Joya is in a much better location, unless you plan on going to burgos on a regular basis. Price wise Rockwell will be considerably more.

Gramercy has the best club at the moment on top, mall is very so so, but the area is not great, and van be prone to flooding.

For tailoring in Manila I used to use the one in the Shangri la edsa hotel, but find that a quick trip to Hong Kong is a better option for that.

I'd read about the tailor at Shang edsa on another forum, Any idea what it's called? I'm thinking about a trip to Hong Kong for new suits/shirts, but seems over kill for modifications.

the Rockwell places seem the same price? Gram small two beds going for slightly more than large one beds in Rockwell...

I'm working at Ayala triangle. Without traffic, it's not much difference, but with traffic, Rockwell is 10 20 minutes further away.

I'd rather live in Rockwell than at the Gram. Even with your work location and even if i was hitting burogs on the the reg, its only 5 mins around the corner.

I lived in Grammercy last year. As i told before amenities are damn good.
The problem is that usully units are small or tiny (they got even 26 sq.m. units).
They are also not really good furnished. Almost impossible to find a unit with comfortable sofa (wich is very important for online poker pro!).
If you dicide to rent a unit there try to get the highest floor as possible. It will allow you to feel like a boss against random people in the elevator.

Shenzen seems to be the place to go for tailors these days. HK your just paying for the reputation. A good Bangkok tailor is probably as good as HK with a little better value.

Tailors in BKK and HK = Sleazy indians with highly intransparent prices that just do the measuring and provide the material to the same sweat shop.

There are some non indian exceptions that do everything in house but they tend to charge top dollars.

you guys are guys right? flying to another country for clothes?

mentioned a few weeks ago that poker died in march and have been waiting for this time for the games to (hopefully) get good again

last year at this time on 888 with a 40k jackpot (which is what it is right now) there would have been 10ish full ring tables running with half of them having $20ish or up average pots of the .50-1 jackpot games, plus a few decent 1-2, .50-1 non jackpot, and 10 or so .25-.50s with half of them having $10+ average pots

currently there are 6 of the jackpot tables running with $13 being the highest average pot

there are 4 .25-.50s that have full tables one has over $10 average the rest are below


there are two 1-2's, on one of the table i have notes on every player and none are fish (28 avg pot but table just started) and the other has a $24 avg pot, there are two people i dont have notes on but that average pot is awful so im sure they arent action, out of all the tables i have zero players noted green (real fish) and less then a handful of purples (to active/if flops Q hi with AQ you have his stack type fish but not great action) and they are all so spread out no 2 on the same game


poker is dieing


(before spiv shows a graph of a guy who won some money last night to refute everything i just said over the last month i had my first winning month in a long time and am not trying to tell a "poor me" story, im just trying to let those who prepare to move abroad for poker understand the current climate before they make a pretty significant life decision, that guy saying he wants to have $44,387 before moving might have the right idea)

Yeah, I noticed that MTTs on 888 had died off as well when I deposited again 1 month ago (I was playing Live Juin-Sept and only Party online...). That said, there has been a significant increase in the numbers in the past couple of days and clear presence of the fish coming back, so I do believe it is picking up again.

If you are breakeven during those few months, maybe you should check out different options for next year. Like playing Live here or in Cambodia. Or flying back out west to grind the juicy live games (like I do) before playing online again in Asia for the other 9 months. Poker is not dead. It is unhealthy, sure, but we simply need to adjust... GL

Rockwell seems greener and more pleasant to walk around in. I hate wasting time in traffic tho so I recommend testing that commute.

The mall next to Grammecry, while kinda empty, has a nice Rustans and the movie theater was clean / comfortable. The french baker next to Rustans has good baguettes.

Couple people from work live in my building... overall a small positive.

do people in asia just not know, or are they trying to pull a fast one on you when they only put ice cream on top of the cone and not fill the cone at all? i mean even at mcdonalds where there ice cream must cost 2 cents on their end they pull this stuff

yes i have multiple options lined up for next march, i was to lazy over this past year, the bad option is playing enough sng's every night to break even on my expenses but that would be hell, the better options dont involve poker at all and im praying that it works out cuz i pretty much hate every second of playing at the moment and need a break

I'd say that you should expect to pay 20-30% more at a comparable Rockwell unit than in Gramercy.

Overall I'd say the lifestyle at Rockwell will be better, as everything there is convenient if a bit expensive.

Traffic is a way of life in Manila. If this is a big issue for you, I'd suggest looking for a place in Salcedo Village, Makati so you can just walk to and from work. Paseo Parkview is decent, if a bit old, but very close to your location.

As for the suits, I don't recall the name but I think there was only one so if you go there and ask I'm sure you will find it. Personally I think Hong Kong has the best suit makers still, so I'd prefer them to Thailand, Shenzhen, or Philippines. A good rapport with your suit maker is critical to getting the best fit, so if you can't speak Thai or Mandarin, then HK is your only bet.

Guys, a couple of questions about Boracay:
- People say it's one of the more expensive places in Philippines. Would you please give me an example of how much food or drinks in one of the more expensive clubs bars cost?
- Is it worth it if we don't go during peak season, provided that all we will do is go to the beach all day everyday and drink every evening in the nicest clubs there? I was told that it's pretty dead during the rest of the time.
- I've seen several "TOP 7 Bars/Clubs in Boracay" articles and usually 3-4 of these look like hippie places or just dirty old bars that don't look exciting at all. Are there bars/clubs where you can hear modern house music or other electronic music sub genres?
- Is it fool of tourists or is it 50/50 tourists locals etc.
Anything else you think we should consider / anything you would recommend?

i stay at rockwell and its dirt cheap 27k for a 1 room

Iv been there last october for 1 week. Low season..
-Most expensive is Manila. Just make a quick reseach about Borocay, seems you got no idea what kind of island is that.
-THere is no nice clubs. Modern songs.. dude, its not Ibiza. "PUT YOUR ****ING HANDS UP"-style in every disco
-during low season its 30% korean/chineese tourists, 10% europeans, 40% ladyboys, 20% locals

My friends saying that during new year and in March its different and much better.
The funniest activities there:
-Jet ski
-magic mushrooms

Its also almost impossible to get drugs there. Its a lot of raggae bars with Jamaica flags and Bob Marley pictures, but they dont sell weed.. wtf?

Even if your idiotic theory was right, what difference does it make where you choose to live? If you make a living from online poker it's arguably even worse to stay in an expensive country if you are expecting your income to decrease.

you cant even think straight after seeing a post i make

A) its not an idiotic theory, i posted graphs showing the decline last time, every site is losing players

B) how do you know these people planning on moving are supporting themselves through online poker now? the guy who is waiting to have $44,269 saved up before coming here is working, others might also

C) you dont think that if you lived in AUS still and were planning on moving to a third world country alone to play online poker that you wouldn't want to know what the current state of the game is like before moving?

D) not everyone has rich parents that grow award winning lambs to bail them out if they get in trouble, i wouldn't be stranded here if i went broke but some people may have no plan for emergency, and i know that if i saw the state of the games being like they are now before i moved here there is no way i would have come with 6k

E) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Yt0xJKDY8

Losing players doesn't necessarily mean the games get harder. 888 has a lot less players than pokerstars, which site do you think is tougher?

Posting player numbers means nothing. Do you have any actual graphs that show reduced profit, or are you again using your own pathetically tiny sample as a basis for all your claims, like the time you thought you could beat 10 man STTs for 65% roi?

You guys really suck when you tard up the thread with this awful argument

i never said 65%

who do you think quits playing? online pros or amateurs?

if i want "proof" all i have to do is look in my lobby and see that i have notes on 95%+ of the players, there are currently TWO .50-1 jackpot tables with a 44k jackpot, its peak time there should be 10 tables right now if things were as good as last year

of these two tables one has a $14 avg pot with 8 regs (one reg is semi fishy) one random with a full stack and one random with $30........ there is no action there

the other is the "big action" game with an $18 pot and thats cuz there is 1 fish that every reg has been following from table to table as he busts and rebuys...... there is 1 fish in .25-.50, zero fish in 1-2


i sit here every day in peak times going through the lobby looking for good games, its all i do every day, you can choose to think i am lying about this for whatever reason but im pretty sure anyone who doesnt obsess over everything i say would believe me




why dont you post some proof that the games are still as profitable as they have always been? your asking me to prove something i cant prove so ill ask you to do the same


or better yet just ignore my posts in the future instead of making yourself look ******ed by having to argue anything even if you know that you are wrong

my goal was not to argue with him about this, was just trying to give an up to date perspective on how the poker climate is

he just reads my name and becomes totally delusional and must tell me im wrong no matter what

I mean it clearly depends on your skill level. As well as your game type and site you play on. You don't think those .25-.50 and .50-1 guys are playing perfect poker do you? Those tables can obviously be beaten.

Maybe try to branch out and really get good at omaha or mixed games so you can give yourself a variety of options for action. Didn't you say you had some plo background k2d? Oh and Mtt's...those are without a doubt soft year round. Also like some said play some live poker. But imo the most important thing really is you just need to be working more hard on improving your game. Because there really are tons of players/pros where it doesn't cross there mind for minute about the games being sooo much tougher during those months.

furnished? you have any pics you could share?

Just to clarify: I don't think you are lying, I just think you are stupid. You probably truly believe what you are saying, just like the guys who believe online poker is rigged.

I don't respond to your posts to argue with you, I respond for the benefit of casual readers who might mistakenly think that you are some kind of trusted and respected poster and follow your advice to their detriment.

As for educating us to current state of the poker climate, you are probably the least qualified person in the world to do that. You are the guy who still posts bad beats in unrelated forums 10 years after most people realised that literally nobody cares.