For every serious poker player here in the the country, the dream will soon become a reality.

In a matter of months, we have turned poker from a rag-tag string of small home games early this year, to a small community of regular players, to having one of the first major tournaments mid-year of about 40 players, almost doubling it every successive tournament thereafter, with the highlight being the 107 seater, 160K pot, Mango Poker Classic. The next one is gonna be even better.

We as a community has helped poker grow so fast that when just a few months ago, finding a regular game meant going around the metro from end to end, harldy filling up 10 or 15 seats, whereas now, you can play every single day for hours on end with great players from all over. The inevitable regular poker games hosted by some enterprising and visioned people who want the poker community to grow gave way to the existence of the State of Mind known as the BBC, places like the Riverhouse, and monthly and weekly poker tournaments that can fill up to 40 seats in a moments' notice.

And now, by next year, WPT will be coming to the Philippines. yes, that little poker TV show that we were all watching and where most of us got introduced to "the cadillac of poker", will be hosting a regional tour in our very own lupang hinirang. To those who love The Game, this is a dream come true. i myself get goosebumps thinking about it.

Just think, Poker Pros from all over will be coming here to play with US. Think of the valuable experience we will gain as players if we get a chance to play with Poker Gods like Gus Hansen or Phil hellmuth or Howard Lederer.

just think, your'e playing Phil Ivey or Paul Phillips in a hand, and you manage to bluff him out of a pot. Just like Matt Damon in the movie "Rounders" making a play on Johnny Chan and winning the hand.

The local poker scene has grown exponentially since the first major tourney around mid-year 2005. As we approach the end of the year, we will grow a lot bigger. We all need each other to fine tune our skills and get valuable inputs so that most players will have a solid game before the Pros invade our soil. i do hope our growth will not encounter any snags, especially with the government and also with closed minded religious groups and activists who still see poker in the same league as lotteries or slot machines.

WPT philippines will kick ass. Let's show them, like we do now in boxing and billiards, that we can be the best in the world.

Philippines Represent!