The early afternoon players sitting at one of the eight new poker tables at Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison resemble those you might see during a televised high-stakes tournament on ESPN2.

Wearing hoodies, ball caps and ear buds, the players rest their elbows on the black leather padding and take care not to spill their soft drinks. There’s little chit-chat between the hands of Texas Hold ’em.

But there’s one key difference between this carpeted poker room near the Yahara Golf Course and a traditional “Las Vegas-style” casino: no cards, no chips and no dealer.

All the action is electronic, triggered by a touch screen that regulars know works best with the flick of a credit card instead of a sweaty fingertip. Dealing up to one hand per minute, the machines keep the play snappy.

Players press a button to view their two down cards and place their bets. The machine provides the sound effects: the click of plastic chips, the ruffling of cards on the flop.

“It’s so fast I can play two or three hours and get in as many hands as I could playing five hours somewhere else,” says Tyrell Rosemeyer, 20, a UW-Madison junior from Fennimore who was visiting Ho-Chunk Madison recently with his girlfriend and waiting for an open spot at a 10-player table.