Macau has opened a third poker room at Starworld casino. This is good news for poker players here.

I find a chance to check it out today after my business trip. It took me a while to find it; there is not too much signage in the casino that shows the way to the room. It is separated from the main casino floor, situated by itself in a corner on the second floor. One will have to go through the casino floor to get to it.

There are about 7 or 8 tables. When I and my friends arrive, there is only one table playing 10/20 dollars. I find its positioning somewhere between the Grand Lisboa room and the Grand Waldo room. I do not like the Grand Lisboa room; the tables are among the casino games, and the staff is not professional enough. However, Grand Lisboa has the benefit of being the first in the market. On weekends, their tables are always full because most of the poker players in Macau started playing there.

Grand Waldo room, being organized and managed by Pokerstars, is the best I think. Very professional and well managed, it suffers from a poor location in Cotai. Starworld probably is better than Grand Waldo in this aspect. I do not find the starworld room professional enough. They use casino chips to play poker, which I found strange. When I arrive at the Grand Waldo room, there is always staff who will approach me who will proactively offer to help me to play the game I want. I and my friends stand at the Starworld room for 15 minutes watching the single table game there, and no staff ever approach us at all.

I think most of the poker players who do not want to travel to Cotai will continue to play at Grand Lisboa, while the high stakes player will play at Grand Waldo. The Starworld poker room will need to work harder to get better business. They are hosting the Asian Poker Tour event in late August which will probably help to get more new players.