Poker King Club and Casino Lisboa announced the launch of the new ‘Crystal Palace Poker Room’ today, which will be housed in the iconic casino on the 2nd floor of the ‘Crystal Palace’ Wing.
The venue
Casino Lisboa is one of the most famous hotel casinos in Macau. The casino is owned by the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM), a Stanley Ho company. This three-storey complex was built in the late 1960s and his part of Macau’s history. The original casino and the 12-storey round hotel tower were built in 1970. The hotel features a total of 927 rooms.
The poker room will be located in the “Crystal Palace” Wing.
Casino Lisboa
The Grand Lisboa Macau (an extension the Lisboa built in 2016) has previously offered poker and was the home of PokerStars Live Macau before the poker room relocated to City of Dreams.
Cash Games in Lisboa Casino
At the moment, there are three cash game tables, all offering No Limit Hold’em games from 10/25, 25/50, 50/100 and 100/200. The lower stakes ensure that the room has a broader, more mass-market appeal.
Tournaments in Lisboa Casino
In his statement following the opening, Winfred Yu mentioned some interesting points which clearly hinted that tournament players should expect great news.
“In addition to cash games, we are also in the process of securing plans for tournaments to be held in the room, so players can expect a lot of upcoming tournament news from us in the immediate future”.
So far, Poker King Club has never hosted a major tournament in its venue at the Venetian.
The partnership
With this partnership, Poker King Club is aiming to provide its knowledge to the operator, helping them to set up and run the poker operation. The Venetian will remain the home of Poker King Club Macau.
Steve Kok, Director of Casino Operations – SJM, gave the following statement when asked his view of the arrangement: “Poker King Club is a major player in Asia’s poker scene. They are the ‘now’ of poker, with many exciting, new ideas to add to the current landscape. It is also a very large factor for Casino Lisboa that PKC is much attuned to the needs of the Asian market. We are very excited to work alongside them”.
When asked about what to expect from the new poker room, this is what Winfred Yu, President of Poker King Club had to say:
“Under PKC management, our players can always expect high-octane table action and the same attention to detail we have employed in all our rooms. Our players’ satisfaction with the games and their comforts while playing has always been a main point of interest for my team and me, and it is a big point for Casino Lisboa as well”.
Great news for the Macau poker scene
The Macau poker scene suffered for a very long time from a lack of interest from casino operators when it came to poker. This can easily be explained by a focus on table games for VIP players which are far more profitable. This, combined with a higher labour cost and a table cap strictly enforced by local authorities, were seriously limiting the growth potential of poker in Macau.
The drastic fall of revenue combined with the opening of several new casinos is now possibly creating a window of opportunity for poker in Macau. Casino operators are increasingly looking to address the mass market. If they see poker as a marketing tool to bring customers into their venue instead of a profit source, we could see the game realise its full potential.
This opening was preceded a few months ago by that of Billionaire Poker Club which opened its poker room in April at Babylon Casino.
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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