Now that the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic is over and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is still a couple of weeks away, the poker community now has a little time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday season. Several players are headed home for holidays, while others are trying to avoid getting too festive.
A quick glance at Twitter indicates that many players are logging hours in the airport en route to their Christmas destinations. Beth Shak, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Vanessa Rousso, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and J.C. Alvarado all posted updates on their travels on the social networking site. Most were venturing to their hometowns for the holidays. Bonomo is back in his home state of Virginia, while Phil Hellmuth is in Wisconsin. One of the players who did the most traveling was Fabrice Soulier, who spent 34 hours in transit in order to get from Las Vegas to his home in Paris, France.
Perhaps the most interesting holiday trip belongs to Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch. Rather than head home for the holidays, Bloch headed south for the winter and, according to his Twitter feed, is currently touring ruins in Tulum, Mexico. Located on the Caribbean coast, Tulum is perhaps best known for its ancient Mayan ruins.
There is also a player who is keeping his mind on poker this holiday season. Hanukkah wrapped up on December 18th and David “The Maven” Chicotsky took only a couple of days off before returning to the felt along with his new student, friend of Full Tilt Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel. Better known as a gamer than a card player, Wendel sought advice from Chicotsky, who recently suggested they play in the $120 nightly tournament at the Venetian in Las Vegas. According to his Twitter feed, not only did Chicotsky play the tournament on Tuesday night, but he also won, pocketing a couple thousand dollars.
One player who really got into the spirit of the season was online cash game pro David “viffer” Peat. Peat posted a thread on the TwoPlusTwo forums shortly after Thanksgiving informing the online poker community that he planned to adopt a family for the holidays and suggested others donate to the cause or adopt a family in their own hometowns. Tom “durrrr” Dwan also got in on the charitable efforts and accepted donations from people on his online poker account. Thanks to the goodwill of people like David “WhooooKid” Baker, Brian “$tinger88” Hastings, Ben Lamb, Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson, the group managed to raise over $25,000 to buy toys and gifts for families in need in the Las Vegas area.
Pictures of several adventures to Wal-Mart and other local stores were posted in the thread, including images of poker players piling up shopping carts with toys. Others, inspired by the efforts, adopted families of their own and also posted stories about how great it felt to help out someone this Christmas season.