PokerTek, Inc, the industry leader in automated poker tables and virtual gambling software, has received full authorization from the Nevada Gaming Control Board's Technology Division to proceed with a field trial of the PokerPro system in the state of Nevada.

"We're excited that PokerPro has received field trial authorization in Nevada. We've worked hard to make PokerPro a highly secure and feature rich product, and look forward to introducing automated poker into this market for the first time." said Chris Halligan, PokerTek's CEO.

As it was announced a couple of days ago, MGM Mirage decided to transform the Excalibur’s poker room into the first computerized poker room in Las Vegas, however, the automated poker tables have already been in use in several casinos in the U.S including the Trump’s Atlantic City Casino.

PokerPro affirms that its automated poker tables offer many advantages over the regular tables, including more hands are available in a given period of time, and the diminution of judging mistakes during a hand. Also, most casinos have lowered the rake to make the new tables more attractive for players.

But many poker devotees are not convinced yet and see the electronic tables as a boring and cold alternative for a game in where interaction is probably the most relevant element. Also, players say they can't see any significant difference between playing in an online poker site and using an electronic table, actually they see online poker as a better alternative since some of them can play free or at list generate some rakeback every now and then. The majority of players also think that replacing the dealer  with a computer is not an attractive innovation, for many players the dealer's work is irreplaceable and includes tasks such as controling the game, enforcing the rules and keeping all the players focused on the action, which is according to them, something a computer has trouble matching.