Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - Mia
I feel like I was on a dream and it finished a bit too soon! Now that I am back in Costa Rica doing my blog again and I can’t believe that just a week ago I was at the beach with a background sound of the chips flowing at the poker tables in Aruba.
First of all, this was my first live event and I never thought the energy you feel there would be so intense. Second, I truly got to see a whole new face of what we do on a daily basis; all the guys that attended are in a super nice mood; I guess the scenery and environment there help to create this. And last but not least, there were some insane parties and activities that took place alongside all the poker.
On that note, I can surely say that the Icons where the ones who had the best deal there is! You can ask any of them that attended this year about the nice treats and good parties we had for them….. or, you can just take a sneak peak:
Or…
Maybe…
Plus, it is not bad at all to be able to enjoy the breaks of the event chilling at the Icon Lounge. We had food, drinks, games and some comfy couches to chill and talk poker. Here are some other pictures of what we had at the Icon lounge, they might move you to become Icon and have a taste of the VIP perks:
Seems like home…
But there are not enough blog posts or cool pics that can really translate the environment that I lived there, this just doesn’t cut it! So as a personal goal I promise that next year I will get more of you guys to go there, you will thank me later. Think of it this way, even if you don’t have a seat to the main event we do have live satellites to it and many other tourneys and SnGs; plus you can give multipurpose to the trip and make a nice vacation of it. We expect all you guys to join us next year so we can have some Aruba Aribas!
Still Loving Aruba…
PS: I bet you really want to know what an Aruba Ariba is…
Tags: Aruba, beach, dream, Icon, memories, partying, Rai$e VIP Team, sand
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - Vincent
Thankfully, the semester finished some days ago! We had some final exams and projects at College, but we definitely had to crown the first half of this year with some final poker tourneys with classmates and pals. I lost on some of them due to incredibly bad beats at the final table and won some others so I got back what I lost and gained a bit of profit.
It’s been a lot of practice. During this past weekend we also had some parties to welcome Victor since he just got back from Vegas a few days ago, so we had some drinks, BBQ, pizza and lots of food.. Of course, as we always say, a party is not a party without some poker on it; hence, we started a small freeze out Sit and Go that later became a rebuy mini tourney since everyone agreed on allowing rebuys to make the prize pool even bigger. I personally don’t see any problems on giving my pals a second chance if at the end my prize will grow bigger and bigger. But this time our winners were Mark and Kim! Our tourney was taking like forever so they chose to made a Final Table Deal while they were matching each other at the Final Heads Up; consequently, the remaining prize pool for both 2nd and 1st place was split evenly to them.
Anyway, since right now we are on vacation time, I have fixed my schedule so I can go to the beach next week. Beaches around here are just awesome; it is already a must for everyone here to run to the nearest beach as soon as we have a break… no matter how small it is. I have called some Hotels and make some reservations on the ones that offer poker games on their casinos, so everything is settled and properly arranged for me to have loads of fun with my buddies this summer break.
I got to admit it was not as easy to find big poker action at our beaches as I would have thought. Can you imagine that? I mean, just thinking about the whole Aruba Poker Classic concept can give chills to anyone. If you picture this, it should be utopian for any poker player to play his hands with a heaven on earth at a walking distance.
After all, I think this is where the whole concept of our Aruba Poker Classic came from. Take two hours for a nice and relaxing walk around the beach in the morning, rest next to the pool with cool drinks while you plan your perfect poker strategy for the afternoon, hit the sunny poker tables while feeling the ocean’s breeze in your face…Did your strategy work? It doesn’t matter that much now. You have your consolation prize right in front of your eyes.
I see the beach, in this case Aruba, as the perfect balance within the stress and pressure that the poker profession can cause and the energy and relaxation only nature offers. Feeling frustrated? Jump into the water and let the ocean’s wisdom help you to forget about everything and make this experience the best of your life.
Well, I hope you guys enjoy the tables and prepare to make your way to Aruba. I encourage each one of you to make it a reality for yourselves because they have breath-taking beaches, exciting events, parties and most important a really thrilling and huge Poker Tournament waiting for you!
Tags: Aruba, Bad Beat, beach, College, heads-up, island, nature, ocean, tourneys, Vegas
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - Fabio
I know the WSOP hasn’t finished, yet and we will definitely have more to share with you about this event in upcoming blogs. I mean, this was the first year the VIP team was there and rumor has it they had a blast with you guys, so why not to share it with all the UB family. My suggestion is: Keep checking the blog!
However, on this occasion I just wanted to write about something I know you guys care a lot: The Aruba Poker Classic 2009.
We all know for a fact that this event is already important within the poker community, but I have to tell you that everyone over here is working really hard, so only good and remarkable things can be expected for this year’s event. UB already had an empire at the WSOP and I am sure we will have a bigger and better one at Aruba.
You know what is the best thing about this event? Well, that our site offers many ways for you guys to make you way to this incredible and paradisiacal island. You just need to constantly check our site and mailers and that will be it. Winning a package, won’t be a problem for you!
We will also have these great and most important exclusive games for VIP players only. These will be running during Sundays on August and it is like the perfect game for you to make it. We will let you know about it for sure and just to give you a little hint: start winning and saving some points. These will be really useful.
Just think about a beautiful turquoise ocean, white sand, sunny days, some cocktails and of course poker. What a combination! There is no way you do not want to experience it.
We are 72 days away from Aruba, so you still have plenty of time, but I would say it is about time for you to start packing. Make sure to pack the same things you took to the WSOP, but this time please include some sunscreen! 
By the way, the VIP team will be at Aruba this year, as well. So, there you have another reason for you to go…!. Rest assured we look forward to playing some poker next to the beach with you guys.
Tags: Aruba Poker Classic, beach, Community, empire, paradisiacal, Poker Poker Poker, Rai$e VIP Team, VIP
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - Vincent
During the last few days I have been visiting several Casinos from around here; I lost on one of them due to incredibly horrible bad beats, but I do not complain that is how poker is and afterwards I just stayed cool and then recovered on other ones, so I made a really nice amount of money among most of them. I then started thinking what to do with all this easy earned money, it crossed my mind the idea of getting a new Computer (maybe one of those Quad Core’s ones), or an X-Box 360 Elite, more games for my PS3; however, those things are only stuff that you enjoy at home, so I called a couple of friends and some of them have contacts with people from that work at hotels in Jaco, which is a really cool place to stay at, party and surf, so I decided to go on a trip there on my days off.
After I ended my shift on Tuesday at 10 p.m., I was like all jumpy and excited because it has been a long time since the last time I went to the beach, and of course, I needed a tan! (lol) Anyways, I finished doing some pending stuff at work and after I finished, I called a cap since I needed to get at home like really fast, call my buddies to do all the arrangements about accommodations and traveling arrangements, so when I got home I started packing my stuff really fast, I put on my bags, like shampoo, clothes, shows, and several other stuff that you will never use at the beach, I was like so excited to go there that I forgot to bring my swim trunks, my sandals, my sun blocker and all the important stuff that you must bring to the beach.. And yeah.. It’s been a really long time since the last time I went to beach.. Hehe.. That is why I forgot all that, but in the end I bought them at the beach.
When we arrived I was like, “GOD! How did all these people manage to live here?” the Sun was strong and the heat was intense, so I went to a place and changed my clothes, since I was wearing jeans and a hoodie due to that in San Jose the climate was cold in the morning when I took the bus to Jaco, so by the time I arrived at the beach wearing all that I was like suffocating really bad so the change of clothes sweet me well.
First off, we arrived at Playa Hermosa, took some waves at the Beach and then we traveled to “Esterillos” or something like that, I don’t remember the correct name right now, but it was an awesome beach, my friend and I met this really beautiful, Californian girls that were traveling with their family, they were like 18 and 19, so too young for me, nonetheless, since my friend was 19, he definitely made his move on one of them and I helped him as his wingman and disarmed his father by speaking with him a lot of politics and distracting him while my friend was making out with his “princess” behind a palm tree while he was cooking some really nice steaks on a gas BBQ.. We ate a lot that night!
Later on that night, when I was travelling on the microbus from the Hotel to another one, I remembered that Jaco is the location of a really cool and awesome Casino called “CasinoJazz” and there were some open poker tables in there, so I told the driver to turn around and that we wanted to go there, so after an hour of traveling, we finally arrived there and it was nice! When I entered I was like, slot machines, game tables, etc.. So I ran to the “Cashier” lady and asked them were the poker tables were located. Unfortunately, I lost $100 on those tables since I made quads on the turn and this guy paid with flush draw and on the river he hit a straight flush, so I was like: “OMG! Come on!” So I asked the dealer if they had like a Bad Beat Jackpot or something and he laughed.. Anyways, it was a fun night and some hours after, I recovered back those $100 from the same guy, plus another $75, so I “hit and then ran” (hehe).
When I got home, I realized that poker is something so big, that no matter where you are, you can always take advantage of it and have lots of fun with it, anytime and anywhere.
Have an awesome week everyone and remember always have fun while you play no matter what, good karma while playing attracts luck and success! And it is scientifically proven! :]]
Tags: beach, Casino, Playa Hermosa, Poker Poker Poker, Rai$e VIP Team, VIP
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