APT Jeju - 2nd time this year

I have always had mixed feelings about Jeju. On one hand it is a very beautiful island with lots to do and explore, but the Shinwa World location is boring. Initially this trip was planned as a cash game grind, but due to the employee strike at Dream Tower, and my recent MTT success, I ended up playing 3 APT events. It's my 3rd trip to Jeju this year, but the difference is, this time I stayed in central Jeju.

It takes me a 40+ minute bus ride from where I am to the tourney location, but it is such a relaxing ride, I found it helpful for my game to be able to pray, meditate, prepare on the way there, reflect, decompress, review on the way back. Staying in town has it's perks. First of all there's a lot more to do, see and eat. There are also more accommodation options to choose from. There are plenty of service businesses around, which came in handy when I needed a dentist urgently. Albeit I got scammed, it was still convenient. On my off days I could go out for a stroll, a beautiful nature reserve is a 45-minute walk away, and there's a nice market nearby too. 

The Jeju field is quite polarized. You have your crushers - some of the best players in Asia on the tables, Euro GTO machines, but you also have really weak rich players too. My 4b was called once by KTo, another time by Q4s. I have certainly witnessed some brow-raising lines and showdowns. Unfortunately I didn't cash the Mystery bounty nor the Main event, but I shallow cashed the Mini Main despite having KK < AK < AK, AA < A9 all in preflop. 

My bus route

It's always fun to play at APT. Many people don't realize how OP it is to be able to check the live seating info. You're able to study your opponents and adjust to them accordingly without needing any hand history. On the table you can also sense who has looked into your profile and how they might perceive you to be, and use that against them. It was extra useful to me to be able to check how many are in the field before taking a long bus ride to the tourney venue. 

Not bad for $40+

This trip was a pretty relaxed one for me. I took time to recover from my dental issues, spent time with people who are important to me, studied, played online, catching up with old friends, worked on federation and national team stuff... I know I said I quit MTTs, but there isn't an ideal cash game situation right now, so I have 3 full series back to back starting in a few days. Hope I can run good, but most of all, have a great time and be proud of myself at the end. 

I got scammed in South Korea

I cracked my tooth, again, this time in Jeju, South Korea. My options were to fly home to get it fixed, endure the pain for about 5 weeks before I get home as scheduled, or find a local dentist. After consulting AI, and going through Google, I found a highly recommended dentist that was a few hundred meters away from me. On their website and online reviews, many claim that they are fair and professional, had affordable prices and good service. 

When I got to the clinic, I was asked to fill out a form with my personal details, which is pretty standard. Then I was asked to sign an acknowledgement form. The form states that I will be charged 150k KRW (approx. USD 111) for my consultation, which will include x-rays but will not include the treatment. I was in pain and discomfort, I had no other choice, I signed it. On the form I also consented to the clinic taking CCTV video of my treatment for security purposes. 

Finally it was my turn, the dentist immediately suggested I do an implant and quoted me 2.6m KRW for it (approx. USD 1935) but when I rejected, he then went for the 2nd option, a crown for 1.3m KRW (approx. USD 970) In the chaos and rush, and the pain and discomfort, I wasn't converting the KRW correctly so I wasn't aware it was that expensive. Another dentist came and started working on me, but quickly realized that a crown is not a viable option. So in the end we settled for a normal extraction of my 1st molar. The dentist then told me it was going to be 500k KRW (approx. USD 370). Again I was confused about the exchange rate, and desperate for a solution I agreed. My tooth cracked further during extraction, but he still managed to complete it in less than 5 minutes. 

After getting back to my hotel, I started searching online and asking local friends and I found out that a normal extraction costs 10-30k KRW (with health insurance) and 50-100k (without). 1st molars are definitely simple extractions. So that means they charged me 5-10x the normal price on top of a ridiculous 150k "consultation". I realized then that it would have been cheaper for me to fly home and back to Jeju, get my treatment and still have money left over. If you note the implant and crown quotations, they were all way too high as well. 

Long story short, I asked for a refund, they refused, insisted that the extraction was complex because of x, y, z, which doesn't make sense as the price was quoted to me BEFORE he started, hence he couldn't have known if x, y, z would happen. But thankfully I have great friends in Korea that sent someone to the clinic to handle it. At the end I got a partial refund. The money is not the point, I just cannot stand injustice and to see it unpunished. The clinic is called Jeju Anafn Dental Clinic and Dr. Seo was the dentist's name. 

The real reason I've suffered dental issues for the past 25 years is because when I was young, one dentist decided his ego was worth more than my pain and suffering. In order to save face and avoid admitting he couldn't perform a procedure, instead of advising me to go to another dentist, he caused a cascading effect deteriorating my dental health, causing me to lose 4-5 teeth from cracks and avoidable situations. 

Since a long time ago I’ve learned that admitting my flaws or mistakes is not a sign of weakness but strength. It takes more courage to say “I’m sorry”, “I was wrong” or “I’m not good enough”. There’s nothing wrong to be proud of ourselves, but if you’re making a decision to protect your ego, it means something else just lost its protection. So next time if you see the gaps in my teeth, take it as a reminder that how people perceive you is less important than you think it is. Be kind, be honest, be genuine, let go of your ego, because saving your face now may have worser consequences later. 

Royal Poker Tour - Again

This was my 5th trip to Hanoi this year. I know I said I want to give MTTs a rest but because I won some Vietnam Dong in my last trip, I took it as an omen to return and play. My friend had helped me transfer 50m into my balance at Royal, and my plan was not to go above that amount. 

I fired a bullet each in the Kick off and Mini main without making the money, it cost me 17.6m in total. So of the 50m I had 32.4m left. There were two events left that I wanted to play in. The Championship (22m) and the Main (27.5m) Unless I cash in the Championship with one bullet, otherwise that would be the end of my series. I skipped flight A to give myself more rest, flights B&C because I was conducting a federation event, planning to fire in 1D. However it rained quite heavily on the morning of 1D, and at the same time I was invited by a friend to attend an up class event at a one-star Michelin restaurant. So Main event it is then.

From a starting stack of 50k I bled down to 17k and grinded my way up to 11m+ at one point. Close to the end of day 2 I made some good plays, one I deviated from a standard calling range because I saw a clear tell on a top player's arm that helped me remove most of his top ranges. But I also made a couple of bad mistakes including the last hand of the day. My stamina is better than before, but still not optimal, especially after 12-13 hours of intense play. But somehow, thank God I made the final table.

This was my 4th career main event final table, and although not the highest paying FT I ever played in, but was one of the highest. But I entered it playing with no fear, adjusted to the passiveness of the table, tried to dominate the table but at times failed. I came to the FT with one goal, make myself proud, and I certainly did. A key hand was losing JJ to QT all in pre. Even though it wasn't a huge pot, it would be a turning point as the floodgates would open with 7 left and I would be a massive chip leader at that point. The guy went on to finish 3rd. Then with a huge ICM spot, I had AK vs a Korean ego player with JJ but we couldn't win that flip. JJ probably shouldn't have been in there, or at least not an all in, but the player just wasn't ICM aware enough. Winning that hand would have meant another player out with me holding 40% of the remaining chips. Alas it wasn't to be, and he ended up winning the event. 

Eating clean in Hanoi

I finished 6th for a decent bounce towards the right direction for a change, and a boost of confidence. I can't helping thinking another 2-3 pay jumps would make such a difference. But I have no complaints, learned a lot in the process and still a decent payout despite my many mistakes. Happy to have made a decent ROI for my most loyal backers. Off to the next adventure, hope the run good never ends. 

My fascination with Live Dealer Online Poker

Some of you might remember a few years ago I was working for a company that ran an online poker site with LIVE dealers. I've never truly enjoyed online poker, maybe I feel my strengths are restricted behind a screen, or because you are taking the "social" away from a social game. So when I came across this concept it felt attractive to me. Alas the company was ran by people who were not poker players, and for the life of me couldn't get through to them what poker players wanted, so that was that. 

Recently I came across a similar site and I thought I have a go at it. To my surprise, I was super impressed. They ticked all the right boxes for me. Strong registration process, dealers were smooth and fast, friendly, interacting with players, enthusiastic. Time between hands were short, in fact I feel that it is way faster than live games. To my surprise, they even had multi-table function, running twice, flip games, PLO/NLH combo tables. After signing up as an affiliate, I was also very impressed by their back office. Super well thought out, designed by poker players for poker players. 

Some may say aren't you going backwards with human dealers online? I personally have never trusted RNG and RNG auditing companies. If you just Google, or even better, ask an AI if RNGs are really random, they will tell you that it is not. But regardless, having a software generate hands means there is visibility of what is going to happen. A friend once asked a poker app owner I used to work for this question. Does your software generate the turn and river before the hand starts, or does it generate it after the flop action is done. Both answers are equally concerning. If an app knows what the flop turn and river will be, that means someone who has a backdoor into the code/algorithm can know the outcome of hands. If an app generates the turn and river as the hand progresses, that also means someone can manipulate the outcome of the hand depending on the action. Read this article and it might scare you, especially with how sophisticated AI has become. 

On Raize, the cards are scanned face down with a simple barcode scanner, like the ones at your supermarket. That means, no one, not even the site knows the sequence of the cards until they are dealt. Dealers hand cut every deck so in my opinion that is as random as it gets. Another concern about online poker are bots. But at Raize, every player has to fulfill a facial recognition scan, so that is a fool-proof KYC system. If needed, the games settings can make webcam video a must for playing. For recreationals who are looking for fun and chillax games, they really enjoy the ability to video and voice chat while playing. And for private games hosts, they feel comfortable and confident to be running high stakes games in such an environment. Players can also chat, tip and even flirt with the dealers, tag your favorite ones, greet each other by name, just like your usual home game. 

There are certainly cons though. Understandably because of the logistics of operating such a setup, at the moment the games only run at fixed hours of the day. They usually only run 2 tables at the moment. But I am sure as traffic increases and demands it, they will grow that number and have games running 24/7. 

I dabbled in it a bit, even tipped the dealers multiple times. The games are soft, action is fast and plenty. I also watched a private $50/100 game that was hosted there where pots got up to $50k with plenty of action. I managed to win $2700 in two quick sessions. Overall I really love where this is going. This would be a fun playground for bosses who want the convenience of online, but the feeling of a private game, friendly dealers, talking shit with others on the table. And in my experience, where there are bosses, there will be regs too. If you are keen to check it out, click HERE or reach out to me if you want to become an agent. (happyriverpoker@gmail.com)

Quick stop at the HSOP

Wasn't planning on playing any MTT, and after grinding cash for almost a month straight in Singapore, the first event (mini main) felt weird, as if I have lost some of my love of the format. But since I was in town for some meetings, I felt I mustn't miss the main event.

First bullet I played well and was cruising until the last 3 levels I just bled out and crashed out 15 spots away from the money. Rebuying was not on the cards, but when my other plans fell through I decided to try again. This time I had a similar ride but manage to squeeze into the money with a short stack. Entering day2 with only 180k (roughly 15bb) I managed to run it up to 3.3 million albeit a rollercoaster ride in between. Although in the end I finished 17th out of 1278 runners, it felt bitter sweet. Proud that I grinded it out, but wondering why do I keep falling short when it mattered. 

Nonetheless it was a short and sweet stay in Hanoi, compared to my usual 3-week-long migrations, so this post would be short as well. 2 other friends made it deep with me in the main and 4 others won trophies in the series so I am super happy for them as well. After this experience, I might be back again real soon, and maybe come out of my MTT "retirement".  

Thailand Poker Summit - in conjunction with Asia Poker Sports Association (APSA)

About 100 years ago, Thailand wrote in their laws, poker = gambling. Yes it specified the word poker. Today, we just had the inaugural poker summit in Thailand, in a sports ministry building, attended by local ministers and delegates from 11 countries, covered by numerous media outlets. In a world that is ever changing, why do we still stubbornly follow some archaic rules? Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's bad. 

20 years ago, poker was legalized in the Philippines. Since then, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam has some form of legalized poker. In Japan, poker is even taught and played by children. Last year, Mongolian courts finally recognized poker as a sport. When will other Asian countries follow suit? 

I lived my life with an adventurous heart. I used to have a goal of learning one new thing a day. I love to visit places I have never been before, learn new languages, instruments, try new types of food. What gets my blood boiling are people who reject things without even trying. They have set their prejudices on certain things and they end up missing out on so much in life! My partner had a bad experience as a kid with spoiled coconut milk, so she avoided all foods that contained it. But now she gets to enjoy so many types of dishes because she was willing to give it another chance. 

99% of people who oppose poker, or brand poker as gambling have never played the game before. Just because it involves chips and cards, it must be a gambling game right? In November 2025, The International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) officially recognized poker as a sport. Hundreds of books have been written about poker strategy. People pay top dollar to be coached by top pros. There are poker schools that train players, from as young as 6 years old (in Japan).

I find myself having to juggle getting support from my fellow compatriots and creating activities, events to generate awareness for non players. I don't know why I took on such a big task, but someone has to do it. The progress is low, the road is long, the obstacles are many, but together with my friends from Asia and APSA, I hope it will amplify our voice and impact. 

If you want to support us or find out more information you can follow us on Instagram or email admin@malaysiapokerfederation.org. We are always on the look out for volunteers and sponsors. 

Singapore Poker RWS vs MBS - Who wins?

Disclaimer: This is purely based on my experience of playing at the two casinos over the last 4 weeks, incidents, players, staff that happened to be there at the time. I was not swayed or influenced to say one thing or another. I am just being brutally honest but my intention is to help players who have not been there to see a clearer picture, and maybe even casino management to make further improvements. 

What attracted me to visit this time was the Resorts Poker Championships at RWS. The event was rake free with a decent guarantee. Skip this paragraph if you are only here for my cash game reviews. Possibly due to the lack of experience, there were some stark issues that I believe needs to be changed immediately. For example, every flight for the main plays down to 35 players regardless of the number of participants. Whilst I understand they are concerned about the number of players that make day 2 (due to the limited number of tables) but this is not the proper way to progress. In an extreme example, if day 1A only had 35 runners, 100% of players will qualify for day 2. Had 1C had 350 runners instead, then only 10% will make it through. Please do not use stack size as the way to explain this off. Instead there should be a % of players that make it through. If you are concerned about day 2 numbers, then cap the max number of buy ins. Secondly they should let day 1 play into the money. Otherwise I see some poor locals who make day 2, having to pay the levy ($150 a day) twice and still not cash the event. There was also a pay jump that had 0 increment. This is a big no no for me. You can easily adjust, even a $100 difference is still a pay jump. There were communication issues too. Some staff thought day 1 ended at level 15, some said it ends at the end of level 15. This is a huge difference as some players were stalling by level 14 knowing the wrong information. Announcements were poor, for example at bubble time, they didn't even mention which hand belonged to the short stack. Bagging took 30+ minutes because they needed to count every chip, get players and dealers to sign, wait for a print out.... This is where the kiasu side of Singapore comes into play. BUT, I don't fault them on this, being careful sometimes is fine. However it can be simplified to make it smoother for sure. Consult with some tournament veterans and you will know how to streamline the whole experience. 

MBS chips are nicer

As for the cash games, I will review each casino separately and draw my final conclusions. 

Marina Bay Sands (MBS)

• Games: They spread 10/20, 25/50, 100/200 and sometimes even bigger games. 
• Rake: 5% capped 5bb (for 10/20) - I didn't pay attention to the others but I believe it scales down
• Tables and queue: They had 9 tables, I believe most days the game runs 24 hours, queue is long in the evenings and weekends, especially when they are running bigger games and have less tables for 10/20. 
• Amenities: There isn't a proper waiting area, drinks are served

Pros

• MBS is a well designed casino. High ceilings, classy decor, comfortable seats and tables, bright lights, high end vibe. 
• From my observations, MBS attracts more tourists and a younger richer crowd. 
• There are more players there, new tables start up quickly, they run almost non stop. 
• MBS has a higher buy in min and max. So the games plays slightly bigger. Pots and swings would usually be bigger too. 
• MBS queue lists shows player names, so you can see who else is waiting and whether it is worth waiting around for a new table to start. 
• They seem to be more receptive to feedback, evident when "buying the button" was disallowed after 3 weeks into operation. Although I disagree with the decision, but it is good to see that they are flexible. 
• Poker room location is prime, so the possibility of getting some curious cats to try out the game is higher. 

MBS at night

Cons

• All the sharks are there. Due to the hype of the room, most of the top regs of the country now resides there. So as good as the game sounds, most days you have tables full of regs targeting 1-2 spots. 
• It is surrounded by slot machines, which can get a bit noisy and annoying
• I hope this is just temporary, but most of their dealers are terribly slow and prone to mistakes. 
• Rake is high. You'll be surprised how much it adds up.
• Floor prioritizes bigger games, so 10/20 players feel like second class citizens. My personal experience was I waited 3 hours from being 11th in the waitlist to be at the top, only to have to wait for another 8 slots to clear because the floor decided to kill a 10/20 table to make way for a 25/50 list that had 4 players queuing. I would understand if there were 8 ready to go on 25/50 but not when there's 4 whereas 10/20 had 30 waiting. 
• Service was poor and rude at times. For example, any curious player that wandered into the poker area was often met with stern tone and ushered out. I understand they are just doing their jobs but there are no signs or forewarning, and staff can just be kinder. There was another incident where the dealer over-raked $5 by mistake, realized his mistake and asked the floor if he could give it back to the player. First floor agreed, second floor said no, because the hand was dead. She even tried to explain it away that even if they under-raked, they would not ask for it back (which is totally untrue). The player clearly upset later asked the floor to reconsider and under slight duress she over turned her own decision. I understand Singapore is a country of rules. But rules are meant to be bent if it meant for the good of the business. After receiving the $5 back the player tipped the dealer instead. It is not about the money, it is how you make a customer and observing customers feel. The player unfortunately went on to tilt away a few thousand bucks, and maybe to never return. This is what I don't understand about the "kiasuness" of Singapore. Clearly you are a country full of smart people. There's doing right things and doing things right. Sometimes rigid adherence to rules is not the right thing. 

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)

• Games: They have 5/10 on weekdays, and 10/20 on weekends
• Rake: 5% capped at 3bb (for both 5/10 and 10/20)
• Tables and queue: They have 11 tables at full capacity. But due to MBS poker opening they rarely run more than 3 tables nowadays. Weekdays game usually start at around noon to 1pm, and weekend games slightly later than that. Some days just missing the first 8 seats, I waited 2+ hours for the 2nd table to start. 
• Amenities: There is a reasonably comfortable waiting area, drinks and occasionally they will come by with finger food or snacks. 

Pros

• RWS has the lowest casino rake in all of Asia
• They have a few good dealers that keep the game flowing (but still the occasional one who stalls on purpose) 
• Although you can still hear the hum of the slot machines, it is less annoying than those at MBS
• Service overall feels friendlier and homely. Regulars get greeted by name, floor and staff would interact and joke with players. You feel genuinely welcomed and at home. 
• The migration of pros means there is a vacuum of top regs at RWS

Cons

• Although RWS was completed just 3 months before MBS, it feels like it is 20 years older. The design in my opinion is not well thought through, it's dark and gloomy. 
• RWS seem settled on attracting the older folks. There are table min bets of $1, free lunches for annual package holders, concerts of 80s singers.... I would guess average age of the typical patron is 50. 
• Location of the room is obscure. In my months of visiting the casino, I just realized there is a completely different area that I have not been to. Wouldn't surprise me if most patrons didn't know the poker room existed. 
  
• There are a lot of unnecessary delays. For example starting a new table takes 20 minutes. Checking the new decks also take way longer than MBS. Just having an unnecessary top card cover wastes 2 seconds every hand, so for grinders like me, it's less hands played, wasted opportunities. 
• Bureaucracy and inflexibility seems prevalent in Singapore. There was an incident where one table was running auto-straddle and the other wasn’t. Both tables had a seat open. Floor brings a new player to the auto-straddle table and causes the auto-straddle to break. Player complains that she should have given the player a choice to play at the other table that didn’t straddle. Floor insists that players are not allowed to choose tables and auto-straddle is voluntary. Please don’t hide behind rules or “this is how things are”. Be smart, there are better solutions, use them. It’s no wonder everyone knows it’s wrong to call it carrot cake yet no one wants to change. (It’s a radish cake for goodness sake)

So who wins? You might be surprised but in my opinion, at least for the time being, RWS. More people at MBS doesn’t mean the games are better. In fact I found it to be consistently worse. I was lucky to be on some good tables while I was there, but most of the time it took a lot of maneuvering and tricky table changes to get there and sometimes only to fill the seat the fish left and having other pros switched there as well. MBS has a high concentration of the best regs in Singapore while RWS has only a handful. I find every game at RWS had at least 3 clear spots or better. Those who migrated their annual levy to MBS will be there for at least a year so it created a unique opportunity to grind at a much weaker game than it was. While it is true that MBS attracts more tourists and whales, but since priority is given to bigger games, you’ll find that the 10/20 seats are usually filled by early bird pro campers whereas the whales give up after waiting for a long time. However I must say if you want bigger swings and higher stakes then MBS does have its strengths. If they continue to be flexible and adjust positively, then they might one day take away RWS’ edge. I look forward to returning in a few months and report back if anything has changed. 

Follow me on Instagram for more poker stories or click here to read my review of RWS poker room from last year.