There has been a lot of talk about the high-stakes cash games in Macau in the past few years, but, unfortunately, the information on these cash games have mostly been speculations and rumours as many of the players taking part usually aren't willing to share their stories.
However, there are a few stories (from credible poker players) that reach the public once in a while. On Monday, Irish poker pro Tom Hall shared his experience from the insane cash games in Macau, China, on an online poker forum...
"There is nothing like a trip to the Macau Big Game to get the adrenalin flowing. Have been away from Macau for a few months and rocked up at Poker King Starworld for a few meetings and wandered over to where the Big Game lumbers on. Got to the table and even at first glance, I'm like "Holy S..." what is going on here. Two well known international pros have got giant stacks in front of them and the rest of the table were all Asian players. There were literally so many chips on the table that there was no space to play. Pic attached below as a sample. The guys have been playing for 2 days with the odd 4 hour break here and there.
Then I looked more carefully and noticed a few "vouchers" floating about for HK$5m at a time as they had run out of physical big denomination chips. In total approx. US$20m of chips on the table!! Blinds when I was there was a mere US$4K/US$8K but they had been playing as high as US$12.5K/25K earlier in the sessions. Wasn't a game I was keen to join with even the smallest stack sitting with US$1m in front of him.
It is amazing to think that this game has been running pretty much non-stop (other than when the team is overseas at a high stakes event elsewhere) for 3 years+ now. The atmosphere is still friendly and funny around the table.
The largest pot I saw at the table had a fairly quiet start on a KH 10S 7S board, which exploded with a 10D on the turn and a 5s on the river. After an unusual amount of tanking both a local and a pro, both ended up all in for a HK$40m (US$5.1m) pot. Lot of excitement ended up in a chop with both holding A 10.
Saw some pretty sick river bluffs with river bets of US$700-800k going in which were treated with much amusement at the expense of the folding player.
You can see why the biggest contingent of OneDrop players is going to come from the Macau crew, thinking of joining myself this year. Will be back in Macau next week, think I will play some US$1/$2 PLO whilst drinking a decent bottle of wine, those Big Game stakes likely to give me another heart attack!!"
