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
The rake is 5%. No Bad beat jackpot or similar.
2/5 is not the way you describe. I guess comp-hour-farmers are mostly playing 1/3, which is understandable.
I am making reasonable profit at 2/5, and I also non-stop drink free tea/coffee. So consider changing your strategy there ; ) Btw beer is free to
Yes, you're right. Rake is 5%. My bad. I agree that 2/5 is a better proposition, although the daytime game looked so so (I did sit a few times). The rake trap scenario applies more to the 1/3. Don't get me wrong: the comps are excellent ($1 per hour for restaurant quality food, too). And yeah the beer is decent. I logged 200 hours over two trips, with my results depressing compared to Manila. I certainly experienced some nasty variance, so acknowledge there could be a negative bias to my summary.
Lmao. Dw bro i lol'd.
Btw u dont gotta tip the dealers at naga, like nothing will happen if you dont tip. Noone cares.
Brother, they care. $1 USD means a whole lot more to them than us. I could buy a decent meal or get a bag of laundry done for $3. Generally, I tipped after bigger pots. It's not quasi-mandatory like the USA, but there was a fair amount of tipping to dealers and service staff when I was doing my 8 hours in purgatory each day.
Rama, it is just a saying in English, not that he is literally afraid! It is more of a British expression of civility, in the tune of "I am afraid I do not understand what you are saying" kind of thing.
He-he. I'm way too civil: rather be a lawyer than a poker player. But, yeah, generally, found locals to be friendly. Only afraid of myself, that's all.
Relatively safe, just like the rest of SE-Asia. Snatch and run type of crime is more common: moto guy grabs tuktuk passenger's handbag, or pedestrian looking phone at hand etc.
remember when i was in sihankouville during the offseason and sometimes going to or from queenco to another casino the path would go over a completely dark stretch with just dirt road and trees - was infinitely sketched out but nothing came of it - the only time i've ever been nervous about getting mugged in asia - but not nervous enough to not walk through it - just enough to realize it was possibly pretty dumb to walk through there in the middle of the night carrying the amount of cash i was carrying on me
got pickpocketed once entire time i was in asia, was waiting in a large crowd for a bus - worst part about it is the guy was very obviously creeping up on me and kept putting his hand on my shoulder so i grabbed wallet and transferred it to front jacket pocket and zipped it shut and kept my hand over it, things seem fine as i board and i drop my guard figuring that's certainly enough to get him to scatter but then i feel the wallet getting pulled out but i'm squeeze in by others (probably in on it) so i can't really do much about it and by time i got out he was already half a block away - i gave chase but dude blended into the crowd very quickly - only had like $20 in it but was super annoying to get all my cards canceled and renewed
Brother, they care. $1 USD means a whole lot more to them than us. I could buy a decent meal or get a bag of laundry done for $3. Generally, I tipped after bigger pots. It's not quasi-mandatory like the USA, but there was a fair amount of tipping to dealers and service staff when I was doing my 8 hours in purgatory each day.
Ya watever like obv they care and want moneys...
But if u never tip u will get same service, nothing changes.
The rake is 5%. No Bad beat jackpot or similar.
2/5 is not the way you describe. I guess comp-hour-farmers are mostly playing 1/3, which is understandable.
I am making reasonable profit at 2/5, and I also non-stop drink free tea/coffee. So consider changing your strategy there ; ) Btw beer is free to
thanks for correcting, was shocked about the increase from 5% to 10%, wanted to go to phnom penh end of year for a few weeks and play a lot at naga, games are not great there but at least the rake was most of times kinda fair
wtf, people tip?
FYI, that was the rake at the WPT in July. I have not played outside the WPT there recently, so don't know if that is their regular rake, but I would guess so.
Spoiler
I wanted to write a TR, but unfortunately had a bad shoulder injury not much later and still in the process of recovery. In short, the WPT was excellently organized, maybe the whale level could of been a bit higher though. But it was well done, that casino has come a long way from the ol' days of clueless dealers, pointless card shuffles, and constant slot noise background. Else not much seem to have changed in the city.
Yep, tipping is not expected but you help peeps earning Cambodian wages (like 200$/month), so up to you.
And yes, like oxygia mentioned, there is some snatch phone, wallet, bag so watch out a lil bit, some small scams, apart from that crime esp violent crimes against foreigners are extremely rare in PP. Just don't do anything you wouldn't do in the US, esp not flashing large amounts of money outside the casino. Not sure current situation in SHV
Im amazed that antique PLO is still the thing here and PLO5 has not picked up.
They had a list of PLO5 (5/5) during the WPT and occasionally one table was running, mostly late evening IIRC. So yeah, not a lot of interest it seems
They had a list of PLO5 (5/5) during the WPT and occasionally one table was running, mostly late evening IIRC. So yeah, not a lot of interest it seems
It ran 1 table fairly consistently while I was there, but game wasn't great and tended to be mostly out of town players.
We've incorporated a double board 5 card bomb pot every 30 minutes into our holdem to teach some of the chinese PLO. It's been fairly well received so far.
Am selling WPT Passport $$ at 5% discount btw if anyone interested.. Theres WPT event in Feburary coming to Naga. In somewhat of a rush to sell tho. The process is fairly easy afaik
We've been running a 5/10 PLO consistently with a lot of the local action players recently starting at 4pm.
Naga also going quite strong running up to 7-9 tables most days with a few tables of 2/5 NL and the rest being 1/3 NL.
I'll be in PP next month, first time since COVID.
Am I right in my assessment that most/all NLHE games have moved to Naga and the clubs mostly spread PLO games now?
What clubs apart from RK are there now? DM welcome if you don't wanna post here.
Thank you.
RK has also moved to hotel close to Bridge Club.
I'll be in PP next month, first time since COVID.
Am I right in my assessment that most/all NLHE games have moved to Naga and the clubs mostly spread PLO games now?
What clubs apart from RK are there now? DM welcome if you don't wanna post here.
Thank you.
Yeah, this is correct. There are some hold'em games as well, but mostly Chinese places. You're welcome to PM me if you need any advice, I know of some of the Chinese games but haven't played many of them myself. I'm still mostly just at Ming Men
That has closed now, the khmer players from there have been playing the 5/10 PLO at Ming Men recently.
Quick question:
Can you deposit cash at Naga Casino so you don't have to carry cash everywhere?
Sihanoukville Poker Update: I saw a guy get kicked out of the 72 poker room last night get because he made a comment about the presence of house players and collusion.
Pro Tip: Do not make comments about house players or collusion while at the poker tables in Cambodia!
I'll be in town for APPT, would appreciate an update too. No more RK/PK? I suppose Red Fox still dead too? Ming Men on, what games/stakes? And Naga, that's it? Thanks
I'll be in town for APPT, would appreciate an update too. No more RK/PK? I suppose Red Fox still dead too? Ming Men on, what games/stakes? And Naga, that's it? Thanks
There was a split of sorts, some of the staff opened a new room in bkk last week. I think the game is fielding 5/5 Omaha now.
Most of the bongs have moved to the Ming Men game, currently it's 5/10 PLO (1k min buy, no max) at 2pm daily.
Naga also added another table, up to 11 tables running today. Will be interesting to see how APPT does since there are so many competing events with the triple event in Korea and Poker Dream. Might be big value in the Won tournament afterwards with a 600k gtd and big overlay last time too.
I haven't heard of any poker at Red Fox for quite some time now.
Feel free to PM here or on the Poker in Cambodia FB page if you have any questions.
