Welcome to Day 1 of the Pokerstars.com Baden EPT. Of all the casinos on the EPT tour, Baden is my favourite, I never managed a trip to Deauville and have heard many a story about how wonderful it is there, but out here in the Austrian countryside, there is a quiet pleasantness unlike anything I think you'll find in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. Dana (Yes, for it is her and I! Not a single person chose that combination in the competition, you're all rubbish!) and I had slight crazy panic when our original flight to Prague was 20 minutes late leaving us (literally) with a mad dash through the terminals and security to reach our mosquito sized connecting flight to Vienna.
Anyway, who should be on this tiny hamster of a plane but Aussie
Mark Vos, still on tilt from his boys losing the rugby, he's played five events whilst in Europe (the two EPT's and the WSOPE events) and cashed in two, but I could sense his preference for online play, especially when his regular game is the 200/400 PLO on Full Tilt.
Whilst collecting our baggage in Vienna, I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder, that of
Julian Thew, who, with his birthday coming up is no doubt looking for a special present to celebrate. Then our taxi-cab was complete when Nicolas Levi also appeared at the airport, of course, complete with his hat. A 30 minute ride later which included conversations about or relating to some card game or other and we had arrived in the picturesque town of Baden.
Dana and I went to check into the Hotel Schloss only to find we weren't booked in there, the friendly but ever so slightly haughty man on reception pointed out we hadn't booked a room at the Hotel Schloss, but had actually booked a room at the
Schloss Hotel which was two minutes round the corner. He seemed slightly unimpressed that I had mixed the two up.
After a quick dumpage of the bags, Dana and I headed to nearby Club 2, where the free bar and Pokerstars greeting party was being held. Although pretty quiet from when we arrived with few players around and a couple of slightly bemused locals, there was a wonderful moment of balance where the number of young twenty-somethings from Baden began to fill the club as the official party subsided and Lee Jones,
John Duthie and Barry Greeenstein became lost amongst a swathe of indie and dance fans who probably would've have been quite irate if they'd known about the free bar they'd missed. Of course, at this point they were all too busy dancing to 'Funky Town' by Lipps Inc. Disco is not dead in this part of the world baby!
At this point, Dana and I decided to retire for the evening, but we'll be ready to bring you updates from 6pm (5pm UK time) from what is, in my opinion, the best casino in Europe.
Fee; free to ask us for updates on anyone you want tracking, or tell us who your tips are.
See you soon!
Author