Two weeks at Ha Long Bay for the USOP Vietnam Ha Long Bay 2026 series doing some media work for Somuchpoker . Wow! Yes, that was a grind on the side of media, doing all the live reports with 12-hour work days, short sleeps and hangry tummies. Yes, HANGRY. Anyway, thanks to Somuchpoker for the opportunity. Thank you to USOP for the hospitality.  My personal thanks to the friends I've had the chance to reconnect with while here and to the new ones that I've met who have entered my life in such a heartwarming way. And thanks to all that I've learned. It's not old news that I play poker. Maybe not as regularly as the grinders and sharks I write about, but I hold my own on days I am available to play. Availability (well, and bankroll) have always held me back. I have two kids to put through college, but they'll graduate soon, so maybe I can build a better bankroll then. Availability - yeah, that's important. I can't go into a multi-day event and just lay all m...

  So, I wrote about Thi Minh Hong Pham aka Sarah Pham in a previous post . In that post, I told the story of how I met her, how kind she was and how she floored me with that one hand. Now, I write about her because the damn lady made history by being the first woman to ever win a USOP Main Event . Not only that, this is her second Main Event championship title this year. Earlier in January, she won the Main Event of the UK Poker Championships - by GG Poker in London. This time, she did it in Vietnam. And this time, I was so fortunate to have witnessed it. I cheered for her, obviously, because I consider her a friend and if I had to bet on anyone in poker, I'd put money on her. She has a great head for the game and an even bigger heart and passion. Back when she started to consider poker a career, she confessed that it wasn't something that her parents were too happy about. I mean, a woman gambling - just not the kind of career Asian parents consider or value. But it was her...

  I met Sarah by accident. I was in Hai Phong, doing some work for the USOP Grand Finale Hai Phong 2024. During one lunch time, Derrick and myself (both reporters for SMP at that time), decided to go hunting for food. Being a former chef and an obvious foodie, I had done some research and found a place that had Crab Noodle Soup, or in Vietnamese - Pho Cua.  The one I wanted to go to was closed, but there was one next door that was open. Yes, they still had Pho Cua. So... we stumbled into there anyway. We were lost in translation trying to look at the pictures and making use of Google translate when someone said hello. She introduced herself as Sarah and asked if we were here for the USOP. Derrick had his lanyard ID around his neck. So yes, we introduced ourselves as media reporters, then she said she was a player coming home from London, where she is based, and that Hai Phong was her hometown, back to see her parents and all, play some poker, yada yada. She then, of course, su...

While everyone is digitally on their phones to record the action, there's an OG reporter there still using a pen and paper, going analog. LOL   Hello, friends! It's been a while. I took a hiatus from poker things to focus on art the past month. As I am writing this, I have a group show opening on May 8 at the Quest Plus Hotel and Conference Center in Filinvest City, Alabang, which will run until May 31st. I got back just in time from APT Taipei 2026, where I did my usual live reporting duties from April 25 to May 2. I got to cover the APT Super High Roller, the Mystery Bounty, the Main Event, the Superstar Challenge, the Zodiac Classic and the APT High Roller - all the major events of the APT that require a little bit more media attention. As usual, it was great to be at work to see some familiar faces. My thanks to Ben Wilson - lead media coordinator - for getting me the gig in the last minute. He celebrated his birthday during the tour and we had a chance to have a decent dri...