I hate to repeat myself but this time I have a valid excuse for the lateness of this update. Working on an event like CPC could make reading this blog seem to be a real jolly. Well, the sh-t was about to hit the fan. All week had been going without any major issues. Probably the smoothest poker event I have ever worked on and after ten years in the industry I have been to a few. All 240 players and staff where checked out of the Marriott and checked in at the airport when we got the message that the plane had technical problems in Antigua and was delayed. Ok, a minor delay I can live with. Things got late and we needed to set up an UN food operation and re-negotiate entry to be able to let the smokers out. In the end we got the message that we won’t be able to depart until sometime next day. Back to the Marriott and thanks to the master organiser Deana we managed to get new rooms at the Marriott. For 240 people. We thought.

The check in went smoothly till there where about 2 rooms left. Then we got the news that there where no rooms left. No rooms? This was 2:30 in the morning. Me and my boss that have been like cuddly kittens the whole week pretty much lost our temper and we both started to act up. After standing screaming for a few minutes they finally managed to find the rooms, but they weren’t cleaned. So slowly, slowly they started to sort out our rooms but they didn’t manage to get them done until 4:30 in the morning. Fortunally the players got their rooms in decent time. At this time I would been happy sleeping on the pirate ship that stands in the reception.

And all along we needed to work hard on sorting all the missed connective fligths. A big thanks to Cindy and Tom who where the big heroes here.

Next morning we did manage to get the plane over from Antigua and finally we departed St. Kitts 4 in the afternoon. Absolutely exhausted.

Anyway I’m a little late but I figure you might be interested in the who won what so find all the results from all the tourneys below:

MAIN EVENT

$6,000 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout

PLAYERS: 153

PRIZE POOL: $1,000,000

Final list:

       NAME                        NATION                           CASH
1  Brian Jensen                   Denmark                 $237,500
2  Mihai Manole                   Romania                  $145,500
3  Martin Clemmensen         Denmark                  $87,300
4  Jan van der Wal              Holland                     $70,800
5  Leon Yanovsky               Israel                       $56,200
6  Christoffer Sonesson      Sweden                    $45,600
7  John chubb                    UK                           $36,900
8  Joakim Garp                  Sweden                     $29,100
9  Nikolas Levi                   France                       $22,300
10 Matthew Morgan           Wales                        $17,500

Sunday, 2nd December
$1,000 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout
PLAYERS: 65
PRIZE POOL: $63,050
                                               
                NAME                       NATION                   $
1    Richard Anderson                  Sweden             $21,500
2    David Keller                          Switzerland         $10,700
3    Rupert Clark                          Barbados           $8,200
4    Richard Lapwood                    Scotland            $6,300
5    Matthew Hopkins                    England             $5,000
6    Dominic Kay                          England             $3,800
7    Spencer Lawrence                  England             $3,150
8    Mark Winn                             England             $2,500
9    Walter Farina                         Italy                   $1,900

Saturday, 1st December
$500 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout
PLAYERS: 143
PRIZE POOL: $69,360
                                               
                NAME             NATION                      $
1     Anders Kaagh             Denmark            $16,500
2     Morten Hansen            Norway              $13,200
3     Richard Chamberlain     UK                    $11,900
4     Rachel Angove             UK                    $5,100
5     Elias Nguyen                Sweden             $4,150
6     Ognjen Pasajlic             Denmark           $3,450
7     Ida Lundholm               Sweden             $2,800
8     Dennis Coulgh              UK                    $2,100
9     Tony Jensen                 Norway             $1,400
10   Fortunato Burdin           Canada             $1,110

Monday, 29^th November
$400 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout
PLAYERS: 141
PRIZE POOL: $54,710
                                               
                NAME                    NATION                  $
1     Clinton Orchard                England            $18,000
2     Robert Adam                   Scotland           $9,300
3     Timo Tamminen               Finland              $5,460
4     Dominic Kay                    England             $4,100
5     Stuart Menzies                Scotland            $3,300
6     Karim Komla                   St Maarten         $2,700
7     Roar Wang                     Norway              $2,200
8     Luke Guest                     England             $1,650
9     Samuel Lehtonen             Sweden             $1,100
10   Matt Osborne                  England             $870
 

Friday night we took out second group of Platinum players out. This time we had a Danish, British, German delegation. Same menu as last time and just as tasty. The evertalking Dane Jesper had clearly spent a little bit too much time by the pool being red as a lobster. Every 20th minute I could here a scream from Jespers side of the table due to someone bumping into him and causing him pain. His younger brother Lars also had the habit of hitting him on the head from time to time. Not very popular but I guess it’s these kind of things younger brothers do to their older ones.

The night went on and it was if possible even more boozy the night before. This kind of lifestyle is starting to get to me. I guess I’m getting old. Back to the poker room I managed to lose all the winnings I picked up the night before mainly down to terrible overloose super aggressive play.

This night we played down to the final table in the main event and we managed to get InterPoker player Martin Clemmensen in the final 8. The chip count on the final table is as follows:

Seat 1. Mihai Manole $453,300

Seat 2. Joakim Garp $285, 800

Seat 3. Christoffer Sonesson $221,200

Seat 4. Jan Van Der Val $548,800

Seat 5. John Chubb $121,500

Seat 6. Leon Yanovski $360,500

Seat 7. Martin Clemmensen $112,400

Seat 8. Brian Jensen, $156,400

Blinds $4000/$8000

Ante: 500

Play resumes at 14:00 Sunday

I will be back later with and update on the final table.

Yours truly

Henrik Nilsson

Head of Poker

www.interpoker.com

As you know we haven’t displayed any photos on the blog. The reason for this is of a technical nature. But we managed to get hold of some of Divemaster Kenneth’s photos and film sequences from the event. You can find them below in no specific order. Remember that the movie probably takes a bit of time to load and u need to click the link below. Enjoy.

extreme-poker-underwater-photos-022.avi

Yours truly

Henrik Nilsson

Head of Poker

www.interpoker.com

It’s been a few crazy days that have prevented me from updating the blog. Anyhow now I’m back and will give you an update on  the last few days.

Thursday night we took the platinum players out for a taste of the local cuisine on the other side of the island. We were 16 players plus three staff. The restaurant Spratnet is located just by the water and is basically just a big grill. They only serve five courses; lobster, ribs, chicken, fish and shrimps. Tonight Spratnet was more than a restaurant, it was also hosting the local talent show. And I’m telling you it’s not anything resembling pop idol, X-factor or other shows you seen on TV. One guy was performing a reggae song about rivers of blood and world destruction. And first prize was a bottle of rum. But the food my friends, the food was amazing. I got a full lobster straight from the grill that you would have paid at least £30 in London for. Here it is staple food.

I was sitting next to the Boden poker mob from Norrland Sweden. For those of you who don’t know where this place is, its way up North close to polar circle. Elias, Björn, Simon, Johan with girlfriends where all getting a little bit crazy with the rum punches coming out in a steady pace. One subject on the agenda was how to deal with the need to go to the toilet while playing heads up. Simon wasn’t shy and claimed that he brings his laptop and continue playing while doing his business. Elias had a different problem because his battery is useless and doesn’t last for more than a minute, so he would take the extension cord to be able to play. But as he says you need to remove it because it could look a little bit suspicious if you have an extension cord going to the toilet when having guests. And when asking why not take a break and come back after a few minutes, I got the explanation that you can’t let the fish go. O well, it’s a hard life to be a professional poker player. 

Once we came back to resort it was full action in the poker room and I joined the action. And a lot of action it was. After playing for 8h straight to 6 in the morning I was up $600 and was on my knees with tiredness. The Brits didn’t seem to take notice and were holding out until 8 in the morning when they where about to watch the football between West Ham and Chelsea. I happily declined their invitation. Crazy guys. But the craziest of them all must be the Fins. Two of them (I will not mention their names and it’s not Juha Helppi) started the habit of going to bed on a pirate ship that is positioned in the lobby. First morning the security told them friendly but firm that they need to sleep in their rooms. Second night they told them that if they slept on the ship again they will be thrown off the island. I haven’t seen them for some time but hope they got into the habit of sleeping in their own rooms.

More to come

Yours truly

Henrik Nilsson

Head of Poker

www.interpoker.com

First, apologies for not updating the blog for some time. There has just been too many activities. Let me get to it and give you a run down on what’s been happening over last few days.

I would like to start with the latest news. In the middle of the $400 event all of sudden the table started shaking. I first thought it was a fellow poker player who was tilted and kicked the table. But after a short moment I realised that this was not normal. The chandeliers starting to make a resounding sound and people began standing up. It’s an earth quake! And this at the same time as I had pocket queens. I have never experienced anything like it. It’s like the sound of a freight train coming down the hall. And just as quickly as it started it ended. And big blind had folded my preflop raise.

Let me go back in time to yesterday morning.

I woke up after an excellent nights sleep, the first one for days. Today is the big cruise day. I looked out the window expecting sunshine. But. WTF as we poker players say in the chat. It was p-ssing down. Slightly tilted I went for a shower to come out again. And 10 minutes later, order restored and we had full sunshine again. Lovely.

I went down to the lobby to meet up with 75 players and their guests all geared up for a big day out on the high seas. One of the first ones I meet is Juha who continued to batter me with requests that he started a few days ago:

Henrik, sometimes my one year son Sami wakes me up in the middle of the night, disturbing my nights sleep. It might be better if I put him in your room directly?

Henrik, you know strong exposure to the sun is not good for one year olds. Can’t you following him around holding an umbrella and make sure that Sami stays in the shade?

And on it went.

Juha’s little monster Sami

We got on the Catamaran and got a warm welcome from the crew. It was Leroy, Elvis and Dexter. They ran through the safety procedures, declared the bar open and out on the open turquoise water we sailed. 

After an hour on the sea with refreshments mainly being Rum Punch, Beer and Rum Coke we stopped for an hour of snorkelling. Fish in every colour but no sharks except some of the players.

Next stop the neighbouring island of Nevis and it was time for lunch on the beach. Barbecued chicken straight from the grill. Yummy. The InterPoker players enjoyed themselves and some of them risked their limbs on the superfast jet-scooters that were available for rental.

After a few hours on the beach we headed back home to St. Kitts and the Marriott Resort. In conclusion a great day out and we all sent our thoughts to our loved ones at home hoping they enjoyed the cold and rain and in some cases snow. Our Canadian player Terry said they had -35 when he left.  

Next morning.

Woke up after just a few hours sleep. I played poker till 3:30 in the morning and was woken up at 5:30 by someone trying to call me on my cell that was positioned on the other side of the room. I ignored the call. 6:30 another call I ignored that one too. 7:15 next call and I had to go up and turn off the bl-dy phone. At this stage I was so winded up so I couldn’t go back to sleep. 

Today is the day when we are about to do the Extreme Poker Event. We were about to play the Deep Underwater Series of Poker III. We had an impressive line up with the following players attending:

Juha Helppi, Rob Halshaw, Alex Ferguson, Mark Shanta, Martin Wickholm, Hugo Asenjo, Emile Petit, Thomas Richter, Florian Langmann, Phillip Schuster, Andreas Torbentsson.

All fine poker players with millions in winnings to their name.

So for the second day in a row I was back on the boat. This time it was Kenneth who was the captain and responsible for the security of the operation. Once we where on site Kenneth and his crew started to lower the tables down to 15 feet under water. We ran through all the security measures once more and the structure of the tournament; 15 chips with 1-2 starting blinds that goes up every third hand. Yes you heard me right, it was a true fish bingo set up.

Tournament director and dealer was yours truly.

As expected the action was fast and furious. Alex Ferguson went out in the first hand when he ran into a straight beating his two pair. And then they went one by one until we were down to the final six and the final table.

It was the following players that made it this far; Juha Helppi, Emile Petit, Florian Langmann, Andreas Torbentsson, Martin Wickholm and Hugo Asenjo.

Final table started and players continued to go out in rocket speed till we were down to heads up. The two battling it out was Langmann and Wickholm. Langman had a massive chiplead and Wickholm immediately started with the all -in approach. And for a while it almost resembled something that could be played in a real poker tournament with flops and turn bets etc. But that didn’t last to long. After freezing the blinds when we came to heads up I was forced to raise them because we where about to run out of air. Not to mention that one starts to get cold after an hour under water without wet suit.

Finally all the chips went in the middle. Again. And this time Wickholm held K9 against Langmann’s Q10. Nothing hit and we had a new Extreme Poker, Deep Underwater Series III winner in the Swede Martin Wickholm. Well done!

If you want to read more about Extreme Poker check out the web site at www.extremepoker.com (a little bit of shameless self promoting).

Now it’s time to take an early night and I will be back with a new blog tomorrow

Yours truly

Henrik Nilsson

Head of InterPoker

www.interpoker.com

Second day. Wake up and the sun us shining. Again. Jetlagged so it’s 7 in the morning and impossible to sleep in. After a painful workout at the gym (every workout is a pain if you’re in bad shape) I have to go back and take care of some office work in my room. It stinks when you have the pool 10 meters from your balcony. After I got my duties out of the way I head down to the pool to see many recognizable faces. Most of them pale, pink or red. Hopefully that will be brown before the week is over.I head up to the poker room and can see that the $200 freezeout is filling up fast. I would expect approx 220 players. I would love to play it but don’t have time due to something as boring as a product meeting with one of our business associates. Now someone is coming up with a stroke of genius and move the meeting from the board room to the pool. And actually we moved it to in the pool. This is the best business meeting I have been having in my whole life. Discussing Tournament filters, Ecash improvements, Promotion engine optimization is so much more interesting if you can combine it with sunshine and a rum punch.