Yeah I said it in an earlier post but despite the rake it was always very beatable. Anyone who can beat 5/10 in the US could smash the **** out of the Macau 50/100 and 100/200 if you make the right adjustments

i call bs on this

it's an oft repeated trope i heard and for over a decade i thought i was living on easy street with vast majority of my casino play happening in macau, in fact, last time I was in the US i was too young to play legally so never once played live regulated poker in USA until last year

so here i was, a bit nervous, thinking for the first time I'm going to be test against actually talented poker players, people who actually care about winning and understand the game at a deep level

boy was i in for a shock

the level of play in macau was 10x better than any table I've sat at in the US - granted this has mostly been 1-2 but that's primarily because rarely do they spread higher than that

for over a decade i believed all this nonsense about macau being an easy poker game

it's not easy by any mean on a relative scale, like i said in an earlier post, what makes macau special is there are no low stakes to hide at so the really bad players and degens need to play for considerable amounts and can't hide at 1-2

1-2 games in the US regularly have high networth individuals who are terrible at the game and could easily afford to chip dump at much higher stakes but 1-2 gives them their fix so that's where they play losing $500 on a bad night instead of the 10k they could also afford to lose if they played higher

i'm just so tired of that trope, maybe macau is easy compared to other developed poker places with lots of imported pros like vegas but they play far better poker than the typical american badreg game ainec

You're not wrong, but I would add a caveat here. 100/200 HKD translates to about 12.50/25 USD, but the game doesn't play like a US 10/20 or 10/25 NL game. It plays more like a 2/5 or maybe a relatively soft 5/10, at least in my experience.

That's why I say it's beatable for big numbers. 5 BB an hour at 5/10 = $50 vs 5 BB an hour at 12.5/25 = $150.

In absolute dollar amounts, yes. That being said, it certainly takes a lot more time and skill to do well in these games relative to a looser badreg standard. They're still bad regs, but bad in a different way.

A US 1/2 game in smaller casinos and card rooms without higher stakes will definitely have a lower level of play than any Macau game, simply because it will be recreational players in a small player pool with likely 0 pros and minimal good regs. For anyone reading this post you definitely should keep that in mind.

But that’s why I said a 5/10 winner in the US would pump it in Macau. You only get 24/7 5/10 in a handful of cities in the US which will have pro’s, good regs, a handful of bad regs, and everything in between in the ecosystem.

Vegas has ppl who play for a living and study in their free time that live on the 2/5 tables, let alone at 5/10 and 10/20 plus. If you are a pro or good reg that wins at 10BB+ per hour at 5/10 in a major US poker city, Macau is nothing.

I think One Outter said it well, 100/200 in Macau does not play like 10/20 or 5/10 in the US. It plays like 2/5 at the Red Rock on a Wednesday night.

Difficulty rankings from easiest to hardest might be:
US 1/2
US 2/5
Macau 100/200
(Huge gap)
US 5/10
US 10/20+

thanks for clarifying

This is a valuable discussion to have for the wider poker community 😆

donÂ’t want a Macau 2+2er to load up in a Vegas 5/10 game and torch his stack

Different styles, Wynn 100/200 game is tough.
Whereas, Venetian had eleven 100/200 games running past week and many have juicy spots.

Vegas pro’s play different, more creativity, more moves, doesn’t mean they play better or more profitable, just different styles.
Many winning Macau regs do well in the States, same cannot be said when Western pro’s go to Macau. Need a few sessions to adjust, tend to stack off way too light.

2xanman what would you know? Judging by your other posts you're a 2/5 AUD grinder at crown casino in melbourne australia. That game's skill level is around 1/3 USD in Las Vegas and contains players that probably don't even have bankroll exceeding one average buyin of 50k hkd at macau 100/200 which is 10k AUD.

So how does that make you the expert at how games several magnitudes higher than what you normally play or are rolled for are played across the world? lol

Yup if macau games are super soft you'd have US pros dominate every table, but the ones who've been to macau usually decide games aren't worth the relocation and they're not stupid. The french and Scandinavian pros that are at the aria and bellagio 5/10 10/20 tables in the summer have also all been to macau too and decided that's not the place to grind.

There are several reasons commonly cited: lack of lower stakes making it much easier to go bust esp during downswing, super high rake, no rakeback or comps unlike vegas, no hotel room discounts unlike vegas if you're regular casino member, high cost of living in macau.

Best value live games by far right now are those in Texas, Florida and LA ainec. Super soft games full of players that don't have a clue and don't care to improve across all stakes. Macau games are full of nits in comparison, and nobody ever drinks while playing. Now imagine if they are as drunk as guys in the 5/10 at commerce LA or texas cardhouse at 10pm on a saturday night....

All things aside, a 2/5 grinder in Melbourne can actually make a decent living without using much brainpower. Loved Aussie games when had a chance to visit.

yeah i started playing in macau as early as about 2006, last time i played there was maybe 2017?

i'd say from 2013 onward the games were pretty tough, still had good spots, but more often than not i'd get a seat after 30 minute wait and find a table of 6 euro nit pros & 3 japanese 10vpip nits and we all sit there folding around hoping one of us gets up and vacates a spot for a whale from india who will quickly dust off 3 buyins trying to impress his valet who stands behind him and watches his play

was basically soul sucking poker where you sit around for hours grinding marginal edges vs other pros just trying to avoid getting the bad set in a set over set situation and just hoping for a spot to show up and that at least a few guys at your table will be nice people you'd like to talk to

No one said Macau is the best place to go in the world, the point was that a 5/10 Vegas pro will easily win in the standard games in Macau and it’s not even close as long as you can make the right adjustments

Lmao I make my living at the 5/10 in Australia since no bigger games get up here (+ some home games) and spend a few months in the US every year at 5/10 and 10/20.

I go to Macau not because it’s the best place in the world to make money, but as a Chinese speaker and someone who spends a lot of time in Hong Kong it’s a lot better to play in Macau than not playing at all.

Neither vegas nor macau have close to the best 5/10 live games in the world, and dat is da truth.

Good luck at the tables to you and everyone else..

Precisely this. I live in mainland China, so its my best option. Manila's stakes are too low, Korea's player pool is too small, and Australia is super far. Also, if i wanted to come back to the US to play because of the time change i lose two full days to travel. If i still lived back home I'd be playing 2/5 or 5/10 in Texas or LA.

The pros that are here are the ones that can't get a visa to go to the US, or like the Japanese don't want to deal with the inconvenience.

FWWI, the comment about casino comps isn't entirely accurate. I'm going back in July for six days, full room comp at the Parisian. BUT, that's not because I'm a player, it's because I have the right relationships on the mainland.

Hi all and apologies for maybe going a little off topic here but does anyone a good forum thats more about the hotels and gaming side of things in Macau. im trying to find out a few things like:

1) Are the slot games similar to Vegas (Huff Puff Buffalo etc)
2) Are there lots of Video Poker variants and bar tops?
3) Do they have table games like Mississippi Stud?

Before i book tomorrow just trying to get a feel if it really is like Vegas or more "localised" slots and gaming.

Any help would be appreciated.

Does anyone know if the cash games has started at MGM Cotai yet? If so how many tables are there and what's the play like there? Thanks.

50/100 running daily.

Buffalo is Huffing & Puffing as well

On my Wechat feed saw a pic from a local stylish grandpa who used to be a solid fish for years.

https://imgur.com/a/HdGGq92

Conclusion is if he can do it, probably games could be semi-decent on occasion. Personally, after last trip, didn't even feel like going back. Too much going on irl or maybe just over that chapter.

p.s my concern is why other stacks are so **** though

what's the current list on rooms operating now and stakes offered? Havent been back since pre-covid. Thanks

It's about ego and face. They want to show that they are winning. One thing I always had a love hate relationship with is the way they DO NOT give small chips from the cage like the 25HKD chips for the 25/50 and 50/100 games. They do that for 'speed and efficiency so as not to constantly stack the smaller chips and count them out because it wastes time.

This has an "overcall" affect because if you're a non local, you can see that the pots get inflated. For example, if the pot is 5 players in a 25/50 game and pot is 250HKD , first bettor bets 200 hkd instead of 150 or 125 hkd because he doesnt have change . he gets one caller and now the pot is slightly inflated by anout 100hkd and then that also exponentiates on the turn and river.

so i see they still have the standing phones rule happening where u snuck the pic. Is this Macau island Wynn or did they re-open poker at Wynn Palace Taipa?

Thats very good when u have a high rake man! Pump up thoose HKD pots
Lets ****ing goooooooo

Hi, what's the lowest stakes cash games + what buy-ins at the moment and where? Also which casinos running poker at the moment or soon to be? Thanks.

Also what time schedule do u guys think its optimal to try avoid long waiting lists to maximise time spended at the Poker table? Is it really early
Or really late now thats the thing to play to get a seat?

Long waitlist are no longer an issue. Macau has many tables now, MGM allows call ins (show up within an hour)

Venetian still has massive lists but only on weekends and that’s for 50/100.
100/200+ have short wait times.