I see its a little bit off topic at the moment but I am really in need of some insight or tips about live poker in Philippines.. I am seriously considering finishing my career because I feel deeply embarrassed and humiliated that I can't beat the softest games I've seen in my entire life.. I've been a live pro my entire life and played in numerous countries mostly around Asia-pacific at all sorts of limits ranging from 1-2 to 25-50 USD. In Macau alone I won 170k USD, over the course of 15 months and the games weren't always that great. When I come to Philippines it feels like kindergarten poker to me at all times, the stakes are quite small bit its not about the money anymore really. I am having a massive depression at the moment and drinking all the time outside of the tables trying to analyse what the **** I am doing wrong? If some of you guys play much live poker in Manila I would be really happy to meet and share some thoughts about the live games. I have enough experience to adjust to any games but I am always interested in other people's opinions because now I came to a point where I am really stuck trying to figure out the best way to play against these idiots..Maybe they pray too much or whatever but I don't understand how people can call 30x pre with A7o and hit trips on the flop against my aces and I have a whole ****load of hand histories ..I don't know how people draw gutshots for 100bb all in on the turn and hit them everytime against me. I literally burn inside when I see how light they stack off against gotta have the nuts onewhy couldnt waydf or another. I put in massive volume for eolive games playing 10 hours am dinimum but I just cant figure out why this keeps happening. If any of you guys up for a drink msg me please, I justc wanna share some stuff. Thanks. Sorry for some typos, couldn't edit those on the pho.e for some reason

tilt
you play like me rofl
lose with the best hand and runerunnerrunnneeeer BOOM

Yeah, really can't help it, but I am stuck in manila for at least a month

Nordling89 - Take a deep breath, analyze your game, analyze what people play and why they play it. You're on a downswing, this is variance that is normal in poker, whether you're a good player or a bad player. Variance often may be the case when a dolt goes on a heater and wins 20x his buyin in one session, and it's also why a professional thinking player goes on a 14x buyin downswing.

Look, if you're really having these morons calling your turn shoves with a gutterball, then they hit, here's what you do.

Smile. That's a profitable game. You got unlucky this time.

When I got to Manila, I lost 4 out of my first 6 sessions. Typically when I'd lose a big hand I was a 3-1 or 2-1 favorite (in this place you're required to over hands if you're all in, tournament style). I was actually down quite a bit.

But if you actually are playing better, and getting your money in good, and making good reads, etc etc the variance will even out and you will crush like I did in my last 5 or so sessions in Manila.

Thanks for the response, will toughen up and grind more. Just feel sp sick inside when I see these guys win and they act like that is a norm and it was supposed to be like as if they made the correct play.

I'd normally make fun of you but I have sympathy about ph fish expecting that sht. One sticks out in memory where a local reg called off his stack with tpnk and celebrated/counted the pesos when I flipped over 18 outs. Brick brick. I started to seriously think the cards in ph were rigged somehow even though its probably impossible and they're not that clever

There's a hand at RW I was playing 3 weeks ago where I 3bet with AA at 50-100. I get everyone (many) at the table to call. Flop comes Q82 dd, I lead out for 3k with a 60 k effective stack, an older person behind bumps it to 15 k (he had me covered, effective stacks 60k). I go into the tank, and conclude that this looks more like a flush draw, or a pair and a flush draw, than a set. I shove over top for about 60 k, he tank calls with 9-7 dd. Hits it on the turn and I blank the winning diamond for a higher flush on the river. Over 120k pot to the gentleman who's bet sizing and physical tells made it obvious to me what he had.

That busted me for the day, as my atm has relatively small withdrawal rates. But I smiled and said good game.

I knew that I'd be back to continue what I left unfinished and I did. Punish weak players that give away too much information. Punish players who overplay an ace with a bad kicker. Sadface players who will pick up weakness with you checking, inducing bluffs. Etc etc.

The games there are beatable. Don't get down because you go 4 sessions in a row where nothing goes your way. Analyze the hands and what happened and why. If you made mistakes, take action to correct them. Write down mistakes, and before your next session look over them to refresh the things you don't want to do wrong again.

One thing I like to do before a session sometime is prime myself with some cash game action from High Stakes Poker, or the Big Game. Especially poker with good commentary. It helps get you in the right mindframe before the game. Malcolm Gladwell wrote about some studies on priming to get yourself in the right mindset to perform certain tasks and I do think it applies to poker.

Any advice on pre sizing in manila? What's your standard open with no limpers and with multiple limpers and squueze sizing..

Depends on the sizing. I noticed in the 25-50 games the players tended to be weak passive and would limp pre flop which of course is very easy to take advantage of. You can often call with small pocket pairs UTG and know you'll probably see a flop for the price. Raise in position to isolate. Squeeze with premiums because you'll often be called by players looking to see if they hit a flop. My standard open here was often 300 (6BB) and I'd often get several callers.

At to 50-100 or 100-200 players were much more aggressive pre and players opened much more often. They also understood position to a greater degree and would raise simply because of it. Not something that's easy to exploit pre unless you limp-raise bluff or limp-raise for value. Still, I prefer having a healthy open percentage so if they do decide to 3 bet you in position you can always 4-bet your premium holdings (or as a bluff if the situation calls for it).

Also, because of the high rake, I'd advise to stay relatively tight as the rake reduces any profitability of playing marginal holdings.

In general I follow pretty much the same guidelines, tend to open less with good multiway hands like JTs,KWa and hands that are harder to play post like 88+, and open more with premiums. Their calling ranges are so damn wide though and the most trouble part is that some people really don't understand the reasons for betting, like they can triple barrel a medium strength hand or min bet or check the nuts or just some random stuff. It's hard to adjust here because there are so many people you sont know apart from macau where I know every regular and how they play and its obvious who is the fish at the table, but here everyone is a fish but the sad part is when they spaz against other fish they lose, bit when its against me I get crushed, I get pretty damn emotional when I talk to my wife after sessions and that is just not healthy. Like yesterday at 50-100 there was a hand between two guys that is just phenomenal. Kinda tightish guy opens Utg 4 x, only bb calls. Flop is As5s6c, bb donks 2/3 pot, utg raises, bb 3 bets, utg calls. Turn is a Kd. Bb shoves, utg snaps. Bb has 84cc, for a naked gutter, utg shows...... Two red eights...

I'm headed back to Phils for the live poker grind soon myself.

Feeling like 25/50 is what I should play BR wise, but after reading your accounts of how soft play is at 50/100 I'm tempted to start out there.

How big, and how deep do the two games play in your experience (s) EZ and Nordling89?

Is 100 bb's a small buy in in each of them? What would u say is the average by in in the 25-50? the average buy in in the 50-100?

How big do they each play? When people open, is it for 3-4x or is it for like 6-8x? How big are pre flop 3-bets usually?

25-50 plays much much smaller than 50-100, the variance is also significantly lower. On 25-50 people buy in for around 60-100bbs on average. For 50-100, 200bb is an average stack. People open completely randomly completely not having any idea of the strength of their own hand comparing to the number of people in the pot and not considering position. I saw a reg open 17x from SB with 5-6 limpers with 53s and flopping a boat. 3 bets are very uncommon but usually they are on the larger side, fold to 3 bet ratio is very very small and a lot of people would cold call 3bets from various positions with a wide range.

Also its good that you said about BR wise, if you are kinda short on bankroll, definitely only play 25-50. The variance is insane in 50-100 especially if you are running like me. I am stuck like 10-15 BI over a month already.

Hello, Can anyone here recommend the best way to rent apartment from makati? Looking for 100-200 square apartment.

What kind of winrates can you expect if your a solid player at 25/50 and 50/100 and 100/200 respectively given the higher rakes? Also what are the rakes in these games?

Hello

me and a friend are heading to Cebu on the 19Nov-26Nov
we will be staying in Cebu Lancaster Resort Residences,

we would love to meet fellow poker players to party or talk poker,
first round of booooze is on us !! hehe

pls feel free to PM me,

With regards

Get over here and look. You can look on some of the usual sites - sulit / olx / etc

but i would just use that to get a rough idea and maybe line up a few brokers when you get here. 100-200 sqm is gonna be $1000USD or more just about anywhere in Makati.

For the live poker guys - you playing at Resorts World or Metro? Or some of the other smaller rooms?

More fish at RW than metro IMO

Winrates can be 10-15bb/hr if you adjust well, I think. Rake is high. At 25-50 it's 10% up to 300, at 50-100 it's 10% up to 400, at 100-200 it's 10% up to 500.

The higher the blinds, the higher the rake.

Unlike Macau, the dealers are good at calculating rake. Also, that's government regulated rake, so any casino that's regulated in Manila or Angeles City or Cebu should be exactly the same rake.

More fish in RW for sure, and people are way more deep. Thank god variance is catching up and I had my 1st 900bb+ session today.

Do 200-400 games ever run at RW or Metro Club regularly or is 100-200 the highest game that runs daily?

be prepared to take sick beats, but stay the course but it wont be easy as it seems

thats sick man

You sure it wasn't something like this: http://www.indonesiamatters.com/images-3/swastika.jpg


Off topic, how safe/dangerous is Manila?

Lol at the Fillapini Natzis.

Man you are staying in a rough part of town, the ones I see all have Mickey Mouse tattoos

Thinking about coming to the phils to grind live cash for a while. The 50 100 sounds juicy enough and i am bored with the states!

What is the best way to get say 15K there and keep it safe?