Quote:
Originally Posted by fuxxnuts
Hey JackSmooth,
Havent been really following every post in the thread so i dont know if you've been to macau lately, but i would say the casinos inside are much better air quality than the ones in vegas, as they have "smoke rooms" in the casinos.
Considering that you spend a ton of time at the tables as a poker player, this point really doesnt make a lot of sense. Also, air quality outside in macau didnt seem too problematic given my small sample size. remember that macau is by the ocean. I can also tell how it could possibly get super humid.
Not sure if you were trying to "convince" people of the pros of not going to macau, but overall i'd say its pretty close. In fact, given the action it just depends on the player i'd say.
Lastly, regarding competant dealers, i'd say that its a mix in both US and MACAU. Things i've noticed so far since ive been to both locations:
US - dealers are notorious for rolling the deck, and sometimes making dumb errors when someone shovels all in, and the other player asks for a count. i've been in several situations where the dealer gives me the "you figure it out look" after telling me that "it looks like $1300", but they forget to check for large chips hiding from view on the side behind bottled water or under a cropped up phone until I ask for a proper count the second time.
MACAU - i rarely see rolling of the deck, though i've experienced dealers just ship stacks over to other players without seeing who covers who. For instance in one pot I went all in for I think a total of $38k HKD and the dealer was about to ship over someones stack which was like $55k HKD until one of the locals said in chinese "hey hey hey, he doesnt cover...", since the person who lost was a friend/local. If the tables were turned I'd would have been screwed unless I ask myself. I think its a point of laziness, but also the fact that macau games are slightly different as players are allowed to have any denomination chip on the table, sort of like the equivalent of having a $5k usd flag at the table at a $2/5 game, but at the bottom of the stack. (which is not really allowed, but if you have done your homework already... dont complain about this stuff at the tables)
Hey Fuxxnuts,
Just to clear up any confusion, I'm a long term resident in Macau and I try to base what I write on facts or at least the seeming consensus of the pros here.
Here are the facts about the air quality: Macau's air is by far worse than the air quality of pretty much every city in America. As I'm writing this, Macau's air quality index (AQI) is literally labeled as "Unhealthy"
http://aqicn.org/city/macau/calcada-do-poco/ and I have seen the air go all the way up to very unhealthy and even hazardous in just the past few months.
And here is the AQI of Las Vegas:
http://aqicn.org/city/usa/clark-county/sunrise-acres/
So I try not to use subjective judgments like "it doesn't seem that bad" when there are scientific data to objectively critique the air with. And the air here is objectively bad unfortunately. Being next to the ocean is nice for the breeze though.
And yes, I 100% think you should not come here to play professionally if you don't have a $20,000 bankroll/liferoll. Again, I tried to approach this objectively by laying out the inevitable expenses of just living here and the swings of poker. My audience is the English speakers in Europe, America, and Australia, so flights here are going to cost from $500-$1000+ depending on where you are and when you book your flight. Housing expenses can vary a lot depending on what you can endure. If you are okay living in hostels or sharing rooms with multiple people, then this expense can be just a few hundred dollars a month. But if you are looking for better housing options, you should put aside $1,000+ per month for decent living conditions. If you are looking to lease an apartment, you need to put up a few thousand more for downpayment, finder's fee, and first month rent. Don't forget the utilities, internet, phone cards, etc.
And can we agree we should at least be prepared for a 5 buy-in downswing? That it's just inevitable even for the best players? Okay, so you add all the unavoidable living expenses with the downswing, and that's the kind of thing you need to be properly bankrolled for. That's why I think you need a bare minimum of $20,000. I think that this is just being realistic, if you disagree then you have an open forum to layout your case.
And if your opinion is that Macau dealers are pretty much on par with American dealers, then we'll just need to agree to disagree because there's no objective evidence we can use to settle this. But it is my opinion and the opinion of all the pros I know here that Macau's dealers, floors, and pretty much all service staffs are the worst of any casino resorts in the world. I will give praise to Wynn's poker room for being well run because they actually hired an experienced American floor to run the show. And the Wynn hotels in general seem to have WAY better service than any others. But at pretty much every other poker room, it is often a clustermess. The mix of apathy, contempt, and open hostility towards customers is disgusting. This is because Macau has a monopoly on Chinese gambling and they have laws that prevent businesses from hiring outside workers. So this means the casinos here have to hire from the small unmotivated, uneducated, and unqualified pool of workers here. You have middle school drop outs who can hardly add or subtract who are in charge of making rulings on your money, it gets really absurd.
But don't just listen to me, I'd love to have local pros all chime in. Again, I think the Wynn is easily the best run room here with the best service, but on the whole, I'm unimpressed by how things are done here.
