What is up with the hating between you guys?

I don't know if I got the right message out of your post Kick2Dante, but you seem very bitter towards the idea, correct me if I'm wrong. All I want to do is collect as much knowledge as possible before I travel somewhere, and in exchange, I hope I can help other people out later that wants to do the same thing. I've gone to places after too little information before and wasted a lot of travel money 'cause I couldn't find enough information before. No information can tell you that you will love a destination or not, but it can be a great guideline.

No, this is actually EXACTLY what he is doing, and what he has been doing.

He was being sarcastic in his most recent post.

He has no experience in the Philippines at all, or even the 3rd world so of course some of his questions are going to come across as naive or downright dumb to experienced veterans of 3rd world living.

If Paul B would instead take a moment to think back to when he was new to the 3rd world himself, and didn't have a ****ing clue about anything either he'd probably realize he was in similar shoes to the ones K2D is in now, and he would ease up on him a bit, maybe even help him out.

Sure your way of doing research Disorienter is perhaps much more sophisticated and superior, but 99% of people aren't going to do it that way, most people are going to go about it the way K2D and myself do, relentlessly ask those with more experience question after question no matter how seemingly inane or dumb they may seem, until we have enough answers to construct a solid idea of the way things are there, and what we should do when we are first starting out there.

And there is nothing wrong with that method, I know that from personal experience.

I agree with Pooter. Thousands of people (mostly farang expats) play online poker there in Thailand and have been for over 10 years. I've never heard of anyone being arrested or fined for playing online. If this actually did happen the last thing the Police would do is put you in jail - they would just make you pay a fine direct to them.
There are alot of places to play live in Thailand - you just have to know the right connections to find these places. In my experience they are usually upstairs of bars that are owned by expats. I actually much prefer to play in these type of games rather than any casino.

oh how i wish that you meant this and its not just something youll say because your behind a keyboard and cant be called on it

with my bankroll i need to make money while im over there, the online games might be tougher now, and i wasnt all that great at online anyways

having some other option, like live poker that i have had decent success at, is a big deal to me

ITT broke this down pretty well, my post wasnt directed towards you in any way, paul has just had a stick up his ass when it comes to me for awhile now and its gettin old

he said my asking how many pesos were in a dollar was a stupid question, i dunno i think that its kind of an important thing to know, maybe it was lazy to ask here instead of googling, but then he gets on me for asking about poker in davao city, as if there is a better place out there to get info on poker in a city in PI than a thread about PI in a poker forum

he thinks googling is a better way to research, i prefer asking people that have lived a life relatively close to the one im about to, ie poker players in the philippines

You could also try Prince Plaza, I have heard its reasonable price and it closet o GB (right next to it)

Google Prince Plaza Makati imo

Anyone want to rent a 2 bed room penthouse bachelor pad in manila starting next month? Im thinking $200 a week each should get us something pretty rad, will be partying a lot so needs to be someone social. PM me for further details

Oh I see, thanks for clearing that up! So how is live poker in Davao?
Could not find much information about that either to be honest.

Dont know this for a fact, but I would expect the big game in davao is 25/50 (~$.55/$1.10) with 10/25 running regularly

I'd expect this as well. Even in Cebu City 50/100 ($1/$2) doesn't always run, so I'd expect it to be no better then that in Davao.

Outside of Manila it's going to be hard to play any higher then 50/100 ($1/$2) in legal games in casinos and cardrooms, and sometimes you may even have a hard time finding 50/100.

Certainly if you want to play 100/200 ($2/$5) you should go to Manila, and not bother anywhere else.

is this a long term place or just a hotel? only prices i could find were nightly ($60)

user reviews were ok on it, sounds like its not all that nice but in a good location, thats enough for me

I assumed it was a long-term place. Great local.

Try tropical palms makati, same area i know for sure its long-term, but might be higher up on the price scale, I know a guy had 2bed there for 50k p.m

Concerning the banks and gambling type transactions in the Philippines i'd love to get more info from any grinders currently out there.

Reading through this thread on the recommended site Poker Manila it seems to indicate:

http://pokermanila.com/index.php/topic,7308.0.html

1. Transactions over $1k USD are typically scrutinized
2. Banks may ask for detail/confirmation on where these funds come from.
3. They will be ok with you saying it's poker related and showing them poker winnings info.

This might be completely wrong...just looking for some regular grinders making '000's USD to let us know if you have any issues/advice. I may just visit a number of banks when I arrive and point blank ask them what their expectations are and try to feel them out...telling them i sometimes play poker, theoretically would they have a problem with a deposit etc.

I'm heading to Manila in August and plan to look around a few places before deciding where to live (Thailand, Singapore, Philippines). Cheers, really appreciate this forum and it's members!

My experience with SE Asia (I've spent a lot of time in Thailand and Philippines and a bit in Cambodia and Lao,) is this.

All they care about from you is money. If you are paying the proper fee on whatever it is you are doing, they won't care about anything else, just the money.

If no one posts any solid info before you get there , would you please share what you find out in august.
i played on several sites from there without depositing or cashing out but never inquired. Planning to be there full time next year . Only info apart from that , i was unable to download party from there , even with party giving me a link , no idea why.

I use a local bank and I've had no problems receiving amounts of 2k to 3k usd by bank wire from the PokerStars cashier, and also Party Poker wires and checks from Full Tilt (when that was still around). No questions asked, just some delay in clearing a check, and some fees for conversion from other currencies and possibly miscellaneous inter-bank fees.

But I am a resident and a citizen. Things may be a little different for non-citizens.

appreciate the suggestion but that place is damn expensive, site says 50k for a 1 bedroom, even if u can negotiate its gonna be way above my broll

Extremely disappointed with manila so far,especially resorts world management who's been holding on my money transfer from Hong kong for 5 days already. Updates to come

Whenever I wire money from Pokerstars, it takes 3-5 banking days to arrive.

Probably not related, but just in case...

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63
"The Philippines is on the brink of getting blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) following its failure to meet a deadline for the passage in Congress of stronger anti-money laundering laws."

I have been following this issue for a while now, so far no update. One possible repercussion of getting blacklisted by FATF would be increased difficulty in sending money to and from PH.

I have a question (i have no idea about this) how did resorts world management end up with your money?

Would love to hear some positive feedback about Manila. So far its how bad the food is, how crazy the streets are, poor casino management, 4 hour waiting lists, expensive rents. So the only positive thing I can see is the availability of girls no matter of your age or size.

I'm heading there Monday, but having regrets that I didn't go to Thailand, but I just have to know what the scene is like there to decide where I'm going next.

and I've been to Manila before but it was a stop before a vacation in Bora. I didn't play any poker, just railed at the Hyatt, and it didn't look good so I bounced to MBC.

I've already had a problem with my hotel reservation, and I'm not even in country yet.

I got thrown out of the card room at resorts world when I was there lol

what did you do? lol

Just took a couple of pics of the cardroom which apparently is a no no. They were already pissed off with me because I kicked up a fuss when they bumped a local into a game ahead of me, it was clearly a friend of theirs and they thought nobody would notice. I had already been waiting a long time so I wasn't putting up with that. So I guess taking the pics was an excuse to ask me to leave.

I think that to an extent, we need to accept putting up with a certain amount of this type of behavior.

Think of all of the advantages you have as a foreigner there in a cheap third world paradise. It seems only fair we could let the Filipinos get away with a few small things of this nature in return.

I mean the last time I lived there, to be honest, I was always on the look out for them trying to **** me over, so I can't say I've practiced what I am preaching here, but it seems to me when I am there again I might do better to let some of the smaller things go by, and only make a rukus when they REALLY try to stick the needle in.