OMG last night was funnnnnn.....

I had probably one of the most fun nights in terms of hang out with poker people last night. I went out for dinner with Terrence, Celina, Fred from Pokerstars, and my friend Manish. We went to my favorite Japanese restaurant Sushi Kuu, headed by my awesome friend Satoru Mukugawa, who's one of the best Jap chef I know. We had omakaze (Japanese chef's menu). As a general guideline, always go for the omakaze at any upscale Jap restaurant for true goodness. Satoru's omakaze is as fantastic as always, maybe even more so this time since this is the first time I had abalone from him. We probably ate more food than we thought we would be eating, and we cleared two bottles of sake. We played CCR for the bill but Fred and Manish bought themselves out so it was 3-handed (Terrence, Celina, me). Terrence lost and had to cover the tap.

Naturally we played poker after dinner. We played SHOT, which was a combination of 150/300 Limit Stud, 25/50 NL Hold'em, 25/50 PL Omaha, and 150/300 Limit Triple Draw. The mixture of the game was great and the action was good too as we had one guy walked up to us asking if he could join. I think all of us smiled wickedly while welcoming him. It was one of the most enjoyable poker session I've had since I love mixed game so much and with the right bunch of people the fun level just gets elevated by so much. We ended the night at like 2:30am and I went home a happy man. Oh, also helps that I ran good and made 10k. =)

Got 2nd in MPCC Heads-Up!

If you've been following me on Twitter you should know that I won 2nd place in the Macau Poker Cup Championship Heads-Up tournament. It was the most fun I've had in a long time in a tournament.

Terrence and I took the 10:45am ferry to Macau, and we managed to get thru the Macau immigration by 12pm. We ended up being only 10 minutes late to the game, which is still way earlier than most of the other registered players. On the way to Macau we decided to do a $1k last longer bet (side bet #1). The game got going at about 12:30pm after waiting for people to show up and doing the seating draws etc. (Side event: my first opponent didn't show up. It turns out that Stars posted the wrong start time on the online registration so I was given another player to play with. All good.)

First and second round went pass pretty smoothly with me taking 2-0 in both. Terrence's Round 2 opponent was Raymond Wu, making it a very interesting match up. (Side bet #2: I took Terrence to win versus Celina taking Ray for $1k.) By the time I won Round 2 it was 5:30pm, and that's also when Terrence won his game 2-1 (Side bet #2 won!). Celina, Terrence, and I decided to go for a short walk for bubble tea before Round 3. It's great to actually get out of the casino once in a while and the weather was fantastic. The bubble tea was awesome as well. Fun.

Notable hand: In Round 2, the blinds 50/100, I had 6500 chips and the other guy 3500. He raised to 300 preflop and I called with 35o (very typical of my any-2-cards style). The flop comes Ac Tc 2d and we checked. The turned was a Qc and he bet out for 450. I made the call because I didn't think he hit the flop and I doubt he had a Queen so he's likely to be betting a flush draw. The river came another Ten, and I open-shoved for his remaining 2750. Knowing that I was leading 1-0 in sets he would be calling for his tournament life. He tanked for 8 minutes. Yes, eight whole minutes while I tried to keep focus and not give out a tell on my 5 high bluff. He ended up folding. *smiles*

My Round 3 opponent was a very unpredictable Hong Kong businessman. He claims this was his first ever heads-up tournament and I believed him. (Side bet #3: Celina wanted odds for this guy and I gave her 1.4 since I'm stupid confident. She took it for $500 to win $700.) He turned out to be more trouble than I thought as I honestly couldn't figure him out post-flop. He played a very limpy-reraisey style and he never bet with air. When he bet he at least had a pair but not necessarily the top pair. I adjusted to his style by playing a very limpy-cally game. I got very lucky to have won the first set. The second set ended with me losing a flip. The final set was long and I was behind in chips most of the time until I got very lucky to suckout twice and win. (Side bet #3 won!)

The final match is played best-of-5, and my opponent is none other than Terrence. It's quite funny as we traveled to Macau together and we ended up shipping the top two prizes. It couldn't have been more perfect. We decided to call off our last longer bet since there's already enough money to play for. (Side bet #1 cancelled.) The first set lasted only 7 minutes as Terrence's AA held up against my straight draw on a A79 board. (Note that this entire set is shorter than the tank time from the hand in round 2 lol.) The 2nd set got to the fifth level of 200/400, and it turned into a jam fest. I ended up winning with AJ vs AT. The 3rd set was quick with Terrence going a bit out of line trying to make a stand. He shoved with QJs for 5500 with blinds 50/100 and I called with KQ. He got down to very short and I finished him off quickly. The 4th set I played bad was carddead. I dwindled my stack down without much of a fight. Oh well. So much for trying to be aggressive with a 2-1 lead. Before the fifth and final set, we decided that since it's down to one game we should play for a little bit less. We moved $5k from top prize to second, making it a flatter payout. (YES I got a deal out of no-deal-Terrence.) This set was very similar to the last one, I just plain sucked. I went all-in being the 2-1 chip underdog with J9o on a 8Tx flop. Terrence snap called with TJo so I needed to hit the straight. The turn was a 9 so I gained the remaining two 9 as outs but downgraded the straight draw from win to chop. The river was a blank Ace and it's all over. Terrence Chan is our Heads-Up champ and I take 2nd.

In general, I was very happy about the result as despite being a loser mentality going five games against someone as good as Terrence almost felt like winning. The match ended at 12:30am and we were all starving. Celina suggested a Japanese place that's still open so off we went. And omg did this place exceed expectations. The food was SO good and the sashimi was SO fresh. We had a gigantic sashimi platter, California rolls, fried cod, tempura, foie gras, and much more. The damage was very reasonable and Terrence ended up taking the bill cuz he won so thanks Terrence.

Overall a very fun day and I would love to do it again!

MPCC - Heads-up Challenge (32 max)

Hi all, I'm taking the 10:45am ferry to Macau tomorrow to play the $5000 Heads-up tournament. The game starts at 12pm and it'll play 5 rounds down to one winner. Each round plays best-of-3 and the final is best-of-5. Notables who will also be playing: Terrence Chan (who will be traveling with me to Macau), and Team Asia Pro Raymond Wu. I'll be tweeting throughout the day so make sure you check for updates! (If you don't have a Twitter account you can use the Twitter box on this page.)

GL me and let's ship it one time!

Pain in the NECK!!!

Guys, I'm having this really bad neck pain and it's pretty much limited my head movement to nil. I'm stuck at home except going to the Chinese doctor for acupuncture (yes guys, the needles). It's actually pretty weird how it all started. Two Fridays ago I took out my wisdom tooth because it was causing headaches. Obviously I got my fair share of mouth pain but that went away after about five days. After that, last weekend my neck and right shoulder started hurting and it got worse and worse, giving me more headaches, especially when I turn my head in quick movements. I decided I needed some professional help and this time I wanted to go the Chinese way since they're pretty good at fixing up bodies instead of just easing the pain. I only started seeing this Chinese doctor yesterday and she's supposed to be very good. (Many local movie stars are her patients.) She's definitely not cheap but she looks like she's real good at what she does. I'll post her details after I fully recover so anyone with similar problems can have one more option. (I know how much it suck to have the GP as the only option and all he does is give more painkillers.)

(For more info on acupuncture, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture)

Meanwhile, many buddies of mine are playing in Sydney in the APPT Grand Final. Many (or all) are playing the Main Event but Terrence Chan and Andrew Scott are also playing the Highroller. GL to them. (Steicke played too but got busted before I could blink so gglol to him.) Special congrats to Tony "Bond18" Dunst for taking the chip lead after Day1a. Hold onto it Tony! One time!