American Digest Volume 09

I’m back guys and here to wrap up the most amazing fortnight in Miami. Following on from ADV08, Last Sunday I didn’t end up going to play cash in the end and just relaxed watching television after supper. The next day (Monday 26^th) I spent the morning chilling by the swimming pool with my boy Bunzer and then headed to Hooters for lunch and to watch Man Utd vs. Chelsea.

Reasonably pleased to get a point even though it was at Old Trafford, it was always going to be a tough game with Jose Mourinho back in the hot seat at Chelsea. Although, I did think they kind of parked the bus and showed a lack of heart but it’s very early days in the title race. Anyway, after lunch and the football I headed back to the casino and got involved in the $150 event #25 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. This was a smart choice as eight hours later I bagged up T105,900 which was just above average to go back for day two on Wednesday. By now it was around 01:00am, so I caught a taxi with Lynne and Michelle back to the apartment. The following day we all had a fun filled packed day ahead of us which included a Miami city bus tour in the morning and a Biscayne Bay cruise in the afternoon. These were okay I guess, but I will admit to being a little disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm from our tour guide.

But luckily the day got a whole lot better later in the afternoon, where we jumped on a coach to the Everglades National Park. This was just simply a breathtaking and amazing experience, riding an airboat over the tropical wetlands and alligator spotting. Then even got a photo opportunity with a baby alligator which was fun but a little scary.

We were all finished and back in the apartment for around 7:00pm, I just relaxed watching Big Brother with Sam and Michelle whilst Steve and Lynne headed off to the casino to grind another shot at the $150 event #25. The next morning I relaxed by the swimming pool again with my boy Bunzer and started watching WSOP 2013 footage on YouTube for the most part of the afternoon. Then at 5:00pm I was back over the casino for day two of the $150 event #25, I was really happy with how things went that day and felt I was captain on all of my tables. I feel I played almost perfect all day and was rewarded bagging up T2,000,025 with seven remaining which was enough for the chip lead. By this time I had $2,716 locked and went back on Thursday to play for the $25,472 first prize.

The next day I again spent the morning and early afternoon just chilling out by the swimming pool and watching some more of the WSOP 2013 on YouTube. Then reported back to the casino for the 2:00pm restart, this by all accounts was a disaster. I ended up busting in seventh after losing a plethora of all-in preflop confrontations. I lost A5 vs. QT, KT vs. T8, JJ vs. 66, QJ vs. A8, KJs vs. 22 and finally despite all that run bad I still had 1.5 million from all the small uncontested pots I took down and that went in again preflop with AT vs. 88 and I lost that one too which stacked me. I ran terribly to be fair but I’m okay about that and in life I run pretty damn good and I don’t forget that too easy. Like I’ve said many times and I’m happy to repeat, tournament variance is brutal and doesn’t owe anybody anything. Finally, I would like to congratulate the six remaining guys. They’re all thoroughly nice people and were great company during my time at the final. From here in true degenerate style I jumped straight into the $125 event #32 ante only, this didn’t work out and I went broke relatively early with JJ vs. AQs. This was a really small tournament though and both Steve and Lynne made the final table with only forty runners, so I stuck around and got on the beers. It was pretty funny actually, I was going wild when they won really small pots. Then Sam arrived for the very end, so I had a fellow nuisance on the rail.

Eventually they ended up splitting it six ways for $850 each or something like that. Then we all went to Council Oak Steak House in the casino, this was a pretty expensive restaurant but a real nice way to enjoy our last night in Miami. We also happened to be sitting next to Blair Hinkle and his mom, who if you didn’t know won the main event here at the Hard Rock for $1.5 million. We congratulated him and all managed to get a photo with the champ, really nice guy.

We then headed back to the apartment and I was in bed for around 11:00pm whilst the others stayed awake and drank a bottle of wine together. I was up at 5:30am to take Steve and Sam to the airport as they had an earlier flight to Lynne and I, then once I got back I went back to bed for another couple of hours. Then during our last day we spent the afternoon chilling by the swimming pool and went to Eighteen Sauces for lunch, which was a sandwich shop next to the casino recommended by a bunch of the poker players. This brings me to right now, it’s like 2:30pm here in Miami and I’m just finishing off some packing and getting ready to leave for the airport and catch my flight to Las Vegas. Pretty pumped to catch up with my cousin David who is in town and is newly engaged to his beautiful fiancé Laura, so I have reserved bottle service at Voodoo lounge and a limousine to get us to and from the The Rio. Should be a pretty epic night and way to start my month in Las Vegas. So that’ll just about wrap things up for now guys, check back next week to see how my first week in Las Vegas has been. Let's get the celebrations started.

#miami #lasvegas #yolo