Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2009 14 A Sure Bet Log onto www.asgam.com for the latest industry intelligence and a subscription to our digital edition — all absolutely free. Fair play The second brand value of poker is fairness. This is particularly important in a society such as China where trust of institutions and individuals is low and cheating of systems is regarded as not just commonplace but as inevitable. Collusion in poker does occur and is not limited to online play. It can happen in any poker game with three or more players. The skill element of poker combined with the methods available to webmasters for identifying fraud does arguably make cheating harder. Most online poker rooms claim to scan for such activity by checking IP addresses and for use of multiple accounts. In 2007, for example, PokerStars. net, the feeder organisation for the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, disqualified the winner of theWorld Championship of Online Poker for alleged abuse of multiple accounts. The winning player was registered under the handle ‘TheV0id’ but to this day there is a dispute about who was actually operating the account. Upwardly mobile The third brand value for poker is upward social mobility. Texas Hold’em is aspirational in the widest sense, and it seems to appeal especially to people who are already successful in other walks of life. Poker offers an intriguing combination of rugged individuality at the table with club-like camaraderie away from it—and the sophistication of belonging to an elite or select group. It’s no surprise that Hollywood stars seem to covet success at the poker table almost as much if not more than they do acting awards. Being first—among equals That leads on to the fourth brand value. Poker is meritocratic if not (strictly speaking) egalitarian. Meritocracy is a concept considered a virtue in many Western cultures, with their tendency to focus on the autonomy and primacy of the individual. In Asian VIP baccarat, a player’s bank balance or general credit worthiness is the chief qualification for entry to the table. In poker, with the exception of high limit games, any player with enough gumption and skill can take a place at the table. Clerks can play alongside (and even beat) company chairmen. “We’re seeing the emergence of local [Asian] heroes,” says Jeffrey Haas of the APPT. “One of the greatest stories we have seen recently in the region is the APT events in January, where a local Filipino player won an event in the Philippines, and now he’s a media darling. That’s the kind of excitement that helps build poker up, and we’re certainly looking forward to seeing that continuing.” “Our prediction for poker over the next five years is that it will certainly start in Macau to outgrow some of the other key Asian [jurisdictional] areas for poker, such as Singapore, which is probably the top ranking for poker players at the moment, followed by the Philippines,” says Chris Parker, Chief Executive of the APT. “Asia is going to grow in terms of numbers and Macau will be the home of poker in Asia in the future.” Cover Story