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Mike Kim (Michael Kim) is a professional
Mike Kim (Michael Kim) is a professional poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
player and the founder of the Asian Poker Federation and MK Global Management Solutions Inc., a gaming service provider based in Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...
, Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
.
In 2023, arrest warrants related to illegal gambling were issued for Kim and two other owners of the Royal Flush Bar and Grill.
Biography
Kim started his career as an online poker player in 2003 while studyingmechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
at the University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
, then started playing full-time once he started earning enough money from it. Kim established the first poker room
A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is used to describe a dedicated room in casinos that is dedicated to playing poker and in function is similar to a car ...
in South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and launched a poker room in Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
at the Starworld Hotel.
In the Philippines, he opened and operated Solaire Poker Room at the Solaire Resort and Casino, Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. Kim also opened LT Poker in Okada Manila
Okada Manila ( ja, オカダマニラ, Okada Manira) is a casino resort and hotel complex located on the Entertainment City gaming strip in Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines.
In 2007, with a total construction cost of about 250 billion Yen ...
. He later partnered with the online poker company PokerStars, at City of Dreams Manila.
In early 2016, Kim opened Mike's Room in Manila. The venue received a total of 1,403 entries for Kim's Millionaire Maker tournament.
Kim brought the Asian Poker Tour
The Asian Poker Tour (APT) was founded in 2008. To date, the APT has staged more than 80 major events and numerous smaller tournaments mainly in the Asia-Pacific Region. The tour has stopped at Philippines, Macau, South Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, ...
, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, and the World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...
to the Philippines.
In 2018, Kim expanded his business into Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
together with business partners Jori Falkstedt and Miikka Saloseutu.
Poker events
At the 2009 PokerStars APPT Macau, Kim finished 2nd, winning $384,999. He finished 22nd in the 2013 PokerStars APPT Seoul and earned 4,750,000 KRW. At the 2015 PokerStars APPT Season 9 Manila, Kim finished 15th and earned 274,400PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...
. Kim finished 5th in the 2013 WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...
Circuit River Rock Main Event, with $64,979 in payouts. Kim won the main event of the PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack 2 in 2015.
2023 arrest warrant
In September 2023, officers from multiple units — including vice, narcotics and gang alongside a SWAT team — searched through Royal Flush Bar and Grill off Pleasant Hill Road (located inDuluth, Georgia
Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Located north of Interstate 85, it is approximately northeast of Atlanta.
As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, Duluth had a ...
) owned by Kim.
According to police, five employees were taken into custody for commercial gambling and 13 customers were arrested for gambling.
Officers also seized more than $50,000 in cash, along with "gambling-related paraphernalia" police said.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Kim.
References