Revisiting Cambodia and playing at the GOP (Gods of Poker)

I left the workforce in early 2018, at the time not knowing that it was actually perfect timing. We all know soon after there was political turmoil in HK/China followed by COVID19 so had I kept working, I would have likely been out of a job by then anyway. One of the first places I was based out of was Vietnam until my regular game was raided by the police and everyone caught was sent to jail for 6 months, I knew I had to choose a safer environment to grind in, hence Cambodia. 

It's funny how life turns out as never in my wildest dreams I would think of living in Cambodia, and now looking back, boy what a time that was. Many of my tablemates or customers were probably from the scam companies we now know about. But at the time I was oblivious of what's happening in the dark corners of the region. It turned out to be a key turning point of my career as I grinded out a living and it also inspired my giving mentality. Although I didn't know what they did, I always assumed many of the Chinese players I played against were bosses of at a minimum - grey area businesses. Some were clearly bad people, some on the run from the law, a few rare ones did feel genuine and were actually nice people. Outside of the few genuine friends I made,  my comfort was I felt like Robin Hood by taking money from the shady guys and giving to others in need. 

Used to grind here 6-7 days a week

I eventually left the country not on great terms as I was bullied out of a super profitable position but I chose not to fight it so it always felt bitter sweet returning for a visit. But this time, I got the time to reconnect with some old friends and I felt that I was still loved and missed by some, and I felt touched that my time spent there left a lasting impact years after I had left. The government has since cracked down hard on the scam centers so I think most of them have left, but some that remain now stay on looking for the next money grab opportunity. I even met an old acquaintance who proudly shares his involvement in the scam industry. If that is winning, I never want to win like that. 

I have had a rough year so far, so when I had a sun run day 1 of the GOP main it was a welcomed relief. But day 2 quickly sucked all the life from me when I went from 2nd chip leader to bubble boy. I had 4 all ins on day 2 all ahead but did not win any of them. I played the mini main as well and also went from chip leader to out over just two major hands. Experiencing GOP for the first time, I must say the Kraken day 1 has an amazing structure that no one else offers. Especially for someone like me who enjoys playing deep stack poker, it was so much fun. It definitely is something one needs to experience to truly appreciate the beauty of the structure. I hope in the future they can draw in even more numbers and offer higher guarantees as I look forward to playing more of this structure.

During my trip I also had a devastating run at PLO5, winning 1 pot in 2.5 hours. I also ran super bad at OFC, losing 500+ points in 2 hours, a game that I used to play at the highest stakes in Asia. Granted one opponent was not a fish but still he would hit in 1 outer draws where I would miss my 20+ outs. It seems like every decision I make was the wrong one and I am down a pretty massive amount of my bankroll so far this year. But I have taken the time to appreciate the things I have. Looking back to my time in Cambodia and now returning as a visitor, I have come a long way. I am doing much better in so many aspects of my life, being upstuck is nothing I can't handle. I am more matured, and I like to think smarter than I was before, hopefully a better player as well but definitely more disciplined and composed. Sometimes you have to swim a long way against the tide until you catch the big wave. 

Until the next one, peace. 

Quick update of my recent tournaments (Players Series & Royal Poker Tour)

Recently in my travels I caught up with a lot of old friends. Some of which have commented that despite being apart, they have followed me through my blog. Sorry I have not been posting much but thank you all for your support. I love writing but in the age of AI, I feel like this skill has kind of lost it's value. But I promise you all that 100% of my posts will be hand typed by me. No AI will assist in my writing, so I can keep it real, my true authentic self. 

In the past two years or so, I have been reluctant to call it a "downswing" as it implies it is mainly caused by luck. I have objectively tried to analyze my hands, and also put in lots of study time to make sure it is not a skill issue. I do admit that I have my shortcomings, and sometimes discipline or stamina issues, but I have since tried to correct them. And many of the spots I've had, I can't say I have had the best of luck. But as the saying goes, "what goes up must come down", I do believe "what goes down must come up" at some point. I have been preparing. I have been patient. I have been grinding. Waiting for MY time. 

Street food in Hanoi YUM

Since the start of 2026, although not super smooth, but there were glimpses of run good, which I have not had in a good long time. Recently I played a cash game where they had a bounty for winning 3-4-5 in a row, I managed to get to 5 picking up 3 all in pots along the way. That has gotta count for something. So it has given me the confidence to go out and play, together with my newfound skills and knowledge. 

After finishing second in an invitational in Taipei, I played a couple of events at Players Series as well, finishing 9th despite a blunder right before FT. That I think came from fatigue and a lack of self awareness. After that I took a trip to Phnom Penh (which I will write on a separate post) and it was so nice to catch up with old friends. Some of these guys I spent time with every single day for months. They know me at my best and at my worst, and yet they still choose to be my friends. I wanted to keep the momentum going so I hopped on a plane to Hanoi to join the Royal Poker Tour. 

Second to Malaysia, Vietnam is where most of my tournament cashes come from. I had two ITMs. One in the mini main and one in the main. Neither were deep enough and I essentially broke even for the trip. However there were a few highlights that I was super proud of. I kept my discipline, ran up a 5k (2.5bb) stack to 195k and bag the mini main. Day 2 of the main I ran JJ into AA and also flipped up 2.5bb to get a couple more pay jumps. However I did have a blunder on my last hand where had I had more time to think, and better brain processing power I could have folded that hand keeping my last 8bb. In the final event I played, I managed only to lose 7bb (off a 20bb stack) with KK vs AA. But ultimately couldn't escape as my QQ ran into KK soon after. 

Studying has helped me immensely, but it has also added many layers to my thought process on the table. As a result, my stamina gets depleted much quicker than it did before. I am incorporating brain exercises now to my daily (non playing days) routine and recently my sleep pattern has also improved a lot. My body used to only allow me 5-6 hours of sleep. 

Pho Suong, highly recommended

Anyway I haven't started to make a dent into the losses I have incurred in the past 2 years. BUT I can already feel the cards are falling differently for me. Just yesterday I had a sun run, something I haven't experienced in years. So maybe, just maybe, this year might be the year for me. Stick around, I hope this chapter will be a more positive one. 

Win Win Poker Grand Opening

First of all congratulations and thank you to Win Win Poker and Alex Lee for inviting us to attend the grand opening of Win Win Poker Club in Taipei. In the last couple of years, Taipei has become my 2nd home. I have actually spent more time in Taipei than in my home country during this period. So when I heard there's a new club I was definitely excited and wanted to come and extend my support. 

Plenty of space for chill areas and displays

The opening ceremony was very impressive. A very strong showing of players and VIPs were in attendance. I rushed straight from the airport to the hotel and club just in time to catch most of it. Guests from overseas and all over Taiwan were there, with tons of media presence and support. 

The space is clean, sharp, spacious and well designed. Plenty of space for players to chill, rest, or cool off after a bust out. Staff were very well prepared for the crowd, even trained on what to say, expect and respond to possible scenarios that may occur. The overall vibe of the club was comfortable, professional with a touch of class. 

I was invited to play in the Invitational Event which gave me a chance to experience the place as a player. The field was very impressive to start with. I was told there were many famous people and influencers playing. Me being a dinosaur only recognized Jacky Wu and poker pros. Dealers and floor were well trained and experienced, even the photo/videographers were enthusiastically hard at work. 

I was lucky enough also to experience their really cool Final Table area. I think eventually they will continue to add to it and it would look really cool on live stream. I've typically done well when I was invited to play a tournament. Champion in the Poker Dream first Invitational, 5th when invited by APSA to Taipei, and this time managed to eek out a 2nd place finish. 

The location is great. It is walking distance to Shuanglian Market, one of my favorite Taipei morning markets. The club is also walking distance away to three key subway stations, plenty of food and hotel options around. Most of the buildings around have a classy office vibe going on. 

I hope Win Win will continue to host more poker events and tournaments. I would love to return to play some of them and highly recommend for my friends who want to try it out. Here's the link to their Google Map location and Instagram if you need more information. 

Down US$16K in 2026 so far

As they say, poker is a hard way to make an easy living. Recently Stephen Chidwick expressed that of his $76m in cashes, he probably has a profit of between $5-10m. Many people who have an impressive Hendon Mob score are still losing money. 

Instead of telling you my set over set coolers, aces cracked stories, I am actually quite proud of the work I've put in this year. 21 sessions of cash games across private games and Macau and 10 tournaments. In the first 45 days of the year I've put in 194 hours of playing time, which averages to about 4.3 hours per day. On top of my regular study groups, I have created a private tuition class for willing students. I am like the avid investor, constantly dollar cost averaging into a falling market, hopefully eventually to catch the bounce and have everything pay off. 

On average I am spending 1-2 hours a day on studying, although admittedly it's more on trading than poker, but I am finding myself more knowledgeable in current events, geopolitics, AI, economic catalysts and the psychology of investing (which I find to be somewhat related to reading poker psychology) But being aware also has made me a more pessimistic of the trajectory we are on. Tensions are rising, people and countries are more self serving, staying in power trumps using that power for good (pun intended), movie storylines used to shock us but nowadays real life news events puts John Grisham to shame. Gestapo-like ICE agents running wild, killing innocent people... then there's Epstein and his evil empire, trafficking, rape, murders, alleged cannibalism (notice how I put alleged only to this), so many people of power, influence, fortune involved in this web of evil, and now top people in law enforcement, justice department blatantly covering up... 

Ignorance is bliss

What I am trying to say is, put into perspective, being down $16k doesn't feel so bad when the world is on fire. Instead it has reaffirmed me of my life's mission to be a positive influence to the people around me, to be a better human being first. I have my own demons and burdens to bear, but I find that I get more peace helping others than helping myself. Apart from allocating my time to teaching, building the MPF community, I also actively reach out to my friends that I feel need encouragement, support and kind words. I cannot change the world, but maybe I can change someone's world. 

10% into the new year I already know this year is going to be one of the most eventful of my life. I am continually picking myself up, dusting myself off, so when opportunity meets preparation, God willing I can finally soar. Till the next one, be kind be good be safe. 

Waiting for my sun run

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.