Cambodia WPT Report

I have dreaded to write this post mortem because it has been an ugly trip. I was feeling really upbeat about the trip at first, and had a good feeling about it all along, first cash game session I turned quads and got paid on the river but it all went downhill from there.

I was expecting a much deeper run

Returning to Phnom Penh is always bitter sweet for me. I have a lot of memories of the place, good and bad. It was a key place for my poker career and wherever I go I seem to have some reminders of what happened there. One day I might sit down and write my entire experience down but it makes for a nice movie script actually. 

On the bright side I made some nice new memories this trip. Having dinner with the boys after our Andrew Neeme meet up game. The meet up game itself was quite memorable as well. We played the stand up game and I won the first hand against Andrew. It was also featured on Andrew's YouTube vlog. Took pictures with him and Vince Van Patten and they with Mr. Gorilla too. Called Vince as Lon because some genius pointed at him and said that's Lon McEachern (the WSOP commentator) I guess I was too tired and drunk to realize that mistake until I look back at the photo and thought to myself, why would a WSOP commentator show up at a WPT event and then it hit me. I hope he didn't take offense. 

Andrew Neeme

Vince Van Patten

I made day 2 of the main running super hot early in day 1. By level 3 I had 8x starting stack. It fizzled out in the middle losing AA to 22 and QQ to 77 in pretty significant pots before clawing back with a decent stack for day 2. Manage to outlast 1000+ players only to finish with a modest cash. Another few pay jumps would have made the trip a nice one but couldn't win a couple of key flips at the end. 

But my usual bread and butter cash games got my butt kicked real well. One, two, three, four, five outers hit for my opponents, but me missing fifteen, sixteen, seventeen outer draws. The downswing started a week before WPT and is still going as of yesterday. This is not my worst downswing but every beat I take feels like a kick in the stomach. This year I have been a committing to becoming a better player, better person, better friend, better son, better partner. I have cut out all degen stuff in my life, committed to be an honest person with friends and business partners, recommitted myself to be loyal to my partner which is always a challenge as there are so many temptations especially when we travel, focused on improving my skills and I feel that I am playing the best poker in my entire career, helping people whenever I can both in giving but also teaching, sharing, encouraging, caring without expecting anything back. But to lose session after session, and the way I lost, lately has me feeling dejected and depressed. I cut my trip short yesterday because I couldn't take another losing session.

This blog is to document my poker journey and it wouldn't be fair to just report the rosy results and hide the ugly ones. Including cost and losses the WPT was a -9k trip. Including my entire downswing since early August its probably like -12k USD. I can take that hit but emotionally it has been draining because I felt it was my time to shine. The amount of effort I've put into bettering myself, I expected to be rewarded. 

Before losing JJ vs 99 all in pre flop (hit his one outer 9) but I had 17 outs but missed

But it is not all doom and gloom. Every time I see the people I love, I feel blessed again. I have a wonderful partner that I would never have dreamed of. She is loving, supportive, in short just the perfect woman for me. Regardless of how I do financially, I am so blessed in other aspects of my life. Money isn't everything and money isn't anything if I'm not happy, and I AM happy. I just wish I was rich too 😆

Introducing Mr. "One Time" Gorilla

I have maintained a blog and an Instagram account for a while now. Having travelled to play poker in 19 countries and 96 poker rooms (and counting) I like to share my photos of different places and games. But one time someone stole my photo and used it as their own. So since then I tried to put my "signature" on my photos by placing my "card protector toy". My fantasy is that I will travel the world to play poker and out of the blue someone on the table will recognize my toy and call me by my nickname. LOL You can follow my Instagram HERE

Recently there has been a lot of comments and reactions towards Mr. Gorilla and I felt that I have the need to clarify some things. Contrary to popular belief, the toy is not "blessed", nor has any super powers. I do not pray to the toy nor have it prayed for. It is not a "lucky charm", but it's just for people to recognize my photos are original. 

No they are not friends

Years ago I had another toy "Mr. Samurai". I bought him in Tokyo and the reason I liked it was it reminds me to have a Samurai mentality. Never give up, fight with honor, fight with integrity. I don't know if it was offensive to Japanese players but I meant none of it. But that toy was wobbly and a couple of the legs on the horse broke and I had to glue them back on. Later it just breaks too easily especially if I carry it in my hoodie pocket. Mr. Samurai officially retired on 22nd Oct 2019. So I found "Mr. Gorilla" in Taipei. 

Mr. Gorilla in Rozvadov

I think the stance Mr. Gorilla has makes people feel that it's a "blessed" figure. I had players actually do the 🙏 to it, some players instantly ask me to pick it up if it's fallen, (as if the gods would be angered if I don't), some call it my lucky charm or associate my wins to it. At first I follow along jokingly but I since think I need to clarify what it means to me. 

Mr. Samurai in Barcelona

Mr. Samurai reminds me to be strong and win with honor. Mr. Gorilla with it's praying stance reminds me to pray and thank God for everything I have. Some of you may have read my article about being a Christian poker player, I want to give glory to God even in this somewhat "dodgy" career choice. It reminds me I am not doing this alone and I am not doing this for myself only. Be thankful, be humble, be hopeful and have faith. 

I call Mr. Gorilla my "one time, every time". But the fact it, win or lose, I am thankful, blessed, joyful and at peace, all the time. 

Genting Poker Room - REVIEW

The Poker Dream tournament series was recently held at Genting Resorts, however that is not what I am writing about today. On the other end of the resort inside SkyCasino's Gold Club is the Genting Cash Game Poker Room. 

Before we delve deeper into this, I want to clarify my understanding of the formation of this poker room. There is a bunch of people who love poker, love to see a legalized poker room in Malaysia, and has worked very hard to make it happen. Then there is the only casino in Malaysia, ever the monopoly, that doesn't understand poker nor care about it. And finally there is staff that is hired to work in this new poker room, some probably don't know poker either or care to learn, or know the difference between it and other table games. Now let's jump into the review.

The room itself is quite nice, inside the Gold Club area, so unless you have a Gold/Platinum card, there is an extra step of going to the service counter and getting your card verified for the day to allow access. The first day I went the service counter was closed. But I have voiced this to the management and hopefully they will rectify this. Once you get there you are greeted by the staff to register your interest and phone number so they can contact you when a seat is available. The staff are generally friendly and helpful except maybe one or two. 

When I got there at about noon, there were two full tables and 40+ people on the waiting list. However I was told they can only open new tables at 3pm. I understand they have staffing issues but it was frustrating to have to walk all the way up there again 3 hours later. Similar situation at 3am, even though there were 4 full tables running, they forced two tables to close because of their dealer shift arrangements. Any good poker player will tell you the best time to play is usually after midnight till early morning when players are tired, tilted and spewing. 

All games spread were ante games, meaning you have to post in every position to play. Stakes ranged from 10/20 up to 50/100. On weekdays I was told they run 5/10 as well. The tables are pretty soft. There were legitimately real newbies trying out the game. Caribbean stud players, baccarat players venturing into poker for the first time. There were also beginners who know a bit of poker but playing super badly. However on the flip side, the rake is relatively high. The higher the stakes the lower the cap, for example 10/20 cap was 7.5bb but 50/100 cap was 3bb. But being the only legal poker room in Malaysia I guess you pay for that premium. But what I didn't understand was the preflop rake and split pot rake. Most line ups I played were beatable, but the rake plus ante bleeds the stack really fast so unless you can adjust your playing style and range, it's going to be tough. They do offer insurance which I don't mind but it does slow the game down, and I don't like that they count out the pot so newbies make less sizing mistakes. There's no running twice nor straddling allowed. 

Most of the staff there were amazing. Good service, polite, funny, helpful, everything Mr this, Uncle that, sir here, madam there. Very well trained. Dealers were 50/50, some super experienced and fast, some still learning and shaky but understandable. Overall they were chatty and friendly though. There were one or two supervisors that I wasn't impressed with though but on the whole staff was top notch. 

All the luxuries we have come to expect from a poker room wasn't there though. No WiFi, no free water, no free food, no power banks or charging ports, no player points, no reward or loyalty system, no jackpot, no bonuses. If Singapore is a FINE country, then Genting is a NO casino. Then there's no shorts, no slippers, no backpacks, no photos, no hoods (can wear hoodie but can't put the hood on), no caps, no sunglasses, no vaping, no smoking. Genting sounds like a bitchy gold digger who just wants your money but says NO to everything else you want! 

Will I return? Yes because it is still a very good game. But sometimes I think about the hassle of going up this hill, to the most expensive "town" in the whole country, surround yourself with crowds of people, only to be raked so much and given so little, I am not so sure anymore. If the field remains this soft then I would, but if not, I rather go somewhere else. 

By now hopefully you should know which party is responsible for the positives and which for the negatives. As much as I want to support my friends who want the best for poker in Malaysia, I hate to support a money hungry monopoly family that doesn't care about ripping people off. I am sure some of the management as just as frustrated as I am and were bullied into accepting ridiculous terms by the casino and I feel bad for them, because they really have done a great job on the aspects within their control.