Well, I can only talk from my own experience recently. I was the only person in the room who wanted to play 10/20, so the manager Brian (who is a very likable and personable chap btw) called over 5 other ppl - 2 of the hosting staff, danny and Ken(?) who are also staff/management of the room - and another player who was obviously getting some sort of prop action. previously they had just been sitting there waiting for something to happen - not in the way ppl wait for a new game to start.
That made 6 players who obviously had something going with the staff versus myself - solo and no buddies to three-bet my speculation raises. Very hard to win. You try it and see.
I am not intimating that Starworld/Galaxy staff play in the room as that's illegal under Macau law - just the Asian poker facts team. The AsianPoker team must have something worked out with the government (( btw AsianPokerFacts is awfully similar to AsianPokerLogic - is there any connection there?? PM me, I'm very interested due to the extremely-hyper-pro-starworld nature of your comments)).
But the stories I hear from the players who play there lead me to believe that collusion takes place between the props&managers which results in a unfair (-EV) game for a visiting player.
As for the banned player, I can only say what I heard which is: the main manager brian was BBeat on one pot, bluffed on the next, then had 2nd best flush on the third. The player then asked the dealer to hurry up while changing cards -who hasn't? - and was banned when the dealer complained of harassment.
regarding my comments about pokerstars - Last week I played in the 100k guaranteed and the dealer gave me one ace then flipped an ace while dealing the second card, then took it away and replaced it with an offsuit 3. This turned a sure winner - and cash payout- into a positive loser.
The blinds were high and this dealer (definitely experienced as I've played with her over the course of months) made no apology for the mistake, and IMO didn't even realise the gravity of the situation. One hand later, we had to wait about 5 minutes for the pit supervisor to approach to determine that there was no small blind - when everyone except the supervisor knew that in this case, there should be no small blind.
Make no mistake; I enjoy Pokerstars room, but I'd think that having been open for so long, there'd be some improvement in the staff. Unfortunately not true.
Grand Lisboa still has some useless staff. But on a visit by visit basis, I'd still have to rate them highest. At least there's a game 24 hours, mostly 4 or 5 from my experience. A few of the floor managers seem to make up the rules as they go along but the dealers are fastest and don't need a lot of intervention. Also, I still stand by my previous statements that the grand lisboa dealers are the quickest, most attractive and friendly out of every casino. Maybe it's just for handsome foriegners though - ugly locals might have a different opinion. Although there seems to be more male dealers recently; affirmative action maybe?? The biggest problem with grand Lisboa is that they don't seem to have any permanent staff in the room (except for an aussie and a kiwi who are always there) so no consistency is reached. Also no hosting staff, so you have to fetch your own chips
can't see why they'd take the chance that you'd leave.
Seriously, I am hoping that Wynn's can put together an excellent room where we can play some good action higher limit tables in a private environment where there are actually players. Unfortunately, i heard through casino grapevine that their initial 3month operating budget has been reduced to 1million patacas ~~ 100k USD. It looks like they might be the lowest entry point of all
But I reamain hopeful.
I don't really care about your negative responses to my comments. Please realise I have run poker rooms in the past and have definitely played more poker than you. currently ""a company I am involved with"" are waiting for mngmnt approval to open Macau's greatest poker room yet, which (if it meets expectations) will be analagous to Bobby's room. I won't be able to play but I might get to manage it.