Danny McDonagh stands tall at the recent Macau Poker Cup If you’ve ever played in a live tournament associated with PokerStars over the last few years in Asia-Pacific then you would no doubt have seen Danny McDonagh darting around the tournament floor to oversee the action as Tournament Director. With seemingly more energy behind him than a speeding Japanese Shinkansen, McDonagh holds numerous positions operating live tournaments in the region and skates through long shifts with good humour and the odd light-hearted needle of the media desk.
We were able to catch up with McDonagh after the recent Red Dragon Main Event wrapped up in Macau, before then heading out for some karaoke and dice drinking game madness to celebrate the end of yet another successful event. Here McDonagh shares his thoughts on why PokerStars Macau has made such a name for itself in attracting players to its tournaments, how the closure of the Hard Rock Poker Lounge has affected poker in Macau and the reason for the move of the APPT from Sydney to Melbourne.
Poker Portal Asia: You’ve recently received a few promotions so can you just start by explaining to us your current roles at PokerStars?
Danny McDonagh: I’m now known as the Director of Live Operations in Asia-Pacific. I’m Commissioner for ANZPT for which we have eight events per year – seven in Australia and one in New Zealand. I’m the Head of Operations here in PokerStars Macau and I’m also now the President of APPT. I was formally the Tournament Director and now I’ve taken on the President’s role. I’ve actually got a new Tournament Director who’s starting from Macau in a couple of weeks. We’re looking to him to be our future Tournament Director in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. He speaks all the languages and is great for our relationships in Macau.
PPA: Can you say who he is?
DM: I better not because he hasn’t put in his notice yet. It was only just organised tonight.
PPA: So where are you based then?
DM: I’m based in Macau. I have been for the last 18 months but I’ve now made a commitment to the next two years in Macau. Maybe I won’t go to every ANZPT tournament next season. I’m looking to do more and more in Asia.
PPA: How has the response to this Macau Poker Cup been?
DM: We’re over the moon with it. It was a bit of a risk going out to nine days. Each of our events – except the High Roller – were from 160 players upwards. It was some really good numbers. It got too crazy in February. The Thursday night was the HKD $3K, finishing on the Friday, then we had a Deep Stack and a satellite on the Friday, with the Main Event starting on the Friday night. We were just bursting at the seams because we didn’t expect to go from 300 to 500 players in the Main Event. So the move to nine days was a bit of a risk but it has been great for Casino Grand Lisboa. The cash games have been busy for the nine days which is really good.
447 players in the Main Event was a really interesting as a number. When we did the country by country breakdown, Japan pretty much accounted for the difference [From February’s 509 players] – 55 out of the 62 drop. Speaking to the Japanese players here, they needed to take off Thursday and Friday. It wasn’t earthquake-related – they used to be able to turn up on the Friday night and play the Saturday and now they were faced with two days extra. So one change I think we’ll do is make the Friday a later start; 7pm or 8pm in the evening and then make the Saturday a 2pm start and that will make it easier for that contingent. I guess that would have affected a small number of people from other countries as well. But taking that into factor, it’s really positive on numbers overall.
For the Higher Roller, we thought 30 before we started. With the buzz during the week we thought maybe 50 but 69 players was a great addition. The week just really worked out: the $6K event, $30K event and then the $2500 Bounty so there’s lots of options for players if they get knocked out of the Main Event, which we never used to do.
PPA: But despite the slight drop in Main Event numbers, it was still a record-sized MPC considering all events, right? What was the reason behind this?
DM: The High Roller definitely helped and the HKD $6K. They were two sizeable events. And we avoided that crazy 276 person field for the HKD $3K, which was difficult to handle last time. But we were able to move up to 30 tables for the last couple of days so we could hold these multiple events together. The HKD $5k Bounty, too, during the week – 164 people – that was a number that really pleased us.
PPA: So what are your plans for the tournament moving forward?
DM: The next one is in August for which we will fix up Day 1B to make it more accessible. The Qualifiers on PokerStars have been going great so that’s continuing to build. But if it’s working why change it? Except trying to make the 1B more accessible.
PPA: What are your thoughts on the Hard Rock Poker Lounge closing here in Macau? Is it a good thing or a bad thing for you at PokerStars Macau?
DM: I know the guys at Hard Rock really well because I used to work with the Shift Manager there at Crown Casino in Melbourne. They had a problem with table numbers and it has been affected by how well gaming has gone in Macau. It was a fantastic looking poker room, the staff were friendly, the service was great, drinks were provided…
PPA: Don’t forget the waitresses…
DM: Yes [laughs] the waitresses were pretty good, too. But it was stuck in a corner, upstairs in the casino, which wouldn’t have helped it. Principally, it was really the demand for baccarat that killed it. The Hard Rock brings in a new market of player so it’s not good for us. It’s probably a little bit of a downer for poker overall. We lose the new people that City of Dreams was going to introduce.
It makes it interesting for the Venetian out by itself now. There are three poker rooms here on the Macau mainland so it’s probably going to make it a little bit harder for the Venetian now. People haven’t got two poker options out on the Cotai Strip anymore. We are really tournament focused so we find that in having extra poker rooms people talk about our tournaments through word of mouth so we are happy if poker rooms are introduced to other casinos.
PPA: Do you ever think that the table cap for casinos will ever be lifted here?
DM: I don’t think so for the foreseeable future. There’s talk in Macau of restricting people who work and enter the casinos to 21 years old so I think the government wants to be seen as pushing responsible gaming for the moment.
PPA: What about exempting poker tables from the table cap?
DM: I’m not sure what could happen. From the DICJ (Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau) point of view it is a table game. I know in Melbourne’s Crown Casino and even Sydney they are both exempted from the table cap. But three years ago the DICJ hadn’t even seen poker so it will probably need more time to review.
In the case of City of Dreams, Macau was 99 per cent baccarat when it first opened so they are diversifying. It’s just that we have gone through a 60 per cent year on year growth for gaming in Macau. And this year it is already up 40 per cent. So can that continue? The main driving force is China. Over 50 per cent of the market is from China. The other games are building and if they really take into account all the people that came for the tournaments this year – their food and beverage, the spending they do on the other games, the recognition for the casino for bringing international players – it makes poker as a table game justifiable.
PPA: Getting onto the APPT, you’ve just announced to move the Australian leg from Sydney to Melbourne – what’s the reason behind that?
DM: The relationship with Sydney is still good as we had two events there – the ANZPT and the APPT. They’ve done a major refurbishment of the whole casino and have had to close down different areas so poker has gone down the priority list, which is fair enough. The last couple of years our focus has missed out a little bit.
We want to really get a great event in Australia and Crown Casino were always keen to have another event there. It wasn’t an easy decision but I think it was a right decision for the Tour. I think we’ve got the best two poker operations in Asia now and in the best two locations. Melbourne’s is already established as one of the biggest and best poker rooms in the world and Macau boasts the big cash games. And what PokerStars Macau is doing here, it’s rapidly becoming more popular too. So from my perspective it’s great for the Tour and the fact that I get to go back to work with former colleagues is exciting too.
PPA: Perhaps we can wrap up with why do think players should come and play at a PokerStars Macau event?
DM: We try to make it a really fun experience. The permanent people here, together with the people that I bring in for the week, they are really good at customer service and it’s about having fun too. If it’s a serious decision I won’t hold back on being firm with players but if you make them happy and keep them casual then you have less problems. If the tournament directors are tough on the players then they are more on edge and they are going to blow up over little things.
Macau really is the Vegas of Asia and new complexes are opening up, the food is fantastic and it’s very affordable. It’s central to everywhere – Europe, Australia, America – it’s 10-12 hours away. Russia is another emerging market for us and now we’ve even found Indian poker players turning up. It has become a real hub.
