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.