APL Taipei Report

Last year I won a trophy at an APL event so it's only natural I follow their series too. This time it was held in Taipei. They had some challenges this time round but I would say overall the team is good and willing to listen to player feedback. I am sure they will continue to improve and grow to be a solid Asian circuit.

First event was the DSO main event. Key pot was near the end of day1 when I had TT in UTG I opened, sb called and bb jams. He was chip leader on the table and I had 30bb effective. I took a shot to become the new chip leader and almost guaranteeing an ITM. He flips over AK. Flop A river K. He ended up chip leading the final table until he snap called a 50bb+ jam pre with KK vs QQ but flop Q.

Two days later we would meet again this time in the KO bounty tournament. There I met this player who is super funny, great fun and a poker maniac. He would jam with 75, 53, 74, J3, K3...wait, he jams any two cards. But he would get so lucky and win. I am chip leader of the event until I opened AQ under the gun, he jams for 28bb on the button. Against him it is an easy call. He flips over T9 and flop KTx. We would meet again in the final table where he had like 70% of the chips. Going into the final 3 players, he jams into me when I was holding A8o. I had 20bb left and him and the other guy had 40+. I felt that it was a great spot to double up and take charge of the final 3. He flips over J7o and flop 7. He ended up winning the whole event. (PS: he bought in 5 times though)

5 bounties and 3rd place

I was doing well for the APL main event until I went from 80k to 0 in two hands on the last level of Day1. First hand I had TT on a T76 flop. The next hand I had 87dd on a Q93dd flop.

I had a losing trip this time but one highlight was my friend who came to visit me ended up shipping a side event for his first cash and win. I was behind him all the way when it was down to the last 6. He played really well and deserved the win. Very proud of him and happy for him.

Ubike Rental. Fun and easy way to cruise around Taipei

Another highlight that had nothing to do with poker was I found this bike rental system in Taipei called Ubike. You can get a value card to pay for transportation or at convenience stores. All you need to do is to register your phone number and card at one of the kiosks and you can rent the bike for TWD 5 every 30 minutes. (That's about 15 cents USD) You can ride it to the closest station to your destination and park your bike there and vice versa.