X10 automated Poker / Blackjack table is decidedly drool-worthy

Every so often, a completely unnecessary gizmo hits the scenes that hardly anyone will be able to afford, yet nearly everyone could imagine having as their own. Feast your eyes on one such device: the X10 Ten Player Automated Table from Play Hard Gaming. This masterpiece seats ten (presumably wealthy) players and features a central 27-inch LCD alongside ten 12.1-inch touch panels. The computerized dealer dishes out the cards, and individuals play along by simply tapping their dedicated touchscreen. Both Texas Hold'em and Blackjack are loaded on, and you'll even get free game upgrades for life when you commit to taking one home. Now, if only $29,950 were easier to come by.

[Via OhGizmo]

[Rafer @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:42PM]

Cool!

[DMG @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:06PM]

awesome! now i can call over Charles Barkley to help me set this thing up!

[David @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:06PM]

What happens when you spill your drink on the table?

[E71 @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:03PM]

This has RIGGED written all over it. House wins! What's that..? You want a re-match? HOUSE WINS AGAIN! Haha.

I demand to see the source code.

[Greg @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:57PM]

E71 you God damned nerd.

[Shane @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:36AM]

Looks like some of the machines I had to maintain as a tech in a casino...

[JJV @ Jun 3rd 2008 8:31AM]

Can't others see your cards? i mean if they are on the touchscreen then its there for everyone to see, so poker wouldnt really work.

[Mikey @ Jun 3rd 2008 9:48AM]

I saw these in a casino a year ago (I think they were beta testing), and they looked pretty slick. Plus, the electronic table is much faster then human dealers, so you get more hands in.

@ E71, the "house" doesn't play poker and has no reason to rig it. Casinos take a small cut of every pot (called "the rake"), so they make money no matter how they deal the cards (and as I said above, this table allows more hands per hour, they rake a lot more money here).

@JJV, the cards on your screen are face down until you put your hands on the screen in front of the cards. Then the touch screen "peels" the cards enough so you can see what you have.

[daaper @ Jun 3rd 2008 11:05AM]

@ Mikey:

Perhaps you missed the "/Blackjack", but it appears E71 didn't. The house does play blackjack, in case you didn't know. I agree with E71, no way would I trust this. Plus, I would be worried about people seeing my "cards" if I did something wrong. High stakes + user error = me crying in my beer...

[Sly Fox @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:43PM]

I think its more efficient to just go out and buy cards.

[Anthony @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:56PM]

3 bucks for a deck & you're ready to play virtually anywhere.

However, if you're looking for $30k to buy this thing- then maybe spending $50 & going to Las Vegas to hit the real blackjack tables could help.

[ReggieXuk @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:56PM]

Exactly what i was gonna to say. Cards are popular because they are cheap and you can hold them. This table is expensive and all you can do i tap it.

[Elora HRanma @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:17PM]

I'd also expect people to buy real cards, but if people buy card games for the DS... Common sense is becoming too spare to keep that name.

[Matt @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:07PM]

Elora: Most software card games are different. They allow you to play against people or bots who are not physically close to you as well as being a bit neater/more convenient than a regular card game. Have fun trying to play solitaire on a bus with real cards.

[hiko36 @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:39PM]

@Matt

have fun playing this thing on the bus...

[xerxesdaphat @ Jun 3rd 2008 8:51AM]

@hiko36

That's his point you dumb twat. How that got High Ranked is beyond me. He's saying people buy electronic card games (e.g. for the DS) because they offer something over real cards. This does not -- it's huge, and you still have to play with people in the same room.

[hiko36 @ Jun 8th 2008 2:51AM]

@xerxesdaphat

What's with the hostility... I was just making a comment...

[Dualboot @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:44PM]

I'm suspecting some really hard-core 3M screens are involved in keeping your cards yourself. I still prefer the real thing though. I want to really throw my cards into the muck, not just touch a screen. What do you do when you're waiting for your turn, can you play video poker?

[Low Ranked @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:48PM]

You play a mini-game of video Black Jack while waiting for your turn... during your video Black Jack tournament.

[shanus @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:45PM]

head to Crown Casino in Melbourne...these have been in use for years

[vdogg89 @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:48PM]

i wonder if the screens are invisible from any position besides the person in the seat. thatd be sweet

[EQC @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:28PM]

yeah...with this "clever" table, it suddenly becomes very difficult to conceal what you're holding from the other players.

of course, if you own the table, you might be able to hack its software to make sure you win!!! Wheeeee!

[andrew wilson @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:49PM]

Wouldn't this table effectively eliminate any possibility of card counters cheating casinos? That would be a big draw if so.

[Dualboot @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:54PM]

That's already taken care of by the continuous shuffle machines:
http://casinogambling.about.com/od/blackjack/a/shuffler.htm

If you don't have money to buy a card shuffle machine, you probably don't have money to buy one of these tables either...

[Sly Fox @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:54PM]

couldn't it also be hacked and/or the dealing pattern figured out?

[runin @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:55PM]

Played on something like this on a cruise ship. Your screen shows the action around the table (who has cards left, bet amount, pot amount, etc), it also has the check/bet/raise/fold options when it is your turn to play, and your two cards are shown on the screen face down - you touch them and one corner of each curls up to reveal what cards you have. You simply cup one hand to protect the screen from other eyes and touch it at the same time. When you stop touching the "cards," the corners go back down and nobody can see what you have.

[Stuart @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:03PM]

You'd think for 30 large they'd have a few more details on their website. Pretty sparse on the specs if you ask me.

[echiu @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:08PM]

Have we learned nothing from electronics voting machines?

[DerekD @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:06PM]

Its been done, in a shitty card room or cruise ship casino near you!

http://playpokerpro.com/

[Mike @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:20PM]

In PA, table games are not allowed. They get away with higher stakes blackjack by having a table like this, where the dealer is always incredibly hot and on a large plasma TV, and each player has a screen in front of them. I suspect something like this would be a way to get away with having poker for states that allow machines but not tables.

[StealthMonkey @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:20PM]

I would never trust my money to a computer. Being a programmer, I know what you can do with them. Give me real cards or give me death. Well, I don't know about death... just give me real cards.

[Kamokazi @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:39PM]

Just wait until e-ink displays are indistinguishable from regular cards. Then you're pretty much screwed (if you want to gamble at card games, anyway).

[Bigsauce @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:25PM]

I've actually played on these already. I thought they were old news? A new Casino here in New Buffalo, Michigan has about a dozen of these tables. That's all they have in their poker rooms. No Dealers. Just a bunch of employees walking around, making sure you know what's going on. They use key cards (like a credit card or hotel room key). You go up to the money cage, put on an amount to yer card, then sit down at a table, swipe, then play. To see yer cards you cup yer hands like there are normal cards in front of you, and the screen cards raise up like they're actual cards.

It makes the game go by so quick. It's a mixture of Online and Real Life IMO. Has the pace of Online, but you actually interact with the people yer playing with.

[JustFrozen @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:24PM]

Plus: My friends can longer cheat and steal my money

Negative: That point is moot cuz I spent thirty grand on a table

[waddaya @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:26PM]

Instead of tapping on the LCD I'll be tapping my girl on that table.

[Frank Furter @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:43PM]

And by 'tapping my girl' you mean 'crimping the wire'

[Peter @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:40PM]

Although I think this wouldn't be that great for poker and blackjack...like most people here think. It would really cool for stuff like Risk and Settlers or any other complicated board games.

[BigD145 @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:47PM]

Damn. I found it's rather hard to fit a few ace screens up my sleeve.

[Michael @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:17PM]

I'm pretty sure PokerPro tables have been around longer than this one and do the same thing...

[Brett @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:32PM]

Crown Casino in Melbourne Australia has these in their poker room which people can buy prepaid cards for to play Texas on.

They fill in the time while people are waiting for live tables to open up.

[Ed @ Aug 4th 2008 8:37PM]

Bjarcs? That you old friend?

[e-mail]

[louden @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:52PM]

I'm sure all the major casinos and their card room managers are waiting for these things to prove themselves out.

Faster dealing, no mistakes, no dealer overhead... I'm sure they'd pay for themselves...

[C.K. @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:59PM]

I'm sure the dealers unions will be up in arms over these types of devices.

[Eric Leung @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:10AM]

so its like playing online poker... offline and on an actual table

[ddub @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:09AM]

One of my local card rooms has had a better version of this for a while. They use it for omaha 8 or better so the dealers don't have to deal with the difficulty in dealing that game. Nobody really likes playing with it. It confuses a lot of people, its somewhat easy to accidentally bet and raise. And nothing can beat the feel of actual cards and chips. I feel like people play a little looser on it as well, but maybe thats my perception. I see why the card rooms like it, but I it hasn't been too popular so far.

[Scrum @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:00AM]

I've played on one of these in New Buffalo, Michigan. The cards are "dealt" face-down, but when you put your hands on the screen in front of the cards, as if to hide them, they are revealed. I didn't like it much, but only because I like having real chips. One very cool feature, when 2 people are heads up on an all-in, it gives the percentages (like when I go all in with 5s, and this A-hole call me with 4-6 suited. I catch a 5 on the flop and he gets another diamond, then another...then another)

I figure since they aren't paying a dealer and they take a rake, they probably pay for themselves in a matter of days or weeks

[Armoured @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:40AM]

hey stop hacking!!

[Teetdogs @ Jun 3rd 2008 9:59AM]

This is really nothing new Poker Pro tables have been around for a long time. They actually are really nice, I happen to play alot of poker and when playing at a live table with a dealer there tend to be misdeals and sometimes the dealer will try and call the winner incorrectly, these tables dont make mistakes. A misdeal sucks when you get AK or AA and all of a sudden get your cards stripped from you cause the dealer is an idiot. Also you dont have to tip a computerized table!

[Nate Chatellier @ Jun 3rd 2008 2:03PM]

This is what I make for a living. Funny how many people have even copied our "X" naming convention that we came up with about two years ago:
http://www.digideal.com/platforms/dtsx.php

[UOPercival @ Jun 4th 2008 3:18AM]

As runin mentioned, I too have tried this on a cruise ship.
There's no 'riggin' to it, the house takes a very small percentage of the game. The ship I was on had 2 tables with different blinds on each. They also held tourneys and the tables were quite popular. A strict rule that the floor manager had was 'no drinks on the table'. Instead they had cup holders that hung off the end of the table. Seeing the price now, I understand why.