Pokerism

  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,...

Live Reporting I have nothing but profound gratitude for the entire APT Championship 2025 experience on and off the felt. Except for that one time I got food poisoning and thought I was going to die, everything went smoothly. There was one morning, I said I go out for a walk at around 5:30 AM, and I ended up jogging, then running, then before I knew it - 18kms had gone within two hours. Not a straight run. I'd rest and walk a bit, but this was something I hadn't done in years. I didn't even know if I had the legs to do it, but I went on anyway. Running is always a personal thing. It's just you and your mind. One wants to give up and the other pushes on. Add that with a killer playlist and everything is fun. Later that afternoon, since it was my day off, I was able to experience Yongkang St., which was coined as the 4th coolest street in the world. Awesome walk, great vibe. Then I also got to see Da'An Park, which was the "Central Park" of Taipei. Wonderful...

Abby Merk Like I said earlier, I was going to shout out to friends. Thing I love about the APT series is that everyone here - dealers, floor managers, tour directors, media colleagues, big bosses, players - they're all like family.  As a live reporting covering the action on the poker table, I get to witness some of the highs and lows of some of the players at the poker table. Professionally - I'm just supposed to do my job and not react, but then some of them are already personal friends, so when I swing by their seat I wish them a polite good luck. When I see the hands they play well, I also say good job or nice hand. And when they get hurt, sometimes I hear them out during the breaks. I'll be like - I saw that, that was brutal. And the players sometimes need someone - not a fellow player - to talk about it subjectively or just to give support.  Like, for example, APT Jeju 2025 Main Event Champion Abraham Ceesvin was in hand where he hit top pair and had a nut flush draw....

Been a while. Just that I came into Taipei running, literally getting just a few hours of sleep before heading straight to do media work for the APT Championship 2025 happening at the Red Space in Taipei. The series will go from November 14 to 30 and I'll be working daily from November 17 to 30. Nice to see some familiar faces. Will shout out to everyone later and add some nice stories. Meanwhile, say hello to my teammates!

Following "The Dark Ages" during APPT Manila Championship, I decided to do some online training just to see if we can make ITM, find a bright spot in the recent darkness of my poker life. I jumped in on GG Poker and played the Mini Forty Stack for $4.40. I used one bullet, knocked out 17 players and bagged first place, banking $810.70 after a three-way ICM. I was the chip leader then and walked out with the biggest haul. We then played for the title, which eventually fell to my lap. A series of monster cards to KO the remaining two. My last card was Pocket Aces and all I had to do was call, but I had to set up my phone video and I apologize to my opponent if he thought I was slow-rolling. Not at all. I just had to press record. Following that win, I felt confident to join the Soul Poker Club PHP 1 Million Guaranteed. There were five starting flights and I decided to take my chance on the final day. I played well and amassed a stack of 106,400 when the average was still at 42,...