Saturday, March 27, 2010

Korean poker players

When poker started in the Philippines, people generalized Koreans as loose players with a lot of money to give away. They mostly played in the casinos and they were, in my opinion, instrumental in how popular poker is in the Philippines.

After a while, they started to learn how to play and there were less customers. But today, a Korean fish sat at my 10/20 table at The Metro.

Everyone's play instantly adapted. Players started playing tighter than a nun's... ummm... whispering eye. One didn't need to raise monster hands as they could just limp and the Korean player would more than likely raise to 30x BB. He raised 95% of the time and folded 5%. He never limped, called a raise or checked. And he'd always bet on the flop. I think he actually bet on all streets.

The main problem was that he was very lucky. His pockets would hold and draws would hit. There would be someone in the table who would rebuy after every other hand.

Needless to say, I lost 2 buyins and I called it a day. Last hand, I called his massive 40x BB preflop raise with my AKs which put me all in. I missed the board and his 66 held.

Sent from my iPod

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Skylounge Reunion

I wish the Metro people would create a Skylounge Reunion. It would be great to get to play with people who around five years ago when only a few played poker.

Sent from my iPod

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King

I just finished reading The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King by Michael Craig. I have to say, it's the best book I've read in a while. And I don't normally read books written by people who are still alive.

The book doesn't necessarily make one a better poker player but it made me think about being a professional poker player more than before. Maybe it doesn't sound so crazy after all. Everything he said about the characters were dead on as the way they are here. Poker does transcend race and age and everything else that keeps people apart. It doesn't matter if you're a pro playing in the Bellagio or a rounder playing in The Metro, everything's the same.

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This month I'll be rebuilding my bank roll again. This time I'll do it right. I'll put 20k in the cage at The Metro and leave it there. That's only for poker and I won't take out anything from that except to play poker. I'll build it so I can move up.