APPT Korea Report

Things were rough in Taipei and I set a profit goal that I thought was unreachable. I was happy to break even but thankfully I ended up exactly hitting my goal. The following day scrambled air tickets and hotel booking and headed to Incheon. 

Sakura season in Incheon

Incheon is about 1 hour away from Seoul, so if you are thinking of a poker/vacation destination you might be sorely disappointed. It is right next to the Incheon airport so it is pretty convenient. I recommend booking an Airbnb nearby. The hotels are pretty expensive and Airbnb’s are of good quality. Mine even had a massage chair. 

Plus EV getting a massage chair in the room

At first I wanted to stay away because I assumed the field would be tough. There is rarely any curious cats who wanted to try poker for a change. Those who go have poker in mind and I thought they would be tough. To my surprise, there were many that travelled for poker that didn’t really know what they were doing. Coming to think of it, that was me a few years ago. Haha. I will share some interesting hands on another post. 

First tournament was going well when my QQ couldn’t win a flip against AK for 50bb. The following day I played in the freeze out and was chip leader for a while until I made two untimely 4b jams that cost me my tournament. I fell 10 spots away from the money. 

At least there's nice fried chicken to soothe my bust outs

I almost never play satellites as I always feel it ends up being a shove fest. But there was one happening for the 10 million KRW Super High Roller so I thought I give it a shot. 4 seats were given and I ended up in the top 4. Pretty happy with that because the ticket is worth about USD9k. Immediately had to jump into the tournament (that Michael Soyza end up shipping) but did not catch any momentum and ended up shoving my A9 into Sparrow Cheung’s AA (who end up winning the main event) 

PS: how could I forget this, sat next to John Juanda in the SHR and Randy Lew in the shortdeck. Pretty cool. 

Finally got a cash in the series but fizzled out when my A8 lost to 55 on a A59 flop. Was chip leading the short deck tournament but also could catch the right cards when I jammed 2x pot on a flop of J87 with AJ and was called off by JQ. Turn and river were both Q. 

Most players wouldn’t admit losing money and some envy my lifestyle. But reality is, the variance, costs and opportunity costs are high. I lost money this trip, but I did get a 9k SHR ticket. If you count that as value, then I made a modest profit. To me what does not add to the bank account doesn’t count. But at the end I think the trip was worth it. A modest cash is still at least something to show for, and like levelling up a video game character, I think I definitely gained some experience points. 

Kimchi Stew. But don't be misled, food choices nearby are scarce. 

After about one whole month of non-stop poker, I am taking a 5-day break before the next series. Hopefully I will have some good news to share then.