Laura Cornelius
Life on the Road
EPT Campione Travel Diary
I had been to Lake Como once a few years back and was absolutely mesmerized by it, so to find out Campione was close by and a similar setting to Como (perched on the shore of Lake Lugano) excited me very much. It really did not disappoint either. I met Mantyvdas, my Lithuanian cameraman at the airport in Milan and from there we took an hour cab to Campione, through winding roads and picturesque scenery. One moment we were in Italy and then the next, we found ourselves in Switzerland. I was confused at first with what country we were actually in and what language we should speak, but after a little investigation work, it became clear Campione, although in Switzerland was an Italian territory and was definitely much more Italian than Swiss. Thank god, I thought as my preference for Italian food was way higher than Swiss. Yep, I’m always thinking about food. A view of the lake:
I woke early the next morning as the sun streamed through the curtains. As I pulled them back I stood in awe of the beautiful view of Lake Lugano from my window. It was absolutely breathtaking and I couldn’t wait to get out and explore. A little more investigation work down the line and I discovered that actually 68% of the lake was in Switzerland, while the remainder in Italy. That could only express the immensity of this stretch of water. Little sailing boats glided peacefully along and a few older people were spotted out walking their canine pooches, though it was surprisingly quiet out and about. It was such a tranquil setting though, quiet and peaceful was just as it should have been. Luckily we took our video camera:
It was decided that EPT Campione would have 2pm starts, instead of our usual 12pm, which suited me down to the ground (and more than likely the players as they are never of the variety to rise early!) I had brought my tennis racket with me as I had just started to pick up the hobby from years back, so one morning it was great to get out and play before the tournament started and the clay courts were literally right next to the lake. I had never played with such beautiful scenery next to me. Needless to say I didn’t win, but I picked up some great tan! The weather was sublime every day and I do bring a little golden glimmer back to London town. One tip I must offer though, if you are thinking of making it out to Campione in the future, try not to ever get a taxi, they are the most expensive taxis probably in the world! There is a little bus that goes back and forth from Capione to Lake Lugano which costs a few euros and it is much more economical!
As always many Team PokerStars Pros joined us for this Italian leg of the tour, the majority taking part of Day 1b. As we were approaching the end of Season 8 too the race for points for EPT Player of the Year was also hotting up, with just a few hundred points separating Czech player Ondrej Vinklarek and the notorious welshman Roberto Romanello. I took to the tournament floor to find out who our pros thought should be EPT Player of the Year and the majority said Steve O'Dwyer who is currently in 3rd place, but we'll have to wait until the end of Season 8 to find out who wins.
By Day 4, no Team PokerStars Pros remained, Liv Boeree having made it the furthest with a 51st place finish and cash for €9,000. Yet still we had an interesting field of players with a lot of playing experience including the likes of Fabrice Soulier, Per Linde and David Vamplew. We had all just escaped our hangovers by this time too as the EPT Players party was on the evening of Day 2 and on a boat. Yes! A boat! This is the view of the casino once the boat set sail (or turned the engine on).
As the final table emerged it became clear we had a great line up with a lot of experience and all players from different countries, which was interesting really seeing as 42% of the field were Italian. The final table was no breeze and 4 handed play seemed to last a lifetime as the big stack went to the short stack and then kept doubling up. It was not until 4am that the end was nigh and Jannick Wrang became the third consecutive Dane to win an EPT. Mickey Petersen took down EPT Copenhagen; Frederik Jensen had Madrid under his belt and now Wrang had Campione in the bag. He was extremely happy to have beaten American pro Olivier Busquet heads-up, for Busquet had the reputation as one of the best heads-up players in the world. Wrang had also qualified online on pokerstars.com in a €109 rebuy satellite, claiming his €640,000 first place win had initially only cost him €309. Not a bad profit! Here is Jannick Wrang shortly after winning:
Just around 2 weeks back at home in London, time to un-pack the bags, put the washing on, catch up with some car-crash telly, see my friends and then its back on the road to Berlin for a 3 week trip covering back to back EPTs for the end of the season. Bring. It. On.
Barcelona: Pickpockets, Paella and Being 15!
So, we made it to Barcelona and to Day 4 of the Main Event. I wasn't sure we'd get there at one point, but after Days 1a and b, suddenly this huge tournament started flowing fluidly and now the end is nearly upon us. Barcelona is such a fantastic city, so vibrant and alive, I just wish I had a little longer to soak up the atmosphere and dance my socks off at a crazy all-night party, because I'm sure there's many of them lurking in dark mysterious corners all around the city.
So, although I have been to Spain numerous times in my life, I had only been to Barcelona once before. I was 15 on a school exchange with my friend, Lucy. The point of a school exchange is that you swap with someone in another school in another country and stay with their family, while they stay with yours. This would have been fine, but the family we stayed with, didn't have any children and were quite an elderly couple. They were extremely sweet, but I don't think they were expecting a pair of adolescent 15 year old girls who wanted to escape them and try and sneak into bars and clubs. Trust me, we did it at home and if the bouncer wouldn't let us in, we'd take 20 minutes, swap coats, change our hair and try again. It usually worked second time around.
This is Lucy and I, be it about 7 years after the event I'm talking about, but Facebook wasn't around back then!! We're still good friends now.
So, we tried sneaking out one night in Barcelona (this was back in 1997) to get found out by a teacher and given one hell of a telling off. The elderly couple lived just off Las Ramblas and as we were now resided to their constant babysitting, they took us everywhere with them. You might think they would have showed us round Gaudi's museums and taken us to the beach. But no, for some reason each day we had to go to the hospital to visit an elderly friend of theirs. Now the couple could not speak any English, and though Lucy and I were in Barcelona to help our Spanish, it didn't necessarily mean we were any good at it either, so most of our communication with the couple and their sickly friend was done in hand actions and mime. You could say it was a funny week. Not at the time mind. Lucy and I got so bored one night, locked away, having been force-fed paella that we nearly threw-up, we practiced make-up on each other and decided to try on every garment the other had brought in their suitcase. This included knickers and bras. We knew then we'd never forget that week, because we barely saw any of Barcelona except for that bedroom we got locked in!
This time around it has been different and I got to see pretty much all of Barcelona in one day! Here's that whistle-stop tour for you!
You'll notice in the video I make a particular reference to the pickpockets in Barcelona. If you're heading out here anytime soon, please do make note. I've heard three stories just today of people having their bags or belongings stolen. I'm not sure whether he'll mind me saying this but one of those people was Jake Cody. News got around fairly fast in the media room when we found out poor Jake had gone skinny dipping with some friends the other night, to get out of the water and find all of his clothes, money, phone and passport all gone from where he left them on the beach. That walk back to the hotel must have been a bit of a laugh, stark b*@!k naked. I think he's over it now anyway. Then our Dutch media friend had the same thing happen to him the following night, he was in swimming shorts mind, so his journey back to the hotel wasn't quite as embarrassing.
So the play is wrapping up here on Day 4 pretty early as it hasn't taken too long to play from 24 down to 8. The Final Table looms tomorrow, but for now, well of course, I'm off to the beach for a swim!
