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Korean Professional Poker Table with Embedded Camera and RFID
The invention of hole card cams may have been one of the single most important moments in poker’s history. Although the game was always popular and had a large following, it wasn’t a good fit for TV until this technology was introduced. It allowed viewers at home to see the players’ hole cards which increased their engagement with the show and helped them identify with the player on a much deeper level.
The first hole cams were introduced by ESPN in 2002 for their WSOP coverage and they made a huge impact. It’s likely that Moneymaker’s victory in the 2003 WSOP Main Event would have been much less significant without this technology. It wasn’t just that he won, it was the fact that people got to witness his every strategy and bluff throughout the tournament.
As a result of the invention of hole card cameras poker shows started to take off and the game’s popularity exploded. However, the technology wasn’t without its issues. One such issue was that the cameras could be spoofed by chips, card caps and other items placed on the table.
In order to solve this problem a new type of card was invented that has an RFID chip embedded within or imprinted upon it. The cards can be scanned by an RFID reader that is attached to the poker table using an antenna and transceiver. This information is then transmitted to a central receiving unit that can be synchronized with other optical/video or graphic information to accurately track each played hand.