Juha wins World Underwater Poker Title – By Simon Hawkins
One of the highlights of the week long Carribean Poker Classic [Tournament] held in St.Kitts was the underwater poker tournament held in crystal clear waters of the Carribbean Sea.
First in a number of planned extreme poker tournaments, and sponsored by Interpoker.com, the event was the brainchild of InterPoker.com Head Peter Marcus.
Poker players of the caliber of Kenna James, Juha Helpii, Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak donned the scuba gear…
A real poker table was used at a pre ordained dive site 10m below the surface, weighted to rest on a small reef. The deck had been laminated and strips placed on the felt to hold down the cards. Even the chips had been specially weighted not to float away.
A game structure was organized and the whole tournament took about an hour to complete. The players even had laminated ‘chat cards’ to compliment each other on their play – ‘you fish’, ‘nh’ (nice hand), and ‘good call’ were among those used!Phil, wearing his trademark hooded top along with his scuba gear, was eliminated first when in a huge and vital pot his pocket 4s were outdrawn by Juha’s K10.
Juha, now officially the underwater poker champion of the world, commented afterwards that he always felt confident of victory allowing for the fact that both Phil and Kenna’s fast talking game was nullified underwater.â€