I recently returned from one of my more enjoyable poker road trips, in which I traveled to Monte Carlo, Monaco, to attend the
European Poker Tour (
EPT)
Championship. On my trip, not only did I play in the tournament, but I had the opportunity to spend several days traveling across the South of France with my good friend Chris Bjorin and his Swedish friend Simon.
The poker tournament was an absolute monster. More than 700 players either qualified online or paid the €10,000 (approximately $13,500) buy-in, creating a huge prize pool. Ultimately, the event was won by Gavin Griffin, a good guy and great young player who won a
World Series of Poker bracelet a couple of years ago at the age of 21. Amazingly, it seemed as if Gavin was one of the older players in this field! 18-year-olds were eligible for the event, and there was an abundance of them in attendance. They weren't exactly dead money, either. These kids can play! I am assuming that many of them have been playing on the Internet for years. As more and more of them turn 21, it will keep getting tougher to win poker tournaments in the U.S.
I was quite impressed with the work of John Duthie,
EPT organizer, and his staff. The event ran smoothly, which was no easy task given that the Monte Carlo Bay Resort does not have a poker room on a regular basis. Everything had to be set up and organized from scratch, and the event went off without a hitch. Also, the tournament was conducted in a resortlike atmosphere, such that everyone seemed to be having a good time. Although it's a long trip from the States, I would highly recommend this tournament to anyone with some extra time (and cash) on their hands.
As for my results, I was eliminated well short of the money (the final 54 players). I made it through the first day of play in decent shape, but lost nearly all of my chips on day two when my pocket kings were cracked in a large pot. Following an opponent's raise, I made a large reraise (larger than I normally would with K-K in this spot). He called, and the flop came A-A-X. He won the pot with A-J, and I paid it off. After playing with this opponent for a few hours, I had already decided that I wasn't laying down my kings, as I had observed him overplaying hands on several occasions. In fact, my large reraise preflop was designed to build a big enough pot so that I wouldn't be deterred by a scary board. Well, I wasn't deterred from calling, and he got my chips.
Chris Bjorin earned the dubious honor of being the "bubble boy" in the event, finishing 55th. His bust-out hand now has a place permanently etched in my mind, after spending the following week traversing France in a car with him. He began the hand with nearly 100,000 in chips, which was not a short stack, by any means. He raised from late position with the A
J
, and was called by the big blind, who had around 150,000. The flop came 9-6-5 with two clubs. The big blind made a weakish lead at the pot, and Chris moved all in with his two overcards and nut-flush draw. The big blind called with 4-4. The turn and river blanked out, and Chris suddenly had 54 new friends.
We discussed this hand quite a bit throughout the week on the road. Initially, it seemed to us as though Chris had played his hand fine, and that his opponent had made an impossible call with his 4-4 (Chris was still a favorite to win the pot on the flop). However, we also discussed the possibility of just calling on the flop. In all likelihood, the rest of the hand gets checked down, and Chris is still left with a decent stack (and almost certainly would get at least €13,000 back for his efforts). Perhaps given the one-out-of-the-money situation, this hand should play out differently than it normally would.
Despite Chris' disappointing finish in the
EPT final, he has quite a tournament record the past couple of years. He has won or finished second in the big senior no-limit hold'em events three times, and I believe that he has played in only five or six of them. Additionally, Chris is one of the true gentlemen in poker, and I was honored to accompany him and his friend Simon on the trip across France. Here are a few of the highlights:
Dress code. Prior to the trip, I asked Chris what the dress was like in Monte Carlo and in France. He replied that I probably should pack slacks, dress shirts, and sport coats. So, I left my beloved jeans at home. However, when I got to Monaco, I saw denim everywhere! That got me thinking that I have never actually seen Chris wearing anything other than slacks, a dress shirt, and a sport coat.
Food! One of our highlights for the week was the opportunity to dine in many of southern France's best restaurants. Chris and Simon had travel guides listing the best places, and we sought them out. Most of the food was gourmet, and I loved nearly everything I tried, although I think I'll pass on the pureed sea urchin next trip.
Perhaps my favorite dish of the week was a mushroom soup made with several different types of mushrooms, including morels. Apparently, morels are deadly poisonous until they are boiled twice! I'd like to know which group of geniuses discovered that. This soup was among the dishes at chef Michel Girard's restaurant near Bordeaux. Chris informed me that to true food connoisseurs, this restaurant is arguably the best in the world, although it wasn't even one of my favorites for the week.
A detour to the surreal. Some of our destinations for the week were in fairly remote locales. This meant that much of our driving occurred off the main highways, on two-lane roads passing through endless farmland and vineyards, and through small villages with thousand-year-old buildings still functioning. It was on one such side trip that Simon noticed a sign pointing to a foie gras farm, and he wanted to check it out (foie gras is the controversial delicacy of duck or goose liver; it's controversial because the animals are force-fed to create the "perfect liver" for the dish). So, we took a turn off the winding two-lane road that we had been following, onto an even smaller road.
After a few kilometers, we saw another sign instructing us to take a right. I started to turn, but then noticed that this new road was not a road at all; rather, it was a long, grassy, muddy driveway that curved out of sight behind a small hill to the right. Recent rain had left some rather large puddles in the grass, and I wasn't sure our rented Alfa Romeo was up to the task. We decided to continue on the main road for a bit to look for another spot to turn. Finding no alternatives, we ultimately decided to give it a go. File us away with the morel mushroom testers.
Soon, the car began to struggle and spin out. The driveway was narrow, with a ditch on either side, so turning around was not an option, nor was backing out up the hill. We made it to the bend in the driveway, but things went from bad to worse. There was still nowhere to turn around, and the driveway seemed to continue for some distance ahead. And, it got muddier. We continued for a bit, and then the car finally got stuck. Chris and Simon got out, lightening the load, and I got it going again, although my efforts resulted in Chris getting doused with mud. I drove on ahead to look for a suitable spot to turn around, hoping that the foie gras farm would suddenly materialize. But, the driveway seemed to dead-end up ahead in the distance. I finally found a slightly drier area, and managed to turn the car around through a complex series of funky y and w turns.
As I drove back, though, I hit a muddy patch resembling quicksand, and the car was embedded for good. We stood outside the vehicle for a few minutes in the light drizzle, laughing at the absurdity of the situation we were in, and not having any idea when or if help may arrive.
Fortunately, this story had a happy resolution. Shortly thereafter, a non-English-speaking farmer and his son noticed us from their neighboring farm, and brought a heavy truck with the power to tow us out. We went to their farm, where they power washed our car, which was now caked in mud from trying to get unstuck. The farmers accepted no cash for helping us, but they did allow us to buy some of their homemade Armagnac (an after-dinner drink similar to cognac), which had been sitting in barrels in their barn since the early 1970s.
Customs. After the long trans-Atlantic flight, I had to clear U.S. customs in Denver. I was a bit concerned about this, as my connection to Vegas was tight, and I was carrying more than the magic number of $10,000 with me, meaning I would have to declare it and possibly face some delays. When I met with the stone-faced customs agent, he asked me curtly, "What is the reason for carrying such an abundance of currency?" I replied that I was returning from a poker tournament in Monte Carlo. The agent immediately broke into a grin, and informed me that he played poker, too. Instantly, I knew that customs wouldn't be a problem, although I nearly missed my connection from listening to his bad-beat stories.
Mark Gregorich has played poker professionally in Las Vegas since 1995. He is regarded as one of the top Omaha eight-or-better players in the world, and contributed to that section in Doyle Brunson's Super System II. Mark is primarily a cash-game player, but occasionally tosses some dead money into the prize pools of major tournaments.
