The thrill of poker reigns at Solaire's WPT Bloggers Night

Bob Guerrero

All images copyright Bob Guerrero.

It’s a Thursday evening and I am in an opulent sixteenth-floor suite at the Solaire Hotel and Casino. There is some seriously wicked finger food on chafing dishes in one corner. Beef tenderloin mushroom salpicao, duck liver mousse, lobster spring rolls, parma ham wrapped grissini bread, and the piece de resistance, charred king salmon gravlax on honey mustard hollandaise and potato hash.

At the other end of the suite is the master bedroom with a bathroom straight out of “Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous,” complete with his and hers marble-countered basins, a bathtub and a separate shower stall.

But the high life isn’t on my mind tonight. I’m with fourteen other bloggers and a clutch of poker junkies for the World Poker Tour Bloggers Night.

We have a quick briefing with Ron Regis, a professional poker coach (yes there is such a thing.)

For Regis, poker can be a numbers-based geekfight. He draws a comparison with the way NBA veteran Shane Battier studied Kobe Bryant’s offensive patterns and shepherded the future Hall Of Famer to spots where he would likely miss.

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“He paid attention and turned the game into something about making decisions,” says coach Ron.

The next speaker is Marco Aventajado, who recounts the rise of poker in the Philippines, from a bar tour in 2007 to what it is right now, a multi-million peso industry.

The bloggers, many of whom are either casual players or newbies, listen intently.

Minutes later we are shepherded downstairs to the elegant Solaire Poker room, for an actual game of No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em.

But it isn’t an ordinary tournament. We are split up into three teams of five for a team challenge. The team with the most chips after thirty minutes wins. Since I’m one of the more experienced players I am named the captain for the three-blind level team game.

My side is composed of Ted Claudio of wazap.ph, Marco Polo Demo of kwentonitoto.com, John Bueno of Kumagcow.com, and Arvin Ello of vintersections.com.

“Let’s play tight-aggressive,” I suggest to the troops, channeling my most convincing Phil Ivey vibe. “Let’s be cautious but if we have a hand, bet big!”

The game begins, and it is apparent that my strategy is woefully misguided. Another team seems to be in every hand, and in no time they have a massive chip lead.

ALSO READ: Tams “outhustled and outworked” in Game 2 loss.

My own stack never really grows, even though I double up late. We don’t win the team game, but we do have one consolation: Arvin moves all in with queen of hearts and jack of spades on the very last hand. He hits his top pair, quadruples up, and wins the individual player award. Solaire awards him with P10,000 worth of chips that he can play at the baccarat tables.

The play was ragged and extremely loose. But that doesn’t matter. My fellow bloggers all definitely caught the poker bug. The excitement of landing a strong hand, getting a big bet called, pulling off a colossal bluff, or hitting a huge flush all seemed to rub off on the scribes.

The event was part of Solaire’s lead-up for the World Poker Tour National Philippines, a two-week jamboree of poker that starts on October 18 and won’t wind up until the Main Event’s final hand on October 28. There will be scores of poker tournaments in various disciplines in Solaire, including a Nations Cup similar to the team event we played. The Philippines will enter that competition, with Wally Sombero named team captain.

The Main Event could have a massive prize fund in excess of US$1 million, with a first prize as high as US$300,000 to 500,000. The direct buy-in is US$2,200 but plenty of Filipino players have already qualified through satellite tournaments where the price of admission is a tiny fraction of that. (It’s actually just P2,200 in one satellite.)

It’s still not too late to win a seat. Just check out the Facebook page of the Solaire Poker room here.

The arrival of the WPT has heralded yet another milestone for poker in the Philippines. Last Thursday night, myself and a bunch of lucky writers discovered first-hand the lure of the game that has taken the world by storm.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.

Still can’t get over how beautiful the Solaire suite bathrooms are.

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