Hi everyone, welcome to the Pokémon TCG Club, or The PTC. I’m your host, Brandon Bui, and like you, I’m a lifelong fan of Pokémon! I currently reside out in sunny (no seriously, it’s freaking hot out here) Arizona, in a smallish city called Yuma right on the other side of the California and Arizona borders. I grew up in Irvine, CA and moved out to Arizona for work.
What do I do, exactly? Well, I’m a healthcare professional! I am a Doctor of Pharmacy who specializes in clinical IT. To make it simple, I make the buttons that the doctors push. I’ve an extensive history in the video gaming community and prior to my transitioning to full-time health care, I was a journalist covering video games and technology for about a decade. I’ve been a fan of the Pokémon franchise for as long as I can remember, since the early days of Red and Blue. My all-time favorite is Emerald. Generation III was easily my favorite and the inclusion of the Battle Frontier added hundreds of hours of extra playtime.
With the TCG, I started with Base Set through the earlier Neo packs, had a drop off until the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum era and early Black and White eras, before I fell off again and then resumed back in late 2020 with the Sword and Shield-era cards. I’ve been amassing a collection of cards ever since and just recently started getting into grading cards that I have always been fond of, or just purchasing singles outright for my personal collections. And yes, I went crazy on Paldean Fates and Pokémon 151.
As the owner of this little corner of internet space, I just wanted to take a second to welcome you to the community. I’m hoping we can have some fun with this, and if you ever have any questions, you know where to find me. I will try to respond to you as quick as I can.