New technology in Poker tables: -EV or +EV?

[spex x]

I like to keep abreast of the goings on in the casino industry. Well the Gaming Technology Summit ended a while back and I just read about it in Casino Journal. The platinum prize winner for most innovative technology is a new breed of poker table called the PokerTek PokerPro. This is a dealerless poker table. No dealers, no cards, no chips - the game takes place on small touch screens that each player sits in front of. So its like playing online, except that your oppenent is accross the table from you. Check it out at www.pokertek.com. Besides saving the casino on dealers, the table can deal out 40-60% more hands per hour than a normal game.

So the question is, is this a good or bad technology for poker players. Personally, I think that this new technology takes most of the fun out of the game. It represents the virtualizing of our poker reality. Frankly, I only go to casinos to play cards in order to get out from in front of the computer and interact with friends. I could see the PokerTek table killing the comeraderie that exists around the table (especially the low-limit tables).

On the other hand, the increased number of hands dealt may translate to bigger profits for good players. We give up some +EV by losing a lot of physical tells - chips shuffling, putting chips into the pot, etc. However, the increased hands per hour would probably make up for the money lost on physical tells, plus some.

In my opinion, poker is supposed to be fun. The fun of the game is lost with this new technology. And although I might make more money with the PokerTek table, it is important to remember that the fun is worth something too. I would rather give up a little +EV for having a little more fun. But I'd love to hear anyone elses' thoughts on this technology and how you guys think it will effect EV.