Boracay Ink

I've finally found some time to write this long overdue blog.

First off, I would personally like to thank LA CARMELA DE BORACAY for the free accommodation and wonderful service.
















You could visit there website at http://www.lacarmeladeboracay.com/index.htm
















If you guys/ gals want to see celebrities, this is the place to be. Most of them stay in this resort especially during the holidays. LA CARMELA is strategically situated where you get the best of both worlds. You've got Mother Nature upfront and civilized D'MALL on the side.
















Just as i like it, the weather was cloudy with a bit of drizzle from time to time. I prefer this weather because a sunny sky just ruins my natural tan.

I came to boracay with the intent of keeping my life simple:
1. swim
2. poker
3. eat
4. sleep
5. shop
6. get drunk and naked nottt....

Mission accomplished!!!

I came fully prepared to play online poker at the beach. I brought my handy Lenovo S10 and bought the SMARTBRO for 3G access. While shopping around, i tried to look for shops selling 3G load for tonight's online poker fest.

All of the shop owners looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo. Not until I reached my 6th store, that I overhead the store clerk murmuring why I would be needing a 3G load when there was free wifi.

Free wifi it was!!! Boracay was covered with free wifi from shore to shore which was provided by different resorts, restos and bars etc. Truly an online poker players dream.

Having secured my internet access for tonight's online games, I had freed my mind and was ready for some serious shopping.

We were walking around D'Mall when my son and niece spotted kids lining up to have to those kiddie glitter tattoos all over their body and they wanted one as well.

I 'TANKED' for a while, hahahaha, I didn't want to be raising the next Dennis Rodman but realized that this is the world we live in now. In a few years, the weirdos would be the one's without a single tattoo on them. So they started to get their tatts.





















It was not that they weren't happy with their tatts, it's just that we were already swimming, shopping the whole day and we just ate lunch. So they were a little grumpy and wanted their daily siesta time.















So we quickly wrapped up our shopping and went back to LA CARMELA to have the kids rest for a while.

On our way back to the resort, I spotted a nice clean tattoo shop and decided to check it out. Inggit ako sa mga bata eh, gusto ko din ng tattoo.

These were some on the pre designed tatts they had. Being a poker aficionado, I looked for something that had to do with the game I love. I browsed through around 1o catalogues but didn't see anything. So I just told them I would come back tomorrow with my own design.
















I came back the very next day with my own poker tattoo design, I showed it to the artist and asked if they would be able to ink it.

















This was the concept tattoo I showed the artist. Looked nice online, I hope they could ink it decently.




















I was thinking whether to have it inked to my leg or bicep.

It would be a waste to ink it on my leg because it won't be seen with my pants on. It would not look good on my biceps as well because I still have not achieved the sculpted male model body I have always dreamed about.

If dreams counted as exercise, I would have had my six pack a long long long time ago.

So I just decided to have it on my forearm, that way, it could be seen every time I played live poker.





















I had the skull (inside the spade) replaced with our groups initial BPC which stood for Breakfast Poker Club.

For all those wondering how we came up with that name, here is how it goes.

Our group played pusoydos every saturday when we chanced upon a new show called World Poker Tour. And to cut the long story short, we saw Gus Hansen and that was it for pusoydos. No Limit Holdem Poker rules!!!

We started playing Saturday evenings around 8pm, ended 6am sunday mornings and had breakfast together. BPC was born!

















Our 'hardwork' started paying off around 2007 when we started winning all sorts of online tournaments. We kept selling most of the free seats and only played the non-transferable seats. Because of the string of online wins, we thought of updating BPC from Breakfast Poker Club to Breakfast Poker Champions. But decided to defer it until the time we win some major live tournaments.


















This is me showing off my tattoo and bubble scuplted body along the shores of Bora.

Now that I have my bodyart, time to convince or force the rest of the BPC have it as well.
















By the way, for all those going to boracay and want to play live poker games. I have discovered some underground games.

PartyPoker via PokerStrategy

The Holidays are upon us!!!

Thanks to Gloria’s long holiday declarations, I now have more time to play poker!

I am going to talk about Partypoker and how I got started with it through Pokerstrategy.












My poker buddy alan referred me to a site called Pokerstrategy wherein they would credit your account with $50 to start off your poker bankroll. But of course it is not that simple, you have to read their poker articles then take their online exam, once you pass that exam, you choose an affiliated online poker site, create a new account, and the $50 would then be automatically credited to your new account within a few days.

After around 3 working days, I received my $50 dollars with an attached email. I thought the $50 was for me to dispose freely whenever I wanted to but the attached email stated that I would have to acquire 150 partypoker points within 90 days to keep the money or else the $50 (or anything left of it) would be confiscated. So I thought, yeah sure no problem, that would be easy.

On the 1st day (1st session), I logged on to the .05 .10 cash game with the max buy-in of $10. After playing a couple of hours, I was up by $3 dollars. I decided to leave the table and see how many points I have racked up. I refreshed the partypoints icon and saw…… 1 point! One measly point!!! What the…. Something must be wrong here! I couldn’t have just been credited with 1 point after grinding for a couple of hours!! So I went to there website and checked how they calculated partpoker points. Stated on the website, for .5 .10, that 10 partypoker points would be credited for around every 250 raked hands…. That’s a lot of raked hands considering I played too tightly and almost only played my blinds unless I had big cards.

On the 1st day (2nd session), I decided to play the .10 .25 jackpot cash game to hasten my points accumulation. Jackpot games get raked an additional .50. These special Jackpot tables rewards bad beats of quads and up. The maximum buy-in was $25, but I decided that $10 would be enough. After several hands, I realized that jackpot tables were much more active than ordinary tables. Players where more inclined to play there pocket pairs and suited connectors more often, in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. Pots were averaging $3 a hand. Within an hour, I burned my $10 and got credited with 1 more partypoint. Accumulating 150 points now seem to be far fetched idea.

On the 2nd day (1st session), I was back at the .05 .10 tables with $10. I opened up my game a bit and started attacking the blinds more often that I usually do so that I get raked more often. I started taking notes on players unwilling to protect their blinds against a small raise and consistently took there blinds. The problem with play .05 .10 tables was that the returns where quite slow and I was getting bored with the pace that money was trickling in.

On the 2nd day (2nd session), I was back at the .10 .25 tables, but decided to just play the ordinary tables since the jackpot tables were too crazy to play with. I now bought in for the maximum $25. I continued my loose play and kept attacking the blinds.
I got doubled up with this hand: Preflop: I bet 3x bb and got raised back 2x, I called. Flop comes Q 10 K off suit: I bet half the pot and got raised, I called. 4th street shows another Q: I bet half the pot and just called this time. River shows another Q: I checked, opponent bets, I raised, got reraised. At this point, only quad Queens could beat me, so I go all-in and got quickly called. I got thrown off how quickly my all-in got called and was almost certain I was against quad queens.

Fortunately, I got doubled up!!!

Can you guys guess our starting hands? (see bottom page)

On the 3rd day (1st session), with renewed confidence, I was back at the .10 .25 jackpot tables, hoping that my strategy could continue to work. Bought in for $25. I was playing well and doing fine, peaking at around $35. That was when my AQ rammed against AK. I was now down to $7. I thought about calling it a day and reflect on how badly I played that hand. But since I had nothing else to do, I decided to grind it out until I finally gained back my starting buy-in of $25. Whew, that was a long hard climb, but it was so fulfilling because I didn’t tilt and was able to regain my composure after I almost destroyed myself.

These consecutive days of cash tables earned me around 35 points and I am now on my way to completing the required 150 points. Should I clear the 150 points, another $100 would be credited to my account on a staggered basis.
On the 3rd day (2nd session), I decided to join the Partypoker $300 freeroll. Around 6500 players joined with 1000 players getting paid. 1000th place gets .06….. wowoweeee….mucho dinero….

The game started around 7:05pm. That was dinner time, so I logged in around 7:40pm. I stayed in the middle of the pack for most of the tournament. After around 3 hours we were In The Money at 1000th for .06 dollars. I thought, with that 3 hours I could have won so much more money at the cash tables. But I sure didn’t want to bust out now because I would have just wasted the 3 hours spent. I continued to grind it out. Luckily I didn’t get any bad beats nor did I hand out any.

By around 11:30pm, my SMART BRO was smoking hot, we were already down to the last 30 tables and the prize was now getting bigger and bigger. I was still in with mid stack hoping to make my move. I was dealt AQ, a player goes all in and was folded back to me. I thought, time to stack up. Before I could press the ALL-IN button, I get disconnected. What!!! I get reconnected after a few minutes and now sees QQ hole cards, before I get could do anything, I get disconnected again… dang!!!

I rushed out to the sala hoping to get a better internet signal. Now, I saw pocket pair 10s, I panicked and just pressed the ALL-In button before I get disconnected again. It was a 3 way all-in against unpaired high cards and I got tripled up.

Around 12:30am we were down to the final table with blinds capped at 75,000-150,000-4,000. I just did my thing, letting the bluffers bluff and just picking my spots until I became one of the chip leaders. With only 4 players remaining, I looked at my YM and looked who among my poker buddies were still awake. Unfortunately, only Sherwin was awake, reading God knows what. So, Every time I was stuck on a hand, I would ask his opinion and basically just did the OPPOSITE of his suggestions. Thanks dude, couldn’t have done it without you.

I was now heads up with around 7 millions in chips against my opponents 14 million. Fortunately, the blinds were already capped which leaves me with a lot of room to maneuver. It was now around 1am and I am quite sure that my 15hours SMARTBRO prepaid load would be running out anytime soon. I hope I get to end this game.

My opponent questionably occasionally goes all in preflop, hoping to end it right there and then. I told myself that this guy/ gal, feels he/ she can’t outplay me, that is why he/ she keeps going all in preflop. I was determined more than ever to outplay him/ her.

These were the defining hands that changed the tide to my favor:

My opponent goes ALL-IN for the Nth time when I saw pocket 8s, snowmen!!! I am probably ahead unless I run against a higher pocket pair, it was now a race and a chance I was willing to take. Opponent shows me Ax and I was way ahead. I was now up around 16 million against 4 million chips.

I kept my patience, kept staying away from his/ her preflop all-ins and focused mainly on outplaying my opponent. With a J9, I double the BB and got called. Flop gives my middle pair 9 with an ace scare card. I bet ¾ the pot, and my opponent goes ALL-IN. My initial reaction was, he/ she couldn’t possibly have paired the Ace because he/she would have went All-in preflop with any Ace. And if I was against a pair ace, he/ she could have tried to extract more chips from me by just calling or raising. I called the ALL-IN and opponent shows rags. I win!!!

That was my wonderful Partypoker freeroll experience. 6hours for $44, not so bad.














Some thanks you notes are in order:

Poker Strategy – for giving the partypoker starting bankroll of $50.

Alan – for referring me to poker strategy.

Party poker – for sponsoring those freerolls.

Sherwin – for your wrong poker strategies.

Smartbro – for wireless internet access here in the province.



(I had KK against AA)

Metro Card Club's Perfect 10 freeroll

December 14, 2008

Guys/ Gals, you have to visit The Metro Card Club for some poker, be it for fun or for business, that is the in-place to be.

Metro Card Club's Perfect 10 freeroll is scheduled every Sunday. Registration time is 2pm, cards are on the air 5pm, on the dot.

Here goes my poker experience/ badbeat... hahahaha...

Went to Metro and registered for the freeroll around 3pm then went out for awhile.

Cards where on the air 5pm, I like these establishments/ tournaments that start on time, I just means that The Metro values our time.

As usual I arrived around an hour late... sat with just 1,925 chips left from the starting chip count of 2,500 chips. Luckily blinds started 25-50 and every level had intervals of 15minutes, so I wasn't so badly blinded out.

Although I had only around 1925 chips left, I didn't start playing right away, I passed around 8 hands (even with Ax in position) just to observe the people I would be playing with. After gaining information on what kind of players I would be dealing with, and understanding how they acted. It was showtime!!!

In late position, I was dealt KsJs on an unopened pot. Since I was already the shorted stack on the table, I declared: "Let's Go, I am ALL-IN, time to get lucky!" I was called by the blind showing AXo. Flopped gave me the flush right away and he was crippled. Lucky me! I said sorry and played on.

On the very next hand, I was dealt Pocket Kings offsuit (hahahha ... of course offsuit). I thought for awhile wether to raise or just slow play with a flat call. But since I thought that the other players would already be thinking that I was just on a high with no real cards, I announced : "Let's go one more time!!! I am ALL-in!". As expected I got 3 callers who pushed all in. Only one of them got me covered. I showed my Cowboys and one of the players told me exactly what I had thought, He said : " I thought you were just bluffing ..." I went against Pocket 10s, Ax, and QJ i think. Fourth street showed another King, busted out 2 players, semi tripled up and was now chip leader.

I didn't catch any defendable hands and was content on folding a couple of times to aggressive raises.

After sometime, I get dealt AsQs, in late position. Pre-Flop, An bored old man with average stack pushes all-in, after noticing that the players behind me didn't have anything and was on a motion to fold their hands. I just went ALL-IN one more time baby!! To my surprise, the old man shows 8d9h. The board gave me two pairs but gave him 4 running hearts to a flush.... dang.....

Hahahaha...buger that....I laughed it off, and asked him why he shoved with an 89, i was guessing it's his favorite hand. And yes, he confirmed it was his favorite hand. I told him that now he had all the more reason to keep playing his 89. Can't wait to see you on the cash tables old man.

Superstitious players, can bring in so much money. Once you know what hands they "trust". Played correctly, it's almost impossible for them to fold it even if it's not the nuts. Watch out sir, I have got you hommed in and ready to cash.

Down to around 5k in chips, with blinds rising fast. I had to start making my move now. On the cut off with an unopened pot, i decided to bluff with my offsuit rags. Dealer folds, Kalel SB thinks but ultimately folds his Ax. BB folds as well. Was thinking of showing my bluff to induce more action but decided otherwise because I can't go embarrasing my friend.

My chips haven't recovered from that bad beat when i was dealth Q10 suited on late postion with an unopend pot, since the blinds were already catching up with me... SHOVED IT! I got called with a dominated hand Qx offsuit... River ofcourse pairs his x and I was down to 800.

With 800 to go minus 100 ante, I decided to go all in blind, Kalel and another players calls. I then peeked at my cards and saw lolo's favorite hand 89 offsuit. Flop pairs my nine. Kalel outplays his opponent on fourth street leaving us heads up. I asked Kalel if he hit anything and he sadly said yes and shows me his straight.... Busted by a friend, no worries though, better a friend than anybody else.

I stayed on to watch the tournament end while also checking out how MOTO was doing on the cash tables.

On the Tournament:
With 4 players left (kalel included), there was talk of a 4-way chop. mid stack villain disagrees to it.

Kalel played a masterful game, reading the opponents right and going in with the best of it.
sadly he just kept getting sucked out on crucial hands. without those terrible badbeats at the end, he would have won it all.

Kalel out, 3 players left, a player offered to buy the share of the other 2 players, villain now chip leader still disagrees.

With 2 players left, villain now the overwhelming chip leader jokes about chopping then takes it back.

Guess who won....

Villain losses his monstrous chip lead and goes home empty handed.

Lesson of the story: CHOP CHOP!!!

On Moto's cash table:
Every body was chatty, a few bluff here and there, the usual solid play from Moto. The all of a sudden, a young lady shows and buys in for 1500 in chips. A little later, her friend buys in for 300. You could just see eyes of all the pros on the table light up. Time to reel in the fish! Moto and the others got a fair share of the fishmeal.

Do I hear a MOTO freeroll somewhere???