Would anyone here like service?

The new and improved old card room at the Muck reopened late Wednesday night, recombining with the old new room, and it still had that new-degenerate smell when I got there yesterday afternoon.

The carpet has been replaced, and that was long overdue and much appreciated by everyone, I'm sure. The bigger and more noticeable changes though were the fancy new tables and electronic communication system.

At the new front desk by the entrance a floor guy takes your name, asks what you want to play and types it into a computer. Big plasma screens around the room show the constantly updated list of games and waiting players, and also the high hand for that hour's bonus and the dealer rotation.

Each table has a little panel in front of the dealer, with a row of buttons and a small LED readout screen. When there's an open seat the dealer pushes a button and the next player on the big board is called to the table. Next to the dealer's panel is a credit card swiper. When a new player sits in, he hands the dealer his Muckleshoot player's card, used to track hours for comps and giveaways, and the dealer swipes him into the system. If he gets up for a break, changes tables or even changes seats, it's noted.

That's good because a lot of players were gaming the system. The Muck always tracked hours for generous quarterly giveaways -- they'd hold nightly drawings for thousands of dollars every three months, with tickets in the barrel determined by hours played, and also freeroll tournaments with starting chips determined by hours -- but the tracking system was extremely loose. Some players would sit into a game, clock in, and then get up and walk around or hang out in the restaurant for hours, returning to play a round just often enough to keep their seats. The result was that when it came time for the quarterly drawings the same couple dozen "players" -- playas, more like -- would pull down thousands of dollars raked from the pots of us solid citizens. That always annoyed me.

But the early reviews of the system yesterday weren't good, at least from the dealers. They all hated the extra work, and already the button panels seemed finicky.

The one thing the dealers seemed to appreciate was the relative quiet in the room. Gone were the constant shouts from the tables to the floor to the tables to the food station to the tables. "Seat on 4! Thank you 4. Mark M for 4-8, table 4. Chips! Service on 3! Thank you 3! Double on 16!"

If you worked there, I guess, that would get old. But I always liked the cacophony. It's part of the experience. And if you hear enough calls for "service" at the next table you might get a bead on some guy who's drinking too much.

At our table yesterday, the dude in Seat 8 sipping vodka and cranberry juice quietly asked the dealer for a cocktail waitress. The dealer must have pushed a button because in a minute, without another word being spoken, Anna was standing there. "Would anyone here like service?"