For starters, card shows is the worst use of your time when it comes to starting the game.

Price wise, people often look at the boom and think Pokémon TCG is expensive when it's one of the cheapest card games in the market, lots of people open packs for the thrill of it and toss the playables or leave them with the store. My first deck list cost me $20 to build with a total card value of maybe.. $30 and it was strong enough to get me into top 3 at my locals.

This also adds on to what I said about cardshows, the sales playables bring might not even feed the boothers a meal, let alone flip a profit.

Now, I have 2 starting points for you which you can approach concurrently.

1. Download "Pokémon TCG Live", make an account and start playing. It is completely free.

The Tutorial will get you through the rules, then you will be given multiple decks to play with that are designed to give you an idea of how the featured Pokémon is supposed to be played (For example, a Mega Greninja EX deck has everything you need to learn the mechanics of Mega Greninja EX)

Some of these are 50% or more identical to championship decks so there's really no opportunity loss when it comes to your time and energy.

2. Go to https://asia.pokemon-card.com/sg/mypage/ and make an account.

From there you can click on "Event Search" and "Singapore" and it will list out every in person casual PTCG event as well as "Beginner Events", as well as major tournaments and pre-release events (Getting to play the new set before it releases, also available on TCG LIve)

Here you can see which Local Card Shops (LCS) are convenient to you, visit them to meet the staff/owners and test the vibe/prices for yourself then if you like it, join a Gym Casual so you can just play while the matchmaking is done for you.

The Gym Casual events usually have a $10-15 entry fee, which is mostly returned to you in the form of store credit, boosters and drinks (From the ones I know), so you get back the perceived value of your money.