Unbeatable hand

The first non-player inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame, tournament director Danny McDonagh faces a bigger challenge winning over Chinese players Poker is a game of skill, but one also needs luck when the cards are dealt. Danny McDonagh’s career as a poker tournament director in the Asia-Pacific region is a bit like that. It started with a lucky opportunity in 1994 but he used his skill to build it up from there. Today, Mr McDonagh is the director of live operations for the Asia-Pacific region for poker operator PokerStars. His job not only puts him in charge of live operations in Macau, but also makes him president of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour and commissioner of the Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour. Organising poker tournaments is now part of his make-up. His passion has earned him a place in the Australian Poker Hall of Fame – its first non-player. He now stands side-by-side with the likes of Joe Hachem, the winner of the main event at the 2005 World Series of Poker – the equivalent to the game’s world championship. “It’s a thrill and an honour,” says Mr McDonagh. He will be inducted into the hall of fame in January in Crown casino in his home town of Melbourne. It was there that it all started for him. With his bachelor’s degree in accountancy, Mr McDonagh had been working in the banking sector, but decided to take a break and go for a long vacation. When he returned, he saw a job advertisement for croupiers at Crown. “It was by chance I started in a casino,” he says. After three years as a croupier, in 1997, he learned there was an opening for a poker manager at the casino, which was getting ready to introduce the game to the gaming floor. “I had no awareness of poker and knew nothing about Texas Hold ’em, but another fellow staff said, ‘You should go for that’. And I went for it. After a couple of months I became the tournament director,” Mr McDonagh says. Again, “it was completely by chance”. His banking and accounting background benefitted him. “My mathematical skills helped because, behind a tournament, there is arranging all the structures and finances, money coming in and out.” Real passion He says he is keener on organising poker tournaments than on the game itself. To be a good administrator, one needs to be a little removed from the love of playing poker, he admits. That is not to say Mr McDonagh does not play. “I like playing poker, but it’s more like a hobby. It’s not a real passion. Running poker tournaments is my passion,” he says. Mr McDonagh climbed up the ladder swiftly. He was at the helm of every big poker tournament at Crown until 2007. He was also director of two televised series of poker tournaments in Australia, and established poker tours to Austria, Russia, New Zealand and Slovenia, all with live Internet coverage. After more than 10 years mostly devoted to poker in Australia, Mr McDonagh made his move to Asia. “I thought: ‘That’s something different, a challenge.’ It was a great way to travel, meet new cultures and I thought it was fantastic,” he says. He started with the debut of the PokerStars Asia-Pacific Poker Tour in Manila, in August 2007. Seoul came next, the following month. In November 2007, Mr McDonagh organised the Macau leg of the competition. Texas Hold ’em eventually became legal in Macau in 2008 and PokerStars opened a room at Grand Waldo, which was moved into Grand Lisboa the following year. He has been based here ever since. Front-row view Mr McDonagh says there is still a lot for him to achieve. He wants to promote Texas Hold ’em in the mainland, using Macau as bait. “In the Chinese culture, people are very methodical [and that is] suited to the game. There’s the element of bluffing, mathematical skills and reading the other player. That suits the Asian player. Poker will become a popular game here,” he says. Hong Kong, Japan and India are his other targets in Asia, as one of his tasks as president of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour is to bring the competition to new markets. He still finds time to oversee the day-to-day operations at the PokerStars 33-table live poker room at Grand Lisboa. “It’s been great this year. We have had an increase of 50 to 60 percent in tournament numbers. Most players are coming from China, Japan, and Taiwan. My goal is to make this the number one venue,” he says. Mr McDonagh has had a front-row view of the development of poker in the Asia-Pacific region. “Originally, poker was just cash game operations. Tournaments came once a year and then twice a year,” he says. Now, some places can hold 10 or more events per year. Retirement is not an idea that enters Mr McDonagh’s mind. “The passion hasn’t gone, for sure. When I come down to the floor amongst the people, it doesn’t feel like work,” he says. Helpful bets PokerStars is preparing to host a charity event in support of the Macau Child Development Association. Part of the entry fee will be donated to the association. PokerStars has already pledged MOP192,000 (US$24,000) to support a special project by the association to subsidise 10 families with children with learning difficulties, providing them with professional individual help. The charity event is included in the Macau Poker Cup Championship, to take place at the PokerStars room at Grand Lisboa from October 7 to 16. “It is the fourth of the Macau series for the year. The buy-in will be HK$20,000 [US$2,565] for the main event,” says the PokerStars director of live operations for the Asia-Pacific region, Danny McDonagh. PokerStars is expecting more than 300 players to join the main event, compared with 254 last year. Ten side-events will be run during the competition. “We have a ladies-only event. We are expecting around 40 players to join,” Mr McDonagh says. Next month is the Macau stage of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour. “That’s what we call a major event. We expect over 400 players for the main event,” says Mr McDonagh, who is the president of the tour. PokerStars wants to attract high-rollers to its tournaments. The Macau Poker Cup Championship will have an event dedicated to such players, with a HK$50,000 buy-in, while the Macau leg of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour will have a HK$100,000 buy-in event. PokerStars is considering creating a tournament dedicated to the top end of town. “One thing that is missing in our calendar is a main event for a very big buy-in,” says Mr McDonagh. High-stakes poker in Macau made the headlines last year, with reports of games with MOP320 million on the table. Industry insiders say wealthy Chinese businessmen that have moved over from VIP baccarat lead the heavy betting. By  Alexandra Lages