Things happen.
Like, you’re playing a tournament, go to the bathroom, and come back to find somebody is sitting in your seat playing your stack. Or, you’re sitting in a game when two guys start a fistfight over one of their wives. Or, apropos of (nearly) nothing, a completely naked person sprawls out on the felt.
Those things happen. I’ve seen them happen.
But, you know, Team Pro has seen a lot more than me. What’s more, some of their most memorable tournament memories on PokerStars have involved things that didn’t go quite as planned.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking to Team Pro about the PokerStars tournaments that stick out in their heads. It’s all part of the ongoing PokerStars Billionth Tournament Carnival. We got all kinds of amazing answers (see the links at the bottom of this post), but the ones we got from Victor Ramdin and Christophe de Meulder were probably the most honest.
Take Ramdin, for instance. He’s a friendly guy, a guy not opposed to a quick drink with a friend. Or, say, some wine on a day where you might be playing the Big $162 on PokerStars.
“A friend had come to visit me earlier in the day, and I’d had a couple of glasses of wine during the visit,” Ramdin said.
It was innocent enough. No harm, no foul. The problem was, Ramdin got deep in that tournament…just about the time slipped into a deep slumber.
“I was so tired I fell dead asleep for about an hour-and-a-half,” he said. “When I finally woke up I saw I had finished third for about $30K — I’d missed the whole final table! I learned a lesson that night never to have even a couple of glasses of wine when playing.”
Christophe de Meulder managed to stay awake during his first really memorable tournament, but that doesn’t mean he stayed vertical.
The first time De Meulder ever won a PokerStars tournament, he’d entered one of the Big $109s. He had done so on what you might call…treacherous footing.
“The desk chair I was sitting in was broken — one of the wheels was missing,” he said. “When I sat still everything was fine, but whenever I won a big hand and got excited, I’d jump up and then come back down, and the chair would slip out from underneath me every time. I fell on the ground about five times!”
The thing is…De Meulder is sort of superstitious. And he was winning. And what don’t you do when you’re winning? That’s right. You don’t change anything. Even your broken chair. De Meulder is no dummy. He stayed in that chair all night (except for the times he fell out of it).
“I just kept forgetting about the broken wheel and went right on falling on the floor over and over until finally I’d won the tournament,” he said.
So, remember, friends: sometimes things are going to happen. You just have to be ready for them. And in the event you’re not, just hope for a soft landing.
What’s your favorite tournament memory? Come tell us on Twitter at our account: @PokerStarsBlog.
Previously:
Jan Heitmann: What is your most memorable PokerStars tourney?
Ivan Demidov: When he thought he could win them all
Team Pros pick out their favourite tournament memories
Bryan Huang: Life-changing money, life-changing conversation
Team Pros talk about their best live tournament memory
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging
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