Exploring Macau (and the poker rooms)

I’m now coming to an end of my first, but epic, trip to China. It’s been so much fun and has blown away my expectations… although what Macau had in store for me was, well, hmmm, the icing on the cake.

I’ve been a huge poker nut since I was 16 or so, and used to play at many home games and play weekly at a poker club in London…. but I have yet to play in a proper casino with proper dealers. Now was my chance.

Let’s start with a brief history on Macau; why it’s not like China, but it is:

Back in the 1500′s the Chinese gave Portugal the right to establish a colony on Macau in exchange for clearing the region of pirates. Under Portuguese administration it flourished as a trading port until the British establishment of Hong Kong in 1841 forced Macau into a long decline as the English began dominating regional trade. Mirroring the recent history of Hong Kong, Macau was recently (1999) given back to China and they made it a SAR (Special Administrative Region) allowing the Macanese to retain a great deal of autonomy over their affairs (except defence and foreign policy). So like Hong Kong, Macau also has its own government, currency, passports etc.

Arriving in Macau

After getting a bus to the boarder from Guangzhou which took 2 hours, we checked into the Holiday Inn hotel (which was the worst, and most expensive hotel of the trip) and was soon showered and ready to head out into town for the main reason I wanted to visit Macau; to visit the casinos and play poker!

We had already seen a whole host of Casinos on the way to the hotel, but the time we ventured out it was dark and all the casino’s had been lit up in neon. It was an impressive sight! Just how you’d imagine Las Vegas to be (check out the video below to see what i mean).

First time in a Casino

With multiple Bentley’s and Rolls Royces parked outside and million dollar plus diamonds on display in the hotel lobby… I knew tonight wasn’t going to the cheapest night out I’ve had out. The first Casino to venture into was the Grand Lisboa – One of the oldest casinos in Macau. As we passed through security, we walked into a HUGE room with a few hundred gaming tables that were filled with high rollers, and dealt with via professional and very smartly dressed dealers. This was the real deal.

My jaw dropped when I found out that there were 3 more floors to go! We wondered around, stopping by tables occasionally watching people placing bets at the various different games available. I just kept on thinking how professional everything was… and how many staff and managers were around the table floor.. to be honest, it was a bit overwhelming.

Not wanting to look like newbie’s at the jack black table, we opted to have a beer at the bar located to the side of the casino floor. The cheapest beer on the menu, a bottle of Corona, was $10 – Nuts and home made crisps were provided for free.

All of the sudden, the curtains behind the bar opened (which we hadn’t even noticed) and shows of dance and singing by entertainers started coming onto the stage. My missus loved it.

We spent the next 2 days wondering around the other casinos in awe at the impressive buildings, shows and the general glam of the place.

When I decided I was ready to get some poker in, I headed to the Wynn Casino (my fav casino out of the ones we visited) where the minimum buy-in is 500 HKD (Hong Kong dollars). I bought the minimum but as soon as I sat down at the table, I realised I was short stacked, with most players having around 1,500 HKD worth in chips. In order to compete, and not wanting to look like the guy that didn’t have bulls, I went and got another 1,000 HKD ($200 total).

I decided to take it easy for the first 45 minutes just to get comfortable. Even though I’ve played thousands of games of poker before, this was my first in a real casino setting with professional dealer. What a difference! And what a buzz!

I eventually lost all my chips that were down a fair bit to an all in game. I bluffed and my inexperience showed – the other player called. Arr well, I’ll defo be back.

I was impressed with Macau – it’s bloody expensive, but being it’s one of flew places where you can legally play poker in Asia – I will be returning – hopefully with some peps that can play poker :) If anyone who reads the blog is keen to check the poker rooms of Macau out, contact me!

Here’s a video of an unexpected waterfall show (at the Wynn Casino) that happened as soon as I turned the camera on.