Pokerism

 Gemmy Poker and I finally got to have a seat at the same table in the Gods of Poker Influencer Quest. She is obviously the bigger influencer than me, but I guess my work around poker media has allowed me a different kind of influence.  I've known Gemmy since USOP Hai Phong Grand Finale back in December 2024. I was amazed by her card dress, which was literally a dress made of playing cards. Awesome. Got to know her better in APT Taipei 2025, where I featured her a little more during live reporting to help her build her poker influencer thing. Of course, as part of media - I'm usually thrown press releases on how to promote events and the angle they use - and Gemmy is sometimes always doing the promotions. We followed each other on IG and I share the posts where she's featured and she shares it on her socials. Her followers eventually also giving our site some added mileage. We've had a good media relationship that when players accused Filipino pros of "robbing...

Chien Yu Lin Chien Yu Lin of Taiwan is a stand-up comedian by trade, which is something that doesn't come very easy. Performing on stage takes as a comedian takes several years of gaining confidence, coming up with material and experiences, then translating that into making other people laugh. It isn't very easy, but she has done that quite well. On her spare time, she began taking poker. What started out as being just a poker enthusiast has now reached professional outputs. Her records in Hendon Mob boasts over USD 160,000 in total live earnings. And those results came from grinds at the lower and middle stakes as she manages her own modest bankroll. Her run truly began in 2023 where she made cashes during March, May, June, August, November and December, making 11 final tables in the 16 tournaments she cashed. Some were small stake tournaments, winning sometimes less than USD 100 to earning as much as USD 1,600. But what she found more than the money was poker confidence and ...

Tony Ren Lin Hello from Jeju! Its day 8 of the APT Jeju Classic 2026 and things are winding down. As usual, it's always amazing to rekindle friendships and make new ones. I'm always happy for APT because of these opportunities. One of the best things was getting to fanboy over Tony Ren Lin and grab a selfie with him. This was even before he won the APT Super High Roller and follow it up with a win in the APT Superstar Challenge. I wanted a picture with him for the simple reason that he is a person who faced adversity, accepted the consequences with grace and professionalism, then continued to be the person that he is. Last year, Tony Ren Lin was banned from the WSOP and removed from GGPoker as its ambassador following a "cheating-scandal." Lin made an apology, accepted the consequence and moved on. The WSOP suspension would be lifted and he would cash in WSOP Paradise, and while he may have lost his GGPoker ambassador-ship, an opportunity came for him to jump in with ...

Photo by QQPK Being ranked GPI #1 was always something I’d quietly wanted at some point in my career. It was a personal benchmark I held for myself, but interestingly, the idea of going after GPI Player of the Year didn’t really enter my mind until after EPT Barcelona 2025. Up until then, I was focused on playing my best poker and letting results take care of themselves. [Results: At EPT Barcelona 2025, Punsri cashed five times amounting to ~US$ 959,812, reached four final tables, with one runner-up and one victory.]  After Barcelona, the momentum started to shift. Consistent deep runs, combined with a few big wins, placed me firmly inside the top ten. I knew that delivering a standout performance at Triton One and the Triton Super High Roller Series could genuinely propel me to the top. It became real for me after   finishing second in the Triton One Main Event . That result moved me into second place in the overall standings, and just a week later, winning the $50k took me...

  TEAM THREE: Myself & Adrian Tan Well, so when I got to the CTP Club Asia Poker Arena in Taipei, the first person I saw my old friend JC Ann Sotelo, from Manila who won the ladies tournament in the first ever tournament she played. She said they went all-in on the first hand. She had pocket 8s against pocket aces. She hit the 8 and that was the end of that and she won the tournament. Only two entries. And she got a trophy. She was also going to take part in the Influencer Conquest and we still had no idea what was going on. Earlier that day I ran into the Shin Twins from Thailand, who were checking in at the same hotel I was. We came way earlier than the 3PM check-in time, so we got to hang out a bit in the lobby. We also still didn't know what we were playing for, except that we would be playing on the same Influencer Conquest event.  Anyway, once we were all gathered, we found out of course that it was a team event and that we would be drawing our teammate on the spot. ...

  OK. I wouldn't consider myself an influencer - not with the 239 followers I have on my @xcijjpoker Instagram. Not even with the 2,011 followers I have on my personal IG: @jjduqueart. However, I took a stab at the promotions that Gods Of Poker was offering to take part in a team event of influencers in their Titan Assembly series at Taipei. The result: So with short notice, I booked the flight, found Happiness (IYKYK) again and here we are now in the hotel room after a red-eye flight, arriving in Taipei at the crack of dawn and waiting half a day for an afternoon check-in, and now - trying to mentally prepare myself by writing a bit.  To be honest, I am excited because it's a little bit of a big deal for me to get a free seat to a tournament. I don't usually get these kind of opportunities because I'm busy as doing media work and live reporting when I'm usually at poker festivals. So, this feels different. For one, the organizers usually are the ones who set me up ...

Firstly, I'd like to give my thanks to the people of the OLA Poker Tour - Jiang, Rebecca, Eddie, Minyi - I had a great time working with them and, of course, to my trusty teammates from Life of Poker - Enzo, Bronze and Zoe. Our four-person team, which comprised of one photographer, one videographer and two writers, were able to handle the entire live reporting and media coverage for the entire series. That's not an easy feat. Although Zoe came in to help with one marquee event, it was still very valuable. A great effort indeed. I was pretty happy I got the lucky draw of covering the Main Event. When Day 2 played down to the final table of 9 players, play ended at around 7:30 in the evening and I was able to finish the final notes and the recap and be done by 8:30 PM, allowing me some time to get some needed rest and explore Taipei a little bit more. Then, on the final day, the final table lasted from 12PM to 3:30PM and I was able to enjoy the rest of the day with the sun still ...

Just got in December 16 night time in Taipei along with my fellow Life of Poker media teammates Enzo and Bronze Arceo. After we took the midnight train (literally!) from the airport to our hotel, we dumped our luggage and hunted down Beef Noodles - because why not! The one we found open at 1AM was Lin Don Fang Beef Noodles. YUM! Anyway, we are here to do live reporting for the OLA Poker Tour, which runs from December 17 to 22. We're just a three person team - me as the live reporter/writer with Enzo and Bronze sharing the photography and videography roles. Zoe joins us later in the series during the Main Event.  It may not be a big brand series, but I can tell you now that it'll be a challenge to manage all the live reporting just by myself. I don't have to do coverage for all events, but it'll still be around to do recaps for all the other side events apart from the marquee events that will require the proper coverage.   Anyway, fun times ahead. If you guys are interes...

  Like the title said. I came into this playing really well. Even ranked 18th in chip stacks at one point just patiently picking my spots and getting aggressive with the nuts. No stealing for small change. Did really well until the bad beat one hand, where it shows up there in the picture I had Jd-9d to defend my big blind against a min-raise open of 20,000. Flop came Qd-Ts-2d. I led out for 25,000 and dude raised to 70,000. I called, figuring he's on a K-Q, A-Q and that hit he the queen. I had a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. Turn comes 4d. I led out for 100,000 to a nearly 200K pot and he called. River bricked a 7s. I shove all-in for 1,350,000 and he called for his last 680,000. He peeled over Kd-Td for a better flush. I got left with less than 10 bigs, which fell down to about 7 bigs. Finally decided to shove Ad-9d on the button and was called by pocket sixes on the big blind, which held. Out in 539 out of a field of 23,373. That's really not that impressive, b...

Made money on bounties, but fell short of ITM. Hit two pair on the last hand and got hit by a better two pair. Battle of the blind shot. I think his two pair was K-4. Online sick.

Started with a 25,000 starting stack. Reached the end of registration. 131 total runners. Played well. Wish it was a bounty event because I knocked out about 5 to 6 players to build my stack. Had some lucky runs. My queens made a set that got paid and eliminated by someone calling with mid-pair. It helps to show an early bluff to set these things up. Sent him to the rail. My kings cracked aces. It wouldn't have been a big loss. The Finnish dude was short-stacked and my three bet raise from the 2,000 bet to 20,000 covered his remaining 12,500 and he called. Flopped a king, rivered a boat. Sent him packing. Kings Cracking Aces I had aces of my own, which got paid with what I bet it for. The check-raise on the flop with 2 hearts got called by two players.  I pushed more on the turn and found once caller. Shoved on the river and he folded. Still a juicy pot. I hit the nut flush straight with A-Q diamond on the turn and got fully paid with the guy going all-in with K-T diamond. He said,...