Things started slow in the year and one of my resolutions for 2010 was to make my mark in the Asian Poker scene. In 2008 I was named the "Rookie of the Year" and was sponsored by PokerStars from event to event. I am very fortunate to be signed as a Team PokerStars Pro in late 2009 and my hunger to win was more insatiable then ever before.

As 2010 began I started a list of goals I had for myself. One of which was to do well in the Asia Player Of the Year Race (APOY). The year started slow and I was overwhelmed with my hunger to win which initially led to impatience. I overworked myself and had no balance in my life, playing 20 hours a day both live and online trying to notch wins and cashes throughout. I managed to win the Emperor Series but the long hours and imbalanced lifestyle took its toll on me (more can be read in this previous blog entry).

After a break from Poker to recuperate, I was on fire and found myself in the hunt for the Asia Player of the Year by coming 2nd in July's Red Dragon event held at PokerStars Macau. With that and a few final table finishes I made early in the year I found myself 2nd on the APOY leaderboard. The turning point came when I won the October Special, a small bounty event held at PokerStars Macau and that propelled me to the very top of the leaderboard.

The race between me and fellow Team Pro Raymond Wu was really close but little did we know how "down to the wire" it would actually become.

It came down to the Macau Poker Cup Championships which hosted the final 10 numbered events for the APOY. In the event No.1 me and Raymond Wu were in the final 13 and I played a pot for 30% of the chips in play with [qd][qc] vs. [9d][9c]. Alas a 9 hit the flop and I was eliminated in 13th place with no points. Raymond managed to final table that event and drew closer to retaking the lead.

The remaining eight events were similar with Raymond and myself making the final two tables event after event but both continuously taking beat after beat to finish outside of the final table (only final table finishes gave points).

It all came down to the last event, a $1,000HKD rebuy and boy was this close. We both came prepared armed with 50 rebuys if necessary (although the record rebuys I did in a similar event was 22 times) and similar to the preceding events we both went deep. I eventually busted in 17th place and was left to sweat Raymond's finish in the event. He had to come in 2nd or better to win the event. As players fell out of the tournament one by one the final table was set and Raymond won several hands to finally make it to the final THREE.

He unfortunately ran a pair of 6's into a pair of Queens and finished 3rd. It was the first time I had to rail against someone whom I have spent my last few years railing for and it truly was a bittersweet moment to see him bust especially after coming so close.

Who would have expect that over 43 events the decider would come in the last event of the year and not to mention, the last three players of that event! It was pure excitement and the competition came from no one else but my good friend and fellow team mate Raymond who played a high level of poker all year. This level of competition just made the Asia Player of The Year win all that sweeter and one that I would remember for a long long time to come.

Winning the Asia Player Of The Year 2010 wearing the PokerStars badge has to be the greatest accomplishment in my poker career and all I can hope for is to go from strength to strength! Next Year I will try to do a "Tony Hachem" by winning back-to-back "Player of the Year" titles and I hear more events would be carrying points which means more poker and a bigger challenge!

For those who did not know, I overtaxed myself in May 2010 by playing SCOOP and the APPT Macau side events without careful selection. I was basically like a child who chanced upon a buffet of poker events and I bit off more then I could chew.

For two weeks I was sleeping on four hours daily at irregular times while playing the SCOOP and participating in the Spring Festival of Poker during APPT Macau. I played 20-hour days and was destroying my body without knowing it.

By the time the APPT and SCOOP Main event drew close, I had to be hospitalised for two days with a high fever topping 39.8 degrees. To put it simply, I was running "hot" but not in the way I would have liked!

By the time I got to Spain for the Estrellas Poker Tour, I had a lung infection. You
wouldn't want to know the details but coughing on a 16-hour flight home was no fun at all. I had to give the Baltic festival, Filipino Poker tour and the World Series a miss.

I was glad I listened to the doctor and had plenty of rest the entire month of June. So far the rest has seemed to pay off with a 2nd in the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main event and a 9th place finish in the ANZPT Queenstown main event during the first three weeks of July.

With the WCOOP approaching I'm feeling that hunger - no - greed, in fact, to just play as many events as I can. It actually runs concurrently (at night for those in the Asia Pacific region) with the Macau Poker Cup and APPT Auckland. I feel like a child in a large toy store with the wide selection of events I get to choose from. For players in the region you will be faced with a similar situation.

I intend to carefully preselect the WCOOP, Macau Cup and APPT Auckland events I will be playing and plan my days around them. Sometimes it's tempting to play them all but I know that my results will be affected if I push myself too far. Try your best to stick to a healthy schedule, get sufficient sleep and play only when you feel good. For those living in a different time zone it's time to tune your body clock to prepare for the WCOOP because if you're gonna go deep it will be a long night for you.

Good luck!