Highlights of the PCA2013!

I’m back home and a couple of hours ago it just started to snow! I would love to have spent a couple of more days at the Bahamas, this was probably the best poker trip I had so far. It wasn’t one thing in particular, it was the combination of all things that made it perfect. Being back home isn’t that bad either, it’s time to start getting into shape and play poker but first I want to show you my highlights of this year’s PCA!

After a pretty easy flight via Atlanta we arrived at the Bahamas around 20:00. We had a limo arranged by the PokerStars VIP Club picking us up and when we arrived in the hotel Lobby some of my fellow Team Online colleagues were already waiting for me 😉 We quickly changed clothes in our room and my first Heineken already waited for me. It had been a year since I saw most of them but it was great to see everybody again. The next day we had a Team Online meeting where I got to meet the new guys, Rohit “GodlikeRoy” Bhasin, Caio “Pessagno” Pessagno, Isaac “Ike Haxton” Haxton & Tatiana ‘Mysters_Y’ Barausova. We all talked about what we had done last year and what our plans were for this year and that alone was already really inspiring. Talking poker just makes me feel like I want to play and because all my friends hardly play poker anymore I normally get pulled out of the “poker zone” pretty quick. Scott “UnMarketing” Stratten did a presentation about social media and since I’m a social media addict this was a pretty welcome meeting topic. Later that evening it was time for some drinks with the team and after Kevin’s (WizardOfAhhs) girlfriend shouted: “Shots, Shots, Shots” things went downhill pretty fast 🙂 I could go on and on about what happened everyday but I’ll try to stick with the highlights from now:

Pool
After breakfast each day started either with tennis or the pool. Two years ago the weather at the Bahamas wasn’t that great. I brought my girlfriend that year and wanted to play a lot of poker so didn’t had a lot of time to hang out with her. Luckily my best buddy brought his girlfriend as well since when the sun isn’t shining you would get bored pretty quick during the day all by yourself. Last year the weather was great but this year it was awesome! 27C, sun and not a lot of wind. I love hanging out at the pool and it makes the whole PCA experience just so much better. My appetite for playing poker during the day also completely disappears when the sun is out, not sure if that’s a good thing but I didn’t really mind!

 

Tennis
I really wanted to play as much Tennis as possible this year. I brought my own racket and knew Frosty would also bring his. The first day we had the Team Online meeting so the second day we agreed to play at 10:00 during our Team Online drinks the night before. We made a small bet on who would win, knowing that Frosty was wasted that evening so probably had a small hangover at least. Unfortunately he didn’t show up, which meant losing the bet (we stated that pertty clear) but he didn’t really agree on that 😉 We both still wanted to play tennis so we challenged the Belgium PokerStars Team Pro’s, the De Meulder twins. I didn’t do any sports for 5 weeks and no tennis for 5/6 months and was really stiff. The match was pretty bad overall and we lost it but at least I was enjoying my time in the sun 🙂 The next day we played our first singles and Frosty beat me pretty badass, 6-0 6-2. Happy he didn’t show up the day before when we had that bet 🙂 We continued to play every day and also did a Team Online doubles like last year. Vgreen was still on the team last year and he played like Rafael Nadal, this year he was replaced by GodLikeRoy. He hadn’t played any tennis for several years but was not as bad as we expected. Roy teamed with Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Frosty and I teamed up as well. We won the first match with 6-1 and also won the re-match with 6-4, in which we all played way better. Playing tennis each day out in the sun is just such a good way to start you day. I really got a lot better, fitter and quicker during only one week. I really miss it now I’m back home 🙁

 

PA for a day
I won the MicroMillions III challenge vs Grzegorz “DaWarsaw” Mikielewicz so DaWarsaw would be my PA for a day. I think he was really afraid that I would make him do a lot of silly stuff but that wasn’t my plan at all. I didn’t say that obvious since the look on his face each time somebody mentioned the bet was way too much fun. We picked out Wednesday and he would be my PA from 10:00 till 22:00. The day before we did a short interview with Pokerstars.TV, check it out below:

 

So Wednesday after breakfast I handed out a great gift to DaWarsaw. He could wear my Dutch National Soccer Team shirt with my name on the back the whole day, so everybody would recognize that he was my bitch 😉

I think the shirt looked perfect on him. The next thing on the agenda was to go to the pool and chill a bit. DaWarsaw got me some towels, drinks whenever needed and played his role as PA perfect. The most fun part of the day was the part were Frosty and I played a game of tennis. I had never played a match with a ballboy but this was a truly amazing. The speed of the match is so much faster and the annoyance of running out of balls just doesn’t happen. DaWarsaw would cheer whenever I would win a game (not very often), made sure I had enough water and was running around all the time, probably more than I did. I was so happy I didn’t have to play his golf caddy for a day, winning such a small bet (I only beat him by $5) never felt this great 🙂

Obviously he carried my tennis gear back to my room, got me another drink and since we didn’t meet for dinner he was lucky I didn’t pull any stunts during the rest of the day. The bet really happened in good spirit and I hope we both come back next year to the PCA and have another fun bet!

Basketbal
DaWarsaw & I played a basketball match vs Frosty and RJ. We are both slow and tall guys, they are short and fast guys so it was an interesting match-up. We agreed to do a best out of 3, first to 7 points. I think during the total match they had run three times as much as we did and after winning the first game DaWarsaw could hardly run anymore, probably the heat got to him. We lost the second game and since these guys were outrunning us big time I didn’t really believe in it anymore. DaWarsaw and I talked some strategy for the 3th game but we still were 6-4 behind. Somehow we managed to turn it around and DaWarsaw finished it off with a beautiful swish from the deep corner. Such a sweet victory and we had a small bet for some beers which was very welcomed after the match!

 

Talonchick wins & Luske wins twice!
I didn’t play any poker at all but most others did. For me it just doesn’t make sense due to the Dutch tax laws but for most people this isn’t an issue. Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome loves her mixed games and participated in the Triple Stud Event. Marcel Luske also made it to the final table but Adrienne was victorious making this a back-to-back win for her! Last year there was no trophy so this year she was extra happy, I think also because half of Team Online was rooting for her heads-up 🙂 Check here for more info.

Marcel Luske likes his Mixed games as well and after busting the Triple Stud final table without reaching the money he tried his luck in the H.O.R.S.E. event the next day. After busting Adrienne he managed to win heads-up vs our new Japanese Team Online member Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara! Marcel probably felt really good after all these mixed games because only a couple of days later he won the 8-game event as well! It’s really great to see him doing so well. Yes he can talk for hours and sure sometimes what he says hardly makes sense (Johan Cruijff of Poker is a good way to describe it) but after all these years he still has so much love for the game and he is one of the friendliest guys in poker. More info about his wins here and here.

 

Dinner at Nobu, twice!
Most of you know I love sushi and luckily at the Bahamas they have a great Sushi restaurant 🙂 They have other great dishes as well but I didn’t even check that part the menu. The first time Nobu we went with the Team Online group including +1’s and it was great fun to have the whole group together for dinner. Last year we did that at the last day of the PCA and I lost the credit card roulette so I was really happy I dodged it this year! Ordering the yellowtail jalapeno sashimi is a must and I couldn’t wait to order the lobster Roll, whoaha! You just can’t order anything that comes close where I’m from. The 2nd time Nobu we had a PokerStars country dinner with the Belgium and Dutch Team Pro’s. Charlotte wanted to try out the crispy rice roll (middle one) and it was officially crowned as the best sushi by the both of us, so we ordered it three times 😉

We didn’t only have group dinners at Nobu. Every night we went out for dinner with a big group, a great way to start the evening!

 

Party
I only stayed for 7 days this year so there wasn’t a lot of time to party. I arrived on Saturday but went to bed early and the club is only open Thu/Fri/Sat. Since I was flying home on Saturday I didn’t want to drink on Friday which meant Thursday would be the only night out in the club. The PokerStars party was on Sunday so I missed it and from what I’ve heard it was one of the best ones ever! Ah well, most of the evenings we just hung out in the hotel lobby or Plato’s which is fun as well since it is way easier to talk there. We knew we had to get our dancing shoes ready because Cammie would fly out from Miami again to meet us all. She is a good friend of Caleb who works at the PokerStars VIPClub club and we got to meet her last year and had great fun on the dance floor. On Thursday after dinner (see pic above) we went to the casino bar where they also have a small dance floor, check the results below:

 

When we go out my name changes to Crazylegs, at least Frosty always calls me that. I just can’t help myself, when there is music I got to move! We had a fun bunch to hang out with a mix of PokerStars employees (Carly, Shirley, Dylan & Caleb) and poker players and their +1’s (Charlotte, Marta, Frosty, DaWarsaw, RJ).

There should be a photo with more of us on it but I have no clue who took that one? So after the warm-up, we moved on to the club! I think more people were waiting for the club to open because it was pretty busy for a Thursday. I wasn’t really wasted but I can’t say I remember much 🙂 I probably had a lot of fun, because that’s what I remember. It was also the last day drinking alcohol for me (my 180 day bet started right after PCA) so it felt kind of weird. I ordered a lot of Heineken, some Tequila and probably no water and just danced as long as I could 🙂

All of the above made this year’s trip just perfect! I’m pretty certain I’ll be there next year again and hopefully a little longer so I don’t miss the PokerStars Party. It was really good to see everybody again and also to meet a lot of great new people. Thx everybody!