POKER PROF’S POKER TALES FROM THE HIGH SEAS

The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’ Majesty of the Sea.

PokerRoom.com, held the final table of their “Become a Poker Pro Tournament” aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Sea cruise ship during a three day cruise out of Miami to Nassua, Bahama with an outbound day stopover at CocoCay. Ten qualifiers from the online PokerRoom.com met around the final table for a live championship match offering a Quarter of a Million Dollars to the winner and a year of sponsorship in major poker tournaments around the world. Jim Davenport, an investment banker from Corona Del Mar, California, claimed the $250,000 when the final hand was dealt and his trip Aces ruled, giving him the win.

The championship round held on the cruise ship was the finale of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Last September thousands of entrants played at PokerRoom.com for one of the ten final table seats. If you are one of those players that didn’t make the list of ten because of a horrific bad beat or maybe lady luck forgot you even exist, then this article is for you. Your journey by proxy to the PokerRoom.com’s “Become a Poker Pro Championship” final table held on a luxury ship cruising around the Caribbean. We left the port of Miami mid-afternoon on Friday and sailed over night to CocoCay, a small Caribbean island owned by the ship company, Royal Caribbean International.

CocoCay was warm and sunny, very sunny. The “Become a Poker Pro Tournament” final table’s ten players were scheduled to do an afternoon photo shoot on the island. A PokerRoom.com table was set up in the sand and grass on the beach with a panaoramic view of the brilliant blue waters of the Caribbean serving as the natural background. Unfortunately, little in the way of shade was available for the four hour event and when this lack of natural sun protection was combined with my lack of a hat, then add into the mix my lack of sun exposure (I’m always in front of computer screens managing a diverse, growing network…my life is mouse in one hand cell phone in the other.) and you have third degree sunburn…humbling. The PokerRoom.com group had a great time on the island with many of the entourage sampling the feel and look of the Caribbean for the first time. The small, low CocoCay is ideal to experience the vastness of the ocean while standing on terra firma. Waterscapes reaching to the horizon encircle you and the small spit of sand where you’re standing…even more humbling.

An early evening departure and we are again cruising under a partly cloudy star filled sky, something we never see in Las Vegas. Another overnight run takes us into Nassua, the premier Caribbean tourist port and home to the spectacular Atlantis Resort and Casino. Luxurious accommodations in one of nature’s most plush tropical settings pushed the Atlantis Resort beyond what I expected. I come from the city with the world record for ‘A’ list destination resorts, Las Vegas, so I found the Atlantis Resort to be equal to the best. Tall twin towers are skybridged together and present a striking silhouette high above the luxurious tropical grounds surrounding the huge property. Inside, the look is even more Vegas with some very distinctive glass art sculptures from the studios of Dale Chihuly. Dale is the International artist and master art glass blower that did the world acclaimed Fiori di Como, a colorful garden of blossoms formed from 2000 hand blown glass flowers serving as the central ceiling of the Bellagio’s lobby. The Atlantis Resort in Nassua commissioned Chihuly to produce artworks including two large centerpieces of glass art for their resort and he created the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. I immediately recognized the Chihuly artistic signature, even from afar, of the two room-size works of art. Chuhuly’s distinctive style of glass art has no equal. So, what can a resort like the Atlantis, one that has everything in abundance, not have? It has a luxurious Casino, gourmet restaurants, yacht parking, world class accommodations, elite shopping, museum-class art, beach front private luxury apartments, perfectly manicured tropical grounds, world class spa, simply too many things to list; but, you can’t play live poker at the Atlantis. The one thing atlantis doesn’t have is a poker room.

The day in Nassua restored my faith in my ability to deal with street vendors and shop merchants. My day in Nassua was also a relaxing, enjoyable handful of hours in tropical paradise, mon. Hanging with the PokerRoom.com crowd gave me the opportunity to spend time with some of the ten players qualified to play in this championship round of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Most had not played a major money tournament, especially a live table, before making this BAPP Tournament final table. One of the players definitely did not belong in the live tournament newbie category, Dragon2. Dragon2 is well known around Internet Poker Rooms and PokerRoom.com. A seasoned online specialist that also plays a mean live tournament game. Dragon2, aka Jack Arnold of Tulsa, Oklahoma, made it to the featured TV table at the 2004 WSOP main event on the first day. You can see him on ESPN in episode 1 of the 10 episodes of the 2004 main event. Jack’s bad beat was so bad it was featured in the 2005 WSOP “The Nuts” segment on bad beats. I had an opportunity to tape an interview with Jack. Another high profile PokerRoom.com player, MarvinGarden, made the BAPP championship round along with arttu5, Arttu Poikolainen of Helsinki, Finland, winner of Grand Tournament 1.

Jim Davenport is a 25 year old investment banker that comes from the Newport Beach area of greater Los Angeles. He, along with the other nine final table players, made it into the Become a Poker Pro tournament when PokerRoom.com held a freeroll tournament last September for the online poker room’s top players. The cards went into the air at Noon on Sunday at the final table located in the casino on the Majesty of the Sea. The eliminations continued throughout the afternoon and early evening while the ship sailed on into the night for Miami. Jim won the tournament when he called an all-in with an A,Q offsuit and caught an Ace on the flop, another Ace on the turn gave him the winning top set.

Jim Davenport, screen name JDtrojan3, will now compete for a year in major poker tournaments under the sponsorship of PokerRoom.com. The $250,000 package includes a buy-in in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, WPT Championships, WSOP Circuit events and European Poker Tour events as he lives the life of a poker professional traveling the major tournament circuit playing with the best poker players in the game while traveling the world. Congratulations to Jim for his victory in the inaugural Become a Poker Pro Tournament. PokerRoom.com did a terrific job of hosting this event aboard the luxury ocean liner, Caribbean International’s Majesty of the Sea. A great time was had by all of the players, fans and friends that spent three marvelous days cruising the Caribbean, relaxing, partying, eating, tanning, talking poker and playing poker.

A complete list of the Become a Poker Pro Tournaments ten championship round finalist with hometowns, screen names and finish in the Championship round.

Seat #1: Arttu Poikolainen, Helsinki, Finland, arttu…9th place
Seat #2: Dustin Goff, Aspen, Colorado, HustlerPoke…4th place
Seat #3: Bill Pero, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, BillyBluff13…2nd place
Seat #4: Christropher Birchby, Las Angeles, California, MarvinGardens…10th place
Seat #5: Jack Arnold, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dragon2…7th place
Seat #6: Jim Davenport, Corona Del Mar, California, JDtrojan3…Champion
Seat #7: Kyle Morse, Abingdon, Maryland, KMO2…6th place
Seat #8: John Wachter, Takoma Park, Maryland, mdjohnny…5th place
Seat #9: Robert Zack, Matuchen, New Jersey, mav98911…8th place
Seat #10: Ryan Rufe, Parma, Ohio, rufebert…3rd place

Poker players looking for one of the best online poker rooms with great promos and specials running continuously should check out PokerRoom.com. Maybe I’ll be interviewing you at next year’s Become a Poker Pro Tournament final table aboard a luxurious Royal Caribbean ship cruising the beautiful Caribbean. The first step to becoming a Poker Professional on the world’s major tournament circuit begins at PokerRoom.com, your online poker home. I’ll be closely watching the 2006 Become a Poker Pro Tournament Champion, Jim Davenport, when he’s in Las Vegas this August for the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, make this final table and you become one of poker’s millionaires, maybe even a multi-millionaire. World Poker Tour stops in Las Vegas add even more opportunities for Jim to gain poker wealth and stardom.