Speaking of which, whatever happened to that Kevhead dude? He's not reported in for a while

Anyone answer this?

I just arrived for a poker vacation, going to hit Nagaworld tomorrow. I will make a trip report ITT.

I am staying at the Red Fox Inn, as per advice I read ITF (I think it was VVish), it is a charming dump and I am only paying $13/night for an aircon room by paying a week in advance. Grinded for 3 hours, Internet was rock solid, so I am happy already. Decent pub at the bottom of the guest house and I am guessing the staff is for sale and 50% of them are cute. All the girls here are slim.

Red Fox Inn is on 136th street, 10 meters from the Riverside. Anything special to do around here? I am looking for a gym (pay-per-day) near me, any help? I heard there is a cool stadium to go jogging, where is that?

I went walking around a bit tonight, plenty of girlie bars (girls look quite good imo) and some backpacker bars around my guest house. Will partake in libations and company tomorrow as I am a bit f_cked from traveling all night / day.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Think most of the girlie bars are on st 136 where you are, also 104 and 51. Heart of Darkness Nightclub is in the st 51 area, which I had fun at. Its mostly the girls from the bars that go there after work in my limited experience.

Have heard a place called Martini's is a decent freelancer pick up but not been myself and don't know where it is, but its not far from the places mentioned apparently.

This link might be useful

http://www.canbypublications.com/phnompenh/ppnight.htm

Thanks Vish!

Martini's is a 15 min bikeride alot of Vietnamese girls there all freelance(be carefull)....Sharky's is closer to you and some people do like it...worth to see the brothels the Cambodians go just to see how damn lucky we all are.

pm sent OP

why is this??

Looking forward to it. If you could, post accurate info about games (type, number, and duration), rake, dealer quality, collusion concerns, and in-and-out-with-money concerns.

Sorry this has taken so long, I just came from a month in Indonesia and the Internet here in Phnom Penh is SO much better that I had to play online for a bit. I have been grinding my face off online for the first 3 days ($1500 upswing FTW!!!) and sightseeing.

My observations / impressions thus far after one 8hr session:

3 tables during peak hours (4pm - 1am), one 2/5NL and 2 1/2NL. Broke down to one 1/2NL by 3am and ran with 8+ players until at least 6am (that is when I left).

Nagaworld uses american money, which is really nice in that you do not have to lose the 1-3% changing currencies back and forth. As a matter of fact, the USD spends everwhere in Cambodia - so nice.

Rake is 10%, capped at $5 for both games. Tipping is NOT standard (probably $5 in tips or less per hour leave the table). This is incredible value compared to Macau where the smallest games are 10% up to $13USD and the bigger games are 10% up to $23USD.

Dealers were very competent. They got hands out very fast (autoshuffler) and read the board fast and correctly. They even were good about keeping the action moving and preventing people from acting out of turn. They were on-point and, as a side note, very cute. There was such an international diversity (french, english, finnish, cambo, thai) in the players that there was not a one language spoken at the table rule, but you can be sure that if something improper were going on in Cambodian language either the dealer or one of the 2 floor peope would be on it (that is the impression I get, the floor was ALWAYS watching the games. She stood diligently behind me for 8 hours). I do not believe there was any collusion, aside from two good friends soft playing each other heads up (which happens everywhere I play).

Beer, in addition to all N/A beverages are free to players. This is good and 3 people at my table were somewhat intoxicated. Mixed drinks cost $. You can order food at the table and there is nothing on the menu that is more than $8 (most items $5-$6). Good food by casino standards.

Action was standard 1/2NL fishiness. Not incredible, but good. Less nitty grinder types than you would see at a bad table at foxwoods / borgata, but only one or two horrendous players throughout the 8 hours. Folks here still chase against the odds and have a hard time laying down any pair, but they were not stacking off as light as I would like to see (with one or two aforementioned exceptions). Overall, I give the action a 6.5 out of 10 with a 10 being some small casinos in Florida (I have been sworn secrecy to divulge the names) on a Thursday night and a 1 being monday morning at double points time at harrahs Las Vegas (old nits!). Again, my sample size is one session.

OK, now for the bad news......

They smoke, like f_cking chimneys, like it is 1999, like the surgeon general was j/k, like it is their job.

My nostrils burn and my throat is sore.

That is the bad news

Good experience, won a bit more than a buy-in (should have been 2.5 buy-ins but lost a 72/28 at the end...grrr... raise c/o 5x with KQcc button calls blinds and 2 limpers fold, flop Q104r, I cbet 60% pot and get raised by the fishiest player left at the table who has 70 behind at this point - so I shove. He shows Q3dd, goes runner-runner diamond flush.. grrrr). Will go back tomorrow and do it again. Will update if anything changes.

awesome report on nagaworld. seems like a cool place. did you explore anywhere else in nagaworld - food, gambling, clubs, women? btw - your beat was worse than a 72/28 - villain had 18ish equity - not to add insult to injury.

anyways, keep us updated on your trip. it sounds really awesome. have fun and be safe.

Very true on the equity, brain fart after long session. Nagaworld is a casino / hotel in Phnom Penh.

I have not degenned it up in Phnom Penh yet, been exercising, walking around the riverside and, mostly, grinding online poker for the 3 days I have been here.

I will tell you more as I learn it.

awesome. look forward to it. how far is Nagaworld from the nightlife part of town? good luck with the pokers and the trip.

Subscribed, want to go to south-asia after the summer for a few month, maybe longer. Cambodia sounds like a good place to live.

Nagaworld is a $2 tuk-tuk ride or a $1 back-of-motorbike ride from the two major nightlife areas.

Last night when I left at 4am, there was a seven person 1/2NL going and a 8 person 2/5NL going (whiched looked awesome...drool).

Two more things about Nagaworld that I want to mention after last night's 6 hour session:

There is a lot of straddling in the 1/2 NL game. I would say 30%+ of the hands are straddled. No pressure from the table captains to make those who do not straddle, straddle.

They allow rabbit hunting whenever anyone asks, and if the person asking is a regular, they will run out a whole board after everyone has folded to a pre-flop 3 or 4-bet (I guess they want to see if they would have hit their set or something to that effect). This goes against my ethos and tilts me to a surprisingly large degree.

Got stuck 2+ buy-ins early, but came back to book a $60 win... I was happy.

Wow that is weird. I know they used to allow rabbit hunting in the electronic poker tables for the cost of a small blind.

Yeah I look forward to playing a bit poker there as well as getting to know the city. Thanks!

Can't fault OP for assuming this as the Fox is on a prime girlie bar street, but the Fox staff actually aren't for sale. For a newbie, this might sound like a bummer, but it's actually really cool. If you want to rent a girl, there's more than half a dozen bars full of them on the street. If you're not a born sucker, you'll probably have a real nice time with them. However, Cambodia is one of the worst countries on earth to be a woman, so these girls are surviving by grinding a tougher game than poker, and you are the fish. The Red Fox girls, however, are "good girls", so you can actually hang out and have an honest conversation with them and not worry about being scammed or BSed. In fact, they actually make their living on being the best poker dealers in town and by playing heads-up down at the bar.

The UN does a regular study called the Gender-Related Development Index to report disparities between men and women regarding social and economic opportunities. Cambodia scores well below nearly every Muslim country, barring a couple sub-Saharan African countries that happen to be primarily Muslim. The fact is, much of SE Asia still regards women as little more than a life-support system for a vagina, to quote an old joke. The socio-economic station of Cambodian women across the economic spectrum is almost entirely dependent on men. Rich and successful women here need to be connected to a rich and powerful man, or their ownings can be taken away on a whim. The same, but more so, is true of poor and middle class women. For men, extra-marital sex is almost a birthright, so this country is full of brothels. As for the small minority of them that cater to the Western tourists in Phnom Penh, the girls who work there do so as one of the few chances to obtain a middle class lifestyle, or to sustain an extended family which has, in many cases, been abandoned by its male breadwinners.

In short, if you take the time to understand and objectively empathize with the "working women" of the girls you'd meet as a visitor to Cambodia, you'd have a real appreciation for the freedoms and opportunities we often under-appreciate back home.

End of sermon.

FYI: I've been living here in Cambodia for three years and I highly recommend it as a fun and enlightening tourist trip. It just happens also to be a surprisingly good poker town as well.

I have to update everyone on my impressions of the red fox. I have been playing SS PLO with Bone to tilt after my Naga World sessions at the Red Fox every morning - I usually show up around 3am to between 5 and 7 players and the game doesn't break until 6am, so sick and fun. When I first commented on the Fox, I had not even seen the poker room or met any of the girls here. The poker room is awesome and the girls are very cool (and great dealers).

I called it a "charming dump" on my first report, because the hallways leading up to your room are a bit dark, dirty and dusty, and your room furnishings are a bit archaic and sparse - BUT, the fox makes up for this in spades with the cool people that work here and hang out here. It is my favorite lodging place in Asia by far and away. If you are a fan of bananas, freshly rolled for your enjoyment, you can order some right from the bar if you are either drinking there that night or lodging there. Brett, the owner - an Aussie - might hook you up with the same sweet weekly rate he gave me (PM me for price).

Anyway, The Red Fox rules, stay there if you come here and smoke bananas and play poker. The internet is quite nice as well.

Also, so sorry for snapping off your top-set all in with my naked nut flush draw tonight. It was your second flopped top set to get cracked in two hands, sending you to the felt and I am sorry I giggled - PLO is so brutal. You are very cool and smart and a good player (IMHO).

Good games at Naga for session #3 - 3 1/2NLs running most of the night, condensed to 1 table by 2am (no 2/5NL tonight), smashed 2 sets and got fully paid, up 2.5BI+

wow interseting thread

im on my poker track


maybe ill be seeign you around

Game Changer: Poker players get a free buffet ticket every 8 hours at NagaWorld (not for 8 hours of play, just that they have three 8 hour set-ups and you are only allowed to go once during each set up. If you arrive an hour before one buffet set up is ending, you can go twice within 2 hours if you want.. I hope I explained that clearly enough). I just learned this because these rich cambos do not care and tourists (me) are not aware. This buffet ranges from OK to very good depending on what time of day you are hitting it. Friend rice, tofu, chicken, beef, vegetable dishes, fresh fruits, desert, coffee, tea, juice... very good.

I truly may never leave this town now.

If it's the same one, it was by far the worst buffet I've ever had.

Don't be sorry. I WANTED to lose that hand and was praying for the diamond harder than you were.

Do me a favor though: I need your advice as an outsider about whether I should even be playing in that game. Knock on my door sometime - room 5 upstairs - and I'll meet you downstairs for a chat. I'd appreciated it. I think you can also help me get more use out of my Poker Tracker, so I'll buy you a banana, (can't buy you a beer because I'm a recovering alcoholic, but the bananas were never good to me, so it's no problem there).

Good luck at Naga tonight, and here's a tip: this is very much a luck-based society, so try to suck out on someone just once, then beam with pride a bit and they'll all internalize this as confirmation that you're a good person that had done something to earn that good luck and they'll respect you more. Never apologize for getting lucky there. They'll think you're weird, or they'll take it as a sign of guilt - that you know you actually didn't deserve it. Aren't cultures fascinating? Corrupt, bloodsucking kleptocrats take the money they stole from the masses into a casino and, if they win something, they take it more as absolution from their sins and validation of their natural goodness. Sort of a confessional booth with slots.

We probably have different criterion for a buffet. I am looking for sustenance - good protiens, vegetables and fruit. They had good tofu and good cuts of chicken along with green vegetables and cut pineapple / watermelon all at 3am (which I heard is the WORST time to go, best time is 7am when the serve fresh Dim Sum - supposed to be very good).

If I can replace 1.5 meals / day with this buffet, then I cut my expenses by $300 / month. I can then treat myself to one meal per day anywhere I like with no thought to cost.

Love the insight to the culture, thanks.

I am a pokertracker / HEM fish, that is one reason why I play 80% of my online action on cake.

I am looking to remedy this as well, so maybe we can look through your concerns together as a study group process.

and hows cake goign for u?

just had my best 30 days ever, thanks for asking! My effective rakeback is up to about 50% now with the gold stacks program and using gold chips to buy bonus' - so that really helps.