Patent ID: 8287380

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a handheld device configured to facilitate play of a casino table game at a casino gaming table system, the casino gaming table system including a casino gaming table, the casino gaming table comprising a plurality of player stations, including a first player station, each said player station comprising an associated docking region, the handheld device comprising: at least one processor and at least one interface configured to provide a communication link to the casino gaming table system; the handheld device being configured to: detect a presence of a first docking region at the casino gaming table; identify the first docking region as being associated with the first player station; and verify whether the handheld device has been authorized for communicating with the first docking region for facilitating game play activities relating to the first player station; establish a pairing mechanism between the 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; implement operations relating to game play activities associated with the first player station only after receiving enabling instructions from the casino gaming table system; receive a first portion of card information from the casino gaming table, the first portion of card information including information which identifies a first playing card which has been dealt to a first player at the first player station; and display a graphical representation of the first playing card on a first display of the handheld device.