Chapter 1 – The beginning of  A dream

Like most poker players, everyone started small. It was almost a decade ago when a young man found a dream.

I started playing poker live poker in 2012 in a local card room in Cebu. played 10/20 blinds during college and a lot of 500 peso tournaments together with friends. 

I started getting serious about playing when my parents stop giving me financial support. back then I dropped out of college. There were great players in Cebu, and I was able to learn from them.

I started winning some micro tournaments. From there I thought I could make a living by just playing poker.

Back in 2012-2013, A visionary Atty Jojo Allado also had a dream. He wanted a Filipino to proudly be on stage at the biggest tournament in the world and win it. 

But it was too much for a normal Filipino, The buy-in alone and this was way back in 2012 was USD 10,000

Hence he started the Philippine Poker Tour battle of champions. 10 Legs of an affordable tournament. PHP 1 million GTD for only 5,500. each leg will be held in different parts of the Philippines. Each Leg will have a champion and the 10 champions will battle it out and the winner will play at the WSOP Main Event.

The other good thing about this tournament is it would be an hour per level. A rarity for a small buy-in. Atty Jojo Allado wanted the Filipinos to play in a good structure so they can improve their skills and not play Bingo Poker.

Peng was the champion of one of the legs that were held in Cebu. 

In the battle of Champions,  Peng and Lester were the final 2. 

In 2013, I went heads up with one of the best players in the ph Lester Edoc, Even back then he was known to be a great player. He was the biggest problem and there I was heads-up against him. Luck was with me and I won. But the game maybe over but not the camaderie. Later on Lester Edoc became one of bestfriends. 

Chapter 3 – WSOP and then …

Peng Mendoza won a seat at the WSOP, from a small poker room in Cebu, and now he is on the biggest stage in the world representing his county,

Sadly it did not have a cinderella ending. He wasn’t able to win that year and he had to pack his bag and went back home.

A fatal error ended his first step and the loss was devastating.

I believe that skill-wise I was still far ahead of the rest. but I have made a lot of bad mistakes and decisions. After that, I kept making more bad decisions and even lost my full bankroll playing baccarat and went broke. I had to go back to the states the following year and got a normal job for a year before I could come back.

Chapter 4 – back from the ashes

Now in the states, Peng started to build himself back again and put his life on track. He took on a regular job so he could make ends meet. But Poker was always there.

In 2015, While working on a regular job and balancing my time playing poker. I was also winning some tournaments in the states. Slowly I was able to build my banrkroll and after I save enough money. I decided to move back to Cebu again and start a new life. 

Back in Cebu and the shift to PLO

When I came back, I was playing less tournaments and more cashgame in my hometown Cebu. I was making enough money for my day to day living.

Lester Edoc then taught me how to play PLO cash in 2017 and started staking me online. Thats when iIstarted improving my game and started playing high stakes in Royce (Pampanga) and Metro. 

I was then able to make decent money but since i had  a very poor bankroll management and I made alot of bad decisions in the past, I was broke again in 2019. 

That was when I decided to move back to the states.