You won't find Texas Hold 'em in Macau

Location: Macau, China

Date: New Year's Eve

Tourist Rating: 2.5/5

Gambling Rating: 3/5

Would I go again: Maybe

Summary: I spent New Year's Eve in Macau, with the goal of passing the new year while feeding my gambling urges since I've been away from Vegas' proximity for so long now. The new Vegas of Asia didn't really live up to all the hype it's been getting. If you like second-hand smoke, go to Macau. I think I lost a year of my life there.

Tourism: I was only there for one night, so my main goal was to "tour" the casinos and get some authentic Portuguese (Macau's an ex-colony) food. I was able to do the former, but the latter proved very difficult since I found out the hard way that the cab drivers don't like taking tourists - especially if you No Speaky Chinesey (Cantonese only). I had made reservations at Littoral, a well-known but not overpriced Portuguese place ahead of time. However, since it took us over 30 minutes of waiting for a cab (and walking), during which we were passed up about 3 times due to language issues, we gave up and had something along the way (which wasn't half bad - below is Duck & sausage in portuguese baked rice).

We did see the New Year's Eve fireworks, which were quite nice over the water by Taipa Bridge. Got some decent pictures with my Samsung D908 phone. That said, they were pretty average (lasted about 10 minutes) compared to what we're used to seeing in the States. Countdown caught me off guard since it's been years since I've actually counted down outloud - pretty interesting to hear it in several different dialects simultaneously.

Gambling: I checked out the Wynn, Sands, Hotel Lisboa, and Rio.

Sands: Filled with mainlanders (Macau is in general) smoking Double Happiness (Quadruple Cancer) cigarettes. But they do have a non-smoking gambling area, which is a welcome rarity there. Most of what you find here and elsewhere in Macau is Baccarat, Sikbo (Big/Small), Blackjack, Roulette. The minimums aren't as low as you'd expect in China. Maybe it was due to NYE, but they were usually about US$ 13-26.

Rio: Casino is pretty new, but strangely almost completely empty. The upside was less smoke~ We only played slots there, which were like 2 generations behind what's in the US. Some machines were still dealing in coins, versus the e-ticket type. No Price is Right or Monopoly machines.

Hotel Lisboa: Very local. I think they only have Baccarat and Sikbo. If you want a prostitute, go to Lisboa.

Wynn: Had an upgraded Bellagioesque water show out front which was....something to see.

Gambling space there was limited compared to Sands, but I think I detected a bit of an upgrade in clientele there. They also had some VIP-type club on the first floor, which seemed Vegas-ish. They also had floor managers which were visibly imported from the US (they were caucasian). Here is an excerpt from a conversation I had with one of them:

Me: "So, do you have Texas Hold 'em?"

Flr mgr: "No."

Me: "I've been to 4 casinos already and none have it. Does any place in Macau have it?"

Flr mgr: "No, but you're the 4th person who's asked me"

Me: "Tonight?"

Flr mgr: "This year! Once more people start asking, then we'll set it up"

Me: "Your mutha was hoo ah"

(the above was true except the last line)

Because there was no Texas Hold'em, I had to get my fix via Carribean Stud Poker. My first time playing, and last. I paid a steep tuition to learn this game. It's completely luck, and has all these little rules that benefit the house. I'm not going to go into details because it just hurts me to relive it.

Check out the spelling on this MitsubiChi I saw parked: