Exploring the world, one poker room at a time - a wasy8 project

McPhillips Station Casino - Winnipeg, MB, Canada

So on Wednesday I ended my short little hiatus from live poker and drove into the city to check out McPhillips. It took me a little bit of walking around the casino to find the poker room, but I eventually found it and was able to get into a $1/2 game right away. The game was pretty good overall - I had the jesus seat on a pretty big fish and there were definitely some nits on my left that allowed me to abuse the table a little bit. I had to tone it down a little bit when a solid player sat down across the table from me and joined in the aggro fun. We managed to get in a few interesting spots, because me being the egotard that I am, I obv had to start 3betting him light and trying to put him in tough spots. He was definitely calling my 3bets a little lighter than most winning $1/2 players would. Kinda makes sense after I found out a little later that he was an online highstakes guy, playing up to 5knl online as recently as last year, and 2knl currently. I definitely enjoyed getting in some spots vs someone who's thinking on a higher level, and almost got him to spaz out in a 3bet pot when I 3bet Q2s on the button and flopped two pair, but he couldn't find the trigger. I racked up with a profit of $105 at the end of the night. Also noteworthy - this is the first chip in my collection that will be a duplicate of another. Club Regent and McPhillips Station are joint casinos and share the same chips.

Bear Claw Casino - Carlyle, SK, Canada

On Saturday I talked my younger brother into tagging along with me on a little road trip to the southeast corner of Saskatchewan. It was the last SK casino to finish up and now was a great time to finish it. Unfortunately my brother doesn't play poker or really gamble much at all, but it was good to have someone to talk with on the long drive and hang out with while waiting for a game there. The game didn't open until 8pm, on their one poker table, but once it started it was a really good game. The chips were filthy and every time I went to pick up a stack of chips to count out a bet, half of them would stick together. Managed to stack an older fish who donated his full stack to me on a flop of T95 when I had T9, but other than that didn't really get any good spots and had to make a couple of annoying folds. Finished up $128 in a short hour and a half session.

Next up - Thunder Bay! Eastern Canada trip starts this Thursday. Beyond stoked to get going.

OLG Casino Thunder Bay - Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

I'm sitting in a Thunder Bay coffee shop, just hanging out while waiting for my flight to the Soo, so I figured it'd be a good time to do my Thunder Bay recap. Northwestern Ontario is pretty awesome in general for nature lovers, particularly hunters and fishers. T-bay is the largest city in NW Ontario, and has a nice little casino located downtown near the docks. It's run by Ontario Lottery and Gaming, and they run most of the casinos in Ontario (some exceptions, ie Casino Rama and the Niagara casinos). They have 2 tables in the middle of the casino, but they're roped off from the rest of the table games - so it's a little different than some of the Sask Indian casinos where they just plop a poker table in with the rest of the table games. The game didn't open until 8pm, and they started a full table instantly. If they wanted to, I'm sure they could get a table running much earlier. All of the players that started the game played right through until I left about 4 hours in. Unfortunately my seat wasn't the best, as I had most of the loose/spastic players on my left and the tighter (although still slightly spastic) players on my right all night. That being said, the player who was prob the 2nd or 3rd best player in the game outside of me did say something about "position only matters in tournaments!", so that says something about the softness of the game. I hope for his sake he was leveling. Still managed to book a profit of about $137 despite losing a decent sized AIPF pot with TT<AT and making a horrendous river call in another spot. That river call was probably my only real mistake of the night though, I definitely felt like I played my A game for most of the night. Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the trip.

What an absolutely jam-packed 2+ weeks. Going to try to remember all that I can of the poker stuff, I probably should’ve updated more frequently, but so be it. Had planned to punch out this update as soon as I got back, but I got busy grinding online and recapping the whole trip seemed a little daunting tbh. Now that I've manned up to do it -this is Part 1 of the Eastern Canada trip, the rest to come shortly over the next couple days.

OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie – Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada

I flew into the Soo on Friday evening, and after a cab ride to my hotel walked to the casino. The game was a $1/2, but unfortunately only a $100 max buyin. Still managed to beat it for a small profit, but the 50bb max buyin makes for a game that isn’t really worth my time and I retreated back to my hotel room after a couple hours.

OLG Casino Point Edward – Point Edward, ON, Canada

After spending Saturday afternoon doing a little hike on Whitefish Island in the Soo, I flew to Toronto and picked up my rental car for the trip, a Kia Sportage. Not the flashiest vehicle I could’ve gotten, but no big deal, I take whatever they give me. I hopped straight onto the 401 and drove straight to Point Edward. For whatever reason I expected Point Edward to be a limit casino, but they had two $1/2 NL games running when I showed up.

Caesar’s Windsor – Windsor, ON, Canada

Caesar’s is huge. What a refreshing experience to play in a classy, Vegas style establishment after piddling around in so many small 1-4 table poker rooms recently. They are on the Bravo app but for some reason aren’t connected properly, and it always shows no games running on Bravo. On this Sunday afternoon however, they had 3 $1/2 games running, and I played for about 2 ½ hours. Definitely feel like I played my A+ game throughout this session. I probably should’ve played longer, or taken the opportunity to go across the river and play the 3 Detroit casinos. Instead I took the lazy option and hung out in my hotel room to watch about half of Arrested Development S4.

OLG Casino Brantford – Brantford, ON, Canada

I knew coming in that this one was a pure limit casino, so I knew I didn’t wanna spend too much time here on my way to Niagara Falls. Played an hour of $2/5 pooflinging and quickly hopped back into the car to Niagara Falls. Nice enough room, but limit sucks grandma dick. I have no idea how you limit guys grind this game day in and day out.

Casino Niagara – Niagara Falls, ON, Canada

Checked into the Super 8 down the road and walked over to Casino Niagara, which I knew in advance was $1/2 only, all the $2/5+ ran at Fallsview. However, it was really just an all-around disappointing experience at Casino Niagara. After busting my first buyin with AQ vs 99 on a AQ9dd flop, I was kindly informed I had to walk all the way upstairs to the nearest cage to purchase another buyin. This is just so horrible in so many ways. If a fish busts his buyin, instead of just rebuying at the table, he has to take this great big walk of shame to the cage to reload, and if he misses his blinds in the process, he still has to pay up. It just seems incredibly more likely that a rec player is going to choose to leave the game instead of making this hike up to the next floor to buy more chips every time he busts. Can’t say I played well at all though, by far my worst performance of the trip so far.

Seneca Niagara Casino – Niagara Falls, NY, United States

Most days, walking across the Rainbow Bridge to the American side of the falls would be the best idea. This day, probably not a great call, as Niagara Falls had something like 70mm of rainfall dumped on them. Was completely drenched on my walk to Seneca. Once I got in, I found out they wouldn’t take Canadian cash at Seneca. So after exchanging for a little American cash I got into a $1/2 game. There are two types of $1/2 games running at Seneca, one with a $100 max buyin, and the other with a $200 max buyin. I played a bit in the $100 max while waiting for a seat in the $200 max.

Fallsview Casino – Niagara Falls, ON, Canada

I walked back across the border in the pouring rain, and once across, found a cab to take me to Fallsview. I definitely would’ve walked to Fallsview on a nicer day, but the rain was just too much. Still soaking wet, I got into a pretty good $2/5 with a great seat, a couple of nits on my left and a huge station whale on my right. Played a couple pretty interesting hands, one where I ch/c an AQ4 flop with A5 in a limped pot, ch/r a 3 turn, and shoved on a 2 river. Managed to run down a set of QQ, which is absolutely not what I expected to see, but fortunate on my end. Also interesting hand vs a good reg, where I raised HJ with 88, decent reg on BTN called and whale called. Flop Q83 all clubs. I bet flop, reg calls, whale calls. K turn (I think? Been a while since this hand played out haha). Reg calls, whale folds. River 3, reg leads like $150 into a 500ish pot. I shove for 375 and he tank folded the nut flush. Sort of an interesting spot – if he’s folding the nut flush here, should my river action just be a flat call here, as nitty as it sounds? I mean it’s unbelievably exploitable to b/f the nut flush here, because that’s the top of his range in this particular spot which means I’m never getting worse to call. I guess conceivably he can have 33 here, but that makes river bluff shoves with blockers just hugely profitable. Interesting hand nonetheless.

Woodbine Racetrack – Toronto, ON, Canada

This was my first experience with the PokerPro tables. Wasn’t really sure what to expect, and I actually ended up enjoying them quite a bit. It’s definitely different, but people are spazzy with the e-tables and the action is great. I do find them slightly more antisocial than regular B&M games, since everyone seems more consumed with the software and looking down at their screen all the time, and not chatting as much. They still give you a souvenir chip if you ask at the front desk, so that’s what I’m taking home with me!

Part 2 coming soon.

Interesting blog! If you're still in Toronto let me know...

Originally posted by BrokesoBroke
Interesting blog! If you're still in Toronto let me know...

Unfortunately I'm back in Winnipeg, just getting around to recapping the whole trip now. I'm sure it won't be my last trip to Toronto though! Should prob be back next year sometime.

wow just wow.

sub

Casino Rama - Rama, ON, Canada

I played in Rama on a Thursday afternoon, so the games were decidedly not great. It's a pretty busy casino though, being in close proximity to Toronto and lots of bus tours coming up from there. When I got there, 3 games were running - a 1/2nl, a 2/5nl and a 2/5fl. I was able to start a new game with a friendly bunch of old man coffees. Even though it wasn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination, I enjoyed getting back to my comfort zone of raising lots and getting out of line vs people not used to super aggro types. I even induced a 4bet bluff from one of the OMCs (didn't think I'd ever be able to say that!). Great looking room though, would def like to come back when I had more time to play evenings and get into better games.

Great Blue Heron Charity Casino - Scugog Island, ON, Canada

GBH is a limit only casino. We already know how I feel about limit. I played about an hour at a 5/10 kill game, didn't win a hand, and quickly moved on. If you like limit pokerz though, this place would be awesome. Even though I hate limit, I could tell I was in a great game and most were pretty terrible (dude on my left seemed very competent though).

1000 Island Charity Casino - Gananoque, ON, Canada

Gananoque is a small town, and the action here isn't great. Many of the players come from nearby Kingston. The game played here is essentially a 2-100 spread limit game - which I really don't mind, most $1/2 games don't involve a lot of bets over $100 around here anyways. I really felt that I played my A game here, but ran pretty poorly. Still finished a small winner, left disappointed with the outcome but happy with my play.

Casino du Lac Leamy - Gatineau, QC, Canada

Lac Leamy is across the river from Ottawa, the national capital of Canada. Even though I was staying in Ottawa that night, my first stop was across the river in Gatineau. A lot of the traffic comes from Ottawa anyway, since the only other poker in Ottawa is the e-tables at Rideau Carleton, which don't usually start until the evenings. I liked the room, although it was my first experience with cards in French. Kinda throws you the first few times you get face cards and see V, D, R instead of J, Q, K. I also met up with 2p2er mojojo here, and he played to my right for a little bit. The table was awful though, no huge spots at all. Eventually we left the game to start a game at Rideau Carleton at the e-tables.

Rideau Carleton Racetrack - Ottawa, ON, Canada

It took well into Friday evening to get a game going here, but when we did get started, it filled up with some great action. This being my second time with e-tables, I felt a little more comfortable with them - but unfortunately ran about as well as a 400 pound man through molasses, and mojojo can attest to this. Mostly card dead for a lot of it, losing some big races, and maybe forcing a couple of bad spots, I had my biggest losing session of the trip here. Played a B game at best here in review. No matter though, mojojo was great company and a solid dude. Next time, the beers are on me.

Casino de Mont Tremblant - Mont Tremblant, QC, Canada

The drive up to Mont Tremblant from Ottawa was visually stunning. Bit of a dizzying drive though. I think it was about an hour where I didn't go more than a minute of straight highway - it was all curves. When I made it up there, I found my way to poker room on the basement floor of the casino. The language barrier wasn't too much of an issue, as most of the table was bilingual. That being said, I played prob my worst session of the trip here. Didn't lose as much as I did in Ottawa, but played worse for sure. I think the breakneck pace I set for this trip caught up with me here.

Part 3 coming up next.

Very cool thread!

Got caught up in da grind again, sorry guys. Here's part 3 - enjoy.

After getting somewhat lost in the Laurentian mountains attempting to find my way out of Mont Tremblant with a dead phone and no GPS on Saturday, I eventually found my way out and stayed in a small town en route to Montreal overnight. I drove to Montreal on Sunday, where I had planned to meet up with my friend Hugo, a fellow HUSNG grinder who I've stayed with in Montreal before. Hugo was kind enough to host me for the duration of my stay in Montreal this time as well.

Playground Poker Club - Kahnawake, QC, Canada

Anytime I get into conversation about this challenge, the most commonly asked question is by far, "So, which one's your favorite?" Before I played here, I never really had a definitive answer as to which one I liked best. I had a group of casinos that all seemed to fit into a top tier, but I didn't have one that stood head and shoulders above the rest. Playground is my new favorite poker room of anywhere I've played at. The atmosphere is great, with dimmed lighting but more than sufficient lighting at each table. It's very efficiently run, with very good dealers, and competent floor. The rake is high, but something has to cover all the free food and drink you can handle. The A+ poker experience also brings in a steady diet of fish getting their free food and drinks. I was in Montreal for 3 days, and made sure to spend some time each day playing some at Playground. Will likely come back in November for the WPT as well.

VIP Poker Club - Kahnawake, QC, Canada

Hugo joined me for a session at VIP Monday evening, which is just down the street from Playground. Definitely a nice room, but of the 3 rooms on the reserve currently open, I think I liked this one the least. It has so many of the same great qualities of Playground, but IMO is just that step below and doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from Playground. If this room was in another city it'd do much better. The game I played in itself wasn't amazing either, some stationy types but no big donators, and both Hugo and I ran pretty poorly.

Casino de Montreal - Montreal, QC, Canada

On the outside, Casino de Montreal is positively stunning. Unfortunately for me, there was quite a bit of construction happening inside when I showed up, so it didn't feel overly special when I was inside. Was a bit of a challenge to find the poker room, which was several floors up. The rake is lower than the reserves, so that's certainly a plus. That being said, I also found the game significantly tighter than Playground/VIP, although I shouldn't have expected much on a Tuesday afternoon.

Snakes Poker Club - Kahnawake, QC, Canada

Snakes is the third poker room on the reserve, but it has a significantly different feel to it. VIP and Playground aim for more of a glamorous, high-class poker atmosphere, where Snakes aims for the dingy, bar poker feel. It felt very much like a back-of-the-bar type poker room, but without the potential sketchiness that might come with it. Free food and drinks as well here. I really enjoyed Snakes - a unique, chill atmosphere and juicy games.

Stardust Poker Mansion - Kahnawake, QC, Canada

I was in Stardust last September during their Classic tournament, but didn't have a chip. It's actually been closed for a few months now, with plans to reopen soon after I left Montreal (le sigh). Fortunately, Hugo had an extra chip stashed at his place, and donated it to the cause. Maybe I'll get a chance to play here during the WPT in November.

Casino de Charlevoix - La Malbaie, QC, Canada

My plans were to drive up to Quebec City on Wednesday, with plans to stay close to the airport, leave my stuff there, and drive about 2 hours north to Casino de Charlevoix with no plans to stay long. When I got up there, I discovered that there was no game for the evening, so I bought a chip and drove two hours back to Quebec City to stay the night.

I also realized later that I forgot to get to El Jumelgi in Montreal, but it wasn't on my original list so I guess I'll get it in November. The scenery is gorgeous in Quebec, but it's easy to feel uncomfortable in a lot of spots if you don't speak French - so I was happy to move on. Part 4, the final installment of the Eastern Canada trip, up next.

Casino New Brunswick - Moncton, NB, Canada

I flew from Quebec City to Moncton on the Thursday, and picked up my new rental car, a little Fiat 500. Fun to putt around in on sunny days, not so much in a post tropical storm. More on that later. Casino NB is a smallish casino, but I didn't expect large extravagant casinos in the Maritimes. The poker room is separated from the rest of the casino, but is right in the entrance - both features that I am very much in favor of. The most interesting thing I took from here is the chatter about the private games. I know they definitely exist in most cities across the country, but I was really shocked to hear about some pretty large private games in other cities in NB, namely Saint John and Fredericton. Seemed to be a common theme in all the Maritime provinces that there were pretty large private games scattered across the province in every reasonably sized town and city.

Red Shores Racetrack and Casino - Charlottetown, PE, Canada

The drive to Charlottetown was fun in itself. I'd never driven across the Confederation bridge before, and the scenery driving across the island is fantastic. When I got to the casino, I couldn't believe the games running in this tiny little island. Aside from the standard several $1/2NL games, there were two $2/5NL games and a $5/10NL game running. $5/10 doesn't even run in Calgary outside of Friday nights and special occasions, so it was pretty impressive to see Charlottetown get one going. Having a tournament running there certainly helped, as it seemed to draw a lot of traffic in from NS and NB as well. There's another Red Shores in Summerside, but with the tournament running, there were no games running in Summerside over the weekend with all the dealers sent to Charlottetown.

Casino Nova Scotia - Sydney, NS, Canada

I left Charlottetown in the afternoon, and while it was raining hard when I left PEI, it got much worse as I drove into Nova Scotia. I had to pull into a small town just off the highway at one point as my wipers couldn't keep up with the rain. The highway was only 2 lane for a good chunk of the way up to Sydney as well, and the rain was coming down so fast and hard that the little Fiat I was driving was hydroplaning through the highway. What should be a 6 hour drive ended up being 8 hours of pretty awful driving conditions. There was 1 table running when I got there, and I got my name on the list as soon as I got in, but was informed that the casino wouldn't start a second table, and the list was already 10 deep. So it was a little dicey as to whether I'd actually get into a game. I chatted with the floor manager while I waited, which I really didn't mind - Maritimers really are some of the best people around, and Sydney proved that. I told the floor manager a little about the project, and after I finally got into the game, she came back with a gift package for me. It included a coffee mug, a cash clip, and a deck of cards all bearing the Casino NS Sydney logo. She told me she just wanted to make sure that Sydney treated me well and I'd come back with good memories from there. Just proof that East Coast Canadians are truly awesome people. As for the game itself, I got to play for a little less than 2 hours with a small profit, but that was overshadowed by the friendly personalities in the game and the well-known East Coast hospitality I received.

Casino Nova Scotia - Halifax, NS, Canada

My last stop of the trip was in Halifax on Sunday, and after so much driving it was a relief to know that this was my last stop. The casino is right in the harbour, with a great looking poker room. There were a couple $1/2 games when I got there, and not a ton of action. Seemed like a lot of the action had flowed to Charlottetown over the weekend, and by the time Sunday had rolled around, most of the area had been a little pokered out. No big deal though, as I was more concerned with getting my fill of lobster at the restaurant inside the casino. I ate nothing but lobster dishes during my stay in the Maritimes - including the McLobster at McDonalds! As a kid growing up on the prairies, lobster is that one meal on the menu that your parents tell you that you can't order because its the most expensive thing there. So to find it in abundance here at ridiculously cheap prices - I was a kid in a candy store. I can't wait to come back to the east coast.

The Eastern Canada trip as a whole was all that I expected. Poker wise, I only posted a small profit, but given the breakneck pace of the trip I knew I wasn't going to play my A game throughout, and there were definitely moments where I played flat out terrible. I covered a ton of ground in 17 days, with 5 flights and some long, but scenic, drives in between. From getting drenched in Niagara Falls, to getting lost in the Quebec mountains, to driving across the Confederation Bridge and eventually finishing in Halifax - there are some memories that I'll keep with me from this trip for a lifetime. I've officially gone coast to coast this year, now just a few more in between and one way up north to finish Canada.

Could you, using your experience, tell us how would you "set up" the poker in a casino.

Meaning (1) where do you think it would be best placed to get most traffic; (2) would you have a "high hand jackpot"/"bad bead jackpot"; (3) would you offer free drinks/food; (4) offer "free rolls" to regular players or offer the minimum of the above in order to keep a low rake?

Great question.

From my experience, I think the room should be located near the entrance, but separate from the rest of the gaming floor. You want your recreational players to be able to find the poker room easily, and being near the entrance is the best way to capture those drop in, recreational types who want to try poker for the first time. Having it separate from the rest of the gaming floor is important too, as you don't get the constant bells and whistles from the slot machines in your ear all the time, and it allows for a floor staff to do their job best.

In regards to the high hand/bad beat stuff - as a direct impact to a winning player, it obviously isn't a positive. I actually prefer the high hand jackpots - ie. payouts for hitting quads or better, as they get paid out more often than a BBJ does and the positive experience of hitting one of those small jackpots is going to do a better job of keeping rec players coming back than the elusive chase of the BBJ. That being said, I think having a BBJ is fine too. I wouldn't offer any additional promos though, ie no freerolls etc to keep a sustainable rake.

I think free drinks are far more important than free food. Free food can slow the game down significantly. Free drinks (with cupholders on the tables obv) doesn't take players attention away from the game, while hampering their decision making.

Other really key features to an A+ poker room:
Dealers - The better the dealers are, the better the poker room is. Can't overstate how significant this is. Being professional, but friendly enough to not make players uncomfortable and contribute to a positive atmosphere, while dealing as many hands per hour as possible, is so key to your winrate. Also, for the love of god dealers, DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING IN REGARDS TO STRATEGY. It's just bad form.
Table and Chips - A clean felt, where I can flick my cards across the felt into the muck, and not have to lift my cards to get them to the muck is a plus. So many disgusting felts out there. Also nice to have clean chips that are washed regularly.

Think that covers most of the important stuff. Really good question though, thanks.

Originally posted by wasy8I've officially gone coast to coast this year, now just a few more in between and one way up north to finish Canada.

Wow, you almost finished the entire country? That's pretty sick. How many casino's have you done since the start of your challenge? A picture of all chips would be cool.

One word - Awesome.

Originally posted by DeLau

Originally posted by wasy8I've officially gone coast to coast this year, now just a few more in between and one way up north to finish Canada.

Wow, you almost finished the entire country? That's pretty sick. How many casino's have you done since the start of your challenge? A picture of all chips would be cool.

Including the US, I've done 87 casinos total. I have two more since I returned from Eastern Canada that I still need to update.

As for a picture of all chips, I'll do it when I get to 100

Shark Club - Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Winnipeg opened a third poker room last month, located in the cityplace mall attached to the MTS Centre. Fortunately, I have a friend who was hired as a dealer there, and he tipped me off as to when it was opening. I would never have known otherwise, as Shark Club did absolutely zero advertising prior to opening, and relied simply on word of mouth. So I had the opportunity to play in the first ever hand dealt at Shark Club, and in good form, was runner runnered in that first hand to a competent player floating a dry flop vs my made hand and getting there anyway lol. All whining aside though, this is a very different poker experience than usual, as there's a sports bar attached to the casino with bar patrons moving freely between the bar and casino sections. So this makes for a very loud atmosphere, almost like playing poker in the middle of a dance club. Of course with a new club, there are going to be kinks to iron out, but the games were great and this place will have no trouble being successful. Games will be nuts here after Jets games.

Aseneskak Casino - Opaskwayak, MB, Canada

Opaskwayak is way the eff north in the middle of nowhere. It's attached to the town of The Pas, and other than that there appears to be no form of civilization for hours in any direction. It's a 7 hour drive from Winnipeg, and it may be the most boring drive in Canada - yes, worse than Winnipeg-->Calgary, and worse than Montreal-->Quebec City. When I called ahead, I was told poker ran on Fridays and Saturday evenings. My brother and his girlfriend tagged along for a long Saturday drive, and when we finally got there, I discovered that cash games actually only ran on Friday, and the tournament ran on Saturday which I was now too late to enter. Unfortunate, but so it goes. I purchased my chip from the blackjack tables, stayed the night in The Pas, and drove back the next day.

Bump! Where you at man?

Lol oops, I actually updated the 2p2 version of this thread a little while ago and forgot to update this one. Thanks for bumping to remind me.

The goal of getting to every Canadian cardroom this year is unfortunately a failure. I was on pace to finish it up, before a series of events happening in short time made it incredibly difficult for me. Not going to go into all of it, but two major problems were being left car-less in Calgary and had my e-wallet hacked, preventing me from accessing my online income for almost 2 months. By the time most of it was fixed, I had planned to leave Calgary back for home in Manitoba at the end of September, which made for very difficult time constraints. At that point, I realized to finish this project I would definitely not be enjoying the ride anymore - it would be a stressful rush that would really not be worth the effort. I finished 10 rooms on my checklist short of completing the goal for this year.

So I'm back home in Manitoba now for the holidays. I'm planning on going back to Vegas in January for a week. After that, 2014 is going to be huge - because I'm coming to Europe. Booking a one way flight to Amsterdam for late Feb/early March and don't plan on returning to Canada until next winter. There are some annoyances with the Schengen zone laws, but basically it'll just mean that I'll spend 3 months travelling within the Schengen zone, and then 3 months outside it (likely UK/Ireland, and potentially places like Romania/Balkan countries/Moldova) before returning to visit more countries within the Schengen zone.

Within each 3 month timeframe though, I don't expect to have a lot of set plans. After Amsterdam and some travelling throughout the Netherlands, I'm going to head south to Belgium, ideally visiting the historic Casino de Spa (oldest casino in the world) as my 100th casino. Of course, I can't do Belgium without visiting places like Brussels and Antwerp as well. After Netherlands and Belgium though, I won't have anything planned - it'll just be wherever I feel like going next. Oh, and I'll also hit Black Member status sometime within the year, so I'll have to collect my spiffy suit when I'm there too.

I have offers to stay with friends in Andorra and Budapest so far. Obv if anyone wants to offer to host me in their city for a few days I'd be more than grateful! 2014 should be a very exciting year, I'm really just itching to get going.

Never seen more "WIN" in a thread before!!! ♦

You sir, are my hero!!!

Originally posted by wilmont
Never seen more "WIN" in a thread before!!! ♦

You sir, are my hero!!!

Ha thanks, appreciate it. I def hope this thread inspires people to travel and/or play some live poker.