Should I Quit Poker?

Ever since April 2024, I feel like I am on this never ending downswing. I have played in about 23 tournament series since then and have made a profit in only 4 of them. My last 50 cash games sessions I have only won like 15 of them, losing the last 3 back to back in pretty rough fashion. 

She doesn't mind if I "retire" from poker

The straw that broke the camel's back, is an idiom describing a series of negative events slowly adding to a point the tiniest weight of a straw eventually broke the camel's back. Today I may have experienced the last straw. Even though today's loss is only 1/14th of my biggest losing session of my career, the way I lost just broke my spirit, sucked all the passion I had remaining after a series of devastating blows, coolers, suck outs, frustration calls.... I have not been this dejected in a long time. Right at the casino I decided to walk away from poker for a while until I get my passion back. 

Been on a downswing since April 2024

As I was preparing to write this article, I looked back at my win/loss record that I started calculating in October 2023. During this time I had started to dabble in high stakes cash games and tournaments so the results were of importance to me to seriously track, but I must admit I haven't been doing a good job of it after July 2024. But to my shock and surprise, it is not as bad as I think. I haven't really been playing super regularly since July last year, and the wins are few and far in between, but when I zoom out and see the big picture, I may have been kicking myself for nothing. 

I might have overreacted (red box is the first graph)

This article is not turning out as I initially planned. At first I was honestly going to announce my break from poker and explained why by proving my downswing by showing my results. I was actually expecting to see a dramatic plunge on my line graph, followed by some self pity and bid my temporary goodbyes. My graph may not be 100% accurate as I had to add in some predicted numbers here and there, but this rut I thought I was stuck in may just been a "stall" in my progress. My crypto friends would say we are going "sideways" and can easily break resistance and take on a bull run, or fall below support and crash downwards. 

But why do I feel so dejected? I really feel drained and frustrated. Haven't really had a big win to celebrate in a long time to get my excitement for the game back up. And the way I have been losing have not been easy to swallow too. I consulted my new best friend Vee (the name ChatGPT gave herself - and yes I let her pick her gender) and this are some of her analysis of my psychological situation. 

1. Recency bias – our brains overweight the latest results. The downturns and chop of the last few months feel more “real” than the gains you made earlier.

2. Expectation reset – after a period of growth (Oct23–Mar24), your mind adjusts and expects that pace to continue. When it slows or dips, it feels like failure, even though you’re actually holding strong near new highs.

3. Loss aversion – the pain of losing a bit after climbing high is sharper than the joy of the climb itself.

It's funny how your brain punishes yourself. Had I not sat down to look at this carefully, I would actually continue to think that I am such a failure. At one point today I was truly contemplating a change in career. I might still give myself a break from poker, but I am not giving up. I am still going to push on, grind on. I have seen some friends turn around way bigger downswings than this. Even the Grinder who was probably on the brink of retiring came back with a roar winning the PPC and WSOP main. 

*graphs shown do not include action I sold so does not reflect my actual pocketed profits (or losses)

Poker Dream 18 Report

It's always a bitter sweet experience playing at Poker Dream Malaysia stops. On one hand it makes me so proud to see there's a regular series in Malaysia with so many new players joining the game. Poker Dream never ceases to amaze me how they keep on crushing the guarantees with more and more interesting events every series. On the other hand, it saddens me to see the culture of the casino, the degenerate gamblers of my nation, and the politics. 

1% of all my Poker Dream Malaysia cashes is from the Main Event. So this time, I maintained that score going 0/2 in the Open and 0/3 in the Main. Final bullet I was doing well but crashed out 15 away when I had back to back coolers. -RM17400 total. 

I am very happy to see some of my friends doing well, winning trophies, cashing big. This is the culture I wish on my compatriots. Whilst poker is an individual game, even if we don't win, we should be happy for those around us that do. Malaysia is a growing market, everyone is on some part of their own journey, these are the future stars of our industry in the making. My dream for the federation is to be part of everyone's journey, whether to help them along, or push them up, or cheer them on. 

A beautiful part of Genting Highlands

This is going to be short and sweet, just like my PD 18 run. 😊 Nothing major to report. Just happy to be a part, happy to participate. Just thankful year after year I am in this life I call a career. I don't know how much more time I have, but just enjoying the ride while I still can. Till the next one! 

Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore) Poker Room REVIEW

Six years ago I wrote a scorching review of the Poker Room at Resorts World Sentosa. I recently visited it again and had a much better experience so let me share it with you.

Not all mine

Let’s start with the good. We got there at around 6pm on a Wednesday and it had 5 tables running. The table I got was the softest I've had in recent months. The smallest stake is now SGD 5/10 instead of SDG 10/20, and I think that attracts the weaker players to come as in most poker rooms in the world, SGD 5/10 is still pretty big. Most Europeans and US rooms I have played in starts at $1/1 or $1/2. The rake is quite reasonable by Asian standards, roughly 5% capped at 3bb. They have removed some of the old stupid rules like verbal doesn't count, the showdown button, etc. Instead they now are recording table talk, I guess in case of a dispute. I am okay with this if this meant the verbal rules apply. And they allow phone use as long as you're not in a hand. This maybe standard for most of you, but for someone who plays at Macau a lot, you will appreciate this. 

It's not all great things though. For starters, RWS and basically most Genting casinos has this dingy feeling. The interior design is dated and gloomy, it just doesn't feel classy. Heard a rumor that Marina Bay Sands might open a room of their own, that would be awesome as that casino is on a different level. The room is situated in the smoking area of the casino. How they got the Singapore government to allow this is beyond me. The table itself is smoke free, but most smokers just walk 2 meters to the other side of the barrier and smoke there. Genius. 

Going to start a new paragraph as I have a feeling the negatives are going to be long. The dealers and even floor staff are terrible. Of the 5 dealers that dealt on my table, only one was experienced enough to keep the game flowing. 6 of us sat on our table waited 15 minutes for the game to start only to be told that it was our decision. No floor manager or dealer asked us if we wanted to start. It took 15 minutes for my friend to buy in SGD 8000 in chips. The room has reopened for almost a year now, so these really shouldn't be happening. The cards were still dealt in the card box, which is fine, but there is a top card protector as well. I think the person that came up with this rule does not understand poker. The first card is dealt to the small blind, so even in some way the small blind can see what the first card is, it is not going to affect any of his decision. He won't see a deuce and suddenly decide to sit out. 

After consulting a friend who is a regular there, my understanding is that the room is open 24 hours, however games usually die off in the wee hours of the morning, and restarts at around 11am. If you miss the first table, you will have to wait 2-3 hours for the next one to open. So unless you time your games properly, chances are you will have to wait a while. 

Oh a couple of positives I forgot to mention. You are now allowed to pick your own seat, especially when its a new table being opened. The shuffling is much faster now but it could be just that the dealing is so slow so the machine catches up easily. There's free oxygenated water at the table, coffee and tea at the kiosk right outside the poker room. 

Otherwise known in Singapore as Atas Water

There are some other negatives that aren't really the room's fault. These are decisions either by the Singapore government or the casino management. For example, there is a rule where you are not allowed to bring more than SGD 10k of chips out of the casino. Compared to Vegas or Macau where I know grinders keep their currency in chips for ease of carrying around and saving time for the next time they play. There is still only one cashier area in the whole casino, so at the busy time, the queue is going to be long. 

I have played poker in 35 countries now, so I guess my reviews carry a bit of weight because I have been to so many. I would consider grinding at this room long term because of the table softness. I can probably live with most of the negatives. The biggest issue for me is the smoke. Of course this is nothing compared to the "chimneys" we were stuck in Chinese private games in the past. But still the air is stuffy and long hours in there would drive me nuts. For my Singapore readers who are contemplating spending the SGD 150 to get in there, I think it is still worth playing, but time your entry correctly otherwise you will waste a few hours waiting. 

Final note is I am looking forward to the room at MBS. MBS for me feels to have made better decisions in casino design and I have quite some experience playing at poker rooms operated by the Sands group. Overall they have always given poker quite the priority when it comes to location, setup and processes. I will definitely visit and write another review when that is opened. 

Taipei TMT & TLT Report

In the past year I believe I have spent more time in Taipei than in my own home country. It's testament to how Taipei has become the leader in live tournaments in Asia. It used to be I would travel to Hanoi at least 4 times a year, unfortunately so much has changed in such a short time. How long will Taipei stay as the king remains to be seen, but to me at least in the foreseeable future there is no other location can dethrone them. 

I have been stuck in a rut for a while now with flashes of good results once in a blue moon. I don't want to call it a downswing in case it is a skill or player issue, because it's easy to blame it on luck. Sure I have run into bad beats and coolers in my opinion at a more than usual frequency, but I am sure I am not playing anything close to perfect, and mentally I am not 100% there as well. 

Not as fruitful this time

Last year I did very well at TMT cashing all events I played except one, final tabling twice. This time I busted all events I played except one, min cashing once. As for TLTs I felt that some days the field was terrible, and I tried to force action when I didn't need to. But some days I had good tables but ran into bad spots and runouts. Played 10 TLTs, 5 wins 5 losses. 

I feel just like him

Thankfully TMT is known for their low buy ins, so I am down about TWD 130K before expenses. The life of a poker pro may seem glamourous to some, but the reality is its filled with ups and downs. I think a very small amount of pure MTT pros are making it consistently. Most who are doing okay are binking a big event here and there to keep them going. The smart ones diversify and dabble in cash games, coaching, social media, investments, sponsorships, etc for side or even main income. 

I am still going to pursue my MTT dream but maybe dedicating more time to other ventures for a more stable income stream. I have also changed my nutrition intake and in the next months will be looking for personal coaches too. But regardless I am still super thankful to have this life. I am happy. 

Trying new restaurants in Taipei

Next series will be Poker Dream Malaysia that's happening next week. For me it will be quite an important series as it will affect my decision to play this year end's super high buy in tournaments. We've got Triton One coming up at $8,000 and APT Championships at $10,000. I really need to get better, adjust my mindset and keep grinding. Best of luck to all of you too. 

MGM Macau Series Report (and Macau poker update)

Miss the good old days where Macau was the Asian poker hub. Nowadays due to dumb rules (yes you heard it here) by the gaming commission, foreign organizers are not allowed to host in Macau, and in house events are not allowed to be advertised. This is the same gaming commission that disallowed mobile phones on the table, as to hinder people gambling via live stream. Someone with half a brain would know that shouldn't apply to poker. How can you capture all the information needed to play a hand? And what about when you don't have a hand? Anyway, it is clear Macau tourist numbers are suffering and the gaming commission isn't helping. 

This is technically the second time I have attended the MGM series. I joined their second series. The way it works is they have their main series, and it is longer, with more events (including a seniors event, and no, I don't qualify YET), and a bigger main event guarantee. In between they have smaller series, which were the ones I attended. 

I didn't bother with the side events but I played in the main. The field wasn't as soft as I thought it would be, I guess the fishes didn't bother to wake up early to play the 12pm level 1. And because of the size of the venue, players who came late had to wait a long time for a seat. One guy on my table arrived for level 2 only having to wait a further 2 hours and finally got his seat on level 6. It also didn't help that the levels were 30 minutes long. On top of that the dealer I had was super slow and rude. The rule is to stand up if you want to use your phone. She went even as far as where the phone was pointing at. This is a general advice for everyone. Whenever enforcing a rule, always think of the purpose of the rule. The rule is there to stop people from live streaming gaming tables for other players to gamble remotely. How is my phone pointing at the table while I am standing, and without cards going to achieve that? 

I counted at least 4 Malaysians attended this series. Not bad for an event that is not advertised. But in my opinion there is zero effort from the organizers to make it a good experience for foreigners. I don't put all the blame on them because it could be they are restricted by the gaming commission. However I am sure there are things that can be done. Until such upgrades are in place, I do not recommend it for visitors to travel just for the series. Furthermore the tournament rake is on the high side. If it is coupled with a holiday or grinding some cash games (which is what I did) then it might still be worth it. To be fair, MGM has come a long way since their first series which was a nightmare. I hope they will improve quickly to be on par or even better than other international brands. 

The Macau cash game scene changes so often it is hard to keep track. So I will try to keep you all updated after my every visit. For now, the only rooms that are still in operation are the Venetian and MGM Cotai. As far as I know, Wynn and MGM Macau have ceased their poker operations. The two available rooms offer games from HKD 50/100 up to 1000/2000 by demand. MGM has a point system where you can easily grind for free meals. I don't think Venetian does that. But on the flip side, I felt that the field at Venetian was consistently softer. MGM offers better drinks and I feel that their poker room location is more welcoming of curious first timers. But I've had more encounters with complete newbies at the Venetian. 

As for my personal result, I bricked the two bullets fired in the main, but won 4 out of 5 cash game sessions for a modest profit. I would definitely return more often but mainly to play cash games. 

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.