Excalibur Poker Room Goes Electronic

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Goodbye live dealers, goodbye cards, goodbye poker chips.

It’s all electronic now for Excalibur come Friday when it reopens its poker room which will now feature 12 PokerPro electronic poker tables from PokerTek, making Excalibur the first Las Vegas casino to host an e-poker room.

Excalibur VP of Gaming Operations Todd DeRemier said that Excalibur’s poker room will be going electronic in order to renew interest for its poker room which has been on the decline for the past three years customer-wise.

“In 2005, poker was going gangbusters and everybody added rooms,” said DeRemier. “A small supply of players got spread out between multiple rooms. From our point of view, bringing in the PokerPro tables gives us an opportunity to pique the interest of a different kind of player.”

DeRemier was referring to online poker players who ay want to play live games but still maintain the electronic atmosphere.

MGM Mirage, which owns the Excalibur, explained that the conversion of Excalibur’s poker room into an electronic one was to fit it with its target market. MGM Mirage SVP Scott Ghertner further explained that the move will not be done in MGM’s other properties.

“It’s a great fit for Excalibur,” explained Ghertner. “The Excalibur is a low-end kind of room, as far as stakes are concerned. We think this product fits that group of players.”

Excalibur closed last Sunday and about 40 staff, mostly dealers, were affected by the transition. The new electronic poker room will be manned by just 18 personnel. The remainder of Excalibur’s former employees will be transferred to MGM’s other operating units as needed.

As part of its marketing, the electronic Excalibur will maintain its low stakes offering which during peak hours can be as low as 50 cents to US$1. Freerolls will also be done with US$250 prizes going to winners.