Hanoi WPC Report (lots of photos)

Hanoi has become my favorite poker destination recently. Even though this was my first WPC (World Poker Championship) series, I knew it was going to be a stunning success. A few months ago players were raving about how WPT Hanoi main event hit 777 players. Well, WPC smashed that to reach 1020 players! Congratulations to WPC and the Grand Loyal Poker Club for a successful series. 

Before my previous trip to Hanoi, I slipped, fell and hurt my ribs pretty badly. But I cashed in the main and had a profitable trip overall. This trip didn't start smoothly. I couldn't get a taxi at 5am to the airport, got bullied by the airport ground staff, I almost rage quit my trip right then. Then when I was in Hanoi, I was hit by a bike from behind while walking and once again while on a bike. I also found out my favorite Hanoi cash game was closed for the week, so my go-to trip saver wasn't there for me! Couldn't get my first mystery bounty cash and I thought to myself, not another bad week please.

The second day I decided to focus on the main event. My first significant hand that I remembered was J5dd. Yes it is not usually in my range, but the previous weekend on the Poker Cruise, we all had a lot of fun playing and winning with J5. Long story short, I won a big pot vs 44 on the big blind on a J93dd46d board. I ended the day as the 2nd chip leader of 1A with 24x starting stack and in the money already. The next day with not much else going on, I joined the freezeout event and ran deep into the FT for my second FT of the year. However I committed ICM suicide when I told myself I have to fold any hand except QQ+ and threw away at least 1-2 pay jumps. I hope I learned from this experience.

My favorite Pho in the world, Pho Bien

Day two of the main event had 128 players left from a field of 1020. I have given myself a way to gauge how good I am playing. If I win by making more bluffs and hero calls vs value bets that's a well played session. The other way around means I just ran good or got lucky. Throughout the day I had only 2 value bet hands so I won mostly from bluffs. So I am still happy I outlasted almost 1000 players for my 3rd main event cash of the year. But so frustrating to be so close to real amounts of money. 

Lucas Palace

MK Club

Athena Poker Club

Back to my trusty cash game, this trip I tried playing at 3 other poker clubs. If I have the chance I might write a more detailed review of the rooms. But first session at Athena Poker Club I was already stuck 40m. First 20m was top pair vs naked flush draw, run twice, lost both. Then second 20m I flopped two pairs on a wet board lost to a straight. Then I had my first Japanese speaking game experience at MK Club. It was quite fun although on the small and tighter side. One guy played one hand the entire session and yes it was aces that flopped top set too! But I took the opportunity to learn the numbers in Japanese. Did you know 7 in Japanese is Nana? So my old poker room in Phnom Penh was nana nana nana in Japanese. The third room was in a different part of town called Lucas Palace. Blinds were small but decent action. Won some back to ease the trip. 

chả cá

Home cooked meal

Bún đậu mắm tôm

A big part of my attraction to Hanoi is the food. This trip I tried Bún đậu mắm tôm and chả cá. Both are served with the pungent smelling shrimp paste so it's not as popular with foreigners. But I really enjoyed the Bún đậu. It's something I would never have had myself if my Vietnamese friend didn't bring me. If you are looking for something more suited to western palates I recommend Chops (for burgers and very nice fries) and Pincho for Spanish style Tapas. 

Pincho Tapas bar

Tournaments         + 60.88m

All expenses         - 28m (airfare + hotel + food + shopping + incidentals)
Cash games          - 6.75m

Overall                  + 26m (approx $1.1k)

Well, not a great profit margin by any means, but a free trip with my favorite person in the world, she got some shopping done too, nice hotels, great food (no expense spared), my 2nd FT and 3rd main event cash of the year, experiencing 3 different cash games, making new friends, all while not really having much value bet spots throughout the week other than 1A in the main, after a 6 week long downswing, I will take it. I am hoping to parlay this trip into another profitable one in Hoian during the Poker Dream series. Hope to see some of you guys there too!

Ajisai Japanese Apartment