Re: The APPT Macau: The First Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament in China!
 

A fun anecdote:

During the $300 mega-satellite on the first day, we had a dealer at our table who was new and pretty nervous as it was his first time dealing. He collects the cards from the previous hand. He riffles them, strips them, cuts them. He says, "blinds please" and the small blind posts.

He pitches a card to the small blind, and then to the big blind. Then, with mounting horror, he sees that the big blind has not put out his blind yet! He has an expression of sheer panic on his now weathered visage. After being frozen in his deer-in-headlights look for two seconds, he composes himself.

He sticks his right arm up, ramrod straight, and yells out, "FLOOR!" Big blind has now posted his blind. One of the tournament directors runs over, expertly avoiding people along the way. The director asks the dealer what the problem is. Dealer says, very seriously, "I dealt a card to him before he posted his blind."

The director keeps a perfectly straight face and says, "No problem, keep on dealing." The dealer's relief is evident to all. He keeps dealing.

Re: The APPT Macau: The First Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament in China!
 

[ QUOTE ]
A fun anecdote:

During the $300 mega-satellite on the first day, we had a dealer at our table who was new and pretty nervous as it was his first time dealing. He collects the cards from the previous hand. He riffles them, strips them, cuts them. He says, "blinds please" and the small blind posts.

He pitches a card to the small blind, and then to the big blind. Then, with mounting horror, he sees that the big blind has not put out his blind yet! He has an expression of sheer panic on his now weathered visage. After being frozen in his deer-in-headlights look for two seconds, he composes himself.

He sticks his right arm up, ramrod straight, and yells out, "FLOOR!" Big blind has now posted his blind. One of the tournament directors runs over, expertly avoiding people along the way. The director asks the dealer what the problem is. Dealer says, very seriously, "I dealt a card to him before he posted his blind."

The director keeps a perfectly straight face and says, "No problem, keep on dealing." The dealer's relief is evident to all. He keeps dealing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good stuff. Obviously used to dealing in the pits.

Re: The APPT Macau: The First Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament in China!
 

The biggest minus about Macau that is out the control of the APPT and the host casino is:

AIR POLLUTION

The thick, hazy, greyish or brownish "chog" (short for Chinese smog) that many of us have read about and have seen in photos and on TV news programs each day (i.e. on Bloomberg and CNBC World if you live in the U.S.) has been present in Macau ever since I have been on the ground.

I have NOT seen blue sky yet during the day time in Macau for the 6 days I have been here.

The "chog", in my opinion, is worse that the smog in the valley areas of Los Angeles.

The "West River" estuary, which flows past the hotel and is visible if you have a "harbour view" room facing Hengqin Island on the Mainland China side of the estuary, is also heavily polluted with brownish water.

Re: The APPT Macau: The First Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament in China!
 

[ QUOTE ]
The biggest minus about Macau that is out the control of the APPT and the host casino is:

AIR POLLUTION

The thick, hazy, greyish or brownish "chog" (short for Chinese smog) that many of us have read about and have seen in photos and on TV news programs each day (i.e. on Bloomberg and CNBC World if you live in the U.S.) has been present in Macau ever since I have been on the ground.

I have NOT seen blue sky yet during the day time in Macau for the 6 days I have been here.

The "chog", in my opinion, is worse that the smog in the valley areas of Los Angeles.

The "West River" estuary, which flows past the hotel and is visible if you have a "harbour view" room facing Hengqin Island on the Mainland China side of the estuary, is also heavily polluted with brownish water.

[/ QUOTE ]

My GF is from ZhengZhao on the mainland and she has told me stories about how polluted it is there. I believed her but couldn't really grasp it until earlier this year when we met her parents in HK and they brought video. Wow. The sky was filled with soot, the big river was an oily mess on the banks and all foamy just outside of that. The place was disgusting. The city is the major railroad center for China and apparently their railroads rely heavily on coal and very dirty oil.