PerHagen

Under the (greek) sun

2009-08-13T12:28:55Z

It's not very often I get to take some time off (my wife dont really call it time off, since my phone needs charging every day) with the family, but when I do - we like to go to our own special place in Greece.

It's on the island of Crete, near the city of Chania - which is a stunningly beatiful city with a very nice atmosphere...

Our place is right on the beach, and although I'm not really a big surfer (most Norwegians aren't), there is just enough waves to have some fun with a board.

Our daughter just turned 9 and she's been swimming for a couple of years now - but this year she really took off in the pool(!) Diving like a champ and scaring daddy more then once by staying under water longer than I prefer. Pretty soon I guess I'm gonna have to tell her to slow down on the waterjet as well, which has so far been strictly my own plaything (but I guess those days are over now).

We really like the Greek's. They are so calm and relaxed to be around, and we also love the greek cuisine and climate as well. There is always a small breeze and we really don't notice that it's actually 104 outside.

This year I actually started to take notice of the (funny) signs and billboards they got. I mean, my own english isen't (by far) perfect, but I do know that it's not written "sandwitch" or "take a way pizza" But these funny little things and the guy at the local supermarket who always asks "How was the bitch today? Was it warm and wet?" (he's talking about the _beach_) are just part of why we love this place.

We've been to Monte Carlo, Santa Monica and other parts of the world who are also very nice, but this place is our perfect spot and we would never consider changing it with another.

Like previously mentioned my wife calls it a "semi-holiday" (with a smile), cause my phone goes off quite frequently. But she knows that being a poker agent and taking care of 60 profiled poker players from all over the world - I really just can't completely shut down. I can't reveal it just yet, but during our time there I closed a couple of new big sponsorship deals for some of my players - and you'll be hearing more about it soon

I also got to read a couple of great books and fine-tune some ideas on some other (poker related) projects I've got coming up.

I'll leave you with a couple of pix I took, oh and BTW, Mr. Kamberis....I invited you down and you said you'd come..but oh well, next year

Chania by night (Venetian lighthouse)

Chania by day (dusk)

Fun in the pool (me and my 9 year old diver)

The bitch (aka beach)

$800 000 WSOP winnings so far...

2009-07-06T21:29:36Z

Sry (again) for the late update.

Ok, so here is the breakdown;

My players have so far won $800 000 in the WSOP.
This is split between 26 cashes and 3 FT's.

Guess I can't complain about that, but it's been rly rly close a couple of times..!

So, now the day 1 heats are done, and I've got 15 of my players still in.
Every single one has above the average stack and things are looking good.

Might have to start looking for a hotel in November

Anyways...this was just a quick update in this hectic time!

- Per

WSOP 2009 - big year

2009-06-03T08:57:26Z

Just booked my suite at Wynn Encore and I am really looking forward to be staying there.

I expect this years WSOP to be one of the best ever!

Not only do I have high hopes for my 40+ own players - Pokernews predicted some of them to do great and my own predictions are that you should look out for Chris Moorman, Joao Barbosa, Soren Kongsgaard, John Tabatabai (HU event), Juha Helppi, Jesper Hougaard, Peter Jepsen and Arnaud Mattern to name a few of my players I have high hopes for.

I also expect to meet some interesting people and launch something exciting right after the series has "ended" (main event obv dont fininsh before October).

Anyone who feel like it can look me up for a drink and a chat..

See you there!

- Per

Monte Carlo, WSOP and Jamie Gold

2009-05-12T00:02:28Z

Sorry that it's been a while since the last blog.

Been really busy with everything lately, so there haven't been time to put the pen to the paper.

Ok, first - Monte Carlo
Wow Wow Wow, what a city!!

Nice cars, boats, restaurants and hotels every where...!

The EPT Monte Carlo (grand final) was held at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel (picture) and it's an event that no poker player should miss! The venue to host the grand final could not be more perfect, and the organizers also did a great job imo!

Monte Carlo Bay

Our own Annette Obrestad finished in 13th place after her aces got busted by 99 in a monsterpot.
Oh well..next time Annette!

Right now we are preparing for the WSOP, and what a couple of months it's going to be! We are sending approx 40 players and most of them could win any event they sign up for. What a scenario it would be with more then 1 Poker Icons player on the same final table(s)!

In closing I just want to say that we are really happy to just have signed Jamie Gold to Poker Icons - and we are thrilled to be able to partner up with him!

The first thing happening is Jamie being a co-host with Edward Norton (the actor) during a charity event in Cannes... (read more about the charity event here)

- Per

Expanding to all "corners"

2009-03-30T13:59:47Z

From Oslo to Macau..and back again

We finally can proudly say that we cover all corners of the world now. (why do we say "all corners of the world", when it's round?)

Offices are up in USA, France, The Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Singapore, Macau, Panama/Costa Rica, Bulgary, England, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

This makes sure that we can continue to give our players and partners the personal service we want.

We spent a lot of time finding the right people to represent Poker Icons in these areas, and we now feel that we have a team that lives up to the high quality demands we put on ourselves.

The poker agency have also signed some of the finest talents from very exiting countries, and I think we are going to see great stuff from these players in the near future.

- Per

Poor business ethics case(s)

2009-03-18T17:43:24Z

This is not a "bad beat" story from the world of poker agents. It's rather a concerned voice from someone who thinks that certain poker agents (so called?) better be careful with the way they conduct their business.

Over the last couple of months I've experienced 2 pretty grave incidents of what I would call "poaching" directed towards our players by other agents.

If we are to keep our image clean and maintain the trust level we need from both players and partners, I personally don't think this is the best way to operate. I mean, don't get me wrong - competition is welcomed, but let's have a fair fight?

This industry don't really need another area to it where there is drama and conflicts, does it?

Having said that, one of the incidents is pretty bad - so we have no other choice then to take them to court. We gave the other part 3 shots at reaching a peaceful solution with what we consider a very generous offer, and the only reason why we did this was to protect the player.

Sometimes it seems like (poker) agents think they are dealing with a merchandise without a pulse.
Have they lost track of that it's actually a human being they are dealing with??

And where is their sense of long-term vision? Don't they realize that there is only one real asset they themselves possess; trust!

If the industry (partners and players alike) lose their trust in you - it's basically the same as committing a professional suicide...

Oh well, this was not a spur of the moment whine-blog (heck, we ourselves are doing great!) but just a concerned voice from someone who likes and cares about what he is doing.

To the ones who feel outed (although no names have been mentioned) I recommend this book

Apparently...

- Per

I wont quit my day job - I am a terrible singer!

2009-02-24T22:59:15Z

Ok, so me, Annette Obrestad, Arnaud Mattern and a group of others had our Sing Star challenge.

First of all, let me tell you - it was super rigged! They only had ABBA and Danish songs (and a few classics) - and you would have thought that Annette (being only 20) never heard these songs right? WRONG! She knew them all by heart and never missed a tone!

She beat everybody in the club and I actually think she broke the Danish-sing-star-record or something...

Thank God everybody forgot that it was suppose to be a high stakes sing star challenge, we probably saved our bankroll on that.

Anyways, we left the club with our mouths completly blue after some weird (but kinda tasty) drinks and headed for a VIP party. That party was as stacked as a party could ever be. Annette, Ilari, Eastgate, Lodden, Hougaard, Kongsgaard, (William) Thorson, (Thor) Hansen, (Nebuchad) Danielsson + + + +

The mood was good and we rounded off the evening with some Danish delicious sausages at the local Delhi (Denmark are famous for their sausages)...

Got up early next day and took a flight back home to Oslo where it's stiiiiill snowing (will it ever stop?!)

- Per

High Stakes Sing Star HU challenge

2009-02-20T01:20:24Z

The VIP lounge during the EPT Copenhagen was a great success!

We had a press conferanse announcing that one of our players, Peter "Zupp" Jepsen had signed with a new sponsor in a pretty cool way. He walked in the hotel lobby wearing a motorcycle outfit and helmet. The press was all there waiting and when he just stood there without removing his helmet, they got really curious about who this player could be(!) We took the press (and Peter) outside to a custom designed bus and only then he took of his helmet revealing himself.

Me and Annette (Obrestad) had some tough HU battles at the Wii console and I'm just really really glad I didn't play for money against her

The girl got skills at Wii also and obviously it's not in her (competitive) nature to give a poor guy a break! There was also some interesting semi-high stakes Ludo going on, but I'm not sure if the poker industry have anything to fear from that game

We also had the pleasure of meeting one of our unsung heros; Andrew Feldman.
He's a great young UK player which we have great plans for. We had a picture of him on the wall in the lounge, but Andrew was quick to let us know he wanted us to change the picture with a better one. I guess men are just as conserned as women

We got the impression that our guests had a good time and look forward to doing it again (!)

Tomorrow we are heading for a party where we have arranged some high stakes Sing Star matches...that should be interesting

Stay tuned . . .

From the press corner in the lounge, Annette Obrestad and Michael Tureniec

- Per

Poker Icons Lounge preparation

2009-02-14T21:45:01Z

( High Stakes Sing Star challenge coming up )

We are having a Poker Icons VIP lounge for our players, partners and friends during the Pokerstars EPT Copenhagen, and the event hotel is killing us!

How can they justify charging $2400 just for serving coffee for 2 days??

I'm not even gonna mention what they are charging us for the rest (beverages, snacks etc etc)...

Anyway, so there is a billion things to take care of for the lounge - but thank god we got people who have done it before and know the drill (thanks Allan!).

Having a poker agency lounge is something new at the EPT (thanks to the EPT organizers for allowing it), and we hope the visitors will like it.

We are sending anything from 10 to 30+ players to each EPT event and want to take care of them the best way possible. After all, being a high paid poker pro is no picnic so we can at least ease the burden by doing this No seriously, it's something we have are thrilled to do as it's a nice way of bringing together the agency, players, partners and friends...

Looking forward to coming to "warm" Copenhagen and escaping the snow madness going on outside my door for a week.

Haven't snowed this much for 40 years they tell me

Btw, Poker Icons is now on Facebook also

- Per

Just signed Juha Helppi!

2009-02-10T20:27:08Z

Big name!

WPT and EPT (high roller event) winner Juha Helppi from Finland just agreed to let Poker Icons represent him as his poker agency.

It wasent without fierce competition we won his signature - but we won

We really look forward to working with this fantastic player who is actually our first player from Finland (!)

It's days like this that make it worth while with all the long hours and hard work...

Now - back to shoveling snow! (this year it's a snow record where I live!)

- Per