Macau's Big Game 2014: $5 million Pots And $800k River Bluffs
March 5, 2014 3:49 pmOver the past three years, poker fans have been treated to an intriguing glimpse into the world of Macau’s nosebleed ‘Big Game’ where wealthy Chinese tycoons compete against some of the most talented high-stakes poker players in the world. Some of the stories which have caught our attention in the past include Tom Dwan winning a massive pot worth US$3.8 million, or Sam Trickett firing out a $1.31 million bluff on the river to win a $2,493,900 pot.
However, such details have usually been far and few between as the sessions involving Asian multimillionaires are often shrouded in secrecy. In any case, gaming industry worker and high stakes poker player Tom Hall continues to be the biggest source of information on the Big Game, and only a few days ago he shared some more fascinating facts on a recent 2+2 post entitled “Nosebleed Cash Games in Macau.”
As the first part of his thread, reads: “There is nothing like a trip to the Macau Big Game to get the adrenalin flowing..Got to the table and even at first glance, I’m like “Holy S***..There were literally so many chips on the table that there was no space to play..[photo]..The guys have been playing for 2 days with the odd 4 hour break here and there.”
Tom Hall then observes that there was around US$20 million in chips at the table, and that although the blinds were currently at US$4K/$8K, the players had been playing at stakes as high $12.5K/25K. In spite of the huge amounts of money floating around, including one pot worth US$5.1 million, it was interesting to hear Hall describe the atmosphere as “still friendly and funny.”
As another excerpt from Hall’s thread, explains: “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.”
Hall even included a photo of the huge stacks of chips and plaques piling up at the Poker King Starworld cash game, but nevertheless maintained a level of discretion by not showing the faces of players around the table. In the past, however, poker pros who have sat in at the Big Game include such pros as Tom Dwan, Sam Trickett, Alec Torelli, Windfred Yu, Johnny Chan, Guy Laliberte, Gus Hansen, John Juanda, and many others.