Back in the Game – My Phillipines Poker Journey with SV Poker

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Back in the Game – My Phillipines Poker Journey with SV Poker

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Intro
What’s up, guys? A while back, I did a DoorDash bankroll challenge, grinding deliveries to build a poker roll. It w

24 March 2025 at 04:56 PM
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Earlier posts are available on our legacy forum HERE
OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago
by JohnnyJam

yeah, action ist still slow at off peak hours. Peak time its easy to get some nl50 tbls going. Nl5/10/25 doesnt run much, but I hope mtt/sng launch will bring more new players to the site. Phenom starts their marketing campaign once MTT/SNG are fully launched, which will also result in more players.

Ill keep an eye on it

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Got a bunch of bets out not sure if any one is interested in them but here's the updated list

This doesn't include the UFC bets already listed above.






OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Still trying to pick where to play poker buuuuuut.

First bets of the day on the cubs we hit both.

Cubs to win
Total under 8.5 both hit

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Won majority of our bets today can't be to upset

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Got the bankroll now for 50nl and 100nl but not sure where im gonna play yet
maybe some swc maybe some coin poker any suggestions?

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

played 100nl for a few hours idk teh games were decent lost a big 3b pot with AJ v A5o for 100bbs and lost a big pot with 44 v 35s when we flopped a set and he flopped a pair of 3s adn hit runner runner straight on us. all in all lost $217 today played kind of off peak hours so we will play better hours tomorrow and hopefully the games are better if it doesnt go well at 100nl tomorrow we will move down because even though weve built a roll for 100nl we still need to limit variance.

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Losing day yesterday back on the grind today no more losing days for a while it's to early for a down swing

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

i forgot how hard it is to get volume in on full ring tables zzzzzzzzzz but they are full of fish

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

And PLO is dead cant even get 4 tables running right now kind of sucks gonna have to play NLHE

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

finally got plo tables runnign they didnt run that long but +$265 today so that recovers yesterdays losses at least

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Lost a fe buy ins today going to do the smart thing and put most of the bankroll back just to make sure we have enough for the baby and start over at micros

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

The real question is why am I even playing poker?

I make enough not to need to and I just stress myself out now with downswings and having to support myself my wife and my future child.

When it was just me I didn't care, id find a way to get by but now I have every one depending on me.

I starting to realize it lacks a point i make enough off of my VA check to live comfortably here in the Philippines.

Maybe after my son is born and I get my savings rebuilt to a more comfortable place I'll go from there and come back but until then I think I'm gonna take my 100k peso profit this week and just call it good for a while.

If you read my first post I retired from poker because I lost the drive to play and I came back not out of want but out of what I saw as need but it really isn't a need. My VA check alone puts me in the high income bracket here in the Phillipines so why do I need more I should just learn to be content with what I have.

Hopefully we get back to the US and I can get back to AP work because I actually enjoyed that but I lost the drive to grind poker a long time ago and I was forcing it and I don't need to.

So maybe I'll actually retire for good this time maybe I'll be back when ai get my savings built back up I'm not sure.

And no ai didn't lose that much today just like a buy in and a half in my later session so still up on the day.

Good luck every one blog over

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Ok I lied I need to have some direction and purpose in my life and Ionv enjoy poker but I need a break from the nlhe grind so look pit for a new blog I am going to attempt to Master PLO, I've played some before but I make a lot of mistakes in probably pretty standard spots where I'm just not comfortable in what I should do.

I did win like 10 or 15k on some untracked sites in the US a few years ago playing plo500 short but that was a super soft aide that went under I think and that was a long time ago but I still think plo offers some really good games full of gambly fish so watch out for a new blog about that maybe I'll do a YouTube series on it could be fun.

Not sure if I'll start now or after my son is born in a few weeks need to find some study material and all of that so we will see.

Any study suggestions drop them below!

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

https://discord.gg/42XndX3CD3

come join my new discord to keep up to date with me.

New series will be launching in the next few weeks planned launch date is July 2nd

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

new thread for the series!

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/135/s...

OP
286 posts · member since Sep 2014
1yr ago

Oops posted that in the wrong area here the correct link

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/p...

Reply...

About OP

damhill
grinder

Top Posts

damhill
1yr ago

Intro
What’s up, guys? A while back, I did a DoorDash bankroll challenge, grinding deliveries to build a poker roll. It was going well, but I ended it early when I transitioned from poker to advantage play—mostly slot AP and card counting. That worked out for a while, but then life took a turn when I moved to the Philippines with my fiancee. It was supposed to be a short stay while we waited for her visa, but things didn’t go as planned, and now I’m here for the long haul—with a baby on the way in July!

The problem? Advantage play in Manila is basically dead.

Card counting is impossible – Continuous shuffle machines everywhere

Slot AP is ultra-limited – Maybe 10 playable machines in the whole city

Grinders camp those machines 24/7 – Smoking, drinking, and waiting for scraps

So, all my AP skills are useless here, at least until I’m back in the States later this year. That's when I realized: I need to get back to poker.

Why I Joined SV Poker
I’ve made my living from gambling since 2016, outside of a few short breaks. But with a baby on the way, I didn't want to deal with the variance stress of playing on my own dime. That’s when I started looking into poker stables—and I found one that actually made sense:

Enter SV Poker.

✔️ No bankroll stress – Just focus on playing +EV poker
✔️ Elite coaching & community – Work with crushers who actually know what theyÂ’re doing
✔️ Access to soft sites – Better ROI than just firing into GG and Stars donk-fests
✔️ Clear progression path – Play, study, improve, move up

Since joining, I’ve already made key adjustments to my game, cashed out my first profits, and feel like I'm finally back in the right mindset.

The 75-Day HARD MTT Challenge
I knew I had to shake off the rust and get back into serious volume, so I put together a 75-day challenge based on a lifestyle and poker training plan I saw online. It’s a mix of grinding, studying, and discipline to get back to playing at a high level.

📌 30 min/day study – Fix leaks one by one
📌 30 min/day exercise – Strong body, strong mind
📌 100+ MTTs/week – Minimum volume for SV Poker
📌 1 off day/week – Either light study or micro SNGs for FT/ICM practice
📌 Daily notes & review – Track leaks, session results, and improvements

Now, I started off rough. First few days, I was in makeup and questioning my adjustments. But after switching 90% of my volume to smaller, softer sites, I went on a crazy upswing:

Day 1 – 13 MTTs, -$19.14

Day 2 – 15 MTTs, +$55

Day 3 – 17 MTTs, +$300

Day 4 – 19 MTTs, +$167

Day 5 – Off day

First $500 upswing, out of makeup, and cashed out $154 from the stable already.

Want to Join SV Poker?
If you’re serious about grinding MTTs with backing and coaching, I 100% recommend SV Poker. They’ve already helped me get back on track, and I've got two friends in the process of joining.

🔗 Apply here
https://svschool.pro/en?utm_campaign=dam...

If you use my link, drop a comment—I'll personally help guide you through the process and make sure your application gets noticed.

Daily Updates & Next Steps
I’ll be updating this blog daily with:
✅ Grind results
✅ Study takeaways
✅ Deep runs & hand breakdowns
✅ Life in a poker stable & in the Philippines

Right now, I’m capped at $11 MTTs, but the goal is to move up ASAP. Let’s run it up....

damhill
1yr ago
by WPNdonk

That culture is spreading everywhere. Women get the tingles from the bad boys then act surprised when they leave rather than using some discernment with who they choose. Everyone participates in the problem. The women should be smarter, their parents should advise them more thoroughly, the men should take more accountability. Over 80% of the country is Christian and obviously

I totally agree with what you're saying. Sadly being a 3rd world country the wealthier families are few and far between.

And if the politicians would stop being so corrupt it would really really help with the economy.

I feel the solution is similar to some of the programs ran in the US during the depression. The town I'm from we have a bridge that is used a ton that was a government ran project built during the depression to help get money into the economy.

The philippines is a beautiful country and if you look at the visa aspect could steal a bunch of tourism from Thailand and other countries.

But it needs to physically be cleaned up certain places are just dirty.

But they have guards every where and the ones I've talked to make about 900 pesos a day work 12 hour shifts and get 1 day off every 14 days and they rotate shifts every 14 days. Now 900 peso a day I have no idea how they live off of that to be honest. I guess I'm just used to living a more American life style I like good food I dont eat a ton of rice either but most locals do so if tou eat a ton of rice which is pretty cheap then a few pieces of meat and maybe some veggies you could live day to day pretty damn cheap.

But once you throw in other expenses like rent utilities transportation. I honestly have no idea how they survive.

They are living off of 25,200 pesos a month so roughly $445 and I'm not sure how taxes work over here.

But I'm outside of manila now I'm a subdivision and the cheaper houses rent for about 5-6k a month with no ac then you have to pay wifi water and electricity on top of that and you can easily push 8-9k a month but that depends on how conservative you are. You could also keep it under 8k a month if you hardly used anything.

F good wise if you just go to the store u can buy a kilo of rise for 20-50 peso depending on the rise you buy. And then buying fish from street vendors is pretty cheap to depending on if you want to cook it or buy it cooked.

So realistically you could as 1 single person live off of 200 pesos a day. It wouldn't be a great life but you'd survive, which most people seem to be doing.

Now my solution for the economy problems and the low income and unemployment. Get a big trash truck or two drive to an area for a few days and and any one who shows up and works for the day pay them 1k. It would be government run to make sure people aren't taking advantage of the situation and it could quickly clean up the country and it would also put money into the economy.

On top of that it would also make the country more viable for tourism other than just the people who are coming here for sex tourism.

We can see this currently happening in the Manila area they are slowly cleaning up the area and BGC has a bunch of money dumped into it. But the government needs to work from the bottom up to improve tourism which would benefit every one.

I just spent 2 weeks traveling here and stayed in some nice resorts and the place cam be really awesome if they just put a little work into it and I hope they do.

I came here because of the low cost of living and my wife's family lives here, but if I was a single guy who wanted to party have a low cost of living where I could live off of my VA paycheck while also building a bankroll and still live pretty well off, I would of chosen thailand Cambodia or one of those other countries simply due to the better infrastructure and cleanliness of the country in general.

I haven't gotten to go check out Cebu yet I hope we get to before we go back to the US later this year but with the baby coming in a few months I'm not sure we will get to.

But all of that aside we are back home honeymoon is done. We will have a bunch of stuff to do to officially close the marriage just had to honeymoon before the wife gets to pregnant to not want to do anything and we are also in the baby prepping stages we have about 2.5 months before my son will be here so got some work to do. But pokerwise we are back and we will be back on the grind tomorrow. We are also going to start streaming so bear with me as we get that setup over the next day or two. I don't currently have a great microphone just the built in one on my laptop so the first day or two might be music only until I can find a better mic to use.

I gotta get my kick and twitch links up off my pc later and I'll get those posted before we start the grind tomorrow. But I am excited to be back and ready to make some money. Definitely need it after these last two weeks. They were price.

Oh and also I decided to spoil you guys and share a photo with you all.

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