Mike Matusow and I left Vegas on the 10th to fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I have been to Aruba, Bahamas, and Canada. Other than that I’ve really never left America. I wouldn’t consider those trips “international” since they are all pretty close and somewhat Americanized. I look at this trip to Brazil as being different. Which it has been so far.
It started off flying first class from Vegas to Houston. The flight was only a couple hours, but it was definitely more comfortable. Typically for me, first class flying is sitting in an exit row lol. I’ve never flown overnight or been in an airplane an unbearable amount of time in which I thought I would have to fly first class. Once we got to Houston, Mike took me into the gold lounge of our airline. I always saw people go into those places and never thought much of it. I was wrong haha. It was a four story room. Complete with internet, desks, sofas, couches, showers, food, and a bar. I was impressed. This was a place I see in every airport and I’ve always looked past it, maybe even looked down upon it, but I see the luxury behind it now for people who are always traveling.
The flight from Houston to Sao Paulo was not bad at all. Mike and I sat next to each other. Our motorized seats reclined backwards far enough to actually lie down. The leg rest portion of our chair also moved up, providing a nice reclining chair to fall asleep in. Each person had their own personal television that came up through the middle console which played 15 different movies. We were also served breakfast and dinner. Both of which were delicious. It was an experience and we were treated in relation to how much was paid for the tickets.
I’ve met a lot of great people since arriving in Brazil. Leo Bello (FTP pro and has written the most popular poker books in Brazil) picked us up from the airport. The traffic in Sao Paulo is ridiculous. I believe it is the second most populous city in North and South America. We finally made our way to the middle of the city and into our hotel. It took a while, but I like seeing how different countries are and experiencing what they experience. We met some more Full Tilt people at the hotel, all of whom are awesome. These guys have taken complete care of us and I’m sure my Brazil experience wouldn’t be the same without them. For that I thank them.
That night I visited the H2 poker club. I was really impressed once again.
These are some pictures from the H2 poker club. It’s incredible what they are doing. I don’t want to talk too much about the poker. I have something else planned for all of that… So I will just leave you with the pictures of the club I took. There is way more to see then the few pictures I snapped.
After playing a little poker we went out for a couple hours and experienced some Brazilian night life. Like I talked about earlier, a lot of people have shown us a great time. After getting some sleep, we had a party to attend in Guarjura, which is about two hours away from Sao Paulo on the beach. I just found an article on the party here… From the Super Poker website.
The party was for Poker Villa. It is basically a house full of up and coming poker players. They are being taught how to play poker by some of the best. I met some great online and live Brazilian/South American poker players. I’ve either played with them for years or seen them around. There are too many to name right now but I will be sure to throw some names out in the last trip report. The house was gorgeous and right on the beach. Check out the link above.
Today I played in the $700 BSOP Main Event. The BSOP is the Brazilian Series of Poker. The tournament might have been the best run tournament I’ve ever been a part of. They did everything right. The venue was great, the service, the floor, everything! They don’t have casinos here so pulling off what they did is pretty amazing in my eyes. If it wasn’t so late I would rant and talk even more about it. Great job with the BSOP to everyone involved. I busted later in the night losing AJcc vs 88. I didn’t get much going throughout the tournament. I even had to fold bottom set and was shown middle set (although it was an easy spot.) Tomorrow is the PLO event and then there is a $2k high rollers I will play too.
If you can’t tell, I love Brazil. Part of it is because of the people I have met. They have embraced me and shown me around. Everyone has been really hospitable. I hope I can repay them one day when they visit Vegas or Florida. I have so much more to say but I am going to head to bed.. There’s a lot more I will talk about in the future. Goodnight.
Goto http://www.mebeliska.com If you want to watch live or read coverage.
Also this is part of an interview I did with pokernews.com on Wednesday during the Deepstacks360 online camp I did. DeepStacks Interview
Man there is so much going on… LIFE IS GOOD! Learn to appreciate everything.
