Terence: Casinos in Seoul, Korea

[Terence]

So far I've visited the Walker Hill Casino and the 2 7Luck's in Seoul.

All three casinos are dealt from a single shoe.

Low stakes (10,000 won = 10 dollars min bet, 500,000 won = 500 dollars max bet) is dealt with 6 decks. DOA, DAS, S17, Insurance, Late Surrender. Blackjack pays 3:2, Insurance 2:1. Pair bets are also offered paying 11:1.

High stakes are 50,000 won min and 500,000 won max, or 100,000 won min and 2,000,000 won max bet, dealth with 8 decks. DOA, No DAS, H17, Insurance, Late Surrender. Blackjack pays 3:2, Insurane 2:1. Pair bets are also offered paying 11:1

Walker Hill also offers one table of 5,000 won min bet, 200,000 max bet which is dealth with 6 decks. I'm not sure of the rules, I didn't look it over cause it was crowded with kids.

Gambling is illegal for Korean citizens except for at one casino in the Southern tip so most clientele are Chinese/Japanese, most of whom are extremely competent advantage players (judging from what little I know). Mostly older men and women ranging from 40-60. Being a college student myself, I found approachable peers slim and felt subdued the entire time. Even after increasing my bankroll 300%, I felt like I wasn't having fun.

Minimal heat and excellent comps at both although the atmosphere of the Walker Hill casino was definitely livelier on the 4 occassions I've been there so far. The 7Luck in Gangnam is a close second, being attached to the largest mall in Seoul, COEX.

While I had a great experience due to my winnings, the dealers and pit bosses were all pretty cold and there was just no social atmosphere there. Most of the conversation was of my own initiative and died as quickly as it could.

I will be visiting more casinos in Cheju, which I hear are much more popular as the Cheju islands are a true tourist attraction. Hopefully they will be more exciting than the ones in Seoul.

[SCAA]

> So far I've visited the Walker Hill Casino and the 2
> 7Luck's in Seoul.

> All three casinos are dealt from a single shoe.

> Low stakes (10,000 won = 10 dollars min bet, 500,000
> won = 500 dollars max bet) is dealt with 6 decks. DOA,
> DAS, S17, Insurance, Late Surrender. Blackjack pays
> 3:2, Insurance 2:1. Pair bets are also offered paying
> 11:1.

> High stakes are 50,000 won min and 500,000 won max, or
> 100,000 won min and 2,000,000 won max bet, dealth with
> 8 decks. DOA, No DAS, H17, Insurance, Late Surrender.
> Blackjack pays 3:2, Insurane 2:1. Pair bets are also
> offered paying 11:1

> Walker Hill also offers one table of 5,000 won min
> bet, 200,000 max bet which is dealth with 6 decks. I'm
> not sure of the rules, I didn't look it over cause it
> was crowded with kids.

> Gambling is illegal for Korean citizens except for at
> one casino in the Southern tip so most clientele are
> Chinese/Japanese, most of whom are extremely competent
> advantage players (judging from what little I know).
> Mostly older men and women ranging from 40-60. Being a
> college student myself, I found approachable peers
> slim and felt subdued the entire time. Even after
> increasing my bankroll 300%, I felt like I wasn't
> having fun.

> Minimal heat and excellent comps at both although the
> atmosphere of the Walker Hill casino was definitely
> livelier on the 4 occassions I've been there so far.
> The 7Luck in Gangnam is a close second, being attached
> to the largest mall in Seoul, COEX.

> While I had a great experience due to my winnings, the
> dealers and pit bosses were all pretty cold and there
> was just no social atmosphere there. Most of the
> conversation was of my own initiative and died as
> quickly as it could.

> I will be visiting more casinos in Cheju, which I hear
> are much more popular as the Cheju islands are a true
> tourist attraction. Hopefully they will be more
> exciting than the ones in Seoul.
beware of cheating in Cheju.

[Terence]

> beware of cheating in Cheju.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll certainly be aware. Haha your advice comes at a good time, I've become looser with my bankroll swings cause of my lucky endeavors so far.

Also, I forgot to mention that the penetration is about 75-80% at Walker Hill and 70% at 7 Luck. And the changes may have only occurred for this weekend due to two large tournaments at both casinos (baccarat and hold 'em poker) but the upper limits have raised a little over two fold for every table.

Also, I believe Walker Hill to be the only casino in the Seoul area to offer Texas Hold Em poker. Small and big blinds are 1,000-2,000 or 2,000-5,000. It is in fact offered (between 4-6 tables) despite not being listed on their website.

[Terence Kim]

Busan, on the southern tip of South Korea, has two casinos. Another 7Luck, and another Paradise (the same as Walker Hill). Again, Paradise has a 5,000 won minimum bet blackjack table, a 10,000 won table, a 50,000 won table, and two 100,000 won tables. Limits are slightly lower at this casino running from 5,000-300,000 ; 10,000-500,000 ; 50,000-1,000,000 ; 100,000-2,000,000. Both casinos are awfully small.

The 5,000 minimum table is run from an auto-shuffling machine which is completely opaque. The amount of cards can never be seen, and the discard tray is reloaded into the machine after 2-3 hands. Occasionally, the shoe will even shuffle mid deal, and retract the cards from the slide, whereupon the dealer would do a double take at sliding her fingers down the slide and having nothing in her hand, then and wait for the machine to give her cards again to complete dealing, usually to the dismay of the players.

Thankfully, the other tables are all played from a transparent shoe and shuffled by the dealer. However, all tables are still shuffled by some shuffling machine before then being shuffled by the dealer. This does not happen in Seoul.

I spent a total of 8 hours in Paradise Busan and in that time saw the dealer win a disheartening amount of all hands, make 21 (no exaggeration) about 5% of all hands. At the 5,000 won table, groups of American tourists (college age) lost a collective 10,000 USD in about 2 hours. At the 100,000 won table, a lone lady playing heads up against the dealer lost 70,000 USD to the house, while playing a very solid playing and betting strategy.

I played at the 10,000 won table and saw a 6,000 USD swing in my bankroll, reaching a horribly tilting and miserable low. I eventually made even plus a measly 50 dollars and got the hell out of there.

I highly recommend staying away from casinos in Busan.

[broncosauras[sic]]

I don't understand your comment about most of the players being APs.