Pokerism

Some funny table talk. So, my Korean bro got jammed on the river with his stack covered and after tanking, made the fold and was left crippled.  After the hand, he looked at me "I think maybe he had a pocket pair or something."  "Why what did you have?" "I had ace-queen, but I think maybe he had pockets. Maybe pocket eight or nine." I said - "Don't ask me. Why don't you ask him. He's right there!" Which drew laughs from the table. "So he asked. Did you have a pocket?"  Dude answered Yes. "Pocket 8" "No, but it beat your ace-queen." "What did you have." "That's enough information, you have to pay for the next question" dude joked. I added on, "Ask him his favorite color? Ask him what his favorite show in Netflix is?" Someone added, "Ask him on a date." Which had us all at the table just laughing. Gotta love poker wit.

I jumped in at the APPT Manila Chmpionship Super Deep and the very very first hand I sat on was A-3 diamonds on my big blind with four callers ahead. Flopped a flush draw which I check-raised to something significant to reduce it to only 2 callers. Then, I turned the nut flush and led out to find a raiser behind. Yummy! Just called. River, bet half my stack (starting was 50,000) and the pot was already 20+ something. Got paid. Since that point, i played well. Read the table properly. Made some timely big bluffs to scoop some big pots and knocked out a couple of people along the way. The table joke was that Seat 5 is the best seat, which was my seat, because it just seemed I kept hitting everything.  It was a great table. Nice to see my bro Master K - Keijiro Shimojo - join me at the table. Always an honor to be a part of that guys shadow. The I sat on the table with one of my Korean brothers - just a tidal wave of play. I think I got the better of him at the end of the evening when...

So 10/10/10. 10,000 starting stack, 10 minute levels, 10 seconds to act.  I did well. If this was a bounty, I would've earned from 6 KOs. However, it wasn't. Anyway, kicked out a stack with AA vs 88. Kicked out another with AJ vs KQ, defended my big blind and there was just a little to call. Busted out another with a flopped nut flush I had KQ and there was an A on the board and got him to shove with a nudge raise. Busted another with KK vs AK. Busted another with tens vs nines and then took out one with two pair 9-8 versus A-9. And then my I defended my queens on the big blind with a shove from a raiser and a caller only to find the initial raiser call me with A-5 suited. I asked the guy who folded, did you fold an ace? and he said jacks? and I said "oh no." True enough he Greensteined and my 30,000+ stack was damaged to around 20,000. I so wanted to get it back that I jumped in on a lot of hands and saw my stack roller coaster. I jumped in on three-way all-ins again...

  I do enjoy when players tank. TANK = to use a Time bANK. LOL. I hope I didn't invent that shit. Anyway, when players tank, it allows me to exercise what kind of thoughts they may have apart from the obvious poker dilemma they are currently faced with. I mean, 30 seconds or more is a long time and the mind can wander...  So far, these are what I've used:  And yes, there are more. I just try to make the poker entertaining so it doesn't seem too dry. I don't do it every hand, but just enough to break the monotony of the live reports. Maybe add some humor, but definitely to make it entertaining.  Are you not entertained?

As a live-reporter, my first duty is to capture poker in action, getting down hands, watching the chips shift. Hopefully, catch a big pot, a double-up, a bust. But then, while all that is already instinctive to the job description, there are stuff that I enjoy writing about that isn't always about the poker action, but more of the "capturing the moment." For example:  Mehdi Makes The Right Call https://www.theasianpokertour.com/series/apt-jeju-south-korea-2025/events/75be5fc6-00fe-4e41-b056-ba244035af5d/live-reports/qbkpqib3no9ao5xcl3apyhlk Yamashita Flips A Coin To Call https://www.theasianpokertour.com/series/apt-jeju-south-korea-2025/events/0335b732-45b3-410a-9261-a6d06c3f2324/live-reports/tjg24n47bbaxphlnf1mmlylr Tran Puts The Pressure on Wei https://www.theasianpokertour.com/series/apt-jeju-south-korea-2025/events/0335b732-45b3-410a-9261-a6d06c3f2324/live-reports/xyzdjmq8ore622mqeh1vqyvx Wong's 9-3 Doubles Up https://www.theasianpokertour.com/series/apt-jeju-sout...

 

Played the Deepstack Turbo for PHP 5,000 during the COD Soul Poker Fest. Starting stack of 30,000 went up to 42,000 on my very first hand.  I entered the table on my big blind, blinds at 200/300 and had an open for 700 with two other callers before me. I had 9h8h and joined along. Flop came 10h Js 4c rainbow. Checked to the opener who fired 1,500 with one caller plus me. Turn came 3h. I check-called a 2,500 bet and two of us remained. River was a Qh. I fired 5,000 and was called. I turned over my straight and flush, and he mucked in disgust. Still within the first orbit, my set of fours with an ace on the board earned decent, but he couldn't raise. His ace had a two kicker. Max value I suppose as I inched near 50,000. From under the gun, still in the first orbit just before I would reach my big blind again, I woke up with pocket kings made a min raise to 600 and found 4 callers. The flop of 4h 9d 2s was checked to me and I fired for 1,200 and only one remained. A Kd came on the tur...

Okada 25/50 Cash Game I wanted to play the 1PM NLH Freezeout for PHP 5,000 at the COD Soul Poker Fest , but when I got there - there was no one registered and the clock was ticking towards the third level.  I asked, "If I was the only one to register, would I win the trophy immediately?" Of course not. Anyway, the Main Event Flight C was still going, but they were 5 levels in and I'm not one to jump in with 30bbs, considering there was another flight later that I could join. So... I drove over to Okada Manila where there was supposed to be  PHP 150K Guaranteed Deep Stack for only PHP 3,500. Only two of us registered, so it was cancelled. I opted for the the 25/50 cash game. Bought in for 5,000 cashed out around 8,375. Had a beer at the coral lounge to unwind and then headed back to COD for the 6PM Main Event Flight D or the 8PM Turbo Double-Stack . No one was registered for the Double-Stack . Incidentally, when I showed up, the NLH Freezeout was just announced a champ...

 I'm DONE! My work for APT Jeju 2025 as a live reporter/writer/media correspondent is done on Day 9. There's still one more day to go, but while they continue grinding on the felt, I am headed back home. Anyway, I've been writing poker hands, recaps, intros ... a lot of things that go behind sharing information about the APT Jeju 2025 series... 9 DAYS OF IT! This now - at nearly 3AM - with a ride to the airport scheduled at 6AM is my ME time. I've caught up with my articles at Life of Poker and I just wanted to share this moment to be thankful for this opportunity to strengthen friendships, make new ones and also further my professional status in this wonderful world of poker. Thank you, of course, to the guys behind APT - my colleagues, my employers, my team, my friends. It's always a pleasure to work with you. I'm not the most perfect - was reminded of that by Ben and Fred with the sinful booboo I wrote in one of my posts... but hey, life moves on and, in th...

As much as I wanted to update earlier, it's been all work mode here in APT Jeju 2025. That usually means long hours of work that stretch as far as the tournament goes and then some. What does it mean to be a poker live reporter - well, we open the event and announce that "cards are in the air" maybe include some notable names in the field. Then, we go off and look for interesting hands and big pots to write about. And then we do that all the way until there is a champion. In some cases, like in marquee events - there is a hand-for-hand action on the final table, which means every single hand - even a walk for the big blind - is recorded and written. If you want a sampler, click HERE . Anyway, I'm not all on my own. I've been tag-teamed with Laura Fryer, who has done work with Pokernews in covering the 2025 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Her experience makes us a pretty smooth-running team and it helps ease out the work load. Sometimes, it can be very difficul...

  Birthday Bashing I'm not sure if it really was a tummy flu, but I did celebrate my birthday on Wednesday, September 17 (yes, my actual day) and had a gathering with good friends at Corso Como 88 , One Ayala - the boutique store where my art hangs and my limited edition scarves are available.  Thanks again, Millet for hosting!  The celebration was from 6PM until... well, I made it home just before 3AM. There was a lot of food, a lot of drink. Thank goodness, no missing chapters. Anyway, Thursday (September 18) rolled around and I spent most of it in bed, recovering from a mild hangover. Trust me - I've had worse. So, I was mostly just snuggled in bed - pretending to catch up on Netflix, but I was really napping and not paying attention. Tummy was still ok. I think. The laziness in me prevented me from ordering a delicious bowl of Ramen from Mendokoro or a yummy Beef Pho from Hidden Vietnam, so I settled for the instant kind. That was maybe around 6PM. By 10 in the evenin...