Hey, poker playas!
Now that we are back to alert level 2, soon regular tournaments will come back to Manila.
But before that happens, let us visit some of the good poker players in the Philippines and get to know them more before it becomes busy again.
This time it is Jessie Leonarez in the spotlight. To be honest it is actually great to be able to watch players grow over the years. Thankfully we have some sticks photos and boy has this player matured.
He was once a crowd favorite because he finished 3rd in 2 APPT main events way back in 2015 and 2016.
There are a lot of underrated stars in the Philippines and we are trying to find out more about them and what they have been up to before tournaments come back in full swing.
Here the interview.
Coffee cups and Q’s
How did you start playing poker?
Nagsimula ako magpoker sa side pocket, billiard table place yun kasi billiard player ako bago ako magstart mag poker. di pa ako marunong nun, kasama ko, kaibigan ko nun si Joebard Basay, yun naglalaro lang ako nun nanonood lang sa kanya. kada maglalaro siya nasa likod lang ako. pag maglalaro siya pupunta ako ibang lugar. Nasa likod lang ako manood tapos ayun parang masaya to ah. gusto ko ding matuto sabi ko sa susunod maglalaro din ako.
Why do you love poker?
Kasi nung nagbibiliard ako. di ko namana kinikita yung kinikita ko din sa may poker, kasi ang hirap eh bilyard eh. at parang ang saya niya. sabi ko gusto ko din matututo nito kasi kompetensyon eh yun talaga gusto ko, kaya sabi ko okay to. pagnaglaro ako poker sana matuto din ako kung makita ko din nag improve ako para makasabay din ako sa iba. Kasi kababata ko si Mike Takayama nung nakita ko yun di ko pianpanasin yun, kasi niyaya ako tara na pare laro tayo dun. pero ayaw ko talaga kasi billiard talaga pangarap ko nun time na yun. tapos nung 2010, wala na talagang billiard. sabi ni Mike magpoker ka na, sabi nya matuto ka din naman. ayun kasakasama na nya ako.
What were you doing during the pandemic?
Pandemic online lang kasi wala talagang live. mahirap sumabay kasi sumabay sa labas. kasi kailangan eh. pero mas online talaga laro ko nun, nung umokay na nung navac na ako. lumabas ako.
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Do you prefer live or online?
mas gusto ko talaga live, nakikita mo kalaban mo mas masaya di ba?kesa sa online. hindi eh. hirap eh parang paglalaban mo kalaban mo di mo alam paano siya tatalunin di tulad sa live may kahit papano may tell ka. di katuld ng onlone. tight na magigign aggresive. di katulad ng live kilala mo sya paano maglalaro. alam mo din kung malalaro sarili mos a kanila. di katuld ng online mahirap talaga.
You suddenly dissapeared from the spotlight after finishing 3rd place back to back in the main event of APPT. what happened?
kasi nung 2016, after ko magtrhird place ng main event ulit ng appt, pagtapos nung parang na- ano ako. kasi nung time na yun sobrang massive ako. feel ko ako na magchachampion nung event. parang nasa isip ko champion na ako nung time na yun. pagkatapos nung para akong nawala sa. parang na dismya ako sa sarili ko, bakit ganun back to back ako ng third. ang dami dami kong chips. parang di ko nagawa yung best ko nung time na yun lalo nung 2016 na sobrang massive ako nun. parang ganun nawalan na ako ng gana sa tournament. para magcacashgame na lang muna ako. nawala yung pagmamahal ko sa touranmetn nung time na yun. siguro parang sa susunod sana makabalik ako kasi nakita ko lahat ng player ngayon ang gagaling eh. nakakatuwa. kasi nakikita ko ngayo may mga players na kalaro na ngayon puro panalo puro ganyan sabi ko sas susunod makapag condition ulit ako.
Note: We actually love it when players talk from their hearts. But we also have to make sure that things are spaced out properly and the article is not too long(we also need to add the English translation later). So for this, we decided to make it into two parts once again as Jessie talks about his views on the current poker industry. his idols and much much more.
Stay tuned.
Stay safe poker playas
