So first, I got called out by my mom in my last post. I mistakenly said that Richard spoke no english... obviously he spoke no spanish. oh well. haha you are right though, mom, I am going to have a hard time adjusting to real life again.
So after traveling via bus from 7:30AM until 5:00PM, we arrived in Tamarindo two days ago. The Lonely Planet review of Tamarindo is beyond scathing.... pretty funny actually. "Fat American tourists lie around like beached whales, varying in color from shockingly pale to a bright pink shade of skin cancer... if you get tired of the city, just remember, costa rica is only a few kilometers away". But, we had heard the surf was good, we were outgrowing our time in Santa Teresa, so we decided to check it out.
When we arrived, I more-or-less treated dallas and luke to an incredible dinner at a nearby restaurant. We split an awesome bottle of white wine, i had roasted red snapper, dallas had mahi mahi with coconut glaze, and luke had some baller penne pasta with chicken and pesto. Incredible. We then split one of the most amazing chocolate brownies i've ever been a part of. booya. Then later that night, Dallas crashed but Luke and I went out to a club, where we had some other adventures that I don't feel comfortable writing about with my parents as confirmed readers ;). it was fun.
After that, though, yesterday was brutal. We woke up decently early and decided we wanted to try to hit this good beach we'd heard about called Playa Langosta. For whatever reason, we chose to walk barefoot on the gravel road, and it took us about 30 minutes and made our feet very sore. when we finally arrived, we found that there was not even one workable wave. what a waste of time. so, we walked back, got some lunch, and walked down to the Tamarindo River Mouth, which had some good waves. I had gotten so comfortable with my 7'10 board that I decided to try Dallas' 6'10. It was tricky, I'm going to go back to the 7'10 today. Anyways, we surfed out there from about 4 until the sun went down, then came back and met these two british guys named Dan and Pete. Oh yeah, while I was surfing, some kind of swimming creature bit my foot. I was bleeding for a while without knowing it, then I was really surprised when i looked down and saw a nice little chomp mark on my big toe.
anyways.... British people are hilarious.
We ended up drinking with Dan and Pete, hitting some clubs, generally having a good time, and basically wreaking havoc on the central room of the hotel. When you walk into the place we're staying, there is an indoor pool in the center. Then, the bedrooms are around the pool. When we left, pretty much everything inside was soaked. very fun. We may even go hang out and party at Dan's rugby club outside of London.
I'm still not sold as to how much I like Tamarindo, it is very touristy, which is both fun and fake at the same time. We'll see how long we stay here, i'd like to check out puerto viejo but the surf there is bad at this time of year so i may have trouble convincing the other dudes to go.
oh yeah, and some promised poker talk:
So let's take a guy like me. I can crush 2/4, and beat 3/6 and 5/10. I'm pretty confident I can beat 10/20 and 25/50, but I've run so terribly every time I've been up there that I'm not sure. Either way, I've comed up with a new bankroll management strategy.
Lets say I have like 18k online. I'm playing some 2/4-5/10, and I run it up to 2ok. Now, I withdraw 5k. So, real money terms, I am +5k for the month. Now, I am sitting on 15k online, and I can run that up as high as I can during the rest of the month. Then, at the start of the next month, I set up a new 5k withdrawal point. So lets say I start the next month with 24k. I might withdraw my 5k at 28k, leaving me with 23k online. You see how the bankroll still grows, but I'm now making 60k a year (not including taxes, but also not including extra money from coaching and withdrawals and whatever else). Anyways, its a plan i'm going to try, and we'll see how it goes.
and now back to life
i don't have too much more to add, i've been reading my face off... I think i've read 5 or 6 books in the last 5 or 6 days. the water in tamarindo is the warmest i've seen yet, so that's been nice. otherwise, we're just hanging out until we leave for europe in a week. haha wow life is so crazy
okay, gonna run, surfing soon, then big halloween parties tonight. we're goign to ask this mexican restaurant for sombreros and ponchos and other mexican garb, that'll be fun.
happy halloween
A
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Planning on Leaving Santa Teresa
So after about a week, we decided the time has come to leave our friendly little home at Casa Zen in Santa Teresa. We're going to catch a bus tomorrow morning and head north to Tamarindo. It should be a long trip. I can't write long right now as I'm cooking pasta with sausage (my all time home favorite, thanks mom).
what we've been doing:
waking up a little early, making eggs and french toast for breakfast, then reading and lounging until about noon
surfing from about noon until about 330
coming back, lounging and reading, making ourselves more food
then we've been rolling to the howling monkey sports bar (about a 20 min walk) where we've watched all the world series games. technically they're not allowed to open yet (hence the one night we had to leave the top of the 9th when armed police showed up and closed the place), but we've been able to have a few beers and hang out.
the bar is owned by this guy, Richard, who is probably the most stereotypical American I've ever seen. Bulky, with rounded shoulders, looking rather like a bear, with long blond hair, the guy doesn't speak a word of english. not even close. doesn't care. kind of racist. generally hilarious. he likes us too and he's very generous if you're American, haha. so we've been getting along, but mostly we just go and enjoy the game.
oh, and we also enjoy the ice cream from a nearby heladeria. They have cookie ice cream. It is the best stuff ever. Chunks of cookie. Wow i'm so excited for game 4 tonight and my doble cono.
okay, im going to go now, but i have interesting pokre things to right about next time, most especially about bankroll management and my new plan to both make an easy living and move up in limits relatively quickly.
okie dokie
catch you later
ML
A
what we've been doing:
waking up a little early, making eggs and french toast for breakfast, then reading and lounging until about noon
surfing from about noon until about 330
coming back, lounging and reading, making ourselves more food
then we've been rolling to the howling monkey sports bar (about a 20 min walk) where we've watched all the world series games. technically they're not allowed to open yet (hence the one night we had to leave the top of the 9th when armed police showed up and closed the place), but we've been able to have a few beers and hang out.
the bar is owned by this guy, Richard, who is probably the most stereotypical American I've ever seen. Bulky, with rounded shoulders, looking rather like a bear, with long blond hair, the guy doesn't speak a word of english. not even close. doesn't care. kind of racist. generally hilarious. he likes us too and he's very generous if you're American, haha. so we've been getting along, but mostly we just go and enjoy the game.
oh, and we also enjoy the ice cream from a nearby heladeria. They have cookie ice cream. It is the best stuff ever. Chunks of cookie. Wow i'm so excited for game 4 tonight and my doble cono.
okay, im going to go now, but i have interesting pokre things to right about next time, most especially about bankroll management and my new plan to both make an easy living and move up in limits relatively quickly.
okie dokie
catch you later
ML
A
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I lost something
Yesterday was an amazing day. I woke up at about 9:30, lay around for a while, read for a while, got up and cooked myself scrambled eggs and french toast that were both delicious. Then, we walked down to the beach with our boards and a bag of things to do and surfed for about 3 hours. Then, we decided to get out of the water (in part due to the absolutely blazing sun) and go lie in these hammocks that are nestled under palm trees right on the water front. As I'm walking up, I check my neck for the familiar feeling of my two necklaces. The first, the dog-tags my mom got for me for my birthday this year, was right where it was supposed to be. The other one was gone.
When I was twelve and at my beloved summer camp, I became the proud owner of a hemp necklace, decorated with wooden beads. The clasp was simply a safety pin. I'm not sure who made it for me--I may have even made it for myself. Regardless, I wore it constantly for a few years until highschool. Thinking it wasn't cool enough for my sweet image, I took it off and left it in my room for about three years. Then, when I had been feeling upset with myself, I took a good hard look at it and decided to put it back on. I'd been wearing it ever since.
To me, it was a symbol of what I was like when I was younger--too young and inexperienced to think about things (or to overthink things), I acted passionately and naturally. Sure, I acted immaturely and often offensively. But there is an element of purity that comes along with unadulturated youth, and the necklace reminded me to hold on to that part of my life.
After 8 years of ownership, I couldn't think of a better time and place to lose it than on a trip that exemplifies my independence and youthfulness. To see it was swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean is to see a chapter closing of my life--not the end of my youth, but rather the end of childhood. If that makes any sense. To me, it is a fitting grave for such a valuable metaphor.
After relaxing in the hammocks and surfing some more, we headed back to Casa Zen, only to find everything locked up and closed. No food there apparently. To make matters worse, the power had gone out on our street again, so we started the 20 minute walk into the town to buy food from a market. As we walked, everything was closed and boarded up. It was very eerie. Finally, we found what appeared to be the only open restaurant in town and ate some delicious pasta with chicken by candlelight, as there was no power to be found anywhere. We came back to casa zen, played some cards by flashlight, and crashed.
It was a great day.
Oh yeah and I lost 7k the day before it.
Love
A
When I was twelve and at my beloved summer camp, I became the proud owner of a hemp necklace, decorated with wooden beads. The clasp was simply a safety pin. I'm not sure who made it for me--I may have even made it for myself. Regardless, I wore it constantly for a few years until highschool. Thinking it wasn't cool enough for my sweet image, I took it off and left it in my room for about three years. Then, when I had been feeling upset with myself, I took a good hard look at it and decided to put it back on. I'd been wearing it ever since.
To me, it was a symbol of what I was like when I was younger--too young and inexperienced to think about things (or to overthink things), I acted passionately and naturally. Sure, I acted immaturely and often offensively. But there is an element of purity that comes along with unadulturated youth, and the necklace reminded me to hold on to that part of my life.
After 8 years of ownership, I couldn't think of a better time and place to lose it than on a trip that exemplifies my independence and youthfulness. To see it was swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean is to see a chapter closing of my life--not the end of my youth, but rather the end of childhood. If that makes any sense. To me, it is a fitting grave for such a valuable metaphor.
After relaxing in the hammocks and surfing some more, we headed back to Casa Zen, only to find everything locked up and closed. No food there apparently. To make matters worse, the power had gone out on our street again, so we started the 20 minute walk into the town to buy food from a market. As we walked, everything was closed and boarded up. It was very eerie. Finally, we found what appeared to be the only open restaurant in town and ate some delicious pasta with chicken by candlelight, as there was no power to be found anywhere. We came back to casa zen, played some cards by flashlight, and crashed.
It was a great day.
Oh yeah and I lost 7k the day before it.
Love
A
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Mal Pais... or not
So after getting held an extra day in Jaco when the water taxi couldn´t go because of choppy seas, we finally got aboard the boat with all of our gear. We were joined by about 6 other passengers and the two crewmembers. The boat was tiny, and before we had climbed in they gave us plastic bags to cover our luggage with. Seemed strange at the time.
Away we went on our little speed boat, launching off from the shore of Playa Herradera or something like that. The first fifteen minutes were fun, wind whipping by our faces, the sun in the sky, beautiful jungle passing us by on both sides. Then, the rain set in. Within minutes we were completely drenched. I´m talking wetter than I´ve ever been in my life, regardless of swimming pools or showers. That continued for about another hour until we finally landed on the beach of Montezuma.
Our plan had been to get to Montezuma, grab a taxi to Mal Pais (as though that would be quick and easy) and then set up shop at the Mal Pais surf camp. Instead, we landed at Montezuma exhausted, soaked, starving, and not ready to go anywhere. Luckily for us, the hostel Hotel Lys is located on the landing beach and the friendly but outofplace Emily (a blond american girl who spoke terrible spanish) welcomed us to our room where the three of us would share bunk beds and the floor. I volunteered to sleep on the floor because I hadn´t had to once in Jaco.
While we were there, we got to know the whole crew. There was Diana, this gorgeous Iranian girl who I picked up on for a while before I realized she was together with Josue, a funloving bearded local who worked at the hostel and had a ton of energy all the time. We met all kinds of people.
In the afternoon we left to go explore the jungle. We climbed up to the first waterfall of Montezuma, which was absolutely breathtaking and enormous. I have some footage on video tape. To get to the really spectacular one, however, we´d have to carry our cameras and bags over our heads as we waded through shoulder high water. Plus, the mosquitos were going to wake up soon, so we opted to go back. On the way back, as a random aside, we saw the biggest ant I´ve ever even heard of. It was about the size of a large spider. Holy Jesus the jungle has a lot of crazy things in it.
We came back, and went to walk around the town of Montezuma, but upon discovering that there is no town of Montezuma, I went to the internet cafe and and luke and dallas went back to the hostel. I made some $$, but it was a frustrating and kind of tiltridden session. Oh well. I walked back in time for dinner, which was AMAZING. There were a couple Nicaraguans at the hostel and they had decided to cook a Nicaraguan dish called a Nica. Basically, its rice, vegetables, and pork chops, packaged up in a banana leaf and steamed until perfect. Incredible. Amazing food. The owner of the place, a very eccentric old guy who didnt like to talk to anyone, came out and started playing hand drums. It was very fun. We got to know the other people there, which included me convincing this girl from Holland that I was, in fact, a porn star. Very fun indeed.
Then, we caught a bus to Cobana where we caught a taxi to the Mal Pais Surf Camp. The only problem was that there was nobody there. So, we headed down to the beach to look for somewhere else to stay. Nowhere. So far no good. Walking up to an internet cafe, I googled lodging in the local town nearest to us called Santa Teresa. The cheapest thing I could find was called Casa Zen. It looked good, so we took a taxi there.
Thats where I am now. Casa Zen is amazing. Cheap, healthy food. A cheap room with the best accomodations of anywhere we´ve had. A 2 minute walk to the most beautiful beach we´ve seen yet, complete with white sand, colorful shells, good waves to surf, and fun parts of rocks and jungle to explore. Internet that I´m currently using (albeit its not free, sadly enough). We´re just going to crash here today and we´ll start surfing again tomorrow. I will be hard pressed to leave this place any time soon.
keeping it real for you overseas
A
Away we went on our little speed boat, launching off from the shore of Playa Herradera or something like that. The first fifteen minutes were fun, wind whipping by our faces, the sun in the sky, beautiful jungle passing us by on both sides. Then, the rain set in. Within minutes we were completely drenched. I´m talking wetter than I´ve ever been in my life, regardless of swimming pools or showers. That continued for about another hour until we finally landed on the beach of Montezuma.
Our plan had been to get to Montezuma, grab a taxi to Mal Pais (as though that would be quick and easy) and then set up shop at the Mal Pais surf camp. Instead, we landed at Montezuma exhausted, soaked, starving, and not ready to go anywhere. Luckily for us, the hostel Hotel Lys is located on the landing beach and the friendly but outofplace Emily (a blond american girl who spoke terrible spanish) welcomed us to our room where the three of us would share bunk beds and the floor. I volunteered to sleep on the floor because I hadn´t had to once in Jaco.
While we were there, we got to know the whole crew. There was Diana, this gorgeous Iranian girl who I picked up on for a while before I realized she was together with Josue, a funloving bearded local who worked at the hostel and had a ton of energy all the time. We met all kinds of people.
In the afternoon we left to go explore the jungle. We climbed up to the first waterfall of Montezuma, which was absolutely breathtaking and enormous. I have some footage on video tape. To get to the really spectacular one, however, we´d have to carry our cameras and bags over our heads as we waded through shoulder high water. Plus, the mosquitos were going to wake up soon, so we opted to go back. On the way back, as a random aside, we saw the biggest ant I´ve ever even heard of. It was about the size of a large spider. Holy Jesus the jungle has a lot of crazy things in it.
We came back, and went to walk around the town of Montezuma, but upon discovering that there is no town of Montezuma, I went to the internet cafe and and luke and dallas went back to the hostel. I made some $$, but it was a frustrating and kind of tiltridden session. Oh well. I walked back in time for dinner, which was AMAZING. There were a couple Nicaraguans at the hostel and they had decided to cook a Nicaraguan dish called a Nica. Basically, its rice, vegetables, and pork chops, packaged up in a banana leaf and steamed until perfect. Incredible. Amazing food. The owner of the place, a very eccentric old guy who didnt like to talk to anyone, came out and started playing hand drums. It was very fun. We got to know the other people there, which included me convincing this girl from Holland that I was, in fact, a porn star. Very fun indeed.
Then, we caught a bus to Cobana where we caught a taxi to the Mal Pais Surf Camp. The only problem was that there was nobody there. So, we headed down to the beach to look for somewhere else to stay. Nowhere. So far no good. Walking up to an internet cafe, I googled lodging in the local town nearest to us called Santa Teresa. The cheapest thing I could find was called Casa Zen. It looked good, so we took a taxi there.
Thats where I am now. Casa Zen is amazing. Cheap, healthy food. A cheap room with the best accomodations of anywhere we´ve had. A 2 minute walk to the most beautiful beach we´ve seen yet, complete with white sand, colorful shells, good waves to surf, and fun parts of rocks and jungle to explore. Internet that I´m currently using (albeit its not free, sadly enough). We´re just going to crash here today and we´ll start surfing again tomorrow. I will be hard pressed to leave this place any time soon.
keeping it real for you overseas
A
Friday, October 19, 2007
Costa rrrica
Luke, Dallas, and I are just sitting on the balcony of hotel de haan, playing cards and watching the rain pour down onto the palm trees and run smoothly off to sprinkle onto the pool below. The air is humid and slightly cool, its a pretty nice evening to relax. We ordered some pizzas to come so those will be here soon.
We were supposed to head out of Jaco and into Mal Pais on a ferry today, but the ferry was cancelled due to choppy seas as the storm continues to move in. Hopefully the ferry will be back on for tomorrow, because supposedly this weekend is top tier surfing and we're looking to go somewhere with better beaches, better waves, and better weather.
That's not to say the weather isn't fun to be in-- this afternoon, we surfed in the rain for a few hours. It was a lot of fun, even though the waves were less than hospitable. It's incredible that I can stand in the ocean during a rain storm and still feel cool and refreshed. The tropics are awesome.
Poker is swingy right now. I made like 3k yesterday, then turned around and lost it today, in part taking a shot at 5knl. I ran cold as ice, obviously. Oh well, I live to grind another day.
Got the chance to talk to mom and dad yesterday, that was fun. Sounds like everything is going well back home.
a story from the trip:
Luke, Dal and I were walking along the beach after we had strolled down to the end of the rocks on the far right end. We had been looking under rocks at tide pools and watching the fish, anemone, starfish, and other creatures scatter about. Anyway, so we're walking along the beach, when this bronzed local, shirtless with fabio-like hair flowing in the wind, prances up to us, literally on a white stallion. He approaches Dallas, offering his fist extended to look for a pound. Dal gives him a pound, and he then turns his hand over and opens his palm to reveal a huge bag of weed. We decline, but it was by far the most majestic drug dealer I've ever encountered. "No problem," he said with a smile, and galloped off along the coast.
awesome.
hit you up soon from mal pais
Andrew
We were supposed to head out of Jaco and into Mal Pais on a ferry today, but the ferry was cancelled due to choppy seas as the storm continues to move in. Hopefully the ferry will be back on for tomorrow, because supposedly this weekend is top tier surfing and we're looking to go somewhere with better beaches, better waves, and better weather.
That's not to say the weather isn't fun to be in-- this afternoon, we surfed in the rain for a few hours. It was a lot of fun, even though the waves were less than hospitable. It's incredible that I can stand in the ocean during a rain storm and still feel cool and refreshed. The tropics are awesome.
Poker is swingy right now. I made like 3k yesterday, then turned around and lost it today, in part taking a shot at 5knl. I ran cold as ice, obviously. Oh well, I live to grind another day.
Got the chance to talk to mom and dad yesterday, that was fun. Sounds like everything is going well back home.
a story from the trip:
Luke, Dal and I were walking along the beach after we had strolled down to the end of the rocks on the far right end. We had been looking under rocks at tide pools and watching the fish, anemone, starfish, and other creatures scatter about. Anyway, so we're walking along the beach, when this bronzed local, shirtless with fabio-like hair flowing in the wind, prances up to us, literally on a white stallion. He approaches Dallas, offering his fist extended to look for a pound. Dal gives him a pound, and he then turns his hand over and opens his palm to reveal a huge bag of weed. We decline, but it was by far the most majestic drug dealer I've ever encountered. "No problem," he said with a smile, and galloped off along the coast.
awesome.
hit you up soon from mal pais
Andrew
Sunday, October 14, 2007
haha hilarious randomness
so i'm writing to you from the airport in boston at 3:07am. Tonight we got down to boston and met this guy TJ for drinks. I'd never met him before, just knew of him from poker and knew that Leon liked him. So we met up and watched the Sox game with some beers. Later, he decides to drive us to the airport. En route, i suggest he comes to costa rica with us. He is currently passed out next to me at the airport with his ticket already bought, haha.
this trip is awesome
this trip is awesome
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Heading out of Dartmouth and into the rest of the world
So I'm sitting here in the Ryerson with Dallas, playing cards, listening to music and looking at all the video clips I just uploaded from my camera--clips of friends, the house, pong, new york city, yankee stadium, and the various people, places, and things we've seen, visited, and done. We leave in less than two hours. I still have to pack up some stuff and take a shower before we go down to Boston for the night then catch our 5:40AM flight (ouch), but I'm not sure how ready I am to leave.
A part of me is very ready to go--Dartmouth certainly had some disappointments, and was probably like the most unhealthy thing I've ever done (read: delivery and pong every day). But another part of me wishes I could stay... my friendships here are every bit as strong as they ever have been. I was really touched last night by how many people stopped by to say goodbye and wish me the best. Most importantly, they said it genuinely. I have a lot of great friends out here. And as for girls, there was a little spark between me and a longtime friend out here that will have to get put on hold big time as I won't see her until the spring. I'm not sure how she feels about me but at this point I'm very cool with how things have always been between us. We'll have to deal with that as it goes. As for the other girl who I'd wanted to see when I was here, she turned out to be a lot like other girls I've been drawn to. She has an incredible personality, she's smart, funny, incredibly beautiful, but she doesn't seem to know how to be straight or honest with the people people who care about her. I honestly just felt disrespected so I haven't talked with her since I came to this understanding--not to say I haven't wanted to talk to her, but she doesn't really want to talk to me so why should I care. Life's too good for this business anyway!
I can't wait until I get to Costa Rica... supposedly its been raining a lot, but with a little luck it'll be sunny when we show up. Either way, its warm as hell so we'll be enjoying the outdoors and getting in the tropical water in no time. In 48 hours I will be straaaightt loungingggg I'm so excited.
Poker is great by the way. I'm having an awesome month. Trip number 2 next summer? booyaaaaa.
Oh yeah I realized I didn't talk about NYC yet. It was awesome. I'm always blown away by how many people are there all the time. Everything in NYC is just done so much faster and bigger than anywhere I've ever been. It makes Portland (which I love) look like a tiny little village. It makes San Francisco look totally laid back and relaxed. Yankees game was awesome even for a non-yankees fan. Here's a good story:
So we buy our tickets off of stub-hub.com or whatever (3 tier seats behind the plate, awesome seats), and they just say to go to their office (about a 5 minute walk from the stadium) to get the tickets before the game. So we show up and see a line of 2000 people waiting to get into the stubhub office. Daaamn. So I walk to the front and offer a guy 20 bucks to let me in... he kind of waves me off but doesn't really stop me from getting in line, so boom, there I am in the front of the line. About 5 seconds later, this big drunk comes up to me, shoves a 50 in my hand and asks if he can cut in line. I immediately accept, get my tickets, and arrive at the bottom of the 1st inning 50 bucks richer. Awesome trip. The Yankees lost, I saw Joe Torres last game as a Yankee, pretty incredible.
By the way, just stacked AK w/ AA all in pf. 2600 pot. booyizzle.
Anyways, I want to give a little shout out to all the friends I've seen since I've been here--big thank you and much love to:
All the brothers of AXA, andy, tammer, james, algy, diamond, padegimas, lizzy, kagan, danny mich, murph dirty, kayte, ricky b, chanwoong, and anyone else I may be missing.
Big up yoselves.
Fresh.
Andrew
A part of me is very ready to go--Dartmouth certainly had some disappointments, and was probably like the most unhealthy thing I've ever done (read: delivery and pong every day). But another part of me wishes I could stay... my friendships here are every bit as strong as they ever have been. I was really touched last night by how many people stopped by to say goodbye and wish me the best. Most importantly, they said it genuinely. I have a lot of great friends out here. And as for girls, there was a little spark between me and a longtime friend out here that will have to get put on hold big time as I won't see her until the spring. I'm not sure how she feels about me but at this point I'm very cool with how things have always been between us. We'll have to deal with that as it goes. As for the other girl who I'd wanted to see when I was here, she turned out to be a lot like other girls I've been drawn to. She has an incredible personality, she's smart, funny, incredibly beautiful, but she doesn't seem to know how to be straight or honest with the people people who care about her. I honestly just felt disrespected so I haven't talked with her since I came to this understanding--not to say I haven't wanted to talk to her, but she doesn't really want to talk to me so why should I care. Life's too good for this business anyway!
I can't wait until I get to Costa Rica... supposedly its been raining a lot, but with a little luck it'll be sunny when we show up. Either way, its warm as hell so we'll be enjoying the outdoors and getting in the tropical water in no time. In 48 hours I will be straaaightt loungingggg I'm so excited.
Poker is great by the way. I'm having an awesome month. Trip number 2 next summer? booyaaaaa.
Oh yeah I realized I didn't talk about NYC yet. It was awesome. I'm always blown away by how many people are there all the time. Everything in NYC is just done so much faster and bigger than anywhere I've ever been. It makes Portland (which I love) look like a tiny little village. It makes San Francisco look totally laid back and relaxed. Yankees game was awesome even for a non-yankees fan. Here's a good story:
So we buy our tickets off of stub-hub.com or whatever (3 tier seats behind the plate, awesome seats), and they just say to go to their office (about a 5 minute walk from the stadium) to get the tickets before the game. So we show up and see a line of 2000 people waiting to get into the stubhub office. Daaamn. So I walk to the front and offer a guy 20 bucks to let me in... he kind of waves me off but doesn't really stop me from getting in line, so boom, there I am in the front of the line. About 5 seconds later, this big drunk comes up to me, shoves a 50 in my hand and asks if he can cut in line. I immediately accept, get my tickets, and arrive at the bottom of the 1st inning 50 bucks richer. Awesome trip. The Yankees lost, I saw Joe Torres last game as a Yankee, pretty incredible.
By the way, just stacked AK w/ AA all in pf. 2600 pot. booyizzle.
Anyways, I want to give a little shout out to all the friends I've seen since I've been here--big thank you and much love to:
All the brothers of AXA, andy, tammer, james, algy, diamond, padegimas, lizzy, kagan, danny mich, murph dirty, kayte, ricky b, chanwoong, and anyone else I may be missing.
Big up yoselves.
Fresh.
Andrew
Monday, October 8, 2007
Rollin into NY at midnight
What's up crew,
sorry about no recent updates, I was just being lazy I guess while I was hanging out at Dartmouth. For the last couple weeks I've been busy putting rush stuff together for the house, playing a lot of pong, hanging out with friends, and learning a lot about myself and the kinds of people I want to hang out with.
quick note on that-- sometimes what you think you want doesn't jive at all with the kinds of values you actually hold to be important. You have to make a choice between your principles and chasing something that seems worth the chase. I'm pretty sure that in most cases, if you have to be chasing, its not worth the chase. what was crazy for me was that right as I was coming to this cold conclusion, I was realizing that I had some relationships that I took for granted and didn't explore as much as I should have. Maybe if I'd been more principled in the past I'd be in a different spot than I am now.
Haha still, the spot i'm in now isn't too bad--tonight, Kayte drove Dallas and I from Dartmouth to her home in southern Connecticut. It's a beautiful place, we're crashing here and then taking the train into NYC tomorrow where we'll have lunch with the Berger man and hopefully dinner with both Kayte and Rick. I'm psyched to check out Carnegie Deli for lunch to be honest.
Things with Dallas have been great so far, we haven't had any problems and we've just been doing our thing.
Poker, in general, has been good lately. I'm still getting the constant stream of players asking for coaching (which I've been politely declining until I return to a normal schedule). I've been grinding midstakes again and have run up one of my accounts back into the lots-of-thousands category, so that feels pretty good. Rough day today though, took KK vs AA for 1100 at 5/10, took KK vs AQ on KJT for 800 at 3/6, ended up down about 1600. Made a couple bad calls too, but one big time call.
Here's the hand:
I open raise K9cc in the SB, laggro villain calls in the BB. flop is 9s4c3c. I bet, he calls. Turn is a 7s. I bet, he raises. I'm pretty sure he has picked up a draw, I assume a flush draw usually, but he could def have 97s. I think sets are unlikely, as are big pairs, due to the flop action. I decide that he's bluff/semibluffing enough that calling and c/c the river is probably the best play. I call, river card comes down the Jd. I check, he pauses for a few moments, then shoves. At this point his range looks like J9, T8, 97, or missed draws. It's about a PSB to me, we were a little deepstacked. I decided I'm good more than 33% of the time and call. 86o no good sir.
So i'm feeling pretty decent about poker on the day despite the losses and I'm excited to see NYC tomorrow.
Also, Luke sent me some pictures of locations in Costa Rica that look amazing and that aren't too difficult to get to. Excited to be there in only a week!
oh yeah, and Mom- answer your phone. I called you today, call me back I'd love to talk to you.
ml
A
sorry about no recent updates, I was just being lazy I guess while I was hanging out at Dartmouth. For the last couple weeks I've been busy putting rush stuff together for the house, playing a lot of pong, hanging out with friends, and learning a lot about myself and the kinds of people I want to hang out with.
quick note on that-- sometimes what you think you want doesn't jive at all with the kinds of values you actually hold to be important. You have to make a choice between your principles and chasing something that seems worth the chase. I'm pretty sure that in most cases, if you have to be chasing, its not worth the chase. what was crazy for me was that right as I was coming to this cold conclusion, I was realizing that I had some relationships that I took for granted and didn't explore as much as I should have. Maybe if I'd been more principled in the past I'd be in a different spot than I am now.
Haha still, the spot i'm in now isn't too bad--tonight, Kayte drove Dallas and I from Dartmouth to her home in southern Connecticut. It's a beautiful place, we're crashing here and then taking the train into NYC tomorrow where we'll have lunch with the Berger man and hopefully dinner with both Kayte and Rick. I'm psyched to check out Carnegie Deli for lunch to be honest.
Things with Dallas have been great so far, we haven't had any problems and we've just been doing our thing.
Poker, in general, has been good lately. I'm still getting the constant stream of players asking for coaching (which I've been politely declining until I return to a normal schedule). I've been grinding midstakes again and have run up one of my accounts back into the lots-of-thousands category, so that feels pretty good. Rough day today though, took KK vs AA for 1100 at 5/10, took KK vs AQ on KJT for 800 at 3/6, ended up down about 1600. Made a couple bad calls too, but one big time call.
Here's the hand:
I open raise K9cc in the SB, laggro villain calls in the BB. flop is 9s4c3c. I bet, he calls. Turn is a 7s. I bet, he raises. I'm pretty sure he has picked up a draw, I assume a flush draw usually, but he could def have 97s. I think sets are unlikely, as are big pairs, due to the flop action. I decide that he's bluff/semibluffing enough that calling and c/c the river is probably the best play. I call, river card comes down the Jd. I check, he pauses for a few moments, then shoves. At this point his range looks like J9, T8, 97, or missed draws. It's about a PSB to me, we were a little deepstacked. I decided I'm good more than 33% of the time and call. 86o no good sir.
So i'm feeling pretty decent about poker on the day despite the losses and I'm excited to see NYC tomorrow.
Also, Luke sent me some pictures of locations in Costa Rica that look amazing and that aren't too difficult to get to. Excited to be there in only a week!
oh yeah, and Mom- answer your phone. I called you today, call me back I'd love to talk to you.
ml
A
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