Since I have gotten back from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) held at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, I have been scrambling to get things back to “normal” on the home front.  I am finally getting caught back up and am looking forward to a wonderful 2010!

The Atlantis at Night

I wanted to take the time to share my experiences in the Bahamas.  It was my first major poker tournament and it did not disappoint as far as expectations were concerned.  It was a great time all around.

Let me first start by saying that the Atlantis was a huge, magnificent resort.  I am not even sure if I got the chance to explore everything the resort has to offer since it was so big.

One disappointing thing, and nothing anyone can really do about it, was the weather was not up to the usual.  It was actually pretty chilly down there for the majority of my stay due to an “arctic blast” as the locals were calling it.  Even so, it was still warm enough a couple of days there to be able to lay out in the sun by the beach or the multiple pools/lagoons the resort has to offer.

The only true downside to the Atlantis was that it was unbelievably expensive.  Everything there was priced at least twice the amount you would expect to pay back at home.  In fact, I ended up spending every last bit of the $1150 spending account that was attached to the package I won on PokerStars in the 8 nights I was there.

Outside of the poker which I already discussed here, I wanted to share a couple stories of my stay there:

The PokerStars Bash

PokerStars threw a huge party towards the end of the stay.  It was originally supposed to be held outside, but since it was cold and windy they held it in the ballroom at the Atlantis.  Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child performed a 30 minute set that was ehhh “OK”.  It was almost kind of funny because from where I was, people were like “who is this again?”

Kelly Rowland performing at the Atlantis

You could tell Kelly Rowland was trying to get the crowd more into it, but people just didn’t seem to warm up to her as I think she was expecting.  But what do you expect with a mostly young male audience.  Destiny’s Child songs are more geared to younger females in my opinion.  It was not a good choice on the part of PokerStars in my opinion.  The end of her set was pretty quick and she jetted.  I am not sure if anyone else felt this way and I could be totally wrong in my assessment of the performance.

The rest of the party was on point though.  They had excellent food available and the drinks were on the house.  Celebrities were all around, though mostly in the VIP lounge.  Poker players that you are used to seeing on ESPN were everywhere.  It was really a great party overall.

Speaking of the VIP lounge….  As the night was going along I noticed that some celebrities with the likes of Slash (from Guns N Roses), Adrien Grenier (Vinny Chase in Entourage), and Jayde Nicole (2008 Playmate of the year) were in the VIP lounge which was pretty secluded from the rest of the party.  I told my wife, who came during the middle of my stay in the Bahamas, that “we are getting in there some time tonight, some way.”

Well to make a long story short, we did get in there.  I borrowed a “PokerStars.net” patch from one of the pros, who will remain unnamed, and I followed another player who said he could get us into the VIP lounge through the security. The only downside was when I finally got in there, the party was pretty much over and the only plus was that I could still order some drinks as the drinks were no longer available in the main ballroom.  But hey, I got in like I said I would!

Fish Fry

Whenever I stay somewhere exotic, I like to try and get a little taste of what the local flavor is like.  So under the suggestions of other poker players and the locals, my wife and I checked out “Fish Fry”.  I originally thought it was just one really good restaurant.  But when the taxi dropped us off, it turned out it was more like a strip of restaurants and bars with local cuisine.  Some parts looked kind of run down and pretty suspect under the moonlight but other restaurants looked pretty nice.

View of the Marina from my room

My wife and I chose to eat at “Twin Brothers”.  I got some fried shrimp and lobster dinner that was served with brown rice with beans mixed in it, macaroni and cheese, and plantains.  I would rate my food to be about an average 6.5 out of 10.  It was nothing special.  However, my wife got broiled shrimp which was served in aluminum foil mixed with spices and vegetables.  I tried some of it and finished it off for her as it was more than enough for her.  I would have to say that was great and would rate that no lower than 9.5 out of 10.

Overall the service was on par with what you would expect.  No extreme delays.  It was a nice experience that I am glad we had the opportunity to taste a little of what the Bahamas has to offer. For those planning on going to the Bahamas, I would definitely recommend making a stop at the “Fish Fry”.

Below are some more pictures and videos of various things from the PCA and the Atlantis.  I didn’t really take any pictures with the various celebrities as I didn’t really want to bother them.  Besides, it became the norm to see a recognizable face every day, and became more “ho hum” by the end of my stay.

Well, I just busted about 45 minutes ago.  But I have a much better outlook on how I played than I did yesterday.  I played a much better game today in the 2+ hours I played.  Thanks to my stack size, I had to play a patient and tight game.  I was looking more to re-steal than I was to open pots.  That is exactly what I did mostly.  I re-stole about 5 times and only open raised 3 times.  Like I said, tight.  I only played a total of 8 hands leading up to my demise in what was towards the end of level 10.

I was officially knocked out in about 650th of the starting 1529 when the following hand came down:

Blinds are 600/1200 with a 100 ante.  A pretty active player from utg open raises to 3000.  It is folded to me in the CO and I look down at pocket Jacks.  I am sitting with about 25,000 in chips and have 3 options.  Fold, Call, or re-raise all in.  Folding is too weak, and if I call I would be put to a tough decision on the flop should any cards come higher than a Jack.  So my best choice was to re-raise.  I wanted to take the pot down right there and use every bit of my fold equity.

Nenad Medic, on the button folds; as do the blinds.  Action is back on the initial raiser.  He goes into the tank.  I think to myself well at least it isn’t an instant call (meaning he would probably have QQ+ or AK).  He was in the tank for a good 3 minutes as I was starting to want a call knowing that my JJ was likely ahead.  He finally does make the call and tables 99.

So JJ vs 99, great shape for me as an 80 percent favorite to double up and have an average chip stack.  Until the flop brought out 973.  All I could do was sigh and hope for a Jack or two running straight cards.  The turn nor river were any help as I had to grab my stuff and make the walk of shame.

You always hear how people feel so let down after busting in a major 10k buyin tournament.  But I was almost relieved as I walked through the imperial ballroom.  I had this since of wonderment, in that I was actually starting to feel that I can AND WILL compete on this level once again.  I was all in for my tourney life and called twice, both times as a significant favorite.  That is all you can hope to do as a poker player, continually get your money in good, and the results will show over time.

I made a couple light re-steals early in the day today, that were thankfully not contested.  But I did make a resteal once with AA against Barry Shulman, in which he folded.  Looking back on that hand, I could have slowplayed it some and maybe seen a flop to hopefully let Mr. Shulman hang himself.  But I took the more conservative route.

Overall, a well played day 2.  Looking back on day 1 though, I definitely leaked some chips early on.  But I have learned from my mistakes as to know what to expect next time.  I feel confident that I am a better player today than I was before starting this tournament.  Now I just need to win another satellite to the next big poker destination.

My wife comes down to the Bahamas tomorrow, and it is a little disappointing that she will not see me still playing in the main event.  But at least we will be able to enjoy the Bahamas together.  There are other (smaller) tournaments that are being run here at the Atlantis that I might opt to play.  But in the meantime, I am just going to relax and recount past events that have occurred over the past few days.

Once I get back home, it will be back to the grind as it relates to poker.  Playing 5 card draw regularly, mixing in some SNG’s and more MTT’s.  I have goals I expect to reach by summer time and by the end of the year.  This will prove to be an exciting year.

I have been trying to figure out how to get some videos up on this site.  But unfortunately the internet connection here is awful and I can’t seem to be able to get any files uploaded to this site or youtube.

I have also tried getting some pictures on here to show, but of course I forgot to bring the cord that connects my camera to the computer.  So I am 0 for 2 in the whole hopeful updating with some sort of media to show stuff.  One thing is for sure though, I will have plenty to share when I get back home.

Until then, I can share a couple of interesting things that have occurred during my first couple of days here in the Bahamas:

The biggest hand I have seen played at a table I was playing was when I watched Gavin Smith turn and then river what would be 4 of a kind against trips. Gavin Smith moved to my table for the last hour and a half of day 1A and kept the table entertained with his table talk with mostly Matt Glantz, who I mentioned last post.

I watched Joanna Krupa film a video in front of one of the water slides here at the Atlantis that I am assuming will be used for what PokerStars announced today will be part of the North American Poker Tour.  She was in a bikini and was obviously freezing since the weather here in the Bahamas is much colder than normal.  I have a video of this, but you will have to wait to see miss Krupa in a bikini until I get back home.

While waiting to get through immigration at the airport here in the Bahamas.  Tom Dwan got in line behind me and I supposedly broke the news to him about Isildur1 coming to the PCA (at least that is what I read on PocketFives).  For those that don’t know, Tom Dwan lost millions of dollars, yes millions, in a number of sessions (not sure exactly on how many sessions) online against an unknown European player named  Isildur1.

I had a lengthy conversation with Greg Raymer while we were both walking from the Royal Towers here at the Atlantis to where all the poker action takes place, at the Imperial Ballroom.  It was a good 10 minute walk, with him getting stopped multiple times to take pictures.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Good thing I have a built in spending account here at the Atlantis thanks to the package I won on PokerStars, because everything here is unbelievably expensive.  Just to give you an idea, you cannot buy a 12 oz coke can here under $4.

I went to a PokerStars welcoming party where I met many different faces that play online poker.  But since I don’t really know that many poker players personally and I am not a well-known player myself, getting some conversations started seemed pretty awkward as the banquet-style party seemed pretty cliquey.

These are just a couple of things that come to mind, and I have only been here for 1/4 of my planned stay.  I hope you check back later when I finally get some pictures and videos up to help tell my stories.

As posted earlier, tomorrow I will start play on “day 2″ of the PCA.  I sit with 27 big blinds (27,200).  The average at the moment looks to be around 45,000.  So not too bad I guess, but I will definitely have to make a move in the first half of tomorrow to have any chance of cashing.  If I can somehow double up two or three times, I can be right up there with some of the chip leaders.  So wish me luck!

The day is over….finally.  Play started with 30,000 in chips and to make a long story short, I ended the day with 27,200.  Not all too well.  But the funny thing is, is that I am happy to have any chips at all.  Nothing went right for me today.  It was brutal.  All my bluffs were getting picked off, and all of my big hands only took down the blinds.  The highest I was at the day was around 34,000 and my lowest was around 12,000.  I did manage to double up with about 15 minutes left in the day when my KK reraise all in was called by Matthew Glantz, who tabled KQ.  My hand held up and so did my tourney life.  That was really my highlight of the day since nothing else went well for me.

There were some questionable plays I made in the day and am not all too happy with my effort overall.  I am looking forward to day 2 since I still have a viable shot though.  The blinds will start at 500/1000 with a 100 ante on day 2.  So I will be sitting with 27 big blinds.

Tomorrow I plan on checking out the Atlantis some since I haven’t really had the chance and hope to just simply relax.  I might go rail the day 1 B players sometime tomorrow too.  Hopefully I will have some pics or videos to show soon.

I haven’t had a chance to write a post about my 2010 resolutions yet because I have been running much-needed errands and been packing to get set to head to the Bahamas tomorrow morning.  My flight was already canceled once and I had to change my itinerary slightly, but I am back on track now.

I have played zero poker in the last week or so because of all of the holiday stuff going on.  So hopefully I can get back in the swing of things at the PCA.  I will hopefully write my post about my 2010 goals when I have some down-time in the Bahamas.

I will also be posting here in the future with some videos of the tournament and of the Atlantis.  I have the Flip HD camcorder and I need to put that thing to use.  So check back later this week for updates.

Well, today I decided to take another shot at winning a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) seat.  It was the same tournament that I won last time.  This time though, the tournament guaranteed 30 seats.  I had to beat out a field of 677 for one of those 30 seats…….and well, I did it again!  I won!

This time though, since I already have a PCA seat, which is worth $15,130;  I get to keep the cash!  It really is helpful since I really am still in bankroll-building mode.

This time, unlike last time, I got really lucky in 2 key hands in the middle stages of the tournament.  I was extremely card dead for the majority of the tourney too.  All of this, then as we approached the bubble I finally caught a couple good hands and was stealing successfully. By the end of the tournament, I was one of the big stacks, and was able to push pretty much any 2 cards.

Whew, what a great last month!

Again, a parting shot of the Atlantis (where the PCA is held):

Oh….and if you want to take a shot at winning trips like this click on the PokerStars ad you see at the top of this web page and download the software.  It would be a nice way of supporting my site!