A poker game - and a little etymology...

April 30th is comin' up. The big party...I've got a twenty-four person field coming out so far - should be good. Spent the week training the dealers - should be interesting. The real nice thing is i won't know about two-thirds of the players. That's very heartening to a guy like me (if you've read my previous posts, you know I'm desperately seeking GAMES). Looking forward to seeing the action and being a part of it. Reminder - it's a NL no-rebuy. Contact me if you want to play - if you can't make it, i'll be posting the results and pics here on Sunday. I'd like to hit forty players - still marketing the party. Hope we hit it.

Anyway, I got an interesting email the other day from a friend in Canada.

Nick, why Poker Filipinas? Sounds a little pornographic, if you ask me....

I see what my buddy's getting at here - He's reading Filipinas as the pluralized form of the word Filipina, which means a woman from the Philippines. An honest mistake, compounded (perhaps) by the fact that the word "poker's" in there too. heheh. Filipinas in this context is the old Spanish term for the Philippine Islands (the Philippines was a Spanish colony for centuries). In the local vernacular it's Pilipinas. So my intended meaning is: Poker (from or in) the Philippines. Cuz that's what I do (or try, anyway) - play poker in the Philippines. Perhaps an honest mistake bud, but get yer mind outta the gutter.

Related to this, I'm dropping a couple of links into the sidebar for Philippine- themed sites. Follow those links. Come visit me. Nice place - we can even play some cards.

Ok...not much live poker here, so how about online?

I've learned over the last few months that you really gotta dig deep and be forced to meet some semi-savory people to find a good game in town. And forget about grinding out a few hours a day at a regular card room or casino - as far as I know, the games are one-offs and few and far between. So the only other option??? Online!

Online poker is manna from heaven if you're in my situation. Forget about the traffic, congestion, and utter absence of regular games, of course. Just log in, deposit, and play. There. Done.

But wait...what about people here, who don't have North American bank accounts or credit cards issued by North American banks? Can they make deposits online? This question popped up when I created an account on Bodog to play 5-card stud. I gave my Philippine mailing address, and soon after received the following email:

Dear Mr. -----
Account: -----

Just a friendly reminder, that we do not accept international credit cards or
deposits from non-US checking accounts. However, BoDog accepts NETeller deposits.
If you don’t already have a NETeller account, please visit our deposit page for
information on setting up an international NETeller account.

Thank you and good luck,
Bodog Customer Service

Ok, no problem, though I wonder what the difference is between a Visa card issued in the US and one issued in the Philippines. If I'm missing some detail, someone please correct me. But I can use NETeller! Cool! That ubiquitous payment processor for all things gaming related. Another great service.

Well, website doesn't say too much about international accounts, so...I fire off a query to NETteller support asking how I fund an account, and get this:

Dear ----,

We regret that we are unable to provide service to your area at this
time. However, we do have your information on file and we will contact you
as soon as service becomes available.

Customer Support Team (225)
support@NETeller.com


So this is gonna be tough too. I'm ok - I can use my Canadian bank accounts and credit cards...but what about the poker-hungry masses? Whatever can they do? Gonna keep trying to find the outs here. If anybody knows, let me know.

I'll keep going back to this topic as I learn more.

Mabuhay

Kickstart to a Personal New Year

First of all, nice work, Barbiemanila - that's my wife's handle on TruePoker. She just finished 15th in the Sunday WSOP 6K Guaranteed, made just past the bubble but out on a gutsy play shortstacked with AQo in the BB. She moved in with T2100 (stakes 500/1000) after A9o raised UTG and was reraised by 66. I was railbirding and asking her not to call but with that many chips in the middle and what turned out to be 3-way coin-toss, she ignored me. Well, bust-out but in the money. Nice work hun.

On to the topic at hand. It's my birthday - so i'm putting on a NL Holdem no rebuy tourney on Saturday April 30th. If you're in Manila and you happen to read this (heheh), leave me a comment. I'm supplying the booze, food, music, cards and dealers. Just bring your fine self so we can meet and play some cards.

And I stopped in at the Casino Filipino last Saturday to catch some of the action in the finals for the first leg of the Poker King Challenge Tournament held by the The Poker Club of the Philippines. I'm told it's the first one of its kind sanctioned by the local gaming authority. Great work guys, I'm gonna join your club - too bad I didn't hear about it sooner. Don't know who won, but I hope to see more soon!

Anyway, Mabuhay till the next time.

The Topic for the Tropics

I've been living in Manila for about a year, having moved here from Vancouver, BC as a manager for a Canadian company. This place has everything: nightlife, great beaches, fantastic dining, lovely people, the works. It's lacking one thing though: POKER!!! Let me clarify - there's lots of poker. But not in the usual places - games happen in back rooms, country clubs, that sorta thing. And the games available are local hybrids - unfamiliar games and dealer's choice kinda action that gets real wacky for a semi-serious player.

There are no poker tables in the casinos, but there are lots of casinos. But the buzz is a few are gonna open up soon...looking forward to it :). A local channel just picked up a license for the first season of the WPT. SportsPlus for you locals out there, airing on Wednesday nights at 10:00pm and replaying on Fridays at 8:00pm - I think.

Anyway, this topic for the tropics is: if you're local, and out there, and play stud (5 or 7-card), texas holdem or omaha, lemme know here and we can hook up.

Mabuhay