Any further info on HK Cup?

Its on December 6th apparently, just some approval stuff going through with the DICJ and it gets announced properly next week

I've played at the HKPH - great experience.

The club is membership based, I was brought as the guest of a member. They had 5 tables going on a Wednesday, 10-20HKD and 25-50HKD games were full and the action was fairly loose. The room's got a club like atmosphere instead of the usual poker room/casino feel (which is good for the games). Staff was great, I'll go back to play next time I'm in HK. If I was there more often I'd definitely become a member.

http://www.hkph.com.hk/index.html

DOes anybody know if it opened again, was out of town this weekend?

The place opens every night. But its best to go there around 9pm.

I'm planning to head up to Macau next month. After reading through the thread I gather that 3 places are worth playing at:

-Grand Lisboa (I read a french article of a place called Lisboa (not "Grand") where the author said he was the victim of a rigged game, anything on this?)
-Starworld
-Pokerstars room
-(Grand Waldo)??

Most reviews for grand Waldo seem to be sub-par, am I correct to assume it isn't worth a visit?

Where is the best place to play sit-n-gos or tourneys?
Does anyone have any other places that would be worth a shot?
Also, since taxis are cheap, I don't mind being not being downtown. What can I expect to pay for a guesthouse not necessarily in the heart of the action?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks

Their are 2 "Lisboas"...one is just the Lisboa and the other is the Grand Lisboa. They are across the street from each other and both are owned by Stanley Ho, the Macau casino magnate. The Grand Lisboa is the newer property...it has been opened for about 1 year. Not sure about a rigged game, never heard of this but my guess if it happened it happened at the old Lisboa. The Lisboa is much older and there is no Hold'em there...only at the Grand Lisboa.

The Grand Waldo and the Pokerstars room is the same place, the Pokerstars room is at the Grand Waldo. The Grand Waldo has tourneys every weekend. You can check out their tournament schedule at http://www.pokerstarsmacau.com

Not sure about accomodations...some people have gotten a good rate at the tourism college hotel. It is run by students but gets good reviews on TripAdvisor. Here is their website: http://www.ift.edu.mo/pousada/eng/index.htm They were offering a weekly rate that was pretty reasonable but you need to contact them to see if they have availability and a special rate.

I wouldn't say the Grand Waldo is "subpar"....just a little out of the way as compared to the Grand Lisboa and Star World. I think all of the rooms are worth a visit.

Thanks for making it so clear! I know what to do now! Cheers,

Johnny

Smoke more cigarettes. Never fold 8's. Wear your Happy Lucky shirt.

It'll be just like playing in Vegas, during WSOP month, after ingesting six hits of acid.

Wynn in MAcau is opening a poker room next month

I would consider ppokerstars to be sub-standard considering they only ever have 1 or 2 tables running. And the dealers are very useless - when there's 40k prize, they're still flipping cards like a first day dealer!@

Starworld might have 3 or 4 tables but more than 50% is prop players or the managers of the room. I recently heard a story about a player getting banned for winning too much from the managers. I believe it from what i've seen when playing there@
I don't think it's possible to win on a table where 6 players are getting paid from the poker room. As it's often happening at Starworld. Don't believe that the staff aren't playing, because we've all seen them.

I'm hoping Wyn'ns opens a good room. Wynn;s has a good name for poker - hoping they maintain it in macau

Gltda,

Can't say I agree with your comments on several fronts and some are plain inaccurate. Dealers at Grand Waldo (Pokerstars) are generally regarded as more than OK as they have been doing it the longest in MAcau, maybe you got a newbie. Whilst many things are levelled at the pokerstars room, checking this and other threads re Macau have never seen that complaint before.

Starworld has 2 prop players, so 50% number is utter rubbish. The story you heard is also rubbish. One player got temporarily banned due to an arguement with a dealer (which is a serious offence in Macau if dealer abuse is actually committed) that was resolved and another player has been banned from Grand Lisboa and Starworld due to consistent abuse of other poker players, especially new players from China. The same player is banned in several casinos in Australia for exactly the same reason. The staff playing is though I agree an issue if not handled properly. I know all the rooms in Macau check this thread so maybe they will take at least that comment on board.

I am also looking forward to seeing what the WYnn room is like.

I have to agree with asianpokerfacts. GLTDA is out of line by saying such bs about Starworld. I'm a regular there and know the staff very well. There are only 2 props there and the managers sometimes sit down and play to help the game when it's 4 or 5 handed at the player's request.

And yes a player did get banned but was due to threatening the dealer. Never were they banned for winning the staff's money. That's just ridiculous. I've been to all of the poker rooms in Macau and find that Starworld has the friendliest staff and also service. They also have bigger games than others so I like it there more. Also their 25/50 and 50/100 games are only 150HKD max rake. All the other poker rooms rake 200 max for the same games.

I hope nobody takes GLTDA seriously, go to Starworld yourself and experience it. Grand Lisboa is not bad either, but usually only have small 10/20 games. I am looking forward to seeing how the Wynn room is going to be.

They should do away with poker rooms and have the tables in the middle of the main casino floor. How else can you attract new players?

PokerStars Macau (PSM) at Grand Waldo offers a full schedule of Weekly Tournaments including freerolls which you can find at www.pokerstarsmacau.com

Next week from Oct. 24-26 is the Macau Poker Cup which is always a big event at PSM.

Here's the schedule:

MACAU POKER CUP – OCTOBER 24-26, 2008
(in HKD)

Friday (Oct. 24)

8:00 PM --> Charity Event --> $500+$1500 (donation to Caritas de Macau)

Charity Event Prizes – Over $120,000 in added prizes!!!

1st Prize: APPT Sydney Grand Final Package --> Valued at $70,000 – includes entry, 7 nights hotel accommodation, and 2 return airfares from Macau to Sydney

2nd to 5th: $10,000 Red Dragon Event Entry

6th to 10th: APPT Manila Phase 2 Entry

Cash Prizepool: 1st to 10th place

Saturday (Oct. 25)

3:30 PM --> Phase 1 – APPT Manila Package --> Buyin: $350

12:30 PM --> Deep Stack Event --> Buyin: $1000
*1 Seat Guarantee! 1 in 5 win entry to Phase 2!!

6:00 PM --> Red Dragon Event - 350K Guarantee --> $10,000

Sunday (Oct. 26)

3:30 PM --> MPC Madness Event - 25K Guarantee --> Buyin: $100 + $200 rebuys

6:00 PM --> Phase 2 Satellite – APPT Manilla Package --> $3500
*1 Seat Guarantee!


- Fred

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.

gltda - I don't know anything about this but you sound sort of whiny and stuff, especially the 100k thing, so I'd like another opinion. Any other people can support or refute these comments?

This thread is starting to really deteriorate.

Anyone else think that a couple of the more vocal regulars in this thread have vested interests in the Macao poker scene and have been posting along those lines?

If you have some type of affiliation, you should come out from behind those screennames.

In response to various posts, as I have stated before, I am a freelance journo that writes on all casino gaming in Macau, poker is relatively new to me, my expertise is slots and table games. I am not affiliated to any poker room or casino and write more in print media than online. I play infrequently (as I am not an average, let alone good poker player) but am generally a strong advocate of player rights and fair play (post at casinomeister and places like that). I like poker as the player can actually win statistically, whereas against the house in casino games you will always lose long term.

gltda, you obviously know more about poker than I do and I am not going to dispute your own experience, as a journo I will always take somebodys personal experice as quoted unless proven otherwise later.

However, what you heard on the banned player was and is incorrect. There was in fact one player banned from Starworld for dealer abuse and one from both Starworld and Lisboa for various issues. This was confirmed by both casinos and neither incident has even a vague resemblance to what you were told. Police were involved in one case (dealer abuse) and the other is fairly clear cut abuse of other players (the guy that is also barred at several casinos in Australia). Its actually part of an article I am writing at the moment so on this one I am 100%.

The poker room you are referring to is I assume the discussed Mansion poker room at MGM as this is the only other major poker room in "development" that any of us here are aware of, but would be delighted if something slips through our gossip mill. As stated before, I would like to see the poker scene expand in Macau through as much quality offering as possible. Hopefully over time the DICJ will allow other games as well.

I have spent time at the recent APPT and APT events talking to pro players and like in Vegas, poker rooms become succesful for a number of factors, not just location and I guess whoever offers the right combination of friendly room, fair play, efficient services, best low stakes / high stakes, player benefits and attractive tournaments will do the best.

I will try and focus on new events and happenings from now on (thanks for the Waldo update Fleung22) as opposed to go back to past issues. The journo in me just cant stand rumour purporting to fact when facts are clearly different.

If anybody wants to contribute any humourous / interesting stories about their poker experiences in Macau, PM them to me and I will consider for article I am writing (need them by month end). So far the best I've heard (and had verified by casino after they viewed surveillance) is two simultaneous temper tantrums from 2 mainland Chinese players caught bluffing and losing out to a pair of 4s. Best contributor (that is actually in Macau) will get a free dinner and drinks at Venetian from article sponsor "Angel Cards"

Also gltda, The AsianPokerTour is owned by Asianlogic. My screen name whilst similar is nothing to do with either, if you knew my Chinese language or Japanese language posting re casinos its under screen names which translates to asiancasino "facts" or "data". Very little posting in Chinese re poker yet but it is growing all the time.

im comming from thailand tomorow..see you at the tables

Thanks for letting us know!

Has the Wynn announced a definite opening date of their poker room next month?

Someone told me Sands has opened a poker room. He seems to be an intelligent guy. Any confirmation?

Not heard about the Sands opening a room, they hadnt last week when I was there, Wynn is apparently Nov 6th, but no formal announcement yet we are aware of