A 16k page book in Budapest

This year has started great and is just getting even better! Unibet Open was AMAZING! Budapest was as cool as usual, but the tournament was pure quality, as we’d say it in Scotland. TONS of hot women – two times Miss Hungary, some local celebs – men could not concentrate. But, just as I started crying, they gave some eye candy for gals as well – two Portuguese supermodels marched in and out of the tournament. Yup – snap bust, 20 mins in. Later on, one of them won the side event and the line that he said was hysterical.

One of the guys at the table refered to his looks saying to Pedro ( the model) that he should read more books. After winning the side event and cashing 16k euro, Pedro came back to the guys and said: ‘How would you like to read my book? It’s got 16k pages in it.’. I laughed my ass off.

It was good, fun can’t deny it, Unibet knows how to throw a fun tourney. Next stop is Bulgaria and I am already squeeking when I look at how much dieting I need to go trough before I am able to present in a bikini.Geez. Might use those capoiera lessons I got from the twins in Budapest, just before I chickened out and ran away.

BUT (haha how convenient), before that, I will heat my chair with Rury and play tons of poker cos I am getting ready for Women’s World Open that will happen in 10 days. It’s my first big one after Prague, so I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am also presenting. And blogging. And…God knows what I’m doing, multitasking I guess. Let’s wait till I completely get lost or crushed by Anette, Kara or Aisling. EEEEK! They’ve made some changes so we’re playing 8 handed, 30 min instead of 6 handed. Let’s see how that all goes, I just might bring the trophy home!

PartyPoker.com recognizes Croatia, Poker awards were glamorous

The lazy one is back!

Depressing weather in the UK does not affect the cheery mood – poker is finally taking us serious. Just as I was finishing my breakfast, I received an email – Party has signed our Dragon – EPT final tabler – Dragan Galic has become their team member. Congrats Dragon, there are many guys that would love to be in your spot – being so close to Miss Kara Scott AND being sponsored to play – HEAVEN!

Here’s a wee picture, I know I’m such and attention seeker!:)

Dragan has cashed tons last year ( http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=100008) so it is no wonder he got stolen by one of the fastest growing sites in the industry. I am very proud to be Croatian and say that we finally have a horse for the race. No offence, aye, it’s just a sayin’!

It’s also been brill for me lately – I am packing my bags and heading to Budapest. The first stop this year and a great value tourney that I will be presenting – 5 days of solid work which comes in heavily on me since Paris – done the Poker awards which was FABULOUS! Thanks to Nic and Bruno, I spent 5 gorgeous days during the Valentines period in this amazing city eating snails and waiting in lines for Eiffel tower for about a week. Thought it would be a great way to treat my boyfriend for his 30th birthday – freezing to death on top of a metal construction. Still, smugling champagne and being all disgustingly romantic above Paris saved the day – Happy Birthday once again, Rury!

The Poke awards were really posh tho – the ACF has given me the honor of presenting the event and I must say I felt like a princess – champagne, expensive gown, lights at Champs Elysees…felt like a Cinderella. But of course, every carriage turns into a pumpkin and every Prince turns into..Devilfish singing  ‘Johnny B.Good’. Had to be there to experience that, but here a little video for you to feel the love.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcakq8_european-poker-awards-2009-aviation

Gotta love fisheZ.

Here are the results of the Awards. Thanks again, Nic!

Player of the Year – Vitaly Lunkin
Europe’s Leading Lady – Sandra Naujoks
Rookie of the Year – Antoine Saout
Tournament performance of the year – Jeff Lisandro
Internet Player of the year – Patrick Antonius
Poker staf person of the year – Edgar Stuchly
Innovation award – Eddie Hearn
Lifetime achievement award – Bruno Fitoussi

Warsaw, Warsaw!

Geez, its been a while! Im an awful blogger. Promised Id be regular, and here I am, feeling bad about myself but never find time to write. I promise I’ll be better, Nick!:)

Its been a hellish month, traveled to Croatia three times in a row now, done tons of interviews, meetings and got my next gig which I’m superexcited about! About three weeks a go I got called from Unibet to do presenting for their vblogs in Warsaw and I was so excited, my heart almost stopped. Besides the fact that I’m gonna be on camera, which I love (ah all the girls do!), I am going to visit Warsaw. Heard so many great things about that city, I cant wait to pack my suitcases and go. I’ve spent half of the afternoon staring at the hotel were staying in – the pool was AMAZING! Definitely going to need some relaxation after hours and hours of interviews and dress changing:)

As far se poker goes, I am very pleased to say that we have yet another team that will attack Warsaw and this time we are going for the Final Table! 5 Croats are ready and trained to make it very far, we showed that we are very dangerous when we played in Prague and now its only a matter of time before one of the Croatians hits big time.

Im open for any tips on Warsaw tho, nightlife or day-life and especially shopping. So, stay tuned, I promise I’ll be regular with my updates from Poland!

xx

T

Poker kicks off in Croatia!

Its been a busy week and I did not even start packing! As you might know, poker has still not kicked off in Croatia and I have been trying hard for the last season to give the few players we had some info and help them to learn the game by going to EPT’s and giving them tutorials, interviews, tips from players, following the action from the tables and trying to expand poker in the region.

I worked hard on that project and it has finally shown some results. Like I said in my previous post, we made video blogs in Croatian that got over 20 000 views and people just went crazy! I had over 300 facebook requests and was swamped with emails.

It surprised me even more when I got called by the biggest portal in Croatia to do an interview with them. It was a lovely chat, the journalist, Marko Petrak, did a great job and had some really cool questions other than the usual – how is it to be a girl in a sport that is ruled by men and similar. As I was having my afternoon tea, I looked at the comments and found out that my interview is still on the front page. That was really exciting, it meant people are reading! What I did not know is that it launched a chain reaction – in within half an hour all the press was calling me wanting to know about poker, wanted to write about it and present it to the public. It meant all the time that I, as well as some other people that were in the industry for a while now, have done a good thing and people are now asking for information on this amazing game.

For the Croatian readers, here is some links from the media, for the rest of you, there is pics:)

http://www.index.hr/tag/167467/tatjana-pasalic.aspx

http://www.net.hr/sport/page/2009/09/14/0394006.html

I was especially happy when I got offered to write a column for Playboy!I did my first one this month and the feedback was great. I am the first chick to write a poker column in a magazine in Croatia and its Playboy. They always kept a certain standard with their authors so I am very glad that they gave me that opportunity.

It is hard for me in Croatia because everyone thinks that I am a doll that is here only for marketing and that I do not know what poker is about. I remember my first poker days when I came to Vegas and saw the WSOP venue, hundreds of players playing with chips, the sound of poker.:) I already knew then that poker is going to mark my life.

Blogging and reporting for Poker Europa (Thank you Nic and Eliza for that!) and advice I got from Kara has made me into what I am today – confident about my playing and helping others to get info on how to start. I know I am not a pro even tho I cashed in Prague at Unibet Open, thankyouverymuch:), but I think my only passion is going to remain the action behind the table.

Producing the blogs with Marko Butrakovic (www.butrakovic.com) and presenting them, made me realize that journalism is my love. Interviewing Tony G (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn3imGnqkd0) was a so much fun and a great experience. Many players came up to me later and asked about the advice he gave me and I was glad to be able to pass it on to them and see how they are sucking up the info, improving their game.

Back to the subject, it is going to be a big week for me, I am flying to Zagreb on Monday to meet the press and tell them more about poker, play a few home games and do an editorial!YAY! Guys probably wouldn’t get it, but its a huge deal for a chick – you get to be pampered all day and then they take photos of you and make you feel like a superstar! I wonder what theme they’re going to choose? Wish it’s Angelina back in the Raider days…Oh, enough of daydreaming!

Hello from..everywhere!

Hi

some of you might know me from WSOP or EPT Season 5, I am the little Croatian blogger!For those of you who don’t, I am Tatjana, I am 24, currently live in Scotland, Edinburgh but am originally from Croatia and have lived in Denmark and Malta so far.

I am a poker bloger for a website called www.pokernika.com but do not bother – it’s in Croatian. Also, there is no nudity. I was in the Croatian Playboy but only as a journalist. Sorry about that. I can only give you a wee bit of skin from a video I’ve filmed and co-produced recently. At some point in the video you will be able to see my face as well:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NflA-x_jeYI

I would like to use this blog as an opportunity to network with all of you cool people in poker but also to show you how the Balkans are ready to come into the poker world and we are taking it seriously. Sorta. I just came back from Prague, we formed a team that was partially sponsored by Unibet and I am very pleased to say that we have had a huge response from the Croatian media. Our video blogs, that I am proud to say we pioneered as they were made in HD, got over 22 000 views in less than 10 days. It’s truly an amazing feeling when you help the poker community by giving them something and that being info, videos, photos, tournaments and seeing how they respond.(Thanks Onthe Rail for giving me an opportunity to be able to say it now).Right, this was sort of a short introduction, I will be writing more about my poker playing and tournament experience in a little while, the lunch not gonna cook itself.:)

Tatjana’s New Blog – Coming Soon!

Watch this space, Tatjana Pasalic will be blogging ‘On The Rail’ very soon!