Continuing with the story of the past, Two poker houses made a big influence on poker in Manila and the Philippines more than a decade ago. While the current story focused on the Master Poker room, it was due that the battle for Manila bay of the poker houses was just beginning to take its root. A collection from interviews gathered to give a glimpse of the past is what this project is all about. 

The scene back then

It was an easy way of living for poker back then, poker houses in Malate were so close to each that it was walking distance. Daily tournaments were being held and players were chopping the pot at 5 tables or 50 players so they can run to the next and split the pot again.

The house was holding tournaments to attracts players believing that after the tournament they would play cash games. But as other poker rooms began to follow the promotions, the players were jumping around and splitting pots all over and going home.

Most poker houses allowed smoking on the table. The Master had a good bar that serves beer, there was a stage that had an old piano where a pianist and a singer would perform live. it had a homey and cozy atmosphere.

The Players Den was the place where players would play big and was all serious.

The poker room at Ambassador had free food for players.

10-20 Php was the normal blinds. you are considered a VIP by playing 25/50 or 50/100.

The poker houses were competing and the current promotion of daily tournaments was not really effective. Hence they came up with a new plan.

The Master Poker first 1 Million GTD tournament.

The first Master poker 1 million guaranteed tournaments were announced, With the buy-in of 12,000 PHP you have a chance to win a big amount of money.

It may be a small tournament compared to the pre-pandemic Manila poker scene, but this was more than a decade ago. A 1 Million PHP guaranteed tournament was considered big.

There were big tournaments but it was still rare for a big tournament for the local Filipino players.

Events like APPT were already happening, but the buy-in to such events was more than 50k, which was too high for the regular poker players in Manila.

The aim was the local market, A million PHP guaranteed for only 10,000 Php plus was the right value for the market. 

Another part of the promotion was players who could not afford to buy-in directly can get a seat by playing a specific number of hours. A few seats can be won in the tournament.

Before the big tournament

Daily tournaments of the Master were not being chopped regularly anymore as the seat could not be chopped, the game was starting early as players were grinding for a seat. in essence, it was working. Other poker houses also followed suit but with a lesser guarantee.

Note: As this event happened more than a decade ago, A million peso guaranteed tournament was a big deal, foreign players actually will travel to join unlike now pre-pandemic in Manila. A million peso tournaments were being held regularly.

New regulars started appearing, Doc whose reputation of making dealers cry on the table for a small mistake. Ty a big player who had a loud voice, Percy and Liz, a husband and wife who would go around but are house players on Ambassador, and of course some other players also started appearing and became known for their scandals. One, in particular, was a foreign player who was so drunk that rumors had it was running around the second floor of a poker room completely naked!

Games were being held earlier as more players wanted a free seat.

Quite a number of players were hyper. The dream of finally hitting it big was in everyone’s eyes.

Players were constantly asking the receptionist about their time. players have a card back then where it will be stamped every hour they play.

There was even a player by the name of Dennis who would fall asleep on the table but was sleep talking or sleep playing as people would hear suddenly an announcement of “all in” or “raise” then a small snore would follow.

The new promotion was effective, but it was too effective which became a regret later on. 

The big day

A big tournament was recently concluded in the Hyatt Hotel in Malate. It was an international event that saw many foreign players play in Manila.

A number of those players extended their stay just so they can play at the first Master tournament.

Players from other poker rooms also came. the room was packed even before the tournament started.

Behind the scene, something big was going on.

The number of players that qualified for the free seat was too many, a capped on how many seats were to be given away was not properly accounted for. The pot was now more than the supposed 1 million guaranteed.

Rumors have begun circulating that the owners did not properly understand that the free seat has value and should be added on the pot.

The bulk of the entrees were coming from the free seats. The poker room stands to lose a big amount. The local operational Manager or tournament director was fighting that the money should be included in the pot. The owners disagreed as they were given free.

The owner had to do something or they could lose a big amount, hence they started recruiting foreign players to play for free if in the event they won the pot would be split between them. Some people claimed that even the rooms the foreigners stayed were shouldered by the room.

This in return balloon the pot even further as the estimate was allegedly the pot should be more than double the guaranteed amount.

Regardless of the arguments behind the scene, the tournament was held with the assurance that everything would be cleared before the final table.

The truth came out, it was now a battle between the house and its stake and the legit players for the 1 million PHP pot. .

To be continued