March Overview

Hello!

March literally flew by. It didn't even feel like a whole month. Maybe that's because I was pretty busy all the time, so now that I slowed down it feels like I opened my eyes one day and it was April already. But enough with the chit-chat, let's get to business.

I only got to play half of the month basically. I had some Team Online obligations and other stuff that kept me busy during the second half of the month, so don't expect to see crazy volume in the graph below.

That's 4.6k games which is okay-ish considering I didn't play the full month. What's not okay is the result, I just finished up $270. Then again, over such a small size sample for the hyper standards anything is possible so I feel like I shouldn't be complaining after finishing above the zero line. As you can see, the month had some very low points that I was able to turn around. 

I'm also not very happy with the amount of time I spent studying last month. The truth is, it was basically my first month as a Team Online member which meant that I had to incorporate new things in my everyday routine. It's a very positive change of course, but it still needs an adaptation period.

The first highlight of the month was that André and I got invited to participate in a PokerStars promotion for Portuguese players. Basically, it was a sit-n-go where the lucky winners got to play poker against Ronaldo (among other people). Some of the players of that sit-n-go other than André and myself, were Team PokerStars Pro João Nunes and portuguese TV host João Manzarra. The game was a lot of fun and it was very interesting to be sitting at a table with so many big personalities! I was doing quite well also, I actually got to be one of the top 3 and had to fight for the title against André and Ronaldo! Unfortunately André ended up eliminating me (don't worry, there will be revenge for that!) and a bit later he also eliminated Ronaldo and won the tournament. After the poker game was over, we got to spend some time with Ronaldo and finished the day with dinner at the casino's delicious restaurant. Pretty awesome day!!!

With Ronaldo "the phenomenon"!

On March 17th I had a plane to catch to go to Athens. This time, the purpose of my trip was business and not just to see family. What was on the menu? A media event organized especially for me and the filming of my Team Online video. The Team Online manager and a filming crew came to Athens a couple of days after me.

The media event was first. We went to the casino of Loutraki, which is one hour away from Athens. I'd never been there before but I was pleasantly surprised. Although not the biggest casino I've seen, it's actually quite nice with spacious rooms and a great sea view. I was barely introduced to the journalists when they took us to a space especially reserved for us and we sat down at a poker table. What better way to break the ice among strangers than a friendly poker tournament? What made it even more interesting was the fact that some of them had no idea how to play poker, so I had to explain the rules from zero. We played a hyper turbo sit-n-go (yeayyyyy!), which was great cause that's not really the kind of tournament you ever get to play live. I was the one to bubble out, but I didn't care about the result that much, the important thing is that I think everyone had fun.

At casino Loutraki

After the sit-n-go, we went to another room for the interview. To tell you the truth, on the day before when I was thinking that there would be a bunch of journalists asking me questions I got a bit stressed. But by the time everyone sat down at the table and the questions started, it felt more like I was out having coffee with old friends. Well, friends that had notepads and pens and were keeping notes of what I said... But the fact that all the journalists were cool and friendly people helped put me at ease. When they told me the interview was over, my first thought was "Already?". It was past lunchtime when we finished so we paid a visit to the casino's buffet. I only didn't eat too much cause I had souvlaki for breakfast. Not kidding.

To be fair, the photo is from another day. For breakfast I only had the souvlaki, not the french fries with the cheddar and bacon. Yum!

Overall I really enjoyed the day, it kinda felt like a field trip. You can see the interviews that have already been published here, here and here. They're in greek of course, but thanks to google translate you should be able to get a good part of what's written in case you're interested.

The filming of my Team Online video was next. And it was not as easy. You've probably seen Team Online videos before (I personally love them!). With the exception of Ike's that's more like a documentary, the rest of the videos are 6-8 minutes long. Well let me tell you, for those 8 minutes there are 2 full days of filming involved! And when I say full, I mean FULL. We started at 10.30 in the morning and we finished past midnight on the first day and around dinner time on the next. We filmed in 5 different locations, interviewed 5 different people apart from me and overall it was a blast, but it was also very tiring. Also, I'm not used to be talking in front of cameras, so I'm really curious to see how it will turn out in the end. There isn't an official date for the video to be published, but I'm totally looking forward to it!

Temporary poker setup

Filming crew!

After the Team Online business was over, I got to spend some time with my family. About a week later André and I came back to Lisbon and still had some days left in the month for us to grind. Overall it was a good month, but I'd like to focus a lot more on poker during April. With the SCOOP coming up in May, I want to be as prepared as possible by playing my A-game!

That's all for now, see you soon with a new post! :)