Win Win Poker Grand Opening

First of all congratulations and thank you to Win Win Poker and Alex Lee for inviting us to attend the grand opening of Win Win Poker Club in Taipei. In the last couple of years, Taipei has become my 2nd home. I have actually spent more time in Taipei than in my home country during this period. So when I heard there's a new club I was definitely excited and wanted to come and extend my support. 

Plenty of space for chill areas and displays

The opening ceremony was very impressive. A very strong showing of players and VIPs were in attendance. I rushed straight from the airport to the hotel and club just in time to catch most of it. Guests from overseas and all over Taiwan were there, with tons of media presence and support. 

The space is clean, sharp, spacious and well designed. Plenty of space for players to chill, rest, or cool off after a bust out. Staff were very well prepared for the crowd, even trained on what to say, expect and respond to possible scenarios that may occur. The overall vibe of the club was comfortable, professional with a touch of class. 

I was invited to play in the Invitational Event which gave me a chance to experience the place as a player. The field was very impressive to start with. I was told there were many famous people and influencers playing. Me being a dinosaur only recognized Jacky Wu and poker pros. Dealers and floor were well trained and experienced, even the photo/videographers were enthusiastically hard at work. 

I was lucky enough also to experience their really cool Final Table area. I think eventually they will continue to add to it and it would look really cool on live stream. I've typically done well when I was invited to play a tournament. Champion in the Poker Dream first Invitational, 5th when invited by APSA to Taipei, and this time managed to eek out a 2nd place finish. 

The location is great. It is walking distance to Shuanglian Market, one of my favorite Taipei morning markets. The club is also walking distance away to three key subway stations, plenty of food and hotel options around. Most of the buildings around have a classy office vibe going on. 

I hope Win Win will continue to host more poker events and tournaments. I would love to return to play some of them and highly recommend for my friends who want to try it out. Here's the link to their Google Map location and Instagram if you need more information. 

Down US$16K in 2026 so far

As they say, poker is a hard way to make an easy living. Recently Stephen Chidwick expressed that of his $76m in cashes, he probably has a profit of between $5-10m. Many people who have an impressive Hendon Mob score are still losing money. 

Instead of telling you my set over set coolers, aces cracked stories, I am actually quite proud of the work I've put in this year. 21 sessions of cash games across private games and Macau and 10 tournaments. In the first 45 days of the year I've put in 194 hours of playing time, which averages to about 4.3 hours per day. On top of my regular study groups, I have created a private tuition class for willing students. I am like the avid investor, constantly dollar cost averaging into a falling market, hopefully eventually to catch the bounce and have everything pay off. 

On average I am spending 1-2 hours a day on studying, although admittedly it's more on trading than poker, but I am finding myself more knowledgeable in current events, geopolitics, AI, economic catalysts and the psychology of investing (which I find to be somewhat related to reading poker psychology) But being aware also has made me a more pessimistic of the trajectory we are on. Tensions are rising, people and countries are more self serving, staying in power trumps using that power for good (pun intended), movie storylines used to shock us but nowadays real life news events puts John Grisham to shame. Gestapo-like ICE agents running wild, killing innocent people... then there's Epstein and his evil empire, trafficking, rape, murders, alleged cannibalism (notice how I put alleged only to this), so many people of power, influence, fortune involved in this web of evil, and now top people in law enforcement, justice department blatantly covering up... 

Ignorance is bliss

What I am trying to say is, put into perspective, being down $16k doesn't feel so bad when the world is on fire. Instead it has reaffirmed me of my life's mission to be a positive influence to the people around me, to be a better human being first. I have my own demons and burdens to bear, but I find that I get more peace helping others than helping myself. Apart from allocating my time to teaching, building the MPF community, I also actively reach out to my friends that I feel need encouragement, support and kind words. I cannot change the world, but maybe I can change someone's world. 

10% into the new year I already know this year is going to be one of the most eventful of my life. I am continually picking myself up, dusting myself off, so when opportunity meets preparation, God willing I can finally soar. Till the next one, be kind be good be safe. 

Waiting for my sun run

2025 going into 2026

It's become a yearly tradition for me to write about my past year and share my plans for the one coming up. This year I am going to combine the two into one blog post. 

2025 was a slow year for me. January started off with a bang finishing 6th in the Super High Roller and 11th in the High Roller MB but things did not go well from February onwards so I ended up winding down my playing time for the year. I cashed $61k for the year, surprisingly more than I did in 2024, but my cash game results were not great. I did well in my Macau trip but lost 1000bb+ within a week in Singapore. That was the key trigger for me to take time for myself and step away from the tables for a bit. I essentially broke even in tourneys and took a $10k loss in cash games. 

Bayonne, France

As usual I travelled a lot in 2025 but what's different was we did it full nomadic style, without an actual place to call home. Travelled to 20 countries including making it to South America for the first time in my life. Also hitting 39 on my poker countries list.

I spent a lot of time studying in 2025, not just poker, but about health and investments, psychology, self improvement, etc. Ignorance is the worst thing anyone can have, pride is usually the main cause. 

Key achievement for MPF

Another focus I had for the year was continue growing the Malaysia Poker Federation. There were a few highlights such as sending our first National Team to the Asia Nations Cup, securing world class top pros for MPF events, including Stephen Chidwick, Danny Tang and local heroes Victor Chong, Sean Ooi, Peter Sim... We also conducted about 10 live classes in 3 different cities, and lots more online. However it wasn't without it's downs. Spending lots of time on a non-profit thankless job can be draining, not just for me but also for other volunteers and committee members. Thought about quitting many times but going to push for another year and decide by then. 

World #2 in total cashes what more do you want?!?

Just did a full blood test and happy to report all's good physically. This is my 5th year on intermittent fasting and to me it is the greatest health hack ever. I am shocked so many people are still operating under outdated health knowledge and even fewer try to learn about it until it's too late. I used to play in a big private game, so out of respect I would address the others as my elders. Indeed they were my elders in terms of financial and business success, and to be honest, they all looked much older than me, a few I even address them as "uncle". I later found out that they were younger than me! One time someone took out a blood pressure test kit mid game and I think I was the only one with a normal reading. I briefly mentioned about my dark side, but this year I have also improved on my mental and emotional health. 

I plan to get back into the grind slowly for 2026 but amping up mid-2026 till the end of the year. Not going to share my entire roadmap here so no resolutions or specific goals of any kind, but if all goes well, I think it's going to be a very interesting year. Thank you to those who's followed along all this time.