Patent ID: 8333652

Claim:
A method comprising: implementing, at a first handheld device, an operation relating to game play activities of a casino table game within a casino gaming table system, said casino gaming table system comprising (i) the first handheld device communicatively coupled to the casino gaming table system via a communications link, and (ii) a plurality of casino gaming tables, each casino gaming table including a dealer station and a plurality of player stations, each player station comprising a docking region, the casino table game including a plurality of participants including a dealer and a first player, wherein the first handheld device is registered for the exclusive use of the first player, said operation includes: electronically dealing a first card to the first player via the first handheld device; and displaying, via a first display at the first handheld device, a representation of the first card to the first player, wherein the first handheld device is configured to: be operable at any authorized one of the plurality of casino gaming tables; detect a presence of a first docking region at the casino gaming table; identify the first docking region as being associated with a first player station; verify whether the first handheld device has been authorized for communicating at the first player station; establish a pairing mechanism between the first handheld device and the first docking region, wherein said pairing mechanism disables the handheld device from communicating with any other docking region at the casino gaming table during game play; and implement the operation only after receiving enabling instructions from the casino gaming table system.