On the table at Southland

26 January 2014

By Rudi Schiffer

The table is the dealer and it never makes mistakes in blinds, dealing cards or payouts -- all of which happen quicker than in regular dealer-controlled poker games.

I found this out first hand when I decided to take a shot in a satellite event for a free pass into the $10,000 Arkansas Poker Championship now underway Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Southland Park with the finals set for March 29-30. The buy-in for the satellite is only $30 for $5,000 chips and if you win one of those events you get a seat in the finals where the buy-in is $150.

This is not your daddy's game, and maybe Doyle Brunson would turn up his nose at electronic poker, but after I got the hang of it, I settled in and enjoyed it. There is no shuffling of stacks of chips, just quick payouts on each hand. You turn up your electronic cards on the table with the corner of your poker card that is your entry (and "chips") into the game. It's like a hard credit card and you just flip up the corner of your dealt hand and to see what's underneath. It took me a few hands of losing before I figured this system out so do yourself a favor if you have never played electronic poker so you make your mistakes ahead of serious table time.

You are on a clock also so there is little delay while players make decisions that can be much longer in a regular poker game. The clock is 45 seconds and it spurs action for a quick moving game, which is appreciated by a lot of players.

The poker room is located in the Kennel Club with a signup booth manned on this night by the very affable Danny Gleason, who is the room's poker supervisor.

“We want players to know that we have a competitive poker room providing an alternative to competitive rooms," Gleason explained. "The Arkansas Championship reflects that."

The event has a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000 and if 100 players enter, first place pays $2,800 and the other nine final spots get payouts on a descending percentage basis. You can get further details in the poker room.