Travel With Me … Europe and the PartyPoker Cruise - Part VI

by Daniel Negreanu | Published: Jan 31, 2003

It's time now to see how things are done outside the United States and Canada. For our first stop, I'll be taking you to the beautiful Isle of Mann, home of the Poker Million.

The Isle of Mann is a beautiful island that is sandwiched between Ireland and England, and it hosted the only million pound first prize tournament ever held outside the United States.

I've had the opportunity to get to know a few of the European players, as they've crossed the Atlantic to play in various tournaments in the United States, but this was the first time I got to see them in their own element - and what a difference it was.

The European poker community is so much smaller than that of the United States, but it also appears to be a much more close-knit group. Every, and I mean every, night of the tournament, the bar was full of poker players talking about the day's events, women, beer, fighting, whatever. Everybody had a great time, and everybody genuinely enjoyed their time with each other. It was so nice to see, but even nicer when they welcomed me to be a part of the group.

It's so important when traveling to feel comfortable in strange places, and the people on the Isle of Mann made that easy for me. What about the poker? Well, in Europe, you'll be hard-pressed to find a limit game. It's pot-limit Omaha first and foremost, pot-limit hold'em, and an occasional stud game, played both pot-limit and limit.

Many of the heavy hitters from around the world attended this event, which meant big-action side games. There are some major differences from the United States in the way Europeans play pot-limit and no-limit. One of the tendencies I noticed is that the Europeans bet the whole pot, or even overbet the pot in no-limit. They're sending out the message that if you'd like to draw out, you are going to have to pay full price.

This no-fear style makes them susceptible to getting trapped, of course, but the European way seems to be to "go out with a bang" and protect a hand at all costs. If they lose a tough hand, they lose a tough hand; they just move on to the next one. A style like that can be very effective in tournaments, especially. Since a tournament is decided over such a short period of time, these types of players may never find themselves in a situation in which they are trapped. Even when they do, they will go broke only if they don't outdraw their opponent and their opponent has them out-chipped. It's a very frustrating style to play against, but there definitely are ways to exploit it. The simplest way, obviously, is to slow-play big hands, but even then, there is no guarantee that they will hold up or that you'll get any action.

Our next stop is London, England. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really get a chance to play in London. I played in a town called Cardiff, where they film the television show Late Night Poker. There, I ran into some of the same people I saw on the Isle of Mann, but this group was much smaller, which made the experience even more fun.

Every night was party night. We'd go over to the studio to watch the heats - and have a few cocktails. We'd then bet on the outcome of each heat - and have a few cocktails. Once the heats were over, we'd head over to the hotel bar to … have a few more cocktails!

The people were very friendly, and all about having a good time.

Our last European stop is Vienna, Austria. This trip, too, was a lot of fun. The tournament concept that I traveled there to play is one that I love, and think would be extremely marketable to the viewing public. It was the first-ever World Heads-Up Poker Championship, at the Concord Casino. I was really looking forward to it, having flown thousands of miles for just this one event. I won my first match rather handily, and would face American Vince Oliver in my next match. I spent the entire day before our match with Vince, sightseeing, and so on. Basically, we did the touristy thing.

I really believed that I would beat Vince, but the day of the match, I kept feeling a knot in my stomach and thinking, what if I lose? That's a horrible mindset with which to enter a tournament, but that's where my head was, nonetheless.

After we started, I felt like I was in complete control and could slowly chop away at him. Then, with the chip lead, I ended up getting involved in a big pot with Vince that cost me the match. With a board of A-6-3-A and two spades, I raised Vince all in with A-8. Vince held A-9, and I was now short-stacked. There was obviously more to the hand than that, but this travel section was about Vienna, not my mental mistakes!

Now, let's take a seven-day Mexican Riviera cruise aboard the Elation to try to win a million dollars in the PartyPoker Million.

One of the strange things about all of the traveling I've done in my life is that it's all poker-related - this cruise included. Sure, having fun is always a priority, but this was also a shot at winning a million dollars. So, I "tried" to keep the pretournament partying to a minimum, but it's hard to do when there is so much to do on the funship!

I've actually been on that same cruise three times now, and would go again in a heartbeat. It stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas - all good places to develop a nice tan. By the time we hit the first port, I was already out of the tournament.

The tournament was broken down into two heats. Half the field played on Monday and the other half on Tuesday. My heat played on Tuesday. We started with seven tables in both heats, and would play down to approximately two tables in each. Well, I was down to two tables in my heat, but went out just before the cut that would have enabled me to come back to play on Friday.

Those who did qualify had three days to think about their strategy. The others had the rest of the week to think about what went wrong. A cruise to the Mexican Riviera isn't a bad place to do your sulking, as it'll quickly cheer you up. I've already booked my cabin for PartyPoker Million II, and so should you.

OK, are you ready for some more fun? Well, I know just the place. In the next issue, follow me to the rain forests of San Jose, Costa Rica. It's the last stop on this long journey, and my new favorite travel spot.