Excalibur Poker Room Going to ALL Electronic Tables on 8/22

[LasVegasMichael]

Excalibur Poker Room closed live operations at Midnight on Monday, August 18th, 2008.

The room will be reopening on Friday, August 22nd at 6PM, as an all electronic poker room, with dealer-less pokertek electronic tables.

Summary of Important Information:

: Number of tables: 12
: Electronic Table Rake: 10%/$3 max (no jackpot)
: The wheel spin for aces cracked, high hand spins, and the Bad Beat Jackpot are all history
: This was a property level decision. MGM Mirage Corporation is quick to point out that this was decided strictly on a property level and was not a decision made by the corporation, but by the Excalibur property itself.
: The current jackpot funds will be carried over to the new room and used to fund promotions within the new eroom. These promotions will more then likely include freerolls (with certain number of hours played required to qualify), and other promotions.
Players that wish to play traditional live poker will be directed to Luxor or Mandalay Bay, which is a short walk through the connected walkway through Excalibur. Excalibur will not have any traditional poker tables available for play.
: Over 40 poker dealers and cashiers were laid off due to the transition.
The first few months of the tables use is considered a gaming "Trial period". The Nevada Gaming Commission approved the tables for a gaming trial. During the trial, gaming (and all gaming companies in Nevada) will be keeping a close eye on the Excalibur poker room.
: LasVegasMichael and AllVegasPoker (Doug) were interviewed by CBS local news in Las Vegas concerning this. Please see the youtube videos posted on the top of the forum.



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For anyone that would like to voice their comments, complaints, or compliments concerning the decision to go electronic at Excalibur, I now have the direct e-mail addresses of the two decision makers that are responsible for making the Excalibur an electronic poker room.


Todd DeRemer: Excalibur Vice President of Casino Operations

email: TDeremer@mgmmirage.com

Renee West: Excalibur Chief Executive Officer

email: RWest@mgmmirage.com

I STRONGLY encourage all AVP'ers to voice their opinions regarding this decision to the two individuals listed above, whether positive or negative. AVP Members are truly a strong voice in the Las Vegas Poker world, and it is imperative that all of our voices are heard.

Thank you!

[suited76]

Hopefully not a trend that continues up the strip!

[implantclinics.com]

guess I wont be playing excal anymore

[AlaskaGal]

Wow, that's huge. This is a first for Vegas isn't it?

[lesvegas]

Whats next? Will they increase room rates to compensate for fewer travellers? Remove meat from the buffet? Stop serving free drinks?

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

[LasVegasMichael]

Yes, this is the first in Nevada.

Most of those dealers have been there since 1990. All are full time, and can be expected to be laid off.

This is a very dark day in Vegas poker, and cold hard proof that the poker boom is long over.

[AlaskaGal]

I can't say that I won't ever go back there because I am a little curious about how these electronic tables work. I will probably stop in there and try them just to say I have done it but after that, I doubt I will be back.

It is sad that people are losing their jobs and I kind of liked the Excalibur room. I think it was the first place I played live poker on the strip.

[Railbird]

Ugh! Hope this is not the beginning of a trend. Doesn't really affect me much though and furthers my liking of the mid to north Strip area.

[talon1964]

Excalibur was the first live room that I ever played poker in. It is a very sad day, I hope it doesn't become a mainstay in Vegas.

[speedym79]

Wow, that is very unfortunate I'm glad I played there a couple nights ago, I guess for the final time. I feel sorry for the dealers, but hopefully they will get a severance package or at least be able to retire, since most probably will not be able to get work elsewhere.

[HLV Poker Guy]

Hello all,

Originally posted by "that pope" in the Excal thread, and confirmed by me over the phone with Gail, the Swing Shift Manager, the Excalibur will be going to all electronic tables as of August 18th, 2008.

The Excalibur is one of the oldest continuously operating poker rooms on the Strip. Almost all the dealers there have been dealing cards at the Excal since they opened in 1990.

This is truly a sad day for the employees of the Excalibur, and for Vegas poker players in general.

So, anyone want to hazard a guess as to how long it lasts before the tables are more expensive than they are worth?

[LasVegasMichael]

I sincerely hope that this fails sooner rather then later.

The Excal has always been a budget minded room.

All extra board dealers were laid off months ago, leaving only the long term full timers dealing in the room.

They only have 4 autoshufflers, out of 11 tables, yet on a typical weeknight, you would see at least 6 live games running, with more on the weekend. Though they recently got new felts and new chairs, it has always been obvious that the room was running on quite a tight overall budget.

Thing is, the room is always busy. It has 4K hotel rooms above it, and there are over 15K rooms on that corner. The room has always appeared to be a financially successful poker room. I would have expected this from one of the smaller, newer rooms, but to come from Excalobur is truly shocking to me.

[Gravel]

Our local Casino is in the process of adding a 10 table poker room as part of it ongoing expansion, increased parking, more slots, and adding an entertainment venue, basically becoming more like a Vegas Casino. For the last 8 months they have had 2 electronic poker tables that at first were popular but are now sitting empty most of the time I was told they will remove them when the new "live" room opens. I tried these tables and I didn't like it, I like the feel of the cards and handling the chips. 50 hands an hour plus or minus. In one 3 hour sesion the table I was at had a straight flush, 4 four of a kinds and so many full houses I wonder what kind of RGN process they use. Most of the better player are going to wait the 7 to 8 months for the real poker room to open. When I travel to vegas I will avoid these tables and support those rooms that support live poker and provide an income for dealers that from time to time contribute to an excellent poker experience.
Just my 2 cents

[minton]

hopefully this tanks horribly and no other rooms will try it. I played on them in Memphis, I would rather play online at home, the tables have their place (mainly cruise ships and other small 1 or 2 table venues)

I think it will get some interest early as people try it out, but I don't think it will last very long

[Railbird]

Just like I won't go through the automatic checkout at the grocery with no teller I won't play poker in a casino without a dealer present..... ya gotta have some kind of principles in life.

Seriously, I cannot imagine this being a good idea unless a casino is just ready to give up on poker and shut their room down, which is basically how I take it.

[implantclinics.com]

excal reallyt started losing when they moed the poker room. No railbirds to join in. In the evening they would have 10-12 tables running if not more

[talon1964]

After letting the news of the Excalibur digest, I understand the position that some exec at MGM Mirage was in. Let me state I definitely do not agree with the decision, but I understand the situation. This should further exemplify to some that those chips being dropped in the box (the rake), pay quite a few things before they show a profit. Heck, most casinos would probably rather fill up the area with slot machines than to worry about paying a manager, dealers, etc.

MGM/Mirage just posted that they had a huge drop in net profit over the past quarter. The economy didn’t help, people are still coming here, but they are not bringing too much to gamble with. The fire and shut down at Monte Carlo didn’t help either. Meanwhile, they are trying to fund the completion of CityCenter. This all boils down to higher management putting pressure on middle management to find ways to squeeze more dollars of profit out. Along comes the owner of these electronic tables (seeing a perfect situation), and gives out these terrific sales pitches…1) less employee payroll -- you just have to pay someone to take in the money and fund out what they cash out with (heck maybe they will incorporate the ticket system like the slot machines)…2) no more employees to pay health care to, feed when on break, etc…3) still make the full rake that you made before. That number three point is a big one. If the salesperson knows roughly what you pour in to pay your employees to run the games, that has just become profit in their eyes. What the exec doesn’t see is the drop in business, and the subsequent demise of these electronic machines. They have a place for these machines, cruise ships, greyhound tracks, etc….but not in Vegas.

[allvegaspoker]

My first thoughts? This is big!

Next thoughts? I'm a little sad to see the Excalibur poker room converted, but I'll get over it. It was one of my regular haunts during grad school when I was learning to play cards. I enjoyed many drunken nights there "studying up."

I knew it was only a matter of time before a Vegas poker room brought in the electronic tables; but I didn't expect a medium size room like the Excalibur to go "all electronic" all at once -- I'm surprised they didn't test the response with just a couple of electronic tables.

Definitely an interesting development in the Vegas poker community.

[SouthPointPerry]

To all dealers, floorpeople and shiftmanagers.

I said this before. If you play in the Excaliber after they go to Electronic tables you deserve to lose your job. Yes, we will all go see the tables. But to reward the jackasses in upper management by giving them hours of business is insane.

This decision is being made by some short sighted executive who doesn't understand poker or poker players. Middle management will be rewarded for cutting labor. And when the revenue plumits in the room, they will blame the poker boom being over as the cause.

What management doesn't get and for some reason never will is; poker is a social game. In the low limit levels it is a people game, a drinking game. New players are a little intimidated by the game and need to have their hands held to ease into the game. An E-table will basically turn new players away, the way bacarat or other somewhat confusing games don't attract new customers.

Many of the dealers in the Excalibur, I assume, play in their own room. That business is gone. Most of the locals who have friends that deal there will probably find a new place to play. And if we're smart, everyone on this sight will stay away.

Obviously, Mike and I will review this room after the change. But I will spend about 15 minutes there tops.

Perry

[TheVegasFlea]

Interestingly enough, the subject of electronic tables came up at the live table I playing at today. There was no discussion of the Excalibur, as we didn't know this was happening. The guy that brought it up is a regular player at Foxwoods Casino back east. He told us that they put a few of those machines in there, and they sat dead. Of course, players had the option of playing live poker or those machines. The discussion led to the fact that most that have played on them, compared it to online poker, with the feeling of "what's the point then?" He told us that it was a failed experiment, and that they removed the machines shortly thereafter.

My guess is that those machines at the Excalibur may get a little action from tourists from time to time, especially beginners. But, I'm sure that anybody that has ever played live poker will be going elsewhere, searching for a real game.

As far as this starting a trend in Las Vegas...I seriously doubt it. Some of the smaller rooms may try this, but the larger rooms and/or well established rooms (TI for example) will be in no danger. Quite the opposite actually, they'll benefit from it with more players.