thanks for the quick reply, appreciate it!

i went to the all in poker club last friday. It seemed alright, except that they are playing for merchandise. I do know that cash games are illegal, i just hoped there might be a game among the foreign crowd or some shady places that have games going on. i really dont want to play for overpriced ipads and whiskey. i also scouted the area for a bit to see if there is some weird shop that sells apple products and liquor (i assumed they'd have a place where you can sell the things that you win at the club, as a way to cash out, but i couldnt find any shop like that in the poker club area).
It just makes me wonder why there are so many people playing there. and i've been told by the staff that they also have higher stakes in the private rooms. that brings up the question: who plays for 50 - 100 rmb blinds in a place where you only get merchandise for your winnings? there is only so many iphones or ipads you can have. what does a guy do if he has lets say 30k rmb on his club card? does he get 100 bottles of whiskey?
have you played there yourself? would you mind telling about your experience or what places like these are like?
thanks a lot

They do get a 50/50 running pretty much every day and sometimes a 50/100.

They do not play for just merchandise, that is just what they have to tell you. If you press hard enough they will eventually call a guy. This guy does not work for the club, he has no affiliation with the club, however he happens to collect the points and is willing to trade you exact cash value for the points and will then give them back to the club. He charges 5% on all transactions.

Yes it's shady.

i'll give it a try this week. thank you very much, sir!

Fwiw: they changed the 25/50 to a 25/50/100 nowdays.
What brings you to Guangzhou?

I accepted a job here at the end of last year. Been here for a few months already but still know only very little of the city. Decided poker would be a good way of leaving the apartment more often and maybe get to know some people.

Ah i see. Are you teaching or?
There are 2 more clubs on Xingsheng lu. First, Is the 'W House', at the other end of xingsheng lu (300meters from Allin) which is closed because they are renovating it seems. Secondly, one is on the intersection xingsheng lu/xingguo lu, on the same side as ALLIN poker club. If you walk on the first floor from ALLIN to 'competitive poker club'. you just have to walk straight for about 150m, it's totally at the opposite end of the floor as ALLIN.

Furthermore, the person who started this thread has a weekly tournament in a pub. I think it's a 200BI, between 8-15 people show up and it's about getting drunk not about poker. Might be useful for you.

i'm with an investment company based here in guangzhou. thanks a lot for your help guys. and if the guy who runs this little pub tournament would post a date for the next one , i'd appreciate it!

It's every sunday. If you would PM me, I could give you his wechat details

It seems like I still have not met the criteria necessary for the PM function to be activated. Guess I'll have to keep posting for a few days

I think you can receive PMs right now, just not send them yet.

So Peterk9 should be able to send you a PM with that info now...if he wants.

Was thinking of heading to Macau in June for a short poker trip? I'm curious about the dying scene there. Can someone give more details to the situation regarding 50-100 scene?

Might have to change my plans

I was in Macau about a month ago...the tables were full of 8/8 play a hand every 3 orbits types of people. The games are still beatable, but it's not worth the trip unless you're already in Guangdong. If you go the weekend of June 20th, you might see some more tourists around because of Dragon Boat Festival but I wouldn't count on it.

if you are based in china,
im sure you will find now alot of home games are actually playing 25/50 to 100/200,
the home games are very beatable, and depends on if the owner invites you.

as for macau, im sure there are lot of advise here !
have fun and good trip !

Hey everyone!

I will be in Macau 26-31.05 and I have some money to trade. I need hong kong dollars and I have japanese yen and korean won (around 10k$ worth, both currencies). Please pm me if interested.

Thanks guys I am in the north of China in Shenyang. I am sure I can find a game if I look around but my mandarin isnt good enough for me to comfortably play in a game here.

risk over reward isn't really there in my case.

If i go to macau ill post an update of my time at the wynn although it would be the week after appt so can't expect too much action

hi,
i have a room to offer for june in macau... pm me if interested

Does anyone have any experiences to share about living in Suzhou? I'm considering taking a job as an A-level economics teacher there at an international school. It's not through an agency, directly talking to the school. I'm a China Virgin still, haven't visited.

It looks like a pretty awesome place as far as scenery and natural aesthetics go.

I've spent a fair amount of time in some of the bigger cities in mainland China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen,) as well as in Hong Kong.

I've never been to Suzhou unfortunately, but I am definitely interested in getting down there sometime in the future.

Sounds like a good deal. Suzhou is next to Hangzhou, which is experiencing an economic explosion greater than the rest of China. Also nearby is Shanghai and while I didn't really like the city, if you get sick, they should have good hospitals with English speaking staff. Also, I think the food from that region is the best in China.

As for teaching, I currently teach A level Biology and Language and Literature. Biology isn't required to study abroad so it was more or less treated as an elective. Basically, all my students slept during bio but paid attention during L&L because that class is mandatory to study abroad. Young Chinese people are notorious for doing the absolute minimum required. Don't expect much and don't get offended if your students don't pay attention.

Remember that A-Levels are UK-based so while you don't need to sound like the Queen, you should practice spelling "color" as "colour" and using the metric system.

Don't be afraid to bargain hard. Lots of foreigners are leaving China because of pollution/cancer and that kind of stuff...so demand is pretty high right now. Most Chinese people also enjoy bargaining as long as it doesn't get too serious.

Good luck!

That's ****ing shocking to hear. My only previous experience is lecturing to 19 year old stoners at community colleges and they were nearly comatose. I can't imagine Chinese HS school students at boarding schools with the promise of studying abroad could be any worse, but I've only interacted with Chinese kids who are already aspie graduate students so I have NFI what the typical high schooler is like over there.

What salary "should" I be making if I were to be in a bigger city like Shanghai/Beijing/Chongqing? 1.5 years of teaching experience+msc econ.

I've never been to Suzhou but I've heard great things. It's supposed to be beautiful and a popular day trip for people in Shanghai or Nanjing.

As far as salaries, that is going to depend on a ton. Salaries range anywhere from 10k-20k depending on who you work for. 10k will usually include an apartment, but you don't want to be living in the school's apartment. It's always going to be best to barter for a higher salary and choice of where to rent.

Z Visa is a must. Proper papers are a must. Do not let them tell you they'll sort it all out later. This is one of the reasons it's always best to be in China before signing a contract imo, although obviously it can't always work out that way.

Have you downloaded Wechat yet? It's pretty much essential for living in China as everyone uses it to communicate. I can put you in touch with some people living in Suzhou through it if you'd like.

Suzhou wasn't anything special to me when I visited. I could never picture living there. It was a typical 2nd tier Chinese city with some of the worst driving I've seen in China... Most interesting part was the Japanese road that has Japan style KTV and brothels.

Will trade stars $ to hkd too (I have stars$).

I teach at a boarding school. Most of my kids are tuhao who can't speak English above the third grade level. I'm completely serious when I say that in an average A-level class of 25-30 students, only around 5 are fit to be there. However, when those five students get accepted to some obscure university in the UK, it's a great feeling. That's what keeps me going.

The great thing about teaching outside a tier-1 city is that it's completely mercenary. There is a French guy in my town with no qualifications who makes 3k more a month as a French teacher than a former IELTS examiner with a DELTA degree at the same school. He knew he was the only French guy around, so he went to valuetown.

I imagine you'll probably get screwed over your first year. I'm not sure what somebody with your qualifications should make...I only have a bachelor's degree so we can't really compare...but you should get at least a 3k housing allowance, on top of that a low 5 figure salary with a reimbursement of your round trip flight upon completion of your contract. This is for 16 40-minute classes/week. Most contracts have you paying the cost of getting your Z visa (~$250 if you're a US citizen, much less if you're not) but the school will pay for your physical examination and residence card.

I'm sure most of us on the forum had a crappy first year...but things get better when you start getting the hang of things. Don't get mad if you get a bad deal your first year, just get them back twice as hard your second year

That's RMB/Mo, not USD/Yr, right?

alright, sounds good. I'm in. What's the address!>?

Interesting... guy at the school in Suzhou is claiming 100% alumni placement rate, as in everyone ends up studying at a western university. Is this almost certainly bull****? I suppose this might literally be possible even with speaking English at a 3rd grade level given how insanely ****ing dumb most western undergrads are. I mean... I can write a ****ton better than I can speak in my 2nd language and that's all you need to do to actually get in right?

Their placements page has a lot of kids going to University of Toronto, and a few to various well known UK universities and like 1 kid who went to USA#1.

I've got a 2nd one in Shanghai that pays about 10k USD/yr more, but I'm still getting details about the school itself as it's through an agency this time. From what you guys are telling me, the school itself might make a bigger impact on my first year experience than the city I'm living in.