The Idiot plans to beeline to Cyprus after he MedTreks a few hundred kilometers on the Lycian Way in southern Turkey next April.
The reason for the spring SideTrek is not only to hike around the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, study the oceanic crust while climbing in the Troodos Mountains, visit ten Byzantine churches that UNESCO has named World Heritage Sites and explore the remains of human activity since the 10th millennium BC.
One path leading to the Troodos Mountains.
It’s also to check in with well-placed acquaintances who are part of the island’s professional gaming industry and convince them to let The Idiot play a few competitive games of poker.
That’s because Cyprus is part of the popular World Poker Tour, one of the biggest tournaments backed in prior years by Betfair Poker. And The Idiot has been invited to the stay at Merit Crystal Cove and Casino which plays host to the island’s prestigious gaming events.
The Merit Crystal Cove and Casino in Cyprus: Bringing the world’s best poker players to Cyprus.
The World Poker Tour is one of the most prestigious invitational poker tournaments and tens of thousands of hopefuls, like The Idiot, try to snag a big purse each year. Winning the WPT carries as much weight in the poker industry as getting a Golden Globe Award does in the movie biz. The WPT and the older World Series of Poker bring players to many unexpected venues and The Idiot considers it fortuitous that nearby Cyprus is one of them.
The Idiot probably won’t do as well Alexei Rybin, the Russian businessman who won the Merit Cyprus Classic this year and walked off with $258,000 and a guaranteed seat at the recent 2013 WPT Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada. And he may not have as many Russian fans as Alexei either. In fact, the final table for this year’s tournament featured three players from Russia and Andrei Nikonov and Sergey Rybachenko took third and fifth place in the tournament.
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, The Idiot has learned that Cyprus could return as part of the World Poker Tour during next year’s 13th season and he wants to be in on the action. In fact, he’s contacted some participants from previous World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker tournaments to see what he’s got to do to be sure of a seat at the table.
He’ll start by learning Russian.
Photos: Merit Crystal Cove and Casino and the Troodos Regional Board of Tourism.
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