Florida Recap

I just got back up to Bellingham after spending the last 5+ days in Florida. It was a very memorable trip and was kinda tough going from 80+ degree weather to cold rain and flood warnings. But I guess that's the price you pay. Anyways, my brother Paul got married, and we also did a little vacationing to Orlando which was really cool.

Our flight on Friday was scheduled for 11:30pm, so we did the whole red eye thing, and I made the poor, poor decision of taking a benodryl before the flight assuming I would be able to sleep on the plane. This was not the case. I ended up not sleeping for more than 30 minutes, as I apparently cannot sleep in any seat except the window.

We arrived in Orlando at around 8, but this wasn't even the funniest part. Derek took a flight on Friday at 3pm, flew to Utah then to LA, and there was a 3 hour delay there because the bathrooms on the plane wouldn't shot! So he arrived in Tampa about 1 hour before us despite him leaving over 8 hours before us.

When we got there, my body told me it was Friday night but it was apparently Saturday. We went over to Paul's fiancee Ramie's mom's house for an open house which was pretty cool despite the fact that we didn't see any aligators :(

That night we had rehearsal then went to a very nice dinner. The wedding itself was on Sunday and was absolutely amazing despite the Hawks losing. The sick part about the Hawks losing was the following gamecast updates that I received on my phone in the 4th quarter:

• 19-21 (after a Hawks TD): Mike Wahle, holding 5 yd penalty on 2 point conversion
• 19-21: pass complete to Carlson (2 pt conversion good)
• 19-21: Chad Pennington is sacked and fumble is recovered by Rocky Bernard
• 19-21: Ricky Williams rush for 14 yards

So apparently the 2 point conversion was no good, and so I thought we were tied and then recovered a fumble which also was apparently misreported. Oh well, apparently we played well and we are getting Matt back this week so maybe we can start to get better in prep for next season.

Anyways, Monday we headed over to Orlando, and our 100 mile trip took 4+ hours for some reason. We did stop by a cool white-sand beach but we also made like 4 unnecessary stops for some reason. For lunch we saw a sign for Quizno's and decided to stop. When we were pulling off the exti, I saw a Sonic drive in and immediately became happy. It has been one of my life-long dreams to eat there as the commercials make the food/desserts look so good and there are no Sonics in Washington to my knowledge.

When I walked over to check out the menu, no food looked good, and so I opted in favor of a Quizno's Honey Bourbon Chicken sandwich. I did however purchase a Sonic Blast for dessert which was good haha.

That night we went to play putt putt at a place called Congo River. There was actually an alligator pit with baby alligators. I was tempted to take one home. Derek and I decided to wager $20 on stroke play and $20 on match play with a sweeping bonus of all-you-can-eat crab. I knew I had to be at least a -125, so I obliged. I got out to a 3 stroke/hole lead through 4 but saw it slip away when I decided to go for a big gamble on the 16th with the match on the line.

I then opted for double or nothing knowing he couldn't lucksack a win again. I won that one, and we were off for the night. The first night was at an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet which advertised a crab buffet. We sat down and learned that each buffet cost $35. I was hesitant but went with it, and we ate a ridiculous amount of crab and threw down some beers.

We then headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch MNF. We each had 3 very tall Coors Lights, while we played Chinese. Derek passed me a royal, and I ended up 14 points for $70, hehe.

I'm not going to go into the rest of the events that took place that evening but if you are curious, I may just tell you privately.

The next day we woke up and went to Disneyworld. We hit up the most important rides first (Splash, space, thunder mtn, pirates, which sucked, and the haunted mansion). We settled on Splash as easily the most enjoyable ride and rode it 8 times before running out of daylight.

On the flight home, Pete and I opened up the cards and played an enjoyable .5 a point Chinese. Pete declined to do jackpots/bad beats, and would have scooped a ton off me, as he had like 3 straight flushes and lost with Aces full. I ended up scooping $1.50 - good for a cheap plate at Sushi Land.

Overall it was a very enjoyable vacation and it was fun to get away from the daily grind of school to hang out with family and get to know the other side of the family better also. I did, however, lose my iPod somehow and am quite sad. I figure I was a -200 to lose something worth over $100 on the vacation, so I'm not too surprised.

We arrived in Seattle today around 11:30, and I made it up to Bellingham a little after 7pm. I played in the FTP $24k and the $15k rebuy on UB. I busted in the 2nd hour in the FTP when I lost a big race with JJ vs. AK on a x x x x A. In the UB one, I decided to only be in $90 max and was down to 900 after the first hour. Then the option to add-on popped up (or so I thought), so I double added on for $60, only it first gave me the option to rebuy for 1500 chips/$30. So I spent $60 there for 3000 chips instead of declining and just adding on for $60 and receiving 6000 chips. So I was then "forced" to single add on and was in $120 with $90 worth of chips :(

I played actually really well and doubled up in an interesting pot. I raised A8o from the HJ to 400 (75/150). The BB who was a maniac called, and we saw a 7c 4c 4s flop. He checked, and I led 525, which he called. The turn was the interesting 8d. He checked, and I decided to lead 1525 of my 3500 chip stack and go with the hand. He again flatted, and the river was the Ks. The pot was over 7k, and I had 2k behind, but he foolishly put me in and I called, and he showed A9cc.

That got me up to over 11k, and not too much happened for a while. I slowly chipped up and reached my peak of 24k at 400/800. With 22 left and 20 paying, I raised a pot and got moved in and mucked which had me down to 17k at 800/1600. The very next hand I was dealt 77, and unfortunately had to shove my 10+bb stack. A LPP called with TT and I bricked. This was eerily similar to the $120 tourney that I played this summer where I fought my ass off and ended up shoving 66 for around 10 bb's and was called by TT on the bubble.

I wasn't all that disappointed about the tournament. If I had finished 20th I would have received $150 for a $30 profit, so I was obviously eyeing the FT. I played pretty patient and was just defeated by the poor UB structure late. I am actually happy that I did not get all that upset as maybe I am maturing as a poker player and as a person. I will not be playing poker tomorrow or Friday I don't think but will probably hit it hard on Saturday and Sunday and try to make something magical happen :)

That being said, it is 11:15pm, but my body says it's 2am so I am going to bed. BTW, Peter mentioned on the trip that I am meant to live on the east coast which is probably the case. I love staying up late and sleeping in, and, when you're on the east coast, MNF doesn't start until 8:30 and goes past midnight. Hmmmm...something to think about.

God Bless,

JG