Macau Poker
Poker is a fairly recent addition to the Macau poker scene, with the focus for a long time being solely on casino games, and poker wasn’t even introduced here until 2007, when the Asian Poker Tour finally came to town and some of the casinos started spreading out poker games in addition to their other gambling offerings. February’s gambling revenue in Macau was up massively year-over-year as the market passed the one-year mark since the COVID -19 pandemic took hold in China. According to numbers released by the. Macau Poker Player. Macau Poker Player is a play money poker app. It's free to play.
November 28, 2016I’m typing this on the ferry heading to hong Kong after a week in Macau playing poker, taking my son swimming, eating far too many oily carbs and constantly being amazed at the wealth I’ve witnessed at the casinos in Macau.
I venture to Macau on a fair regularly basis to play Poker, although I haven’t been for a while since having my boy, I thought now is a great time to share what’s it’s like visiting Macau as a tourist, as a family and the main draw; the no limit hold’em cash games games.
Getting to Macau
Macau Pokerstars
Getting to Macau couldn’t be easier. You can either fly into Macau’s international airport, get the Sky Shuttle Helicopter from Hong Kong or get a boat from one of the free ferry ports in Hong Kong; Kowloon, Sheung Wan or from Hong Kong’s international airport (If you opt for the later, don’t leave immigration as the ferry check-in is done from inside the airport terminal).
On this trip I opted for the boat ride from Kowloon in Hong Kong. The journey takes an hour and immigration at both ends is super fast and efficient, taking 5-10 minutes at each end max. There are 2 companies you can choose from; Cotai Water Jet and TurboJet. Both have regular departures and similar pricing.
If you opt to arrive in Macau by ferry, you’ll either end up at Macau Outer or Taipa. The difference is only 10 minute’s drive away so I wouldn’t fuss over this too much (I’d rather sit on a bus for 10 minutes than wait 50 minutes for a ferry going to the closest port).
If you plan to stay in a casino (which I’ll come to in a moment), you’ll most likely be able to catch one of the regular shuttle buses to and from each ferry port (and I assume the airport) to the hotel you’re staying at. They are free of charge and as mentioned above, either take 5 or 10 minutes depending on what port you arrive into and what part of Macau you are staying at.
Where to Stay
If you’re visiting Macau to play Poker, it’s hard to beat the Cotai Strip – which is a collection of hotels that are linked to each other via walkways, restaurants and shopping malls.
What’s great about choosing one of the hotels on the strip is that you’ll be within walking distance to 2 of the 3 spots where you can play no limit texas hold’em in Macau; the Venetian and the Poker Stars room located at the City of Dreams.
On this recent trip I stayed at the Sheraton, simply as it’s on the strip (where I wanted to stay) and it looked like a great spot for a family to hang out. It was a good choice – the rooms were huge (especially compared to Hong Kong standards), the swimming pools great and the buffet breakfast was huge.
Macau Poker Chips
Poker in Macau
There are 3 spots in play Texas Hold’em in Macau:
1. The Wynn
The Wynn hotel and casino is generally considered the best spot in Macau for high-stakes cash games, and it’s also considered to have the best facilities, chairs and comfort. I played here on my previous trip but did not visit on this trip, but I hear the stakes are 50/100 with a minimum 50,000 buy-in (HKD). If you’re interested in playing high-stakes, The Wynn would be a great place to check out.
2. The Venetian
The Venetian has many cash games, from 25/50 with a buy-in between 2,000 and 15,000 to 100/200 if my memory serves corrected. The chairs here are especially comfortable, and it was mainly a Chinese/Asian crowd when I visited with about 6-8 tables in play.
3. The PokerStars Room
The Poker Stars Room is situated in the City of Dreams complex, a stone’s throw away from the St. Regis and the Hard Rock Cafe hotels. The starting rake here is also 25/50 with buy-ins from 2,000 to 5,000 – which I personally really liked. This is also the only spot where I had to queue, albeit only 20 minutes (I hear this can easily extend to 60 minutes).
Macau Poker High Stakes
It’s also worth noting there were many more tables in play (10-15 when I visited) compared to The Venetian and it had a much more of an international vibe. The Poker Stars Room is also the only spot in town who host daily tournaments, many of which are satellites to the Asian Poker Tour circuit.
Visiting Macau with a family
This was my first time visiting Macau with a family and it was a breeze. The huge boulevard type walkways outside the hotels meant it was a pleasure walking outside to gett some fresh air, while the staff in the multiple hotels we visited and walked through we’re happy to greet and meet us. We also had no problems in dining at some of the best spots in town.
Macau Poker Rooms
In case you haven’t heard yet, there are some enormous cash games going on in Macau right now. And the word enormous might even be an understatement after reports are coming out that one of the cash game pots was worth a reported $14 million!
APT owner Tom Hall has been the biggest source of rumors about the $14 million pot, which was won by an unknown player who was reportedly down over $12.6 million; Hall wrote the following about the big play:
Biggest hand I ever saw and arguably the craziest was a guy betting HK$28m (US$3.6) on the river into a HK$51m (US$6.55) pot with a gutshot straight draw against what turned out to be top set. He was down over HK$100m (US$12.8) at the time and hit it.
When you add up all of the money that Hall described, this equals around $13.75 million (or $13.8m just to round off). You can read about all of Tom Hall’s reports on the Macau high stakes poker games in this thread.
The action has been pretty intense all throughout the big games at Macau with Johnny Chan reportedly winning $1.41 million. In addition to this, Tom Dwan lost $2.6 million in one day, but came back to win $1.7m overall, and Andrew Robl was up $2 million – only to drop back down to even.
Apparently the games are pretty exclusive because Patrik Antonius was denied a seat at the big table. 2010 WSOPE Main Event champion James Bord tried to get him into the game, but Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte refused because he thinks that Antonius is too nitty. Hall wrote about this by typing:
Confirmed that Patrik Antonius was not allowed into the game, James Bord (who was playing) tried to get him in but Guy Laliberte insisted no WAY. Antonius played ~US$640/US$1280 PLO instead with Andrew “good2cu” Robl and a few others.
Apparently, the rich businessmen who play in this game want lots of action, and people who bring their own money – as opposed to being staked.
Macau Poker
Tags: $14 million pot, 2010 WSOPE Main Event, Andrew Robl, APPT owner, cash game pots, Guy Laliberte, James Bord, Johnny Chan, macau high stakes poker games, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan, Tom Hall