30 days, 200 hours, June Report

June has been a super hectic month for me. I have been working most of the month on my own with lots of drama in between. The purpose of this blog is to inspire those who dream of being a poker pro and also other people who live vicariously through my life. So many of my old poker friends have seen me grow from a fish to who I am today, and I still argue that I have just grown to become a stronger fish. But in poker, as long as there are players worse than you, you can be profitable.

The 777 club has been growing well with lots of new players this month. So I have had the opportunity to have some rest in between but still I played 200 hours this month. 95% of the time it was 2/5 Omaha but I played 3-4 sessions of Holdem as well. Action has been really good with quite a few sessions where the game lasted really long. The longest was a 33 hour marathon where I only slept for 1.5 hours.

Big pot that I wasn't involved in

I had a horrendous month last month and June started horribly as well. By the end of the first week I was stuck deeper and at one point even looked like I might lose all my profits this year. But from the 6th onwards I started clawing my way back and almost recovered half of my losses from the previous month and registered my best month ever since I started working at the 777 poker club.

So much has happened and the drama I had to go through, the people I had to deal with, the problems I had, but I must say, June was one of the better months I have had this year. There's so much I have learned about myself, about how to run a poker room, Cambodian culture and also learning to be grateful and happy. I sometimes hate myself for the depths I would stoop to for the business, but I keep telling myself one day I will look back when I am sipping on a pina colada enjoying the fruits of my labor. Also I will try to write my whole story, from how I got started on poker to where I will be, because I think my story could make a really good novel or even a movie or TV Series.

I still don't have time to exercise, I don't even have time to sleep some days. I barely have any spare time left but I guess it is a sacrifice I have to make at the moment. At least I am not gaining weight, but I am definitely not losing any. So on the front of health and weight, it is not going great.

Maybe I have been too patient with some people

As usual I have allocated funds to give away as charity. But I am also actively trying to do things to help others. Whether it's lend a helping hand, listening to someone's problems, trying to make peace between some guys who used to great friends, offering someone in need to pay for their rent, giving a friend a quick loan to get out of a tough spot, or to teach my staff and inspire them to great things, I try to enrich the lives of the people around me. But I was quite disappointed to learn that some of my efforts are not appreciated at all. Maybe it's culture, maybe it's bad past experiences, but no matter how hard I try, at my own expense, my staff still doesn't know how good I am to them, and couldn't care less about me or my vision. But I have learned that I can't change everyone. And there might be people who think I am a phoney, but as long as I do my best, that's all I can do.

The good, the bad, the ugly

Sorry guys I have been super busy and haven't had the time to post more than one post a month, but I will try my best to do so.

As a poker player, agent, host, I have come across so many different people in my career. If I were to estimate how many different individuals I have met on a poker table, I would put the number in the thousands. I have met some really great people who have since become my good friends but once in a while you would come across some really shitty characters.

If you want to judge your daughter's boyfriend, have someone spy on him on the poker table. Because I feel that poker brings out the real character of every person. I've seen some of the best guys, willingly give back most of the pot to another who's made a very obvious mistake. And I've also seen the worst who would try to win the pot by a technicality.

One of the worst guys I've met is from Hong Kong and I wish I knew him better cause I would gladly post his name here. A friend of mine was obviously folding his hand when the chip protecting his cards accidentally crossed the line. The guy insisted it was a call and my friend relented even though he showed down Jack high. This was only one of the many dick moves he made within a 3 day period that I witnessed.

Over the years I have loaned money to people I thought were friends to help them out. Surprisingly none of them helped me when I was down and out. One guy even had the audacity to contact me again after owing me for years. He said he's happy to see me doing well. Well my friend, me doing well doesn't mean you don't owe me anymore. He couldn't even say sorry and has since continued to ignore me.

Earn money to live, not live to earn money

I've had people scammed me with fake bank transfer receipts, angle shoot on the table, stab me in the back, and even called the cops on me. I am pretty sure I went to jail because someone sold me out. But over the years I have learned to forgive them. One guy who owed me about $1000, disappeared, blocked all contact about 4 years ago. Recently he reached out and apologised and offered to pay me back. I didn't take his money. Not because I don't need it, but his change in attitude and apology deserved to be rewarded. Not many people have the guts nor the decency to reach out to an old creditor.

Recently I've met someone who generously gave his money to locals he barely knew. One of them had teeth problems but to have them fixed would cost them months of their salary. The guy willingly paid for it because he wanted to make her smile (literally).

When you spend hours a day with some guys you get to know their characters really well. Money is the best test of character. Some people are the way they are because of how they were brought up. There's nothing wrong with looking out for oneself, but I wished the world had more selfless people. Maybe you might think there's nothing wrong to protect yourself but I can personally testify to getting opportunities, doors opened for me, or solutions out of problems that I would not have gotten had I not been a genuine, unselfish person. Selfish people may seem to get ahead or do well and even become super rich, but only happy people realise that we earn money to live, we don't live to earn money.