Dec 20th - $200+$40 NL Hold'Em - Seminole Hard Rock Casino (Tampa)

So here I am in the depths of winter in sunny Florida. Forget about the chills of the UK and Ireland for Xmas...Florida is the place to be!

Now for those of you who know Florida, in terms of poker, you'll know that the BIGGEST cash games in town are the $1/$2 games. Yup...thats right...$1/$2. The law in this part of the world allows poker to be played but not my friends as you or I would EVER wanna play the game. I mean..cummon...$1/$2 limit...URGH!!

Luckily for me, and I would say the majority of players here, tournaments are not subject to these ridiculous limits and whilst only a very few select places are allowed to deal cards in the sunshine state I'm lucky enough to be only 40 mins drive from one of them! Its here at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa Bay that I, as well as playing a good structured...well attended $240 NL Hold'Em tournament, saw the future in card room technology...the fully automated poker table!

Seeing is believing! Ten computer screens encompass the tables edge, shaped exactly like current poker tables. Each player (10) has his/her own screen to look at at this are flush to the table. Now you'd think that this might cause problems once the cards appear as you could just peek over to your neighbours terminal and look at their cards but noooooo. In order to look at the cards you're dealt you must 'cup' your hand and place it in the top right hand corner of the screen. Once the screen senses this action it displays your cards so that they appear 'under' your cupped hand (you're buggered though if you have no hands!!)

Chip counts, betting actions are all controlled by 'tapping' the screen with your fingers and everything from there on is automated. A large 'plasma tv' screen sits in the middle of the table which shows everyones betting actions, chip stacks, pots, etc etc and of course, the obvious flop, turn & river cards!

In order to sign up for playing on the table you must sign up for a players card and 'charge' the card with money which can then be used to credit you with chips on the table. Chips are deducted and added to the card as and when you play.

The play looks kinda weird from an observers point of view but with no dealers to pay, no mistakes made to chip counts, stacks etc and no tipping then this COULD become prevelant thoughout the western world within 3-5 years. After all the rake is the same except that with 50-70% more hands per hour then you do the maths!

As for my $200 tournament there were 110 players and I got down to the last 4 tables when, running short of chips, I went all-in, on the button, with Ks 7s and got called by BOTH the SB & BB who held A-J & A-K respectively.

Needless to say I didn't win the hand!

In my next trip report I'll detail more about the games they play here, the rake charged, and the one-table satellite games that seem to run continuosly!!