heard there's a new room opening up, no?

There was a lady dealer in her mid/late twenties who was very efficient. Certainly when she was at my table the game speeded up. The problems with game speed go deeper than the dealers though, the illogical proceedures that the dealers are forced to go through after each hand make it impossible for the best dealers to keep the game moving at a decent pace.

Why aren't the dealers allowed to stack the pot during the hand so that working out the 5% rake becomes so much quicker when the hand is over ?

Why ARE players forced to buy poker chips at the table, thus slowing the game down ? Why AREN'T players told to cash in their poker chips at the cage ? I was the only person who did not slow the game down by asking for my poker chips to be converted to casino chips when I wanted to leave the game.

Why are so few small denomination chips given to players, meaning that a dealer has to make change several times during almost every hand ?

The service by the waitresses was good considering they spoke no english. Certainly it was much better than in a busy Vegas casino, when it might take 30 mins to spot a cocktail girl. Sadly the tea and coffee were dreadful and the sandwiches, well lets just say that if a box of those same sandwiches washed up on Tom Hanks's island when he was a castaway then he would have used at least half the contents to fatten the fish he was trying to catch, rather than eat the lot himself.

Would anyone be able to give any update about Macau's live Poker?
Hows the game these days? What kinda blinds? Player skills? Dealer skills? Anyone else than Lisboa offers games already?

All information is much appriciated since im going there this June

on the other hand, macau is FULL of sexy asian hookers

Agree. Last week I won HK$20,000 and spent HK$2,500 for a 3 way party

I need info too, I'm going to Macau next week for 10 days then fishing in the Philippines.

Any of you in Macau tomorrow (Thursday) night who might be interested in a NLHE tournament should come to the Grand Waldo Casino in Cotai at about 730PM to register (it starts at 8PM). We have seats for 100 players.

To be clear, this is a freeroll *with no entry fee* but there will be decent prizes. We'll announce those details tomorrow. Much more info to follow...

BTW, for those of you who have never been there before, the easiest way to get there is to hail a cab and tell the driver "Gum Toe". Then when you arrive just ask for "Poker".

25 hands an hour is not that fast, I would consider that a slow table especially if it was a no limit table.

How much holdem does Grand Waldo have now?

I only knew they had a electronic poker table, but maybe there are still using the poker tables from APPT?

Played in Grand Lisboa twice this week and found the action very good (booked wins in each session).

Much of what's been said is still true such as the pita of buying chips at the table and slow pace (even worse when you get a young guy chatting up the female dealers and the supervisor doesn't seem to care).

Great coffee, sandwiches were bland as advertised but try the dim sum, I saw someone order it the other day and I was pleasantly suprised to see such offerings.

One thing that made no sense is the signs on the tables which seem to advertise stakes double of what was actually being run. i.e. 20/40 sign for a 10/20 table, etc

To the Swedish guy I played on Monday (if you read 2p2 even), nice meeting you, hope you had a good flight back and sorry for the donk call but I was going on a read (that you were leaving soon and wanted to steal a big pot before going).

I went to Macau in December 2007, and played poker at Starworld. They had several electronic tables, but it was deserted when I got there in the early afternoon. There were two guys there waiting around, so we started up a game. By 5pm, we had a full table, playing HK$10-20 NL holdem. I think the max buy-in was HK$2000. I think the exchange rate is around US$1:HK$8.

The game was generally loose and passive and there were only a few guys who knew what they were doing. But, the experienced players were all LAGs. I could only stay a few hours, which was unfortunate, because I was up HK$4500 when I had to go.

I;ve been back to Grand Lisboa a few times since my last message. Still enjoyable and loose enough to make it worthwhile. The dealers seem better each time; faster as well as better looking - we had a stunner for while tonight. Margaud, sorry if it was me hitting on your dealer but she was gorgeous.

I asked the good kiwi Manager tonight about the cash buy-ins at the tables. Apparently it's got something to do with the government inspectors not allowing a cashdesk. I work in another large casino in Macau (one that doesn't have poker) and I know that the government inspectors can be absolute f8cking idiots about the simplest things. So it didn't surprise me.

I also asked about the signs. Easy mistake - They have limit signs on the No-Limit tables. And now the government inspectors are being stupid about changing them. Again, no surprise there. I can tell you many stories about these fools, their made-up rules and the huge amount of say they have about the running of the casinos here.

Some good news; Grand Lisboa are constructing a poker room. Looking at the decor of the rest of the building, it should be quite good. A poker room and access to a huge amount of tourists and gamblers who are just absolutely dying to play some cards -- any two cards will do -- I'm looking forward to it!!



I also went to the new room at grand waldo for a look at the new game. Nice surroundings but no players. there was 2 tables - one with 6 players and the other with 7 players. Commission is a bit lower. Dealer awful, the girlies at grand Lisboa are going more than twice as fast. No free softdrinks, beer or sandwiches. And the manager was quite argumentative when the dealer and supervisor cocked up the blinds after someone cashed out.
I won a little, but it was an excruciating experience. 8 hands the first hour, 6 the second (due to the <tosser> manager attacking all us customers about the blinds issue).

I think that after counting my taxi fare each way ($60+$60) and the three cokes (another $60), I might have won $12 US . I will not be going back - especially as the management was so unknowledgable and argumentative everytime that the dealer/supervisor made a mistake. Which was nearly every hand. Terrible experience.

"Just ask for "Poker"", my pimply white bottom. It took about 25 mins to find anyone who had any idea what poker was. I got pointed at a caribbean stud table not once, but twice!
Poker Tatsu, if you are a manager there, I would have a serious look at the operation. I've been in many 'newly-opened' poker rooms and this was the worst experience I've had yet. The staff was undertrained (incompetent), rude and argumentative. I've had better service... well, anywhere else I've ever been.
I work in a larger Macau casino and it's pretty common knowledge that G.Waldo doesn't make money and has had to retrench staff into other casinos due to lack of action. A failed poker-room would only make the matter worse. Get out while you can, buddy!

When I got to Grand Lisboa and asked for poker, I was directed to the correct floor. But upon reaching the 2nd (or 3rd, depending on culture) floor, I asked again and was directed to Carib Poker, then walking around I found another game called Q Poker (player dealt 3 cards I think, didn't stick around to find out)...but after repeated inquiries "Texas Holdem Poker" seemed to do the trick and they pointed me in the right direction.

It might just be easier to ask where the Sportsbook is as the poker pit is right in front of their sportsbook.

gltda, I was there on Mon nite and Thur late afternoon on the 10/20. Were you there by chance? The guy hitting on the dealer was asian, thin, wearing glasses and listening to an ipod in seat 1. Not you I hope, I called the guy down after he rr'd me on an Axx flop when it was limped pf, then mucked when I showed A9.

Margaud, That's definitely not me.
But I have been guilty of hitting on the occasional dealer. Quite a few pretty girls there. And all so pleased to practise their english.

Oh dear, one day I will be a dirty old man. Please let it be tomorrow!!

Do you play any musical instuments?

No. (am I missing a joke here?)

Justing checking who you are.

very funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poker is definitely getting bigger in Macau.
Grand Lisboa runs 24 hr poker. They have 8 tables, usually full on Friday, Saturday. Even yesterday (Thursday) they were full with a waiting list. Lots of brand new players who just want to gamble. Variance is high but the good players usually come out on top. Well so far anyway! No tournaments and the area is a converted baccarat area but the amount of fish makes up for the lack of setup.
PokerStars has a new room down in Cotai. From what I hear, they are open in the evenings and nighttime only. The pokerstars thread says that they usually run 3-4 tables. It's rumored that there aren't so many bad players there so EV might be harder to get. Probably the best thing is that they have a tournament structure already in place with a nice range of buy-ins available on the weekends. It's a long way to go but I might have to try my luck soon.

I play at Grand Lisboa (and some nice juicy home games) and it's common to see Japanese, Korean, Australians and Americans playing. But don't forget there's a billion people in China who haven't played poker before, let alone nearly another 2 billion in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand.

hey gltda, send me a pm. I bet we've met a bunch of times already...curious who you are.

I should be at the Grand Lisboa tomorrow afternoon.

Was at Pokerstars Macau at the Grand Waldo.

Ghost-Town, on a Sunday afternoon. One tournament going on, no cash games. I had to constantly poll the people in the room for a 10/20 HKD game (equivalent to $1/$2). When I started messing around in a low buy in tournament, finally there was enough people for the cash game. I moneyed and then sat down in with 6 others. After about 2 hrs, the table shrunk to 4 others, I got up and left.

I know I made the right decision when I heard the players talking about the Lisboa and how slow they are in dealing. The room itself is nice, the staff is competent and the dealing is impeccable. But there is NO ONE there. It's insane. I am very curious if this place fills up during the APPT event, and if so I would probably go again but I wouldn't even sneak into this place on a normal day.

I'll TR this trip tomorrow. It was nice to experience the Macau gambling scene.

Can anyone tell me the rakes for the Grand Lisboa games please, especially the higher blinds ones?
I know its 5% of the pot...but what is the maximum?

The max rake at the 20/40 game is $100HK at grand lisboa.