The Miami Dolphins and the SHRPO $10 Million Guarantee

I love Miami. Well to be honest, I love the Miami Dolphins. They’ve been my favorite team since I was a kid despite only being to their home city just one, that is until I decided to cave in to the hype, jump on the bandwagon and book a ticket for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $10 Million Guarantee (SHRPO). It seemed the entire poker world was heading down to South Florida, and since I didn’t have to work, I thought it’d be a good chance to go down, hang with my friends and even play a little bit.

The plan was to try my hand at a couple of $575 satellites and hope to qualify for the $5,000 buy-in Main Event. I arrived on Thursday, August 22 just in time to catch the 2 p.m. satellite, and after dropping my bags off at the bell desk, I promptly registered. This particular satellite was held in the main poker room, which was across the property from SHRPO, so I began to make the long trek across the casino floor. A minute later I passed a well-known poker pro and something remarkable happened—I “qualified” for the Main Event!

To respect his privacy, I’ll keep the name of this pro confidential, but suffice it to say I’ve known him for a few years and we’ve always gotten along splendidly. Our paths hadn’t crossed in awhile, so we exchanged pleasantries before he asked if I was there to work. I informed him that I was there to play a bit and was going to attempt to qualify for the Main Event.

“You want me to put you in?” he asked nonchalantly while simultaneously leaving me flabbergasted. That’s a lot of money and I was honored he had enough faith in my to offer—I guess winning a bracelet has certain benefits. Anyway, I said let’s wait and see how I do in the satellite, which I promptly busted, and then took him up on his gracious offer. I was in the game.

I played Day 1b of the Main Event and I was excited to go despite having only one bullet to fire (you can read more about that in my recent piece on learn.pokernews.com). Aside from this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, the SHRPO was the largest buy-in tournament I’d played, and given the smaller field size, I knew I’d get the chance to play with some fairly big names.

The biggest ended up being David “Doc” Sands, who I was pleased to learn doesn’t take as long to act as his reputation suggests. Sands and I didn’t get involved in any big pots against one another, and he eventually busted (he re-entered several times and ended up making a deep run). On the other hand, I had trouble getting anything going. We started with 30,000 and I did nothing but dwindle early on. I dropped to 8,000, worked it up to 40,000 and then ended up busting to Sam Soverel in the penultimate level of the night. Soverel was the bane of my tournament beating me over and over again (every time I had a good hand he had one a little bit better). It was frustrating but fitting that he was the one to finish me off.

I was extremely disappointed to bust, but alas that is poker. The toughest part is breaking the news to your backer, though he appeared to take it well. Whether or not he was being sincere I don’t know, but either way I was sure to let him know how much the opportunity meant to me. Even though I didn’t do much, I still got to play in one of the year’s biggest tournaments alongside the game’s best. Truly a great experience.

My bust-out disappointment disappeared on Saturday when I had the opportunity to attend the Miami Dolphins game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Granted, it was a meaningless preseason game, but I was still ecstatic to check out the Fins’ stadium, something I hadn’t done in the better part of a decade and only once at that. What’s more, my friend Garry Gates, who is a VIP host of sorts for PokerStars, won a contest on Twitter that gave us seats in a suite and a tour of the stadium.

Along with PokerNews Editor in Chief Donnie Peters and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Allen Bari, the four of us arrived at Sun Life Stadium to do a little pregaming. Beers, rum and a football got us off to a good start, and it only got better as free food was part of our reward experience. The best part for me was getting the chance to go down on the field during pregame workouts. What an experience to be on the ground looking up at the stadium—a surreal perspective.

Needless to say, I’m pumped for the upcoming season. Have a look at some of the pictures I snapped at the game.

The boys and I meet Dan Marino!

I was very excited to be at the Dolphins home turf!

A view from the field.

A view from the suite.

Ice cream break!

Miami was great and the SHRPO was a great tournament. I expect I will be down there again in the near future. In the meantime, I am off to Barcelona for the start of the European Poker Tour Season 10.

Before I sign off, a very special thanks to Mickey Doft for letting me crash in his room all week. I understand as well as anyone that it’s a big sacrifice to open up your room after working 14 hours a day, and I greatly appreciate his kindness.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway for more poker articles, stories and musings from the tournament trail.

My Trip to Ireland and Upcoming Poker Plans

After detoxing at home for a few weeks from the 2013 World Series of Poker, I had to jet off to my next assignment—the Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival in Ireland. This was my first time to that country and the first time I’d traveled to a foreign country without another PokerNews colleague from the States (though there are plenty of Irish and UK team members here… I guess I’m the one with the accent). Ireland has always been toward the top of my list of places to visit, and it feels amazing to be writing from the Harbor Hotel in Galway, which is on the west coast of the country.

The flight over here was amazing considering I had a whole row in Economy Plus to myself. First time I’ve ever been able to laydown on a flight and it felt good. Three movies (Broken City, Side Effects and Mud) made the time fly. After landing, I had a one-hour car ride through the countryside. I’ve never seen so many horses, sheep and stone walls in my life. Seriously, where do they get all those stones? I also appreciate how they build into the countryside as opposed to the U.S. strategy of bulldozing everything and building on the ruins.

The FTP Galway Festival venue is pretty sick. Imagine two giant beer tents next to each other—one for the poker action and the other a great big lounge. It’s a nice change from the usual casino floors and convention centers. I actually had some time to play, which is a rare occurrence when I travel. The first night I jumped into Event #41 €110 Triathlon NLHE. Unfortunately I couldn’t get anything going and was one of the first people out. Still, it’s cool to be able to say that I’ve played in Ireland.

Fast forward through five days of non-stop work and you’ll get to the FTP UKIPT Galway Party, which turned out to be an unexpected treat packed into 90 minutes. After working a full day, I decided to drop off my stuff and “make an appearance” at the party. I always drink spirits, but the open bar didn’t include that, so “when in Rome”… I ordered a pint of Guinness. By my second round, I had talked my photographer friend Danny Maxwell, who is an Irishman, into taking pictures of me with Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Gus Hansen.

Blom was first. I had heard the Swede enjoyed his liquor, and apparently that was true because when I nonchalantly asked him for a picture he noticed my full pint and promptly challenged me to a drinking contest. He had just received a full vodka and Red Bull, you see, and despite his attempts for me to give him a head start—his may have been a little fuller but mine was a thicker brew was my argument—we decided to see who could finish there’s first. I’ll just say that I’m born and raised in Wisconsin, and if it’s one thing we know how to do it is drink. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Blom challenges me and mixes his drink. He wanted a head start because he had a little more. I argued mine was a thicker brew. He asked to trade drinks. I said I would. He then backed out and stuck with his vodka Red Bull.

Cheers!

Drinking contest with VIktor "Isildur1" Blom in Ireland.

Bottoms up!

Kicked his ass. Not even close. I'm from Wisconsin, bitch!

Not long after I managed to get a picture with Hansen (who had denied me an interview earlier in the day). I’m afraid my story concerning that wasn’t nearly as interesting; in fact, it wasn’t interesting at all. Despite that, here is the pic:

Gus Hansen and I.

On the 22nd of this month, I will be headed to South Florida for the $10-million guarantee at the Seminole Hard Rock. I’m actually going to this event not to live report, but to play. I don’t know if I’ll play the $5,000 buy-in Main Event yet as that price is a little steep for me, but I will be playing a couple of $500 satellites. Other than that I will play some smaller buy-in events, do so pieces for PokerNews from the hyped event and spend some time with my South Florida friends (Mickey Doft, Garry Gates, Jason Mercier, Sam Cohen, Tristan Wade, etc.). I’m also hoping a trip to the watch the Miami Dolphins in preseason action against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is in order.

I’ll be sure to do a post about that adventure as well as one for Barcelona, which I’ll be headed to straight from Miami to cover the European Poker Tour for the second year in a row. If you’d have told me a few years ago I’d be going to Barcelona twice in one year, well I’d have thought you crazy.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway for more poker articles, stories and musings from the tournament trail.