July 04, 2010   (Las Vegas, USA) – “It’s hot, hotter than I expected.” That was Peter Northug’s first impression of Las Vegas when he and his Vi Menn entourage landed in Sin City late Friday evening. Northug went straight to the Rio Hotel and Casino to pay the $10,000 dollar buy-in to the No Limit Texas Hold ’em World Series of Poker, which begins on Monday, July 5. He also dropped an additional $2,500 to buy into a side tournament that began Friday night as a warm up to the main event reports Vi Menn magazine, Northug’s sponsor and financial backer for the Vegas adventure – read more here.

With the paperwork out of the way, Northug set about getting some training done in the Nevada desert. “I have sneakers and rollerskis, and we’ll rent bikes, so training here is well suited for me – all cross-country fans need not worry,” the Norwegian star told Vi Menn.

Day two of the Vegas trip saw Northug seated at the poker table all day. After 10 hours of play, the field was reduced from 2,000 players to 500, still including Northug. He ended the day with roughly 15,000 in chips, the average being 30,000. While he may be trailing, he’d be doing far worse if it weren’t for an strategic play where he convinced a rival at his table to go ‘all-in’ on a King, 10 and 7 flop – read more here.  

For those who don’t follow poker, the ‘flop’ are communal cards that each player uses along with two cards in their hand for the best possibly combination. Northug was hold two 7s, and won the pot using the 7 in the flop, doubling his chips from 7,500 to 15,000. A bold move, but not unlike an early break-away in a 50km race…there are still many hours left to play and 300 other players to weed out (the top 200 receive prizes) before Northug can start celebrating in the money.

While he may be working on perfecting his poker face, his rival Marcus Hellner wasn’t hiding anything when the pair met for breakfast yesterday. “It’s my first time in the U.S. and it’s quite “sick” here. I look forward to spying a bit on Peter’s training, and to beat him in poker,” said the grinning Swede.

Tuesday morning, July 5, is much anticipated rollerski race between Hellner and Northug, to be contested on the streets of Vegas outside the Palms Resort and Casino – stay tuned for more coverage.

With files from Vi Menn.