Interesting read. A bit discouraging. Thinking of coming in late summer/early fall to grind but doesn’t seem worth it now. Heard the rake was high but still beatable. Didn’t realize it was this bad. I thought the private clubs/rooms were legal? Why not grind there if better rake and more recs? Regardless, I appreciate the posts as it keeps me abreast of the poker scene before coming there.

You still his brain.

5 south, as limpinbarney said it's a surcharge for the additional time the hand takes. That said, it's kind of ironic on Clownworld's part to be all of a sudden concerned with time efficiency given the gross incompetence of their dealers. Dealers who, by the way, **** up running it twice EVERY SINGLE TIME they do it unattended. Literally a floor has to be called over to basically instruct the dealer exactly how many cards to burn and turn.

I still maintain that the house should do it free of charge because chopped all-in pots are generally going to result in longer running games. Gotta be worth more than 5 dollars. I could be convinced of a pot size limit though, as people running it twice for a 250 dollar pot is kind of ridiculous.

Yeah. Kind of awkward as I've sort of taken a "position" not to play at the other place in town. I think it doesn't matter though. In another month it will be low season and their holdem game will be even worse than Naga, if it runs at all. And Sihanoukville is one of the worst human settlements in history so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go there just to play a good game.

I give Naga a lot of **** but I've kind of thrown in my lot with them. I'd just like them to be better. I respect the man who runs the game and I know he has to fight a constant uphill battle with that corporate beast and with the limited resources he is given.

What's the deal with you not wanting to play at RK then? Previous disagreements with management or what?

Not gonna go into it on a public forum. I'm probably not welcome there anyway.

Fair enough, I am intrigued though... maybe over a beer some day.

maybe time to go back to the online grind for a few months over the low season?

with the Naga changes, PokerAce shutdown, and RK game being too low stakes and full of nits...seems like a pretty ****ty time to be a live grinder in PP.

I don't think I have played a single hand at Naga in at least two years. I get enough reports from Renton to want to play there. I've played at RK1 a few times but I haven't found the games to be that good. And call me biased, but it's just not the same atmosphere there anymore as when we were in back in the Comfort Star. So I wasn't playing that much live anyway but I had similar thoughts as you when leaving Phnom Penh and coming to Kampot. I make about $30 a day here in the small game and just picked up an official salary in the game to supplement the rest. But I see other players down here either playing online or picking up a job like teaching English online. That's basically my advice; find a girl to take care of you for a few months, find somewhere quiet and grind online.

You don't want to know Sam. Once the curtain has been lifted, you can never un-see what you've seen.

Quick update: Naga games went off a sheer cliff over the last three weeks or so. I went there today at 7:30 to check it out and there were seats open in both games (terrible sign tbh) and they were two of the worst games of all time. I just cashed in my last food coupon and left. It's probably the first I ever went to a poker room and didn't play.

I'm gonna keep tabs on the games and hope things get better but in the meantime this log is probably going to transition to being online poker-themed.

I've been telling you to do this for months.

I've been keeping my thumb on the pulse of the Clownworld games by showing up each weekend to play one session. Games were pretty crap last week, but today they were great. I won a tidy 900 but was really bothered by the following hand that happened midway through the session:

Two fishes limp, I raise the cutoff to 30 with AKo, the button quickly calls, and loosish regs in the SB and BB each call. The limpers fold.

Pot: 120, flop Ac9d3h

Checks to me and I bet 50, button pretty quickly calls, blinds fold.

Pot: 220, turn Ac9d3h6c (I have no club)

Villain is a middle-aged Chinese man. He's been playing pretty tight so far and the only hand I can recall of his that was shown was when he donk bet a 3 way flop and proudly showed top set when everyone folded. That's all I have about this specific player but he sort of slots into a genre of Chinese player that I'll discuss in a minute.

I check, he pretty quickly bets 115 leaving 350 behind. I decide to call.

Pot: 450, river Ac9d3h6cKc

I check, he insta jams the rest. I fold.


This hand really made me upset because I felt it epitomized the state of these games. I didn't feel that the river completing the flush or giving me two pair was relevant at all. I don't think he ever has a flush, I don't think he would jam river with two pair, and I don't think he is ever bluffing. I think that vs the population of Chinese nit-fishes with the described player's demeanor and tendencies, that the range I'm facing on the turn is pretty clear cut {99, 33} and that's just that. On the one hand I was angry that I didn't make the fold on the turn, but I was even more bothered by the fact that the turn could be a fold vs any player. TPTK, no flush or straight is possible, no two pair is even really possible (only two combos A9s and he likely folds A3s pre), and just him calling a single 40% pot bet and betting himself narrows his range to those hands. Ridiculous.

Anyway, games seem to be picking up so I'll keep popping in on the weekends. I'll be spending most of my time working on my PLO game and most of my action will be online. The PLO games on the Asian poker apps are still very good. It's hard to see a future in NLH, but other games still have a lot of potential for those willing to learn them.

Could he not have a9s or a9d? I guess you do block one of them. He could have aQ as well so the call on the turn I dont mind?

i mean, you play these games and know them better than me and prob anyone else.

but yes this hand looks totally absurd.

especially this

Good fold
Saved turning your $900 win into a $300

Preflop, he calls {22-QQ, AQ AK ATs+ KTs+ QTs+ maybe 87s+, maybe some smaller Axs or SCs}

Flop, facing a bet of 50 usd (the % of the pot is irrelevant) and with two players to act after him, he continues with only {99, 33, AK, AQ, AJs ATs}

Turn, he checks back top pair or bets smaller. 115 bet is AK at bare minimum. I think AK actually would bet less. Again, its 115 usd, almost 1/4 of a buyin, the fact that it's barely half the pot doesn't matter.

If these types of players floated flop with 54s, then they wouldn't be these types of players. If these types of players bet turn with AQ, then they wouldn't be these types of players.

I used to be of the mind that it is impossible to put someone on a <10 combo range of hands until at least three bets went in after the flop. Especially in live hold'em where it's so hard to make a strong hand. In any spot where I only lost to a set, I'd generally pay that set off pretty happily. With this new generation of Chinese players that's just no longer a profitable rule of thumb. They are insanely polarized when they bet more than 25bb, and in this case there's no bluffing pole so it's just always thick value.

These guys don't bluff all in on the river and if they do then good for them.

In theory the fold is obviously absurd, but if you think that you have a strong enough specific read to justify folding anyway that's up to you, but it's hard to say anything about from an outside perspective in a forum.





I'd definitely station tho

No idea how this is a cbet oop here, probably checking everything besides top set.