Caribbean Poker Classic 2006 Blog Archive
In the CPC 2006 Blog Archive :
- CPC – And the Big One has Started
- CPC –The Day We All Became Fish
- CPC - The Heat is on and Borat Joins the Tables! (28-11-2006)
- Full Action on Touch Down! (27-11-2006)
CPC – And the Big One has Started
St. Kitts, 2006-11-30
Struggle to get up this morning due to a late one last night. To my surprise it was a little cloudy. And I’m off to a bad start. Internet is down and I can’t post my blog. Heading over to my neighbour and managed to lock myself out of my room in the process. Bummer! Head over to the reception that is 15 min. away and got a new key after a long time trying to convince the receptionist that I’m not a criminal trying to break into my own room. Got a new key and got back to my room - this time the key doesn’t work and I have to go back to the reception again! Finally I manage to get back into my room again. Not an ideal way to start any day!
Being late I rushed down to the poker room to catch up with the InterPoker players before the main event starts.155 runners and no sign of the legendary Phil Ivey. I had a chat with the tournament director that reveals that he is on the island, have transferred money to the casino but have got stuck on the golf course! The life of a pro player can be hard at times!
12:15 and the tournament starts 15 minutes late. Starting chips are 15,000 and there are 10 levels of 50 min each during first day which will change into 60, 70, and 90 minute levels as the tournament progresses through Days 2, 3 and 4.
As many times before in big tournaments the atmosphere is electric.
After a short introduction by the tournament director Thomas Kremser it was time to shuffle up and deal. Due to the generous structure not much is happening during the first hours and I’m managed to get tee time for a round of golf. Then the third set back of the day comes; I have to cancel my round for work matters related to the home office in London. Another bummer but what can I do. I’m here to work not to slack around on the golf course. This is one of those times I really wished I was a professional poker player!
After getting my duties out of the way I return to the poker room and could see that InterPoker player “bearass”, Rob Varkonyi, Katy Liebert together with the pro’s like Paul Jackson, Simon Trumper, Marc Goodwin, are all out of the tournament. InterPoker players Giovanni and Jovan is doing really well and we still have hope for an InterPoker player to take the trophy home.
10 pm and we call it a day for the main tournament. 55 players left and play resumes at 12.00 tomorrow.
Finally I managed to get my form back in the poker room and actually even got good beaten!!! Yes, I do admit that I can get good beaten by someone with a better hand – it was Q10 vs. A10. Tonight it will be time for the $300 tourney and another night of poker.
Don’t forget to check in for my next blog coming up tomorrow.
Henrik Nilsson
Head of InterPoker
CPC –The Day We All Became Fish
St. Kitts, 29-11-2006
Woke up this morning, took a look out the window, another day of sunshine! Today is the big day for the second Extreme Poker Underwater Tournament. Our competitors spent the day practicing their diving skills on Monday in preparation for the day’s big event and were all ready to take on the challenge of deep sea poker.
It was a little bit like Top Gun, when Goose and Maverick are walking in slow motion on the runway on their way to their fighter plane as 11 brave men and one thrill seeking woman walked to the diving boats. The line up was impressive:
- Ricky - St. Kitts Minister of State, Culture and tourism.
- Emile Petit – France’s top online player.
- Ulrik Jensen - Veteran of the Artic Freeze out tournament.
- Les Zarebinski - Polish online player and diving fanatic.
- Nick Grudzien - American Extreme Poker Losers Leap champion.
- Richard Mace – An up and coming British online player.
- Katherine Purvis – Only female qualified through InterPoker University Clash.
- Henrik Maehlisen - Won a package through the $1 Extreme CPC promotion.
- Nikolaj Emmery-Funch – Also got to St.Kitts in the $1 promotion.
- Jovan Scekic – One of Australia’s top online players.
- Dan Stein - British online poker player.
- Pete “The Beat” Giordano - InterPoker poker pro.
- Norman Pace - Well known TV-presenter and poker player.
Family, friends, journalists and staff where cramped into the two boats and a total of 45 people headed out to the open water!
When we arrived at the location the poker tables where submerged 4 meters under the water, the dealers where pushed overboard and our players sunk to the table. Finally the world renowned tournament director Thomas Kremser came floating down like a shark from above with his trade mark tie complimenting his diving gear!
Thomas Kremser ready to dive!
The dealers shuffled up and start dealing. Players got 10 chips each and starting blinds where 1-2. Quite steep if you ask me! But I have been told that it is better to go out early then be sitting at the table as the oxygen runs out! Anyway first hand and Dan Stein is all in with A6 - he is called with A9. After no luck from the board he was first out. The next player to get back to the fresh air was Ricky - the nicest minister I meet in my whole life (and the only one, but still very nice!). Ricky was followed by Katherine Purvis out in third. After this the players came drifting to the surface thick and fast! We only had three players left before the air filling break!
While all this is going on we have 15-20 railbirds snorkelling above the tables on the surface with a perfect birds eye view - or should we call it a shark’s eye view! If you listened carefully at the depth of the table you could hear these observers making strange sounds in the water – those that have tried talking under water will know what I am going on about!
The three remaining players after a top up of precious oxygen were Emile Petit, Pete “The Beat” Giordano and Ulrik Jensen (clearly showing his extreme poker experience!) This was when the outdraw bonanza started. KQ against J3 saw a 3 appear on the river. 99 against 66 saw a six on the flop and so it went on. Finally it was Emile and Pete“The Beat”heads up. Emile was chip leader but ran into another outdraw and the chips slowly began to stack in “The Beats” favour. The final hand was one of the few hands that actually went according to statistics. K9 against K6 and we had a new Extreme Poker champion and winner of $5000. Big congratulations to Pete!
Pete "The Beat" adds to his Hold'em Blackjack invitational victory.
Back at the casino and I saw that “Bearass” one of InterPoker’s top Swedish players was doing really well in the $1000 Hold’em Blackjack. 5 players left and “Bearass” is in 3 rd chip position. I will give you an update tomorrow on how he did. First price is a respectable $32, 650.
I figure it’s time for some poker on my own and try to do my best to make an impression on the sit and go tourneys. I’m not doing to well. Bad beat stories are boring so I spare you the details and give it to you in condensed form (my hand is first); AK vs AJ, 77 vs 66, KQ vs KJ all my hands that killed me on the bubble. Sometimes poker can be the cruellest game on the planet and turn grown up men like myself into cry-babies!
Finally no confirmation on if Daniel Negreanu will show up or not and I haven’t seen Phil Ivey so far either.
Tomorrow main event. And now time to go to bed after a gruelling day (now 04:45 in the morning)
Don't forget to check in for my next blog coming up tomorrow.
Henrik Nilsson
Head of InterPoker
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CPC - The Heat is on and Borat Joins the Tables!
St. Kitts, 28-11-2006
Three days on site and we are starting to adjust to the local conditions with unlimited food, partying, nice weather and poker 24/7!
Poker players really are a funny bunch. They go on the tables with the aim of taking the other persons money and once they have either won or lost they venture to the bar as best friends! Ok, maybe not every time but hey it's hard to stay mad in such a beautiful place!
InterPoker pro Pete "The Beat" reliving his Hold'em Blackjack Victory!
We had our big InterPoker party last night and the InterPoker community has clearly started to come together. This year the party took place at the beach hut Monkey Bar. Full moon on the beach and it was another free bar, which of course the players loved. They actually loved it so much that the Swedish crowd (Norrland finest) were singing the Swedish national anthem on the bus the whole way back to the hotel! For some this was too much to take! Led by Kristen (InterPoker's Platinum club manager!) our Danish, Polish, Australian and even French contingent replied to this glorification of the nation of Sweden by singing the Australian favourite - "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie oi oi oi!" Much easier both to remember and sing along with!
Platinum Poker Manager Colin McCreadie chatting to 'stoxtrader' and InterPoker's latest signing Emile Petit at the InterPoker Party.
Now back to the poker room and a strange series of events! Someone somewhere on the island has started something of a craze around the tables. The influence of the Borat film has reached the island and now players across the room are adopting his catchphrase "Niiice"! You can hear this and even, on occasion, the faint sound of "Very niiiice" when someone wins a big pot from random tables! In any case it's quite entertaining to watch people's reactions when half the table is laughing and the other half doesn't have a clue what this expression is all about!
The latest rumour is that the talkative legend Daniel Negreanu is the next poker superstar that is considering coming down for the main event… And yes it is now confirmed that the one and only Phil Ivey will come on Wednesday to play the main event. Players beware…!
Tomorrow it's time for the second underwater extreme poker event and the participants have been practicing the whole day.
Don't forget to check in for my next blog coming up tomorrow.
Henrik Nilsson
Head of InterPoker
CPC - Full Action on Touch Down!
St. Kitts, 27-11-2006
Was it worth the nightmarish flight? Definitely. After being stuck on a plane for 15 hours on our outbound flight from London Gatwick we finally made it to the beautiful island of St. Kitts. We touched down Friday at 6 p.m. local time. Walking down the runway we were greeted by the Prime Minister of the island, camera crews, photographers and a steel band playing jingle bells over and over again! At this point I knew that we had arrived in the Caribbean!
When leaving the airport the first thing we ran into was an open bar in the taxi stand. Now that’s what I call a proper St.Kittian welcome! I wonder if maybe the authorities at Gatwick airport would consider a similar policy!
After checking in at the amazing all inclusive Marriott Resort we met up with the rest of the CPC players for a welcome reception and the days second open bar! After exploring the resort further I found out that all the bars were serving free drinks! Now I know we are in for a good trip!
Most players were tired from the trip and any normal person would have been heading to bed at this stage. However I took it upon myself to head over to poker room and see what the range of cash games and sit’ n go tournaments are available. As expected they were in full swing and all the tiredness from the trip seemed to be long gone. With the lure of a good game poker players all of a sudden become supermen unaffected by jetlag and the universal laws of tiredness! However only being a recreational player I decide to call it the day and give it a shot after a good nights sleep!
Saturday was to be my first day of proper tournament action. The $200 no limit hold'em got started at 2 p.m. attracted 180 runners including yours truly. After two hours play I was busted with AK against QQ. Danish InterPoker player "Clemme" managed to come an impressive second cashing in a nice $4500. In the process of this fine finish he even managed to cripple my stack when calling my bluff on the river with third pair. I guess that's the difference between people like me that needs to work for a living and the pros that don't! I later on got a tiny claim of fame in a $100 sit and go making it to a heads up situation with the Danish pro Martin Wendt. I ended up getting busted on J 10 against K 4. Money in the pocket but no cigar this time!
Sunday and a full day on the clear blue sea with our Platinum InterPoker players. An absolutely amazing day on a catamaran boat with open bar, reggae music and a crew that looked like Bob Marley and the Wailers! We each had a go at snorkeling and stopped for a BBQ on the beach bathed in sunshine. The only draw back was when "DaBaser" managed to break his toe on the boat and we needed to get into the local hospital on St. Kitts neighbouring island Nevis. His toe looks terrible but we got assurances that he will be fine. The upside of this draw back was that I and "DaBaser" got a full tour of the island by a local guide/ambulance driver! He proudly proclaimed that Nevis should have independence from St.Kitts. This would mean that the island would be one of the smallest countries on the planet with a population of 8000 inhabitants and, yes, its own army. I agreed in an attempt to stay out of local politics! Back on the boat our St. Kittitian crew member that this is rubbish and that it would never happen! - I again found myself agreeing in a second attempt to stay of local politics and felt like Kofi Annan in the process.
Myself (centre)and some of our InterPoker players
Back at the resort later that night we could see that Allan “aj674932” Johns was doing well in the $300 event. He finally got kicked out on 5 th place by the old footballer Tony Cascarino with JJ against A3. Cruel, but as all players know there is no justice in poker.
Sunday was the first chance our players got to see the great new game of Hold’em Blackjack in live competition. The Sunday night satellite event saw InterPoker pro Pete “The Beat” Giordano win his way into the $50,000 added main event.
'The Beat' has also been joined on the island by a host his fellow InterPoker pro's including Kathy Leibert, Rob & Olga Varkonyi and Jordon Morgan!
Also on the list of pro and celebrity spotting I have so far: Paul Jackson, Willy Tann, Simon Trumper (outdrawed me on a flush draw against trips, b*stard!) Norman Pace, Tony Cascarino, Jon Backman, Martin Wendt and more. This years tournament looks set to be fiercely contested!
Finally rumour says that poker superstar Phil Ivey will come down to play the main event on Wednesday.
Keep you eyes open for more blogs and photos coming up during the week!
Henrik Nilsson
Head of InterPoker
