This is very alarming indeed... I know i have been telling how safe it is there... but was first time in many years something like this happened within city(kidnapping happened in nearby samal island)... But yea was less than mile away from area i usually stay when i'm there

Hey, any Bank / ATM suggestion to get round about 40k php cash in Manila. The atms Ive tried only want to give max10k at a time and doing 4 withdrawals would make the costs huge.. Thank you already.

I know BPI will let you get 20k

HSBC, 40k

I'm living in Davao right now and yeah that is really messed up what happened. Then again, Burns were you posting that from Bangkok where there has been plenty of past turmoil and an even worse explosion than in Davao? Weren't you also robbed at gun point in Manila? So you have first hand experience of just how dangerous Manila is capable of being. All that info and with the fact you have never been down south makes your comment seem a bit absurd.

Sure for many people there might not be much incentive to visit Mindanao anyways, so by all means avoid it. There is no burgos street and the live poker games aren't big, but there are still some great and interesting places. It's just a shame if ever anyone is curious/interested to visit Davao or some other areas in the region, but passes on it because of a foolish fear that their safety is significantly worse in comparison to the rest of the Philippines.

bit of a difference between danger of people wanting your valuables and people actively trying to harm you with possibility of ya head being chopped off.

seems % (or potential %) is much higher in south compared to north. Especially with davao location and du30 being previous mayor there. And one i would rather avoid. even if it is 0.005% difference (bit weird saying thats absurd...)

Was quite close to the bomb that went off last week.
Didn't realize it was a bomb though, just shrug it off and moved along.
Mood in Davao took quite the hit imo, but for me it doesn't feel any less safe.
Even if they found a bomb in NCCC earlier, I can still stroll the streets alone at 4am and feel safe.

I'm in Cebu for a few days and looking for recommendations on fun stuff to do and places to eat/booze. Also down to meet up with poker bros if anyone is around. PM me!

Fu ck local Filipinas

mexican place and vietnamese pho place in crossroads were great, mexican place is a bit pricy by philippines standards though.

Tajimaya Japanese Grill in that complex is very good as well. Gonna try to get to The Pig and the Palm this weekend.

if any fellow sea grinder wants a free copy of "don't starve together" send me a pm with your steam id.

BGP you might be interested whatever comes from this thread. (if anything will?)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines...omicides_over/

Thanks, exactly the kind of stats I was looking for re murders.

Read a great article from Time (or BBC, delivered by Line app). Will link to it if I can find it again. Article went over a lot of analysis, looking at different rates on crime, even comparing past drug wars in Indonesia, Thailand, and in PI under Marcos. The 3000 deaths in 3 months was eye opening compared to other drug wars where not even 3000 died in those others over a multi year span. And targeting all users with the same methods (murder) is certainly a new development.

As to BGP's note, I would point out two things- 1, I think the 1900 deaths cited seems low, which by itself would then show a huge increase compared to baseline Wikipedia stats. 2, the stat comparison also could be off if the wiki stats are all murders and the 1900 (or whatever the number really is) only refers to the drug war murders.

Not messing with BGP in particular, but it is kind of amusing to hear arguments that traffic/terrorist incidents/other crime is so bad in the PI and to be wary of these outliers (like the terrorist killing some resort tourists), when the drug war deaths are something pretty tangible and the response is "it could be the same as before it may just be some media bias."

I got a bad feeling that this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Once again:

I think murder rate has risen. I think this is bad. I think it will get worse.

I also think that most media sources have been doing a **** job of reporting on it.

Looking forward to the article.

Here's the link to the article, hope it works. Not the last word on the situation by any means, but the article does delve deeper into the issues than most-

http://time.com/4462352/rodrigo-dute...xid=emailshare

BGP, saw your reply. Hear ya man, in fact I think you being skeptical is integral thinking to keep things intellectually honest.

Just an update for the players interested in "High Stakes" Games in Manila (Php200/500 and more):

- Mikes Room is closed and very likely will never re-open
- Alex Chong opened a new room in the Remington with a focus on the bigger games. Rake structure is great for Manila. Details: http://somuchpoker.com/lucky-fish-po...oom-in-manila/

What´s the action like in alex´s new room?
What games and stakes run weekly?

So far every time they've contacted me it's been to play 100 200. Think they really overestimate the size of 200 500+ player pool but it's a nice goal and selling point.

How about the 100-200 player pool?

No clue how lucky fish is doing attracting those players but cod and especially solaire constantly have games running now. Resorts world gets an occasional one too.

If lucky fish gets a regular game running it'd definitely be worth it for the reduced rake, but for that stake I think there's still more profitable options online.

So why did mikes room close? Didn't it just open/re-open only about a year ago?

Man, how fast does the Manila poker scene change? I haven't been in Manila since 2012, seems completely different since then.

Tons of rumors. Only thing which I can say with some confidence is that for one reason or another pagcor did renew his license/contract/something so he is not allowed to operate in midas.

Holy Sh**! $10-$12 rake is low in the Philippines?

What are the staffs like in these rooms? Are the dealers any good?

*Wondering if I could find a spot in management in the Philippines with all my experience in the business.