Busan SuperCup Report

It's been years since I last visited South Korea. I've always wanted to attend the SuperCup but due to scheduling it always coincided with another series. But this time my schedule is finally clear, and there happens to be direct flights from Hanoi, so I jumped at the opportunity to visit Busan for the first time. 

Busan has a totally different vibe from Seoul. As a coastal city, it has a chill beach town vibe. The event was held at the Haeundae area which was a tourist favorite beach. Plenty of interesting things to do and see, and of course yummy food. 

SuperCup's concept is much like CPG as in promoting the game as a sport, buy in using the purchase of tickets, players needing tags to enter, and with a fixed limit of player numbers. The field was mostly Koreans but sprinkling in some Mainland Chinese and Japanese players. If you've played them before, Koreans are usually LAGs so it made for some very interesting showdowns, sizings, overpot jams, and very little ICM pressure. 

First event I went to register one hour after starting but unfortunately it crossed the limit. Second event I was cruising with an above average stack close to bubble when chip leader jammed pre with TT and I called with QQ and flop came T55. Third event again soft bubble I had T9 on a J87 flop, 8 on the turn and 8 on the river to crying fold my last 5bb. Then came the main where at one point I had 18x starting stack but made a bad mistake to ITM with 10x. However my day 2 run was not good, 3 hours only 1 proper value bet spot, I was handcuffed the whole way. Fired twice in the high rollers, first one missing 16 outs, the other losing a 50/50 flip. 

But overall I had a fun time. Busan is very pleasant to walk around, and I got to try some new Korean dishes and snacks. For a new brand, SuperCup is well organized and had decent structures. The field was soft and fun, although you can sense the piercing stares after some hero calls or hitting some draws. I haven't made any plans yet but if my schedule (and bankroll) allows it, I definitely like to join the next one in Incheon this October. 

My Dark Side

Most people who know me through my blog or IG sees the glamourous side of my life, the travel photos, food pics, ITM photos, cash outs etc. Those who's seen me in person sees that I am always smiling, often making jokes, striking up conversations. But only very few people know the darkness of my life. 

I wanted to share this with you to keep it real. On the outside I am doing reasonably well, but when I am alone, or late at night in the dark, my heart wrenches and for years I had to cry myself to sleep. Nowadays not so much, I really thank God for this indescribable peace that I get when I ask for it, and having a super sweet partner really helps make the darkness bright. I really feel I do not deserve her, and you might have seen me sharing about doing good deeds, helping random strangers on the street, giving to charity etc. It is not because I am a goodie goodie guy. I feel that I don't deserve the goodness in my life so I am trying my best to earn it. Paying it back one good deed at a time. 

I have many regrets in life. I've done things I am not proud of. But as they say, no amount regret can change the past, no amount of worrying can change the future. I can only focus on the things that I can control, which is living each day the best I can, being the best I can, and getting better day by day. As a Christian I also believe that broken things can be mended in heaven, so I will get another chance to right some wrongs at some point. Life on earth is just a short journey of all kinds of experiences, to help us appreciate what's important. 

We all have our own baggage that we carry, but you don't see mine as it doesn't surface in my daily life. Happiness is a choice and I have chosen it. And my cheat code is spiritual peace and joy which is OP in this game we call life. Sure I have my cloudy days that most people don't see. My heart still aches and bleeds when I think of certain things. But I have grown so much stronger in dealing with things and I want to encourage you, just like my poker career. If I can, so can you. 

There's a reason I have my demons. Maybe I deserve them, maybe they are there to teach me something, maybe it's there so I can help others who have demons of their own. To be honest, my dream is to live a peaceful life in the countryside, growing my own food, maybe create a shelter for stray animals and fade into the sunset. But for now, I hope to use my journey to encourage and inspire others to find joy and peace in life, and to spread that to more and more people. 

APC/APJC/TLT in Taipei Report

Some of you might know that currently I don't have a permanent place I call home. The closest would be my mum's house which I return to from time to time. With my travel and unsure future, I didn't want to be tied down to a rental contract or mortgage. So when my friend told me there's a good chance APC Main Event would be overlaid, I jumped at the opportunity. 

You would think we'd be sick of Taipei by now but actually it's quite the opposite. We are finding new things to explore every time we visit and would strongly consider it as a more permanent option had they had bigger TLTs running consistently. For those who don't know TLTs are Time Limit Tournaments that last between 2-5 hours with a fixed fee for each buy in/add on. 

I realized I have been to this night market 20 years ago!

Anyway I did not do well at APC, firing 3 bullets in the main. The field was so soft being that WSOP Vegas just started, APC is not a well known brand, so the field was probably 80% recs, 19% non intimidating regs. But somehow I just couldn't win. About 2 years ago I told myself I should not feel entitled to win because of skill differentials, and I have put effort in fixing my mindset. But this trip I realized that I am tilting because of the hands that go to showdown. How villain could cold call 4b with AJo and get there on the river vs my JJ. 

Poker is a non-discriminatory game. It doesn't care how long you've played, or how good you are. It doesn't care how much you love it or the effort you've put into understanding it. Or how elegant your line was vs the brute force triple barrel and got there with a runner runner. I describe it as putting effort to pursue the girl of your dreams but she walks away with the rude gangster with bad breath. As I was thinking about all this, suddenly I could feel something change in my mind. Yes poker is unjust at times, but all I can do is focus on playing the best I can. How others play is not in my control and good on them if they can spew because they must be doing well in other aspects of life. Suddenly I feel a lot more positive and happier regardless of result. 

On the last day of my trip I received an email saying my onward flight was delayed by 3 hours. Instead of whining about it, I extended my stay in Taipei and confirmed my attendance at another series in Busan South Korea. That meant I could also play in the AJPC main event and could grind out some TLTs in the next few days. 

APJC didn't go well either but I quickly pivot to focusing on TLTs which I did quite well. But I'm more interested in sharing an incident that happened on the table. I limp back raise with TT (not recommended but this was one of my game adjustments to the lineup) and got called by initial raiser and another player. Flop came JT2hhx I cbet he called. Turn until today I am 100% sure it was another 2 hence I checked. I would mix in some cbets and checks but his range was so capped I felt I could let him peel for free. River came another J so I bet a blocking size and he snap call showing AJ. But to my surprise, the pot was pushed my way, and even villain acknowledge that he lost by mucking his hand. I wanted to say something but I didn't. The other caller next to me made an "ehhh??" sound voicing his confusion about the winner of the hand, but he left it there so no one said anything else. 

But this hand and the outcome was eating at me the rest of the session. I felt bad that I took a pot that wasn't mine so after a while I told the guy, "hey I think you won that hand, so at the end of the session I will pay you back 50k." He on the other hand insisted that he lost the hand, that he had trips only. To my surprise, the guy sitting next to him said the same thing! I looked at the other caller and he thought the turn did pair the board. The other two were adamant that I won the pot but the loser appreciated the gesture. For some context, the other caller and I were in seats 4 and 5 respectively. The loser and his friend were in seats 8 and 9. Could my eyesight be so bad? Regardless I felt my guilt lifted and proud that I did something about it. 

The next day I saw the guy in seat 9 so I asked him again, did you really see the board unpaired or were you just helping me win the pot against the fish that misread his hand? He insisted that it was my pot, and even said no wonder I bet so small on the river cause I must have thought I would lose to all Jx. 

Anyway this was not the only interesting event that happened. That night when I was going for dinner with my wife, she mentioned that she saw a foreigner at the nearby police station. After dinner we bumped into him again at our hotel lobby but thought nothing of it. The next day as we were checking out, we bumped into him again. We struck up a conversation and he was complaining how Western Europeans look down on people, bad people like that deserve to die, terrorists need to feel terror blah blah. I found out he was Latvian and we loved our visit to Riga so I tried to calm him down by talking about his homeland. It worked for a bit and he saw the cross on my necklace and we started to talk about God. In fear of triggering him even further, I politely slotted in positive stuff into our conversation like do the right things, God is watching, and the likes. He said he doesn't have many friends so I gave him a hug and he also took a selfie with my wife, then abruptly left on his own. Somehow it was fated that I would extend my trip, book this hotel, my wife seeing him the day before and telling me about it, with us having been to Latvia... that I had the chance to talk to him. I hope he is ok and often remember him in my prayers, along with the many prayers I pray for my friends. 

As I am writing this, we are preparing to head to South Korea not knowing how that series will turn out for me. What's different now is I used to think that God would vindicate me with success to show that I made the right choices in life. But now I think it's God that is vindicated in His choice to choose me, by me making the right choices in life. 

APT Taipei 2025 Report

Just 4 days after the conclusion of Poker Dream 17, we were off to Taipei for another 10 days of MTTs. This time, it was held at the Red Space, a spanking new location that could accommodate 130 tables! Before going I also knew a lot of my friends would be there, some I haven't seen in years. So needless to say I was excited.

Well said brother

2 hours after landing I went and played my first event. AA<KK, QQ<99, JJ<A4 and AQ<99 later I was 3 bullets in an 0 to show for. But I was happy with how I played, especially how I recovered from bad beats almost instantaneously and focused on the next hand/bullet. This was something I learned in MPF's latest class with Vincent Li. 

The second day I was doing much better, running deep in the Superstack. Down to 10 people, me and my friend were the shortest. He was UTG on another table. I was UTG1 on mine. He successfully doubled whereas I didn't so I busted 10th. Happy with the result, but a couple more pay jumps would have been significant. 

I played probably my best day of MTT poker on day 1B, and secured a decent stack for day 2. However throughout the trip I made a few blunders and bad mistakes. Even though it sounds cliche, as long as I am bettering myself and my game along the way, I am not too focused at results at the moment. My best student puts a lot of effort in his post game reviews, highlighting hands that we go through with a fine tooth comb. I should also set a good example in reviewing myself if I want to stay relevant in this industry. 

At least I got some exercise in

Day 2 of the main I was on a star studded table with USD 40m in cashes among the 9 players. Boy did I have a rough day. I VPIP'd 12 hands, all proper ranges, won only one. Went from table chip leader to out. But I did learn things from my table mates so I guess it wasn't for nothing. Next day I played the satellite for a USD 10k ticket, was 6bb away from securing a ticket and made a blunder, ended up soft bubbling. Getting that ticket would have meant a profitable trip but it was not to be. 

Final shot was at the Baby Superstar which I played okay but 10 away from the money I took a spot with 77 vs AQ that I covered for a chip leading pot but it didn't work out. Busted soon after with an L for the trip. Lots of takeaways though, especially something Soyza said about our work ethics. He was right. It pushed me to work harder to overcome my weaknesses rather than choosing to avoid it. 

There is a culture of superiority, education averse, high ego stubbornness in most Malaysian poker players. Quite similar to another nearby poker country where the level of poker has not improved in the last 10 years. I see some players making the most basic of mistakes and invite them to join free classes and courses on MPF, but they would decline. Our posts on Facebook of pictures of people, food, trophies get 700+ views. Our posts for classes, discussion groups get 70-100. Or maybe they feel that there's nothing they can learn from someone they feel is inferior to them. I can tell you some of the biggest poker lessons I've learned are from my students. 

Anyway, it doesn't benefit me if they join our classes. Actually it benefits me if they don't. All I can say is that we live in a messed up culture right now where most people want to succeed by putting in the least effort. They want to do their job, but doing it well is not part of it. Unlikely this culture will ever change, but I am trying my best to make an impact. The fact is, only those who are passionate enough would read this, so I guess I am just preaching to the choir LOL 

Poker Dream 17, Genting Malaysia Report

During my downswing I decided to take a break and booked a month long trip. I later found out it clashed with the early part of Poker Dream 17. As jet lagged as I was, I still didn't want to miss any of the action. Headed straight to Genting after 20 hours of flights and transits, checked in and jumped into my first event of the series. It was super turbo-y but played well, took a spot with KJ but ran into AQ. 

Decent view from my room

I have about RM 700k in cashes from Poker Dream Malaysia events. RM 6500 of that is from cashing once in the Main Event. Hmm... I should have spotted this pattern sooner before I burned another 4 bullets trying this series. I try not to share bad beat stories, but this is a funny one so bear with me. A friend of mine came by and asked if I wanted to take a photo with his patch, OnlyAces. I obliged so I put in on but the cameraman said let's wait for the next hand cause he wanted a photo of a hand in progress. UTG 1 opens, 3 others called, and I look down at only ACES. Such a nice squeeze spot I jammed, UTG 1 sigh calls with 22, others folded. I flipped over my hand and told everyone why I thought it was funny, getting aces when OnlyAces boss asked me to put his patch on. But as soon as I said that I felt bad and I knew I was going to get punished. Flop 234, turn 5, river 3. 

OnlyAces... Grrrrrr

4 bullets later, I felt good about my play (except a couple of blunders) but main thing was I couldn't string hands together to get any momentum. Usually I don't eat during a tournament and by the time I busted my last bullet it was late so I decided to skip food for the rest of the day. Next day I played the Mystery Bounty HR, again from level 1, something I am trying this series. I have been praying for, or more like complaining about the lack of momentum but boy did I have loads of it today. But more so, the effect of fasting gave me better focus and brain processing power. By the end of the day, I had 6.5x the starting stack. Of course after 50 hours without food, I had to reward myself.

Day 2 started but due to bad food, I had stomach issues, and also did not sleep well. I felt lethargic and drained. Then I get Subseadiver1 on my table, and he definitely put my courage to the test. Called his starting stack open rip with A8s vs Q5o. Of course, Q5 is good! Thank God I had enough to afford it. After his double up, he rips 2x starting stack now and I look down at JTs, which is callable vs his range, but I folded it. Someone else called and he turns over T9s. I would have won but never mind. Next hand I get A9s and he does it again this time with 1.2x starting. This time we hold vs J9 and we get back our chips and some interest. Great guy Nick, lots of love buddy!

Grinded my way into the money, and came this key hand after a series of hands. Aggressive Indonesian player makes it 5bb on the button, sb rips for 28bb, he calls off with 65s vs TT. The next hand obviously tilted he 3b jams and gets everyone to fold. Following right after I look down at 55 on the button. I was okay with jamming but hesitated and went with a 2bb open. Him on the big blind decides to put me all in for my remaining 19bb. At this juncture, our table had pretty even stacks. No one looked like busting anytime soon and payjumps were pretty small. So I said out loud, "play to win, let's go". He flips over K9o, and we hold for a very key pot. Ended up finishing 5th with a small bounty, turning my series around, and a boost of confidence. Could have done better in a couple of hands, especially had I slept better and ate better (or not eaten at all). 

Off to the next series in 4 days, look forward to a full series grind and catching up with friends! 

POKER GUIDE TO : Poker in Estoril, Portugal

I have always enjoyed playing at new locations. The opportunity to keep my reputation obscure, even role play as a tourist whale, sometimes pretending not to speak certain languages so I could eavesdrop, and testing my profiling and reading skills for me is part of the enjoyment playing at different rooms, casinos, cities and countries. 7 years ago when I first visited Portugal I thought I would get the chance to play while visiting Lisbon. To my dismay, I found the casino but they did not offer poker games. I later found out the best game in town was about 1 hour away from Lisbon in a town called Estoril. So I was determined at some point in my life to try the games there. 

Estoril is a beach town, full of nice houses for the rich and famous, beautiful villas overlooking the ocean, and of course rich holiday goers. Dr. Stanley Ho seeing this opportunity to target tourists and the elite Portuguese crowd built a casino together with a park right by the Estoril train stop and named it Casino Estoril. To my surprise and I assume due to local law, the casino doesn't open till 3pm. So we took the opportunity to explore this little town, especially along the coastline. It has a cute little town but the most impressive were the rock cliffs (Boca de Inferno) and stone villas. 

I happen to be there on a Friday night so maybe games were better than usual. By 9pm there were already 5 tables going and the supervisor told me on Fridays, game run till 6am. Games start from €1/3 and goes up to 5/10 usually. Rake was a reasonable 5% capped at 5bb for the lower games, and goes down to 1-2bb for high stakes. I ordered a bottle of water which was free, but I tipped. No preflop or chopped pot rake but I did notice that if you do not specify you want to sit out, they still post the blinds for you in your absence. 

My table happened to be quite soft. I noticed only one good player, but quite a few loose passive juicy fishes. From my observation, the tables all looked soft to me and I made a remark that it was the softest game I've played in Europe. Given that Portugal has one of the lowest cost of living in Western Europe, although Estoril is slightly on the high side, I think it is quite possible to grind a good living playing here. One down side is they have a lower minimum buy than I liked but most people do buy in 100bbs+. 

To get to the casino, you can take a train from Lisbon city from Cais do Sodré station. It takes about 40 minutes costing just €2.95 one way. Get off at the stop called Estoril and it's across the street. Can't miss it. The main town is about a 30 minute walk away but on a good day, it is quite enjoyable strolling along the coastline to get there. If you have the time, you can also make a trip to nearby town called Sintra where you can find an impressive castle and palace on top of the hill. 

Portugal is number 35 on my list of countries I've played poker in. I don't know where the next one will be but on my bucket list there's South America, Japan, UK countries (apart from England)... but wherever it may be, I hope my passion and bankroll will continue to grow until that time. 

POKER GUIDE TO : Poker in Paris, France

I had no luck finding any games in Lille, and when I was in Bordeaux, I happen to visit the casino on the only day of the week where the poker room does not run (Saturday). It might have been a misunderstanding or miscommunication because I feel it doesn't make sense, but I didn't stick around to find out. However I did find a couple of cool places to play poker in Paris.

Mr. Gorilla really wanted to climb up the Eiffel

Instead of full fledged casinos, they are licensed but has a underground feel to it. You enter an obscure entrance area, although the muscular bouncer kinds of gives it away a little. There's no fancy signs or posters, but you feel like you're entering a casino where 007 goes to stakeout his villain. 

The one I frequented the most was Club Pierre Charron, located not too far from the Arc de Triumphe, off the famous avenue Champs-Elysée, in a really posh area of town. There are table games of course but they have quite a few tables of Holdem and Omaha. Games start from €1/2 and I think I saw them running €10/20 PLO as well. Of course as usual you bring your passport, get registered, use your member card to scan and queue, and the card is required during buy in and cash out as well. 

Quite a few positives about this place. The decor is cool, staff were pretty friendly, of course they seem to treat the French speaking players better, plenty of game choices, players were reasonably friendly too. They serve free water but I assume everything else you'll have to pay for. Dealers are decent and cards are machine shuffled, but the coolest part is they have a box where I assume is RFID scans the total pot and it is shown real time. So no need to calculate the pot for sizing, and the rake is always accurate. It also displays further information like the biggest pot size, average pot size so you can gauge how the action is as soon as you sit down. 

However, the rake is exorbitant. According to my friend, it is 4% uncapped. I watched the screen a few times but I still couldn't work out how the calculation works. There's preflop rake and chop pot rake as well. The tables I were playing in, action was a bit slow, not many big pots or splashy players. On the up side I don't think many pros play there. My friend did make a good profit playing there for a few days though. 

On the next street is the Paris Elysées Club. I went there a couple of times, just as cool, maybe even a slightly better interior. However both times no poker games were running. On my second visit I saw 3 or 4 people waiting for the game to start and I put my name down on the queue, but didn't hang around for it. I think at the moment they are losing to their competition next door. Maybe this can spark a rake war and become a win-win for the players. 

Paris Elysées Club

There's something about playing poker in Paris, ending the game late night, walking out to see the Arc in the distance. Paris at night is beautiful. Pro tip, I took at bus to the location at night cause right in front of my hotel is a bus that stops 30 meters from the club. Not on purpose but I never have small change with me, so every time I would try to pay the bus driver using a 10, 20, or 50 note they will just wave me away and gave me a free ride. I hope I don't get any Paris bus drivers in trouble but I get it. They have a route to drive and they really can't be bothered to give €47.50 change using a pretty archaic system. Most European city buses now accept credit cards. 

You can see the Arc if you zoom in

Overall it was a nice experience to play there and also to pick up my 34th country I've played poker in. I wouldn't grind there but if you happen to be in Paris and are itching for a game, it's not bad to play a short session for fun.