Foreigner are suppose to register with the local government and they are suppose to be sponsor by someone. However it really depend on the area. In case of Saigon where it too big and money flow in a lot from somewhere else they don't really bother with little money hassling foreigner in a lot of cases. In rural area that can be a problem when you attracted attention if you stand out too much when the area is poorer.

But yes that can the reason why you have to paid extra. but that usually not the case. Local are just better understanding the real estate market and haggle better.

LOL...It might be November but which year?

This is a decent summary of the current situation about live poker in Vietnam: http://somuchpoker.com/the-difficult...e-poker-scene/

Regarding Home Games - risk rewards in Vietnam is not that great. Cheating / Collusion / Police - a lot of potential problems. Look more for small Cash Games between expats even if people plays for very little money

I play regularly in these home games, and I don't think there's any cheating. I am French Vietnamese so I speak the language and can understand what they say. Soft play definitely happens between players who know each other well. About collusion, one Vietnamese guy has approached me, inviting me to team up with him (you know, so that we would signaling each other when 1 of us has AA/set/straight so the other guy can do the betting and suck other players in), so this practice is known, but I have never seen it used (or maybe I'm just not perceptible enough). And to be honest you can encounter collusion every where, not just in home game, it doesn't break any rules as far as I'm concerned so it's hard to fault them, you just need to be alert when you sit at a table with 2 guys who are friends.

Collusion does not break any rule?

I said "as far as I'm concerned".

Say 2 players A and B decide to sit at the poker table, then whenever A has AA in early position he would limp, rest his right index finger on his watch to make a signal, knowing full well that B - sitting in late position - would guarantee to make a raise so that he can reraise. Same situation postflop with any monster hand in multiway pot. What rule did they break? You can say that they are not fair play, they are unethical, etc... but I am not aware of any rules explicitly forbidding what they do.

lol that collusion. Kind of like saying just because it hard to catch inside trading doesn't mean that it not illegal see owner of pokerstars

Visa extension update :

After confirmation from my agent in Hoi An, now it's impossible to extend a DL (tourist) visa. However doing a visa run that's ok apparently.

Quote from expat.com :

I was planning to extend a last time my visa then leave to go in Thailand but with this mess I m leaving at the end of my visa. GG Vietnam goodbye.

Bummer man. I guess I managed to get a 3 months because it was my first extension... Well, this clearly positions Cambodia and the Philippines as top visa lenient countries.

You don't mind the monthly border runs in Thailand?

I never extended this visa, this was a new visa. For you, you got your extension because you did it at the right time imo.

For the visa runs in Thailand, you have to leave the country every 90 days not monthly so that's all right not too much annoying.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/politic...ens-61048.html one year visa for U.S

It seems to be more based on nationality, as far as I can tell (not timing, as different tourists were getting various answers from the same agent as you were using...). But it is not something I will look into furthermore, as I am heading back to Canada shortly.

when will this come into play?

I never care much about collusion anyway, it has minimal effect on my win rate. It's like people complaining about people chip dumping in a tournament, when in reality by doing so those players actually increase your own $equity. Only cheating like card marking, collusion with dealers, chip stealing, etc... are real concerns. Things like security, the house's rake, the players' overall ability, the games' availability... usually have far higher effect on my win rate and should be the number one factor when I decide whether I would play a house game or not.

A second casino resort in Vietnam. The UNESCO heritage city of Hoi An in Quang Nam province will provide the site for the Nam Hoi An Casino Resort project, which will involve a $4 billion of investment.
http://somuchpoker.com/second-vietna...n-the-horizon/

Friend and me are thinking of going to Vietnam for ~2 weeks.
Where would you advise us to go after thailand (Phuket/ko samui/bangkok). Some big city? Beach? ...
I have no idea about vietnam.

Also, FTP stars work normal without VPN?

hey guys finally should be heading to saigon in the not so near future

just wondering if you could answer a few simple questions for me??


good resto's in district 1?

best malls for day game? near district 1?

best freelancer spots?

best hot toc area? are there multiple located in the same place? far from district 1?


anyone got any rec's on where to stay? airbnb is dead for saigon, wouldnt mind a month to month place with a fridge and either stove or microwave with usable wifi, budget $500ish but lesser is better


thanks for any help

both of you guys best option would be to stick to nha trang/vung tau/da nang/mui ne all beach area. There been a lot of crackdown on fun stuff in Saigon and you get more bang for your buck in other spot. Vung Tau beach is dirty but it pretty cheap and only 1.5 away from saigon so you can chill there and come back to city anytime. Mui ne is less tourist with beach and cheaper option then nha trang which has a lot of tourist/foreigner. Da nang is most foreigner friendly and biggest city out of all the beach option.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Vung_Tau

http://wikitravel.org/en/Da_Nang

http://wikitravel.org/en/Mui_Ne

http://wikitravel.org/en/Nha_Trang

http://singlemansparadise.com/novemb...ng-in-vietnam/

hey dude any blog links on here should be mine! please and thank you

ya i read about that one beach town on singlemansparadise and planned to go there, but i still have to check out saigon

one other question, what is the best 4g? have a monthly plan?

hey thanks for all the answers guys!

lol, not a very active thread indeed Can't really help you with the district 1 info, but concerning the 4g, it seems it has not yet arrived here :

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/sci...-vietnam-.html

And as far as an internet plan using a pocket wifi (if that was your question...), I would go to one of the stores instead of purchasing a package via text, as it seems as I got more data when I went to the Viettel store directly for my 100 000d then when I got the package online (from what I read, you can get 20GB for 100k at the store, but only 1.5GB for 120k by text... All of this was lost in translation, but had my packages last all month from the store (as a back up), while expiring after a few days from text purchase...).

well at least i got one useful tip, thanks

What is the best location to look for in Ho Chi Minh?

mui ne was awful

What bank ATM to use in general and in HCMC airport?
What district to prefer (first timer)?