Living in Cambodia and turning Pro
This is my story and if anyone wants advice on joining me then let me know.
I’m originally from the UK, London and have been playing poker for around 6 years to varying success but as it was to secondary work never really committed. Then the economic down turn happened I sold business (a night club) and I thought I’d take a couple of years out in a cheap foreign country.
I live on the Cambodian coast in a place called Sihanoukville, about four hours drive from the capital Phnom Peng. It’s a beautiful little spot with 5 beaches and with the Thai border 4 hours drive to the west and Vietnam about 5 hours to the east. It has a vibrant night life, with a number of clubs, beach bars and western and local restaurants (and 3 casinos). The sex trade is a lot less prevalent than Thailand and the place has a mixture of backpackers passing through, holiday makers from Phnom Peng and a large friendly expat community.
So why Cambodia.
• It’s cheap (half the price of Thailand), I stay in a 2 bedroom western style apartment, all mod cons, 24 hour security sea views $340 a month. A one bedroom bedsit in the same building is $120 a month. A meal out varies from $3.50 – about $7 for top end, beer is 50c-$1 a glass.
• Language isn’t a problem most Cambodians in the major cities speak English.
• Visas, unlike Thailand you can extend your visa indefinitely without leaving the country $250 a year.
• Internet, now is fine, i have ½ a mega bite which is $60 a month and a 3g card for back up should either the internet go down while playing or a power occurs. Power cuts do happen infrequently but all that’s needed is a back up battery or a laptop.
• It’s safe, like any major city anywhere in the world there is crime, just don’t wonder down dark streets at 4am you wouldn’t in New York!
• The people are lovely, not yet obliterated by western values or capitalism.
• The expat community is varied and very friendly to new comers.
• The currency is the Riel but the dollar is more widely used
• No tax
• Live poker is available in casinos and a few low homegames
• The weather is hot from October to June, June to September is the wet season which while still hot it rains to varying degrees.
I think Pro maybe a little strong, I play 3 hours a day mainly in the morning (+7 GMT) and last month 90 hours made me $900, mainly I play SnG. $900 is hefty amount here, waitress earn around $100 a month and western bar managers around $400 a month. In the UK i would have to earn $3000 a month and have a fraction of the life style. I normally finish with poker by 10am and this leaves me the rest of the day to visit the beach, take a boat ride to Island, ride my bike, watch movies, study poker, or just visit friends for a beer.
I have yet to find anyone else out here who is supporting their lifestyle from internet and poker and would either like to find someone who is or encourage someone to come and join and me. I’d be happy to help anyone thinking of making the move and it would be great to have someone to speak poker with, especially if they were at a more advanced level than me
It could be ideal for someone who can make $1-2000 a month but not enough for Pro and a decent western lifestyle, or someone who has to grind silly hours to make a western style wage.
So ask me anything about me, my poker or living in Cambodia
Iao
Heading down to WPT this week. I took the hotel deal at Nagaworld for the first 7 days. Bad choice? I can still cancel or move after the first week. I looked at Bridge Club, but didn't want to end up in a smoking room.
They are pretty easy to swap rooms if there's an issue. Someone in our room asked about food delivery and restaurants so I thought I'd post it here:
The best food delivery app here is Nham24. Grab, Foodpanda, egets, wow now all work alright too but less options.
For food at Naga, I highly recommend bistro romano for a nice Italian menu in Naga 1. And for 24/7 there's chopsticks at Naga 1 on the g floor. I haven't tried much of the food court at Naga 2, but I've heard good things.
For outside options:
Eleven One - Cambodian fusion suited for western tastes
Khema - French, bakery, salads, good beef Wellington
Armand's - French, great steaks
Hummus House - Great Lebanese food from a fellow poker player
Namaste - Good indian
Mexicano - Good Mexican and taco Tuesday
Brooklyn - Best pizza, lots of good lunch options
Elia Greek / Nik The Greek - Greek food
Baldwin Bisto - great small bistro
Il Forno - Italian
Sushi Honda - Sushi
Box office - American junk food
Le Lanka - another good french restaurant
Pho Saigon - Solid pho
Box office is definitely British junk food not American. Otherwise good list.
The vine and smash burger are also good delivery options for junk food.
If you guys want a good Korean bbq buffet restaurant in PP, I would highly recommend IseoulYou-អាយស៊ូលយូ(Boeng Keng Kang), they have a special promotion for lunch time around $10, crazy good value and the meat quality is top. I was pretty much eating there every week when living in PP.
Also for pizza, Pizza 4P's BKK1, 4.9 ratings on Google maps, over 2.7k ratings, that's pretty much perfection
And if you need to move around the city and don't want to drive a motorbike, use PassApp for booking a tuktuk, it's the best here
I was impressed that Phnom Penh has Papa Johns Pizza now. Found that out a few months ago. Tastes the same as US (good or bad depending if you like Papa Johns), personally I love it.
For accommodation I usually stay at M Residence, the rooms are small and nothing special, but I like having a balcony on a high floor, rooftop pool is great, thereÂ’s a small gym and the location is perfect in BKK1. Basically a straight shot to Naga, costs $1 on Grab. The location immediately around Naga is lame.
So are the cash games any better for this event or is it mostly the same regs plus other nit regs from other countries ?
If you guys want a good Korean bbq buffet restaurant in PP, I would highly recommend IseoulYou-អាយស៊ូលយូ(Boeng Keng Kang), they have a special promotion for lunch time around $10, crazy good value and the meat quality is top. I was pretty much eating there every week when living in PP.
Also for pizza, Pizza 4P's BKK1, 4.9 ratings on Google maps, over 2.7k ratings, that's pretty much perfection
And if you need to move around the city and don't w
I always forget Pizza 4Ps, one of my favorites since Saigon. Trying to eat healthy recently...
Props to Naga and team for the event so far, it's been going quite well.
It's also brought in a few more action players to town for us as well. Yesterday we had 2 tables of 5/10 PLO and game went from 2pm to 1 am.
For accommodation I usually stay at M Residence, the rooms are small and nothing special, but I like having a balcony on a high floor, rooftop pool is great, thereÂ’s a small gym and the location is perfect in BKK1. Basically a straight shot to Naga, costs $1 on Grab. The location immediately around Naga is lame.
So are the cash games any better for this event or is it mostly the same regs plus other nit regs from other countries ?
Reg heavy, but there are some russian, indian, usa fish. Decent game turns into waste of time insta the fish quit, but thats live poker in 2025...
I played the 5/10 PLO5 a couple nights ago and it was decent. Mostly because I didn't stay long and a big Indian fish was there.
Tried the $400 PLO5 MTT today and got 6th out of 83 runners. Was always 1 crucial flip loss away from having a stack to compete. Level of play seemed bad until the final table, where there were 2-3 possibly competent players. However, there was 1 older gentleman who final tabled who didn't even understand hand values. He was talking about AA like it was NLHE.
I wish there were a few more PLO5 MTTs. There's a turbo, but right at the end of the series a day after I leave. Hopefully the PLO5 cash keeps running.
Mandatory straddle or semi-mandatory and many sneaky mother****ers around who sitout when its their time to straddle...and dealers let them get away with it.
How to handle? Not sure. In order to keep friendly game I choose to ignore it when 1 does it but then 3...omfg.
No honor among thieves comes to mind.
Grinded the 5/10 5c for a week and games werent anything special after all. You get the 1-2fish and rest nits. Better hourly online.
I was in and out of that game a bit this week, but didn't play as much as I might have normally b/c stakes were a bit higher than I thought plus game quality wasn't great as you mentioned.
I wonder why they made it 5/10 instead of a 5/5? Maybe that kept out some players who don't know how to play it well, who might've given it a shot at lower stakes.
