That would be Kingsclubpkr - it's a private site. If you want more info, DM.

Quick poll before bed because of a recent discussion:

HOW MANY HOLE CARDS SHOULD OMAHA HAVE?

A) 4
B) 5
C) 6
D) I've never been to Omaha

Thank you for participating.

Poker ramblings #3 - So you can't pay your loan!

As mentioned, I have been around the poker scene for a long time now, and during this time I have seen and experienced a lot of shady things. Today, I want to talk about some of them. But first some history:

I'm sure you have seen those gangster Las Vegas movies from the "goold old days", where card counts, cheaters and people in debt were buried alive in the Nevada desert. I'm also sure you have heard of recent scandals, like the Phil Ivey baccarat dispute, Eli Elezras debts or Mike Postle on LATB. It feels half the threads nowadays are about cheaters.

I myself have been scammed for large amounts. I have been paid late, ghosted over loans, I had to personally pressure people to retrieve money I had loaned and, full disclosure, back in 2011 when FTP closed and kept $13500 of my money, I temporarily had problems paying back a stake I had entered.

Everyone falls on hard times sometimes. Poker is a volatile game, most gamblers have certain vices they cannot escape or relapse into. And even if you do have money, liquidity is sometimes an issue. I find it inspiring and hopeful that gamblers are, by and large, pretty solidary. Chances are, if you haven't burned any bridges in the past and maintained some healthy relationships, you will get help.

So what do you do when you got a loan, something went horribly wrong!!1 and you cannot pay back? And what is the adequate retribution for someone bailing on you after loaning money? Here is my take atleast.

First of all, you have to be bite the bullet and be honest about your situation. I know it sucks showing weakness, but the most important thing you have (both and poker and in life!) is your integrity! Do everything you can to keep it. That means, approach the party you lent from and explain your situation.
Now, this doesn't mean you should tell them your whole sob life story, chances are, they aren't interested and you won't be shown much sympathy. But this person needs to know where is at so he can assess the situation accurately. This is the number one thing that prevents overreactions on the loaner's side

Secondly, come up with a basic payment plan you can propose. Again, you will have to bite the bullet and maybe do some things you don't want to do (like find a job) - but you literally owe it to them to rectify the situation.

Third, keep in contact! Both when you are able to make the payments and when you are not. The other party is extending goodwill to you by allowing you to pay up later or over time. You must not disappoint him.


If you do these three things, I guarantee you, you will be met not necessarily with empathy, but certainly with understanding and a willingness to work with you. If you fail to do these things, then don't be surprised if more drastic actions are taken. If you aren't willing to consider their side, they likely will not consider yours and do what they deem most likely to get them the money back. Which leads me to my second point:


What is the correct way to deal with a situation where people have your money and disappear? Are sites like pokerscam.rip a legitimate way?

Lenders have lost a lot of mechanisms to retrieve their money in recent decades and we have gained some, aswell. We are not burying people alive anymore, and I would call that... progress! But it begs the question: When you cannot approach law enforcement with the issue (for obvious reasons), then what are you to do?

Some aspects are to be considered: How much is owed, how many deals have been done before this one, how trustworthy is the person you have loaned to and has he, in any way cooperated?

I am making a point of not cutting losses on small loans on principle, but the avenues I will pursue will be less severe.

If it is a friend or someone people vouch for, I will be more lenient with the time frames albeit stern when they do come back as they tend to play on that reputation otherwise.

But what if none of these factors are in his favor? In my opinion, all bets are off (figuratively) - public shaming nowadays is an extremely efficient method to pressure people, and I think if they have lost their integrity, then warning other people about it is not only legitimate, but necessary.

I also consider sleuthing to be viable. This person is actively hiding from you, so you are perfectly fine actively searching for them, even if it is through their associates.

But lastly, what about family/friends? It becomes more of a gray area for me here. If you consider what they did a scam, then I think this is also fine. You shouldn't squeeze them ofcourse, it is, after all, not their fault. But you can contact them to get into contact. If it is merely an unpaid loan due to circumstances, then I think this is going to far though.

So what did I do? Back in 2011, mobile internet wasn't as wide spread yet and I didn't have a smartphone and, even worse, I was travelling through the Australian coast forests at the time. So it took me 10 days to get back to two people I owed 1500€ each to and I felt really bad when I had to tell them that I couldn't pay them back yet due to the money locked up on Full Tilt Poker. But I promised them, as soon as I would be back in Germany, I would lend the money from my dad (who knew I was good for it) and wire it to them. They were fine with it and I did, first thing when I came back.

On the other side of the coin, I have threatened people with contacting their university if they kept ghosting me, I have hired a PI to get information on someone and for one particular serial scammer, I actually sent an e-mail to his son's school explaining the situation.

Right now I am out $450 again with someone I loaned a bunch to and he kept repaying, but then suddenly disappeared and I am considering what to do next.

All in all, I am still fairly bullish on loaning people money. Not only does it mostly work out (and can be profitable if you get juice), but if you yourself ever need money in a pinch, it is likely you have built the trust and relationships you need with people to get it.


So, what is the tl;dr here... Your integrity in poker and in life is the most important asset you will ever have, it trumps money, fame, anything. Maintain it! And please stop scamming or ghosting people. Thank you!


I am interested in your opinions on the matter, if anyone has made it through this rant.

Thanks for reading!

Im lovin the mix of poker content, food/travel blog, and the rants necessary in all the decent pgc threads.

Man, I’d cut off your big toe to be your age. I mean MY big toe lol. Gotta love some spicy food on a humid hot day yikes! Thailand is beautiful country and its a beautiful thing to be competent in all the variants. Never ceases to amaze how often learning one format can trigger a light bulb moment in an altogether different variant.

Have fun out there buddy! It’s the destination not the journey remember. Err maybe I got that one mixed up too lol. Submarine

Option B for me. Five cards tempts more into joining the action and six is too many because everyone is scared of running into the nuts

This is awesome

Haha, based on this post, I hope you caught some sleep soon after buddy.

Yeah, you definitely learn a lot across games, for example playing 2-7 OFCp gives you a very good feeling about drawing odds in 2-7 TD, Baducey and Badacey. You just.. kinda get a feel for it.

And yes, I do agree that 5PLO is the best version. I feel that in 4PLO, made hands are too strong and most draws are too weak to continue and in 6 PLO, draws again become too weak because there's too many nuts out there.



As for my results, I'm -$400 for the last two days. No big deal, but fairly annoying.

I have seen some incredible things on Kings again, in the true sense of the word. If I had to call out one site or game for being rigged, it is definitely King's Chinese games, and I would bet significant amounts of money that I'm right. It is either coded incorrectly or intentionally skewed towards players of certain agents. I'm gonna make sure I'll stay away from it in the future, and I actively discourage everyone from playing that.

The mixed games seem fine though.


Yesterday, I got in contact with two Irish people here, Tony and Phil, and we got talking a bit. Phil has just sold his company because of Brexit and is now chilling here for two weeks before heading to Poland to create another. We decided to go to the Chalong Buffett and stuff ourselves.



That's Phil on the right. I am not big into seafood but they definitely were, so they basically gave me a crash course in seafood cuisine. We ate prawns and a huge squid and a fish whole. It was... interesting. Given the choice, I will still always opt for meat over fish, but hey.. you gotta try new things.

I have found that I am much happier in life when I (almost) always say yes to opportunities and go with the flow.

Anyways, that's it from me for today, Cambodia is coming up soon! Thank you for the participation so far.

Have a great week.

solid mix of content so far! GL

subbed, gl 8!

Thanks, you two!

I didn't feel yesterday, little fever and joint pains, so I laid low and chilled. Luckily, I am back to perfect health today since airports are a little.. sensitive right now. Phew!

I thought, maybe it would be interesting to some of you to see my expenses last months, so here we go:



Some notes:

- You could easily halve the spendings here if you really wanted to, but I like to live at a good place with a pool, eat really good food and have a massage every other day, plus I don't really have to budget. Rent will also be way cheaper the longer you stay, for example when I come back where, I will pay 14k Baht instead of 18k right now, that's 120€ off right there.

- I do not have a driver's license, so I use taxis and taxi bikes a lot. If you need to move around a lot, you will probably be better off renting a bike.

- I am not huge into partying. Alcohol is expensive here (and so is western food), so if you want to go to Patong a lot, get certain "massages" or similar services etc. then you will likely spend more.


I expect Cambodia to be a tiny bit cheaper, but I will probably party quite a bit more there (a lot of other poker players who know the right spots), so it will likely even out. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them.


My next post will be on lessons I have learned travelling and how to save money off the bat.

Now some poker stuff:

I'm up 52k chips (~$510) on SWC mostly playing OFCp. I have played a lot more 3-handed lately. They have a 100 point cap per round, which for 3-handed Progessive OFCp is just way too low, so things like this happen:



I'm lucky even when I'm unlucky, I basically freerolled his Royal here because I already reached the cap. This also means that having the button first is a huge advantage. I asked them to up the limits, but alas, nobody seems to be working on this site anymore. Oh well.

On Kings, I went up $230 playing $1/$2 PLO, $.50/$1 BigO with straddles and, most importantly, Double Board 5card Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Say that fast 3 times in a row...


(btw., is $1/$2 Ante $1 considered midstakes already or not?)

This is, by far, the game I struggle the most with conceptually. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around any part of it. I couldn't tell you whether it's a showdown or non-showdown winnings game, whether Hi-only hole card hands are more or less valueable than the one-board equivalent, anything really. I have spent way too much time thinking about this game without seemingly making any progress. It is frustrating.

I have mentally prepared to spend a couple hundred dollars learning this game. And I'm sure I will have to spend it. I just wonder if there is any way to accelerate the learning progress.


Anyways.. +$740 the last two days! Yay.

That's all I have for today, tomorrow I'll be flying and settling in and then I'm gonna discover what the Cambodian live poker scene is all about!

Alright.. I can already tell that I will be updating less often here, this place is ****ing PURE CHAOS and a lot more hectic. I also found out that I can't share too much about the place I'm playing at, so.. dunno what I'm gonna do yet.

First of all, the plane I came in almost crashed. We were ready to go when we heard an unnerving sounds coming from the engines, so we had to go back to the gate to get it checked out.. The sound didn't stop, but they decided to fly anyway. Why not, right?

The landing was ****ing BRUTAL. We were genuinely falling more than we were landing.. two passengers had injuries (foot and elbow). But hey, we survived!

Trying to get $$$ was troublesome as my credit card provider restricted my card (apparently Cambodia has a lot of credit card fraud.. who knew!)

Off to the Inn, which is.. fine. Very, very loud at night, but I don't mind that. The shower sucks, though.. Do you ever have some weird pet peeves that bother you to no end? I went to Australia in 2011 and most places we were, there was almost no water pressure in the showers. I hated that so much that I know cannot stand any showers like that.

Well, took a shower-ish and off to the poker club I go. The $1/$1 game is downstairs, $1/$3 plus upstairs. I only have $250 to my name, so downstairs it is. The game is very friendly and the people are.. interesting. An old guy from Florida who tells me that he went to Ramstein in Germany with his father in like 1968, a bunch of French people, an Italian everyone buys drinks for because he dumps a couple hundred when drunk. And two Russian twin "thugs" that switch places at the table all the time, which I only notice like 3 hours in. Fairly nitty game daytime, so I go to bed (woke up at 2:30 am). Come back and the game ****ing EXPLODED.

At the end though, I book a $-30 loss and I fall into bed, drums BANGING and vibrating the mattress. I sleep anyways.

Games start noon the next day and I got my credit card fixed and have money now. When you play $1/$3 or higher, drinks and food are free. And the food is ****ing good! I get a ham and cheese sandwich with french fries. When you play from noon to 4pm, you get $20 rakeback, so that's the plan. To my right is a Swedish guy I talk to for a while and he has a very similar life story - started playing at 16, went pro, travelling. He is staying here for a year already and gives me valuable information (better hotel, taxi app etc.)

In the meantime, these two hands happen:

Hand 1 - two to my right, there is a young Chinese guy who bought in for $1k (max.) and plays agressively, but well. I am sure he noticed I play well. I got $400-ish, he has me covered.

EP fish opens to $15, he makes it $40. I look down at TT and decide to make it $125 on the button, preparing to call a shove. EP folds and he calls.

Flop comes T86r. Bingo. I hollywood count my chips and decide to shove in pot on the flop. He shows AsKs and folds, and here is where it gets interesting. The EP fish says he had 88 and I gasp, as if I dodged a bullet there. I say "I hit the board!" and young Chinese is surprised, asked if I have TT. I tell him I have one ten (which is not a lie.. echm)! He says he doesn't believe me, but looks befuddled.


Hand 2: An orbit later, I am BB, folds to him in BU and he makes it 10. He is wildly different raise sizes pre btw.

I see black Kings and make it $35. I read him as someone who has an ego and wants to outplay people, have the biggest stack at all time at the table. He calls.

The board comes 985, there might be a flushdraw, I'm not sure. I make it $55 and he calls quickly.

Turn is a Q rainbow. And I have a feeling this is gonna be good. I check.

He immediately throws in a 100 chips announcing ALL-IN. And I very quickly call roughly $350 more.

He tables... 7h2h. River bricks.

Nice hand, my friend!

One more notable hand 3, another Chinese just lost a stack to a "bad beat" (it wasn't) and rebought for $300. He is steaming. Makes it $15. CO calls and I see AA in the BB and make it ~$50 or so. Call, fold.

Flop comes K93 or so and I ask him how much he is playing for. I know what he is playing for. He shows me and I look deflated, but bet $75. He immediately shoves, I immediately call. He tables KJo, board bricks.

I get a noodle dish and chill for another 30 minutes to collect RB and leave up +$937.

Swede is down $450 by this point getting a nasty beat QQ < T4s against the KJ Chinese and ready to leave. So I decide to join him to go to his hotel and book a room there. Moving tomorrow!

Aaand that's it. Kings is pretty much breakeven, lost ~12k chips on SWC ($120), so

+~$800 since last update. Life's great.

This month is gonna be ****ing exhausting, I am already tired allll the time, but I've decided to go full grinder/degen. I got the live poker itch again, something I haven't had for many, many years, and I am so happy for that!

I'm grabbing a couple hours of sleep now before the music starts and then head back down for, hopefully, some PLO.

That's all I have, I hope I get a lot more fun live hands like that.

Have a great week, my friends.

(Ps.: Bitcoin over $10k again, wooohoooo!!)

Man, yesterday is still a blur. I'll try to patch it together.

Woke up 8am, checking out at Inn and go to another hotel. (Rikscha for 10 minutes is 80 cents here!)

Off to the poker club I go. We play $1/$3 and first hand I get AQo. Raise 10 and get one caller.

Board: KQx rainbow. I check, he bets 15 or so. Call.
Turn: 8 bringing flush draw, check, he overbets $55 or so. I call.

Guys, don't overbet this spot against a thinking player, I see this mistake so often even from good players. Whenever there is a high card and high card-1 (KQ in this case), you're not representing much. Basically exclusively KQ which I partly block, 88 and the lower set.

River: low card bringing flush. I check, he shoves $175 and I call quickly. He shows AJ. Noice.

Lose it right back two hands later cold4bet/calling AI into AKo. 1/3 PLO starts and I switch.

Lose a 3-way "flip" preflop with AA74ss vs. AA55 and KT98, QJ 8 flop gg. Game moves up to $2/$5 shortly after and I switch back to PLO and sit down next to the Swede.

Bleeding some calldowns and I get AA in the BB. Raise $12 from MP, Swede cold calls, I make it $48. Fold, Swede calls.

Board comes 994 and he donks $40. I raise to $110 with $170 or so behind, he calls.
Turn: T - I shove and he calls and shows TT. River brick. Ugh.

Reloading for another $300 and now I'm suddenly in for $1.1k for the day.

I get AQs again and coldcall a $12 raise in the SB after 2 callers. The BB decides to raise to $85. Everyone folds and I shove for $300 thinking it might be a squeeze play.
Nope, he tables KK. RIP. We decide to run it twice.

Board 1: XXQXA
Board 2: XXXAX. Noice!

Back to the hotel to shower and change, because I hear there is a $20 rebuy going on later. The Swede and I decide to go. Here is where it gets interesting.

This 20 rebuy is in the red light district in a very sketchy part of town, in the upper floor backroom of a bar. The room is like 6.5 feet in height and holds 3 tables. Smoking both cigarettes and weed here is allowed. Everyone is drunk. I sit down and get 200 worth of these . Across from me is a Finnish guy smoking a weed pipe and he is stoned out of his ****ing mind! He is so stoned that when the rebuy ended and his buddy left for the break, he kept talking to air for like 3 minutes.

Characters here are interesting to say the least. There is, for example, an Australian who tells everyone that his family owned 440.000 hectars of land on the coast of Australia in like 1880. All very interesting - until someone else brought up Papua Newguinea and our Australian friend went on 10-minute suuuuuuuper racist rant!

The game is basically just flipping 4-6 handed every hand. Nothing exciting happened here pokerwise, I rebuy twice, add on and bust. There is a $1/$1 PLO game running at the club, so I go back there.

Turns out, these people have been drinking for a while now and one Chinese guy in particular is having a great time! Hands like this transpire:

I look down at AKccQ9 in the BB, we are 6 handed. UTG raises pot and we get 3 callers, I call aswell. The board comes A7c5c or so. Chinese checks, I check and UTG pots $20. 2 coldcalls and I decide to repot. UTG and MP fold and the Chinese puts my $200 total all-in. I call.

Turn Tr, river bricks. Not a great runout. I say "AK" and table it and the Chinese shows me 9864 basically rainbow. Haha, well thank you!

One more hand!

I get AA4x and the guy to my left is tilting and saying he is gonna be auto all-in (for $84). I pot $4, he reports $18 I believe. A decent player coldcalls, Chinese guy does, too and I rereaise to $35 so I can be able to 5 bet after the $84 all-in. He does shove and the decent player sigh-folds. Chinese dude calls the $84 and I shove for like $350. He calls that too.

The board runs out dry and I have bare aces in the end. The guy to my left has 8844 and made a set, but Chinese dude managed to somehow end up with 9 high (or a pair of something low, can't remember, he had like 9643 double suited) and I win the bigger side pot!


Overall, I still ended up down $180 or so, but given I was close to being down $1.1k, I'll take it!


Oh, and today I took my favourite Open Face Chinese guy for like $280 on SWC., so there's that.


I have a pretty big bet in the making hopefully with two regulars in the club, I'm going to bet that I can make $9k in a month playing there, $1/$3 or lower only. They're considering it, that would be fun. I would then come back here in April or May!


tl;dr - Cambodia is a GREAT place for live poker!

Ahhhhhhh! I am bummed to hear this, lol. I just found this thread and am really liking it, since it is very different from most of the PG&Cs I've read so far. Really liking the variety and hearing you talk about some of these other games and whatnot. Well, gotta do what you gotta do though, I can understand that.

Btw, I've always been curious when it comes to people like you who seem to be able to get the hang of (at least to the extent of having an edge over the other people who are also new to whatever the random game at hand is) such a wide variety of games so quickly.

Would you say it is mostly to do with inherent math ability to calculate lots of card-combos/ratios type of math in your head very quickly (which can be adapted to basically any game if you are really good and fast at that type of math), and just being innately better at that than the avg player?

Or is it more just to do with just being more aggressive/selectively aggressive than the avg player, so you just win more pots in all these random obscure games when your math/deep-level mechanics is only about on par with everyone else if the game is new to all of you.

Or do you just study these games very hard for a few hours or days any time a new one pops up, and don't play it much until you have studied it hard enough to have some kind of edge on the people who are total noobs compared to you who has at least one serious in-depth study session at it.

Or is it some other thing I'm not thinking of or some combination of those, or what?

I ask this because I've always felt like I'm wired the opposite way from someone like you. Like, I have almost no "natural' poker ability and my natural tendencies if I'd never studied the game would be to just be extremely nitty scared-money of a player, whereas it seems like the strongest players tend to start from the exact opposite starting point, of starting off way too aggro and maniacal, and slowly dial it in until they reach some optimal balance point over time (rather than the other way around). So, I had to just study to a lot to improve much, and also just focus all my attention one one single game (initially LHE, and then the main one, (big shocker): NLHE), so I could put as much total time into one game and not divide my non-natural crappy ability too thin in too many different games or whatever (to be fair, after the months turned into years, I'm sure I could've started branching out more, so that's on me for complacency and laziness probably).

My current plan, since I've been away from the game for 8 years since black friday until late last year, is to just stick to NLHE for a while (AGAIN, lol) since I want to be pretty good at it before I branch out and finally try to learn Omaha, and then eventually some of the other games.

Also, in regards to Chinese poker. Is this one of these things where it just happens to be called "Chinese poker" but isn't actually that popular in actual China with actual Chinese players and is weirdly more popular out west despite the name (i.e. like General Tsao's chicken or Orange Chicken or Kung Pao chicken in the U.S. vs its non-popularity in the actual country of China), or is it very big in China. I ask since everyone talks about how China might contribute to another significant boom-period in poker if they hit full poker crazy x 1.4 billion people. So, I guess I should try to be aware, ahead of time, of what games other than NLHE are most popular (or seem likely to become most popular) in China in coming years, so I can "be ready for it", lol.

Alright, well gl in your adventures. Sounds like you are having a fun time

Hey.

It's a hard topic to answer succinctly, but I'll try my best.

First of all, I'm definitely not a math guy, never have been. I can do basic maths and most of the time, and I probably semi-reliably guess the equities of hands, but that's about it.

In my opinion, it is very important to set clear parameters at all times for what you are trying to achieve. So for example, if I decide to try to learn a new game, I will set myself a budget for it and consider that just learning expenses, I'll make a plan on how I can improve in that game and, if available, who can help me with it.

I believe that good poker fundamentals are the most important thing that separates people who are good at adapting to new games and those that do not. I will give an example: Imagine you have two people, taught by two different mentors. Player 1 gets told to only raise TT+ and AQ+, always fold when there is a 3bet because it's always aces or kings etc.

Player 2 gets taught the correct thinking process behind every poker decision, they have in-depth discussions on the intents of your actions, what your turn bet is trying to accomplish, why and whether it will be able to do what you want etc.

Player 2 will inevitable have an easier time learning new games because not every aspect of that game is new and he has a much better framework that he can draw from and make new conclusions. And even if player 1 switches to the other teacher, he will have a much harder time re-learning what he thought he knew about poker.

Consequently, you need good sources. That is true for everything in life, not just poker. Whether it's friends who are really good players or training sites or forums like this one - those who can separate the good information from the bad will do better, always.

(Quick aside: Even reputable training sites are no guarantee for flawless content. I remember watching the OFCp Jen Shahade training videos on, I believe, Run It Once and while she gave a good impression on the basic rules of the game, a lot of her thoughts and approaches turned out to be plain wrong in my opinion. Meanwhile, random well posts on 2+2 may just have given me tens of thousands of dollar of equity over time)

So now we know what we're trying to do and we have a way to do it. From here, it's just earning experience and then actively drawing from that. Whenever you see a play you do not understand, you have to think about why the person did it and whether it was good and you can learn from it.

Another example: I used to play straight OFCp, no progressive. In that game, it doesn't matter if you get QQ on the top or AA, you will always get the same amount of cards in Fantasy Land (14). Therefore, you usually go for 2pair/Pair AA or KK/QQ.
Then I switched to Progressive and there, when you go to FL with KK, you get 15 cards, AA 16, Trips 17. I started playing a regular and he regularly put his queens in the bottom row. So if gets Q9975 starting, he would go Q99/75/---. First I thought that must be a mistake, after all you reduce your chances to go to Fantasy Land. But when reflecting on it, I realized that a) putting the Qs on the bottom significantly reduces the foul frequency and b) KK and AA Fantasy Lands repeat so much more often. You should have these realizations frequently, in every game you play and in life in general. If you don't, chances are you're missing out on progress because you aren't perceiving your environment actively enough.

The same skill will help you adapt in-game while playing. When people get set in their ways and mindset of what is "correct" poker, they'll fail to improve and adjust to changing circumstances (whether it's a whale player who you should exploit against or just the poker landscape changing).

So, in short:

Strong players have good poker fundamentals and they prepare a plan before they jump into a new game (or any game really). They have a good information network they can draw from and they actively think about the intentions of any of their or the other players' actions and continuously learn from it and become even stronger.



I don't know why Chinese is called that. I know that there is another similar game called Big Two that is popular and China and I'd guess it may have adapted from there.


As for "games of the future", it really depends on the stakes. Lowstakes will always be Hold'em, the casual player just doesn't wanna learn new stuff. Midstakes+ seems to be mostly Omaha in all its forms (4, 5 and 6PLO) and then highstakes you get the circus game mixes like Dramaha etc. because that's where the strong players can adapt quickly to new games and the weaker players try to avoid 1-game-specialists.

On this topic, I have a lot of thoughts on the Phil Galfond challenge! I hope I'll find time in the near future to go into that.


I'm currently living 2 minutes away from the Mekong river



and consequently read about it's significance in the region and the history. It is literally the lifeline of South East Asia and absolutely fascinating, I recommend reading up on it.

Anyways, that's it from me for today, I really hope this helped.

'til next time!

Wow, thanks for the in-depth response. I will try to keep that in mind if I try to learn some new games.

Btw, as far as the non-poker, traveling aspect, I was wondering, have you ever read any of those travel writing books by Paul Theroux.

I recently decided to try reading some of his stuff, and wanted to start with his earliest work and go chronologically, in case he makes references to past moments in later books, or just to see the evolution of his outlook or way of thinking as the years and decades go by, and also the evolution of how people talk and behave and the changing of technology and ways of life as the years and decades go by, just figured it would be more fun going chronologically than in random order.

So, started with his first major one (I think he had 1 or 2 non-fiction travel books before it, but more obscure) but this is the one that got him to prominence or got widely read I think, called "The Great Railway Bazaar", where he travels by train (other than when the tracks end at large bodies or water or no train route exists, then in those rare instance, he begrudgingly goes by ferry or bus or whatever, but 99% of time goes by train since he strictly loves train travel above all other forms of travel) all the way from his home in England to, I think Hokkaido in Japan, crossing all the way across Asia by train to get there.

I'm about 1/3rd or 1/2 of the way through it so far, and he just made his way through India and Sri Lanka and is about to head east into S.E. Asia at the exact part of the book I left off, lol, so he'll probably be traveling through the areas you've been blogging about here (albeit in the 1970s) in the next few chapters I read.

He has sort of a snarky attitude where he seems to enjoy making little sarcastic remarks or not always the most friendly conversationalist with the random people he chats with (moreso when he finds them pompous or annoying or ignorant, and less so when he finds them likable or interesting), and kind of comes off as a borderline a**hole at times, lol, but he's clearly intelligent and very well read/well educated, especially in historical details about the places he's traveling through, which he sprinkles in at semi-random in between saying what's going on around him, sometimes purely in an ironic or dark-humor way when the history tidbit happens to clash with whatever is going around him moreso than in a serious history lesson way.

Overall I've been enjoying reading it a lot though, so far. Probably going to read most, or maybe all of the rest of his travel books after I finish this one, when I'm in the mood to read travel writing.

Hey.

No, unfortunately I'm not familiar with Theroux. Sounds really interesting tho. I talked with Bob from Florida, old guy who has been all around the world, especially in the 70s etc. From what he said, the region has changed a lot.

I do understand that people get a little cynical after a while travelling here. It is, afterall, a shithole and people are piss poor. Which means, everyone is trying to hustle you. For example, in Thailand, I was asked to pay between 60 and 200 baht (first offer) for the same trip with a taxi bike.
Now, personally I respect the hustle - you gotta do whatcha gotta do to survive - and don't haggle over a couple bucks. But it sure does get tiring after a while...



Anyways, eventful day yesterday. After the last post, I kept playing Chinese against the same guy and won another ~$350 worth of BTC.

The first live session was completely uneventful, I went up $260 or so without any significant showdowns or interesting hands.

But the second session... whoo boy, that was fun.

I sit down and to my left, a dude from Iran to my left just lost a stack and rebuys for $300. I post the BB and he straddles $6. Almost the whole table limps and I look down at black aces. Jackpot, I already see myself in the ****ing mirage. I call and the straddle shoves all-in $300. And gets a call! Everyone else folds and I snap call. I don't know the board but Mr. Iran shows 74o and I win the pot. I get him to talk and entertain him while the rest of the table falls ****ing silent (IDIOTS!). Turns out he is down $2k already but he "plays highstakes" on 888 and is "Elite Shark" and gets $1k rakeback a week. Dayuum!

A few hands later he shoves 72o open because it is his favorite hand. And I get premiums left, right and center. Win another aces limp/shoving like a pro, big pot with KK turning a set, cold4bet AA for $275 into to regs, all the good stuff! I honestly don't remember much because of what happened after but I end up booking a $964 win.

There is a Finnish guy at the table, we'll call him Yuri (all names are changed). And he wants to drink and go party. I consider my options.. I haven't been drinking for literally months and he's Scandinavian. This is not gonna end well.... so ofcourse I say sure!

There is free Vodka redbull in the club and we tell them to keep it coming and talk poker stories a bit. Yuri is a funny guy and he likes to talk a lot. It's hard to get a word in edgewise. But I'm okay with that, chug my vodka and listen to his Sihanoukville stories. 5 or so drinks in we decide to go a bar across the street. There, you can choose your own music and we show each other German and Finnish music and keep drinking. 8 drinks in we switch to a bar with a pool table and play for $1 a game. He beats me twice and I tell a Cambodian barshark I'll pay him $5 bucks if he wins against Yuri. He sweeps the whole table on his first turn and I pay him $10 lol.


(Sorry for blurring his face, I haven't asked for permission to post and I respect privacy)

At this point, 10 or 11 vodka redbull in, I am absolutely wasted and decide to go home. Yuri at this point is just getting started and "going to party now". Crazy Scandinavian ****ers.

Soo, overall +$1570 yesterday and a massive hangover today. Pretty great day!

That's all I got, thanks for reading, see you next time!

Lol, nice

Very quick update:

-15k Chinese on SWC (~$150)
- Up $440 playing live. Literally no interesting hands, sorry.

Total +$290

Today at 2pm, I decided not to play until rakeback but instead take a trip to the S21 genocide museum. And it was absolutely horrifying!

Most of the things I heard in the audio guide, I already knew since I had read up on the Kampuchea Red Khmer regime before (btw., Netflix's "First they killed my father" deals with the issue and is a very atmospheric and important movie). But seeing the torture rooms, the single and mass cells and the devices they used to destroy innocent people's lives in person was harrowing. I only took two pictures since I felt it be inappropriate.




It is important that this museum exists but it is hard to experience it. You should definitely not go on an empty stomach, the whole way back I felt dizzy. It didn't help that my taxi driver was the first person I saw here over the age of 50 and I kept thinking that he lived through that ****. Man... I know what I'm gonna dream about today and I'm not looking forward to it.


I will still try to end this on a more positive note: If you are into mixed games, there is a discord server specifically dedicated to that that I want to invite you guys to. There are a lot of very strong crushers on there willing to help you learn! Here is the link: https://discord.gg/73bmrD

USA: There are no good live US players outside of the US. Why would they leave? They are conspiracy nuts or the hippie kind, all super liberal and they all play terrible. The older they are, the more tight passive they get.

Canada: Talk with these people, they are all super nice, no exception. Having even one of them in the game immediately improves the table dynamic. Their skill varies greatly, but you will not mind losing to them anyways. They're too nice.

Brazil: You may aswell put your stack closer to the line right now, since it will go in and out very regularly. There must be something in their water supply that makes them absolutely bananas. They love connectors, whether they are suited or unsuited doesn't matter. They don't play rivers, it's either in on the flop or the turn or they fold.


Scandi-****ing-navia:

Whatever limits you play, it is play money to them since apparently, they all earn a trillion dollars a month at home. Despite their maniac reputation, I found them surprisingly restrained preflop, they love to play postflop, deep. But beware, if you try to bluff these people, they will call you down. They are fearless and nothing gives them more joy then showing J high for stack on the river when you have T high. The rule goes as follows - Craziness from high to low: Norway > Finland > Sweden > Denmark. If they ask you to drink while playing and you accept, you will go home with no money in your pockets.

UK:

They don't seem to like casinos very much, the more homegame-y the location, the more Brits you will find. Every one of them will have a beer at the table at all times, Irish will a full one next to the one they are currently drinking.

Germany:

They will take the game seriously and follow the rules to a T. There is not a single good German poker player over the age of 40. For younger people, they are either tilting very easily (or leaving after one stack) or they are literally untiltable poker machines with no emotions and dead eyes. If you are ever lucky enough to be invited to a poker discord group by the latter, you enter a magical land of numbers and simulations that magically improves your poker game by 300% overnight.


Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey:

The ego and temper runs rampant with these people. They will try to run you over, and when that doesn't work, they will try it some more. They're either down 4-5 buy-ins within 30 minutes or they have the largest stack at the table, there is no in-between. They don't like to talk.


Every country that starts with an I (Isreal, Iran, Iraq, India) + Arabs

These people take the last group's characteristics to a whole new ****ing level. They're ****ing crazy. 74o is a premium hand. That gutshot could come on the river, they're in no matter what. If you check to them, they will bet $200 every. ****ing. time. Different from the other group, they never win a big stack, they just straight up lose. And they miraculously always run bad, aswell. Once in a blue moon you will find an Indian math prodigy that ****s up your life.

Russia and former Soviet Union:

Even more serious than the Germans, these people play for life or death. Their chips are literally bullets they can and will fire. If they lose the fight, they will hold a grudge and come back with a vengeance. Never fight Russians in the winter (= downswing). They somehow tilt even when they run good.


China:

There are three rules to Chinese people. If they are old and/or lack more than three teeth, they're the biggest nits you will ever see. They play AA and KK carefully and AK only when the situation is great. Some of them do have a "lucky number" or card though that they will go crazy on, so watch out for that.

If they're young and wear a hat, they are aggro and they're good. They will test you for your stack, they don't give a **** if you're trying to avoid confrontation and they'll somehow always have it.

If they're young and do not wear a hat, they're rich mega fish. They'll play with one card seen or even no card seen and they love nothing more than chasing that draw and then bombing the river when they hit it. You will win thousands of dollars here.

Japanese:

These people are all by-the-book tight agressive, there are no exceptions.

Australians:

They don't care. They're here to socialize and shoot the crap with people, if it was for play money, they'd be down for it aswell. If you engage in a conversation with them, you will forget you're actually playing poker and auto-fold the next 3 orbits, but you will have had a great time doing so.

____________________________________________
These rules are completely universal and non-disputable. If you are from one of these countries, you may aswell accept your fate. It is what it is.



In other news, I made 5k on SWC today ($50) and $470 live for a total profit of

$+520

I will post some interesting hands tomorrow, this post is long enough as is.

I hope you had a chuckle or two and see you later.

looool that was such an epic read and SO SO SO on point.

moar of this please!

Lol, didn't know hat changes so much with the Chinese ��

In

Yesterday, we went party again. First to a pool billard bar with a live rock band, I think it's called Sharky's. Winner keeps playing and all the bar girls cheer for you whenever you sink a ball. Very fun!

Quick video of the location I found on my phone
Then to another bar and then I honestly cannot remember anything after that. But it was pretty fun.

I woke up with a huge hangover today, but still decided to go to the poker club just to grab some free breakfast. Made $400 within 90 minutes. Combined with +18k on SWC (~$180) and +$108 live yesterday, that brings the tally to

+$688 since last update. Pretty nice.

Next Sunday, there is a $1k 1 rebuy NLHE/PLO tournament here but it's invite only. I'm currently trying hard to get in that, but so far it doesn't look great. Very unfortunate.

And, as promised, some semi-interesting hands that I remember.. I guess I'm officially a NLHE player again.

EP is a solid-ish Asian guy and raises to $10. Three random callers and I call A3 on the Button. In the Big Blind, there is a player we will call OneCard. OneCard is a super rich local businessman who just loves to play hands only looking at one of his cards! He is loose passive. He calls.

Board comes T62 and EP bets $40. 3 folds and I call, so does OneCard.
Turn 3. EP bets $100 and only has $45 behind. We call and OneCard tankfolds.
River is some brick and he shoves his last $45. I decide to cry call and he tables over KQ. Lol.


Hand 2. We are raising $8 with 65, two cold calls and then the BU, a Chinese with a hat, 3bets to $35, we have $350 effective. I decide to 4bet to $105 and fold to shove, but he decides to call.

Flop: Q86. I bet $100 and he folds.


Hand 3.

I have a very agressive table image. MP I believe makes it $10 and I raise to $35 with AKo, OneCard coldcalls and we go to the flop 3-handed.

Flop: T44 Checked to me and I decide to bet $40, OneCard folds and the other guy makes it $100 with $250 total. After some deliberation, I decide to shove. He tanks and then calls.

Board 2X and he tables J6.


Hand 4: A player who calls himself "Charming Nemo" from Singapore is a super maniac and he raises, as he usually does, to $10 from EP. One coldcall and I look down at black Kings. I make it $44 and he calls. We are $400 deep.

Flop: J96. He checks, I bet $75 and he immediately shoves $375. I call pretty quickly and he asks if we should run it once or twice. I wanna run it once. He tables 87. I kinda wanna run it twice now.

Turn is a 3, river bricks. RIP


And one last hand: I raise AK from EP and tight aggro player behind me 3bets to $40. We are roughly $800 deep effective. I decide to call.

Board: 623. He bets another $40 very quickly and after some deliberation, I call.

Turn: Q. I check and he kinda fake looks annoyed and checks behind.

River: 5 and I decide to overbet $200.

He tanks for 3 minutes, then calls TIME on himself, lets the clock run out and autofolds. Haha.


I'm sorry if those are not the most interesting hands, but... it's Hold'em after all, what can I say.


I'll chill and watch netflix for a while, skype with some people back in Germany and then I'll head to the NagaWorld Casino for the first time, the only licensed casino in Phnom Penh! I hear the games there have been crazy lately (OneCard has been going there after the games in the club break) and they play unlimited buy-in $2-$5 Hold'em. That should be fun!

I hope you guys have a nice rest of your weekend, please criticize my plays because I'm sure they suck. NLHE cashgame is something I never spent much time on, much less in recent years.

LOVE this quote haha.

On the previous post, living here in Malta i want to say that I play with loads of Italians and they just hate to feel they are being pushed around. That's why they play like they do. On the flip side they also hate to feel they are being made a fool of: i saw one tankfold trip 6s in a three way hand of drawmaha on the river and the aggressor tabled trip 5s, boy did I ever see someone go apeshit with himself.

I see you put the Irish in the same paragraph with the people from the UK. Not gonna go down well with some folk...

Loving the blog, keep it up!

Found this thread via posts in a Discord server.

Interesting that you are in Cambodia. I expect that means Phnom Penh. I was in Siem Reap last month as a tourist to see Angkor Wat and the other temple complexes, but except for seeing the temples I never left the tourist bubble.

Oh yeah, there is definitely value to showing bluffs to certain kinds of players. I am generally an advocate to showing my hands, I believe it helps you set up an image you actually want rather than one the cards you're dealt dictates and it also helps keeping the game casual and friendly. And furthermore, other players will start also showing their hands and that's just +EV.

Nice! How was Angkor Wat? I have heard mixed reviews, but I'm definitely gonna go at some point. As it stands now, I think I'll just spend April and May here instead of going to India or elsewhere. Unless I get sick and tired of live poker 'til then.


Anyways, yesterday didn't go well. I went -$875 in 2 hours live and then lost another 13k (~$125) on SWC, therefore I'm down

-$1000

I knew it was coming though, so it really doesn't matter too much to me. Two hands:

I raise AQ to $8 and get 2 calls. The board come 852r and I cbet $12, tight reg calls. Turn is a Q and I bet $22, he calls. River is a T and here I make a pretty massive mistake in betting $44, he has $150 left at this point. This is either a check or a block bet on the river, this bet accomplishes nothing and I believe this is my first blunder I've made since I came here. Anyways, he shoves and I'm already realizing my mistake and irritated and decide to throw good money after the bad money and call. He tables TT.


I straddle $6 and the nice Canadian to my left and "Shakal", a really good South Korean reg, probably the second best player in the room, limp. I look at AJo and make it $25. Both call. We're roughly $450 or so effective,

Board is AJ8 and I make it $44 and the Canadian calls.
Turn 7 bringing a flush draw. and I ask him "How big is your hand? Very big? Kinda big?" to which he replies he cannot even remember. In hindsight, this should have given me a hint that he is strong, but I didn't make much of it at the time.

I bet $85 and he shoves $375. I call fairly quickly, expecting a couple draws (QT, flush draws, maybe some pair + gutshots) and then set 88 and T9. He tables T9 and river bricks.

The rest I lose fairly standard with QQ vs. flopped set. GG


I took the rest of the day off and caught up on sleep, which was really nice. Also tinder'd a bit. I basically just use it to meet other travellers, but it's always fun to see what can come of it (although I barely ever write or meet).

In Cambodia, every conversation you do enter in inevitably ends like this:



Gotta respect the hustle, I guess. Sorry for wasting your time lady, I'm not into that stuff - if you are though, Cambodia is ****ing paradise, these girls are actually pretty cute. Too distracting. In the poker club, there are actually quite a few people who have longterm khmer girlfriends and the drama you experience is just beyond insane. I don't know how or why men do it, it's not gonna last anyways and she's taking you for all she can get, where is the point in that?

That being said, there is one really cute couple (she is Thai though), the dude I went drinking with a couple days ago, really smart and interesting guy. They found each other when she took time off work to teach him Thai in Chiang Mai and they've been together for 2 years now. So I guess technically, it can work?!

Anyways, back to the grind I go today. As I've written before, there will be a $1k 1 rebuy tournament on Sunday and I really wanna play that, but it's invite only. So I'm seriously considering playing the $5/$5/$10 mandatory straddle PLO just to make the connections needed... Maybe, we'll see.

That's all I have for today, have a great day.