Pulse of Poker: China

By Aaron Angerman

It was 8:08 p.m. on 8-8-08. The attention of the entire free world was focused on the People's Republic of China as they were set to kick off the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. For a culture that sees the number eight as a sign of luck, you would think this may be the greatest minute of the greatest day, ever. The perfect time to kick off what may be the most important day in their countries history, a country some 1.3 billion people strong.

China had pumped more than $40 billion into the 29th Olympiad. A big jump from the $16 billion Athens dumped into the games just four years ago. While many complained that the money would be better used if spent elsewhere, tackling issues such as education, pollution and assisting those rendered homeless by the May earthquake, the government still made the Olympic Games priority #1. Skynews even quoted a young Beijing resident who said, "It's terrible the money they wasted. Millions of people live and work in terrible conditions, but the government doesn't think of them. They have spent our taxes on buildings - and who does it help? It does nothing for the people of this country."

A concerned Beijing-based taxi driver asked Skynews, "It's all for Beijing - but what about the rest of the country? What about those who lost their homes in the earthquake? What about the people who try to feed their families and send their children out to work?"

Like it or not, the Olympics were coming.

On Saturday, August 3rd, runners carried the Olympic torch away from protests in Hong Kong and down the Las Vegas-style drag in the city of Macau. Flags were waved by all in attendance and calls of "Go China!" could be heard from each side of the street as the torch took a tour of the former Portuguese settlement, which was finally returned to the Chinese in 1999. Macau remains the only place in the country where you can find a casino.

Macau is the western-most of two special administrative regions in China, its neighbor across the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, being the other. For centuries Macau has remained among the busiest ports in the East, easily making the region one of the richest in the world.

In the 1500's, Portuguese settlers stopped in the port of Macau. At first, the Portuguese were only granted permission to anchor ships, not to come onto shore. Within 20 years the Portuguese had been granted permission to build homes on shore. Soon enough, they had formed a senate and battled the Dutch for the precious Macau land. They held onto that land and by the late 19th century, China ceded the right of perpetual occupation and government of Macau. There it remained until 1999 when, after Portugal decided to rid itself of its overseas properties, the Macau was designated an SAR of China.

In the 1850's, Macau legalized gambling to help spike the government budget. In 1962, the government granted Stanley Ho and his Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) monopoly rights to all forms of gambling in Macau. Ho ran that monopoly up to a fleet of 18 casinos and Ho himself to a net-worth topping $8 billion, according to Forbes.com. In 2002, the monopoly was lifted and American companies began moving in. Today, Ho's STDM still operates 18 of Macau's 28 gaming locations.

These days, Macau's casinos attract an estimated 25 million visitors annually. While Las Vegas averages some 40 million tourists per year, Sin City doesn't bring the money in that its Far East counterpart does. In 2006, US Today found that "from January through November, Macau casinos took in $6.485 billion from slots and table games, beating the Vegas' $6.079 billion, according to Macau's Statistics and Census Service and the Nevada Gaming Control Board."

Forget Vegas and its family themes. Macau is for gamblers. Slot machines are sparse in Macau casinos, leaving room for more table games, such as Baccarat, Pai Gow and Fan-tan. With players lined up at least five deep behind blackjack tables, casinos didn't see the need for poker tables. Fast-forward past the poker boom: Even Macau wants to get cards in the air.

Thanks to a special exception made by the Chinese government, the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) was allowed to conduct a Texas Hold'em tournament. In November of last year, the APPT set up shop at the Grand Waldo Casino for a stop during their inaugural season. Some 352 players showed up with the $2,500 buy-in in hand to christen the virgin poker area with its first NLHE tournament. By Day Three, the final table couldn't have shaped up any better for Macau's first run. Not only did the final table feature an eclectic group of participants, but it featured an American bombshell, an online legend and a former World Series of Poker Main Event champ.

Unfortunately, Macau wouldn't be handing the first title to former WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem. The Australia native entered the final table as the second-short-stack. Hachem would quickly pick up aces picked up a call worth the rest of his stack. His rockets looked to be in good shape vs. the A-Q of Sangkyoun Kim… until the J-5-K-10-4 board turned Kim a Broadway straight, eliminating the 2005 champ in 8th-place. The lovely Liz Lieu would be the next to fall. Lieu's A-6 fell to "the hammer", 7-2, after her opponent rivered two pair, sevens and deuces, forcing the American to settle for 7th-place money. Online poker legend, and future 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner, Bertrand Grosspellier would finish in 5th-place, leaving four unknowns to battle for the first APPT Macau title.

Eventually, the UK's Dinh Le and Singapore's Ivan Tan would square off for the championship. Just nine hands later, Le would have a pair of pocket eights hold up in a race with Tan's A-10 to grab the $222,640 first-place prize and a spot in the history books as China's first poker champ.

"This tournament has been an incredible experience," Dinh told PokerStars. "I am honored to be part of poker history today and very proud to become Macau's first poker champion."

Is it coincidence that Le captured the title with a couple lucky eights in the hole?

Final Results:

1st -- Dinh Le -- $222,640
2nd -- Ivan Tan -- $129,536
3rd -- Sangkyoun Kim -- $72,864
4th -- Guillaume Patry -- $56,672
5th -- Bertrand Grospellier -- $48,576
6th -- William Tam -- $40,480
7th -- Liz Lieu -- $32,384
8th -- Joseph Hachem -- $24,288
9th -- Simon Randall -- $16,192

For an encore, the Grand Waldo Hotel played host to the APPT Macau High Rollers Event. The High Rollers took to the felt just hours after the Main Event had wrapped. Just as the name implies, it would cost players a pretty penny to buy-in to the event, a cool $15,000. The hefty price tag seemed to attract the big names, as Vanessa Rousso, Isabelle Mercier, Terrance Chan and Barry Greenstein would join Macau Main Event final tablers Joe Hachem and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier in the big dance. A total of 64 players showed up and once again, the final table was packed with fire-power. Not only was Liz Lieu making her second appearance at a Macau final table, but poker legend John Juanda would be playing on the final day as well. Sadly, Lieu was quickly bounced in 8th-place. Not far behind was Juanda, who fell in 6th.

In the end, the elimination of Hong Kong's David Paul Steicke in 3rd allowed Australia's Eric Assadourian and Swede Bo Sehlstedt to fight for the $368,640 grand-prize. Assadourian would emerge as the heads-up victor after Sehlstedt couldn't make up the 4-1 chip advantage and the Aussie would join Le in the exclusive club of China tournament winner.

Final Results:

1st -- Eric Assadourian -- $368,640
2nd -- Bo Sehlstedt -- $184,320
3rd -- David Paul Steicke -- $110,592
4th -- Tony Ng -- $82,944
5th -- Emad Tahtouh -- $64,512
6th -- John Juanda -- $46,080
7th -- Scott Numoto -- $36,864
8th -- Liz Lieu -- $27,648

According to APPT President Jeffrey Haas, "The APPT Macau was a test event meant to demonstrate the viability of poker as a new game that diversifies the gaming market, encourages international tourism (primarily from individuals who are not traditional visitors to Macau), and has a broad distributed benefit to everyone involved. The results from this test were successful, and since then, the APPT and Galaxy Grand Waldo have been working to help bring poker to Macau on a permanent basis."

Haas was true to his word.

In late May, PokerStars opened China's first live poker room in the Grand Waldo Casino on the newly formed Cotai Strip, which will be home to Las Vegas-style Mega-resorts the Sands, Venetian and MGM Grand. The room will be host live games, as well as weekly tournaments. The room will also offer many satellites to PokerStars sponsored events, such as seats to European Poker Tour and Latin American Poker Tour stops, as well as seats in the APPT Macau Main Event. For the first time, poker had a permanent home in China.

The APPT's first run was so successful, they re-upped for Season Two. Once again, Macau is on the schedule. On September 1st, Macau will kick off the APPT's second run with day one of six in the $3,200 buy-in Main Event. The High Roller Event is back as well. It will now cost $19,250 to enter the three-day event, which begins on September 6th.

In the live game arena, poker tables can also be found in Casino Lisboa, another STDM property. While it is assumed by many that the new Mega-resorts set to occupy the Cotai Strip will come complete with poker rooms, companies like Las Vegas Sands and MGM Grand haven't released any information relating to future poker room plans.

While the Olympic Games are serving as China's coming out party to the rest of the world, the gaming industry in Macau may actually carry China into the future. American builders envision Macau as a destination more wealthy and lavish than what can be found in Las Vegas. If that's the case, would cramped gaming floors make way for roomy resorts, complete with plenty of room for poker rooms? Only time will tell. But given the numbers and the worldwide appeal of poker, perhaps no nation has a brighter gaming future than China.

While Macau is not represented by any athletes in this year's games, they hope to get a squad together for the 2012 Games, which will take place in London. Forget the Olympics. Isn't being the gambling hub for a country of 1.3 billion is worth a gold medal?

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Aaron Angerman is Content Manager for PokerPages.com. Raised in small town Alaska, the self proclaimed 'sports fanatic' had dreams of being a sports writer. After moving to Las Vegas in 2000, he rekindled a childhood love for poker. Grinding it out in card rooms and on the virtual felt helped Aaron to fund his schooling, eventually earning him a journalism degree from UNLV. After a couple short stints in tournament reporting, Aaron realized the poker world was the place for him.