As August flicked over to September, one of the members of the partypoker UK Community Forum on Facebook helped himself to an $8,000 Caribbean Poker Party package via the satellites that run throughout the week.
Adam “p.ford87” Ford, 28, lives with his girlfriend of seven years, Rachel, and their three-year-old daughter Phoebe, but there will be a new addition to the Ford family in February as Rachel is pregnant.
“My girlfriend of seven years is carry our second child who is due on Valentine’s Day; I’m such a romantic that I plan nine months in advance!”
Adam started playing poker by competing in tournaments held in some Sheffield casinos, and says that the Steel City has a “brilliant range of poker games for beginners and experts, and also has wonderful characters within the poker community.”
Over the years, Adam has turned to poker videos to improve his skills. Not one to sit and read strategy book, Adam says that “watching videos of poker on YouTube whether that be training videos, WSOP re-runs, or any other videos that relate to poker.”
Watching those videos reaped the rewards for Adam because he was one of the five lucky winners of an $8,000 Caribbean Poker Party package in the weekly satellite, which now has 10 packages guaranteed every Monday.
“I couldn’t believe it when I won my first package. It finished at 12:15pm and my partner was asleep in bed. When I won, I ran upstairs to tell Rachel what had happened, but she told me to go away and stop waking her up! I eventually got her out of bed and took her downstairs to show her what I’d won. I was expecting her eyes to open wide with excitement as if it was Christmas Day. What I got was ‘Oh, well done. Can I go back to bed now?!’”
No longer clouded by sleep, the following morning Rachel began sharing Adam’s excitement.
“We were giddy as anything; we couldn’t wait until November. We told our parents and they couldn’t believe it, thinking it was too good to be true, but Rachel’s mum and her mum’s partner have actually booked to come with us and they fly from Gatwick on the Friday.”
The excitement turned to despair, however, when Adam and Rachel were researching the destination and decided that Rachel was not going to travel due to fears about the Zika Virus, which can cause birth defects. The risk is slim, but nobody will argue that any risk to an unborn child is isn’t worth it.
“Now I’m going to have to go with my friend Jack Shutt, and get drunk and party all night!”
Adam actually won a second package, and could be looking for a third because he wants to beat his friend, known as “PastaFish” at partypoker, who had also won two packages.
“I can’t praise partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn enough for what they are doing for the poker community,” said Adam as we signed off the interview, “They are giving the opportunity for everybody, no matter what their bankroll is, to be part of something big and play in events around the world that perhaps people wouldn’t usually be able to afford to play.”
“A big shout out and thank you also to Colette Stewart who is always there to help you and answer any questions regarding partypoker on the UK Community Forum on Facebook. This is a big help instead of the usual online support that sometimes seems robotic.”
Adam’s advice for those of you who are on the fence about trying to win a Caribbean Poker Party package?
“Go for it! Things like this don’t come around that often. A week in the Caribbean for $109? Beat that Thomas Cook*!”
*other travel agents are available!
Qualify for the Caribbean Poker Party
You too could be jetting off to the Caribbean Poker Party armed with an $8,000 package by getting involved in the value-packed satellites. There are $22 buy-in feeders scheduled one hour before the daily $109 Caribbean Poker Party Phase 1 tournaments, where you play 14 levels and if you have chips in front of you at the end of the 14th level you’re through to the Final Phase.
The Final Phase takes place at 10:15 p.m. CET every Monday and guaranteed 10 x $8,000 packages will be won. If you want to play in the Final Phase but haven’t progressed from a Phase One, you can buy in directly for $1,050 and receive a 300,000 chip stack.
Don’t forget that you also have the chance to win an $8,000 package via the new partypoker Million Sit & Go Hero games that are available on the desktop client for a limited time only. As Adam said earlier, go for it!
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