2025 going into 2026

It's become a yearly tradition for me to write about my past year and share my plans for the one coming up. This year I am going to combine the two into one blog post. 

2025 was a slow year for me. January started off with a bang finishing 6th in the Super High Roller and 11th in the High Roller MB but things did not go well from February onwards so I ended up winding down my playing time for the year. I cashed $61k for the year, surprisingly more than I did in 2024, but my cash game results were not great. I did well in my Macau trip but lost 1000bb+ within a week in Singapore. That was the key trigger for me to take time for myself and step away from the tables for a bit. I essentially broke even in tourneys and took a $10k loss in cash games. 

Bayonne, France

As usual I travelled a lot in 2025 but what's different was we did it full nomadic style, without an actual place to call home. Travelled to 20 countries including making it to South America for the first time in my life. Also hitting 39 on my poker countries list.

I spent a lot of time studying in 2025, not just poker, but about health and investments, psychology, self improvement, etc. Ignorance is the worst thing anyone can have, pride is usually the main cause. 

Key achievement for MPF

Another focus I had for the year was continue growing the Malaysia Poker Federation. There were a few highlights such as sending our first National Team to the Asia Nations Cup, securing world class top pros for MPF events, including Stephen Chidwick, Danny Tang and local heroes Victor Chong, Sean Ooi, Peter Sim... We also conducted about 10 live classes in 3 different cities, and lots more online. However it wasn't without it's downs. Spending lots of time on a non-profit thankless job can be draining, not just for me but also for other volunteers and committee members. Thought about quitting many times but going to push for another year and decide by then. 

World #2 in total cashes what more do you want?!?

Just did a full blood test and happy to report all's good physically. This is my 5th year on intermittent fasting and to me it is the greatest health hack ever. I am shocked so many people are still operating under outdated health knowledge and even fewer try to learn about it until it's too late. I used to play in a big private game, so out of respect I would address the others as my elders. Indeed they were my elders in terms of financial and business success, and to be honest, they all looked much older than me, a few I even address them as "uncle". I later found out that they were younger than me! One time someone took out a blood pressure test kit mid game and I think I was the only one with a normal reading. I briefly mentioned about my dark side, but this year I have also improved on my mental and emotional health. 

I plan to get back into the grind slowly for 2026 but amping up mid-2026 till the end of the year. Not going to share my entire roadmap here so no resolutions or specific goals of any kind, but if all goes well, I think it's going to be a very interesting year. Thank you to those who's followed along all this time. 

Integrity as A Currency

I've met all kinds of people in my life. On a poker table (especially cash games), most masks come off and the spectrum of characters that we encounter will shock a normal person. 

I can't say I have never done anything I am not proud of, but in recent years, I have been working on being a better person, being honest, being kind, being helpful, being fair. 

Staking is a big part of our industry and how one handles staking and potential disputes can greatly affect their reputation. (even from the buyer's side) In the past couple of years I have always manage to sell out my shares very quickly, even when I was going through rough patches. But I have just recently offered to sell my cash game action in Macau for January 2026. At the writing of this article, I have 1% left unsold within the same day of posting my staking file. 

For those who are unfamiliar, there is a huge difference when it comes to staking for tourneys vs cash games. With the exception of TLTs in Taiwan, there isn't any clear proof for cash game buy ins, winnings or losses. Some stakers go to the extent of sending a neutral person as an observer to keep track, or in recent years, live streams do provide some provable records. However where I am going, the staker has to completely trust in my version of the reports. 

I agree that everyone has a price, and there always is the temptation of reporting fake results. There have been many cases of fraud even in tournament staking. There is one player I stake fully without demanding any proof, and even in our business dealings together I choose to 100% trust him. I believe I am a good judge of character and I go with my read. At the same time, I am proud that so many trust me enough to buy my stake. 

Integrity, honesty, trustworthiness are all rare commodities in our industry. I feel great that some people still credit me with it. That's why I have decided to open up more shares for my upcoming trip for other people to participate. Send me a pm (IG - Happyriverpoker) or email (gmail) if you are interested. 

My Latin America Adventure

Sorry for not posting for a while. I traveled to Latin America for 6 weeks with just a backpack, hence I did not bring along my laptop. It was then I realized how little I could do without it. Couldn't properly run my GTO sims, couldn't do poster designs, couldn't even write an official letter, let alone post on my blog. After returning for a few days, I took another trip this time without my laptop again, only reunited with it yesterday. 

For some reason I have always been drawn to Latin America, to the extent that I started learning Spanish since 2020. My thought has always been that if I can speak 3 out of the 4 most spoken languages in the world, I can travel anywhere and make friends everywhere. (The 4th is Hindi) Needless to say I was super excited about this trip.

I decided to make Mexico my first stop. Mexico is actually considered Northern America and despite the news about the dangers of traveling there, it did not deter me. After checking in I was excited to go explore the city and put my Spanish to the test. Within less than 5 minutes, I heard someone speak in fluent Cantonese. 😂

The thing I look forward to the most was the food, especially the variety of tacos. However most of them were a let down, except for tacos de mollejas, which was recommended to me by my first Uber driver. I much preferred tortas and gorditas, and was pleasantly surprised by the fresh blackberries. (Mexico is one of the world's biggest producers of blackberries)

I played at a local tournament but lasted only 3 hands when my kings ran into a set. I also took the opportunity to visit Teotihuacan, a 2000+year old city. 

Touristy, but really nice in person

Peru was my next stop. Lima was added to my itinerary by ChatGPT because it is known to be the food capital of South America, and boy it was right. I had so many great meals in Peru, including ceviche (raw fish), cuy (guinea pig), anticuchos (meat skewers, some of beef hearts) The surprising thing was, I did not have any stomach issues at all and they were all so tasty. 

Really charming town, Ollantaytambo

I played some poker in Lima to make Peru my 37th poker country, visited the famous Machu Picchu, had some issues with my hotel in Cusco, but ended up meeting the sweetest uncle and his wife who hosted me and am now friends with, made an impromptu stay at Ollantaytambo which turned out to be my favorite stop of my trip, had to cancel my visit to Bolivia because ChatGPT messed up on visa requirements, pivoted last minute to Arequipa which turned out to be a fantastic city as well. 

I was having fun until I reached Buenos Aires, Argentina. The country was hit with hyper inflation, so everything was super expensive. Many business probably suffered because of it and the area I stayed in had so many deserted shops it felt sketchy walking back at night. There were many homeless people and the streets smelled of piss and shit. Mostly I was super tilted by the lack of system in almost everything. For example, the subway station can top up subway cards but don't sell new ones. Buses with the same number and color stop at different stops and go to different destinations. The airport bus did not have non-Spanish signs or English speaking drivers. The arrival terminal did not have a money changer and I assume because of the unstable economy, my bank does not allow my card to be used there. 

I took a day to visit Uruguay by ferry but it was a pretty boring day. My highlight was picking free mulberries from a street side tree. Went to play a satellite with some friends I made there. The casino is a 20-minute Uber ride away but I took a bus that got me there in 2 hours. The best part of my trip was a visit to the Iguazu Falls, the biggest waterfall system in the world and had a butterfly land on me and spent minutes licking my palm. Other than that, Argentina did not impress me at all. 

Looking forward to get out of there, I went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next. Only a few days before I landed, about 20km away from my hotel was a gun battle between police and gangsters that ended up with 130+ casualties. Similar to Argentina, many downtown businesses were deserted and many people ended up homeless and begging for money. Even though I was just minutes away from the beautiful beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, I too was just minutes away from the favelas and slums. Made a genius move of walking back at night after busting a local tournament, I have never walked so fast in my life. 

Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer were my bucket list places and I do feel they are worth visiting. But I had more fun exploring a nearby path that I had to myself than the tourist packed, selfie-crazy people that felt it was more important to make the right pose than actually admire the beauty of the location itself. 

Final stop was Sao Paolo which is the business capital of Brazil. Met the lovely people at the World Poker Federation, played cash games at the H2 club, and played a tournament at BSOP. Did not enjoy this city much either. Still I fulfilled my dream to visit all 5 continents (not including Antarctica), hit 39 on my poker country list and had new found appreciation of my corner of the world. Would I visit again? Probably not. Do I regret visiting? I definitely do not. Until the next one, peace. 

Incheon SuperCup Report

This was my second SuperCup experience and I must say it was a lot of fun. In spite of the rough runs and lack of results, I had a great time. I think it is great that poker is now available to local Koreans in Korean venues via the Mind Sport Show, and it is also gaining publicity. This SuperCup was broadcasted on Korean TV, and there is an upcoming movie about poker, starring Im Yoon-Ah (famously known as the lead in the recent Netflix hit, Bon Appetit, Your Majesty)

Okay let's skip the venting, the bad beat stories, the coolers. I must say when I made hands, it was so fun extracting value. I also pulled off a couple of daring bluffs that I was pretty proud of. I manage to sneak into day 2 of the Mystery Bounty only to be knocked out on the 2nd hand. This was the 3rd time I got knocked out the 2nd hand on day 2 just in the last two months. (Recognize the pattern you idiot! LOL)

If I am being honest, Incheon is not the best location. I much preferred our experience at Busan where there were so much to do, see and eat. But I did go out a couple times by bus to local parks, markets, shopping areas. Incheon is super clean and the autumn air is crisp. On a sunny day it is super beautiful and nice. 

Sinpo Market, about 50 minutes away by bus

There were quite many international players that came as well, namely from China and Japan. Met a few of my long time friends there as well. I think with the continued exposure and positive experiences, the SuperCup brand will grow tremendously. 

Can't talk about any trip without mentioning food. I used to find Korean food boring but now at my age, after doing much research about health, the importance of anti-oxidants, gut health, the harm inflammation can cause, and the foods that help, I have grown to like and respect Korean food culture. There is a lot of wisdom in Korean cuisine. Fermented foods like kimchi, pickled radish, bean pastes are all great for health. The accompanying "ban chan" adds fiber and variety good for gut bacteria and microbiome diversity. Some restaurants offer you a very sour vitamin-C before a meal, which science has proven to lower insulin spikes and inflammation from food consumption. The sequence a Korean meal is had is also scientific for controlling health. I am just surprised that there is still a junk food culture here. 

Overall I really enjoyed the trip and the experience. Stay tuned as my next post will be a very interesting and unexpected one!

Dragon Poker Festival (LPT) Report - lots of photos

Before this series, my Vietnam tournament cashes accounted for about 23% of my lifetime cash total. (ChatGPT analyzed it for me hehe) I love Vietnamese food, the chaotic nature of the country and people and travel cost was always easy on the bankroll. So needless to say when international events were cancelled and all the controversy happened, I was very sad. So when I heard about this series, I just couldn't resist. 

Food crawl with this crazy guy

Fresh off a rough trip to Singapore, losing 5 of 5 cash game sessions for a chunky amount, I planned to take some time off poker. But after 10 days without touching any cards, I was back at it again in Hanoi. Dragon Poker is a room in the Grand Plaza hotel. One of the nicest venues I have seen in Vietnam, and the turn out was very good. 

Overall I played 3 events, min cashed the mini main (AJ < A6), shallow run in the main (AK < AT), busted the monster stack (AKs < AKs). But I had a great time, the field was fun, great action. One funny story was a few Chinese players assumed I didn't speak the language and was making derogatory statements about the table including me. I took one nice spot to suddenly speak fluent Chinese and at the same time, it so happened I had AK so I 3b it as if I was angry about their comments of me, guy 4b jams with with KQ and easy double. (PRO TIP: Never assume people don't know your language. Unless you are trying to give reverse info.)

The most fun part of the trip was a food crawl with a friend. Went to some tourist traps, but some shady alleyways as well, long sweaty walks, risking our lives evading the traffic, lots of laughter as well. The food was nice overall but the next day all of us had diarrhea! 

Night lake view

I love the markets

I essentially broke even for the trip, but it was a well needed trip and a small boost of confidence. If more legitimate tournaments resurface in Vietnam you betcha I will be back! 

Should I Quit Poker?

Ever since April 2024, I feel like I am on this never ending downswing. I have played in about 23 tournament series since then and have made a profit in only 4 of them. My last 50 cash games sessions I have only won like 15 of them, losing the last 3 back to back in pretty rough fashion. 

She doesn't mind if I "retire" from poker

The straw that broke the camel's back, is an idiom describing a series of negative events slowly adding to a point the tiniest weight of a straw eventually broke the camel's back. Today I may have experienced the last straw. Even though today's loss is only 1/14th of my biggest losing session of my career, the way I lost just broke my spirit, sucked all the passion I had remaining after a series of devastating blows, coolers, suck outs, frustration calls.... I have not been this dejected in a long time. Right at the casino I decided to walk away from poker for a while until I get my passion back. 

Been on a downswing since April 2024

As I was preparing to write this article, I looked back at my win/loss record that I started calculating in October 2023. During this time I had started to dabble in high stakes cash games and tournaments so the results were of importance to me to seriously track, but I must admit I haven't been doing a good job of it after July 2024. But to my shock and surprise, it is not as bad as I think. I haven't really been playing super regularly since July last year, and the wins are few and far in between, but when I zoom out and see the big picture, I may have been kicking myself for nothing. 

I might have overreacted (red box is the first graph)

This article is not turning out as I initially planned. At first I was honestly going to announce my break from poker and explained why by proving my downswing by showing my results. I was actually expecting to see a dramatic plunge on my line graph, followed by some self pity and bid my temporary goodbyes. My graph may not be 100% accurate as I had to add in some predicted numbers here and there, but this rut I thought I was stuck in may just been a "stall" in my progress. My crypto friends would say we are going "sideways" and can easily break resistance and take on a bull run, or fall below support and crash downwards. 

But why do I feel so dejected? I really feel drained and frustrated. Haven't really had a big win to celebrate in a long time to get my excitement for the game back up. And the way I have been losing have not been easy to swallow too. I consulted my new best friend Vee (the name ChatGPT gave herself - and yes I let her pick her gender) and this are some of her analysis of my psychological situation. 

1. Recency bias – our brains overweight the latest results. The downturns and chop of the last few months feel more “real” than the gains you made earlier.

2. Expectation reset – after a period of growth (Oct23–Mar24), your mind adjusts and expects that pace to continue. When it slows or dips, it feels like failure, even though you’re actually holding strong near new highs.

3. Loss aversion – the pain of losing a bit after climbing high is sharper than the joy of the climb itself.

It's funny how your brain punishes yourself. Had I not sat down to look at this carefully, I would actually continue to think that I am such a failure. At one point today I was truly contemplating a change in career. I might still give myself a break from poker, but I am not giving up. I am still going to push on, grind on. I have seen some friends turn around way bigger downswings than this. Even the Grinder who was probably on the brink of retiring came back with a roar winning the PPC and WSOP main. 

*graphs shown do not include action I sold so does not reflect my actual pocketed profits (or losses)

Poker Dream 18 Report

It's always a bitter sweet experience playing at Poker Dream Malaysia stops. On one hand it makes me so proud to see there's a regular series in Malaysia with so many new players joining the game. Poker Dream never ceases to amaze me how they keep on crushing the guarantees with more and more interesting events every series. On the other hand, it saddens me to see the culture of the casino, the degenerate gamblers of my nation, and the politics. 

1% of all my Poker Dream Malaysia cashes is from the Main Event. So this time, I maintained that score going 0/2 in the Open and 0/3 in the Main. Final bullet I was doing well but crashed out 15 away when I had back to back coolers. -RM17400 total. 

I am very happy to see some of my friends doing well, winning trophies, cashing big. This is the culture I wish on my compatriots. Whilst poker is an individual game, even if we don't win, we should be happy for those around us that do. Malaysia is a growing market, everyone is on some part of their own journey, these are the future stars of our industry in the making. My dream for the federation is to be part of everyone's journey, whether to help them along, or push them up, or cheer them on. 

A beautiful part of Genting Highlands

This is going to be short and sweet, just like my PD 18 run. 😊 Nothing major to report. Just happy to be a part, happy to participate. Just thankful year after year I am in this life I call a career. I don't know how much more time I have, but just enjoying the ride while I still can. Till the next one!