Hot Poker Competition On The Arctic Ice

Published: Friday, April 07, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

HOT POKER COMPETITION ON THE ARCTIC ICE

Clothing and chips alike fly at freezing final table

First we had an underwater poker final table beneath the Caribbean Sea; we have just seen the current competition in the Arctic where finalists faced each other across a table on the ice shelf, and the next event will be held in a sunken ship off the coast of St. Kitts.

Watch out, too for the July event "Loser's Leap" which will be held at 10,000 feet above the Las Vegas Desert. The final table will be airborne, and as players run out of chips they will have to parachute back to earth!

We're talking Extreme Poker, (see previous Online-Casinos.com reports) pioneered by InterPoker.com and designed to put players under environmental as well as poker pressure in the finals of big win tournaments fed by online satellites.

Freezing out the competition in the latest Arctic Freeze Out Tournament clash was Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 World Series of Poker Champion, who staged a dramatic come-from-behind victory against hostile players and a less than friendly environment.

Varkonyi sent chills through his competitors Peter Larsson of Sweden, Ulrik Jensen of Denmark, Rene Christensen of Denmark, Daniel Stein of England and reigning Extreme Poker Champion and local favorite Juha Helppi of Finland at a fiercely contested final table that left them all out in the cold.

Battling temperatures that reached minus 10° F, the Extreme Competitors were given the option of repurchasing lost chips in exchange for garments, forcing them to play in only a T-Shirt. Within the first three hands, Internet qualifier Daniel Stein had not only stripped Varkonyi of his chip stack, but also forced him to peel off his protective layer of winter clothing in order to stay in the tournament. Varkonyi later resorted to running laps in between hands to maintain circulation and stave off frostbite.

Ultimately, only Varkonyi and Helppi remained in the tournament, with Varkonyi playing in just a T-Shirt, and Helppi securely wrapped in his Parka. Varkonyi drew 9/10 off suit, and Helppi held suited K/9 of clubs. The flop uncovered off suit 10/7 and a 3 of clubs, giving Varkonyi a pair of 10s and Helppi a flush Draw. Helppi pushed all of his chips in, and Varkonyi called his bet, his lips turning blue, and his body shaking around the frost-covered table. The turn gave a 7, and the river another 10, leaving Varkonyi with a Frozen Full House to claim the Extreme Poker Title.

"Winning this title makes my suffering through the most excruciating cold I've ever experienced worth it, and I know this tournament will prepare me well for the 2006 World Series of Poker" said Varkonyi. "Juha really gave me a run for the title, and my hat... and my coat... are off to him!"

Varkonyi will rejoin Juha at the 2006 Extreme Poker Championship, to be held in a sunken ship off the coast of St. Kitts, together with top-placed InterPoker.com Internet qualifier Ulrik Jensen from Denmark.

"The tournament was absolutely stunning - the players sat atop a seemingly endless ice shelf on the Arctic sea and played a frostbitten game of poker, as frigid winds whipped across the table" said InterPoker.com spokesperson Peter Marcus. "All of the players showed an amazing amount of concentration, skill and pure grit during this tournament - especially our Internet qualifiers, who I anticipate will have very promising poker careers."

Internet qualifier Ulrik Jensen was excited to play against the pros at InterPoker.com's Arctic Freeze Out Tournament, but seemed to be more interested in the prospect of facing Varkonyi and Juha once more in St. Kitts. "My face, fingers and toes are all numb after sitting for 90 minutes in the frozen tundra - and nothing sounds better than visiting a tropical paradise for a week of sun and poker" he remarked.

At the close of the Finland event, InterPoker.com announced that every player who qualifies for the World Series of Poker through InterPoker.com WSOP satellite tournaments will be offered a place in the qualifying round for the upcoming July Extreme Poker event titled "Loser's Leap" to be held at 10,000 feet above the Las Vegas Desert. Players will compete in a plane, and will have to bale out and hit the silk when their chips run out.