011 – 01:16 – PokerPages Staff

The English Luddites back in the seventeenth century tried to oppose the rise of new technologies that were threatening their livelihoods by smashing them to pieces.  We 21st century techno geeks have generally taken a more enthusiastic view of new technology, eager to get to grips with it and let it show us what it can do.  But does it always amount to progress?  In the poker world, there is one area where the question remains open and the jury is still out – the use of electronic poker tables in poker rooms.

They have not enjoyed anything resembling what could be called a ‘success story’ so far.  In 2009, the first all-electronic poker room debuted in the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas.  Constructed by PokerTek, the 12 state-of-the-art electronic poker tables were thought to be a revolutionary development when they were unveiled.  However, less than a year later, the room was closed.  The reason?  Well, they just could not replicate the real interactive cut and thrust of a live poker game, which was precisely what visitors to Vegas were seeking out primarily.  Clever though they undoubtedly were, they still ended up being mothballed in favor of the real thing.  Therefore, history shows that electronic poker made only a brief appearance in Sin City and then dropped out of sight, like a one hit pop singer.  

Just about the only place where you could find an electronic poker table after that was on a cruise ship; everywhere else, most poker enthusiasts were of the opinion that they were a dud invention and were now rightly in the trash can of history.  Then along came Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison in Wisconsin.  During Thanksgiving 2010, it opened the state’s first exclusively electronic poker room.  Did this company read the sad story of electronic poker rooms?  Is this a self-deluded race to the bottom?  Well, no, actually.  The new poker room is in a state of rude health and has thrived from the moment it opened its doors.

So how has Ho-Chung Gaming managed to overcome what was widely perceived as electronic poker’s failure to deliver the true thrills and spills of an authentic poker game?  The lack of legal options for poker in the state appears to be one reason.  In Wisconsin, the game has taken place largely in unregulated backroom card parlors, according to Ho-Chunk Gaming’s Poker Room Supervisor, Shawn Bauer, where players have no guarantees on game integrity or safety.  His company, he insists, is not trying to squeeze out the other poker available in Madison, but it is seeking to give the local poker community a new option.  Plausibly, he argues that the new poker room comes with outstanding standards for integrity, accuracy, safety and professionalism, which many in the poker community will see as a desirable product.  Judging by the steady growth of the room’s success, he seems to be quite correct in his statement.  

Bauer’s view is that ePoker has real strengths that were underappreciated in the past: there is virtually no room for error (live dealers, no matter how skilled and experienced they may be, are still human beings and inevitably make mistakes occasionally).  In Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison’s new poker room, the most common mistakes are effectively abolished: there is no premature card exposure, no misdeals, no errors in secondary and tertiary pots and no mistaken mucking of cards, Bauer proudly declares.  

ePoker looks like it is back and planning to stay.