Daegu's Poker Room

[alljokingaside]

To the card sharks out there,


Was about to check out Seoul when I heard about the much closer poker room at Daegu (I'm in Busan). Any info about the room there? I gave the pit a call earlier in the day last Sat, but got no response.

What are stakes like? How's the game? How many people usually go/are there multiple games going on? Are there hours when games aren't in service?


Thanks!
Lookin forward to seeing some of y'all there

[checkraisingkorea]

I had no idea there was a legitimate poker room in Daegu.  I'd also be interested in any additional info.
Thanks for posting.

[alljokingaside]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/DaeGu-Casino-Poker-Room/196001507107517?sk=info

That's the only info I've found about this place. Other than word-of-mouth.

Some info's posted, but it doesn't seem too comprehensive, and Korea being what it is, too stable.

[checkraisingkorea]

I wonder why they  chose Daegu.  Busan seems to make more sense.  But I guess by the FB page they seem to have a few players, although that could have been their one free-roll night or something to get some trumped-up photos.
Let me know if you go there in the near future OP.

[alljokingaside]

Thinking of this or the next weekend. There seems to be some people there, but looking at the pics and stakes, I get the impression that a dozen people showing would be considered a busy night. I could be wrong though.

Busan apparently had a poker room at one point. The casino decided that it lost revenue or that there wasn't enough of an interest or something, that the multiple unused tables there would better serve to bestow the aura of free-wheeling gambling than be used, that the foreigners who'd play this game (ie Westerners) are too rowdy, noisy, etc. or something. Plus their revenue base (ie Japanese business men) is solid enough whereupon they just don't have to care. Blerg.

[ruthmau]

I've been a few times. It's never been busy when I've been there. They have a free roll every week night at 7 where you pay 10k in, then the top 3 get 100k to play in the cash game, they must then play in the cash game for atleast an hour. Saturdays the game starts at 3 I think. Hope that helps!

[checkraisingkorea]

Ruth - what games run regularly?  Free roll every night is pretty nice.

[ruthmau]

I'm not an expert on all things poker related to be honest- I just went for the free food and drinks! So when I've been the  minimum is 10 people playing, once there are only 3 people left in, the game stops and it moves onto a cash game- where anyone can buy in at anytime. This usually starts about 830. The buy in for the cash game is I think minimum 100,000.
Saturdays the free roll starts at 3 and the cash game a bit later
Sundays I think it is totally different set up but I'm not sure of the details.
At the moment because the casino is new they are trying to get as many people as possible, so they are giving free food and drink and a free 10,000 bet when you come- quite a fun night out!

[Jyang486]

This may seem like a stupid question, but I've never been to a casino in Korea before.  So how do they do the chips?  $1 chips per 1k won?  With the same denominations as they would have at a regular casino like $1, $5, $10, $20, $25, $50, $100, etc?  I'm thinking about hitting up a casino in Seoul in the near future.  Like during my summer break in August after English camp.

[tokkibunni]

is the poker table at the casino in busan no longer there? i played there a couple of times, but haven't been back in maybe 2 yrs.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

I quit going there after my 5th time.

I'd make money off the few donks there (usually army or elder Koreans) only to ultimately lose it to the 3 or 4 very good prop players at the table eventually.

When you have 9 players and 3 or 4 are very good props, 4 are good players like yourself and only 2 donks - the only people making money are the casino through the rake, and the props.

Waste of time.  Start a home / bar game get some donks, newbs and plenty of young Koreans to come and watch your part time earnings from a measly 1/2 game 50k buy in reach a million won a month.  Sigh, why did HBC get busted and then I had to shut my game down....   :(

[checkraisingkorea]

Jyang - Poker chips (at least in Seoul) are 1,000won, 5000, 100,000.  5000 chips are the standard used, unless your playing a really high-limit game.  1000 chips are just used for making change in the blinds.  The exchange rate is close enough that usually players just call out the rough dollar amounts when betting:  5000 chip bet = $5 and so on.

DWAE - Where are there 3 or 4 "prop players" per table?  I know that's not the case at Walker Hill.  In Daegu?

[alljokingaside]

is the poker table at the casino in busan no longer there? i played there a couple of times, but haven't been back in maybe 2 yrs.

Both casinos in Busan don't have poker. I've checked, multiple times. Story is that they had one once (when you went) but shut it down soon after (at least 2010). I'm guessin the paltry amount they made on the rake as well as the ethnic majority of poker players (ie non-Japanese) turned them off to the whole idea.


Also, "prop players" as in, like, rounders or casino employees?

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Jyang - Poker chips (at least in Seoul) are 1,000won, 5000, 100,000.  5000 chips are the standard used, unless your playing a really high-limit game.  1000 chips are just used for making change in the blinds.  The exchange rate is close enough that usually players just call out the rough dollar amounts when betting:  5000 chip bet = $5 and so on.

DWAE - Where are there 3 or 4 "prop players" per table?  I know that's not the case at Walker Hill.  In Daegu?

Nah at wh you will just get one or two max usually per table and they aren't as good as these guys.

Honestly at Daegu - there are two that I would class as very good, no way you're making a penny over time against them and above the 1/2 skill level and they have big rolls too, so really hard to compete against.  Another is good but DOES tilt from time to time and will push your kings or aa in with ak for hundreds of bucks, but it's rare.

The esl teachers that go there are decent too, you can tell everyone knows the math, has read all the tactics etc like we all have and have some reading skills too, so you're just seeing money go round and round in circles and whittled down by the rake.  Only decent strategy is to get up 200 or 300 and then split and rebuy later for 100, banking the rest, get up again if you can and then split as soon as you are etc.  otherwise you're gonna give it back eventually and then it just goes round in circles like I said before.

The army guys aren't that good and can be bluffed a lot and you do get some maniac adjoishis, but they can be bad as they either donk off to you huge, or suck you out huge and then end up donking your money of to someone else...

Honestly with a 10% rake, you want to be at least in the top 3 players at the table and for the rest to be uneducated donks and fish, otherwise it's just a game of pass the parcel unless you're smart and cash out onbce you get up a bit, and how many of us have the discipline to pull out once we're up?

alljoking - props as in they get a salary from the casino to play with or get a salary from the casino but have to play with their own money.  Eitherway unless you have 1mil / 1.5mil a month (the average prop allowance in korea) or so as a bankroll - they are a lot more confident than you because they DO have that much before they have to dip into the money from their day jobs...

Like I said, tough to make coin there as there are never enough drunk army guys or adjoishis for the props to have to give up their seats.

I'd take a bar game or home game with half esl teachers and some young koreans and a few adjoishis anyday....