This is a bit of a late post just because I haven't found the time. I got back from APT Taipei and had to work on some art for a group art exhibit. In case you didn't know - I'm also an artist. Anyway, the exhibit was going to ingress on a Thursday with the opening reception on Friday. The only opportunity I had to play the Okada Manila Millions Main Event was on Wednesday, either on Day 1A and/or Day 1B. Hopefully that window of opportunity would be enough for me to find a bag to make it to the Day 2 on Saturday.  To be honest, I don't like the feeling of being limited to playing one day. Of course, for a main event, I would've wanted to have the opportunity to play more Day 1s, or to at least have that option should I fail to qualify in the earlier flights. But then, it is what it was. So I jumped in on Day 1A probably at around Level 8 or 9. I was on the big blind on my very first hand. Someone raised and I defended... Anyway, here's how it went... So, of c...

Blinds were 80,000/160,000 and I was hanging on with just 20,000 chips — less than an ante. I had just lost an all-in flip when my 7♦ 7♠ ran into K♠ Q♠ , and the king on the flop sealed my fate. Or so I thought. The very next hand I was in the big blind, all-in automatically for my last 20K. Michael Bueza and Revo David both called and checked it down as the board ran 3♣ 9♠ 9♦ 4♦ A♦ . Neither connected. I hadn’t even looked at my hand until the end. I turned over A♠ 7♠ , and the ace on the river gave me the pot. Somehow, I was still alive with 60,000. Sixty thousand wasn’t even close to a blind, so the next hand I was forced all-in again from the small blind. Two players limped, then Benjamin Perez shoved from the big blind to push them off. He took the side pot, but the main pot of more than 540,000 was still in play. Perez showed 8♠ 8♥ . I peeled and revealed Q♣ T♣ . The flop landed Q♣ 4♥ T♥ — two pair, queens and tens. The turn and river were blanks, and just like that I scoo...

It has been fifteen years since my last post here. The last time I wrote was in 2010, and a lot of life has happened since then. I stepped away from poker altogether because I had children to raise and put through school, and a poker bankroll was not the most responsible foundation for that journey. The game had to wait. What brought me back was not the cards at first, but the words. I found myself writing for poker sites, starting with So Much Poker and later taking on live reporting assignments for Life of Poker . That role opened doors to cover some of the most exciting festivals in Asia such as the Asian Poker Tour , Asia Pacific Poker Tour , PokerStars Live , U Series of Poker , and the Players Series . Following hands, telling stories, and interviewing champions gave me a deeper appreciation for the game. Today I continue to serve as the lead writer at Life of Poker ,  which has become a central part of how I experience and contribute to the poker world. Being so clos...