How much did you lose?

What does VIP mean in that cloudy establishment?

they'll get a little boy to drip candle wax on your balls once every 6 hours of play

Just give him same others

They'll totally blow smoke right in your face, that's exactly how it is. This can happen to you in PP also, but esp in Snooky. Very smoker-friendly country, let's just put it like that.
Riverking used to have free cigarettes for players even. In a jar on the table. You can do that when a 20-pack is like 1$ or something, not sure current prices.

I remember the free cigarettes. I even saw one specific player called Bill filling up his empty box of Marlboro light with the free cigarettes. I hope Bill is okay he was quite old but a super cool guy when i was playing at riverking.

You were expected to blow the smoke up though towards the AC if some specific cambodian players who didnt like the smoke were at the table.

Not that that changes much when there are 7 smokers at the table of which 5 chain smoke.

I really like playing there back in the day was a fun place.

Yeah, like for example we allow smoking at the tables and most people are pretty respectful with it. However, the ones that are more in your face are generally big action players that you want to play with.

Hi Cambodian grinders, how is Naga those days? Action 24h/day like in good old times?

Naga's been going strong up to 9 tables. Mostly 1/3 tables with a table of 5/10 and a few 2/5s. Can't comment too much ont he action since I'm at Mingmen every night from 7, but I'd assume its still not too bad!

Making another trip to Cambodia soon. Played at Naga last year but considering branching out and making a trip to Sihanoukville. Are the games worth making the trip out there? Is it just 7Deuce and Queenco or are there other options? Or are there other options in PP itself?

Queenco came up on my hotel search and I know they offer free rooms for 6 hours of play. Tables (usually 2 NL and 1 PLO from what I can see) only seem to run from early evening (6 or 8pm) to early morning (2 to 4am) though, so even getting 6 hours in could be difficult.

Not 24/7. Was there over CNY when I imagine its busier than usual and there was a dead period from ~6-8am until 12pm. They offer money draws for players sat from 2pm until 6pm I believe to incentivise people to show up, but obviously game quality during that time was awful so I didn't bother with that.

Room is very well run though. Dealers generally excellent. Floor very good. Safety top notch; which is an issue I am considering when weighing up going to SH.

Granted I was not there for quite a while, but I don't remember Naga ever being 24/7. In the old times, the Naga poker room was next to the slot machines, much smaller, and certainly not 24/7. di-di-di-di-didi-didi-di. I still remember the constant slot machine noise. If you got there it was a coinflip whether you could even get into a game or maybe there was just one game running, and nobody leaving so you had to wait like forever. And other annoying stuff, don't get me started on the card checking.
Things really improved once they hired that American guy, forgot his name, but he was the best investment they could of made, he successively made it running more smoothly, like an average American poker room, hired/trained decent dealers, moved it into a better/bigger location, got rid of a lot of nonsense rules, started some social web alerts etc. Ofc still super high rake, location not the best, some dealers oblivious etc. but much better than 5 years ago. They are on pokeratlas now so you can check what's going on.
Like how Good Money described it is prolly as good as it gets though. Maybe when they have the WPT or something it is 24/7, that would seem conceivable

Thought about making this post or not, but figured since I regularly request information I should probably share. I went to SH recently. Played at Queenco. Game was dead. Played at 7Deuce. Games seemed great. There is a constant rotation of players; you can turn up and see 3 full tables but a house player will be kicked off to give you a seat. If someone busts, the seat will be immediately filled with a house player. Ostensibly, this is to keep the games running and allow players to get an immediate seat. However, I'm fairly certain house players at both venues are colluding and or sharing information that basically makes it like you're playing a team.

Stuff I firmly believe:

I think house players are playing wider ranges vs each other to give the impression of being action players. For example getting AIPF w/ KJo or other nonsense vs each other. I saw several examples of this where ranges were ridiculously narrow vs me or other regs, but ridiculously loose vs other known house players. I saw a house player bust and nod to a chip runner, who then went over to the room manager and had a conversation whilst pointing at the house player and then going and getting him another buy in. I saw someone jam AIPF w/ AQ vs a fish who had announced it was his last hand and who could have had ATC and then a woman who had played like an absolute nit for 4 hours ended up calling it off with JTs after having a conversation with the reg in (what I believe) was Vietnamese or Tagalog. After AQ holds she confirms with the dealer how much she called off for and looks at the AQ guy who nods at her. My belief is the conversation was simply 'call it off so we can win the fishes money as I don't dominate you and we will split afterwards.' AI pots between house players were sometimes unraked. I am suspicious as to whether the rake is being calculated correctly in normal pots. There were chip runners and off duty dealers that seemed to have a habit of standing directly behind me. It seems like nothing compared to the other stuff I've posted, but house players will buy in short, double a few times and then move to a different table and restack back to a short buy in. Sometimes even coming back to the table they left shortly afterwards.

Stuff that made me suspicious but I can't be conclusive on:

A guy that played super passively for a couple of hours 3Bs a decent player and then 5B jams over a 4B for 150BB ish. Board runs out A22QX and he shows Q2o. The other guy predictably had AK. I saw several examples of players that weren't playing like spazzy whales getting AIPF with some weird hands and somehow making the nuts or near nuts.

Summary:

I played 23 hours in SH. Games, on the surface, were some of the most ridiculous I have ever played in and I've been playing poker since 2005. That said, I will never be playing in those games again. Could post lots of HHs as I took notes on the whole thing, especially after I started to become suspicious and discuss it with other poker players but don't think it really matters. If you think I'm wrong, then I will freely tell you that the games in SH are ridiculous. Cut my trip short and went back to PP, where the games weren't as good but I seemed to win a lot more. Funny that.

Thanks for posting that, I have a friend who was planning to check out the games there and I sent them the post.

Is this the 1/1 game?

thank you for posting, my one time playing in Cambodia around 2013 i noticed similar things - enough that after a single session on my first day, I called an audible and turned a poker trip into a beach and jungle vacation instead

big thing was noticing lots of huge hands with coolers where someone has quads vs a boat, straight flush vs nut flush/boat, etc etc


on the surface it looked like an incredibly loose and splashy game but magically whenever I was involved in a hand they were no longer 3! hands like J5o

Some of the "house players" who get kicked to give you a seat are actually the gamerunners. They don't inform the players they're the gamerunners, and they will happily play a wide range because they're profiting from the action/rake. Then after the gamerunners win money from new players/tourists, they'll happily hit-and-run and repeat across all 3 tables.

The cheating and collusion that goes on at 7Deuce is on par with the Philippines. A lot of exchanging of card information among players during hands in multiple languages, with no dealer interruption. Since there is no punishment for collusion and cheating at 7Deuce, it is a normal part of the game there. I propose everyone to exploit 7Deuce's low game integrity. Let's all go to 7Deuce and setup collusion rings with code words/signals and message hand info to each other during hands. We can make a lot of money together!

How is the action in Phnom Penh these days?

Any news of Mike Kim? He used to give good updates before running with everyones money

you mean when the pokeroom was just 2 random tables upstairs next to the slots? Do they still have the same super low chairs?

I moved from PK to the Mingmen game. Generally we are running 1/3, 2/5 and 5/10 holdem 2-3 tables. Games are pretty good consistently with a bunch of chinese bosses who drop in consistently.

Naga has had a lot of tables, I see them running 7-8 tables most nights. I haven't played there for a while so unsure about quality but selection is great.

Damn, PP is booming. Never thought I'd see Naga with 8 tables.

A month or so ago, they even got up to 10 tables and they have WPT coming back July 12th.

Tom Dwan & Jungleman are coming to Cambodia as well for a 50k short deck event at Jin Bei Palace. Here's the tournament website.

Ming Men has been a bit slower this week with 1-2 tables most days of 1/3, 2/5 or 5/10. Always looking for more game starters if anyone is looking!

What's the general crowd like in these games? Is it mostly tourists? Chinese?

It's a mix and also depends on where you're playing.

Our place at Ming Men is mostly Chinese, with some khmer and a mix of foreigners.

Naga has a pretty wide mix of foreigners a lot who've been in PP or at least around the scene here a while. You'll find a mix of Chinese, Viets, Japanese, and Caucasians. They had 9 tables going yesterday so they are going pretty strong.

Hey man, im interested in being a game runner. Started a new account as I cant remember my login details but seems I cant message you yet, maybe some activity is required. Anyhow message me plx