The first casino has taken the plunge and converted their poker room into a completely automated environment. There will be no more dealers in the Excalibur poker room. They are being replaced by Twelve PokerPro electronic tables, made by PokerTek, the number one manufacturer of automated tables.

“I’m excited to see the turnout,” says Neil Bard, floor manager for the Excalibur. “We are going to have several famous poker pros come to help launch the tables.” He also said that both tournament and cash games will be offered, but limits and game variations have not been worked out yet.

Considering the recent decline in Vegas revenues, these tables could be a needed boost to the casinos’ bottom line. The table game plays 50% more Texas hold’em hands, and a 100% more Omaha, than a game with dealers and chips does. I just can’t see these tables being popular for long.

Las Vegas dealers are in the process of becoming unionized, as Local 721 continues to get employees to vote whether or not to join. They have had successful attempts at the Wynn and Caesars Palace casinos thus far, but have a long way to go before all the Vegas dealers are unionized.

The effort suffered a setback recently when the employees at the Rio voted against the union with a 247-162 vote. Organizers said they were not disappointed with the outcome of the vote, and will continue to try and organize local casino employees. The Las Vegas Dealers Local 721 is an affiliate of the Transport Workers Union of America, based out of New York.

Depending on where they work, a union may not be the best option for the casino workers. Unions limit shifts and take away flexibility the dealers may already have established with the casino.

Polaris 2, a poker playing machine, is plugged in and ready to go heads-up against some of the best poker pros in the world. Developed by the University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group, Polaris is a series of computer programs created to beat amateur and pros alike. The new poker machine will be set up at this year’s Gaming Life Expo in Las Vegas this July.

The names of the poker pros enlisted to participate in this Man vs. Machine poker tournament have not yet been released, but last year’s participants included Phil Laak and Ali Eslami. Both pros managed to beat Polaris, but not by much.

“Against the current AI in Polaris 2, the average poker player would be completely dominated,” said Bryce Paradis, lead poker coach with Stoxpoker.com, the team representing Polaris. “The Polaris 2 team has made incredible improvements since the match last year. The most powerful change is that the AI will now learn from and adapt to its opponents’ play as the match progresses. This year’s Man vs. Machine match is going to push our team to their limit.”

The Man vs. Machine match is set to take place on July 3-6th at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.