Poker at HiveFest anyone?

Playing Texas hold'em on the Saturday of HiveFest is now a tradition, I mean, we've done that since Lisbon, Portugal in 2017, then in Krakow, Poland in 2018, and then on HF5 you guessed it, we played again in Bangkok, Thailand. Saturday night during HiveFest means poker and then some late night drinks with the poker crew.

It's just how it is, or at least how it has been, but it would be amazing to play again this year wouldn't it?

It's one of the longest standing activities during HiveFest, perhaps even as old as @detlev's #beersaturday which by the way, the poker guys always join in after playing cards.

If there's a poker tournament on Saturday night, will you join?

I have to ask because there's some planning to do ahead of HiveFest, chips to bring, cards to buy, perfect spot to find... nothing serious, also because this year we will have limited space - in Krakow we were 16, two tables! - and in Bangkok we were around 12 people so, this year I want to do a little planning ahead of the actual Poker at HiveFest.

So, it's pretty easy, if you want to join the 4th edition of the HiveFest Poker tour let me know in the comment section to save you a spot - as I said, there's a limited participation.

Are you in for some nostalgia?

Thailand, HiveFest4 - the latest Hivefest poker tour

In here you can see from top left to right @martibis, @lukestokes, @zlatan-spielberg, @bubke, @derangedvisions and @buttcoins. In the bottom left its me, @cryptex24, @rollie1212, @theycallmedan and Gaby, @lizanomadsoul and @blocktrades. Shout out to @dylanhobalart and @anthonyadavisii who weren't around for this pic but still played!

This was in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019. The final table was @theycallmedan, @bubke and @rollie1212. On his rookie year Dan beat 2nd year veteran Bubke and rookie Rollie. Also worth mentioning that this was Martibis, Lizanomadsoul, and Zlatan-spielberg's second tournament, while only blocktrades and yours truly have been part of this traditional tournament for the three years of its existence!

It's worth mentioning that I brough those chips all the way from Mexico! I have no idea where they are right now, they are probably in the bottom of the ocean next to Koh Chang, the island where some of us spent a few days after HiveFest.

Look at how we have a GoPro - I think it was buttcoins' camera that later on was stolen and we lost the videos :( - but we still managed to salvage some pictures from some cellphones, thankfully.

Here are the three winners! That year we had a 250 Hive entry, but I think this year we will have a smaller entry because of the bears and the overall brokenness we are all enduring.

Before that year, we played in Poland on HiveFest3

Bringing sunglasses and a hoodie to kick some ass @nanzo-scoop, @gargon with a strong live poker experience, @aggroed who we all know loves card games, @pgarcgo striking with some sick math and probability skills, @bubke with an indecipherable Poker face, @zlatan-spielberg wielding a new skill set and @leotrap with a hardcore aggressive strategy saw their faces in table number one.

@blocktrades with some sick reading skills, @el-cr brought some serious poker experience from Panama, @cryptogee who arrived a bit late but still kicked some ass, @lizanomadsoul from Germany bringing great hand reading, @martibis showing that bluffing can get you far, @gexi showing us that a tight strategy sometimes is the best, @theaustrianguy winning and losing stacks like crazy and me @anomadsoul faced each other in the second table.

And then the final table, where the 4 remaining players from each table meet and face each other:

We also had the presence of @gtg, @timsaid, @guyfawkes4-20, @celestal, @tarazkp and @llfarms as bystanders, @gtg even started to read Poker for dummies just to be able to understand what was going on every hand.

In the end @el-cr @bubke and @theaustrianguy played the finals. I don't have the picture of the three finalists, perhaps someone also has the picture of everyone who participated in the tournament (I know it exists lol), please share it in the comment section!

The First HiveFest poker tour - Lisbon 2017

This was improvised as fuck because we went for a surf session altogether with many hivers who are no longer with us (like @heiditravels, @surfermarly, @nomadnessie and others) except for @pgarcgo and @gargon.

Back from the beach, I told Marlene and Manu if they would like to play a quick poker game and they were pretty excited about it, so we decided to make it a GO! We found a spot, bought some cookies to use as chips, managed to buy some cards - underground poker was forbidden in Portugal back then, so we weren't able to get chips anywhere.

Yeah that's the table. Peanuts of different size for low value bets, and big cookies for high value stakes. There are a few millionaires in that table but hey, we at Hive are humble and don't mind playing like people who live under a bridge.

That first edition was honored to have the first HiveFest poker tour participants: @blocktrades, @nanzo-scoop, @pgarcgo, @surfermarly, @gargon, @lafona, @lrock, @juanmiguelsalas, @scan0017 and yours truly.

If I recall correctly Tony (nanzo) won that time, forgive me but this was five years ago and I don't have the same memory before all the open bars @roelandp has given me through all the HiveFests.

Those were the days.

But they are not over, so...

Poker at HiveFest, anyone?

_{If you have any pics from any of the tournaments, please share them in the comment section, it would be amazing - and a nice trip down memory lane to see some pics from back then.}

If you are in for some poker, let me know in the comment section so I can save your place already!

_{The liquid HBD from this post will go towards the @blocktrades + @Leofinance & @actifit HiveFest contests}