Remember the days when you might be lucky enough to find a play-for-fun video poker terminal in a restaurant or bar? Well, if poker is your favorite game, or at least a game you enjoy playing, your luck has just gotten even better now that PokerTek has launched their Poker Pro™ Heads-Up Challenge World Series of Poker Edition automated poker tables. Targeted for the coin-op market in bars and entertainment venues throughout the world, the world's first electronic poker table has so far proven to be a major hit with players who have had the chance to give it a test run.

Such was the case at the 2007 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas at the Rio Hotel and Casino, where the Head's Up WSOP edition was unveiled to a large crowd gathered around to see poker pros, Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari test out the table for what was apparently supposed to be their first time. The poker table was also on exhibit at the Gaming Life Expo, where interested guests were invited to test out the table for themselves. The reviews have been nothing short of positive, especially WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack's remarks that the table's are the "biggest revolution in poker".

The tables, which can be viewed at pokertek.com, accepts bills and credit cards for playing games, which runs $2 per player. All games are for entertainment purposes only, which marks PokerTek's debut in the amusement gaming industry. Until now, PokerTek's ten player Poker Pro electronic table has been targeted at casinos, citing its effectiveness at shuffling and dealing cards, splitting pots, generating side pots and dealing an average of 50-60% more hands per hour than a manual dealer in a casino. Aspers at The Gate, Newcastle recently held their own promotion celebrating the tables, which expectedly generated a lot of interest.

The Head's Up electronic poker table, however, is strictly for the amusement sector. PokerTek has already secured exclusive distribution deals with eight of the leading game distributors in the U.S. who will be testing out a limited number of tables with their customers in order to gauge the size of reorders. Tests have already been done in bars in Charlotte, NC, which is near PokerTek's Mathews, North Carolina headquarters.