Hey, poker playas!
Before the big casinos came into Manila. Poker cold only is played in small poker rooms. There was the one in Ortigas which is the Metro Card Club and then there were the smaller rooms in Malate.
There were a lot of good players back then but have since moved on. While there were some who still played poker to this day.
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There were some that really made their mark. and then there were players that preferred the cash table more than the tournaments.
The wolves of old Malate are some of the more known, respected, and loved poker players when poker was at its infant stage.
But make no mistake, time may have passed but they can still show the young cubs that they can be vicious on the table.
These are the wolves of the old Malate.
Rico Dela Cruz
We first saw sir Rico in a now-closed poker room in Malate more than 10 years ago. Back then he was playing in a poker room called The Players Den.
Soon he moved into his new home in the Metro Card Club and was seen playing cash games more.
He was a cut above the rest.
A funny person when he is not on the felt and even his Facebook has some great funny videos that are worth checking.
Is he good on the poker felt? well…
Sir Rico qualified for day 2 of the Okada Manila Millions which was held quite recently and it was actually quite a feat. That is because at an early point in the game he was left nothing but a chip and a chair.
He got hit and was down to 100 or 200 chips. But hey, this old man still had a trick or two.
And remember Okada Manila Millions had a structure that only 5% of the players registered can make it into day 2.
But a chip and a chair is all he needed to teach the young kids a thing or two.
Alexander “boks” Ungria
Alexander Ungria recently made waves by being the chip leader in last year’s Special tournament at Okada Manila.
Alexander or “Boks” to his friends has had multiple great scores over the years but has yet to win a major poker event (3M+ GTD).
But he is a veteran of the game and had multiple wins in many local and international events including online events.
Yes, many people do consider him as a darkhorse in any tournament. But that is because regardless of whether it’s a final table full of champions or a final table that is mixed. Alexander Ungria has a chance to pull it off.
He is a good player and has shone in multiple events. but there could still be a major event that he could really shine just around the corner.
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Mark Pagsuyuin
When we first met Mark Pagsuyuin, what we notice was how remarkable he was analyzing his opponent’s plays.
He would call out his opponent hand and make the proper action based on it.
And this was more than 10 years ago.
Like Rico, he migrated to the Metro Card club and became more active there. He once tops one of its events that had a massive 1226 entries that included some of the big names in the industry back in 2017.
Although we rarely see him nowadays since the pandemic started and the Philippines had only 3 live events so far. We hope he would take time out from his golf games and once again show the young ones a thing or two on how poker is really played.
Because to us, this guy is one of the hidden gems of the local poker industry.
Archie Mariano
Make no mistake. this guy is good and you really don’t want to mess with him.
Yeah, he is not that tall but the guy is built like a tank. but that is not why you should not mess with him.
Really.
Archie Mariano is not that active in the tournament scene but it is quite active in the big cash games.
Especially in the Omaha scene.
He has made a living playing poker and has continued to do so.
But in spite of that, there is one thing about Archie Mariano that we respect the most. It is his down-to-earth and humble personality that made us love the guy.
From time to time we do mingle with the crowd. but with Archie, it is kinda different from the normal conversation we hear from players. Most of the time he would be advising players on proper etiquette than hands. He would scold his friends if he believes they did wrong especially to the stakers.
And he does practice what he preaches. One time in a long line to cash out at the cashier at Okada Manila, as he took his place and line up. An elderly woman came and he simply gave his place in order to let the elderly woman cash out first.
We do live in a not-so-friendly world. but it’s great to see some players are still quite honorable in this world.
We definitely hope to see him more active in tournaments as we need more players like Archie!
Stay safe poker playas!
