On the morning of the 5th July six luxurious limousine’s pulled up outside the Palazzo and shuttled our team to the Rio. Once their they were walked up the red carpet to the famous Rio convention centre where they all took their shot at WSOP glory!
When most online poker sites award a package to the World Series of Poker the player walks away with a seat to a WSOP tournament, hotel accommodation and sometimes flights.
But Betfair Poker are not most online poker sites. When we award a package you not only get all of the above you get to actually experience Las Vegas too; and what an experience our qualifiers had this year.
Each of our Team Betfair players won their package through the WSOP Trials promotion that ran for several weeks in the run up to this year's WSOP. If you stripped the package down to the basics, each of the 59 Betfair qualifiers won aa seat in Event #59 (a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event), seven nights' accommodation at the 5-star Palazzo Hotel and $1,500 for travel expenses and spending money. But what was also included was a real Las vegas experience, something money cannot buy!
All the members of Team Betfair touched down on Nevada soil on Tuesday 3 July. Most were understandably tired after their long flights, plus 12 of them had chosen to play Day 1A on Wednesday 4 July so most treated themselves toa relatively early night! Of the 12 players who took part in Day 1A, Paul McCann, Rune Jacobson, Louis Zettelmeier and Petar Zografov managed to navigate their way through to Day 2.
That evening the players and their guests met up in the Laguna bar for the official meet and greet and despite plenty of the Laguna's famous champagne cocktails being consumed it most of the players headed back to their rooms for midnight, mainly due to the majority of them playing in the tournament of their lives the following day.
On the morning of the 5th July six luxurious limousine's pulled up outside the Palazzo and shuttled our team to the Rio. Once their they were walked up the red carpet to the famous Rio convention centre where they all took their shot at WSOP glory! The dream ended for a large number of them but many were able to rub shoulders with their heroes at the felt. For 12 of them the dream of winning an WSOP bracelet was still very alive and we were bust preparing press releases bragging about how awesome Betfair Poker players are!
Day 2 saw Team Betfair lose seven of its members before the money bubble burst but Louis Zettelmeier, Eli Heath, Rajesh Modha, Michael Ortner and Harald Olsen all made it through to the money places. These players finished as follows:
Michael Ortner: 214th place for $3,119
Eli Heath: 244th place for $2,703
Louis Zettelmeier: 299th place for $2,370
Rajesh Modha: 412th place for $1,830
You may notice that Harald Olsen's name is missing from that little list and that is because the Norwegian made it through to Day 3; although he only had four big blinds to his name. Although he did not hold much hope going into Day 3, he and the rest of the Team Betfair players had a great time relaxing in the Lagassie's stadium in the Palazzo where they dined to the Sirens of the Treasure Island show as they dined, played pool and had some great banter between each other.
The following day Olsen somehow managed to double up a couple of times before seeing his stack climb to an impressive 450,000 chips before disaster stuck. Our man got his chips into the middle preflop holding ace-king and found himself up against a dominated ace-ten but a ten on the board busted a very disappointed Olsen in 22nd place, but we are certain the $20,700 he picked up in prize money will help to soften the blow!
With no more poker being played, the Team Betfair players really let their hair down and enjoyed the sights and delights of the place they love to call Sin City. They were all treated to one of the best nights out on the Saturday night, a player party at Surrender night club; the most exclusive night spot in the whole of Nevada! Betfair players were treated to two exclusive bungalows in the VIP area, which entitled them to full table service with $1,000 bottles on ice - they really were treated like high rollers, though we could not do much about their headaches the following morning!
After recovering all day Sunday, we gathered the troops up on Monday for a last fling in the Vegas sun. The players were ferried out to a secluded beach on the shore of the beautiful Lake Mead where they were treated to a day of waters sports including jet skiing and as you can see in the video in this link, being dragged around the lake at high speed by a speed boat! The fun and frolics were split by one of the best BBQ dinners served on the beach before more fun on the waves ensued.
Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and this was certainly a good thing. All the Team Betfair players have gone home but gone home with amazing memories of the WSOP and Las Vegas and we hope to see them all, and more besides, at our exclusive parties at the next WSOP and at all our future events such as Betfair Poker LIVE!
We will leave it there with a wrap-up video shot by our faithful camera team on location with our wonderful players!
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