Barcelona

I arrived in Barcelona after working the past two weeks in Amsterdam. I have talked about this new project I am working on a few times, and unfortunately, I can still not give out too many details. But, I can tell you I have put in many 10 hour days in Amsterdam working as hard as I can to make it really special. I also got to spend a lot of time with one of my best friends Noeh Boeken and his crew.

I really enjoyed Amsterdam, and got lucky that the weather was so nice. It was around 80 degrees everyday and I took advantage of it, playing a ton of tennis while I was there. I have to give a special thanks to Melle Van Gemerden who kicked my butt on the tennis court a few times. He is recovering from an injury, and when he gets back on tour, watch out for him to have some great results.

The only major problem I found in Amsterdam, was the lack of golf courses. My financial and legal manager Tommi, came to visit, and we headed out to a nearby course. It would be an understatement to say that the fairways at Shadow Creek were a lot nicer then this courses greens. I did visit a driving range a few times, but they only had mats to hit off of, and I really prefer practicing on grass. My good buddy Mikko has been hitting on the indoor mats in Finland the past few months, and thinks he can beat Tiger Woods. I cannot wait until he arrives in Barcelona and realizes golf is played on grass and not mats.

The plan in Barcelona is to play a lot of tennis and golf in preparation of a summer full of tennis and golf bets. Gus and I are playing very soon, so it is important to be in tip top tennis shape. My golf game is a little rusty from not playing much in Amsterdam, so I am sure my friends who are arriving soon are going to try and bust me the first few days.

I am trying to decide if I am going to play the WPT Spanish Championships or the big $25,000 Heads Up online tournament the same time. I keep saying that I am ready to have some good results in tournaments, and hopefully I can get the momentum started heading into the WSOP. I am going to be fresh and ready for an exciting June and July at the RIO, and hopefully do well in the big games in Bobby's Room as well.

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel

I was hoping to break the news myself, but Daniel spoiled it for me. I would like all my loyal readers to know, that I have given up poker and joining the PGA Tour full time, starting this weekend at the Wachovia Championship. Most people find it amazing that I only picked up a golf club for the first time a few months ago and just broke the course record at Shadow Creek shattering Tiger Woods 63, with a 59 of my own.

What Daniel fails to mention in his blog, is that it was the first time I have ever broke 90, and more importantly, it was me reaching into my pockets and paying Daniel in the clubhouse. He beat me for a large sum of money and he is talking like I am the next Tiger Woods. All that aside, I had a lot of fun playing with Daniel and Erik Lindgren. Daniel is not going to win any long drive competitions, but his ball never sniffs the rough and he can putt lights out.

I am currently in Amsterdam working very hard on an exciting project that will hopefully launch in a few weeks. I will blog all about it in the next few weeks and cannot wait to share the news. I am going to be here for a few days and then off to Barcelona for a few weeks of rest, golf, and relaxation. A few friends are also coming into town and we are going to have a lot of fun gambling on the golf course and probably some all night Chinese games. The real purpose of the trip is to refresh and go into the WSOP ready to grind long tournament hours and win a bracelet.

I am committed to playing more tournaments at this years WSOP, too be honest, I am a little frustrated with my tournament play as of late, and want to start making some final tables and make things happen.

The night before flying to Amsterdam, I played at the Bellagio in the Big Game with Doyle, Phil Ivey, Tom "Durr" Dwan, and David Benyamine. I give Tom a lot of credit for playing some mixed games at stakes that high. The game broke after two hours, but I still booked a very nice win. I headed home and got ready for the flight.

One of my best poker friends Noah Boeken is my tour guide for the week, so naturally it will be a fun few days. Will write soon when I get to Barcelona, and my favorite Hotel in the word, Hotel Arts.

Doyle, Poker after Dark, and more Prop Bets

I was enjoying my first few days back in Vegas when all of a sudden I received a ton of phone calls and emails all asking me about a golf match with Doyle Brunson. I had no idea what they were talking about until I read Doyle's blog, and saw he challenged me to a $100,000 per hole golf match. First of all, when the hell did Doyle Brunson start writing a blog, is it even legal for a man that old to blog? Pretty amazing for a guy that was around before TV's and telephones. And second, what is the gambling world coming to when a 108 year old man can challenge a young man in the prime of his life to a $100,000 a hole golf match.

Now you have to remember I took up golf only a few months ago. I am very happy if I can break 100 when I play 18 holes. Doyle on the other hand, is rumored to have hustled the likes of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and other legends at Shadow Creek since the early 20's.

I would like Doyle to know that I accept his challenge (not that I had much of a choice, I would be the laughing stock of the poker world if I backed down from this challenge) and if I have until August to practice and improve, hopefully I can make a big dent in Todd's inheritance. Seeing Todd cringe when I win millions is going to be worth just as much as the money.

Doyle and I met this past Wednesday to discuss our upcoming heads up poker match before we played on Poker After Dark that evening. In the three years I have known Doyle, I have never seen him looking more alive and with so much energy and focus. Most likely due to the fact that he thinks he has finally found the ultimate fish who is going to donate millions on the golf course and poker table.

I am going to play some tennis in the morning and then hit the putting and chipping greens to work on my short game. The WPT Bellagio starts for me Sunday and you can bet that I will bring my best game and fight hard for every chip.

Should have gone to sleep

That is what I was asking myself as I left the casino and headed home yesterday after the completion of Day 1. I had a crazy up and down day yesterday at the EPT Grand Final here in Monaco. I was down to 3700 early in level 2 from the starting stack of 15,000. And then things started to turn around and I went on a nice rush and built my stack to around 70,000.

We had played for almost twelve hours and I was in great position to put myself in contention to be a major threat, buy I got a little frisky preflop with 22 and lost a huge pot to KK. For some reason I decided that my opponent did not have a big hand, and my pocket deuces were the best hand at the moment. I did not want to call preflop, so I decided to make a over raise and commit myself. He pushed all in and I was in trouble against KK. My deuces could not crack his kings and I lost a ton of chips. I was not too happy with myself at the end of the day and going to try my best to recover on Day 2.

I start day 2 tomorrow with 15,000 in chips, thankfully the structure is very good and I still have a little time to make things happen. We are going to start the day with blinds of 200-400 and 50 ante.

I spent the day off today going up to the mountains to hit some golf balls on the range. I had a Swedish camera crew following me around for interviews and pictures for an upcoming article in a Swedish poker magazine.

I have a few new prop bets that I will write about in my next blog, but here is a quick look into what I have going on this summer. It is going to be a super busy June and July with all these bets and the WSOP events. I am planning on playing a few more events this year.

Heads Up Poker match vs the legend Doyle Brunson (I have been working non stop on my pineapple game Doyle, so you better watch out)

Tennis / Golf bet for $100,000 with Brandon Adams

Tennis match vs Gus Hansen for $200,000

Golf team match with my assistant vs two Finnish pros for $200,000

Heads Up Stud 8 or Better match / Golf match with Daniel Negreanu for $500,000

The family is doing great, everyone is starting to feel like Monaco is home. It felt like a vacation for everyone the first few weeks, but we have finally settled. Mila is getting so big, fast, and smart it is amazing. She is the most curious little girl and tries to get her hands on anything she can get a hold of. Maya and I cannot take our eyes off her for a second, if we are not paying close attention, she finds trouble wherever she can.

The weather has not been very good the past week and I have not been able to play tennis or golf, hopefully the sun comes out before I leave so I can get some practice. The match with Gus is finally going to happen, so I need my game to be in tip top shape so I can have the Bobby's Rooms tennis bragging rights.

As soon as the EPT finished I will be flying to Las Vegas for a taping of Poker After Dark and to play in the $25,000 WPT Bellagio Event. This is one of my favorite events and the large prize pool makes it a great tournament. I have had some deep runs the past few years in this event, and I feel if I play well and remember that 2's do not beat Kings, I might have a chance to make something special happen in Vegas.

I have found a new interest in tournaments, so going to really focus tomorrow and try to double up early. Wish me luck and I will keep you posted on how the day goes soon.

-Patrik-

Tournament Schedule

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Mine did not go as smoothly as planned, but everything is fine now. I went on a last minute vacation to the Canary Islands to spend a few days with my good friends Jani and Mikko. We are staying at a beuatiful five star hotel, but my first room had no Internet, they moved me and now I am set. We all have been working extra hard on our golf games because we are so competitive with each other. The trash talking has been non stop and the way Mikko is talking, he is ready to take on Tiger Woods.

I have started to host some Bounty tournaments on Martins Poker. All the information is available on Martins Poker, click the link for all the details. The tournaments are €5 + €1 buy in with rebuys for the first 4 levels. If you knock me out, you receive €200 immediately into your account.

Here are the dates I will be playing:

Tuesday: March 25 at 20:00CET
Thursday: March 27 at 20:00CET

I look forward to seeing you all at the tables and good luck, your going to need it.

Exciting News

I just returned from a small little golf vacation with my good Finnish buddies Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Jani Vilmunen, and my accountant Tommi Majala at the beautiful Four Seasons in Nice, France. It was a great trip and my golf game took a big jump. I am now shooting from 92-96 consistently which is a lot more fun then shooting 114 like I was doing a few weeks ago.

While were on the way to the airport we were enjoying a few drinks and it was not long before we were in a heated debate over who was was the best at all the different games. Jani is not a big guy, and he was working on his third beer. Three beers for Jani is about nine beers for the average guy, so you can imagine that he is really feeling good and his confidence level is at an all time high. He was bragging about how he has not had a losing heads up PLO session in a long time. Ilari who also had about three beers was sober as could be and knew that it was the perfect time to challenge Jani to a match of some sort. I joined in the negotiations and we were trying to come up with some interesting HU battles for a large amount of money. We decided to call one of the most successful HU no limit players, our friend Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelpuro to see if he would be interested in gambling with his buddies. Sami is only 23 but he has established himself as an online legend and has a hard time finding opponents that will play him. The boys flew back to Finland that night and met Sami at the night club and got him to agree on a bet. It is going to be a team HU match, Ilari and myself vs Jani and Sami.

All matches will be played on Martins Poker with 200BB stacks.

I will play LarzLuzak in NL HU and Ilari will play Jani in HU PLO.

If one team wins both matches, then they are crowned Champions. If it is a split, then I will play Sami in a final tie breaker, the final match will be NL to decide the Champion.

Just when you thought that was an interesting heads up match, there is another one that is in the works that would be a dream come true. I made a little challenge to Doyle in the latest Card Player magazine, and it seems like Doyle has gladly accepted.

Since I am in Europe I have not yet seen the cover or read the article. It is my first ever CardPlayer cover and I am excited to see it. My new agent Chris is working on getting the match on TV. I will try and talk to Doyle and iron out the details. No matter who wins, it will be an amazing experience playing Doyle, one of the great legends of all time, heads up for over a million dollars. I am getting excited just thinking about it.

I have been playing a lot online the past few days on Martins Poker. I have been running really well in NL, but Ilari has been getting the best of me in PLO the past few days. I have been playing 50-100 to 200-400 Euros games.

Starting this Friday I will be playing in a few Bounty tournament on Martins Poker. The entry fee will be $5 Euros and the bounty on my head is $200 Euros. You can download Martins Poker by clicking on that link, unfortunately USA residents are not allowed to play on Martins Poker currently, hopefully that changes soon.

Maya has been putting some finishing touches on the loft and it really finally feels like home. I am still waiting on my computer chair to arrive, I have been playing online sitting on the kitchen chairs and it is not very comfortable.

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I bought a new car last time I was in Monaco. It has been awhile since I bought myself something really nice, so I decided to go big time and get the newest Range Rover, the SE Vogue. I sparred no expense and got all the top accessories and extras, needless to say, Mila will be having fun in the backseat with all the TV's and other gadgets.

I write soon with more details about the bounty tournaments on Martins Poker. And hopefully I have news about the match with Doyle as well. I am going to try and play a little tennis this afternoon or hit the gym. Hopefully I will see some of you on Martins Poker battling with me in the upcoming tournaments.

Good luck at the tables
-Patrik-

Back Home

I was visiting Vegas for a few days to play in the NBC Heads up and have a few meetings. I played the NBC Heads Up tournament this past weekend, and unfortunately I did not last too long. I was up against poker commentator Gabe Kaplan in the first round anhd started off well and built a nice chip lead. The levels are not long, and was forced to push the action faster than I would have liked. When I had a slight lead, we got it all in before the flop and I had JT and he had AJ. The flop was a good one for me, 89K, but I did not hit any of my outs and we were close to even. The blinds were 600-1200 when I looked down at 22 and pushed all in from the button and Gabe called with A5 with the 5 of diamonds, and the flop came A K Q all diamonds.

I had a great meeting on the golf course yesterday which could lead to a lot of interesting deals for me. I wish I could give you all the fun details, but you will have to wait a few weeks before I can public ally announce them. We discussed one interesting golf bet involving a few friends and it looks like it might even be on TV, which would be a lot of fun.

It is nice to be home in Monaco, it really feels like home now, because Maya and Mila are here, but the first few days have been rough for them, because they are struggling with the jetlag. Naturally, with all the travels I have been through, I do not feel any jetlag.

It was an adventurous trip from Las Vegas. We took a Southwest flight from LV to LAX, and naturally one of my bags did not make it. Thankfully my assistant made the flight with us to LA in case of a situation like this. He waited for the next flight from Vegas to arrive and rushed the bag across two terminals to us while we checked in for our American Airlines flight to London. Mila is a pro traveler, she has flown around the world a few times now and sits quietly and enjoys the flight.

I will be playing a lot of golf and tennis the next few days and have a big golf match with my buddy Jani in a a week or so. We are playing 18 holes for $100,000 and he has to beat me by 15 shots. We are playing from the club tees at the Four Seasons golf resort in the south of France. I think I have an edge and hopefully I can pull it out. I want to thank my favorite caddie and golf coach Joe, who has helped my game a ton the past few weeks.

I will be in Monaco for about six weeks before heading back to Vegas for Poker after Dark and the WPT Championships in the middle of April. Hopefully I can get a little action online in the meantime and make some money.

-Patrik-