Author Topic: Macau 澳門小游  (Read 234386 times)

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #20 on: 02 January 2010, 05:50:53 »
At the time of the visit, the fortress was under renovation. I wasn't not very sure if it was open, but went in anyway.

Right inside the doorway were a bunch of typhoon signals to be hoist  on the hill when typhoon approaches.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #21 on: 02 January 2010, 05:58:06 »
Some random pictures taken inside the fortress.

All the lamps have the anchor design, perhaps reflection of the Portuguese naval prowess at the time?  In the background is a real anchor.

The bell was one of the few featured historic artifacts.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #22 on: 02 January 2010, 05:59:32 »
In the fortress is a small chapel, perhaps with restoration works going on then.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #23 on: 02 January 2010, 06:00:50 »
More random pictures before we moving on to the historic lighthouse.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #24 on: 02 January 2010, 06:06:40 »
According to the brochure, built in 1865, this lighthouse was the first western style lighthouse on the China coast, and marked the exactly location of Macau's coordinates.

The large padlock says something like "Her Majesties Lever Patent", could it be also a historic artifact?

The last picture is a view of the doorway to the lighthouse, with lotus-shaped Grand Lisboa in the background.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #25 on: 02 January 2010, 06:23:06 »
This time we stayed in the Grand Lisboa. My original top choices were Wynn or MGM Grand, but they were fully booked when I tried to make the booking two weeks before the trip. I would like to stay in the town area so all the new hotels in the newly developed Taipa site were out of the question.

During my previous trips to Macau, I found the Grand Lisboa had too many tourist hanging out and wasn't very impressed. But it was the only hotel still had rooms available, and it was rated among the top 4 in the 2009 edition of Michelin's, I decided to gave it a try, and was pleasantly surprised. The rooms were clean, large enough, bright and airy. Each and every room has sauna, stream bath and jacuzzi. I have been to hotel rooms that had 1 or 2 but not all 3!

Whilst I liked the rooms very much, there were just too many loud talking rude mainland gamblers everywhere in the hotel's public space. Like guys smoke in the elevators, people don't line up and gets defensively loud when told to line up, and people who think staying in a room in the high floor means it's OK to be rude to others, etc... Either I had particular bad luck bumping into many, or it's simply nature of people who gambles in casinos.

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #26 on: 02 January 2010, 06:42:21 »
I don't gamble but still like to walk around the casino to see.

One of my long time puzzles is why Baccarat player always "peek" & "rub" their cards?! From what I observe, all the gambling are done before the cards are dealt, and there is no decision to make after. Why not just open the cards? Every single player I saw would rub the card as if they can magically will the cards into something they want, or peeking at it from a very low angle with just a tiny corner flipped up. Are they perpetuating some kind of myth?

During this trip, one of my "new" discoveries (new to me, maybe not new in casinos) seems like another gimmicks to separate gamblers from their money faster. The casinos now provide a small plastic picks that the slot players can jam into the play button, so the slot machine will keep running one game after another without stopping for the gambler to push any button! With that little "advancement", a gambler can easily play multiple slot machines without moving and/or thinking!  ::)


Offline hangchoi

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #27 on: 02 January 2010, 11:15:52 »
The only reason that I can think of about peeking and rubing the card is.......to increase the excitement of the game...sometime you may hear they say something like "三邊". Merely an emotional movement. Anyhow, Baccarat is the most "fair" game in casino, as far as I know.

About the slot machine, there will be no fun at all if they do that.... >:(


「吾心信其可行,則移山倒海之難,終有成功之日。吾心信其不可行,則反掌折枝之易,亦無收效之期也。」

Offline chin

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #28 on: 03 January 2010, 13:34:47 »
The only reason that I can think of about peeking and rubing the card is.......to increase the excitement of the game...sometime you may hear they say something like "三邊". Merely an emotional movement. Anyhow, Baccarat is the most "fair" game in casino, as far as I know.

About the slot machine, there will be no fun at all if they do that.... >:(

Yes excitment is probably the reason. It's fairer in the sense of lower rake/commission than the other casino game, but none of them are fair in the sense of expected value. Perhaps because of the "most fair" label, it seems to be the most popular game, in terms of number of tables.

And during this trip, I learned Texas Hold'em in the casino's learning table. The house commision is 5% which is among the highest in casino games. How much does skill counts in this poker game? If skill is a major factor, then there is good chance to overcome the 5% rake. (I teached my kids this poker game, and we had lots of fun playing at home. :))

Offline q

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Re: Macau 澳門小游
« Reply #29 on: 03 January 2010, 13:45:33 »
And during this trip, I learned Texas Hold'em in the casino's learning table. The house commision is 5% which is among the highest in casino games. How much does skill counts in this poker game? If skill is a major factor, then there is good chance to overcome the 5% rake. (I teached my kids this poker game, and we had lots of fun playing at home. :))

Is the game played against the house, or other players?

In poker where player is against player there are cases of a positive EV for any given hand when the pot reaches a certain dollar value, regardless of skill.
Furthermore, I believe professional poker players employ sophisticated game theory to tilt there odds in their favor. 

For instance, I once listened to a radio story where a professional poker play, who was a lady, stayed in a hand that she shouldn't have (based on probability)
because one of the other professionals at the table (a man) believes that "girls can't play poker".  Even better for her, relating to her deep game strategy, was
that she had a lucky win.  Which just confirmed what the other professional thought...