i am pokermax
My name is Vic de Guzman. I am an amatuer poker player from the Philippines.
Though I play a lot of poker, both tournament and cash games, I still do not consider myself as a professional player. However, I consider myself a student of the game, eagerly learning and appreciating this mind-blowing card game. I am known in the Philippine Poker scene as POKERMAX.
Why POKERMAX? A lot of people say that I bring so much action at the tables.
I've had some Poker Tournament success in my 5+ years playing poker,
namely, Champion of the 2nd season of the POKER BAR TOUR (2006), 2009 Filipino Poker Tour Champion wherein I bested a field of 667 (the biggest field in Asia) with a prize pool of 6 Million pesos, Champion of the 1st Rotary Charity poker event, 48th place in the 2009 Asia Pacific Poker Tour in Cebu, and several other tournaments wherein I placed in the money. I am currently a regular player at the Manila Bay Poker Club at the Mall of Asia and The Big Ace Poker Club in Mandaluyong.
tweets
videos
You Make The Call - World Series of Poker 2008 WSOP
Daniel Negreanu is the Poker God?
Funny All-In - World Series of Poker 2008 WSOP
Poker - Insane first hand!
You Make The Call - World Series of Poker 2008 WSOP
Daniel Negreanu is the Poker God?
Funny All-In - World Series of Poker 2008 WSOP
Poker - Insane first hand!
recent posts
Hey Blog! Long Time......
High Stakes Poker
Valuable lessons in less than an hour of cash game
Life is like Poker
Poker is not just Texas Holdem
A really, really bad day at the office
Fresh start, Same ol' grind
Barry Greenstein, 5 6 of hearts, KK & QQ
Tweeks and Fixes before the Big Dance
Lost my cajones!
Showing only 10 of my recent posts,
click the dropdown button for older posts
Hey Blog! Long Time......
High Stakes Poker
Valuable lessons in less than an hour of cash game
Life is like Poker
Poker is not just Texas Holdem
A really, really bad day at the office
Fresh start, Same ol' grind
Barry Greenstein, 5 6 of hearts, KK & QQ
Tweeks and Fixes before the Big Dance
Lost my cajones!
Showing only 10 of my recent posts,
click the dropdown button for older posts
links
Hey Blog! Long Time...... It's been a long while since I last posted in my Blog. I have a lot of materials to write about. I'm already excited to start posting again. Im just kinda stuck with everything that's happening around me. First of, I am now a proud owner of my very own poker card room. It's called the Empire Poker Sports Club in Pasig City, Philippines. Also, I had a chance to visit London and got a chance to play at the place where the World Series of Poker-Europe is being held. Likewise, I also had a chance to play some of the biggest cash games in the Philippines. One game I played appeared to be just medium staked game, with the blinds at $5-$10. But the game had an ante of $70! By Philippine standards, that's about what one person earns in a month! Of course, in all of these experiences comes a lot of hand situation worthy of my "not another bad beat" tales. I will start posting in a couple of days. Let me just get my thoughts together and get caught up in a writing mood. Til then. |
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High Stakes Poker I've had several opportunities to play in what I consider as High Stakes poker. I often play the 50-100 or the 100-200 blinds. Normally, the buy-in would be between 10K to 30K. I find myself comfortable in these games. I particularly choose my seat so as to avoid acting before the aggressive players. So far, I've had good success in these games. However, last weekend, I was invited to a high stakes poker game. Blinds 200-400. Ok, I thought, "how could this be any different from the games that I've been playing". I'm thinking that I will just buy-in for 50K and play my usual game. And so I thought it would be so. Just when were about to start, one of the players suggested to have a 200 ante. Hmmm, this sounds like an action filled night. When we started (8 players), 5 of the players bought in for 100K. The game started well for me. In 2 hours, my 50K was now 110K. However, everytime a player loses 10 to 20K in a hand, that player tops up his stack with 50K. I figured that this game was designed for someone with deep pocket to win, coz even though I was winning, everyone had me covered. I sensed that if ever I was dealt a bad beat, all my chips would vanish. I had to be really careful. And the inevitable happened. I had JJ at utg +2. I raised to 5K. 4 players called. Flop shows J, 9, 7 no flush draw. I have top set. I bet 15K. Only 1 player folded. WTF! Turn showed a 2. I figured that its Take Down time, so I made a bet of 30K. 1 player called, the 2nd folded, and the 3rd guy pushes All In for 55K. I had about 60K behind. Top set with no flush or straight draw, so what am I suppose to do? I went All In! The 1st guy folded. With over 200K in the pot, the dealer ask for the players to show their cards. Still top set for me and the other guy shows 88! What?! And now the river card. Burn, flip and a 10 on the river! Whoa! He just made a straight!!! Ouch!. I re-bought for another 50K. However, at the back of my mind, I thought that this game was not for me. I would probably break this game if I had a million with me. The players were all gamblers and I am suppose to be loving it. But one thing I learned from this game is that no matter how high the skills level you bring to the table, it would be equalized by a gambler with very deep pockets. With just one beat, you can easily be felted. |
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Valuable lessons in less than an hour of cash game I have not posted a blog in a long while. I have been very busy in the last 2 1/2 month on my latest poker-related project. I promise to write about it in my next blog. In the meantime, I would like to share last night's session. It was probably the shortest live cash game session I have played. I was ready to play longer coz I had enough money to make 4 max buy-ins at a 50-100 game. I had to quit though as I felt that last night session was not gonna be productive for me as I was on super tilt mode. Let me tell you why. A friend invited me to a 50-100 game last night. He said that the table was gonna be filled with people we know and that it was just gonna be a "friendly" game. No sharks. No Fish. Just friends playing. First of all, there are no such thing as a "friendly" game. It's either you go after their stack or they go after yours. Its as simple as that. So playing with friends was never a comfortable proposition for me. However, since I didn't have anything to do last night, I decided to go play with my friends. It was probably on the 2nd hand that I played when I went on super tilt. I was at the dealer button position and was holding a K 10 offsuit. I simply called. Mind you, the action was folded around to me and the card I was holding was a favorite against the 2 random hand of the small blind and the big blind. Normally I would have raised. However, the invitation of it being a "friendly" game stuck at the back of my mind. The small blind called and the big blind checked. The flop showed Q  J 9 I just made the nuts straight! The small blind led out with a bet of 350. The big blind called. I declared a raise and that before I placed my bet, I said that holding an AQ was no good. I don't normally do that, but in the spirit of the game being friendly, I decided to go along with the night's theme. Then I placed a bet of 800. The small blind folded, but before doing so he asked why I made a raise. I said that I have K 10. Now that's really being friendly. The big blind, who happens to be a very, very good friend of mine was next to act. Whenever I play with this guy, I always play soft especially when we are heads up. I check it down and let him buy his draw.s for free I never re-pop his bets. I don't value bet on him even if I have the nuts. I remember even asking him one time to stop betting coz I had the nuts. At one time, I even returned the money he put in the pot as a friendly gesture. In other words, his money is no good to me. So it really came as a shock to me when he declared he was ALL IN. Was he protecting a big pocket pair like AA or KK? Does he have 2 pairs? Did he make a set? No matter, I had THE NUTS and he would need to hit his draw to make a better hand. I must admit that I was a bit upset that he can's let go of the total of 400 he put into the pot. I had no choice. I had to call. I immediately showed my K 10. To my surprise he shows 10-2 of spades! All he had was an open ended draw and a back door flush draw. Now I was really upset. Was he stealing the pot from me? That was not friendly at all. I would have understood it had that move come from someone I didn't know. He said that he didn't believe that I had it. No matter. He didn't have anything too. Why the ALL IN move?! Worst, he made a runner-runner spades to make a flush!! He had me barely covered as I was left with less than 500 in my stack. I was so upset that I pushed my remaining stack without looking and immediately left the table. Before I left, he ask if I was angry at him and why I was leaving. I answered him yes that I was upset with him and that I was leaving coz I don't want to pretend that it was alright coz it's not! I was not gonna be able to play at an optimum level on a super tilt mode. Quitting was the only option for me. I learned so much from that session. In less than 1 hour, I realized a lot of things that I needed to do to improve my game. Lesson # 1 "There is no such thing as Friendly Poker." You have to be ruthless, everyone else at the table is! Everyone is playing with real money. You always have to go after your opponent's stack. As B.A. Barrachus would say "I pity the fool!" Last night, I pity myself! Lesson # 2 "Compassion and Poker doesn't mix!" Whenever you are playing poker, you have to be ready to run over anybody, including your grandma! Be kind to kids. Be kind to the poor. Be kind to the elderly. But never be kind to anyone playing at the same table with you. Lesson # 3 " Quitting is always an option." Whether you are winning or losing, one has to consider quitting. Quitting may be temporary, say let a few hand past. Go for a smoke, Restroom break or grab a drink. The break will give you the necessary space to set you back into your proper mindset. Don't play your rush as you would be making decisions based on feel. Same when you are losing, quit and take a break so that you would not be deciding based on emotions. |
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Life is like Poker For this post, I will be writing something about my life's adventures and how my life growing up has influenced my game. Just like in poker, one doesn't need to be dealt good cards in order to win in this game called life. I found this out early since I come from a poor family. My dad always preaches how important a good education is in order for us to succeed. Unlike my siblings, I was never the disciplined one. I was always out in the streets playing with my friends. I was not a good student in school. While my siblings were getting honors in school, my mom was just content that I passed. However, I always assured my parents that I will be entering the best university in the country. Of course, they don't believe me, as all of my siblings failed to make the cut in their attempt at the entrance exams. When it was my turn to try, my dad refused to give me money for the entrance exam. He thought that it would just be a waste of money as they were so sure that I won't make it. I had to sell some of my stuff, including my favorite sneakers, just to get a crack at the entrance test at the Univeristy of the Philippines, the premier school in the country. To add to the pressure, I chose one of the toughest course to get into, Economics. I did make it. I also remember how passionate I was about basketball. My mom won't allow me to play 'coz I was asthmatic. I was also very thin and stands only 5'6". But that didn't stop me from learning how to play. I would go to the basketball court at 4am while my mom was asleep. I worked on my defense and ball handling, as everyone of my friends loved to shoot. I less than 6 months, I was already being invited to play in various local leagues. I even had MVP award when I was 19 yrs old. After college, I joined a real estate company that developed golf courses. Having access to several golf courses, I was intrigued by the game. Not having access to golf books and videos, as well as my inability to hire a pro to teach me, I went to the driving range 3x a week. I would hit balls and eavesdrop on pros who were teaching around the range and apply what I would pick up from them. In less than a year, I was winning amatuer golf championships almost every month. I was constantly being nominated as the Team Captain or Manager of my home club's golf team. When I started working, I was just a clerk in the office, receiving minimum pay. In 4 years, I was able to move up to senior management position. It even reached a point that I would ride a helicopter to attend my meetings, I would have access to a yatch for my vacation, and take a private plane for my out of town meetings. The once poor boy is now on top of the world. I even had a chance to become a Chief Operating Officer of a big real estate company. I retired from the corporate world even before I reached the age of 40. Then I started to play poker. I self taught myself. I didn't buy any book on this game. I relied on my management skills and the one book that have guided me in my corporate career, Sun Tzu's The Art of War. In less than a year from picking up the game, I won my first poker tourney championship, The Philippine Poker Bar Tour. I won several more events before I finally won one of the biggest event in the Philippine Poker scene, The Filipino Poker Tour. I did NOT come from a rich family. I do NOT claim to be the greatest golfer. I am not an excellent athlete. I am NOT the best poker player in the country. But I am a champion in the game called LIFE. Notwithstanding having bad cards or being short stacked, I didn't let that stop me from succeeding in accomplishing everything and anything that my heart desired. My blog is not for recognition, nor to brag about what I have accomplished. My blog is for myself, my children and my family. Its for the people who are searching for inspiration. Its for anyone who wants to learn. Life has been good to me and my family. My blog is my celebration. |
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Poker is not just Texas Holdem Before I got hooked on Texas Holdem, the very first variation of poker that I learned to play was Pot Limit Omaha. I have included in this article a video link on How to play Pot Limit Omaha or PLO. This was the most popular form of poker back in the day in the US. A lot of the poker greats are PLO champions, such as David Sklansky, Dewey Tomko, T.J. Clouteir, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, and lots more. However, when the WPT started airing on TV, Texas Holdem became popular. I really would like PLO to pick it up in the Philippine Poker scene. Its a very interesting form of poker which I feel the filipino poker players will embrace once they learn the game. Another variation of poker which I am trying to learn online is the 7-Card Stud. Check out the video link on How to play 7-Card Stud game. It is also another game we use to play in our home games back in the day. I must admit that I really suck in this game. That is why I am trying to re-learn this game online. Some of my poker buddies still play this game and I am getting tired of being their "milking cow" whenever we play. Lately, I have also been playing a lot of Razz online. Like Texas Holdem, bluffing skills comes into play a lot of times in Razz. I am sure that given the right exposure, this game will be as big as texas holdem. I believe that by playing and learning a lot of the other variations of poker, one can truly understand the game of poker. In my desire to be a better poker player, understanding the game is a must and should be the very first step in improving one's poker skills. |
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A really, really bad day at the office I had a terrible poker session last night. In fact, the word terrible is an understatement. I haven't seen myself run as bad as I did last night. Let me start with the best looking card in Texas Holdem (after AA of course), the AK. I was dealt this "beauty" 8 times last night! Most of the time there was a raise before the action got around to me. Since I'm not just gonna sit back and limp with it, surely a healthy pot ensued. Sadly for me, I lost all 8 times. Oh yeah I tried to bluff with it and all the time the bluff blew up in my face as my opponent would hit 2 pairs or a set at the river. In one of my miserable run, I had AK at the button. 3 people limped around to me. Like in the other times I had these cards, I raised it to 4.5X the BB since there were limpers already. The SB folds and the BB goes All In. It was folded around to me. As expected, I called. Heads up. BB shows A9. I have him dominated! Flop show A A 10. I am sooo ahead. Turn 2, no help to the other guy. River....you guessed it, 9! Oh AK, why have you forsaken me? A couple of times, I went up against AK too. One time I had QQ and the Ace shows up right away at the flop. The other time was worse. The tightest player at the table raised with a bet of 2.5X BB. 2 other people called. I had a suited 9 10 at the button. Putting the raiser with a hand like AK, I called simply because I feel I can outplay him if no A or picture card shows up at the flop. I called. Flop shows 9 10 A. Perfect! The tight player leads out with a pot size bet. Everyone else folds around to me. Not seeing any threat on the flop, I flat called his bet. Turn card was a "harmless" 3. Tight player checks. I bet half the pot. He calls. River card...... 3 Ouch!!! He checks. Knowing I'm beat I check as well. What do you know? He shows AK!!! In hindsight, AK is nothing more than a couple of drawing cards. As they say in the poker world, AK is often called Anna Kournikova (after the beautiful tennis star), "looks good, but never wins". With the 8 times I was dealt AK, I am beginning to believe its true. If you think that my miserable night started and ended with AK, there's more. Twice I made straight on the flop. Both times I didnt slow play as I was already stuck big. Both times I went All In after seeing the Flop and making my nuts hand. Both times I lost! Both times I lost to a 2-card runner. One for a bigger straight only after having an over pair, the other for a flush on a rainbow flop! Oh yeah, I also made 2 pairs on the flop 4 times. All those time, either one of my pair got counterfeited or an idiot with a pair (not even an overpair) commits himself All In and hits set on the river. I lost an insane amount of money last night. I was already 2nd guessing my plays. I was already very tentative (or scared) everytime I was involved in a pot. I had to quit. Or so I thought. Driving home, I cannot believe the run that I just had. I remember a friend telling me an advice he got before, the once one gets involved in a car accident, one must try to get into a car and drive as soon as possible so as to shake off the trauma. I did just that. Stubborn as I am, I detoured to the nearest card room and sat down. I told myself that I am just gonna play for an hour, just to shake off the "trauma". Luckily for me, I doubled up in less that an hour. I was able to cut my losses significantly. Last night was definitely one horrible night of poker for me. It surely feels like I got one whole month of bad beats in just one night. I still feel sick just thinking about it. Nothing I can do about it. |
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Fresh start, Same ol' grind I've been away from the tables (both live and online) for almost a week already. I took my annual Holy Week break. No poker at all. Not even books nor videos. I'm not really a religious guy but somehow the family tradition dictates that I have to observe Holy Week in a quiet and spiritual manner. That means no beach, no parties, no booze, and NO POKER for one week. Its all good coz my time out from poker will eventually develop some "hunger" in my game. I hope to come out more aggressive and more decisive in my poker sessions. It also relieves me of any poker fatigue. Oh yeah, I really believe that there such animal as "Poker Fatigue". It is when you have been running bad for a long time, your decision making becomes questionable from all the beats you've been getting. I'm not saying that I've been running bad. In fact, my cash games have been profitable as of late. Still, there's fatigue when you're running good. The rush and high energy you get everytime you're running good will somehow get to you sooner or later. Time out or quitting is always a good thing to recharge yourself. It also helps you put matters into proper perspective. I have been reading a lot about The Noble Eightfold Path. Among the topics in this Buddhism teaching is about Right Mindfulness or the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is by taking a time out that one can somehow achieve a controlled faculty of cognition, that which is "tilt-free". I believe that having this as among your poker guides, one can somehow assure himself of having his A-game every session. In my future posts, I will try to share some of my learnings from the Buddism Teachings and its relevance to my poker game. In the meantime, I will get myself ready for the start of a new poker grind. |
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