The five positions they’re seeking to fill include: Treasurer, Secretary, Final Table Celebrations Program Manager, Raise It Up Program Manager, and Community Outreach Liaison.

WPA International Affairs Director Ivonne Montealegre is specifically looking to “make a mark by inviting women from all over the world to apply for these Board positions, rather than be exclusionary.”

Description of the Five Volunteer Roles

Applicants for the Treasurer position should have some sort of background in finance or bookkeeping, as their primary responsibility will be to create and oversee the WPA international Board’s budget.

Applicants for the Secretary position should have a strong working knowledge of Trello and Google Drive, as well as have strong organizational and written skills. Their primary responsibilities will be to assist with the communication among WPA International Board members, keep meeting records, assist with administrative work, and distribute communicative materials.

Applicants to fill the role of Final Table Celebrations Program Manager should be enthusiastic extroverts. This person’s primary role will be to conduct outreach with poker rooms worldwide and coordinate swag and merchandise offerings at the final tables of various events.

Applicants to fill the role of Raise It Up Program Manager should be excited by the prospect of enhancing the profile and visibility of women in the poker world. This role’s primary responsibilities include arranging business meetings with poker room managers and other industry business leaders for the purpose of promoting the WPA’s work in a positive light.

Finally, applicants to fill the role of Community Outreach Liaison should ideally have a background in marketing, sales, or communications, with documented experience in having forged business relationships being advantageous. This person’s primary role will be to identify new business opportunities for the WPA to achieve sponsorship, as well as research new markets in which to begin organizational activity.

Ready to Lend a Hand? Send in Your Application

Interested applicants should send their CV and a cover letter to: [email protected]

As far as commitment required, applicants should be prepared to devote approximately 10-15 hours per week to the respective roles.

The beautiful Mediterranean island country will once again play host to hordes of poker players descending on its shores for another week filled with poker action, big guarantees, and countless extracurricular activities off the felt.

Malta Poker Festival (MPF) founder Ivonne Montealegre has done a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes to ensure that the upcoming event will be even bigger and better than previous ones. Montealegre didn’t try to hide her excitement: “This will be a very special Spring MPF. We have really let our creativity as organizers fly free. Look at the schedule: it has a bit of everything for every poker taste. A fantastic Grand Event powered by Unibet DSO, with a guaranteed prize pool of at least €300,000. Not only Texas Hold’em, but HORSE and Crazy Pineapple are on the roster, too. I am excited to show the poker world why the Malta Poker Festival is one of the fastest growing tournaments in the world. At a very affordable price point, you get to experience a five-star poker operation.”

A Schedule to Fit Every Poker Taste

A great thing about the Malta Poker Festival is that it’s an event for every poker fan out there. With affordable buy-ins, great organization, and super atmosphere that you can just feel in the air, it represents a perfect destination for those looking for a poker vacation spot.

This year, things have only gotten better, as the MPF has joined forces with the Unibet Deepstack Open for the €300,000 GTD Grand Event. The price to enter is €550, but there will be plenty of live satellites for those visiting Portomaso Casino, as well as online feeders available on Unibet Poker.

The Grand Event may be the one with the big guarantee attached to it, but it’s just one of many tournaments on the schedule for the 2023 Spring Malta Poker Festival, with numerous side events in the offing.

One for the Ladies

The Ladies First! event takes place on April 29 and it will be hosted by Chris Read, the last year’s winner. For this one, the organizers have teamed up with Poker Power, promising yet another great tournament for the ladies to enjoy.

Talking about the event, Montealegre stated: “Ladies First! is one love of my life and the sponsorship by Poker Power is a great match. We are getting more and more women into the game we love.”

Chris Read is just as excited about the event and the opportunity to welcome poker playing ladies to the island: “Last year I was lucky enough to win the Ladies First Event at the Malta Poker Festival. This year Ivonne has given me the honor of hosting the Ladies First Event on April 29th in the beautiful Portosomo Casino! If you’re up for the most fabulous place you’ve ever played poker we would love to see you on the beautiful Island of Malta!”

https://t.co/SePQeKqoGg

— Christina Read (@chrisreadpoker) April 30, 2022

Fun With Mixed Games

Martin Smith, a Malta local, stalwart attendee of the MPF events, and a true mixed-games aficionado, will play host for the HORSE event. This will be one of the opening tournaments, taking place on April 25 and giving players a chance to show their skills in non-Hold’em variations for an affordable buy-in of €220.

Looking forward to the upcoming HORSE event, Smith was very enthusiastic:

It is really exciting to be hosting this HORSE tournament at the Malta Poker Festival. There should be a good turnout from the local poker community combined with players visiting for the wider festival who want to try their hand at these games. For those who want to try even more variants of our beloved game, there will be mixed cash games available for at least 3 days of the festival!

It is a formula I hope we can repeat and indeed grow at other events. I want operators to offer mixed games options for those of us with a passion for such fun times.

The Hendon Mob Championship is back as well, playing out on April 28 and 29, while Jackie Cachie, a.k.a., “Poker Mamma”, will host the Seniors Event on Saturday, April 29.

As you can see, there will be plenty of poker to play on Malta the last week of April, with a host of smaller events and the action-packed side game action there to keep you busy,

Beyond the poker, especially if it is your first time visit, you could also enjoy some off-the-table activities, too!

Enjoy Malta at Its Finest

If you like to mingle and meet other poker players, the MPF opening ceremony takes place on April 27 at 22:00 at the Hilton Quarterdeck Bar. Feel free to pop over for welcome drinks and start your poker holiday with a nice, relaxed evening before hitting the tables.

For more fun and drinks, there is the All-In Friday event at Club Level 22. Things kick off at 22:00 on April 28 and the party will last throughout the night. All VIP package holders can enter for free, but 15 euro will get you inside regardless.

Of course, if you’re visiting Malta for the first time, you’ll probably want to see something outside of the drinking and clubbing scene (which is pretty amazing, to be fair).

On the Saturday morning, there will be an organized Valletta Cultural City Tour departing from the Hilton Hotel. The tour will last for a couple of hours and you’ll get to see some of the most important landmarks before returning to the tables later on. Just make sure not to go too heavy on drinks on the night before!

No matter how you look at it, the Malta Poker Festival this spring has plenty to offer. Great poker, vibrant night life, rich culture, and amazing weather (and I mean amazing) are just some of the reasons to pack your bags and join the fun in the sun this April!

Success doesn’t happen on its own though, and having observed two days of activity here in Malta, it’s already crystal clear to me that the festival owes its success to 10 specific ingredients, all of which happen to begin with the letter “P”, which I’ve laid out in this feature.

Preparation

When I first arrived here a couple days ago, what instantly struck me was how everything looked uncannily similar to how it did when I attended the first Malta Poker Festival, back in the autumn of 2018.

Naturally, the festival doesn’t run all year round. Thus, massive credit goes to the organizing team, led by the inimitable Ivonne Montealegre, who have set the stage for the week-long affair having paid attention to even the smallest of details.

From equipment and table set up, to ensuring sufficient professional staffing, to branding and banner/signage placements, to player registration desks, and so much more, the hosting execution is first class from top to bottom and it in turn enables a ridiculously smooth, efficient experience for everyone in attendance.

Prize Money

The obvious headliner here is the €300,000 GTD, €500 + €50 Main Event, which features six starting Day 1s. With approximately 250 entries already recorded across the first two Day 1s, it’s a lock that hundreds more players will be taking their shot at top prize, with the guarantee likely to be easily exceeded.

Plenty of players will also be trying their hand at the numerous other tournaments on offer during the 2022 Malta Poker Festival. Whether it’s Win the Cross, the Hendon Mob Championship, the APAT Maltese Championship, the Ladies First event, the High Roller, or a different event, the allure of winning big money is a critical ingredient in the MPF’s success.

Portomaso

You can’t stage an event without a venue, and the Portomaso Casino is perfectly outfitted to suit this shindig. Multiple large ballrooms grace the property, housing a total of almost 100 poker tables.

The calm before the storm…

Lots of poker gearing up to be played here at the #maltapokerfestival over the next week.

Day 1A of the Main Event starts today.

Pretty sure I counted close to 100 total tables throughout the @PortomasoCasino property. pic.twitter.com/c7nvRqQTzC

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 26, 2022

A high-end facility adjacent to the Hilton Malta, when walking into Portomaso Casino you’re welcomed by a venue radiating elegance and class, which easily lends itself to housing successfully run events.

Partnerships

Not everyone can easily afford to plunk down €550 for a poker event. To circumvent this issue, poker venues and operators tend to run numerous satellites and thus boost participation numbers. After all, when you’ve got a €300,000 guarantee to make, you best be doing all you can to ensure a high level of participation, and that includes getting as many satellites running as possible across as many platforms as possible.

Seeing signage for the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT), the Women’s Poker Association, the DeepStack Open (DSO), Hendon Mob, Unibet Poker, etc. scattered throughout the venue immediately makes you realize the immense team effort that has gone into boosting participation at this year’s Malta Poker Festival.

Beyond the bottom line of improving player numbers, all of the aforementioned says something important both about the organizer as well as all of the partner parties involved under the Malta Poker Festival umbrella, namely that they can coexist for the greater good. After all, a rising tide raises all boats and each of the partners benefits from having a larger overall turnout.

Collaboration among the multiple operating partners is still unfortunately a relatively rare thing in the poker industry. Thus, it’s heartwarming to see it here from the aforementioned collection of organizations, setting a great example for the rest of our industry to follow and learn from.

Players

Of course, you can’t have a poker event without poker players. After a couple of years laying low due to the pandemic, it’s wonderful to see the resurgence of European live poker, and Malta poker more specifically.

Lest we forget too quickly, not too long ago, poker in Malta (and other places in Europe) was limited to just five players per table, with plexiglass and social distancing measures in play. Thankfully, those memories are starting to fade away, and happy days are here again!

Locals are coming out in droves and it seems as though players from all over Europe have flown in to take part based on the languages I am hearing in the hallways. I’ve noticed player flags in the chip counts from just over two dozen countries thus far. I’ve further heard that a few players are even currently making the long haul trip across the pond from North America to participate as well, in particular in this weekend’s Ladies First event…. to a tiny island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

That’s just phenomenal!

There’s also a snowball effect in play, as surely players who may be following the goings on from home, seeing an excellent turnout, might possibly get tempted to make a spontaneous last-minute decision and also come out to play in the coming days.

That’s what we call a success!

Pampering

Nestled right beside the Portomaso casino is the Hilton Malta which is a 5-star premier resort outfitted with the full gamut of high-end, luxury facilities. For those players who bought or won packages to attend the Malta Poker Festival, they’re being treated to a proper high end accommodation experience. Pools, spas, fitness rooms, you name it … everything and anything a poker player (and of course, non-poker players too for that matter) could possibly need is right here on the casino’s doorstep.

Beyond that, a litany of off-felt activities have been planned in advance for participants to enjoy. These include everything from cocktails to guided tours of Malta’s capital city (Valletta) to parties and more.

And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the food. (That’s the way to this man’s heart, after all )

I’m not just referring to the fact that the food on-site, and in Malta in general, are excellent, but rather the fact that Ivonne has gone the extra mile for players who enter the Main Event. Each player receives a voucher for a free buffet dinner on their days of play.

To the best of my knowledge, a pampering perk of that nature is something usually only accorded to high rollers playing in five-figure buy-in events and above. Beyond the extra value those vouchers obviously give players, the fact that all the players head to dinner break and dine together helps to foster an environment and ambiance of camaraderie.

While I can’t tell you what sort of special sauce they put in the food itself, I can assure you the dinner breaks contribute strongly to the special sauce of the Malta Poker Festival’s success.

PokerNews

When it comes to poker media sites, there’s one that obviously stands head and shoulders above the rest, and that is PokerNews. I’ve long been a booster of the site’s work, and I’ve been a fan of it for even longer. They set the gold standard for providing live reporting coverage of events worldwide and the 2022 Malta Poker Festival is no exception. Whether you’re playing and monitoring your own progress among the competition, or perhaps just on the virtual rail and rooting on your friends or family members who may be playing in the event, you know what site to turn to and exactly what sort of excellent coverage you can expect.

In particular, I also want to take a moment to express just a little bit of personal pride in that Calum Grant is leading the two-person live reporting team here this week. He’s doing a phenomenal job thus far and I’m looking forward to meeting his teammate Chris Bean later today.

3.5 years ago a random college kid reached out, looking to break into the poker biz.

I was more than happy to give him a shot as a @PokerLifeMedia contributor.

He now works full-time for @PokerNews, and today we got to meet for the first time.

Very proud of you @CGrantSport pic.twitter.com/IoAwmIRTFK

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 26, 2022

Passion

I’ve already mentioned Ivonne a number of times in this article; how could I not? She’s obviously the heart and soul of the Malta Poker Festival and it’s so obvious that she “lives and breathes this festival” with tremendous fervor and passion.

Her proudly Latin American energy is absolutely contagious and she quite genuinely lights up the room whether her audience is just one or two people, or an entire ballroom full of poker players.

It’s that type of passion that ensures someone’s work will bear fruit and it’s obvious to all that Ivonne’s labor of love and dedication and attention to detail is the foundation for this event to be a success in the first place.

Party

Calling an event a “festival” isn’t just an attempt at a clever marketing ploy, but rather a description of the type of atmosphere you can expect to see. Walking around the tournament room and around the Portomaso Casino you can already feel the energy pulsating, that this is just a wonderfully fun event.

As if that weren’t enough, the schedule of events includes actual parties. Beyond the cocktails that I’ve already mentioned, there is a spectacular party being planned for tomorrow night at Level 22, a nightclub located on the top (22nd) floor of the casino building, which will feature music and dancing well into the wee hours of the morning.

Poker

Last, but most certainly not least, there’s the poker. I’ve already named the half dozen-plus events on schedule during this weeklong Malta Poker Festival, but beyond that there’s also the cash game scene. The permanent Portomaso Casino poker room features 10 cash game tables, and as the afternoon wears on into the evening hours the scene absolutely comes alive.

There’s of course plenty of Texas hold’em action, and I also noticed a PLO table running last night. I’m super excited for tonight, as I’ll be joining a bunch of friends for a low-stakes dealers choice mixed game. However raucous things might be at the other tables in the room, I’m absolutely positive that our table’s energy will blow that out of the water. Long live mixed games!

And long live the Malta Poker Festival!

Photo credits: Moshe Friedline Photography

Over the last few years, the Cash Game Festival has earned a place of prestige on the European poker calendar, with the number of yearly stops growing along with attendance. So, too, the Malta Poker Festival achieved immediate prominence with its successful debut last fall. What was the catalyst for the two organizations to partner together?

Ivonne: I personally have been wanting to partner with Cash Game Festival for over a decade. I admire the sense of camaraderie and friendship of their staff, board members, and founders. This is something that reflects our core values.  The Malta Poker Festival debuted a few months back to rave reviews and players can’t wait until November to come back.  May is fantastic in Malta so this partnership makes a lot of sense. With that said, this represents a different product than our November crown jewel. In May we are focused on giving players more time at the felt, more enjoyable play, and the freedom to socialize that cash games offer. It is a perfect warm up for November.

READ MORE: 2018 Malta Poker Festival Recap and Highlights

The overwhelming majority of events on the poker calendar are tournament-oriented, with the Cash Game Festival being a major notable exception. A hybrid cash game-tournament series is something heretofore unheard of though. What can players expect and what’s unique about this joint event?

Ivonne: The Cash Games Festival will be running non-stop from Monday May 13 until Sunday May 19. Each day a tournament will take place as well. There are many offerings for players to choose from: a one day event, a two-day event, a freezeout, interesting re-entry variants of the game (i.e., not just No Limit Texas Hold’em).

The schedule is inspired by a recent trip I took to Los Angeles where I was able to choose whatever game I wanted to play all within low buy-in amounts. Liquidity was there, it was never a problem. We want to give local players and our guests those options. Whether you prefer to play poker early or late, we are happy to cater to your poker tastes.

Live poker continues to grow in popularity around the world and the calendar keeps getting increasingly packed with poker events. How did you settle on the timing for this joint mid-May venture?

Ivonne: For any tournament we plan, there is a careful examination process of the worldwide poker calendar. Phone calls are placed, and alliances made to ensure that we do not clash anyone. This is something a lot of poker organizers unfortunately fail to understand, to the detriment of the whole industry.

Ivonne Montealegre

The schedule of events also includes a special Short Deck Championship tournament, in collaboration with the Hendon Mob. This isn’t the first time you’ve partnered with them though. Beyond a well-known brand name, what do they bring to the table that makes them such a great fit for this joint poker festival?

Ivonne: Oh, this excites me! Every year I sit down with one of the brilliant minds behind the Hendon Mob, Roland Boothby, over goulash and drinks to brainstorm ideas. After The Hendon Mob Championship’s success last year, Roland was all ears to hear what I had to say. He was so receptive and creative. Short Deck came as a natural answer to the question: “what can we do to blow it out of the stadium?” Haha. We care for innovation in May, and for every single player to love our festival and have the fondest memories of this spring event on the island. Also, Heads-up to the flag hunters out there: They also created a special online flag for this particular event!

The Hendon Mob to team up with Cash Game Festival and Malta Poker Championships for special “short deck” event.
Portomaso Casino & Club 22, St. Julians, Malta
13-19 May
https://t.co/HyJDcPdTLq

— The Hendon Mob (@TheHendonMob) April 12, 2019

It’s the first-ever Short Deck tournament to be spread in Malta. As we’ve commonly seen the game played mainly by high rollers, how did you decide on the €150 price point?

Ivonne: This was entirely Roland Boothby’s and the Hendon Mob’s expertise; they have been analyzing the game and found exactly that; Short Deck tournaments have until now had very high price points — too high for new people to give the game a try for the first time. So, we decided on doing the opposite — a price point that’s accessible to anyone. Now all we need is support from players, the arena to play is there.

Portomaso Casino has a regular, dedicated cash game area. Will additional tables be added in other areas around the venue to accommodate for increased foot traffic during the joint festival?

Ivonne M: One of the reasons I love to work with and in Portomaso are the venue’s capacities. With its sister property Hilton Malta, we can create new spaces and use our imagination. Portomaso has without a doubt the biggest capacities, best staff and logistics to deploy any kind of poker event on the island.

In a new wrinkle, final tables of all tournaments on schedule will be played in Club 22, on the top floor of the Portomaso Casino rather than in the tournament ballrooms. Why?

Ivonne M:  Because WE CAN! and because the sky is the limit.  We want to create a jaw dropping experience.  I want every single player to feel like a Rockstar and I will personally deliver that concierge VIP experience.

Club 22 Portomaso Casino Malta | When cleared to make room for lights, cameras, and a poker table, the view will make the playing experience unforgettable.

The Cash Game Festival is known for live streaming and that’s a new innovation for the Malta Poker Festival. Often, it’s only high-stakes cash games and tournaments that get live streamed. Why offer this to lower stakes players?

Mauritz: We feel that every player — no matter if it´s a recreational player or a full-time pro — deserves to have the opportunity to feel the excitement that a TV table seat generates. Imagine telling your friends, relatives, or fellow poker players from home to log in to a certain Twitch channel that you´ll be on for at least 2.5 hours playing poker whilst a commentator analyses your play.  The possibility of analyzing your game on a video once the hand is over is limitless!

This creates so much value for everyone involved and our core policy is to give players experiences that will last, and that they can share with others.

Mauritz Altikardes

Beyond the poker, will there be any special activities for players to engage in off the felt?

Ivonne: Oh yes! We will soon announce all the activities we have in store, including awesome dining and speakeasy moments. But flexibility is also key, so we want to have a number of available activities to players and let them choose.

Mauritz: We offer packages for players that consists of happenings outside the casino every day. These could include drinks at a night club, guided tours, theme dinners, beach volleyball, a BBQ cook-along, and even a shooting range. You never know what we’ll come up with and Malta has plenty to offer. All of the online qualifiers receive a “vacation package” and other players are welcome to purchase these packages and participate as well. We always have tons of fun at every one of our tour stops.

Finally, we mentioned a packed poker event calendar, and indeed there are other competing festivals happening elsewhere at the same time as yours. Give us your pitch for why poker players ought to choose Malta and come to play in your cash games and poker tournaments.

Ivonne: Sunny weather, great tournament structures, and cash games running all the time. It’s the most fun atmosphere in the most amazing location at a very affordable price.

Mauritz: Well, there´s no doubt that Malta is the go-to location for poker events. The island nation has everything for poker players: 300 days of sun gives you a relaxed atmosphere and a lot of pool time, you have really good restaurants, a unique cultural environment and a sick load of fun things you can do off the felt with people who know how to have fun. And when you’re ready to play some poker, you´ll come to our event and have even more fun in a great venue with an experienced crew who are only there for one thing – to give you the best possible experience. At our events, everyone is a VIP!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been blessed to have the calming, relaxing sound of waves ringing in my ears. It’s a sound I made sure to capture while enjoying the most beautiful, picturesque view from my hotel room at the Hilton in St. Julian’s, Malta.

Enjoying the breathtaking scenery and sounds of the waves, right outside our hotel room

November, a month in which most Northern Hemisphere locales witness seasonal transition and start preparing for cold winters, is beautiful and balmy in Malta, a small gorgeous island in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. I traveled there at the beginning of this month to attend the inaugural Malta Poker Festival. I was to be a special poker trip, as it just so happened to be my birthday on the third of the month and my wife, Miriam, was able to join me.

First knew I’d be going to @the_malta way back before the WSOP… been waiting for it for a while. It’s finally here and I’m headed out to the airport soon!#excited https://t.co/efN9S6NEYa

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 1, 2018

The Sights and Sounds of Malta

I always say that it’s so important when traveling for poker to also get out and explore your destination. There’s plenty of fun and excitement to be had within the walls of the poker room, but not taking the time to discover what lies beyond the felt would just be a shame. I practice what I preach and, especially as this was my first visit to Malta, I made sure to see what it had to offer.

Our first excursion was to the country’s capital city of Valletta, where we took a three-hour walking tour. Among the many fascinating facts we learned while taking in the sights and sounds:

• Valletta is the smallest capital city in the EU, and was named 2018’s European Capital of Culture
• The city was founded way back in the 1530s by the Knights of the Order of St John. They had help, though, as the Pope intervened on their behalf towards the Spanish monarch Charles V, who gifted the island to them.
• Malta was recognized as British colony only in 1814, only becoming independent in 1964 and then a republic in 1974.
• Many places on the island are instantly recognizable to tourists, as Malta has served as the backdrop for popular TV series like Game of Thrones, as well as box office hits like World War Z, Popeye, Assassin’s Creed, Gladiator, and Munich.

Sure, you can perhaps learn all those factoids by doing some online research or while thumbing through the pages of a travel guide, but nothing compares to hearing a place’s history told to you by a local, showing off his/her immense pride in their city. Our guide, Jennifer, was simply delightful.

Me and Miriam in Valletta

Taking some time to sightsee in Valletta. Beautiful! Recognizing some familiar scenery from popular movies and TV shows… pic.twitter.com/HzywaTzPNH

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 2, 2018

Getting out a bit further, we decided to take a hop-on/hop-off tour of the northern half of the island. Along the way, we stopped in Mdina, for some more history lessons and unforgettable views.

View from the walled city of Mdina; you can’t get much more “inland” in Malta

I might be at home working now, but I’m reminiscing about a beautiful day sightseeing in Mdina… #Goodtimes pic.twitter.com/T9pD2IjYvf

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 26, 2018

If you just feel like taking a pleasant bus ride and taking in the sights from the comfort of a motorized vehicle, the circuitous journey takes just over two hours without hopping off. There’s also a route taking you to the southern half of the island; we’ll have to do that on our next visit.

How about the Food?

As longtime readers know, I stick to a strictly kosher diet, which usually means that I can’t really partake of the local cuisine during my poker trips. With that said, Miriam and I were thrilled to discover that Malta had precisely one kosher dining establishment, run by the local branch of Chabad, and it was a mere 10-minute walk from our hotel.

One of our dinners at the Chabad House in Malta

It wasn’t 5-star gourmet cuisine, but the food was plentiful, filling, and tasty – and most importantly, a welcome respite from the canned perishables we brought with us from home.

Speaking of Chabad, a recap of my time in Malta wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Sabbath. For 25 hours, from Friday night until Saturday night, we “logged off from the world” and enjoyed true rest. Aside from lots of book reading in our room while watching and listening to those incredible waves, we spent a special couple of hours on both Friday evening and Saturday morning in prayer and breaking bread with our fellow Jews.

Should be interesting to spend Shabbat here in Malta. Looking forward to it and to sharing some of those experiences with y’all as part of an upcoming article.

Alright… time to log off the social medias.

Shabbat shalom! pic.twitter.com/AmthDiTkIp

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 2, 2018

Malta is home to just 200 or so Jews among its population of close to half a million people. Chabad services the local community, to be sure, but is also called upon to cater (both figuratively and literally) for visiting Jews from all over the world. At our meal were present visitors from Russia, Israel, Italy, the United States, Gibraltar, and Australia. Some were in town for a big Blockchain Summit (like my buddy Yishai, who wrote this awesome guest post about his first-time experience as a poker spectator), a couple (like me) for the Malta Poker Festival, others on business, and still others simply on vacation. A warm “extended family” gathering we won’t soon forget.

What about the Poker?

Ah right; the “Cardplayer” part of our site .

Lots and lots of poker tables here at @the_malta (they’re all full now, but I managed to snap some pics of them empty during a break in the action). pic.twitter.com/WUHijGTJ1z

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 2, 2018

The poker tournament schedule was littered with interesting events to play, including the first-ever Hendon Mob Championship, the APAT Maltese Championship, and even a couple “Malta-themed’ events, like “Win the Cross” and PLO Knight Crusaders. Buy-ins were affordable across the board, with €550 for the Grand Event and €1200 + €120 being the most anyone would have to shell out to participate. Great player turnouts (especially for an inaugural festival) ensured lucrative payouts for those who made it into the winners circle, including a fantastic €150,000 to Emanuele Onnis who took down the Grand Event, besting 1,365 other players.

The action was rocking at the Malta Poker Festival

Particularly impressive, in this writer’s opinion, was the Ladies Event, which attracted over 100 players! Heavy advance promotion by Event Director Ivonne Montealegre and Unibet Open ambassador Daiva Byrne, among others, as well as online satellites, brought the ladies out of the woodwork to create a truly one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

As entertaining as it is to watch the action at an exciting poker festival, I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines the entire time, so I decided to participate in the Israeli Poker Championship tour event. No winners photo to share with you, unfortunately, but I had a good time…

I’m convinced that the reason I didn’t win the Israeli Poker Championship yesterday at @the_malta was because I was too fixated on the typo to concentrate…

Or at least that’s what I told myself would sound good in a Tweet while crying about my bustout in 60th/183

Had fun! pic.twitter.com/sL6KHTsn3A

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 6, 2018

I also took the opportunity to put in a couple of cash game sessions, once on my birthday in the Portomaso Casino, where the Malta Poker Festival was taking place, and once on the night before my return flight, at the nearby Dragonara Casino.

There’s playing poker, and then there’s playing poker on your birthday #goodtimes @the_malta pic.twitter.com/beFYG8b6li

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 3, 2018

Wouldn’t be a Robbie Strazynski poker trip without the traditional last night all-nighter cash game

Good times with good people @DragonaraCasino pic.twitter.com/QgwGed0kyj

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 7, 2018

A Special Island and a Special Poker Experience

From the moment I landed back home in Israel I’ve been telling my friends and family about how great a time I had in Malta. My six days there featured the perfect combination of all my loves and passions: time with my wife, travel and sightseeing, a restful sabbath, doing poker media coverage, and getting to play poker. What a fantastic poker trip it was!

I can’t wait to have the opportunity to once again return to that blissful Mediterranean island. Maybe I’ll even bring my kids next time?

I can already hear the waves calling me back…

Ivonne and I had the chance to sit and chat a few times while I was in Malta, but it was over the course of a 30-minute interview on the last day of the festival that I feel I really got to know her well. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to learn more about her life and career in the poker world, and am pleased to share the interview with you, below.

Image credit: Joseph Hall Photography

So we’re here in beautiful Malta, at the Portomaso Casino with Ivonne Montealegre. It’s towards the end of the Malta Poker Festival and things are finally calming down a little bit, but before we get to talking about the festival, I’d like to start at the beginning of your career. I read in the 2017 Winter Edition of EBM Magazine that you first started organizing poker tournaments when you were just 19 years old. How did you break into the industry, and how did you manage to do that at such a young age?

Well, I think I’ve been a lucky lady. And I’ve had a lot of luck in my life and I’ve been surrounded by great people, great networkers. And my country, Costa Rica, back in the 90s, was the iGaming hub in the Americas. I mean, we catered for the Americans before Black Friday. So you had all the big companies, Ultimate Bet, Sportsbook.com, Paradise Poker. And I made a transition from Sportsbook.com into Paradise Poker, and I became Events Director for them and started organizing poker events. I realized that poker was the perfect way to make it social, right? With sports betting the content is still relevant and fun, but with casinos there’s very little relevant, interesting content. So I found that poker was the perfect synergy for all these brands to get relevant content, social time, face time. And I became very interested in destination poker travel.

This was right when you started, at 19 years old? Already, then, you knew this is something like a calling for you?

Exactly. It was a calling for me, it was the niche. In Costa Rica, our first industry is tourism, so I grew up highly dedicated and devoted to customer service and tourism. So it’s no wonder that I found a way to mix it up with poker. So for all my tournaments, I’ve chosen great destinations. That was the thing, you know? I don’t do a poker event at just any destination. I have to try it out myself — I have to get the massage, try the food, do everything, scout the venue, and really feel passionate about it. If I’m not passionate about the property, I’m not doing it.

So when you were starting, did you already know about poker or did you sort of learn on the job? Did you used to play or have some family members who maybe played and taught you?

It was funny because I was doing marketing for poker and didn’t know how to play poker. And that became ridiculous until one of my friends at the time and colleagues, Reinaldo Venegas, who now works for PokerStars, taught me how to play poker, and I loved it. After that, I’m like, yeah. Not only I want to work in this, but I want to enjoy it, I want to play it, I want to live it!

What is it about the game of poker that excites you and that is so attractive to you?

I’m a super competitive person, so I love it. I absolutely love it. It involves risk. However, I have my limits. I mean, I’m a tournament player. I don’t play cash games.

Really? Interesting.

I believe people who play cash games have to be extremely disciplined. And tournament play gives me those boundaries, right? You play with chips, you’re not playing anymore with money, with the buy-in. So this is something I like, you know. I like to keep that in my life.

Very interesting. And specifically Hold ’em, or do you also dabble in other poker variants?

Well, lately I have been playing open-faced Chinese, but No-limit Hold ’em is my passion for sure.

Do you think that perhaps in future editions of the Malta Poker Festival will have OFC or other non-Hold’em variants?

Yes, variation tournaments are my dream. To make, to bring innovation, and to bring fun. I have some clients from Sweden who play Sviten Special. It’s like a variant of a game called Mexico that I used to play. It’s very fun, and I want to bring this to the festival.

As you and I have gotten to know each other a bit over the last few months leading up to this event, I’ve learned that you don’t sleep a lot, and that much less during the event. You told me that you’ve been waking up at four o’clock every morning and going to sleep at two in the morning. Still, every time I see you, it doesn’t matter what time of day, you’re bursting with energy. So. How much coffee and Red Bull do you drink?  I’m kidding, of course, but in all seriousness, where does all that energy come from?

From high motivation and from my staff. I mean, here at Portomaso Casino, they are treating me so nice. They understand that it’s long hours, so they treat me like a princess here. You know it’s hard to leave, when the event ends. It’s hard to leave when Daniel Farrugia, the chef, cooks for me nice healthy meals. Now that I’m in my forties, I’m trying to keep my diet nice, and so I don’t do sodas and those foods.

Image credit: Joseph Hall Photography

Good for you. Natural energy, it’s from within.

Yes! Well, because we Costa Ricans have good energy. This morning, I was playing ping-pong with a friend, table tennis.

Wow. How do you have time for ping-pong with all of this going on?

I unplugged my phone for an hour, and it brought me a lot of energy; a good sweat.

Generally, do you have any other fitness activities that you’re into?

Yeah, I do Pilates twice a week. And just today as well I met my yoga instructor and I’m going to keep on yogi-ing it after the event, because it takes a lot of time. And with the kids and everything, it’s challenging.

It’s interesting that you say that; you must have read my next question. You’re the mother of a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and naturally, children of that age need a parent’s care and attention. Especially while the festival is going on, how do you manage your time so that you can ensure you attend both to your family as well as to your professional responsibilities? Do you have any sort of support network in place to assist you?

Absolutely. And this is something that I will post very soon on Facebook, because there is a woman behind this woman. And it’s my mom. Without my mom, I couldn’t make it.

Oh, that’s so beautiful. What’s her name?

Gisele.

Gisele. Well, Gisele, you get a lot of credit as well for making sure an amazing festival can take place.

She comes from Costa Rica.

She flies here? Wow.

Yeah, because I’m not Maltese. I live in Malta, but I’m not Maltese. My family is not here. So that makes it super challenging, too. Because it’s not the same to leave them with a nanny versus to leave them with their grandma. So my mom comes, and takes over completely for a whole week. Even though the kids are so close, I cannot see them. I really can’t. I tried yesterday to step in my car and just escape for half an hour, and I was not able to. So we have come to the agreement that it’s better for me to treat this week as though I’m abroad, and my mom takes over. I mean, she has her own house in Costa Rica, it’s not that she’s alone. She has responsibilities and also needs to be with my father, etc. But during all the years I’ve been doing poker tournaments in November, she’s the woman behind the woman. And also the father of our children, Alexis, he’s very committed as well.

Sure. So, I guess the balance is, then, that the other 51 weeks of the year, you’re much more there and present.

Exactly. As soon as this tournament is over, I’m switching gears to being a great mom.

There you go. Everyone needs the balance in life. Well, another baby of yours is, of course, is the Malta Poker Festival. Of course you’ve spearheaded the entire campaign. But as you’ve mentioned, it’s not something that one person can do alone, even if you only sleep two hours a day. You mentioned your team a lot. About how many people have been involved working behind the scenes prior to and during the event, to make it happen and make sure that it goes smoothly? Maybe you can give us some examples of the different roles that these people have.

Oh, absolutely. And one thing I want to emphasize is, because I am the PR person and the event director, I get a lot of media time, face time, and people interview me, and they know my name, you can Google me. And I think that’s a little bit unfair to my team, because there is a lot behind this woman, there is a lot of people. For example, teaming up with Portomaso — this has been the tournament I’ve enjoyed the most in my entire life. I’ve done a lot of tournaments, so that has to mean something.

And I think the secret of that success has been, first of all, the owner of this property, the owner of Portomaso Casino and Hilton property, has believed in my dreams. I just sent him a message today, I’m like, “Thank you for making my dreams come true.” And he said, “I didn’t do anything.” And I said, “A dreamer without a backer is nothing.” And, well, first of all the owner, and then Portomaso has some excellent marketing team, led by Duncan Cashia, and he has Manal Nassar, who does social media. And these guys are flawless, I mean, they are machines. Also, the Portomaso logistical team, led by J.J. Galea and his team, I mean, it’s like, Aladdin. But he makes every single wish come true. I don’t know if you’ve seen the tournament clock in the main room? I think we can say that it’s one of the biggest tournament clocks in the world.

It’s pretty gigantic. You can see it from every corner of the room.

Exactly. I would actually like to know if there’s a bigger one, because I think we might be on to something here. And there is Jasmine, the show’s performing artist. She and Simon Gatt from Resorts Incentive helped create the shows. I mean, there’s so many people behind it. Even now, that we’re sitting here in the buffet area, the kitchen, Daniel Farrugia, food and beverages manager, with all his staff, always smiling. I mean, Danilo De Berardinis, the tournament director, comes from having run several EPTs, and of course the many excellent dealers we have here. There are a lot of people behind this woman, I can tell you that.

Sure, it’s a tremendously extensive operation, and at the same time, you’ve also thought of every single thing down to the last detail. One of the very interesting and unique things that you’ve done here at the Malta Poker Festival, I’ve never seen it before, rather than the traditional shuffle up and deal before each day of the main event, you staged a performance, which I thought was really amazing. How did you think of that idea, and what has the response been to it?

Great. I love that you asked me that, because there’s a lot of effort put behind it. Poker has become a little bit boring, I must say. Poker tournaments in general, with big prize pools, unlimited reentries just to arrive at a big prize pool, just to brag about a number of entries, leaving the players competing in a turbo. I went to play a tournament three years ago, and I felt that it was just so fast. I mean, I spent a thousand euros and I didn’t have any enjoyment. As a woman, I was left feeling that it would’ve been better for me to spend the €1,000 shopping. Because I busted in something ridiculous, like 10 hands. It was a super turbo and I busted with pocket aces. Classical bad beat. So this got me thinking: Why don’t we give players a little bit more? So then I came up with this concept of spectacularizing poker a little bit. Giving each tournament added value. And I don’t know if you saw the shows — they all have to do with poker. The artists sat down and they asked me questions about poker. They didn’t know anything about poker.

The opening ceremony of @the_malta! https://t.co/qMl6K5rTI0

— Shirley Ang @ home? (@poolshir) November 3, 2018

So they crafted the show specifically for this?

For this, yes. One of the shows had all to do about winning money, and that’s why he said, “You fucker!” I thought it was brilliant.

It resonates with the players in that way.

Yeah, they captured the essence of what it is to be stressed out, getting to Day 2, when there’s a lot of money behind it. So I hope the show relaxed the players, or got them in a little bit of a mood of a festival. We’re here celebrating poker, celebrating life, because we’re all alive and that’s important. And celebrating networking, celebrating that we’re all here, spending time together, eating together. The players are competing, but when you see them in the buffet areas and you feel the vibe, I don’t know if you felt this, but this festival, it was a feel-good tour. A lot of smiles everywhere.

At the tables as well, even among opponents.

Exactly. And that I loved, you know. One player sent me a message today, saying “This is a feel-good tour, instead of a fast-food joint.” We include the buffet here for the tournament players. If I have supervised the buffet myself, with the food and beverage manager, Daniel Farrugia, and Daniel is amazing. I mean, he cooks lean.

It’s probably one of the most fun parts of the job, getting to sample all the food, yeah?

Yeah, of course. And cooking for almost 2,000 people is very difficult. Every day. So it’s a massive effort, and I think we’ve tackled it. I mean, I think the food is quite good, the players are enjoying it, it’s value, value, value. Remember that I’m a player too, so I want to bring value to my peers, too. Honestly, I think that’s where a lot of operations need to shape up, because sometimes it’s just casino, and there’s nothing in between. They focus on offering games like Tequila Poker to their patrons and just act as a physical venue for the poker tournaments; nothing else. And in that sense, Portomaso and I have created a synergy where we leverage each other in a very interesting way.

This is a brand-new festival. It’s the first time it’s being run, and, you know, when I see the numbers, I think you guys did pretty well. Just to give some examples, 491 players in the inaugural Hendon Mob Championship, 1,366 players in the Grand Event, and an astounding 103 players in the Ladies’ Event. How did you get the turnout to be so good, especially in that Ladies’ Event?

Well, on the Ladies’ Event, it was actually the ambassadors that did a fantastic job. I mean, I have to thank Unibet ambassador Daiva Byrne especially, because she really committed. I mean, she’s so good for the game. Some people don’t understand, how hard she works. She writes a blog, runs a 2,000-person Facebook group for women, does podcasts analyzing hands, and of course plays, too. She’s an excellent ambassador and her commitment to the game is something that I am quite impressed with along with her work ethics. So, Daiva is one example, as well. Fiona Sand, from Norway, is another example.

And they helped to bring more women into the tournament?

Yes, it was all about networking. I would say that 2018 was the Year of the Woman in poker. Yeah, so we helped each other, and this was the first edition. Our ambition is to make it the biggest Ladies Event in Europe.

Wow, that would be really impressive! Well, we’re at the close of the Malta Poker Festival for now, all the events are behind us. It’s the culmination of loads of time and effort. Are you happy with how things have gone, and are you already thinking of plans for future years?

Yeah. Of course I’m already planning 2019; we want to release the dates as soon as possible. There’s no time to waste. But now comes the beautiful part of my job, the part that I enjoy a lot. Today, I locked myself in a room with my closest staff members, we have a little bit of wine, and we start reading the feedback. And we do the bloopers, the video man sends us all the bloopers.

We have a little bit of a laugh with some things that happened. A guy left a laptop in a restaurant and we found it for him. We go the extra mile to provide Class A service. I called this location, Portomaso Casino and the Malta Poker Festival, a five-star poker operation. We understand we’re dealing with human capital here, and happiness is a big component. So we become a little bit more of a family-oriented too, because I love when, for example, the dad comes with the family, and the family enjoys the beautiful property while dad is having fun playing; or mom, or both.

I want to do a babysitting service for next year. True story.

That I have never heard of anywhere. That would be amazing.

We want to develop enough, especially for the tournament, to have a babysitting service at the Hilton hotel.

I think a lot of people will avail themselves of something like that, and it really speaks to a lot of people. As poker players get older they get married, have kids, and having someone to watch the children can often be the kind of thing that’s make-or-break, of even being able to attend. If you have a service available, I think that would be really amazing.

That’s what we’re working on. And not that the babysitter goes to your room, but we will have a suite that has a bigger TV than usual, and you put the kids there to interact with each other so they are safe, they are learning, and enjoying themselves. That’s how we roll. Like, it’s not poker only, it’s everything. Family, children, food. The whole package.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that you have also partnered with the government of Malta itself. As far as I know, even the largest, most established poker brands holding the largest live events in the world don’t manage to get the attention and cooperation directly from the government of the country. How on earth did you manage that and develop a relationship with the right people?

That is a great question. I am very thankful for the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) because they are understanding. Malta is an iGaming hub, and they understand the impact that a tournament like this has. November is a slow season here, so they understand that this poker tournament fills up a big gap, contributes to the GDP of the country.

It’s such a small island, you feel the impact. I mean, I remember one year, after one of my tournaments, I went to the supermarket and the line of poker players buying ice cream was ridiculous.

So it hit me, like, alright, this is something special. So, I knocked on their doors, and as relentless as I am, I knocked and knocked and knocked until they started listening. The MTA is amazing. They are fantastic. They are so receptive, so forward-thinking. And this is one of the reasons why the Malta Poker Festival is possible. I decided on Malta, as opposed to somewhere else where legally it might be a gray area. Here, we have all the iGaming community, a lot of established operators, so they are helping a lot because for them, it is nicer to have a tournament at home base, in their backyard. That way they save expenses on sending their staff abroad, paying hotels. And the Malta Tourism Authority has understood that and has supported me all the way with this one. It’s amazing.

And the results, show that this is a Class A event. Well, obviously you’ve been working very hard to “Get butts in the seats,” and have people playing poker here. But as you’ve clearly stressed, even numerous times in the interview, it’s more important for you that people come and visit the beautiful island and have a great time on a poker trip, much more than just beyond the felt. What is it that makes you want to stress that aspect of this idea of a poker holiday?

The idea that you can build very interesting relationships through poker. I’ve met all sorts of people from all walks of life on the poker felt. Business people, chefs, artists. It’s been an amazing range of different people, and we all share the passion for poker. Once I was speaking with some friends, and I was telling them how I liked that if you go out in a bar and you’re clubbing, sometimes people talk about other people and do these things. When you’re in a poker tournament, people talk about poker hands. And that brings a meta-language. Even during the breaks, so this makes us all united and fantasize about mathematics, about hands. They say that mediocre people talk about other people, smart people talk about ideas.

We poker players, we talk about a meta-language that unites us and I believe that energy, that collective energy is very positive. So, saying that, I don’t think the breaks are enough for all of us to get to know each other. So my wish, and expect this for future editions, is to put it on an even more social scale. So perhaps we’re going to do some innovation in that, too. Make a nice little tour of Valetta, our beautiful capital.

Having done so, I can absolutely say it’s an amazing city, I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was named the European capital culture for 2018, and it is a gorgeous jewel. I mean, I’m in love with this island!

My wife and I had never been here before, and we know we’re going to miss it as soon as we leave. It’s an amazing place.

Then mission accomplished. If all the players leave feeling that, that is the feeling of satisfaction, and on top of that, a five-star poker operation.

My wife and I enjoying a walking tour of Valletta

Well, obviously it takes months of work to put together and organize a festival like this. I’m curious, what do you do during the other months of the year? What is your day-to-day schedule like? How do you keep busy when not specifically organizing or working on this event? What else do you do?

Well, to be honest with you, I was planning to take a big holiday with my kids in my hometown of Costa Rica, but that’s going to be cut short because I have a super exciting poker plan for March. So I have to go back to the drawing table very soon. And it’s a dream one.

We’ll stay tuned then . OK, so one final question, and I think it’s an important one to ask. As a woman who’s risen to such a prominent position within a very heavily male-dominated poker industry, you also understand firsthand how challenging that can me. More so than “just for a man.” So, what kind of message would you like to share with other women who see you and might be interested in joining the poker industry side of things, but might be a little hesitant or afraid to try?

Oh, I love that question, because at the beginning, it was very challenging. Even sitting at the poker tables has been challenging because – imagine the ratio – it’s nine guys and you sit down and you’re the only woman, that itself creates a different chemistry.

So I would suggest if someone is interested in joining the poker industry, well, play poker, for sure, and play ladies’ events. Ladies events give you a lot of security on the felt. I mean, I don’t know if you saw the ladies’ event, bubbly, they were having champagne, they were enjoying, complimenting each other’s outfits.

Malta Poker Festival Ladies Event

My friend happened to have been here in Malta during this festival, he had never attended a live poker event before. On the day of the ladies’ event, I was giving him a tour. When we got to where the Ladies Event was taking place, his immediate reaction was “Whoa, this is a totally different vibe. Wow, this is cool. I wish I was a woman!”

Yes, it was a beautiful event, for sure. And I would suggest, to anyone interested in the industry side of things, to learn how to play poker, and then apply and don’t be shy. Don’t ever be threatened, because we have a lot to offer as women. We can be very good team leaders, and we can motivate people in a very special way, and even being a mom helps me a little bit understand people and their unique backgrounds and perspectives better.

I’m sure a lot of our readers would like to learn more about you and follow your journey in the poker industry, and maybe get in touch with additional questions. So how or where can they reach you?

They can reach me at [email protected].

Ivonne, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Robbie.

Playing in a Poker Tournament

I very rarely get the opportunity to play in poker tournaments, and have played in less than a handful over the last decade. Earlier this year, the Hendon Mob announced that it would for the first time be hosting a poker tournament with its own branding at the Malta Poker Festival. The €250 buy-in represents an affordable price point and I have a feeling that this will be a uniquely fun event to participate in. Alternatively, there’s also the €275 Israeli Poker Championship Tournament that I might opt to play instead.

I’ve essentially never competed in tournaments, so I don’t have a Hendon Mob results page to speak of. As such, it would be pretty cool to have my first result be either one with the special new Hendon Mob “flag” or a cash in my “home country’s” event. Of course, though chances are slim, I’ll certainly be gunning for a winner’s photo, too.

Breaking News: The Global Poker Index & The Hendon Mob announce ‘The Hendon Mob Championship’ Event
4-6 November 2018
Malta #MaltaPokerFestival
220+30
https://t.co/nMzBRcg7q4 pic.twitter.com/oHMSwt5rfA

— Global Poker Index (@gpi) June 19, 2018

Exploring the Island(s)

Though it’s only about a 3-hour flight from where I live, I’ve never yet had the pleasure of visiting Malta. I’ve spent a good amount of time Googling “things to do in Malta” and the attractions seem quite intriguing and eclectic. While it’s a tiny country (a little over 300 square km), I hadn’t realized that it was made up of multiple islands and featured numerous different areas, including St. Julian’s, Sliema, Mdina, and others.

For such a small place, it’s quite densely populated (about half a million people) and has a very rich history and culture, which I’m hoping to learn more about via a guided walking tour and hop on-hop off bus tour.

Malta | Image credit: Lonely Planet

Meeting Ivonne Montealegre

If, after reading that name, your immediate thought was “who?” you wouldn’t be alone. When I first heard Ivonne’s name, just a few months ago, it didn’t ring any bells either. She’s the driving force behind the Malta Poker Festival, but she’s certainly not new to the poker scene. The Costa Rican native is exceptionally proud of her adoptive home, in Malta, where she’s now lived for a number of years. As the festival has approached, her name has come up in the poker press more and more often, and it’s clear she’s been working round the clock behind the scenes to ensure “her baby’s” debut is a huge success.

She’s clearly unafraid to put herself out there and I for one hope that her work inspires more women to get into the game of poker, whether as players or on the industry side of things.

My Birthday, My Wife, My Vacation

It just so happens that my birthday falls out right in the middle of the trip, on November 3. As such, I thought I’d be giving myself a nice present by bringing my wife, Miriam, along. The two of us haven’t had a vacation without our kids for quite a while, and Malta is a great, nearby destination to visit at this (or any) time of year. Traveling alone for a poker trip is always fun, but it’s extra special when you get to share the experiences with your beloved. What more could a guy ask for?

There’s nobody who looks better wearing the Cardplayer Lifestyle patch than my wife, Miriam.

Cash Games

Of the approximately 270 hours I’ve played poker this year, just a little over 150 of them have been played in cash games abroad, netting me a profit of about $2,000 for a decent hourly rate (I am a low-stakes recreational player after all). Between doing media work, exploring Malta with Miriam, and a (hopefully lengthy amount of time playing in the) tournament, I don’t know exactly when I’ll be finding the time to squeeze in some more hours at the cash game tables, but you can be sure it’ll happen. Who needs sleep anyway, right?

Who pulled a cash game all-nighter, then just went for a 10km run?

This guy

560km down 440km to go #charitypoker1000km for @SaveChildsHeart. More info: https://t.co/gackfOi7tR

You’ve got one life, folks. Live it to the fullest! pic.twitter.com/9vEV1mqSIL

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) August 3, 2018