According to Dow Jones Newswires, via Yahoo, Australian gambling machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. has purchased a stake in PokerTek. North Carolina-based PokerTek is the maker of PokerPro, a dealer-free, automated poker table meant to bring the convenience of internet poker to card rooms across the world.


aristocrat's nearly 10% stake in the company, valued at $8.6 million, comes along with an exclusive 10-year distribution deal. They will undoubtedly seek to widen PokerPro's user base, which currently consist of 21 tables in six different Native American casinos across the country.

While this is definitely a product whose time has come, it remains to be seen how poker players will take to it. Will players love the increased speed and ease of playing, or will they prefer human dealers and physical cards? What do you think?