Live poker in Asia is currently a very fluid situation, with the diminishing pull of Macau and the growth of poker in other places such as Manila, proving pivotal to this. Recent announcements have named Manila as the prime location for a new poker room, with Poker King Club due to arrive at the Solaire Casino and open for business very soon.
They will run the new poker room there, meaning that Mike Kim, who was formerly in charge of poker proceedings at Solaire will have to stand down. As a man with great experience in this field, who is an accomplished player in his own right, it is not surprising to hear that he is taking on another important role in the Philippines poker world, namely at the City of Dreams casino.
The "biggest game" in town is moving to Pokerstars Live Manilla
Mike Kim has now agreed to a partnership with online poker giant, Pokerstars. His experience and ability to bring strong player traffic to the tables has made him an asset, and Pokerstars will be glad to have him promoting their poker operations at City of Dreams. He plans to begin his new role by bringing low limit Badugi and Omaha, along with bigger games ranging from $25/50 and upwards for Holdem.".
More competition
There should be a healthy competition between Poker King Club and Pokerstars over the the rest of the year in Manila and as with any business, competition is always good for the customer. Having been asked about this new situation by Somuchpoker, Mike Kim was very enthusiastic “We used to have to work with only a few tables, so in a way our hands were tied. Now, we have a situation where we can work with more than twice the amount of tables, so we can really do the things we've always wanted to do.” He was also very understanding of the incoming PKC situation which led to a change in his own situation, adding “Richard Yong and Paul Phua and the rest of those guys need a place to bring their games, and the Philippines is simply an excellent choice. Whatever they bring in will be good for the players long-term, so I wish them the best of luck.”
Pokerstars Live Manila Poker room
More goals as player
When pressed about his future as a poker player (he recently won the Manila Megastack 2 tournament), he was also quick to point out the silver lining of the situation in relation to the WPT “Last year, I organized and promoted the first-ever World Poker Tour in the Philippines. It was a joy for my team to do, but unfortunately that meant we could not play in it. This year, I am looking forward to winning the WPT Main Event!" Undoubtedly the silver lining extends to Asian Poker as a whole, who will have two casinos with first class poker rooms, competing for the attention of poker players in Manila.
Mike Kim won the Manila Megastack 2 Main event few weeks ago
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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