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$1,500 NL - 6/11

I played two hands of consequence today.  The first came in the second round when UTG limped for 100, I limped 5,5 in late position and both blinds were in as well.  The flop was Ks, Ts, 3h.  Checked around.  Turn was the 2h.  Checked around.  River was the 5h.  Small blind lead out for 350, fold, fold, I thought for a while and decided to raise to 925 and he called.  I thought I was good for sure until he showed Jh3h for a flush.

   I literally didn't play another hand until the following hand.  UTG limped for 150, then a guy who was on crazy mega-tilt (raising and re-raising literally every single pot) raised to 475, I picked up K,K two spots behind and made it 1,500 of my 3,000.  The tight old guy who had the flush against me earlier re-raised to 3,000, folded around to the mega-tilty guy, who put in his last 2,200 or so.  Tilty guy has Jd,6d and old guy has Ah,Kh.  Ace on the turn, g'nightkwicky.

   Two early exits, but I'm optimistic for the next tournament.

'09 WSOP - 0/2

$2,500 NL Short Handed - 6/8

A couple rounds in it folded to the cutoff, who made it 175, button called, sb called, and I looked down to see Q,Q.  I squeezed to 900 and the cutoff quickly threw in 4,000.  Fold, fold.  I decided to go with it because it was the beginning of the day and I wanted to either double up and have a chance to run over the table early or go home.  Unfortunately the latter was the case, as he turned over K,K after I went all-in and was called.  In retrospect I think I could have made a good fold here.  I don't think he would have made that play with J,J very often, so I was likely either flipping or a 4.5:1 underdog.  Maybe the real mistake was playing the event in the first place, given the fact that I had just gotten into town from Germany the night before.  I was so excited to play though!  Anyway, I'm feeling great about my game, so I can't wait for the next one.

'09 WSOP - 0/1

Day 14: Antwerp, Belgium

Scrambled eggs...yet again. After breakfast we took the buses into town and toured the Museum of Fine Arts. I’ve visited many museums in my travels, and I just didn’t feel like this one had much to offer. Maybe I just wasn’t feelin’ it today, but very few of the paintings kept my attention for longer than a couple minutes. I think it was in large part due to the fact that most of the paintings were dark, oil paintings. The audio device that explains some of the pieces nearly put me to sleep. I think I may have been spoiled by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Unfortunately we had an hour and a half to kill before leaving for the walking tour of the city.
The walking tour was worse than the museum, if you can believe it. Our tour guide was the worst yet, walking at a freaking snails pace, slurping up saliva in between each sentence, and rambling on about uninteresting facts. Amber and I ditched quickly left our group behind and toured the city ourselves. There really wasn’t anything that stood out as unique or interesting about the city. Antwerp is dirty and industrial - not really my bag. We met back up with our group and made our way back to the buses.
The highlight of the day came when I decided to grab a last minute Schoarma before leaving. We got back to the bus and had penne pasta with marinara and cream of chicken soup for lunch. I typed up a few blogs, Amber packed our bags, and we spent the rest of the day drinking yummy Belgian beer on the boat.
We ended up having a fun trip after a very rough start, but we are both more than ready to come home. I thought we were coming home on the 6th, but we actually get back on the 7th, so unfortunately I’m going straight from DIA to Las Vegas when I get back - sorry Daisy & Kitty :(

Antwerp - .5/10

Day 13: Brugge, Belgium

Brugge was by far my favorite city thus far. The city of 120,000 inhabitants is over 1,200 years old. We started out the day with a three hour walking tour. Along the way we walked through a beautiful courtyard that was part of the town’s monastery. We then walked over a bridge alongside a small park where there were many swans and ducks meandering about.
“Chocolate Street” was our next destination. This street was filled with chocolate, lace, and souvenir shops. Horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and canal boats were the primary methods of transportation - very few cars, which was very refreshing. The street dead ended into the Church of Our Lady - the tallest building in Belgium for the better part of the country’s existence.
From there we made our way to the Market Square via a few back alleys where there were some really cool shops. We made our way back around and ended the walking tour at a restaurant, where we had lunch. Local beef stew, braised beef in a rich Belgian beer sauce, and Belgian waffles for dessert.
After lunch we had a couple hours of free time, so Amber and I headed back to “Chocolate Street” and loaded up our backpack with 86 euro worth of Belgian chocolate. We then took a thirty minute canal cruise through the city, which was great. Amber got some great shots of the architecture along the way.
Then, we made our way to a beer shop, where I bought five bottles of local micro brews. The shop keeper was rather uninformative, but I’ve had a couple of the beers and I was very happy with my selections thus far. We had twenty minutes or so until we were supposed to meet back up with everyone, so we went to a pub and had a couple beers. The place we went to had over 400 choices of Belgian beer goodness to choose from. They brought some spicy peanuts out with our beers as well.
Unfortunately our day in Brugge came to an end as we caught the buses back to the ship. We ate dinner - I had turkey breast stuffed with plums in gravy while Amber stuck with the trusty sirloin steak. After dinner we fell asleep watching Must Love Dogs.

Brugge - 10/10

Day 12: Delft & Rotterdam, Netherlands

After breakfast we took the buses to Delft, where we toured Porceleijne Fles - one of the few remaining 17th century factories still producing entirely handmade Delftware. It was really cool to see all the steps that are taken to create these extremely expensive pieces of porcelain art.
We decided not to buy anything because it didn’t seem worth it. This vase was 12,500 euro...
Guess how much this piece cost?

Anyway, after our tour of the porcelain factory we took the buses back to Rotterdam, where they gave us a quick bus tour of the city. Rotterdam is basically just like any city you’d find in the states, nothing really special or anything. There was a McDonalds on every other street corner it seemed.
Once we got back on the boat we had lunch, during which time the boat sailed to Dordrecht. There were a lot of windmills along the way, but not much other than that. Once we arrived in Dordrecht some of the passengers deboarded the ship for an optional windmill excursion that didn’t really sound that great, so Amber and I just chilled on the boat checking emails and such.
We ate a very bland dinner and then fell asleep watching Burn After Reading.

Delft - 4
Rotterdam - 2.5


Answer: 1,200,000 euro

Day 11: Gouda, Schoonhoven, & Rotterdam, Netherlands

Frosted Flakes with warm skim milk... not quite as good as it sounds. After breakfast we drove through the countryside en route to a local farm. The recently shorn sheep were baahing away as we made our way into the barn, where we were shown a video on the cheese making process.
After the video we were given some samples of “young” Gouda (pronounced “how-da” by the locals). Young cheese is aged less than four months and is soft and mild. Old cheesse, on the other hand, is aged up to eight months and is much harder (obviously) and has a much sharper taste to it. We tried the normal Gouda, one with herbs, and one with paprika & onions. All were very good and we bought some of each.
Anyway, after our visit to the farm we went to the town of Gouda and walked around the marketplace for a while. There we bought 5 DVDs for 20 euro; the selection was rather slim but we ended up buying - I, Robot, Death Race, The Dark Knight, Burn After Reading, and Must Love Dogs.
We then rode the buses to Schoonhoven, where our ship met us. There were many silver ships and a few animal shops lining the streets of this small, quaint town. We walked around for half an hour or so and then went back to the boat.
We set sail for Rotterdam. I played online poker while Amber read her book for the better part of the afternoon. The slow, unreliable internet connection was driving me crazy, but I was glad to have it.
For dinner, I had spinach risotto and amber had butterfish with an almond crust. By far the best meal of the trip thus far (that the ship offered). We arrived in Rotterdam around 8:00pm. After dinner we decided to watch I, Robot. I really liked the movie - Will Smith is one of my favorite actors. We were both pretty tired, so we crashed right after the movie.

Gouda - 8
Schoonhoven - 5.5
I, Robot - 8

Day 10: Amsterdam, Netherlands

I saw more bicycles today than I’ve ever seen in my life! Thousands and thousands of them! There was even a four story bicycle “parking garage,” where the above photo was taken. Amber and I were nearly taken out many times throughout the day.
We started out the day by taking a canal cruise through the city, which was really cool, other than the fact that our first boat broke down and we had to wait for another one to come get us. On a positive note, we finally had an awesome guide for the day. She was very informative and funny. One of the many tidbits that she shared with us was the fact that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice, which I found surprising. The canals are essentially streets - it was a really great way to see the city. Some of the “parking spots” on the water cost upwards of 200,000 euro (no boat included). Pretty crazy! After our tour of the city we loaded back onto the buses and made the short trip to the Van Gogh Museum.
At 18.50 euro, the museum is rather pricey, but well worth it, in my opinion. They give you personal audio devices that explain a lot of the influences and themes of the paintings, along with excerpts from Van Gogh himself in letters to his brother, Theo. Although he is famous for his second Starry Night, I really liked all of his paintings - some much more so than Starry Night. I think my favorite is Landscape at Twilight.
After the museum we walked the street for a while in search of a place to have lunch. We finally decided on a sports bar, where Amber had a cheeseburger and I had dutch meatballs in gravy. They were showing a replay of the 2006 World Cup Finals match between France and Italy, which kept us entertained for a while.
After lunch we walked the streets for a while and found a family of birds nesting on a piece of floating styrofoam in the canal. There were four recently hatched chicks chirping and swimming around while mom and dad found food for them. Sadly, the nest was comprised mainly of twigs and trash. We watched them for a good 20 minutes, it was quite the find by Amber.
We made our way back to the boat and watched Talladega Nights before falling asleep (Amber and I love Will Ferrell :p) Dinner time came, so it was back to socializing with the old people for a while. We were both fairly tired from walking around all day and we felt like we had seen enough of the city, so we decided to just chill on the boat for the night....

Amsterdam - 7/10

Day 9: Arnhem, Netherlands

After breakfast we loaded onto the buses. Today’s excursion would be a visit to the Airborne Museum. Along the way we had a tour guide ramble on in a thick accented monotoned voice about random, uninteresting facts, almost as if reading directly out of a textbook. Arnhem is industrial and ugly, but apparently they have plans to remodel a lot of the abandoned buildings around town.
When we arrived at the museum, we saw a brief video clip that explained a lot of the strategy and details of Operation Market Garden. The museum was built right on the land site of the 82nd Airborne and is a memorial to those that gave their lives for Holland’s freedom. The museum’s curator was extremely knowledgeable and had a lot of stories to tell, as he was five years old when Allied troops liberated his hometown. Overall, I thought they did a really nice job with the museum - a lot of interactive exhibits and information throughout. On our way back we made a small detour to visit the military cemetery in Oosterbeek.
Once back to the ship, we ate lunch and I took an afternoon nap while Amber read almost 300 pages of the book she’s been reading. We had dinner and then it was Amber’s turn to crash, while I went to the lobby and checked emails and such.
The terrain has really leveled out in the Netherlands - much less mountainous than Germany. A lot of locals were riverside enjoying the hot summer afternoon. We passed a number of windmills, sheep, cows, and horses throughout the day.
Well, that’s about it for today...next stop - Amsterdam =)

Arnhem - 1/10