Poker table
Poker tables are particularly common in casinos for playing the card game of poker . They are special tables with a play surface made of fabric. A table is usually designed for 10 players and one croupier (also called dealer in poker ).
Dimensions and material
A poker table is usually only so big that all eleven people can sit relatively close to each other at the table. The table has an oval shape.
The playing surface of the poker table is usually covered with friezes , especially in the professional field . In the hobby and private sector, felt is often used for reasons of cost . The playing area is partly divided into areas by certain lines in order to make the game more clear. There are no such aids in the professional field, in casinos and especially in television broadcasts; often the casino, TV show and / or sponsor logos are printed on it. The playing surface is usually surrounded by an armrest that is padded or made of polished wood.
Cameras
Small cameras integrated into the tables ( hole cam or pocket cam ) make the hole cards (the cards that each participating player receives face-down at the beginning of each round) visible to television viewers when watching the game. This possibility became known when the cameras were first used in early 1997 on the UK poker show Late Night Poker . The cameras achieved widespread awareness and acceptance through broadcasting the World Series of Poker 2002 and the World Poker Tour 2003.
Often the players are obliged by the television station or the organizer of a tournament to reveal their tickets through this option. Players and experts only occasionally criticize these cameras for the possibility of fraud.
This transmission technology has also contributed significantly to the fact that poker experienced a boom.
variants
A distinction is made between three variants of table cameras:
- A glass plate is integrated into the playing area in front of each player. Under the table are cameras showing the cards through the glass. This option is mostly used in Europe.
- The cameras are installed on the inside between the armrest and the playing surface. This is used, among other things, in the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour .
- The cards are pushed into so-called Pokertronic card pockets and photographed from below. This arrangement is necessary for software-controlled detection in order to exclude interference from strong light radiation. This solution is mainly used for live_on_tape and live streaming poker broadcasts.
safety
So that a player or spectators present can not receive information about the cards through a live broadcast , the commentators must be separated from the players and the spectators present. A transmission delay of several minutes is also common in order to ensure additional security.
Many tournaments are not broadcast live, but recorded. In this case, the commentary is often only recorded and added to the image material after the end of a game of poker, if the commentators have free access to the recorded videos of the hole cards.
Very few members of a television broadcast have access to the images from the cameras while they are being recorded. The rooms in which the image material is visible and processed without delay are generally well secured.
