I 'd love to host you when you're in Belgium, just let me know when you will be in in the country so we can make arrangements. 
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If you, by any chance come to Bulgaria, I would be more than happy to drink a beer/two
DeLau - that'd be awesome man! Would be great to have a host in Belgium.
Gavron - I had Bulgaria marked as a definite potential when I looked at the countries I'd most want to check out. We'll def find a way to meet up so you can introduce me to the local brew!
That goes for others too - if you can't host me but are willing to meet up for drinks while I'm in your hometown, let me know! I want to sample lots and lots of different new European beers and more than happy to meet and chat with PS members along the way.
If anyone needs to contact me to make plans - you can find me via the community tool or wasy80 on skype.
This morning, I booked a flight to Vegas for a week. Will arrive Jan. 14.
I'm going to spend a bit more time enjoying Vegas this time around, as opposed to the insane pace of my last Vegas trip. Still looking to get something like 7-8 new rooms in while I'm down there. Really just need to get the hell out of Winnipeg for a bit, it's a tad chilly here lately. For those of you who haven't heard, today's been the warmest day in the last week. It's -24C. Before windchill. On New Year's Eve it was officially colder here than it was at the North Pole and on Mars at the same time.
Oh, and one way to Amsterdam also booked for March 4.
Ohh mannn 
:facepalm:
Could of swore i posted that somewhere and then it disappeared, sorry for that, and btw nice blog keep going ♦
Thanks for the interest in my blog keoghh, but I think you might have misplaced your post :). Check turn on hand 1, btw, and I'm checking flop as well.
Someone asked for a picture of all the chips together, so here it is. A picture of my 2013 exploits.
You'll notice that there's a chip at the bottom that hasn't been recorded in the thread...
Casino by Vanshaw - Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
Another example of ALWAYS CALL AHEAD BEFORE YOU SHOW UP TO SMALL ROOMS. I mean really, you'd think I'd have this figured out by now. MedHat is a small casino on the side of the highway that boasts one e-table in the corner, but there are chips from the blackjack tables to collect at a souvenir of my visit. I showed up here on my move back to Manitoba from Calgary on a Saturday, but alas, the e-table was out of service.
Can't wait to get the 2014 casino touring underway. Vegas on Tuesday.
Had a great week in Vegas, and to be honest, it was definitely needed. The weather in Winnipeg has more or less forced me to be a hermit while I'm here, and spending a week in Vegas allowed me to get a bit of that balance back into my life - some great food, a bit of live poker, and the social interaction with like-minded people. As I said earlier, hunting out new casinos certainly wasn't going to be a priority on this trip, but I did want to get a few new ones in. This won't be a comprehensive TR as the last Vegas trip was, but just a synopsis of the 7 rooms I visited on my trip.
Hooter's - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Yes, Hooter's has a poker room. It was somewhat of a hike to find the casino (southeast of MGM), but I close enough that I should've gotten to it on my first trip. There are a few tables hidden at the back of the casino, and there was one table running on the weeknight I showed up to it. I was able to hop right into the only 1/2 game running, and I was able to get some shorthanded action in with an interesting group of characters. The lineup included a Texan, a Californian, an Alaskan, a Brazilian, and myself. The Alaskan, who said he now resides in Oregon, claimed to be Chael Sonnen's university wresting coach at Oregon. He'd certainly had a few to drink, but was able to regale me with some interesting MMA stories about Chael and some other fighters anyway. Was a very friendly, soft lineup. Didn't have any real noteworthy hands, and played for about two hours before moving on.
The Quad - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I hiked from Hooter's to The Quad, which was under construction during my first trip to Sin City. I wasn't really expecting much, as it's predecessor Imperial Palace had a reputation for being a bit of a dump, but it wasn't that bad at all. Certainly seemed like a less interesting cast of characters in this game though, outside of a Danish kid on my direct left. He was very active, and absolutely more competent than the majority of 1/2 players, but his constant talking about 2p2 and strategy rubbed me the wrong way. I've ranted about this before I think, but holy hell people, please stop talking about 2p2 and strat at the tables. It often comes across as arrogant and can make rec players uncomfortable. Plus it makes me want to slap you. Anytime you talk at the tables, you should be doing your best to talk about anything but poker.
Palace Station - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The Station casinos are a staple of the Las Vegas poker scene, however you won't see much of them if you don't venture off-strip. Every Station poker room usually has the same group of locals that show up day in and day out, and small limit games are commonly found in most of them. Red Rock and GVR are the exceptions as the two biggest station casinos. True to form, Palace Station had a 2/4 limit half kill game running when I was there, filled with locals that all seemed to know eachother. I only played about 25 minutes, but 25 minutes of limit poker was better than standing in line for the Oyster bar. Pretty awesome of my friends to hold my spot in line while I grinded out a few limit poker hands and knocked out yet another casino. Oh, and the Oyster Bar was delicious.
Suncoast Station - Las Vegas, NV, United States
This particular station is on the west side of the city, in the suburb of Summerlin. Summerlin seems to be a richer part of Vegas, but Suncoast felt like a carbon copy of Palace the day before. At least when it came to the poker room. Same small limit game, same group of locals. This group of fine folks was definitely older than the last though - pretty sure I was the youngest player at the table by a good 40 years. Booked a small profit and hopped over to nearby Red Rock.
Red Rock - Las Vegas, NV, Canada
Red Rock is definitely the biggest of the Station casinos, at least when it comes to the poker room. You'll still see a lot of locals, but you'll see all of the 1/2, 2/5 and even some 5/10 and higher no limit games run here. From what I understand, the 5/10 that often runs here is a local's game that is just absurdly soft. I played a bit of a longer session here too, and was able to rack up a healthy profit.
Green Valley Ranch - Henderson, NV, United States
I'm not really sure if Henderson should be considered a suburb of Vegas, or a separate entity. Either way, it certainly doesn't have a very Vegas feel to it - it seems to have more of a relaxed, small town vibe. GVR is the main poker room in the area, and in terms of size appears to be the second biggest Station poker room after Red Rock. I don't remember much else about the game, outside it being generally friendly and soft.
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV, United States
If the locals-filled games at the Station casinos had the fun, friendly atmosphere that low limit poker should have, Hard Rock had a couple of characters that displayed the opposite behavior. One guy in particular seemed to be quite bitter about poker in general, with constant sarcastic 'nice hand, nice hand' comments and criticism about everyone's play. It's people like these that absolutely ruin the live poker experience, and it's too bad because Hard Rock has a great game with lots of other recreational tourists filtering through. They also have a pretty great promotion where the top 5 made hands every day receive $100. With only 1 table running, if you're a regular playing every day, it should be pretty easy to get in that top 5 all the time. This was my last room at the trip, and I was able to cap it off with dinner at Musashi before catching my flight out at 6am.
My Vegas recap wouldn't be complete without a brag about how incredible I ran at CCR all week. We went out for every meal and played CCR for the check every time, and the only time I lost was a flip for a couple of smoothies that cost me $10. For our last meal at Musashi and a group of 10 of us eating, 4 of us played CCR for the meal and the rest bought out. We decided that to add a bit more gamble to it, the buyout money would go to the runner-up and the last card pulled would pay the entire $300 check. Naturally, I was the runner up and collected the buyout money of roughly $200. I might be the only person in history to show a profit by eating in Vegas for a week.
I leave for Amsterdam on March 4, and it can't come soon enough.
this is one of the best blogs, I don't know how I missed it? didn't see it before, instant 10 rating and subbed.
Fran
Really quick update.
I've been in Amsterdam for a few days now, but haven't been to the casino yet despite being less than a 5 minute walk away. First things first has been adjusting my body clock to Euro time, which definitely takes a few days. Secondly, it seems Holland Casino requires a dress code? Therefore my standard t-shirt/jeans/hoodie/baseball cap attire won't quite suffice here in Amsterdam. Need to go find myself a nice shirt just to go play some cards! I'll probably get that all in order today and then go down for some pokers tonight.
And of course, I've just been enjoying the gorgeous city of Amsterdam! It's actually much more of a change from a North American city than I pictured. Very cramped, but the lack of car traffic makes it feel not quite as busy. I've never seen more bicycles in my life before. Had someone tell me that there's 2 bikes to every resident of the city - insanity!
I'm also going to start using my instagram for my European adventures. It's been totally dormant forever, and the only reason I had an account was a tradeoff with a friend. She had to get a twitter account if I got an instagram account. I had never used my instagram before this week, and she uses her twitter constantly and is a very entertaining follow. I think I won. Anyway, if anyone's interested my no-longer dormant instagram is http://instagram.com/wasy8. I'll also continue to be active on twitter @wasy8.
Hope to post Holland Casino update in the next couple of days. Cheers!
Holland Casino - Amsterdam, Netherlands
As mentioned in my last post, I was tipped off that Holland Casino had a dress code. Not an overly strict one, but apparently a t-shirt and hoodie weren't going to be acceptable. So I spent some time on the weekend looking for a reasonably nice shirt (for whatever reason, a more difficult task than anticipated!) and finally found one that seemed to fit the bill. When I stepped foot in the casino however, I counted no less than 10 people inside wearing hoodies. So much for that dress code. At least I got a nice shirt out of the ordeal.
As for the poker itself, the room is located on the bottom floor of the casino, and only opens at 8pm during the weekdays (open until 3am). Weekends I believe it opens at 1:30 pm. It was actually quite a nice room, with comfortable chairs, clean chips, and competent dealers. And of course, a very soft 2/2 game. There were two full games running on Monday night, as well as a 100+10 tourney with 35 runners. Personally, I ran pure in the cash game over 3.5 hours. Never winning any really big pots, but every hand I played I seemed to win, either inducing bluffs with the best hand or making timely barrels with equity that got through. Finished up 425 euro.
Originally my plan was to go to a couple more Dutch rooms, then go to the Belgian casinos. That fell through when my Belgian host wasn't able to host next week (him and his wife are in the process of moving, completely understandable), and I realized public transport to some of the casinos outside Brussels can be a bit complicated. So I decided to book a flight to Malta, spend some time there, and from there go to Vienna for the EPT. I've been sitting in London Heathrow for the past several hours, sniffling away with a brutal cold that I'm sure I can shake off with a bit more sleep than I've been getting. Regardless, I'm looking forward to getting to Malta. If anyone in Malta wants to meet up for a drink, let me know!
Malta officially conquered! With it being spring, and a bit quieter in Malta, I've been able to take the time to get a bunch of online grinding in, as well as meeting up with some fellow pros living here on the island. Enjoyed a fun St. Patty's Day celebration with Nikiforos, z0fman, and some high stakes pros who I don't remember their online names. Fun group of guys and I had a great time. Here's the recap of the poker rooms.
Dragonara Casino - St. Julian's, Malta
Lots of cool things about Dragonara. Firstly, its built in a 19th century palace on the shores of the Mediterranean. That alone makes it an awesome setting. It's also the only European poker room that uses the Bravo system that a lot of North American rooms use. And there's also all the Italian fish on holiday in Malta. Rake here is 4% capped at 20eur - not great, but not awful for a European room since most of them seem to be raked heavily. They do have a rakeback system here in place, but unless you're a local playing every weekend, its impossible to get any value from it. There was a 1/2 and 2/5 game running while I was there. I did manage to play my first big pot of the Euro trip here, and lost with KK vs TT in a 4bet pot on a J65 flop. /whinenoonecaresabout. Broke even here.
The Casino at Portomaso - St. Julian's, Malta
Another casino built on the shores of the Mediterranean. I can definitely get used to that cool sea breeze walking in and out of the casino. Room was nice enough, but shockingly they didn't manage to get a game running until 10 at night on a Saturday! They did have a small tournament running, as they do every day of the week...but not getting any cash game running until late night on a Friday or Saturday is shocking. Had a pretty horrid seat, with nittier players to my right and 4 loose Italian fish to my left. I think I forced a few spots, and lost a pretty big pot with KJdd vs QQ on 852dd flop. Of the english speaking folks at the table, we had a fun mix of people. There was a Swede, a South African, a Ukranian, a Maltese, as well as myself and the Italians. It's a shame this casino doesn't have more action.
Oracle Casino - Bugibba, Malta
Completely and totally dead. The poor poker room manager told me he's barely been able to get a cash game running for the few months he's been on the job. Small tournaments run a few days a week but that's the best they can do. As for the room, its certainly nothing flashy, but the chips are excellent, as you can see. One of my favorite chips in my collection from an aesthetics point of view. Hopefully this casino sees a bit more action in the summer.
Flying to Vienna tomorrow to hang out at the EPT for a few days. I'm not likely to play any events, probably just grind cash and meet up with some friends. Hopefully I'll be able to rail someone to a big score. Also noteworthy - the Concord Card Casino in Vienna will be my 100th cardroom since starting this blog! Should be a great experience. If you're in Vienna for the EPT, let me know.
Hi!
Again great read!
Also, Concord Card Casino is the place where I actually learned poker back in college days, I used to have like 30+ hours sessions there lol- the place is never closing- cash games are 24-7, and they have some nice food in their restaurant too. In the same building- left entrance- there is also a nice place don't forget to check it
Enjoy!
Fran
Edit; also you will love CCC chips, they are my favorite
Thanks for the heads up Fran! I can't wait for Vienna. It's been high on my list of cities to visit for a very long time.
Apparently the EPT is going to be held in the Hofburg palace, but the EPT is partnered with the CCC. Also have been told Montesino is another place I should be visiting for poker.
Montesino is also nice, they used to held EPT back when I lived in Vienna. I personally liked playing more in CCC, but that differs from person to person I believe. Just be sure that you are visiting the right CCC, big parking infront, not near city center. Because there are some smaller ccc's in the town (with significantlly less action. But, if CCC is hosting EPT then you'll be in the main one for sure.
Have fun, looking forward to your post about Vienna.
Nice updates!
I was wondering what you did for accommodation out in Malta? I was thinking of going out for a month or two and now I know which casino to visit to help pay for the trip 
GL in Vienna
Originally posted by peche025
Nice updates!I was wondering what you did for accommodation out in Malta? I was thinking of going out for a month or two and now I know which casino to visit to help pay for the trip
GL in Vienna
I actually rented an apartment in Paceville, which was incredibly cheap based on the fact that it was spring. Also the fact that its located on top of some strip clubs. So there is bass pumping through your room every night, but it never bothered me too much.
I usually make all my bookings through Hostelworld - obviously the nuts for hostels, but its good for cheap hotels/bed and breakfasts, and apartment rentals like the one I did in Malta.
Was I right about CCC chips? They are awesome for me, especially the €100 black one.
Sorry I haven't updated guys, having too much fun in Vienna and I feel like #100 deserves a proper, well-done update. Going to Budapest tomorrow and will do a full update from there.