Busan SuperCup Report

It's been years since I last visited South Korea. I've always wanted to attend the SuperCup but due to scheduling it always coincided with another series. But this time my schedule is finally clear, and there happens to be direct flights from Hanoi, so I jumped at the opportunity to visit Busan for the first time. 

Busan has a totally different vibe from Seoul. As a coastal city, it has a chill beach town vibe. The event was held at the Haeundae area which was a tourist favorite beach. Plenty of interesting things to do and see, and of course yummy food. 

SuperCup's concept is much like CPG as in promoting the game as a sport, buy in using the purchase of tickets, players needing tags to enter, and with a fixed limit of player numbers. The field was mostly Koreans but sprinkling in some Mainland Chinese and Japanese players. If you've played them before, Koreans are usually LAGs so it made for some very interesting showdowns, sizings, overpot jams, and very little ICM pressure. 

First event I went to register one hour after starting but unfortunately it crossed the limit. Second event I was cruising with an above average stack close to bubble when chip leader jammed pre with TT and I called with QQ and flop came T55. Third event again soft bubble I had T9 on a J87 flop, 8 on the turn and 8 on the river to crying fold my last 5bb. Then came the main where at one point I had 18x starting stack but made a bad mistake to ITM with 10x. However my day 2 run was not good, 3 hours only 1 proper value bet spot, I was handcuffed the whole way. Fired twice in the high rollers, first one missing 16 outs, the other losing a 50/50 flip. 

But overall I had a fun time. Busan is very pleasant to walk around, and I got to try some new Korean dishes and snacks. For a new brand, SuperCup is well organized and had decent structures. The field was soft and fun, although you can sense the piercing stares after some hero calls or hitting some draws. I haven't made any plans yet but if my schedule (and bankroll) allows it, I definitely like to join the next one in Incheon this October. 

My Dark Side

Most people who know me through my blog or IG sees the glamourous side of my life, the travel photos, food pics, ITM photos, cash outs etc. Those who's seen me in person sees that I am always smiling, often making jokes, striking up conversations. But only very few people know the darkness of my life. 

I wanted to share this with you to keep it real. On the outside I am doing reasonably well, but when I am alone, or late at night in the dark, my heart wrenches and for years I had to cry myself to sleep. Nowadays not so much, I really thank God for this indescribable peace that I get when I ask for it, and having a super sweet partner really helps make the darkness bright. I really feel I do not deserve her, and you might have seen me sharing about doing good deeds, helping random strangers on the street, giving to charity etc. It is not because I am a goodie goodie guy. I feel that I don't deserve the goodness in my life so I am trying my best to earn it. Paying it back one good deed at a time. 

I have many regrets in life. I've done things I am not proud of. But as they say, no amount regret can change the past, no amount of worrying can change the future. I can only focus on the things that I can control, which is living each day the best I can, being the best I can, and getting better day by day. As a Christian I also believe that broken things can be mended in heaven, so I will get another chance to right some wrongs at some point. Life on earth is just a short journey of all kinds of experiences, to help us appreciate what's important. 

We all have our own baggage that we carry, but you don't see mine as it doesn't surface in my daily life. Happiness is a choice and I have chosen it. And my cheat code is spiritual peace and joy which is OP in this game we call life. Sure I have my cloudy days that most people don't see. My heart still aches and bleeds when I think of certain things. But I have grown so much stronger in dealing with things and I want to encourage you, just like my poker career. If I can, so can you. 

There's a reason I have my demons. Maybe I deserve them, maybe they are there to teach me something, maybe it's there so I can help others who have demons of their own. To be honest, my dream is to live a peaceful life in the countryside, growing my own food, maybe create a shelter for stray animals and fade into the sunset. But for now, I hope to use my journey to encourage and inspire others to find joy and peace in life, and to spread that to more and more people. 

APC/APJC/TLT in Taipei Report

Some of you might know that currently I don't have a permanent place I call home. The closest would be my mum's house which I return to from time to time. With my travel and unsure future, I didn't want to be tied down to a rental contract or mortgage. So when my friend told me there's a good chance APC Main Event would be overlaid, I jumped at the opportunity. 

You would think we'd be sick of Taipei by now but actually it's quite the opposite. We are finding new things to explore every time we visit and would strongly consider it as a more permanent option had they had bigger TLTs running consistently. For those who don't know TLTs are Time Limit Tournaments that last between 2-5 hours with a fixed fee for each buy in/add on. 

I realized I have been to this night market 20 years ago!

Anyway I did not do well at APC, firing 3 bullets in the main. The field was so soft being that WSOP Vegas just started, APC is not a well known brand, so the field was probably 80% recs, 19% non intimidating regs. But somehow I just couldn't win. About 2 years ago I told myself I should not feel entitled to win because of skill differentials, and I have put effort in fixing my mindset. But this trip I realized that I am tilting because of the hands that go to showdown. How villain could cold call 4b with AJo and get there on the river vs my JJ. 

Poker is a non-discriminatory game. It doesn't care how long you've played, or how good you are. It doesn't care how much you love it or the effort you've put into understanding it. Or how elegant your line was vs the brute force triple barrel and got there with a runner runner. I describe it as putting effort to pursue the girl of your dreams but she walks away with the rude gangster with bad breath. As I was thinking about all this, suddenly I could feel something change in my mind. Yes poker is unjust at times, but all I can do is focus on playing the best I can. How others play is not in my control and good on them if they can spew because they must be doing well in other aspects of life. Suddenly I feel a lot more positive and happier regardless of result. 

On the last day of my trip I received an email saying my onward flight was delayed by 3 hours. Instead of whining about it, I extended my stay in Taipei and confirmed my attendance at another series in Busan South Korea. That meant I could also play in the AJPC main event and could grind out some TLTs in the next few days. 

APJC didn't go well either but I quickly pivot to focusing on TLTs which I did quite well. But I'm more interested in sharing an incident that happened on the table. I limp back raise with TT (not recommended but this was one of my game adjustments to the lineup) and got called by initial raiser and another player. Flop came JT2hhx I cbet he called. Turn until today I am 100% sure it was another 2 hence I checked. I would mix in some cbets and checks but his range was so capped I felt I could let him peel for free. River came another J so I bet a blocking size and he snap call showing AJ. But to my surprise, the pot was pushed my way, and even villain acknowledge that he lost by mucking his hand. I wanted to say something but I didn't. The other caller next to me made an "ehhh??" sound voicing his confusion about the winner of the hand, but he left it there so no one said anything else. 

But this hand and the outcome was eating at me the rest of the session. I felt bad that I took a pot that wasn't mine so after a while I told the guy, "hey I think you won that hand, so at the end of the session I will pay you back 50k." He on the other hand insisted that he lost the hand, that he had trips only. To my surprise, the guy sitting next to him said the same thing! I looked at the other caller and he thought the turn did pair the board. The other two were adamant that I won the pot but the loser appreciated the gesture. For some context, the other caller and I were in seats 4 and 5 respectively. The loser and his friend were in seats 8 and 9. Could my eyesight be so bad? Regardless I felt my guilt lifted and proud that I did something about it. 

The next day I saw the guy in seat 9 so I asked him again, did you really see the board unpaired or were you just helping me win the pot against the fish that misread his hand? He insisted that it was my pot, and even said no wonder I bet so small on the river cause I must have thought I would lose to all Jx. 

Anyway this was not the only interesting event that happened. That night when I was going for dinner with my wife, she mentioned that she saw a foreigner at the nearby police station. After dinner we bumped into him again at our hotel lobby but thought nothing of it. The next day as we were checking out, we bumped into him again. We struck up a conversation and he was complaining how Western Europeans look down on people, bad people like that deserve to die, terrorists need to feel terror blah blah. I found out he was Latvian and we loved our visit to Riga so I tried to calm him down by talking about his homeland. It worked for a bit and he saw the cross on my necklace and we started to talk about God. In fear of triggering him even further, I politely slotted in positive stuff into our conversation like do the right things, God is watching, and the likes. He said he doesn't have many friends so I gave him a hug and he also took a selfie with my wife, then abruptly left on his own. Somehow it was fated that I would extend my trip, book this hotel, my wife seeing him the day before and telling me about it, with us having been to Latvia... that I had the chance to talk to him. I hope he is ok and often remember him in my prayers, along with the many prayers I pray for my friends. 

As I am writing this, we are preparing to head to South Korea not knowing how that series will turn out for me. What's different now is I used to think that God would vindicate me with success to show that I made the right choices in life. But now I think it's God that is vindicated in His choice to choose me, by me making the right choices in life. 

APT Taipei 2025 Report

Just 4 days after the conclusion of Poker Dream 17, we were off to Taipei for another 10 days of MTTs. This time, it was held at the Red Space, a spanking new location that could accommodate 130 tables! Before going I also knew a lot of my friends would be there, some I haven't seen in years. So needless to say I was excited.

Well said brother

2 hours after landing I went and played my first event. AA<KK, QQ<99, JJ<A4 and AQ<99 later I was 3 bullets in an 0 to show for. But I was happy with how I played, especially how I recovered from bad beats almost instantaneously and focused on the next hand/bullet. This was something I learned in MPF's latest class with Vincent Li. 

The second day I was doing much better, running deep in the Superstack. Down to 10 people, me and my friend were the shortest. He was UTG on another table. I was UTG1 on mine. He successfully doubled whereas I didn't so I busted 10th. Happy with the result, but a couple more pay jumps would have been significant. 

I played probably my best day of MTT poker on day 1B, and secured a decent stack for day 2. However throughout the trip I made a few blunders and bad mistakes. Even though it sounds cliche, as long as I am bettering myself and my game along the way, I am not too focused at results at the moment. My best student puts a lot of effort in his post game reviews, highlighting hands that we go through with a fine tooth comb. I should also set a good example in reviewing myself if I want to stay relevant in this industry. 

At least I got some exercise in

Day 2 of the main I was on a star studded table with USD 40m in cashes among the 9 players. Boy did I have a rough day. I VPIP'd 12 hands, all proper ranges, won only one. Went from table chip leader to out. But I did learn things from my table mates so I guess it wasn't for nothing. Next day I played the satellite for a USD 10k ticket, was 6bb away from securing a ticket and made a blunder, ended up soft bubbling. Getting that ticket would have meant a profitable trip but it was not to be. 

Final shot was at the Baby Superstar which I played okay but 10 away from the money I took a spot with 77 vs AQ that I covered for a chip leading pot but it didn't work out. Busted soon after with an L for the trip. Lots of takeaways though, especially something Soyza said about our work ethics. He was right. It pushed me to work harder to overcome my weaknesses rather than choosing to avoid it. 

There is a culture of superiority, education averse, high ego stubbornness in most Malaysian poker players. Quite similar to another nearby poker country where the level of poker has not improved in the last 10 years. I see some players making the most basic of mistakes and invite them to join free classes and courses on MPF, but they would decline. Our posts on Facebook of pictures of people, food, trophies get 700+ views. Our posts for classes, discussion groups get 70-100. Or maybe they feel that there's nothing they can learn from someone they feel is inferior to them. I can tell you some of the biggest poker lessons I've learned are from my students. 

Anyway, it doesn't benefit me if they join our classes. Actually it benefits me if they don't. All I can say is that we live in a messed up culture right now where most people want to succeed by putting in the least effort. They want to do their job, but doing it well is not part of it. Unlikely this culture will ever change, but I am trying my best to make an impact. The fact is, only those who are passionate enough would read this, so I guess I am just preaching to the choir LOL 

Poker Dream 17, Genting Malaysia Report

During my downswing I decided to take a break and booked a month long trip. I later found out it clashed with the early part of Poker Dream 17. As jet lagged as I was, I still didn't want to miss any of the action. Headed straight to Genting after 20 hours of flights and transits, checked in and jumped into my first event of the series. It was super turbo-y but played well, took a spot with KJ but ran into AQ. 

Decent view from my room

I have about RM 700k in cashes from Poker Dream Malaysia events. RM 6500 of that is from cashing once in the Main Event. Hmm... I should have spotted this pattern sooner before I burned another 4 bullets trying this series. I try not to share bad beat stories, but this is a funny one so bear with me. A friend of mine came by and asked if I wanted to take a photo with his patch, OnlyAces. I obliged so I put in on but the cameraman said let's wait for the next hand cause he wanted a photo of a hand in progress. UTG 1 opens, 3 others called, and I look down at only ACES. Such a nice squeeze spot I jammed, UTG 1 sigh calls with 22, others folded. I flipped over my hand and told everyone why I thought it was funny, getting aces when OnlyAces boss asked me to put his patch on. But as soon as I said that I felt bad and I knew I was going to get punished. Flop 234, turn 5, river 3. 

OnlyAces... Grrrrrr

4 bullets later, I felt good about my play (except a couple of blunders) but main thing was I couldn't string hands together to get any momentum. Usually I don't eat during a tournament and by the time I busted my last bullet it was late so I decided to skip food for the rest of the day. Next day I played the Mystery Bounty HR, again from level 1, something I am trying this series. I have been praying for, or more like complaining about the lack of momentum but boy did I have loads of it today. But more so, the effect of fasting gave me better focus and brain processing power. By the end of the day, I had 6.5x the starting stack. Of course after 50 hours without food, I had to reward myself.

Day 2 started but due to bad food, I had stomach issues, and also did not sleep well. I felt lethargic and drained. Then I get Subseadiver1 on my table, and he definitely put my courage to the test. Called his starting stack open rip with A8s vs Q5o. Of course, Q5 is good! Thank God I had enough to afford it. After his double up, he rips 2x starting stack now and I look down at JTs, which is callable vs his range, but I folded it. Someone else called and he turns over T9s. I would have won but never mind. Next hand I get A9s and he does it again this time with 1.2x starting. This time we hold vs J9 and we get back our chips and some interest. Great guy Nick, lots of love buddy!

Grinded my way into the money, and came this key hand after a series of hands. Aggressive Indonesian player makes it 5bb on the button, sb rips for 28bb, he calls off with 65s vs TT. The next hand obviously tilted he 3b jams and gets everyone to fold. Following right after I look down at 55 on the button. I was okay with jamming but hesitated and went with a 2bb open. Him on the big blind decides to put me all in for my remaining 19bb. At this juncture, our table had pretty even stacks. No one looked like busting anytime soon and payjumps were pretty small. So I said out loud, "play to win, let's go". He flips over K9o, and we hold for a very key pot. Ended up finishing 5th with a small bounty, turning my series around, and a boost of confidence. Could have done better in a couple of hands, especially had I slept better and ate better (or not eaten at all). 

Off to the next series in 4 days, look forward to a full series grind and catching up with friends! 

POKER GUIDE TO : Poker in Estoril, Portugal

I have always enjoyed playing at new locations. The opportunity to keep my reputation obscure, even role play as a tourist whale, sometimes pretending not to speak certain languages so I could eavesdrop, and testing my profiling and reading skills for me is part of the enjoyment playing at different rooms, casinos, cities and countries. 7 years ago when I first visited Portugal I thought I would get the chance to play while visiting Lisbon. To my dismay, I found the casino but they did not offer poker games. I later found out the best game in town was about 1 hour away from Lisbon in a town called Estoril. So I was determined at some point in my life to try the games there. 

Estoril is a beach town, full of nice houses for the rich and famous, beautiful villas overlooking the ocean, and of course rich holiday goers. Dr. Stanley Ho seeing this opportunity to target tourists and the elite Portuguese crowd built a casino together with a park right by the Estoril train stop and named it Casino Estoril. To my surprise and I assume due to local law, the casino doesn't open till 3pm. So we took the opportunity to explore this little town, especially along the coastline. It has a cute little town but the most impressive were the rock cliffs (Boca de Inferno) and stone villas. 

I happen to be there on a Friday night so maybe games were better than usual. By 9pm there were already 5 tables going and the supervisor told me on Fridays, game run till 6am. Games start from €1/3 and goes up to 5/10 usually. Rake was a reasonable 5% capped at 5bb for the lower games, and goes down to 1-2bb for high stakes. I ordered a bottle of water which was free, but I tipped. No preflop or chopped pot rake but I did notice that if you do not specify you want to sit out, they still post the blinds for you in your absence. 

My table happened to be quite soft. I noticed only one good player, but quite a few loose passive juicy fishes. From my observation, the tables all looked soft to me and I made a remark that it was the softest game I've played in Europe. Given that Portugal has one of the lowest cost of living in Western Europe, although Estoril is slightly on the high side, I think it is quite possible to grind a good living playing here. One down side is they have a lower minimum buy than I liked but most people do buy in 100bbs+. 

To get to the casino, you can take a train from Lisbon city from Cais do Sodré station. It takes about 40 minutes costing just €2.95 one way. Get off at the stop called Estoril and it's across the street. Can't miss it. The main town is about a 30 minute walk away but on a good day, it is quite enjoyable strolling along the coastline to get there. If you have the time, you can also make a trip to nearby town called Sintra where you can find an impressive castle and palace on top of the hill. 

Portugal is number 35 on my list of countries I've played poker in. I don't know where the next one will be but on my bucket list there's South America, Japan, UK countries (apart from England)... but wherever it may be, I hope my passion and bankroll will continue to grow until that time. 

POKER GUIDE TO : Poker in Paris, France

I had no luck finding any games in Lille, and when I was in Bordeaux, I happen to visit the casino on the only day of the week where the poker room does not run (Saturday). It might have been a misunderstanding or miscommunication because I feel it doesn't make sense, but I didn't stick around to find out. However I did find a couple of cool places to play poker in Paris.

Mr. Gorilla really wanted to climb up the Eiffel

Instead of full fledged casinos, they are licensed but has a underground feel to it. You enter an obscure entrance area, although the muscular bouncer kinds of gives it away a little. There's no fancy signs or posters, but you feel like you're entering a casino where 007 goes to stakeout his villain. 

The one I frequented the most was Club Pierre Charron, located not too far from the Arc de Triumphe, off the famous avenue Champs-Elysée, in a really posh area of town. There are table games of course but they have quite a few tables of Holdem and Omaha. Games start from €1/2 and I think I saw them running €10/20 PLO as well. Of course as usual you bring your passport, get registered, use your member card to scan and queue, and the card is required during buy in and cash out as well. 

Quite a few positives about this place. The decor is cool, staff were pretty friendly, of course they seem to treat the French speaking players better, plenty of game choices, players were reasonably friendly too. They serve free water but I assume everything else you'll have to pay for. Dealers are decent and cards are machine shuffled, but the coolest part is they have a box where I assume is RFID scans the total pot and it is shown real time. So no need to calculate the pot for sizing, and the rake is always accurate. It also displays further information like the biggest pot size, average pot size so you can gauge how the action is as soon as you sit down. 

However, the rake is exorbitant. According to my friend, it is 4% uncapped. I watched the screen a few times but I still couldn't work out how the calculation works. There's preflop rake and chop pot rake as well. The tables I were playing in, action was a bit slow, not many big pots or splashy players. On the up side I don't think many pros play there. My friend did make a good profit playing there for a few days though. 

On the next street is the Paris Elysées Club. I went there a couple of times, just as cool, maybe even a slightly better interior. However both times no poker games were running. On my second visit I saw 3 or 4 people waiting for the game to start and I put my name down on the queue, but didn't hang around for it. I think at the moment they are losing to their competition next door. Maybe this can spark a rake war and become a win-win for the players. 

Paris Elysées Club

There's something about playing poker in Paris, ending the game late night, walking out to see the Arc in the distance. Paris at night is beautiful. Pro tip, I took at bus to the location at night cause right in front of my hotel is a bus that stops 30 meters from the club. Not on purpose but I never have small change with me, so every time I would try to pay the bus driver using a 10, 20, or 50 note they will just wave me away and gave me a free ride. I hope I don't get any Paris bus drivers in trouble but I get it. They have a route to drive and they really can't be bothered to give €47.50 change using a pretty archaic system. Most European city buses now accept credit cards. 

You can see the Arc if you zoom in

Overall it was a nice experience to play there and also to pick up my 34th country I've played poker in. I wouldn't grind there but if you happen to be in Paris and are itching for a game, it's not bad to play a short session for fun. 

Players Series Taipei 2025 Report

People often ask me which city is my favorite poker destination. With Vietnam in limbo at the moment, I have to say Taipei is one of the more balanced cities I like. For me the poker scene is important, but Taipei is also safe, affordable, with friendly locals and good food. I have some memorable trips especially earlier in my career. 

I love nature

Started the series well, ITM the first event. Then build a healthy stack into the SHR day 2 when things start to unravel. I have a saying: 

"If you're supposed to be in, and he's supposed to be in, it's a COOLER, if you're not supposed to be in, and he's supposed to be in, it's a BAD PLAY, if you're supposed to be in, and he's not supposed to be in, it's a BAD BEAT"

A good example is my friend Peter Sim at the recent Triton $50k event had 53o jammed into his KK, or Darren Teoh 5 bet all in his QQ for 50 bigs and got called by 95s. I had 3 of these this series. Sb limped 2bb and called my 4b rejam with for his remaining 22bbs pre with 43s. I open jam AJs 15.5bb UTG, mp ships 22bb with K9cc with 5 players yet to act. J8o called my 4b jam for 21bb. Funnily I did not have any other spots like this where I won. It would be okay to say get 8 of these and lost 3 but alas no, 0 for 3 was my score. (hopefully I will win the next 5) 

I wonder what was going through his mind

Anyway I don't want to cry about bad beats on my blog. Just want to illustrate how I proceeded to brick the rest of the series. Do you know that burning sensation you have in your heart after a beat? This series I seem to have grown immune to those. The final hand of my series, vs the J8o, I just walked away like mum saying dinner's ready.🤣

This trip we explored quite a few new food places and found some gems. I've never been a big fan of Beef noodles so I was surprised that I enjoyed my experience at 永康牛肉面. The yakiniku place near our hotel was pretty good too. However we had quite a serious bout of food poisoning from our regular hot pot place with headaches and fevers lasting for 3-4 days. I was also down with other ailments that have both thankfully receded. 

I guess it's not yet my time. Stay humble, stay focused, stay calm, stay patient. In previous years I often complain about how poorly I ran, but granted looking back I didn't play well either. But variance did even out albeit only for a short time but thankfully I was playing my highest stakes in cash games. Going to stay the course, keep the faith, continually work on my game. Hopefully when it's my time, I am able to capitalize on it!

I want to win when I truly deserve to!

APT Manila Classic 2025 Report

Not going to share too much about the trip itself, but rather what I have learned or reminded myself of in this series. In recent years, I have focused on improving myself, bettering myself, having this mentality of if I am not learning, I am falling behind. Poker is an ever evolving game so especially in our industry, complacency is such a dangerous thing. However to aim for a tough goal like becoming the best, or consistently crushing the game is such a tall order, so for me to cope with it, I break my goal to simply becoming better than who I was yesterday. 

Improved my photo taking skills too

As I sat across the table from a recreational player, I couldn't help but notice some physical tells creeping into his game, especially after losing a few pots. I could see on his face the frustration and him starting to take things personally against the guy that beat him. That was when I am reminded again that the biggest downfall of poker players is ego. Whether it's the sense of entitlement, or thinking that you're good enough, that you've done your best and just got unlucky, self justification of bad moves, all these stem from ego. Sure we all love to win, we crave adoration and respect, we all want to be the hero that punishes the villain.... but the first step is really getting over yourself. One of the problems is we over value "wins" in a game where "survival" is the whole point. I am first to admit, I love to celebrate my big scores, deep runs, usually over a nice meal with my loved one. But I am teaching myself not to celebrate the "success" but rather celebrate the hard work that got me there. If you're being honest to yourself, and couldn't find much hardship to achieve it, then maybe it isn't worth celebrating. 

I've been to the Philippines probably almost 30 times now and the huge disparity in wealth in the country is clear as day every time I visit. The tournament venue was a 4 minute walk from my hotel, and every walk I would pass by beggars and homeless families sleeping on the street, under or in the overhead pedestrian crossing. Some kind locals would give them small change and we gave a young boy an ice cream treat. From my experience I've learned that sometimes giving them money makes things worse. Recently I have spoken to a couple of poker players where we discussed our six-figure even seven-figure losses. Poker success in some way has distorted our perception of money. Sure a loss like that is huge, but I need to remind myself not long ago I was taking home a four-figure salary. It's such a slap in the face when we are crying about a ridiculous number when a $1 ice cream made a kid so happy. We are complaining about our poor Wi-Fi in our room when someone out there doesn't even have a bed. I watched a documentary about scam compounds in Myanmar where thousands of people are also in similar size rooms having "Wi-Fi issues" but in a totally different context. Satisfaction, achievement, success, wealth, happiness are all a matter of perspective. There is nothing wrong with wanting more, wanting better, but appreciating how far you've come, how good you have it should be the driver rather than how far away we are, or the good we don't yet have. 

First 4 events I bricked all of them, but I was surprisingly upbeat in spite of the results. I feel much more comfortable in many spots because of the time I put into studying them. Managed a decent deep run in the main but nothing else to show for and to take a small L of Php 22k (less than $400) Love the innovations APT keeps coming up with for the industry, and had one of the best food trips I've had in Manila in a long time. 

Poker and Spirituality

I just watched the NFL legend Aaron Rodger’s career story “Enigma” and in it he was quite open with his spiritual views. I too was raised in a structured, traditional church upbringing. But my poker journey also intertwines with my spiritual journey. I am not your typical Christian. Most Asians let alone Christians probably would not consider poker a legitimate career. But in the last few years I’ve grown closer to God than I ever was, and I feel that it has helped me and my life in so many ways.

First thing is acknowledgment. I love nature, and if you look closely, it is impossible to believe that nature occurred without design. Bees, we used to run when we see one. Apparently the whole world would crumble if we lost them. Wolves, that were hunted and eliminated in North America. The whole ecosystem and even economy was affected, it got so bad they actually reintroduced wolves back into the wild in 1995 on purpose. Koala bears, puppies, cute little animals like that, what other purpose do they serve other than to delight us, add fun and color to human lives? You’ve got to acknowledge there’s someone above humans that have designed and planned this. A higher power EXISTS. (“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalms 19:1)

Reach out. There are so many “brands” of god and religion, the worst one that tilts me when people bring it up is the poker god. But which one is the real one? How do you know for sure? My trick is, just talk to God. It goes something like this “hi, are you God? I don’t know you, but I would like to get to know you more. If you’re God I’m sure you can hear this, and you can make it happen. Thanks” (“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7) Don’t worry if God is real, He will have plenty of ways to respond, for example through someone like me, a feeling, a thought, an emotion, an event, a song, etc. If there is no God, then you just spoke to yourself for 10 seconds.

Now that you know God, it’s time to form a relationship. Just as a parent delights in their child talking to them, spending time with them, appreciating them… God delights in us doing the same with Him. You may ask, if God is all knowing, why do we still need to tell Him things? Imagine your kids or nieces and nephews, they come to you and tell you something, it’s a story you’ve heard a thousand times. But you watch their cute little faces telling you as if for the first time. God knows what I am going through. He knows villain hit his runner runner, but He wants me to share it with Him, to involve Him in everything I do. Even if He doesn’t intervene doesn’t mean He doesn’t care. (“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Mark 10:15) and in return, I let Him speak to me through the Bible, nature, and good people around me. 

Do what God likes or what God wants you to do. Especially in Chinese culture, we see god as a shortcut to getting what we want. Burn some incense, buy some roast pork, or fruits in exchange for what you want. In the Old Testament God also required burning sacrifices, namely a lamb, because it symbolizes purity, innocence but is also often a prized possession so it reflects sincerity. But the sacrifice is not in exchange for success but rather an atonement for sin. Because success can only come when you are without sin. (“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭1‬-‭2‬) Imagine going to your boss everyday asking for a raise, promotion, upgraded equipment, more holidays… instead of doing things to genuinely help the company, make your boss look good, being a good example, helping your colleagues, being kind. If you’ve done the latter, a fair and good boss will reward you whether you ask for it or not. 

Doesn’t mean you can’t tell God what you want. In fact He asks us to. (“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬-‭7‬) I am 97% a super happy person. I have so many things to be thankful for, an angel of a partner, a decent career, a colorful life. But yet I still have my struggles, days where I would cry in the shower, wake up middle of the night crying, or “crying” on the table when the eventual SHR champ jams K9 vs my 99, flop clean and turn 9 I still lost. Winning isn’t sweet if you never lose, success is not satisfying if you never fail. But what makes it different for me, is the peace I get that is truly out of this world; the hope I have even when things look bleak; and the love I can share because of the abundance that I have received. 

I used to think “hey God, I’m your spokesperson now, don’t make me look bad, You scratch my back I scratch Yours…” The truth is, it doesn’t work that way. Most good Christians do not have earthly success. The thing is, the poker industry does not have the best of reputations, let alone exemplary life choices and pureness of heart. With company closure, HK riots and COVID I was pushed into the poker industry. Didn't really give me much of a choice. But I wanted to be different, in Chinese saying "grow out of dirty mud but unsullied". Somehow I grinded out a decent career but now, I want to influence others to be good too. To influence someone you need a certain degree of success. My success is not necessarily in dollars and cents or trophies, but the richness in friendship, loyalty and respect. (but results help too) Whether God grants me that or not, I leave it to Him. But if I am successful in helping another person, give them joy or hope, offer them solid advice, inspire them to give, make them a better person.... then these are my trophies. Of course my argument with God is that poker trophies would make me even more effective 🤣

If you are going through something and need a listening ear, a helping hand, sound advice, or anything at all, you can reach me at happyriverpoker@gmail.com God bless

 

Poker Dream 15, Genting Malaysia Report

Coming into 2025, my last few trips of 2024 had pretty bad results.

TMT +RM50k

PD 13 -RM80k

APPT Manila -RM10k

Macau -RM33k

Players Series Taipei -RM12k

So naturally this series my confidence wasn't sky high. But after PD 13 I vowed to work on my game and myself and I did. I could feel I was handling spots better and smoother range construction, but still results weren't going my way. But as a poker player, one of the lessons is to see results as secondary. You learn to accept defeat as long as you did your best. 

"For a good player, losing is a blessing; for a bad player, winning is a curse" ~ by me

3 ITM from 4 events

Having a proper bankroll allowed me to take those losses on this chin. So although not flying high, I was still confident in myself to pull through at some point. The 80k loss just 2 months ago still haunted me, but I was determined to not let it affect how I played. 

Went up unplanned for the opening event, honestly I ran really well and bagged comfortably. On the second day one key hand villain suddenly decides to spaz with bottom pair and won. Still okay with how I played and happy to break the duck of the year.

The second event was a little bit stressful for me, which was the Super High Roller. I have backers riding on this, and they are supporting me when I am on a bad streak. I really wanted to do well for them. First few hands I made a big fold where I might have called off had I had 100% of myself. QQ vs AK all in pre with a friend had me crippled to 7bb where average was about 100bb. I stayed positive, patient, disciplined, took a photo of my stack saying out loud to everyone on the table, announcing "epic comeback on the way". I also said I needed four full double ups. 

Epic comeback OTW

This year one of the resolutions I had was to be a positive influence, mainly through my faith. At 7bb I lost my stress I had when I had 100+bb. If I succeed, it is not because of my skill or abilities. It is out of my control now, let go, let God. 

First double I jam 7bb with A6, bb very good player from China snap off with J high.
Second double I flopped a set, same villain bet one bb on turn, resisted the urge to raise, river call jam
Third double QJs vs TT all in pre, river Q
Fourth double hero call 3x pot river jam with 2nd pair

From 35k spun up to 920k on day 1, eventually went on to spin up to 8.9m. On the final table I lost a big pot and was very close to the shortest stack. However he jammed A4 utg got called by 66. Window card A, then a 6. Jeremy then defended his big blind with 67. Flop Q67hhx he got it in vs chip leader KJhh and turn Ah. Then I was utg with maybe 6bb left, CO open, as if to put ICM pressure on the big blind, who subsequently decided to jam A7 vs ICM steal. CO wakes up with KK, calls, flop K. Pretty happy to ladder up to 6th.

Skipping forward, 4 bullets in the main, first bullet had a good stack and a good shot, lost almost all in two hands. Then lastly the Mystery Bounty High Roller. Lost the first bullet, decided to late reg the second day, spun up from 10bb to finishing 11th with 4 bounties, I am pretty okay with that. 

Long story short, PD 15, +RM 143k

I have a full schedule planned at least till May. Good start but hope it would go on. Constantly trying to better myself. Watching my tongue, table mannerisms, keeping good relationships in the industry, choose kindness first before anything, and glory not to me, but the big guy upstairs. 

2025 Goals and Resolutions

To keep myself focused and accountable, every year I set out to achieve some goals. This year is no different. If you've been in poker for as long as I have, it is no longer a game, it's a lifestyle. 

1. Play more

In 2024, I played in 11 tournament series but some of them I only played 2-3 events. I think it might be hard to keep up the 11 series but I hope I can play a few selected series but grind through the whole thing. I also played about 70 sessions of cash games in 2024. That is considered pretty low. I want to raise that number but with where I am now and where I plan to be, playing more than once a week might be tough. Considering doing some cash game runs like 2 weeks in Singapore, 2 weeks in Macau here and there.

2. Track everything

The last time I used a poker tracker properly was in 2020 when I clocked 2000+ hours of live cash game grind. This year I am inspired to track and I will share with you my results (good or bad) here at the end of the year.

3. Consistent studying

I have been doing well keeping to a steady study schedule, however I want to make sure I follow through for the whole year. Discipline is an issue for me so keeping myself on track would be the goal for 2025. I also hope it leads to results which brings me to:

4. Win 2 trophies and ITM for $150k+

I want to set a realistic target so I am keeping to my targets I had for 2023 and 2024 where I achieved $80k and $60k respectively. I honestly feel that in 2024 I had been running above EV in high stakes cash and below EV in tourneys. Thankfully that meant a positive result overall. I doubt I will get many high stakes opportunities this year so my tourney results will be crucial to my success or failure this year. Then again I feel I am stronger as a player compared to before so I hope I am rewarded.

5. Bringing MPF to the next level

I started this as a pet project and it has taken off mainly because of the response of the members. Now, I have a bigger ambition than I ever thought possible. But in order to do that, I have to get personal results in order for me to be comfortable devoting my time and effort to do this. I can't be pushing MPF and bleeding money on the tables at the same time. I also realize that I am making myself a high profile target in case politicians or the police needs a scapegoat. I just hope that I have enough friends that will come to my rescue if that does happen. 

6. Be a positive influence

I am trying to be very obvious about my faith, yet there are people still talking to me about poker gods, going to temples, working girls, etc. I believe if you do something with dedication, pure intentions, humility, you can have a positive impact on people around you. You can be an amazing poker player and an asshole at the same time. But you can be kind, helpful, God fearing and still crush souls on the tables. I hope I have the time but my intention is also to create some charitable events, community service through the monster machine that MPF now is. I want to inspire positive action and healthy careers in this industry. 

Bring it on 2025, let's see if I can survive another year.