I usually find someone to trade with for a small vig then he transfers to my paypal then i have to use transferwise to get it to my vietnamese bank account. definitely cuts into profits but getting it done legit seems to be near impossible.

I signed up for for something called 'Currensea' before i moved to Vietnam. It connects to my european bank and saves me on FX fees. So all i do is cash out from stars to my normal bank and use the card for shopping or ATM withdrawls. I pretty much pay close to 0% vig when i use the card in shops and around 3% vig when use an ATM.

Why did you end up moving to Vietnam?

Low levels of English, probably the most scummy, predatory, anti white people in Asia (in part due to the Vietnam war but they don't trust each other either), everybody all up in your business, zero real privacy etc.

Why not the Philippines?

Thais are more two faced and scummy for sure. I've been here 3 months living in Vung Tau and i really like the vibe, and my high floor, ocean view apartment a few mins walk from the beach would be double the cost in Thailand for sure. Not to mention the utility bill and the cost for a maid is at least half than what i would pay in Thailand.

The women in Vietnam are far better than in Thailand. Lighter skin, bigger boobs and ass, not to mention they are much more traditional. I'm currently dating an 18 year old christian girl (who's parents are still together), she speaks great English because she wants to become a flight attendant and she doesn't drink any alcohol.

I know the visa situation will change soon but thus far it's been a much more pleasant experience than the one i have living in Thailand.

Vietnam has the lowest divorce rate in the world and Thailand has the highest infidelity rate in the world. Not to mention the average IQ in vietnam is also higher than in Thailand.

^^^
Gonzo's little brother?

I wish the edit button would last longer because I want to completely re-write my post. I literally wrote "not to mention" three times lol.

I know the west is anti white anti male garbage these days, but I honestly don't think anywhere in South East Asia is the solution.

Extremely high rate of psychopathy in the population like in all hot countries, lots of predators, shaky visa situation pretty much anywhere in SEA, little to no rights and local police will always side with locals / not help you / prey on you together with locals. The predators might not find you today or tomorrow, but the longer you stay the more likely it's going to happen, especially if you live in a semi fancy place, dress nice etc. When you bring your gf to the west she will become a feminazi and divorce scam you etc.

These days it's pretty much any white guys last chance to study computer science and become employable in eastern Europe or north east asia (or start a business but you need connections, lots of savings and a solid network for that) before white males will completely be barred from employment in covert ways in western countries or when a slow genocide will start like in South Africa (George Floyd riots right now show where things are going). Some tech companies in Europe already boast female employee rates of up to 70% and the only way to get in as a white male is as a software engineer with a degree. You are covert barred for any other job as they can usually find women to do that.

You mean they go for more cc?

Sounds like hell to me

hey i just recalled when i was traveling in hanoi about a decade or so ago

stopped at one of those tea lady stands on the street where you sit on a small stool and she gives you tea and there's other snacks and stuff to grab

i start using her tobacco bong and notice a big baggie of weed on her table, i point and gesture to it (dumb kid 10 years ago) and she does this "i have nothing to do with that, it's not mine, why don't you take it gesture"

so after a bunch of sign language type communication i load some in the bong and smoke it in the street, looking around every which way to see if it's some kind of sting operation (my god i was naive thinking i could defeat a sting just looking about)

anyway, smoked a little bit of it and then went to pay for everything and just gave her a larger than expected bill assuming she was charging for the weed and instead she gives me asks for something smaller and basically i pay as much as i would have normally paid when i did this other times so it cost like nothing basically

then as i get ready to go, she keeps gesturing to the weed as if she wants me to take it and get rid of it, i oblige and again she wants no money, it's schwag but a pretty large bag of it, guessing a definitely more than an 1/8th

then i go do some james bond type stuff bouncing around the alleys using very odd pathways etc so I can avoid any possible tail "lol wtf was I thinking"

but nothing ever came of it, had weed in my hotel rest of trip

i've always wondered, was this some kind of shakedown or sting that didn't go according to plan? was it some drunken tourist stopped there to smoke and forgot about it and she just wanted to get rid of it but for whatever reason didn't just throw it out?

very confused and often think about that wondering both why i was such an idiot and what really happened

I've been thinking of moving to Taiwan or Ukraine but Vietnam has surprised me. And i really don't mind the non violent racism. I've long accepted that human beings are tribal and having an in-group preference for your own kind is natural and to be expected. The west is ******ed because either we should have open borders with no welfare state or we do have a welfare state but have very strict immigration controls. Having both is a sure way to destroy our countries.

Strict immigration controls is just for legal immigration, but that's watered down as well as the powers that be desperately want non white IT workers for the technocracy with EU blue card salaries seemingly being lowered every year. (I think it's 42k EUR minimum salary in that area of work)

This is why I'm saying it's a last chance situation these days if you don't want to end up in the gig economy.

The powers that be that want the west to be an easier to manage 3rd world through a lowered IQ divided population that is unlikely to challenge them.

In the US it's Mexicans, in the UK it's Nigerians, Pakistanis etc. in other western European countries it's refugees, migrant laborers from Turkey turned permanent residents that permanently live off welfare etc.



Taiwan is a decent place but you either need to run one of the gazillions of restaurants like some South Africans do (tough competition) or have the money and skills to run a business on top of fluent Chinese, which only very few people can do. You can get citizenship though.

Ukraine interestingly enough is going extremely left these days in Kiev among young people despite it being known to be a poor corrupt country. (lots of young guys in skinny jeans in Kiev these days)

Simply working as an employee in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary etc. is much more feasible for most that are neither highly skilled nor have a strong network. Compared to SEA, Eastern Europe is kinda drab and depressing but at least you don't have to deal with a violent unemployable underclass of foreigners on welfare like in western Europe nor do you have to deal with the predatory psychopaths that single you out and prey on you in SEA, where westerners often get killed purely out of jealousy and racial hatred.

I don't understand why you keep talking about regular jobs. This is a poker forum. Most of us play poker for a living.

I think relatively few peeps in this forum primarily play poker for a living these days, maybe in the travel forum the % is a bit higher. But anyways back OT there is racism everywhere, but IliveinAsia come on, if you want to make us believe the white male is a suppressed/discriminated against species, you're blind and/or ignorant beyond belief to what other peeps experience.

Because he doesn't play poker for a living. Probably will say it's because poker is dead and he's the smart one for doing something different but most likely he tried and failed.

Can't blame him tho, who would choose to play poker for a living from SEA (or from almost anywhere in the world) when you can work a 9 to 5 in sunny Donetsk for 40k a year.

what percentage of former players would you say left because they couldn't make it, not trying to argue with you, genuinely curious to see the perspective of people still in the grind

I think that poker is in a current state where most -normal, average IQ- people can "make it" studying hard enough, unlike other activites/sports where you need certain talent to be good enough to earn a living doing that.

To "make it" (whatever that means in $) some folks might have to put in A LOT of work while others only a little bit as they have more natural talent. I can understand some of the former to give up after some time trying and pursuing something else instead, as the workload can look overwhelming at times. Most of the time these guys wont say it's because they didn't want to put in the work but will name some of the negative aspects that poker has (like any other profession), forgetting the many other positive ones that might have lured them to go down that career path for a while.

I met a handful of guys like this in my life and some seem to be doing great and thriving at other activities while others become bitter and resentful towards the game and its players that still love it and succeed at it (by reading ILIA's posts I think he's one of the latter).

Giving you a percentage would be hard, as I'm still grinding and fully immersed in the poker world so I come across many new hungry players all the time and am constantly in touch with other grinders that stuck to the path for many years and are now crushing, which can skew my perception of the issue, but hope that my answer helps to shed some light on the matter regardless.

Vietnam >>>>> Phils because people like you end all end up in the Phils ; any other questions!?!

Rama, what I mean is if we bumped into each other in a bar and it came up that you play and I don't, would you subconsciously think I couldn't make it, wasn't going to put in the time, or decided to do something else?

I used to be a small time pro but shifted to something else like pretty much everybody else. It barely crosses my mind that anyone is still playing for a living these days and no I'm not a hater flipping burgers at Mc Donalds. Covid is giving things a boost but the poker economy pales in comparison to what it used to be in it's heydays and I think it's a fairly objective observation.

My brother still plays for fun and he told me stars apparently reduced the maximum number of tables to a handful.

This is not about poker at all but rather about SEA being much more dangerous than most people making it out to be with plenty of long time residents murdered or scammed out of their life savings.

I got scammed at international airports by taxi drivers or had to deal with drivers looking to scam me EVERYWHERE I have travelled. The ONLY place where I never had any problems was in Da Nang. And I got a pretty decent sample size there. In the other hand, the only one time I had problems dating a local girl was in Da Nang, her family (middle class family who owned a nice hair salon) told her that no way that she can date a foreigner, has to be a local dude. Not gonna lie, it pissed me off but super traditional gonna super traditional, in one way I can understand her family choice.

Overall I never really experienced any real racism compared to Thailand. The only difference maybe is that many Viet dudes will stares at you and your vietnamese gf when you are walking in the street together. Much more compared to Thailand. It sucks but tbh me too I do it with white girls with their foreign BFs, I guess it's in our DNA, except if your estrogen levels are high ofc. Rarely some guys will yell some hooker names at your gf (usually in a coward way by passing by motorbike or when they are in groups etc) but this happened to my ex gf(s) in Thailand too, a little bit less but at the end of the day pretty sure that if you date a local girl as a foreigner you will experience that everywhere in the world. Same same.

Das it mane.



My ex gf wanted to be a flight attendant too. Told her that if she wants to be with me she can forget about it. Having a flight attendant gf is the best way to get cucked.

- BRB hang out with pilots every day who make $10k+ per month
- BRB might work on first class where hundreds of thirsty fukkers will hit on her MONTHLY
- BRB alone for days in cities/airports where thousands of fukkers will hit on her MONTHLY

No thanks

If you're the first or second dude she's slept with then those pair-bonding brain chemicals will be super powerful, and if your chick is an avid christian who goes to church every week with her family and is totally against birth control pills due to her religious upbringing then one can assume that the odds of her turning into a sexually promiscuous slut are quite a bit lower.

I certainty have much less faith in a woman who's slept with 5+ guys, regardless which career they get into.

Gonzo your paranoia is refreshing

As I said I think anyone can make it if they're willing to put in the work, so "couldn't make it" is not a good enough reason to quit poker. Not wanting to put in the work is fair tho, and I dont look down on anyone that decides to spend their time pursuing a different career path if that's what you mean. I'm sure there are many better options than playing poker for a living, most of which require a lot of hard work too (even more than poker) so it's not even a matter of laziness, is just a matter of how you want to spend your life and what you value in a job.

Guess we'll have to bump into each other in a bar to have this conversation in more depth

haha fair enough, was genuinely curious because most interactions i have with poker players were from people who've left (think i only know one person irl who still grinds and he's always complaining about wanting out)

looking forward to that drink some day, i hit up SEA fairly often and I've often regretted not hitting up these threads to get a drink with some of you guys

This is so odd lol, and high level beta move, youre gona essentially force your gilr to not live out her 'dream' cause youre afraid of getting cucked lmao guys with this attitude get cucked 100% of the time no matter what stipulations they put into place.