I just got back from my annual trip to Japan for my wife’s work. Each year I take a different side trip from there to play poker (since there’s no legal poker – for money – in Japan). Last year I went to Vietnam and had a great time playing poker in Hanoi. This year I decided to go to and play poker in Cambodia.
Travel From Japan to Cambodia
I wrote an article about poker heaven once. After considering many possible scenarios, I dismissed the idea, concluding that poker paradise did not exist after we died, but was probably right here on earth. I now think I may have found the exact spot. It’s in Cambodia!
Cambodia is a small nation, with only about 17.5 million people and about 70,000 square miles of area. That makes its population about 1/20th of the US, about the size of the US state of Missouri (or about eight times the size of Israel).
I flew from Tokyo to Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh, a city of 2 million. It took me about 11 hours, with a transfer in Beijing. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights.
After staying, walking around, and playing poker in Phnom Penh for a couple of days, I then took a bus to the Cambodian coastal city known now as Sihanoukville, but traditionally called Kampong Som. It is a small city of about 100,000, with a whopping 16 poker rooms!
(One note about the poker in Cambodia. There is cigarette smoking in all of the rooms. The air filtration systems were pretty good at keeping it from being overwhelming. Still, if secondary smoke bothers you greatly, then it’s something to consider.)
Poker in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phnom Penh is an extraordinary place, worth a visit in its own right. It has a brand-new airport, KTI, that is about a 35-minute drive from downtown. I booked a private ride from the airport to my casino hotel, Nagaworld. (I used the excellent website 12go.com to book my driver in advance. I recommend it highly.) The ride cost $25. There is also a public bus, for a buck or so, that takes 75 minutes, but it stops running in the late evening. I was going to take it, but my flight arrived too late. There are also dozens of cab drivers waiting for you as you exit customs at the airport. Negotiate a price with them before you leave. They’re friendly, speak English, accept dollars, and are not going to rip you off.
English and dollar friendly though Cambodia is, if you are arriving from the US or any non-Asian country, you will need a visa to enter the country in addition to your passport. No worries, though. If you didn’t get one in advance, you may purchase one for $30 on arrival.
Phnom Penh is a thriving urban area, undergoing rapid modernization, filled with tuk-tuks, motor bikes, cars, carts, pedestrians carrying wares on their head, and a very busy port. There are many construction sites. It has dozens if not hundreds of temples, shrines, and gilded pagoda-like structures and golden buddhas. As I walked the streets, I had non-stop opportunities for interesting photos. It is also teaming with inexpensive restaurants, massage shops, and street vendors. I had a mediocre massage for $3 and an excellent haircut for the same price.
Phnom Penh also has a major, full-service, 24/7 casino, Nagaworld, with a poker room, right in the heart of its downtown. It’s where I stayed and played poker in Cambodia’s capital for two days and nights.
Nagaworld is a top-end, luxurious casino resort with every amenity. Were it in a major western city, located as it is in the heart of downtown, it would easily cost $400 to $1,000 for the grand room I was given. They have a nice perk for poker players. Play for eight hours and the room is comped! As it was, I paid about $140 total, including all fees, taxes, and extra charges. It included a huge, lavish, brunch buffet. Such a great deal!
I played there three times during my stay, late at night, early in the morning, and mid-morning. There were 11 tables in the Nagaworld poker room, three in action most of the time I was there: two $1/3 games, one $2/5. They spread PLO from time to time as well, and sometimes have a $5/5 game.
The games had a mixture of regulars and visitors from China. I saw only one other non-Asian in the room. The level of play was mixed. Typically, over the six or so hours that I played, there were two or three folks trying to nurse short stacks. They gave practically no action, walked much of the time, and I suspect they were there just for the room comp. Two or three players were clearly big gamblers – and donors to the game. And two or three players were good – probably trying to grind out a meager hourly wage. I played both $1/3 and $2/5, with the $2/5 game much more aggressive, with many more 3- and 4- bets than the relatively sedate $1/3 game. The rake was, by non-US standards, reasonable: 5% with a $15 maximum.
The house provided free soft drinks – including soda and gourmet coffee beverages. There is a reasonably priced poker menu, with a highly rated kitchen on the premises. There are a number of high-end restaurants on the premises. I sampled some excellent noodle soup while I was there, that cost about $10; and I had a surprisingly good latte as well. The breakfast/brunch buffet was incredible – and I ate enough to last me until dinner. It would have cost $35-50 in a US hotel.
Should you choose to leave the premises, as I did and recommend you do, you’ll find all sorts of Asian-themed shops, cards, and restaurants – all within at 10-minute walk of Nagaworld. Food in Phnom Penh is very cheap. A hearty dinner for two might run you $12 or $15 if you ordered alcohol; though if you are on a tight budget you can get by for $2 to $3 a meal. I’d also recommend spending at least a day or so touring the city.
There are many museums, a lot of art, a beautiful and busy port, and miles and miles of teeming city street action to view. I enjoyed spending three hours at the National Museum. It houses art from all of Cambodia’s many centuries of history, including many unique religious objects. It’s a worthy way to spend time away from the poker tables.
Though it sounds a bit weird to say so, I highly recommend visiting the Genocide Museum, which memorializes the horrible killing by dictator Pol Pot and his entire Khmer Rouge regime. The museum doesn’t pull any punches, with a number of extremely graphic and troubling exhibits about the torture of Cambodians at the hands of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. I forced myself to look at everything. It’s important to remember what horrors happened in this country in the 1970s. Millions of people – just regular Cambodian people – were murdered – many of them tortured. We should never forget.
I could have enjoyed a full week’s vacation in Phnom Penh, staying and playing at Nagaworld. It would have been delightful and fascinating to explore more of this city, and to take at least a two-day side trip to Angkor Wat, something I failed to do. Angkor Wat is the chief destination of most who visit Cambodia, and worth at least a few days of investigation. But I had poker games to visit in Sihanoukville.
Poker in Sinhanoukville, Cambodia
I took the bus from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. It takes approximately three hours by car without traffic. As it was, with the delays and changes that are to be expected when booking public travel in Cambodia, it turned into a five-hour trip. The ride cost about $12 one way. You can book a private ride for $125, (or you can stay at Queenco, and get a private ride for free). I didn’t know about the private ride at the time, so I took the bus.
The bus was annoying, but the trip was worthwhile because it landed me in a nearly magical poker world.
Without being overly dramatic, I think I have finally found the specific spot of poker paradise here on earth. In fact, it is at the Queenco Casino in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
The paradise is of two parts: the poker and the setting for the game.
The poker here is outstanding. No fewer than 16 places have poker in this seaside city (also known as Kampong Som). New places are added weekly. Games ranged from the smallest NLHE of $1/1 at the busiest room in the area, the 7Deuce room at DV Casino; to a daily $1/3 NLHE and PLO game at Queenco, to NLHE and PLO games of $2/5, $5/5, $5/10, and $10/20 at some of the other rooms in the area (the location of the bigger games changes regularly).
I first stayed at the luxurious and beautiful Won Majestic Casino in the heart of downtown. Though they don’t have a poker room, they are across the street from the DV Casino, home of the 7Deuce Poker Room. It is the busiest poker room in the city, and the only one that has a game around the clock, seven days a week. It has both a $1/1 and a $1/2 no limit Texas Hold’em game, and is raked at the lowest rate around, 10% up to $5. When I visited and played in the room, on a Saturday night until 3AM and 8AM Sunday morning, there were as many as eight tables and no fewer than five tables going.
Playing (and winning) at the 7Deuce Poker Room at the DV Casino in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
My accommodations at the Won Majestic were outstanding. I received a corner suite, overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. It was spectacular and extremely spacious. I paid about $100 a night for my two-night stay. It included an elaborate breakfast buffet, with all types of Asian and non-Asian breakfast and lunch food, including freshly made-to-order noodle soups (you select the fresh raw ingredients and they whip up the soup), to eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, cereal, pastries, salad, and an enormous selection of fresh fruit. There also have an espresso coffee station that serves delightful lattes, cappuccinos, mochaccinos and the like.
View of the Gulf of Thailand from my spacious corner suite at the Won Majestic Casino Hotel.
Sihanoukville’s setting is among the most beautiful in the world, with the gorgeous Gulf of Thailand as backdrop. There are perhaps the most spectacular beaches in the world an hour across the bay on the tropical island of Koh Rong – land of smiles. Put the two together and you have an ideal place to play poker on vacation.
But it’s poker paradise for another reason. Poker players can live here year-round for practically nothing!
Queenco Casino, my favorite poker spot in the area, has a great deal for poker players. Play just 5 hours of poker a day in their comfortable room, and they will give you both a lovely free room and their magnificent breakfast/brunch buffet. While you are playing poker, you can order from their poker menu for free as well. They will even pick you up from KTI, Phnom Penh’s spanking brand new airport – located about a 3-hour drive from the casino.
Were I a single man, beginning his poker career, I would do what five people I met down here did. They lived at Queenco, playing at least five hours a day of $1/3 NLHE poker. I’d enjoy the wonderful accommodations, the great personal services of Queenco staff like Ken the concierge and Pakito, the best poker room manager I have encountered anywhere. I’d indulge in the breathtaking breakfast/brunch spread each morning. And I’d have the great food served to poker players (I had an excellent spaghetti Bolognese, a huge and delicious seafood pizza, as well as a terrific fruit plate). I’d spend my non-poker playing time going to and enjoying Koh Rong and its amazing beaches.
If I wanted to play with different players or play bigger than the $1/3 and occasional $2/5 game at Queenco, I would also play poker at any of the 15 other rooms in the area, including 7Deuce, Honor, Lion King, Blue Bay (they have two rooms), Triumph, Lavogue, Tou Ji, Big Fish, Power Long, Aces, Atlantic, Polygraf, Di Hao, Jei Bei II, Acme, or any of the others rooms yet to open. (New poker rooms open just about every month).
Yes, it’s a long way from the US and Europe, but for serious poker players, or adventurous poker travelers, I’d say the lengthy journey would be worth it. I know I want to return – next time with my non-poker playing wife, who can enjoy the great massages at the spa as well as the beautiful beach and the great food.
