Seven Luck Casino Poker Room

108 reviews of Seven Mile Casino - Temp. CLOSED 'This place has transformed the area. The casino has a great restaurant / bar and many gaming tables. The casino is non-smoking but has a nice outdoor area for those that smoke. Plenty of self-parking and Valet. Many flat screens throughout for sports viewing while dining or gambling. There is a nice motel next store so if you get tired of. Part of Seven Luck Casino Seoul Gangnam The 7Luck Seoul Gangnam Poker Room has 4 live tables open 24/7 spreading NL Texas Hold 'Em. Usual fare is 1-2, 2-5, 5-10, and 10-20 games. (In thousand Wons) The current Bad Beat promotions offer the winning and losing hand 2.6 million Won with 3 million more in promotion chips.

Poker rooms slowly started to reopen at casinos in Pennsylvania nearly seven months after the casinos and subsequently poker games were shut down in March as a result of coronavirus.

Due to the social nature of the game, poker rooms were not permitted to welcome back players when casinos started reopening in June.

Five poker rooms reopened as of mid-November with Parx, the state’s largest, set to return in December. The city of Philadelphia added restrictions included another shutdown of Rivers Casino Philadelphia until at least Jan 1, taking away another option for live poker.

One poker room continues to remain conspicuously quiet – Wind Creek Casino.

Wins and losses for Wind Creek

Wind Creek is one of the larger poker rooms in Pennsylvania rooms with 26 tables. Located in Bethlehem, PA, it’s in a prime spot to attract visitors from New York City and northern New Jersey.

A representative from Wind Creek told PlayPennsylvania they had no update on when the poker room would open. On Nov. 18, Wind Creek opened the Betfred sportsbook. The sportsbook is the first for Wind Creek in the United States and the third US retail location for Betfred Sports.

Wind Creek claimed a number of honors from Casino Player Magazine in October including being named best:

• Overall Gaming Resort
• Table Games
• Poker Room

However, it hasn’t been all good news at Wind Creek Casino. Wind Creek announced layoffs on Sept. 24 that affected about 20% of its workforce. Total revenue in October was $33.1 million, a 16.41% decrease from October 2019.

Wind Creek provided the following statement to LehighValleyLive regarding recent layoffs:

“With recent business volumes significantly lower than we had hoped, we were forced to make this incredibly difficult decision. The hospitality and gaming industries have been crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that our reduction in workforce will in the long term positively affect our future success.”

In addition, Wind Creek also announced the permanent closure of Emeril’s Fish House.

A Wind Creek employee provided an update on some of the happenings at Wind Creek including the poker room. The person agreed to share their insight based on the condition of anonymity.

“When Wind Creek shut down in mid-March, they could’ve easily had a mass layoff but they didn’t. They continued to pay all employees until May 31, 2020. Even those that work on tips got an average hourly wage and they continued to pay for benefits. Most casinos around the country just straight up laid off hundreds of dealers back in the spring.”

On June 1, the poker room employees were furloughed. They stopped getting paid but the full-time workers could keep their health benefits as long as bi-weekly premiums were paid. On Sept. 30, all poker room employees were laid off/terminated and the poker room was made into a high-limit slots parlor.

“We were told it was being turned into a high-limit slots parlor for the time being. Obviously a casino makes way more money on slot machines than a poker room, so I believe they’re focusing on that right now.”

The employee said it is their belief along with other employees that the poker room is not closed permanently and will eventually reopen.

“The plan is to reopen the poker room in the future. But who knows what the future entails considering what is looking like another round of closures. Wind Creek does see the value in the poker room but I think right now they’re trying to recover from the major financial hit they took during the 3.5 months we were closed up. The client base of the poker room really enjoyed playing at Wind Creek. I know some of them think it’s closed permanently but that isn’t likely the case.”

Poker pales in revenue comparison

In fiscal year 2019/2020, poker accounted for $37 million in total revenue across the state’s ten poker rooms. That number pales in comparison to the $607 million in total revenue by all other table games.

Casinos, trying to recover from an unprecedented financial hit as a result of COVID closures and operating at reduced capacity, are likely allocating resources to games that generate more revenue.

In late August, PlayPennsylvaniaexclusively reported that Harrah’s Philadelphia would not reopen their WSOP poker room.

Meanwhile, PokerStars PA remains the only online poker option in the state – for now.

Pennsylvania poker revenue by casino

As you can see from the table below, live poker is not the biggest revenue earner for PA casinos (though it can help drive other verticals).

2019/2020 Fiscal Year Poker Revenue in PA (figures from the PGCB):

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Seoul, South Korea and play in the two casinos in the city that offer poker — the Seven Luck Casino and the Paradise Casino, Walkerhill, also known as the Walkerhill Casino. For poker players who might travel to Seoul, I am today going to share some thoughts about the Seven Luck Casino, then next week I’ll offer a review of the Walkerhill Casino.

Introducing the Seven Luck Casino

The Seven Luck Casino is housed in an impressive building, with a multi-story sign announcing the casino in huge neon lights. The gambling area, on the other hand, is relatively modest, with just two rooms of gaming tables and machines, a small restaurant, a lounge, and a half-dozen cashiers ready to sell and redeem player’s cheques, change foreign currency, and offer credit.

Visitors must present their passport to friendly guards in the lobby. Gamblers then proceed upstairs to the mixed-use floor that includes dozens of blackjack tables, other table games, and some slots and electronic gaming machines.

At the Seven Luck Casino they have the standard casino games of roulette (American wheel), baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean Stud, three-card poker, as well as an Asian dice game called “Tai Sai” that resembles the American casino game of Sic Bo. Limits on the table games range from about $10 to $5,000. There are also slot machines and, of course, Texas hold’em poker.

Poker at the Seven Luck

There are two poker tables at the Seven Luck, but I only saw one in use during my two visits to the room. At the entrance is a casino staff person standing at a podium who signs players up for the game. There is a hand-written board listing the games, with an occasionally updated waiting list.

The casino personnel will tell you they have (and there are lists for) four different levels of no-limit hold’em games: $1/$2, $2/$5, $5/$10, and $10/$20. (I am writing the stakes in USD, but the unit of currency in Korea is the Won, with a rough conversion rate of 1,000 Won to the dollar.) But the truth is that $2/$5 no-limit hold’em is the only game they regularly have. The range of buy-ins for this game is the broadest I have ever seen for a capped buy-in game, going from $100 to $10,000.

The game runs seven days a week from some time after 5:00 p.m. until it breaks, usually around 5:00 a.m. If you decide to play, I suggest you arrive at or call the room before 5:00 p.m. to get on the sign-up list. I arrived at 3:30 p.m. and there were already four names on it. The tables seat only nine players, and I found that players did not vacate their seats quickly (if at all). So if you don’t get one of the original seats, you might have a long wait to get in a game.

Players get free food from the small restaurant located about 50 meters from the poker table. There is an automated ordering system, where players punch in their meal selections on an electronic display board in front of the restaurant. They then are seated and have their meals brought to them. The prices listed on the menu are waived for active players. I did not sample the food, but it was the general consensus around the table that it was pretty good but not great. Non-alcoholic beverages are served at the table free of charge.

By law, Korean casinos may not admit Korean citizens. Accordingly, the poker game I twice visited was populated by Americans, Europeans, Chinese, and Japanese citizens, some of whom were of Korean descent. From what I observed, I’d say the level of play was relatively tight and passive — this was during the early evening hours of 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the early morning hours of 3:00 to 5:30 a.m. Of course there was variation. One player came in, bet insanely for the five hands he was in, and then left the game broke. But for the most part, what I witnessed as an observer and experienced as a player was a primarily sedate affair.

Players started with stacks that ranged from about $300 for the shortest-stacked players to nearly $5,000 for the deepest stacks. The average buy-in for the game I played in was roughly $700-$800. For the most part, the game was played “in English” insofar as all of the betting action was announced by the dealer in English. The only non-English I heard at the table was that spoken by some of the players. Though they spoke English to me, they often spoke some Asian tongue to each other. (I have no idea if there was any rule governing what languages could or could not be spoken at the table.)

The Seven Luck rakes 10% up to $15, plus $1 for the bad beat jackpot. They also offer roughly $1 an hour in comps.

Exchanging Currency

I should share a quick observation about changing currency. The exchange rate offered by the Seven Luck is about 5-10% worse than what is offered by banks or other reasonable currency exchanges in Seoul. This rate was even a little worse than the awful one offered by hotels. But here’s the good news — when you go back to the window after your playing session, to reverse the exchange and turn your Won back into your native currency, you get the same rate you were charged to purchase the Won.

That turns out to be a significant benefit, saving you between 10-20% from the alternative of going to a bank, getting a reasonable exchange, playing poker with it, but then having to go back to the bank, and having to pay the exchange fee again to change your money back. Of course, since you can only do this up to the amount you initially purchased (and requiring a receipt of the transaction), you can’t do this for your winnings. But those you can spend on your vacation, of course, adding to the quality of your trip!

Getting to the Seven Luck

Seven Luck Casino Poker Room Games

The Seven Luck Casino is located at 58 Teheran-ro 87-gil, Gangnam-gu in Seoul. This Seven Luck should not to be confused with the casino with the same name located at the Millenium Hilton in downtown Seoul which does not have poker. The one with the poker room is at the eastern end of the glitzy and modern part of the city, known as Gangnam, located south of the Han River. It was developed to showcase the city when the Olympics came to Seoul in 1988.

If you’re not close enough to walk, a most convenient way to get to the Seven Luck is by taking the extremely safe, clean, efficient, inexpensive, frequent, and well-signed-in-English subway. The nearest stop to the casino is the Samseong Station on Line 2, only about half a block from Seven Luck. Even if you are not staying near a Line 2 stop, the subway system is fully integrated and easy to understand, making any stop on the extensive line convenient for a ride to this casino. When you get off the subway, head for exit 5 or 6 — especially if it’s cold. They are nearest to the entrance of the casino.

Conclusion

In sum, from what I saw during my three or so hours of play and two hours of observation, the strong $2/$5 player who makes money at the game in his or her home casino would be better than the average player in this game at the Seven Luck Casino. But even with a nice edge on the opposition, he or she might not be sufficiently better to beat the game with its stiff rake.

That said, if your primary purpose for playing poker in Seoul is amusement, not profit, then the poker room at the Seven Luck Casino is a very pleasant and convenient place to play.

Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold’em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.

Seven Luck Casino Poker Room Poker

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