A news article appears in The Southeast Asia Globe talking about the thriving underground poker scene in Cambodia, and Pete Yanhan Chen wins the first-ever World Poker Tour event held in mainland China.
With the online poker games getting harder to beat and the up and down life of tournaments enough to make a hardened pro puke, a lot of professional poker players are turning to the live cash games as a way to pay the bills.
So where are all these juicy live cash games?
One place that seems to be thriving, according to a piece in The Southeast Asia Globe is Cambodia. I know what you are thinking: Khmer Rouge, Killing Fields, and Genocide, but that was in the 70s, and these days more and more people are flocking to this part of the world as a way to reduce their expenses and find profitable games.
The article referred to underground poker rooms in Phnom Penh that are the home to professional poker players from the US and UK who have settled in the country to play both live and online poker. With the average income in Cambodia coming in at $90 per month, there must be some whales in these games to keep them going.
Two of the players mentioned in the article are Michael Kim, 42, from the US, and Luke McCollum, 26, from the UK. The other establishment referred to in the piece was the Riverking Poker Club said to have been opened by a senior figure in the Cambodian government, so one doubts players have to keep their cash hidden under the table in those games.
Not only do the expats get to play in some juicy cash games but there is also a vibrant nightlife, beautiful beaches, and everything costs so much less than it would if the players were to return to the land of the dollar and the pound. It also helps that English is a common language in Cambodia, and both Vietnam and Thailand are a stone throw away.
In January, the World Poker Tour (WPT) held National events in Thailand and Cambodia. The Holiday Palace Casino & Resort in Poipet, Cambodia and the Queenco Hotel & Casino in Sihanoukville, Cambodia hosted the events.
The event in Sihanoukville only attracted 100 entrants with Frenchman Benjamin Gonzva winning the $36,487 first prize. Only 57 participants took part in the Poipet event with Andres Korn winning the $17,557 first prize.
You can read the full article about the Cambodia underground poker scene right here.
Pete Yanhan Chen Wins First WPT Main Event Held in China
Sticking with the Asian theme and Season XVI of the World Poker Tour has kicked off with the first-ever WPT Main Event to be held in mainland China.
WPT Beijing went off without a single cop barging down the door, and that was good news for the 400 entrants who made the event a worthwhile experiment.
The winner was Pete Yanhan Chen who banked $299,485 and a seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions. Former PokerStars Team Pro, Bryan Huang, also made the final table finishing in sixth place.
Here are the final table results:
1. Pete Yanhan Chen – $299,485
2. Chen Ke – $199,278
3. Lu Yingqi – $128,101
4. Zhang Wenbin – $89,974
5. Tan Yancheng – $65,401
6. Bryan Huang – $54,168
There is no rest for the wicked.
The WPT team is already in Amsterdam for the commencement of the WPT Amsterdam Main Event, WPTDeepstacks Amsterdam, and the PokerStars Championship WPT MonteDam Swing.
