Philippines in a nutshell here (outside of the highest end area's)

What bothers me the most is the Philippines is a beautiful country and Filipino people generally are very welcoming and decent. It's the desperation and corruption that lawlessness and poverty breeds which is behind so much of the crime here. The lack of infrastructure here is beyond belief sometimes.

PI has tons of natural resources, beautiful beaches, and a booming tourism industry. I really believe it could have been like another Hawaii or Singapore if it wasn't for the sickening actions of the people in power here; out to bleed this whole country dry. Look up the history of Philippine politics to see how f***ed up it has been here, those Filipino's of the past who died fighting for independence would be disgusted at the actions of the leaders this country has had.

massive fail by me attempting to load a photo there!!

will try later when i'm a bit more Sober

Can you get compt/discounted rooms from casinos in Manila for playing a lot of poker?

No, the casinos doesn't care about the poker rooms, its only the casino games that get comps
Most casinos doesn't even give free food for the high stakes players

Arrived in Philippines last night.

The cash game rakes suck, I see what everyone was talking about.

Questioin :

The card room host told me that there was no juice on tournaments. 100% of the buyin goes to the prize pool Is this true?

This. This is what I've always considered the root of the problem to be in the Philippines.



And yet, most of the people seem to be pretty enamored with the Aquinos. When living in Manila, and walking around the ghettos at night, seeing family after family sleeping homeless on the streets, then passing the humongous golden palace (it might as well have been one,) the Aquinos lived in, I could hardly see why. They don't appear much better to their people then Marcos was. My guess is they are just better at hiding that fact, and brainwashing the people. Giving them just enough to love and support their adminastration , well the **** them in the ass over and over again on a daily basis.

Where did you play? How high was the rake? How would you rate the play?
Im gonna be there for two weeks, flying in on the 5th. I was thinking about playing a little, but if its really not worth it I must pass on it all together.
Judging from what I could find on the web the hyatt looks like the nicest place in town, but thats just a guess.

Hyatt is dead, no action

I played at Metro Card club, I don't know if it was 100% prize pool or not. They never posted anywhere how many players were in the tourney. Just did a 3k buyin, labor day special, 300k prize pool guaranteed. It was a huge room, lots of tables. But the rake here just kills me. Also not sure if I trust the room/dealers. They make so many mistakes and hand shuffle, overused decks.... still forming my option.

Went to the Hyatt last night aka Casino Filapino and they told me they didn't have a poker room, only stud table game or something. I left and went to Pan Pacific instead.

They do make some mistakes. It will depend on which dealer you get, mostly. I remember one in particular, that insist on shuffling super fast, but she's horrible at it, and averages a big mistake every few hands. Then there is another one that is equally as fast, maybe faster, shuffles fast, and deals faster, but she's excellent at it, as fast as she is I never once saw here make a mistake. Most of the other dealers are somewhere in the middle of those two.


Hand shuffling is the way it's done anywhere, and everywhere in the Philippines.


Over all though, I'm pretty sure both the room and the dealers are on the level. If nothing else, at least the games are super soft there.

[QUOTE]Over all though, I'm pretty sure both the room and the dealers are on the level. If nothing else, at least the games are super soft[QUOTE]

Thats kind of what i was wandering. If the game is soft enough and the rake isnt that high then maybe its worth playing. I guess ill just find out for myself. The pictures in the gallery make the place look like a home game sort of. I saw no dealer rack on the table and no gator for the drop so thats kindd of wierd. Maybe they were just tournamnet tables? I got to go at least check it out. I need a chip for my collection anyway.
Where there any ladies worth looking at? What kind of tips was the dealer making? I can only imgaine how juicy that job would be for a filipino!!

Not to derail this thread too much, and it's true the Aquinos aren't perfect. Still, there is a big difference between living in luxury from money you've had a long time and not fixing or being able to fix the fact that people have no money vs actively stealing the money that should be going to the poor. Can never know for sure who is stealing and who isn't but just have to make the best guess based on evidence/allegations. They haven't caught the Aquinos with a $600m swiss bank account of unexplained wealth. Anyhow I'm guessing the rest of 2p2 doesn't care about this so I won't go on.

I'm thinking about leaving Manila and going to a beach to relax for a week. I don't have a lot of cash, any suggestions?

Puerto Galera and stay in either Sabang or White Beach.

Just looked it up, looks cool, bus and a fairy there is 1400p round trip.

Any suggestions on an inexpensive place to stay?

We are talking about Metro club right? The one in Manila right?

At least I am.

Metro club is run professionally and is legit. It's also, traffic wise anyway, the best place in the Philippines to play poker.



Most of the dealers there are women, and some of them ain't too hard on the eyes either.

As for the players, it's probably not too much different then anywhere else. Most of the players are, of course, guys. The females that do play are a mix of young and older. And of course the younger ones are a mix of good looking, meh, and not so much, as you might expect. But your likely to come across a hottie or two here and there.

Is anyone going out tonight? I was thinking about going to Makati and find a good place to have drinks. Any suggestions?

for any of you guys grinding there that are American ...


What have you done since Black Friday?


Have you been able to play with funds from a Filipino bank account?

Also, is your address on the poker site, still listed as American, or is it Filipino address now?

If it's a Filipino address, what did you have to show to change it?

You can try this place .http://badladz.com/rooms-at-badladz/...om-at-badladz/ I just found it online its between Sabang and White beach. I have never been there so this is not an endorsement or anything but its run bye some Euro Expatriat.

Yeah I dont know i was just judging by the pics on the website. I have heard from other sources that metro was the place to play. Ill check it for myself in a few days!!

I'm not sure on how inexpensive is inexpensive. But at this time of year your going to be wanting an Aircon room. For 1000php a night you can get your self a decent room somewhere in Sabang.

http://www.divebigapple.com/

Big Apple is centrally located and you are no more than five minutes away from all of the action!

I think the 1400p round trip is the Sikat that leaves City State in Malate at 8 or 9am. My advice would be to just get a one way ticket and plan your return accordingly.

If you come down hit me up and we can go for some beers

Hey PItom, I just got to white beach a few hours ago, having some beers at white beach resort right now, I PMed you my cell, if you want to grab some beers

just put up this page for Cebu

http://www.highstakeslife.com/cebu/

why do you like cebu so much, compared to cities such as davao and manila?

Hey guys,

whats the visa situation for leaving Philippines for a few days? I am currently on my first 59 days extension which lasts until June and want to go to HK for a weekend. Can I somehow retain this visa or do I have to start all over again with 21+38+59 days when I re-enter the country? I do have ACR-I card btw.

Also do I need onward ticket when coming back or is ACR card enough?