The partypoker Caribbean Poker Party takes place in November at the Hard Rock Punta Cana

There’s nothing like sun, sand, and surf to compliment a poker tournament. Whether it’s the Bahamas or the Caribbean or southern France, a beautiful backdrop, complete with yachts and seagulls, is the perfect remedy for a bad day at the office and a perfect bonus to a big tournament win. Plus, it’ll keep your Vitamin D levels up.

Enter the Czech Republic’s ‘icenigel‘, who won a package to the Caribbean Poker Party in November after coming out on top of the $1 Million Summer Giveaway Leaderboard on partypoker. The package is worth $6,000 and is good for one person. Now, it’s his mission to win a larger package so he can bring along his significant other.

“I love it. It’s a great place for poker vacation and it seems that there is going to be a lot to play for,” ‘icenigel’ said. The trip will come at the perfect time since it’ll be winter in Europe. In the Dominican Republic, however, where the Caribbean Poker Party is held, it’ll be beach weather.

Prior to the promotion, ‘icenigel’ didn’t even have an account on partypoker. Now, he’s racking up event packages and deep runs in major tournaments on the site. Case in point, ‘icenigel’ finished third in the partypoker Powerfest Main Event in March for $90,000, his largest online tournament score to date. That, along with his other in the money finishes, has raised his career cash total to north of $1.2 million.

“I started playing on a Monday morning to see if I could start fast and then decide if it would be worth it,” he said of getting started on partypoker. “I made some final tables, got heads-up in the Heavyweight Weigh-In, and ended Monday on top of the leaderboard, so I decided to grind hard the rest of the week.”

Sure enough, his grinding paid off. ‘icenigel’ will head west to the Dominican Republic later this year. Once he gets there, the Main Event has a $2,500 buy-in and a $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

“I wanted to go because Hard Rock Punta Cana, the host casino for this event, was where I went for my first international poker tournament,” he said. “I loved it there, so I wanted to see how things have changed. And November in Prague is not the greatest month in terms of weather.”

The Hard Rock Punta Cana is the host resort for the Caribbean Poker Party

‘icenigel’ said that the Hard Rock Punta Cana was much more spacious and much larger than he imagined, so he was blown away as soon as he arrived last time.

“I remember the pools and the beach mostly,” he said. “This time, I hope I spend more time in the casino, Congress Center, or wherever the tournament is played.”

The Hard Rock has 13 pools, four swim-up bars, and three kiddie pools. Plus, it’s right on the beach, so there’s no shortage of water activities. There’s also a spa, salon, and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.

Navigating the field that will show up to the resort will require at least some live poker chops. It’ll be full of qualifiers as well, but ‘icenigel’ is preparing for the challenge.

“I think I’m playing better live than I used to, so I’m confident,” the Czech player said. “The toughest part about the transition from online to live is overcoming the boredom of playing just one table where everyone tanks for ages and plays weird lines because of their own boredom. I feel like my heads-up game got worse, though. I have to work on that and hope I’ll have a chance to use it in the tournament.”

He certainly has a head-start on fixing any pitfalls his game may have. “I’m too passive at times and too aggressive in other spots,” he admitted. “I always had almost the same number of first place finishes as second and third place finishes combined on PocketFives, but during the last year I lost my heads-up mojo. So, I’ll probably play heads-up sit and gos against guys who know what they’re doing and try to hold my own.”

‘icenigel’ now has 144 wins in tournaments tracked by PocketFives, 93 second place finishes, and 77 third place finishes. If you add that together, you get 314 top-three finishes, or 15% of his 2,092 career cashes.

To cure any heads-up woes, his plan is to attack heads-up games. To cure boredom, the remedy is stand-up comedy. “Listening to interesting podcasts and George Carlin stand-up comedy always gets me in a better mood when I play live poker,” he said. “I will also try to focus more on live aspects of the game like tells.”

If he were to win the Caribbean Poker Party and bank the lion’s share of the $1 million prize pool, it’d be another step towards financial independence. A win would also bolster his confidence in his poker skills. And he’s gunning for an $8,000 package anyway so he can bring his girlfriend along, which could add a whole new dimension to what should already be a memorable trip.