Hi guys,

A little bit of backstory, i've just quit my job after 5 years (26, M) and have just booked a 1 way ticket to Manila to play poker to travel around. Currently playing poker about 20 hours a week, but looking to put in more hours abroad. I was looking for like minded people who are into poker and wanting to maybe follow the APT circuit, chat or even go check out some cool places !

Any pointers about poker in Asia, tips or pointers to help me out would be much appreciated as well

Read InfoShove's thread and do literally the opposite of what he does and you'll be fine.

HSBC ATM is your friend. Most ATMs only let you take out 10k, and charge a fee, HSBC is 40k max, no fee on their end.

If you can stand the smoke then Resorts World is probably best for you. Metro Card Club is non smoking but caters more to lower stakes. Action is pretty good at both casinos.

Airport taxis will try to scam you.

You want to find a hotel near where you are going to play, be that MCC or Resorts World, as the traffic is brutal. Also there are games @ Okada and Solaire.

Bring cash is what I recommend. Just tough to exchange peso away in Philippines if not impossible without local bank account. Tried HSBC in solaire only gave 10k max which has been result with any atm I've tested so far.

City of dreams poker room is closed and supposed to be moved to Okada. Last time I checked okada couple days back no game there. Not sure if resorts world runs 100-200 (2/4nl) that's the highest casually running stake anyways around here. Solaire has most action and biggest games.

When are you coming ? Will be staying in Manila for next two months, can grab a beer or something if your around that time

The problem with Solaire is that it is incredibly smokey. People smoke in the room. So if you smoke I guess that is alright, but otherwise, it is brutal on your lungs. I went to the bank today and they offered a very small spread between buy and sell for USD. The spread was half a peso IIRC.

Yes I'm non smoker too and can agree with that. COD was quite smokey aswell (need to go through the smoking areas constantly) There used to be a pretty nice poker room running at Okada called LT room seemed like its shut down now aswell. Luckily I play online and don't have to go to the casinos tbh.

Actually the smoke is (was) one of the reasons why I usually preferred to play in Solaire over COD. Not saying it's great at Solaire, it's much improvable for sure and best should be banned altogether but COD Manila is the nut low wrt 2nd hand smoke. Not sure what they are doing with their AC there, but they are doing it wrong. It can only get better at Okada. I was there a couple of weeks ago too, apparently newish looking poker room but all deserted.
Yep, Solaire has the best action at 100/200+ ATM IME, 100/200 or higher never ran at Resorts World when I was there. Long waits at Solaire usually though, not enough tables and dealers.
OP you might want to check your ticket/travels, airlines often do not let you travel to Phils with no return or onward ticket

Yeah at Okada new nice poker room next to sports bar thingy with really big tv screens etc. however its been always empty when I did check it out. Very bad marketing & putting the poker room to the deepest corner of the casino did its job, curious to see if they turn it around as pokerstars room moves there. Probably they don't even care as slots & other table games are making so much more than the poker.

Aswell the taxi mafia getting pretty bad here. Was impossible to get a cab with meter from solaire few days ago, there was huge load of taxis asking huge fixed prices from everyone (doubled the overpriced crab prices) thats what came after they smoked out the uber from the Phillys - seems like they really don't want tourist here. Feel like things were much better with casinos & taxis here some time ago.

Make it a vacation then return to australia where games are far better.

Grab is no longer in manila too?

It is. But think it was "overpriced" for him

In my limited experience (mainly Sydney) yes the games in Aussieland are better. Even better you could consider US/Canada if you're serious about making money. But ofc SEA has a couple features that attract some peeps more than the state of the games.

Grab was still running normally the weekend before the last one that's all I can say

I mean sometimes Grab is not cheaper or even more expensive than local taxis but has the added convenience that you know the price, driver etc. and on a global scale it's still very cheap. If you stay far away from the casino area then it might be a problem

I sympathize with the taxis. The meters barely pay anything, and sometimes you are asking them to go into areas that have just brutal traffic. That being said, as a consumer I am simply just going to tell the cabbie where I am going before getting into the cab and moving on to the next guy if he asks for a flat rate payment or fare + extra fee deal. But I will usually throw them a 50 peso tip at the end of a longer trip.

I land in Manila 22/12/18 and will be there for 1.5 months so far before i head to Tokyo with my family then i'll probably come back after 3 weeks - but yes defs down for a beer!

Thanks for the response guys - ive heard people say that the traffic is horrible - a lot of the accomodation says its about 5km away from resorts world - in terms of a taxi ride (how much/how long do you think it'll take on average).


My main game in Melbourne is $1/$3 and occasionally dip into higher games depending on softness etc. I also have not booked accomodation, so any pointers would be great.

In relation to the comment about a 1 way ticket - i have a ticket out of the country (flying to Tokyo in Feb for a couple of weeks)

I would actually recommend that you stay in Pasig, near Metro Card Club. The Resorts World air is very smokey, whereas the Metro Card Club is non smoking. If you are planning to put in 40+ hours of play then this will make a significant difference to your quality of life. Then just search for the cheapest hotel with reasonable reviews nearby.

5 km is quite far. Except in the early morning, you will be stuck in traffic and the trip will easily take 1 hour. The cost will be negligible, maybe $3 AUD.

Yes think you can find reasonable flats from airbnb, as your not grinding online I assume you have much nicer selection as a strong WiFi isn't that important.

5km from casino = avg. 45min trip if going skyway then 30min. Peak traffic hours way longer.

Staying in Pasig is likely very budget friendly idea but it's quite local area can be tiring long term (very packed) malls out of the expensive citys Bgc, Pasay and Makati are filled with people cause they go there for free AC :P

Dace, fwwm: thanks

Pokerplaying: i agree and usually tip if they dont try to barter. For the most part the drivers are getting screwed because the taxi companies arent adapting to the times.

Bucket: if you are grinding at RW you need to stay near there. Spending an hour in a taxi will have you arriving frustrated which isnt good for playing. Also while taxis arent expensive, you wont be making a ton grinding those games either, so youll be giving up a large % of profits. If you do stay near RW then make sure to make it short term in case you decide to turn this into a vacation.

Got ya! I’ll try find a place near RW

Could you delve a little deeper with the comment ‘you won’t be making a ton/ giving a large ‘? What exactly do you mean by this. The games are tough/nitty?

Currently beating the games in Melbourne for 10BB an hour over a healthy sample size ($1/$3) and also open to play larger games if juicy

Most casinos are 10% rake except RW, which usually runs smaller limits. I think 50/100 is the norm and theres rarely a 100/200 (at least when i was there)

So youll mostly be playing 1/2 and you wont be able to keep that winrate either i am guessing. So an hour ride + paying a good amount of your hourly will add up.

Theres guys living there now who could get you a lot more accurate info im sure. Maybe winrates have risen for some reason.

Well last time I went to resorts world a guy put in 100 bb before we were dealt cards, so I wouldn't describe the games as nitty exactly. And he wasn't the only guy to fancy himself a "no look" hand. The floors are borderline incompetent BTW.

My experiences with the 50/100 and RW are limited. IME the games are easily beatable but yep maybe 10BB/h is bit on the high side, due to high rake, BBJ and prolly also fewer total spewtards than in first world countries. One of the backdraws in Manila is, that there is actually a smaller game (25/50) in every casino, and as many of the losing players tend to buy in for the smallest stakes possible you surely lose some money there.
I was only at RW 2 or 3 times, but it appeared to be more of a locals place than Solaire/COD. No 100/200+ running even once I was there at a Saturday evening, not too long ago

you should stay here, just a short walk to resorts world, only $20


https://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/cor...&#availability

I have been going to RW every day last few weeks from BGC and never took more than 30 min. Thats very reasonable.