Dr. Kai Ping Choo From Operating Table to Table Shark

Not all who compete in high-level poker tournaments are professional players. There are quite a few amateurs who find success in their pastime, such as Malaysia’s Joshua Tan, who won the Poker Dream Malaysia 2022 Main Event despite being a full-time information technology businessman. Another is fitness specialist England’s Grant Gardner who recently made two final table appearances in Las Vegas, and American Jason Calacanis, as the angel investor and online entrepreneur has been featured in several TV poker entanglements with some of the greats in the game.

One such amateur is also a Malaysian, Dr. Kai Ping Choo who practices his profession as a physician in Singapore. His poker “pastime” has netted him over ~US$ 22,000 since early last year, including five cashes at the Manila Super Series 22 in Pokerstars Live at Okada Manila. Dr. Choo sat down with SMP to share his story.

Getting to Know Dr. Kai Ping Choo

Dr. Kai Ping Choo has been a doctor nearly a decade already and has been an orthopedic surgeon for the past four years. He is a former internal medicine specialist and stumbled upon poker quite by accident.

I started playing maybe around 2014 or 2015. Back then, then we used to play Facebook Zynga Poker. It’s free so we play among some friends and then just found the game very interesting, very dynamic, and I have been in love with the game ever since.

Inevitably, the poker bug bit Choo while pursuing his medical degree at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and he ventured into the live realm.

I went to some local casinos (in Glasgow) just to start learning, then I slowly found that my finishing place is getting better and better after watching some videos online as well, so that’s when I started learning and studying a bit more.

After finishing his studies and going to Singapore for his practice, he never lost touch with poker and is delighted on how fast the game has proliferated in the region, especially in his home country of Malaysia.

It’s developing very rapidly, especially in Malaysia. We have Poker Dream that runs there. This is about three or four times a year.

Choo is a frequent visitor to the Philippines, especially for PokerStars LIVE events at Okada Manila and has all but four of his career cashes in this building.

First of all Manila is fairly closest to Singapore, It’s about three hours flight. It’s a relatively cheaper country, everything is quite affordable and locals are very friendly, very warm, very welcoming. I’ve made a lot of friends here, I was here four times last year and this is my second time this year as well. I met a lot of local friends, some mentors as well.

Among his newfound mentors is Filipino veteran Alvir Inocentes.

Well, I learned a lot from him. We are both on the same table, and he gives me advice, tells me what to do, what not to do; he could easily let me do something silly and bust out, but he’s been very supportive. So even if I’m not here when I’m just playing online or whatever, and I have a question, I always message him and he’s very welcoming, giving me feedback, so I truly learned a lot from him.

Each profession brings its own advantages to the felt. Being a physician is no exception.

I think my main advantage (as a doctor) is keeping calm. In poker, there are a lot of bad beats, a lot of unlucky runouts, but I would not play until even after receiving those bad beats. So I think those are probably brought forward from my career as a doctor; you cannot operate when you are not in the right state of mind.

Maintaining a steady and healthy state of mind is vital, because I see a lot of players many times they take one bad beat and then they lose their temper and get involved in hands that is not good, so I try not to let one incident wipe away everything.

But when asked if he would trade his profession to become a full-time poker grinder, the good doctor went into the tank.

That’s a tough one, but I think I’m still more of a doctor. You get satisfaction from helping others, and it is more predictable than being a poker player. Because as a poker player, no matter how good you are, you don’t always win. Whereas as a doctor, you can expect victories with the right treatment.

Like many, Dr. Choo’s ultimate poker ambition is to compete at the highest level.

I would love to play in the WSOP Main Event. I think every poker player wants to play there one day, but at present, I don’t think I’m ready for that type of competition. It’s a lot of commitment, you need to learn a lot before you can compete there and also have a sufficient bankroll. My aim is to maybe level up a little bit.

Dr. Choo has found the balance between work and play and is an encouraging example to those who are passionate about poker but know that going pro isn’t really in the cards.