Last Friday the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas replaced all of the tables in their poker room with the PokerPro electronic poker tables made by PokerTek. This is a 90 day field test and the first PokerTek tables to be installed in Nevada.

As poker revenue declines around the country, many casinos have been adding these electronic poker tables to their poker rooms and some of them like the Excalibur are using them to replace existing poker tables that require a dealer. The Excalibur said that the poker staff would be cut from 55 to 15 because of the change.

I have played on the PokerPro tables and found that there are several advantages. The games are faster, there are no dealer mistakes and you do not have to tip when you win a pot.

This week's topic of discussion in the forum is the electronic poker tables: Have you played on the electronic poker tables? What was your experience?

After months of debates and speculation, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted to lift the ban on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices inside the casino sports books for one year. Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard said that cell phone use would be monitored during the year to make sure that cell phones were not being used for illegal activities such as messenger betting, where a person is paid to place a bet for another person.

It is illegal for someone to make a bet for another person that they are talking to on the phone. The most common occurrence is placing wagers for persons in another State where sports betting is not legal. If messenger betting or other problems are reported, Bernhard said the suspension of the cell phone ban could be quickly canceled. If no problems occur the cell phone ban could be lifted permanently.

I was playing in a sit and go tournament this morning and I was called a complete idiot (and a few other words I can't publish) after I busted a player who had pocket aces with my six and eight of hearts. Unfortunately for him he gave me the correct odds to make the call I did. Here is how it happened.

It was a no limit tournament and the blinds were $25 and $50. I was in the big blind with the six and eight of hearts. Everyone folded to the guy on the button who only raised a single bet of $50 making it $100. The small blind folded and it was up to me. There was $175 in the pot and it would only cost me an additional $50 to call his raise so I was getting 3.5 to 1 in pot odds to make the call. I knew that against a random I was less than a 3.5 to 1 underdog so I was getting the correct pot odds to make the call.

There were three hearts on the flop giving me a flush. I checked and he went all in with his pocket aces. I called and knocked him out. He then started ranting that I was an idiot for defending my blind when in fact he made two mistakes that ultimately knocked him out of the tournament. First he only raised a single bet which gave me the correct odds to call his pre-flop raise. If he had raised more I would not have called. Secondly, he moved all in after there were three suited cards on the flop. I think if he really wants to call someone an idiot he should look in the mirror.

A few years ago I took my cousin Steve to Las Vegas with me. It was his first trip to a casino. Before we left I taught him how to play video poker. I explained that you get a bonus for the royal flush when you play five coins and I reminded him always play five coins on each hand.

After we checked into our room we went down to the casino to play. Steve headed for the video poker machines and I went to play craps. About 45 minutes later Steve came running over to the craps table to tell me he had just hit a royal flush. I knew he was playing the quarter machines which paid $1,000 for the royal. I said, "Congratulations, your trip is paid for."

He then told me he had only been playing one coin at a time and instead of collecting $1,000 he won $62.50. I told him that it was a shame that he lost out on the $1,000 and he said, "That's ok, I'll just hit another royal."

For the next three days he played video poker for about 14 hours a day. He never got another on royal and he went home broke. He found out that hitting the royal was as easy. He was just lucky to hit one so early in the trip.

Casinos would love to have a player win on their first trip. It makes them think that winning is easy and encourages them to go back. Did you win on your fist visit to the casino? Share your story in the forum Topic of the Week.