Philippines in June

[jay helfert]

I am actually feeling sad already because I have left this beautiful country. There is no doubt that I have fallen in love with the Philippines, it?s people, the smiles and all the laughter, the food, the climate and of course the poolrooms.

There is no doubt that Manila, and especially One Side, is the BEST action place in the world. I can?t think of another pool room where there is non-stop action going on. If a table is used, there is guaranteed action on it. There are referees for all tables, and there is one guy who takes care of all the sidebets. If you want to bet on any given player at one of the tables, you give the money to him and he will try to find someone that likes the other player. This guy, Oscar, also has lots of great stories about Efren and pool since he has been involved in pool for probably the last 30-40 years.

You can always get a game at One Side, for any price. If you want to bet high, they will welcome you with open arms. If you want to play cheap, even then you are guaranteed action 24 hours a day. If you just want to sweat the action, they still love you, but be prepared for players coming your way every 3 minutes trying to get a game with you.

If you are lucky, you can play World Champion after World Champion, for small amounts, or you can play the unknown up and coming players. If you don?t know by names or faces who the champs are, you will often find it hard to tell the difference just by judging their skills.

Very, very few will turn down your offer to play, most of the time it will be you asking for a pause because you can?t handle more action. If you should happen to run into someone who actually turns down your offer, they will make sure to find someone else that will play you, don?t worry!

Manila and One Side should definitely be visited at least once in every pool player?s life.

However, if you think you can?t handle to walk past children and babies sleeping at the street, just outside the door from One Side all the way to the hotel, you should reconsider.

The downside of the Philippines is all the poverty, and I don?t think One Side is located in the best area of the city. There are so many children?s begging you for food and money, and you know you can?t help all of them, so you can?t do anything but keep going with a tale of kids with tears in their eyes behind you.

If you can get used to watch lots of big fat rats running between these people sleeping at the street, and if you think you will have no problem with the smell of the broken pipes from under the streets, you will probably have a good time in Manila.

If you can handle this, and know how to not get sick if you might run into a desperate hungry mum offering you their young underage daughter for the night in exchange for some money, well, then you have passed the test and can book your tickets and enjoy your stay.

Manila will change your life, one way or another.

I'll definitely be back!

For those of you who consider to go, I will recommend to book a hotel in Quezon City. Nice area with lots of restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping malls and also a couple of poolhalls, and only 200 pesos with taxi to Mabini Street in Malate, where One Side is located. (Taxi takes 25 minutes or 2 hours, depends on rush, so don't travel between 3-8 in the afternoon/evening.)

If you have the chance to spend some time in either Palawan or Boracay for a weekend or so, you should definitely give it a try. I have not been on either of these places yet, but have promised myself to go there on my next visit, since "everyone" is recommending it.

Roy, we're two of a kind. I fell in love with the PI myself. All the smiling faces and friendly people captured me. I too, see the poverty, but I also see how everyone survives. Most sell something, be it gum, trinkets, belts, wallets etc. Others hustle something like "money exchanges", food, lodging, and yes women. Only a few of the kids actually are begging, probably because they are still too young to hustle to survive.

Maybe because I have spent so much time in Mexico, I am used to seeing this type of poverty. To me, the filipinos are a bit more industrious and willing to work/hustle to get by. Being an old pool player, I love the fact that pool is accepted as a sport over there, and you aren't looked down on if you carry a cue in public. I have played pool in little rooms all over the place. I don't mind going into a back alley dive and playing the best in the house. Try it, you'll have fun I promise you. The tables are horrible (very testing) and the cues are equally bad. But it is these conditions that spawned the best pool players on the planet.

One thing, how do you get a One Pocket game? I played a guy in One Side (an old regular) about two years ago. We played for 100p a game and I won five or six games. Now, NO ONE will play One Pocket with me in One Side. They all remember this one game I played. I guess I have to go to Side Pocket.

Last time I played the Chinese owner of Pool Fusion some Eight Ball for 300p a game. He plays GOOD! I had been playing every day for three weeks and was in good stroke. We went back and forth in a friendly battle for maybe ten games, and then I quit even. My girl was getting hungry, and so was I. The "friendly" owner then presented me with a rather large bill for the games and the soft drinks he had been handing us. A nice "surprise"!

 

[fanthom]

. . . Most sell something, be it gum, trinkets, belts, wallets etc. Others hustle something like "money exchanges", food, lodging, and yes women. Only a few of the kids actually are begging, probably because they are still too young to hustle to survive. . .

Good observation, Jay. The reasoning here is rather simple - NO PUBLIC/GOVT. ASSISTANCE, aka NO WELFARE. A rather simple concept similar to other islands that I've visited in my travels regardless of which part of the world - 'No work (or don't want to work), No eat'. Straight up.

Maybe because I have spent so much time in Mexico, I am used to seeing this type of poverty. To me, the filipinos are a bit more industrious and willing to work/hustle to get by. . .

Don't know bout this one Jay, I know of and have seen quite a share of ' hermanos y hermanas' here that will do jobs and work as hard, if not, harder than the Filipinos. Then again, I've been to the countrysides of both countries and I'd say perhaps the rural folks work equally as hard.

One thing, how do you get a One Pocket game?

Look for Filipino Gene and he'll set you up. Don't buy him any booze though. He has a bottomless pit. :grin-square: Tell him a friend from Family Billiards in Frisco said so. :wink:

 

[jay helfert]

Good observation, Jay. The reasoning here is rather simple - NO PUBLIC/GOVT. ASSISTANCE, aka NO WELFARE. A rather simple concept similar to other islands that I've visited in my travels regardless of which part of the world - 'No work (or don't want to work), No eat'. Straight up.




Don't know bout this one Jay, I know of and have seen quite a share of ' hermanos y hermanas' here that will do jobs and work as hard, if not, harder than the Filipinos. Then again, I've been to the countrysides of both countries and I'd say perhaps the rural folks work equally as hard.



Look for Filipino Gene and he'll set you up. Don't buy him any booze though. He has a bottomless pit. :grin-square: Tell him a friend from Family Billiards in Frisco said so. :wink:

I see Gene every time I go over there. He is playing poker every day now, and doing good. He is so far ahead of these guys in Hold 'Em.

 

[Roy Steffensen]

One thing, how do you get a One Pocket game? I played a guy in One Side (an old regular) about two years ago. We played for 100p a game and I won five or six games. Now, NO ONE will play One Pocket with me in One Side. They all remember this one game I played. I guess I have to go to Side Pocket.

When you play as bad as me it is no problem getting a game!!!

 

[fanthom]

I see Gene every time I go over there. He is playing poker every day now, and doing good. He is so far ahead of these guys in Hold 'Em.

You definitely must know your way around the place then. Sounds about right since Michaela must've been a good city tour guide. Manila is nowhere close to LA's size, quite small in comparison. Word has it that traffic has eased up a lot too due to the high fuel cost just like everywhere but the Middle East. Yup, poker has been Gene's staple since he slowed down from pool. It didn't carry him far here in the SF Bay Area though as there are a lot of good poker players with deep pockets. And as we know, the luck factor is greater in cards than in pool. Interesting thing is, many pool players are willing to lose big on cards but not in pool. Never fails to make me wonder.