• Macau Poker Low Stakes Odds
• Macau Low Stakes Poker

The Venetian Poker Room in Macau has about 10 tables. Some things we picked up from IntenseGambling.com, however are not so positive: While they do have the best room for low stakes poker in Macau, the 10 tables they have aren't always open (even if there is a waiting list! - that's not good news) and they have the highest rake in Macau at 5%. Learning Poker: Table image over rated in low stakes? 6: July 11th, 2020 9:05 PM: Tournament Poker: High stakes vs, low Stakes: 8: May 5th, 2020 3:00 AM: General Poker: High stakes players playing. The newest poker room in Macau is proof that the game is gaining in popularity. Poker Kings also runs it, and you'll find it well designed, comfortable and staff who are calm and collected. You'll also find the cheapest stakes in town with stakes available at HK$10/20. The room is open twenty-four hours a day. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. The MBP (Macau Billionaire Poker) Poker Room, which opened in May 2016, is located on the second floor of Babylon Casino at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf. Their five cash games (one is a private VIP room) offer no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha with stakes ranging from HK$20 up to HK$10,000, though you’re more likely to find games toward the.

Few things capture the poker world's attention more than the high-stakes cash games that take place at the Poker King Club in Macau. While the game has been spreading for three years now – earning the distinction as the biggest in the world – it has been shrouded in mystery as few players are willing to talk for fear of being ostracized. One man who has opened up, though, is Tom Hall, also known as 'Hong Kong Tom.'

Over the years, Hall has posted various updates in a TwoPlusTwo thread devoted to the game. Hall's most recent post came earlier this month when he revealed that the game had approximately USD$20 million in chips on the table! According to Hall, the short stack at the table was just USD$1 million, and the blinds varied from USD$4,000/$8,000 to USD$12,500/$25,000. He even included a picture (found below).

Around the same time, another photo taken by Poker King Club Macau Business DirectorWinfred Yu surfaced and revealed that Tom 'durrrr' Dwan was sitting in the game alongside what appeared to be Alec Torelli.

PokerNews was fortunate enough to speak with Hall, who should not be confused with the European Poker Tour player by the same name, about the big games in Macau. While he wasn't at liberty to go into specifics, he was kind enough to shed a little light on the clandestine game.

PokerNews: If you had to guesstimate, how many players rotate in and out of the Big Game?

Tom Hall: I would guess since we started there has been somewhere between 100-150 players that have played at one point in the game. There is a core of 10-20 that play regularly at some point every month and three to four that play pretty much all the time they are in Macau. The lineup changes all the time, though usually the pros rotate with some frequency and locals — usually junket operators in Macau who hear about the game and like to gamble — frequently pop up for a few sessions.

Is the game always played in no-limit hold'em?

Yes, the big game is always hold'em. Some of the guys will occasionally deviate to PLO separately, but the stakes are much smaller.

What is the networking process like? We assume it's not easy to get into the game.

It all depends. If there are some brand new local players chancing their arm — guys that are very new to the game and relatively inexperienced — there can be a crazy waiting list even amongst the 'regulars,' whereas at other times if the core regular group are away on business or playing a high roller tourney somewhere else in the world, pretty much anybody is allowed as the remaining guys just want to play. It is a quasi-private game, so you shouldn't turn up and expect to be allowed to play, particularly as a pro. Pros are usually introduced through a pro that has played before or through Winfred Yu who organizes the games. Visiting businessmen are usually always accommodated!

Does the language barrier ever cause problems? Any funny or crazy stories due to confusion?

I don't think it ever causes any problems, but visiting players may find the amount of table talk going on in multiple languages throughout hands unusual. There is never any collusion through table talk. It's probably the fairest game out there and is vigorously self-policed by the table itself due to some of the quirks of the game.

On the PokerNews Podcast, Greg Merson said that only one white player was allowed to sit at a table at a time. Is there any truth to that?

I don't think it has anything to do with skin color, more whether the player is a pro or not. The same restrictions apply to Western or Asian pros. Again it depends on which of the regulars are playing and if there are new locals playing. I would guess overall an average would be one or two pros at a nine-handed table. Occasionally we play 10-handed but that's rare (not enough space due to all the chips on the table). Recently there were three Westerners playing (as I found out to my cost when I thought there was only two – see 2+2 thread).

Along those lines, are there any rules outside the norm for those who participate in the big game?

I wouldn't quite describe them as rules, but there are some nuances of the game that sometimes take pros or newcomers by surprise when they first play. Certain wealthy local beginners will request to look at a pros cards if they have folded to a big turn/river bet and the pros are pretty much obliged to show that specific player who will look at the cards and not comment further. This calls for a slight adjustment of strategy from the pros but bearing in mind they are still significant favorites they comply pretty quickly and it's all done in good humor. This is a throwback to the early days when, for the first year we played, everybody had to show every winning hand. It helped people learn faster in the beginning and also removed some collusion concerns guys had in the very beginning.

Also when players are all in, the game can slow down as a side group offers 'insurance' bets. This has been described at several points during the 2+2 thread so I won't elaborate here. Yes, there is vig charged but with the size of the pots involved, most people take it to reduce variance. Getting one or two outed on a US$1m+ pot can be a pretty sick feeling otherwise. As I have stated before, I think the insurance option removes a lot of the animosity/frustration that can arise from getting sucked out on and helps the game keep its friendly flow.

I can't remember anybody ever calling time on anybody. If somebody is tanking, the other players will watch TV, play on their phones, walk off and chat, etc. Slow rolling is also not frowned upon either and is sometimes the cause of great amusement. One of the funniest I remember was when one player was all in, and the other tanks for ages, then gets up and goes to the toilet and is gone a good five minutes and then comes back to call with the stone cold nuts. This was all taken in good humor.

What's the most anyone has ever won in a sessions in the Big Game? What's the most someone has lost?

I would say approximately the same, around HK$100 million (~USD$12.8 million) won/lost in a single session, bearing in mind these sessions can run 30-40 hours regularly with perhaps a mini food break or quick nap or break to watch a soccer game. What I will say is that without a doubt the single biggest winner in live table poker of all time is one of the big game players who plays the Macau game regularly and some of the other big private games around the Region. This is not one of the established pros but any of the pros that play regularly will know whom it is. Not going to get into quantum or specifics but the Macau game formed the base for some pretty phenomenal winnings (and obviously losses). All of the local regulars usually play their own funds whereas most of the pros are either staked or pieced out to a certain degree. This is probably pretty smart taking into consideration the size of the games and the swings.

Are the games still growing? Have they plateaued? Will they?

That's a very difficult question to answer. I always say I think they've plateaued but then I hear about new higher stakes. However, for the past year I haven't heard of stakes bigger than HK$100K/200K blinds or a variation they played once with no blinds, just a HK$100K ante per hand.

Which player or players would you credit with getting the Big Game started?

Paul [Phua] and Richard [Yong] are probably the hub of the game and were there from the very beginning and Winfred Yu and his team do a fantastic job providing the best possible environment for the game and its players at the Poker King Club. The table we play at was moved from the originally designated spot (private area) to one that wasn't anywhere near as exclusive, but was nearer the toilets so players would miss fewer hands whilst away from the table.

You don't have to name any names (unless you want), but are any players unwelcome in the Big Game?

I don't think any individual is specifically unwelcome, but those super nitty, 'silent at the table' pros are extremely unlikely to get a second invite back to the table.

What's the minimum buy-in to get into the Big Game?

This varies a lot depending on how long they have been playing, time of day, etc. It can be as low as HK$1-2m and sometimes it has been HK$10m. If blinds are at the low end HK$5K/10K, people can buy in for HK$1m though most would buy in for 200BBs (HK$2m) as the game plays much bigger than the usual blind/pot ratio you would see in most cash games.

Next week, PokerNews will take a look at Tom Hall and his Macau origins in an in-depth interview, so be sure to check back for that.

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Elton Tsang Ka-wai (born 1980) is a Chinese Canadian poker player currently residing in Hong Kong.^[1] Considered as one of the five best Asian poker players,^[2] Tsang has achieved icon status in the international poker scene with his involvement in several historic achievements including: 1) his role in founding and organising the first ever live poker tournament in Macau, China,^[3] 2) his winning the 3rd highest prize in poker tournament history (€11,111,111),^[4] and 3) his part in the biggest pot in TV poker history (€2,090,000).^[5]

Outside of poker, Tsang is a successful investor and visionary entrepreneur. He has amassed a large portfolio of positions in early-stage to pre-IPO companies with a particular interest in technology, finance, and cryptocurrency sectors. One investment of which he is particularly proud is in a Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange company where Tsang was the single investor from seed round through subsequent rounds providing the company sufficient liquidity and ultimately winning the government's regulatory approval gaining legitimacy.

Macau Poker Low Stakes Odds

Poker[edit]

Early Years[edit]

Born and raised in Vancouver, and with a bachelors degree from University of British Columbia, Canada, Tsang first started playing poker online on party-pooper in 2001 in $2/$4 Limit Hold'em games. It was upon returning to Hong Kong after graduating university that he realized poker was still very much non-existent in the neighboring city-state of Macau, where gaming was legal. With the vision that poker would be instantly popular in Macau, Tsang had the idea of hosting the first ever live poker tournament in Macau. After some research, he discovered that his relative was the owner of the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau. Tsang scheduled a meeting, gave a successful pitch, and went on to become the tournament's founding organizer in partnership with famed tournament director Matt Savage and Poker Stars as sponsors. This is how the APPT Macau (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) was started.^[6] But having signed just a one-year deal with Poker Stars and the casino, Tsang was left out the second year and the tournament continued to become what it is today. This was Tsang's first entrepreneurial move having invested about a million HKD (US $130K) of his own saving.^[7]

Tsang continued to play small stakes online, and had a short but successful run in the live tournament circuit before focusing mainly on cash games and playing full time. Starting off at the HKD$25/$50 ($3/$6) games in Hong Kong, Tsang begun to build his bankroll and moved up to higher stakes. Tsang later moved to Macau hoping to capitalise on the growing popularity of live cash games, and the influx of wealthy Asian businessmen whom were new to the game. His games started at HKD$50/$100, then moved to HKD$100/$200 where he struggled the most to maintain. At that time his goal was to play in the HK$1000/$2000 private game. He spent the next a couple years moving up and down the stakes while improving his skill. One of his defining moments in poker came during this time when he was able to finally out-play his then-nemesis, a US pro called Vietnamese John (John Hoang), in a tournament where Tsang came first after beating Vietnamese John heads-up. This was an important win and a significant boost to Tsang's confidence having been crushed and sent back down to lower stakes by Vietnamese John many times before.^[8]

The Big Game[edit]

Between 2010 and 2012, Tsang continued to live in Macau, playing poker constantly, and living the fun and exciting life of a professional poker player. He made a lot of great poker friends there and he attributes them for helping him improve his game. Tsang was now playing at HK$300/$600 stakes steadily and some HK$1000/$2000 games. When Macau introduced Omaha, Tsang was ready having learned it online previously. He played in the HK$1000/$2000 Omaha games where he grew his bankroll considerably. Armed with a healthy bankroll, Tsang moved up the stakes onto HKD$10,000/$20,000 (USD$1.2K5/$2.5K) & HKD$20,000/$40,000 (USD$2.5K/$5K) No Limit Hold'em games where all the big pros played'.I t was a juicy game', as Tsang calls it.^[9] Tsang was now playing in The Big Game alongside the world's biggest names in professional poker which included Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Tom Dwan, and Johnny Chan. Tsang struggled to maintain at this game at first, having to drop down the stakes to play Pot Limit Omaha which he frequently used to build his bankroll back up. Eventually Tsang was able to overcome his loss, survive, and kept going up steadily after that. Tsang went on to become a regular in the world of super high stakes poker cash games, winning and losing pots in excess of one million Hong Kong dollars (US$12.7M). Tsang shares the story of his most memorable game: “One of the games where I still remember until now. It was a game that would have broke me or made me. I was in Macau playing three-handed with Tom Dwan and the Chairman. That game, we were playing HKD Ten Million dollar buy-in (USD$1.2m) HK$50,000/HK$100,000 (USD$6/$12k) No- Limit. After playing 24-hours, I had lost HKD$60 million (USD$7.6m). That was my stop-limit. I was ready to quit. But then I ended up giving it one more bullet. I bought in for another HKD$20m (USD$2.5m) and had I lost it I would have had to move down in stakes and start all over. I was fortunate enough to win all my money back, and HKD$60m on top of that. It was the most important game of my life. I think that was in about 2014 or 2015.”^[10]

Big One for One Drop 2016[edit]

In October 2016, Tsang was invited by Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, to participate in the €1,000,000 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, an exclusive poker tournament. He defeated 25 other players to win the tournament and received a €11,111,111 ($12,248,912) payout for first, the third largest single payout in poker history.^[11][12][13] Tsang was coached by professional poker player, Mustapha Kanit.^[14]

Tsang's entry and eventually win in the Big One for One Drop tournament came at the right time. By then he had already established himself in the private world of super high stakes cash games, but still remained largely unknown to the general public. He was very comfortable financially but was finding himself being banned more and more from private games due to his success in those games. “The One Drop was good timing. All the time before that I wanted to stay low profile. Before that tournament happened, people in the poker world already know me. It doesn’t matter anymore. I am already getting the feeling people didn’t want me to play anyway. So it was good timing to win it. When I first started playing poker I wanted to win a bracelet, I wanted the first place; I wanted to be the champion. All the big players already knew about me, and how good I am, so I can’t hide that anymore', Tsang says. “It’s good because it’s a weird mix. The One Drop event made me recognised by the public, and most importantly my family. They can brag about this to their friends. This event made my family realise the accomplishment I have made. When I tell them about playing cash games, they don’t know what’s going on. Being on the news is different. It was in the newspapers in Hong Kong, so I was happy that my family got to recognise ten years of hard work.”^[15]

The Scandal[edit]

In the same year, an anonymous story emerged alleging that while playing in a private game hosted at Casino Barcelona, Leon Tsoukernik had lost over €3,000,000 dollars to Tsang. Tsoukernik paid €1,200,000, but refused to pay the remaining €2,000,000. When Tsang requested that the debt be paid in full Tsoukernik refused claiming the game was 'strange',^[16] elaborating that '...some people take advantage of knowing me and target me when I play poker cash games. I have thus experienced a variety of practices in the game, which corrupt the sport of the game. For example, poker collusion, marked cards, and hired professionals. I have many stories to tell, but I prefer to fight it my own way with the support of the courts of justice and other poker entrepreneurs instead of fighting rumours and lies over the internet.'^[17]

Tsang confirmed this allegation in a 2017 interview, further clarifying that the amount he was owed were much higher. He says he had won from Leon €1,190,000 in the first 3 sessions plus another €3,375,000 in the last session, and Leon had paid €1,200,000, so he was still owed €3,365,000. ^[18][19]

Tsang's accusation of Leon echoes a similar case where Australian poker pro Matt Kirk sues Leon for refusing to repay a $2,000,000 debt.^[20] In support of Tsang, several prominent poker players came to his defence including Tong G, Winfred Yu, Philipp Gruissem,^[21] and the most vocal being Daniel Negreanu posting on Twitter saying 'Elton is an honorable guy and is not lying.'^[22]

Tournament results[edit]

Charity[edit]

Tsang is involved in charity. He has donated to Mother's Choice, sponsoring children at a local orphanage Po Leung Kok, and Lord Grace Home for the Aged. He credits Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation founder, Alice Chiu, as being an inspiration saying 'my passion for charitable work originates from Alice Chiu ... I was deeply touched by her efforts to help the needy in the society. Earlier, I visited children with amblyopia in Handan, China. The experience taught me to be grateful for all I have, and do my best to help those in need.'^[23]

References[edit]

1. ^'WSOP NEWS: ELTON-TSANG-WINS-2016-BIG-ONE-FOR-ONE-DROP'. www.wsop.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
2. ^'Five of the Best Asian Poker Players'. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
3. ^yro07. 'Who is Elton Tsang?'. Smart Spin. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
4. ^'Elton Tsang Wins the Big One For One Drop Extravaganza for €11,111,111!'. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
5. ^'Biggest pot in TV poker history? Million Euro Cash Game at Triton Poker Super High Roller Series - YouTube'. www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
6. ^yro07. 'Who is Elton Tsang?'. Smart Spin. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
7. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 1)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
8. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 1)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
9. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 1)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
10. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 1)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
11. ^'Elton Tsang Wins €1 Million Big One Invitational For €11,111,111 - Poker News'. www.cardplayer.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
12. ^'Elton Tsang Wins the Big One For One Drop Extravaganza for €11,111,111!'. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
13. ^'WSOP NEWS: ELTON-TSANG-WINS-2016-BIG-ONE-FOR-ONE-DROP'. www.wsop.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
14. ^'Elton Tsang and Mustapha Kanit Reflect on €11,111,111-One Drop Extravaganza Win'. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
15. ^'Elton Tsang and Mustapha Kanit Reflect on €11,111,111-One Drop Extravaganza Win'. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
16. ^'The Three Million Euro Welcher?'. PokerTube. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
17. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 2)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
18. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 2)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
19. ^'Elton Tsang: 'Leon Tsoukernik owes me €2,000,000''. HighstakesDB. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
20. ^'Aussie High Stakes Player Matt Kirk Sues Leon Tsourkernik over $2,000,000 Debt'. HighstakesDB. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
21. ^'Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 2)'. CalvinAyre.com. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
22. ^'https://twitter.com/realkidpoker/status/930220746130862080'. Twitter. Retrieved 2020-12-03.External link in title= (help)
23. ^Lai, Elly (January 2017). 'Finding an International Foothold'. Precious. 60: 90–93.

External links[edit]

Macau Low Stakes Poker