Travel Tips from the Pros

We’ve talked to some of the world’s top poker pros. As you can imagine, their travel schedules are extremely hectic. They need to be organized in order to make the journey from one poker tournament to the next. Oftentimes, this involves successfully navigating airports, foreign expressways, and languages that are not native. We’re here to present a few travel trips that pros have shared with us over the years.

Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu stressed the importance of arriving early to a foreign city. In his case, he was in London for the World Series of Poker Europe festivities. Instead of arriving the day before the tournament and rushing to find his hotel, check in, change money, and negotiate a significant time change, Negreanu arrived a week early, allowing him plenty of time to establish himself. The time change is perhaps the most important difference. Players traveling west to east will have trouble falling asleep at their normal hours, which leads to drowsiness the next day. In a game like poker, in which a player’s success ultimately depends on their awareness and skill, not sleeping is a recipe for disaster.

Negreanu took fifth in the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, banking £217,200. His alertness at the table was indicative of arriving early to Jolly Old England. Coming well in advance of a tournament allows you ample time to adjust to the difference in time, take in a few sites, and not feel frazzled should anything go awry. Of course, this assumes that, like Negreanu, your schedule allows for an early flight to your destination. Many times, poker tournaments plan dinners and welcome parties ahead of time. Make sure to attend these. On the way there, find the tournament area and cashier window so that you can register if needed. If nothing else, you’ll know exactly where you’re going.

Several online pros, including Eric “Rizen” Lynch, have stressed the importance of taking time to get out of the casino and experience the sites and sounds of your new home. After all, how many times in your life are you going to be able to travel to Australia for the Aussie Millions? What about Monaco for the European Poker Tour’s Monte Carlo Grand Final? I’d say that, odds are, it’s a once in a lifetime experience. While you’re there, take in an Aussie Rules football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Visit the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco and track the path of Jacques Cousteau. The bottom line is that there are a bevy of sites and sounds to take in. Get away from your laptop and experience the culture of your new surroundings.

If you’ve ever spoken to someone like tournament director Linda Johnson, then you know she’s organized. You can’t travel to a poker tournament in a different country without being incredibly organized. We’ve heard numerous instances of poker players forgetting their laptop chargers, cell phone chargers, and even their passports when they travel. I had a friend who traveled from Nashville, Tennessee to San Jose, Costa Rica. The flight connected through Houston, Texas. When he arrived in the Lone Star State, customs officials gave him the bad news that his passport was too worn to be accepted in Costa Rica. Consequently, he had to spend the night in Houston and visit the U.S. passport office there in order to expedite a new one. Not only was this experience incredibly frustrating, but it was also expensive.

Being organized prior to traveling isn’t as difficult as you may think. Before you leave, make a checklist of important items to bring. These would include clothes, toiletries like your toothbrush and deodorant, and your electronic devices. Make sure to bring your charging mechanisms for your iPod, laptop, and razor. If you’re going to a foreign country, do some research ahead of time to see what voltage it uses. The normal voltage in the United States, for example, is 110. However, a 110 volt plug is a rare commodity in other countries. Making your laptop power cord compatible with a 220 volt plug requires both an adapter and a power converter, so head to a store like Radio Shack for both. They’ll run you about $50 total.

Happy travels from all of us here at Holdem Bonuses