Wish you were here?

Here’s a maxim every poker tournament organiser would do well to remember: location, location, location.

Let’s face it, if you’re going to be spending a week playing, talking and thinking about poker 24/7 it’s best to do it somewhere sunny, hot and beautiful.

Welcome to Aruba – a tiny Caribbean island with a population that wouldn’t fill Old Trafford. It’s a honeymoon couple’s paradise, with sun-filled skies, metronomelike temperatures that never shift from a sultry 85F, and beaches and turquoise-coloured sea that would have even leather-skinned otter Judith Chalmers wishing you were here.

Well, I was here. And not just for the sun, sea and sangria. No, a few years ago some bright spark came up with the idea of holding a poker tournament on the picturesque former Dutch colony. So I set off, factor 40 in hand, for the 2006 UltimateBet Poker Classic.

Field of dreams

Now in its fifth year, and with past winners including Juha Helppi, Erick Lindgren and Freddy Deeb, the $5,200 buy-in event features a star-studded field, with the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke and Antonio Esfandiari battling it out for a share of the $3m prize pool, alongside the usual mix of internet qualifiers and rising poker stars. And this year, I would be playing too.

Was I shitting it? Yes. Did I win? Take an educated guess. But while I hardly troubled the poker world’s glitterati, I had a lot of fun along the way. The main tournament didn’t start until five days after landing giving me just enough time to soak up some rays, bust my ribs after coming off a banana boat, sink several caipirinhas, and dribble out some dollars in a few friendly sit-and-gos. Then, after shooting the breeze with Phil, Antonio and Annie it was time to get down to business, beginning with my participation in the UltimateBet Elimination Blackjack Tour Main Event.

My previous experience of this new take on Blackjack extended to a quick sit-and-go on the UltimateBet site earlier in the day, so I wasn’t expecting much. But as I gradually worked out the betting strategies, i.e. gamble the right amount to stay ahead of the smallest chip stack, I somehow managed to progress to the quarter finals, along with Devilfish, who took an age to make a decision and then just lumped it all-in as the short-stack on the last hand, and got lucky.

Then, without even trying, I managed to breeze through the quarters as the other players crippled themselves, only to get knocked out in the semis, just three eliminations from pocketing at least $3,600. But at least I got filmed for American TV. And anyway, the poker tournament began the next day.

Bad day at the office

Sadly, it wasn’t my day and after lasting more than five hours I was gone and the rest of the field breathed a collective sigh of relief. Hellmuth, Duke and Esfandiari all failed to make it past the first day too, but of the big names Joe Sebok (Barry Greenstein’s son) finished fifth, pocketing nearly $100,000.

At the final table, filmed outside by the pool in the scorching heat and under the TV lights, it was left to 40-yearold online sensation Cliff ‘Johnny Bax’ Josephy and 22-year-old Devon Miller to contest the heads-up after lasting three days and beating 511 other players. In the final hand, Miller – with a massive chip advantage – for just about the umpteenth time in the tournament flopped two-pair with 2♠-4♠ against an opponent’s drawing hand on a board of 4♣-7♣-2♣. Bax moved all-in holding 10♦-8♣, but failed to hit his flush and open-ended straight draw after a Six arrived on the turn to give him some extra outs. So Miller, who’d vowed to jump in the pool if he won, set off on a celebratory lap of honour and dived into the inviting water $744,960 richer.

And that’s the beauty of Aruba. It might not have the neon lights and glamour of the Las Vegas tourneys but it has the laid back cool and tropical location that has the punters coming back year after year. And I, for one, will be hoping for a return invitation…