As you can see from the clip above, the interface is intuitive, the animations are fluid and the game faster. In fact, what started as a way to overcome some of the problems with the RFID table resulted in more poker actually being played. In Andrew’s own words:

“The reason I developed [the virtual table] was because of some problems with RFID I couldn’t solve – the biggest being how to get accurate chip counts for players. I did experiment with RFID-embedded gaming chips but it was impossible to get players to keep them stacked in a way that would ensure reliable counts. The virtual table does have other advantages – since there’s no manual dealer to shuffle cards, we play a lot more poker – almost double the number of hands per hour.”

The tech inside the table is impressive: it contains 3 x 32-inch LCD screens with custom software written by Andrew in C# using Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2008. The UI was created with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), while a seperate Windows app, also developed using C# runs on a connected network PC to stream HD video and graphics of the poker match online.

The table uses nine projected capacitance touchscreens – one for each player – to allow touchscreen control of each person’s cards.

“PCT isn’t true multitouch, due to a principle called occlusion. That’s why I had to use a separate touchscreen for each player. I also had to develop code which reads the raw data from the touchscreens and approximates the size and position of the users hand or finger. It’s a hack very similar to the way an iPhone works – it’s not true multitouch because it can really only sense 2 touchpoints reliably.”

But the touchscreen interface has been the most difficult element of the table for Andrew to get right.

“Getting the touchscreens to work just right has been the biggest challenge, correctly recognising gestures. Finding a good compromise between usability and safety (in other words, preventing ‘accidental’ folds or bets) has taken a lot of time.”

The online streaming of the poker match has also been improved by the virtual nature of the table. Rather than relying on RFID, the table now does everything over ethernet, which is faster and more reliable.

Unlike the RFID table, Andrew is actually planning on selling the Hold ‘em 1000 Virtual Poker Table. Even though he only announced it on his website a few days ago, he’s already received a large number of commercial inquiries. But it won’t come cheap – you can expect to pay $20,000 plus shipping to get your hands on your own table. Sure, it’s expensive, but considering the amount of time and effort Andrew’s clearly put into creating this beast, not to mention the high-tech wizardry inside, $20K is a downright bargain.

You can get more info on the table, as well as contact Andrew about ordering one for your very own on his website. And if you’re wondering what happened to the old RFID table, rest easy knowing that it’s safe: “The RFID table is safely stored away – I think I’m going to start a poker table museum”.

[Video Poker Table – Thanks Ben!]

We’ve got a video of the table in action after the jump, as well as a brief interview with Andrew himself.
Giz: What inspired you to build your poker table? How much did it cost you?
Andrew Milner: Technology and poker are two of my passions, so the video poker table seemed like the perfect project. I built it in my spare time over about 3 months. Not including my time, it cost about $A7k to build. I am currently investigating the possibility of building a less expensive production version for sale.
Giz: Can you tell me a bit about the video setup? Did you code the windows-based software yourself?
AM: The system uses 4 colour CCD cameras, each connected to a USB capture device that encodes the video into an H.264 stream. The software on the PC (which I did code myself) takes these streams and mixes them in real time based on the data generated by the RFID reader under the table. The output is streamed live in WMV format.
Giz: Have you designed/built any other high-tech products/furniture? Is there anything exciting coming from you in the future?
AM:I have worked on numerous hi tech projects – I hold a patent on a system that uses RFID to track liquor usage for the hospitality industry, and my current project is the video poker table v2 which I can’t talk about just yet other than to say it will be a completely different concept to the original video poker table. I’m chairman of technology services company L7 Solutions, based in Perth, and was a director of ISP iiNet Ltd for 9 years up until a couple of months ago.

If you want a closer look at the building process of Andrew’s poker table, make sure you check out his site.

[Video Poker Table - Thanks Ben!]

Each match consisted of 500 hands, with Polaris receiving the same cards in one room that the professionals received in another room. The duplicate system was used so that luck would be less of a factor and the game could be played as much on skill as possible.

Historically, computers have been better at playing games where all information is already on the board, such as chess. With poker, players have to make judgments based on incomplete information. Getting artificial intelligence to do that well is a big step, since real life problems are generally more like poker than like chess. [MSN Cosmic Log]

The table comes pre-configured with blackjack and Texas Hold Em’ and can deal up to 50 hands in an hour. It can even allow users to play both games simultaneously. In other words, it completely eliminates the need for cards, chips and a dealer for maximum gambling efficiency. Games like this are already available in many casinos, but if you want to get one for your home, you had better fine-tune your card-counting system, because it will cost you around US$30,000. [Play Hard Gaming via BornRich]

Then yeah, this 2GB poker chip flash drive is totally worth your US$28. Because we both know that when you told all those stories about the “system” you used to make boatloads of cash playing online poker, you were just bluffing. [Product via OhGizmo]

Playing Texas Hold ‘Em, each team was put in separate rooms, and dealt identical hands, eliminating one of the most important aspects of poker – the tell – when shiftiness and facial tics can give the game away.

After a first-round draw, the humans were comprehensively beaten in the second round, and it was not until the third round, on the following day, when the AI team made a strategic cock-up, choosing a different version of the program that was supposed to add a level of adaptability and “learning.”

It cost them the match. The humans came right back at Polaris, winning the final two rounds. Both men said that the computer, which won a pot of $2,400 in the final round when it pitted a royal flush against Eslami’s three-of-a-kind, was the hardest opponent they had ever had to play against.

Unlike chess, poker is a harder game to write software for, because of the the unknown element involved in the hidden cards. Programmers also need to factor in the element of bluffing, which means catering for lots of different strategies and algorithms.

Although Polaris came out the loser this time, it is generally thought that it won’t be long before the machines will be besting men at poker. One thing that will remain beyond computers, however, is the ability is get ‘em off as charmingly as we do in the strip version of the game. [New York Times]