I flew out on the 19th and came back on the 28th. I managed to play 35.25 cash game hours at 3/6 EUR and 5/10 EUR games. I logged around 8 hours playing 5/10 EUR which was the highest I've played live before. The skill level difference was much higher as you can imagine.
Apartment Tour
August 20th: First Barcelona Cash Session
If you didn't get to the Casino before 11am you were toast as far as the waiting lists are concerned. I arrived at 11:20am on one of the days. I was 60th ish on the list for 3/6 EUR so i played 5/10 EUR for 4 hours before I was called up for 3/6 EUR. I was at the Casino before 10am every day after that!
On the way to play the Estrellas Main
I got a horrible table draw. I lost 80% of my chips to the same player. My bust out hand was JJ v AKo for 45BB (16,000 of my 25k starting stack). UTG opens 2.5BB, CO and BTTN peel. I 3B my SB to 10BB, UTG snap folds, CO tank folds and BTTN snap ships which was an easy call off for me. Best hand he shows here is Ts but his range is basically 8s-Js/AJs+AQo/AK. Really annoying to lose my chips to the same player who was really good, like he needed any help winning a flips! The Event made around 5 Million EUR which was crazy. I think is was around 556,000 for the winner, Great value for a 1100 for sure.
August 24th: Estrellas 2,200 EUR High Roller Final Day
My friend Kiat ran deep in the HR and bust out Panka BvB in the HR final day before the bubble. Unfortunately he bubbled too.
I did not get chance to do much other than play poker and sunbath. The Beach is 45 seconds walk from the Casino door. As the trip went on I got into a routine of playing from 9:30am-2/3pm and then chilling on the Beach for a few hours after.
Really good looking Asian girl playing 5/10 PLO. All table had maybe 2500 average. She had just over 7000 in that picture. Beautiful girls with poker skills. I don't find anything else more attractive :)
I found out who this girl was later and added her on Facebook. All these hours spent on Facebook make you a highly skilled stalker ;)
Bad day at the tables. No problem, Beach and Beers :)
Monste, one of my flatmates. Really nice lady. Miss you guys :)
The race was uploaded onto Facebook by Danny, sorry guys :)
Guy gets upset when a young German pro tank value bet the river. Maybe 90 seconds thinking. He bet really thin on the river. This guy stated before i started to roll the camera, that he was going to tank every hand. This was his 2nd of tanking. I'm needling him so hard to play UTG when I'm BTTN :)
It was really fun being forced to live a normal life because of the wait list situation. This is only the case around festivals though. Normal Barcelona Casino/cash game action starts from either 4/5PM and ends at either 4/5AM when the Casino opens and shuts. I'm afraid Poker will always be a nocturnal lifestyle.
Overall a profitable trip even including the 1,100 EUR Estrellas Main Event brick. This has been my 3rd year travelling to Barcelona now for this festival. I will make better plans next year. I got an apartment for 200 Euros but my flight cost £360. If I booked the flight around March it would have been almost £200 less. So I'm learning to plan better and try to save as much ££££ as possible. Travelling is not cheap if you don't plan well. Next year I will go out for the whole festival and either a few days before and after or for some time before or after the festival ends to ensure I actually get a break to relax and enjoy some tourist stuff.
Adios :)
