Ideas & Background

So I've made the first purchase of a few supplies for my latest project, so I guess by virtue of accounting purposes:

I'm building an RFID poker table.

Not sure of what it is I speak?  Here's some background...

Some of you may know that I built a camera poker table (and subsequently RE-built a second one) and have been filming tournaments for a couple of years now.  After getting the process down to its most efficient, I realized I made an error when deciding on whether it was worth building or not.  I overestimated a piece of video editing software, and/or my ability to use it.  I knew editing video was a long process, but hadn't really grasped HOW MUCH TIME it takes.  So while I was a "one-man tournament filming extravaganza," I sadly got bottle-necked in the editing process.  The result is hours and hours of footage that is slooowwwwly being edited to a final product (that may even be irrelevant by the time its available).

So, back when I was first debuting the camera table, a player in the league sent me to this site:

http://videopokertable.net/

At first glance I thought it was like those all digital "poker tables" that basically uses a flat-screen monitor laid on its back like a coffee table.  No dealer, no cards, no chips... no fun.  So I didn't pay much attention.  Then he brought it up to me again, so I gave it another look.  The gist of it is that a software programmer, and poker player of course, created a kit that you could purchase to build your own poker table built on RFID technology.

RFID technology uses a transmitter/receiver setup to transmit data.  Security key cards at large corporations use this same thing.

So what this guy did was set up a receiver for each position on the table, and a transmitter in each card. When the cards are dealt over the player's receiver, they are transmitted to a PC and interpreted by the software he's designed.  That software will render graphics for all the RFID data its receiving, automatically, on-the-fly.  In addition you can set up a receiver for the community cards too.  And it does it in a graphic style that mimics the popular poker TV shows.

Well, that was half of the time I was putting in with the footage I shot with the camera table: the graphics.  Creating all the graphics and incorporating them at the proper times in the video editing  process was a big part of the delay.  Now this thing could do it on the fly as you filmed?  That seemed pretty sweet!  Sadly it had a high price tag to go with it.  So I put it aside, subscribed to his email list, and quickly forgot about it.

Fast forward a bit more and I pay a bit more attention to his email update.  Not only has he added in the ability to feed some webcam footage into the software (HD cams at that!), but you can also have those cameras switch automatically to follow the action of the game... essentially doing a rough cut of the game for you.  I kept reading his emails, and watched him develop more features that I had been telling myself I could use.  He also offers a companion app that someone using a tablet can enter the betting action, and have that displayed onscreen too.  And the feature that sold me:  live or delayed broadcasting built right into the software.

That was it, I made up my mind.  Not only would it be a great tool for the Seattle Poker Open and the WPL, but I now have a new league that I'm planning on debuting the table at, since it's tailor made for that league's structure.

So as I said earlier, I've made the first purchase for the project, I picked up the foam for the playing surface and the rails, and the suited felt.  I went with a nice burgundy!  Currently pricing out the lumber and where to purchase it all.  My goal is to have a working table in testing by December.  We'll see....

Stay tuned for updates as they happen.