Poker in Amsterdam REVIEW

I had a good run of results end of 2017 and decided to treat myself to a trip to Europe. But since then my results have not been so great so it was important I needed to win on this trip to cover the costs. I will share with you my whole trip including reviews of the city, where to stay etc, but mainly thinking of the trip as a poker player.

First stop AMSTERDAM.

Amsterdam Leidseplein is beautiful

Amsterdam is known to be a city that tolerates. Some people think weed and prostitution is legal there, it actually isn't, it is tolerated. That means the authorities do not take any action, but they could legally do so if they wanted to. 

Sex and drugs available although I did not partake

Tap Sum Bong?

You'll most likely arrive at the Schipol Airport, outside the airport is a bus station, find the station that has bus 397, take it until the Leidseplein stop, which will take you the main hub of Amsterdam and where you'll find the famous red light district and also home of the Holland Casino. 

There's about 8 tables at the Holland Casino. You HAVE TO check in your jackets and pay a 5 euro fee for your membership card. I think the reason is they must have had a lot of backpackers drop off their bag and then went out sightseeing. But if you leave your jacket you'll freeze. LOL. The 5 euro I don't get it. There's no free stuff inside, but anyway. 

Forgot to bring Mr. Samurai with me

Games are 1/2, 2/5 and 5/5 euro. I played the 2/5 and on average everyone has like 300 - 500. Action is fast and fierce. Standard open is 4-6 bb and sometimes there will be 3-4 callers on a 15bb 3 bet. Players are quite loose. I've seen a few call with Q3o, Q8o, J9o on a 6 bb open. Players are mostly recreational. I did see a couple that seemed to know what they were doing, but the others are quite easy to read. 

No free drinks apart from water etc. You can use your card for points I think and get free drinks from time to time. Once you get there, go to the poker room, there's a kiosk where you swipe your card and pick which table you want to queue for. 

I recommend staying in the Leidseplein area as it is probably the most beautiful and where most of the sights are. It is easy to access from the airport as well. Must check out the Pancake Bakery if you're there.

What is Pppoker?

Pokerstars, Full Tilt, Partypoker, we all know them well. But recently you must have heard about PPPOKER. What the hell is PPPOKER? How is it different?

Well, let's compare it with something like Pokerstars.

Pokerstars is owned by Amaya Inc. They have staff running the site opened to anyone who can deposit. PPPOKER is an app, created for anyone to host their games online. Pokerstars earns money from the rake. PPPOKER makes money from hosts and players who buy "diamonds" in game for VIP stats, excel reports etc.

Let's get to the main point. Why is PPPOKER better?

1. PPPOKER is accessible to players where Pokerstars is banned or illegal. Meaning these are countries where players are newer to the game, fishier in general

2. PPPOKER clubs are run by hosts who invite their known friends to play, unlike Pokerstars is opened to the world and professional grinders play to make a living.

3. PPPOKER you can only play 1 table at time, which means pros hate that. So most players who play there are playing for fun.

So how can you get involved?

(contact me at happyriverpoker@gmail.com if you are interested to join as a player or agent)

Asian Poker Union is one of the biggest Union Clubs on PPPOKER with over 5000 players. That is bigger than many poker sites nowadays. We have 30-40 tables running 24/7 with players from mainly Asian countries with fat bankrolls. Games available are NLH, PLO and OFC with daily MTTs. Stakes start from USD 0.35/0.7 to USD 1.75/3 (so pretty small)

If you are interested to play, or even become an agent, please email me at happyriverpoker@gmail.com