#allineverywhere – Between Giraffes and Winter Skies

I’ve spent this winter moving between continents again.

It started in South Africa. It continued in London then Las Vegas. It now takes me back to Europe. First to Luxembourg and Belgium, and next to Bratislava for a month of cold air, grey skies and, most likely, a lot of poker. Some winters are about grinding. Some are about slowing down and thinking. This one has been a bit of both.

My first long stay in South Africa in late 2024 was about society & yes, playing and shooting poker too :-). In my time off, I wanted to understand the country beyond postcards: apartheid history, wealth inequality, tension, opportunity, the visible and invisible layers between black and white South Africa.

I went back in late 2025. This time with different intentions. Still plenty of poker action this last Fall, but beside cards, I focused almost entirely on nature and South Africa might be one of the most absurdly gifted places on earth when it comes to that.

In Cape Town alone, you can start your day whale watching and end it photographing giraffes featuring some of the best white wines on the planet. Ocean, mountains, wildlife, dramatic skies and it’s all within reach. It’s a bit overwhelming in the best way.

The ZA poker scene is great: a mix of ambitious and friendly individuals very much showing up for the social gathering aspect of the game. The vibe is surprisingly positive at the Cape Town poker tables given the general state of headphone/hoody/shades/solver poker at the international tables these days.

I’ll link back to some of the South Africa photo sets below. They deserve to be seen again.
I’m already looking forward to going back.

From African summer to desert winter.

I spent most of December and January in Las Vegas, enjoying what I genuinely believe is the best season in the city: mild weather, walkable Strip days, and strong cash game action around CES and early January events.
I spent a few night at the (did anyone say crappy?) Horseshoe and I stayed at Planet Hollywood during a week for the first time. Honestly? I liked it.

Yes, the property is a maze. Yes, Caesars properties often feel like logistical experiments. But the poker room location was actually good. Less than five minutes from the Strip entrances, overlooking the casino floor without being swallowed by it.
I played two sessions there before the room”s situation once again became… uncertain.

I still don’t fully understand how a room in that location, in that city, struggles to remain stable. The space itself was nice. The visibility was good. Early January saw WSOPC events running there. Attendance was so-so, but the effort was visible. You can read more about those events in the PokerExclusiv article about the PH poker room closure eight months after its reopening.

Vegas, overall, delivered what Vegas usually delivers during winter: action, familiar faces, and a reminder that the ecosystem keeps evolving, not always upward, but always moving.

Looking for a home in Vegas?

Despite loving what I do, let’s not pretend everything is fine.
Poker as a game is way tougher than 10 years ago. Edges are smaller. Whales are rarer. Budgets in media and events are tight to non-existent and everybody involved has magically become an expert now thanks to artificial large language models and all the graphoc and video design tools that come with it. Promoters feel it. Players feel it.

Media people, especially independent ones like me, feel it even more.
I’m at the far end of that food chain, which forces reflection and action.
What is worth covering?

Who/what project is worth talking about.
How much energy should go into it?
What is sustainable long term?
Who’s vision of things aligns with mine?
I don’t have final answers yet. To answer these questions in the most honest manner, I have fired all my remaining poker industry clients at the end of 2025. This does not mean that we will never work together again (for some, it does though) but the goals and scopes need to be realigned. Long story short: I’m still around. But not for the same reasons anymore. I’m whiping the board and we’re starting from scratch.

I want to approach my participation to the poker media industry circus from some other angle and I want to turn my back as much as possible to social media platforms. They harm us more than they connect us and they kill creativity the way they operate these days. All I see, are addictive formats filled with ads or paid content that are not ads but that are supposed to work like one. It’s often misleading, almost always useless. Since nothing is monetized on THE-ROUNDERdotnet or on its socials: no, thank you. The X account is no more since early 2025. I post less and less on IG and I am keeping the Facebook page for now. X was abandoned because it’s become a dump of the Internet. IG is virtually useless for me since my posts and stories convert to visits in less than 1% of the cases but I am following a few interesting people on there – so the account remains for now. Facebook seems to be the network that works best for my readership and I spend more and more time on YouTube myself.

Namur: Record Fields & Familiar Faces in the Chaos

After Vegas, I flew to Amsterdam and Luxembourg to see family, gather with friends and then spent a few days in Namur during the Circus Poker Winter Festival.

Record-breaking fields. Massive numbers. Ok… A reminder of how strong regional poker can be when it’s built consistently over years. I have history there. I used to be the house photographer of their emerging poker room since the mid 2010s. Walking those floors still feels familiar. It’s impressive what they’ve done with the room. It’s large, ambitious and clearly successful in attracting regional players.

At the same time, operationally, it still feels chaotic given the high rake taken. MTT info, waiting lists, navigation of the procedures. There’s still room for improvement. I spent 4 days there, took one days off from poker, clicked the main event in a late reg attempt the second night and I was unable to secure a seat at any cash game table over the two following days. All good, been catching up with frieends and enjoying life instead but the concept of the gambling industry should not be people trying unsuccessfully for two days to throw money at a casino cashier. Also, the room is not running great at all if one visits outside festival periods and when it’s festival time, tables are pumped to 10 seats in 2010 fashion. So one is stuck with a tricky choice when it comes to poker in Namur: visit a neat room with little action outside poker events or soak up the festival chaos featuring overwhelmed and mostly underprepared staff.

Namur remains a place where poker potential and personal connections intersect for me. That matters a lot but the poker offer quality is too low for me to make it a regular grinding and shooting spot again. For those who are ready to trade comfort and customer satisfaction for big prize pool action, it’s awesome. For those who aim at higher-end service and dedicated customer care, the road goes past Namur and on. Yet, the Wallonian capital is definitively well worth the occasional stop for its laid back atmosphere and friendly pedestrian city center along the Meuse river in case poker turns out to be a mess.

I’m writing this on a 15-hour bus ride to Slovakia. I’m heading from one grey weather zone to another, this time colder: Bratislava. My secondary genius travel plan across Europe included using my old car filled with snowboard and photo gear to attempt the crossing to Slovakia passing by Seefeld in Austria. The car smelled the big mission coming and decided to break down a week before departure. The primary plan was to fly but it turned out to be a bit of a high variance move to fly with the ongoing strike atmosphere in Belgium. We’ll keep variance for the poker tables.

Over the past two-three years, I invested significant time in building something resembling a home base in Las Vegas. I did that well enough that I somewhat lost track of where I wanted to anchor myself in Europe.

So I’ve been moving around more randomly here. Being born in Luxembourg is a blessing and a curse at the same time. The blessing being it was very nice to grow up there. The curse is the fact that this land-locked farm land is home to real estate prices higher than central London. Land ownership or access to real estate property: pretty much out of reach.

In my world, Bratislava is a decent candidate for a European base again.
I lived there before. I liked it. I was planning to stay for a few months then life happened: the war in Ukraine, humanitarian operations and good poker action that kept me longer in Slovakia than planned. I ended up being based in Slovakia for almost two years. Some new Vegas opportunities drew me away but, ironically, that period is what made me appreciate the city more deeply. I built strong friendships there.
Now it’s time to see how it feels again.

From a poker perspective, it makes sense: Banco Casino, the new Card Casino, 24/7 action, solid regional traffic. Enough volume to stay sharp. Enough events to justify occasional photography.
I’ll likely put in some hours at the tables these weeks, probably take a camera out again and network a bit to maybe, finally, figure out whether Europe still needs a second anchor point for my life.

There’s also a chance I’ll escape to the surrounding Slovak or Austrian mountains for a few days. I missed CAPT Seefeld this year (full coverage linked below), and I wouldn’t mind making up for that with some snowboarding.

The Bigger Picture of my upcoming Live Poker Adventures

This site has never been a commercial enterprise. If it had been, it would be long dead and it would most likely never have existed in the first place.

It’s a way of life.
It’s a way to give to the poker community that I have been part of for more than a decade.
It’s a way to stay visible.
To stay connected.
Even in a tightening industry.
Especially in a tightening industry.

THE-ROUNDERdotnet plan for the coming months is shaping up as a simple construct:

1. less noise, more clarity
2. less random content, more play
3. less for the industry, more for the game
4. and although this was the number-one reason I started this website in the first place, less for the community, more for my own enjoyment and progress

Fewer random updates, less social media activity, more intentional interventions. If I can find ways to make this sustainable with less friction, even better. If not, nothing is forever.

Bratislava is the next chapter.
Let’s see what it brings.
See you at thee tables and check out the upcoming live poker action. I have added quite a bit of info about the action in the two main poker rooms in town via the POKER TRIPS featuring internation festivals every week until Spring.

• Facebook
• Instagram

Digital Research & Creative Development

Latests Posts