Eh Vegas: Eh?

So, I bet you figured I'd never get back to writing about the blogger gatherings. Ha! OK, I really figured I'd be back in Vegas before I got back to this, but apparently, I forgot just how little poker I play in the first couple months of summer. I live in Minnesota and the 6 hours of summer we get just can't be missed.

My poker of late has been spotty. Went really deep in poker league and then went from a seriously nice looking upward trend at $.25/.50 LHE in April to an almost matching downward slope in May. So in June, I've done what any good blogger has done when they find themselves sliding backwards...I've moved up to $.50/1.00 LHE. Strangely, this has helped. Go figure.

[Cue flashback sound...do di do, do di do...]

Back in March, I went to Toronto, Canada. A beautiful southern city that has a lot of people that say 'Eh' a lot. The lovely Kat didn't have to try really hard to convince me to go. I love to travel and even though I could drive to Canada in just to my north, I've never actually been there. Heck, my roommate freshman year of college was a Canuck.

The last post on this subject basically brought you up to speed to me having my crap in my room and meeting the TuckFards. I suggest you go read that post if you have no idea what going through customs can be like. I'll wait...[cue theme from Jeopardy] Back already?

I remember being asked several times where I wanted to go for supper. It might not be several times, it might have only been once, these memories are only 3 months old, but I was asked "Where do you want to go?" I remember thinking just how difficult a question that is. I've been in Toronto for about 2 hours now. I've had one beer. I've had only airport food for the better part of 9 hours and they no longer serve a snack on the airplane. "How about the Distillery district?" I might have answered. I'd heard of it, Kat and Astin had both had written about it. It sounded lovely and frankly, my standards had fallen to the being thirsty for good beer, laughs and food.

Most of the rest of this post will be done with pictures. Some of you know that I have 2 major hobbies, poker (duh!) and photography. Besides being something I find quite fun, it also remembers things way better then I do.

This first photo is The Distillery District. It really was quite a photographers dream spot to shoot, but I wasn't here to shoot. I was here to meet up with some bloggers, drink beer, laugh, and eat. Focus young grasshopper.

I'm showing this shot above for background, I actually shot it after we'd been there a while. Amazingly, I shot it freehand (meaning no tripod or steadying object). I'm guessing that having drank a fair bit of beer had really steadied my hands. The colors were just amazing.

When we entered Mill St. Brewpub it felt like home. Just look at all those lovely taps serving beers I've never tried before. I'm not sure what that bartenders name is, but he was serving beer. That's tops in my book. Ed(?), a poker blogger who apparently no longer blogs and I'd never met, was already there. He was kind enough to buy beer for some of us waiting for a large group table to be ready. I believe I started with the Pilsner. It's been 3 months...better note taking would have been useful.

Not surprisingly, the lighting sucked for photography in here. It would have been nice to have the whole group at one table, but it just wasn't in the cards. The New York crew had arrived, so I got to catch up with VinNay, whom I'd met in Vegas resulting from a story that I've yet to write about that starts with a tournament that I've only hinted at cause, I like to write about my blogger gatherings in reverse order. Umkay?!?

We shared the table with Kat, Mary and Dawn Summers. Now, just to clear the air. I had met all of these people in Vegas last December. I met Dawn and VinNay at the poker table. Unfortunately, the story you haven't heard yet is that I actually busted both of them. Oops. I called a shove from VinNay with jack high cause I was pretty sure I had him (more in another post) and Dawn was on my left when I was in the LB. I shoved into her with ducks and she instantly called with AKo. The ducks held.

Hello! My name is OhCaptain. Yes, we met in Vegas. I'm the dick that busted you with [insert hand that ain't huge].

Now, Mary, I was introduced to her at the end of the tournament after I had busted to Karol's then fiancee. This blogger world seems so small at times. Anywho, I'm really not sure what your brain's consistency is at the end of 9.5 hours of a poker tournament, but mine is complete Jello with a healthy smattering of emptiness. I probably said I was sorry to Mary for not remembering her 20 times, but the truth is, I really don't remember much at all from the hour immediately following my bust out of the tournament.

I'm just a sucker for neon. I could spend a lot of time down here shooting...sorry.

So the group spent a lot of time getting to know everyone. I hadn't got a chance to mingle with the other table yet. You can see the group walking away in the picture above. This small size didn't do it justice. The lighting and the structures down here were really impressive. I can't wait to go back next year (hint, hint!)

We return you to our regularly scheduled programming - Poker. Back to the Kat's apartment building for cash game poker. Canadian style!

DonKay is standing there, dealing out the cards. For some reason, this picture reminds me of DaVinci's Last Supper. Minus the Lord and the disciples and the whole Priory of Sion 'V' thing that means vessel or woman thing, but fun people sitting around playing home game poker.

This was cash $.25/.50 CA poker. It played more like $.20/.40 US poker, but that was apparently due to the exchange rate and not the quality of players. I'm really not sure how long we played. I do know that Astin and VinNay were down $60 CA ($48 US) in what seemed like 10 seconds. It could have been longer, but again. it was 3 months ago.

Most of us didn't care. If two players are down $120 CA ($96 US), then there has to be players up...and up we were.

Astin did explain his methodology. "I can't win if I fold." Enough said. (I think he explain it as a Durrr thing, but again...3 months ago...)

I somehow ended up something like $10 CA ($8 US). It might have been less, but that's where my mind is taking me and I like it.

Not really sure why, but I really liked the above photo as good stock photo. It does show Dawn putting out a rather large bet. The way she was winning, my guess it she won this pot too.

This was a much better atmosphere to get to know people. SOOOooo much more quiet, but the waitstaff sucked. You couldn't get just any beer. It would seem we were limited to what the TuckFards were drinking.

The game ran for a while and I gotta tell ya, it was fun. Next year...I think I'll try Astin's style. I think he made a comeback. Not sure he got it all back, but I don't remember him or VinNay buying in again.

At some time way past my usual Central Standard Time bedtime, we had hit the hay. I've never been much of a sleeper and this trip was no different. When the bright light of the morning sun came through my window, it just didn't feel like a lot of sleep, but no worries. They have Coke Zero in Canada.

Kat and I had a system for morning greetings. It's exactly what text messaging was invented for. She had sent me one to let me know that Keith was making gourmet coffee. I love the smell of good coffee. How could I refuse? I grabbed some more Coke Zero and headed up. A little known secret? I don't drink coffee. And yes, I am in IT.

Kat took us to the restaurant above, Jawny Bakers. I have no idea how we got here. Trips like these remind you who your friends are. You are literally in a foreign country and have no idea where you are. I'm pretty sure there were some left turns and some right turns. This restaurant RAWKED! The food was really quite good. I seem to remember having eggs and some really tasty bread. Again, notes would have been useful. One memory I do have...Aussie Millions was on the TV...poker TV at breakfast...priceless.

Here in Minnesota, brunch is a meal served between breakfast and lunch. I had always assumed that that was the origin of the word...you know BR(breakfast) + UNCH (lunch), but I was SADLY mistaken. Here in Toronto, brunch is served until damn near supper. OK, that's probably not really true either, but it was still being served after one, which here in middle America, is AFTER lunch. I got really confused...but thankfully, I was able to hide my confusion.

After we left here, we were on a quest for beer. VinNay was supposed to follow Keith and I in the silver/grey Honda(?). We later found out that they actually made at least two of these silver Honda's...VinNay followed the other. Oops. It gets better, he also had his cellphone off...

No worries. Kat, Keith and I went beer shopping anyways.

I think it's time to take a break. I'm hoping not to wait another 3 months to do this again, but you never know. I leave you with this. After buying the beer, it was time to go back to the apartment building and help Kat set up the Eh Vegas Blogger Poker Tournament. We played a fantastic game called Jungle Speed. Despite what you may have heard, I didn't actually slam Mary's head into the table...on purpose...

But that will have to wait until later.

Eh Vegas: Getting there is not really HALF the fun

My guess is that everyone that reads OhCaptain Poker, does so for the snappy travel recaps. I mean it's been, um what, 3 weeks since I crossed the border. Well, here's part one of my Eh Vegas recap.

While we were in Vegas in December, we got a taste of what the big gathering is all about. It was an absolute blast. We also started hearing about the smaller, regional gatherings. Kat had OhCountess sold on a trip to Canada in about a 2 seconds.

Originally, we had hoped to travel together and enjoy a Mom and Dad weekend away. OhCountess will be finishing her Master degree the first week of May, this made it almost impossible for her to go. Too much to do and very little precious time left. This meant I was going to travel for fun all by myself. I haven't travelled by myself without a business agenda and an expense account in a very long time. Weeeeeeee!

I made my plans, got my passport, booked a flight and arranged with Kat to stay in the guest suites of her building. Heck, I even found out just how good the exchange rate was for us heading east and south. At .805, you get a fair bit more Cannuck money for your US greenbacks. A few days before I left, I even lucked my way into sharing the cost of my suite with someone else. VinNay was driving up from New York and looking for a place to stay. Suite! I mean Sweet! Not that you would have read it on in my Vegas recap that has yet to be published, but I had met him in Vegas. 

It might be because this summer, I'm hitting one of those major milestone birthdays. Watching Riggs and Waffles blaze the trail has been fun but I've decided to get some last youthful stuff out of the way. My midlife crisis seems to be resolving by me traveling while my prostate still allows for extended flight time. Blogger gatherings have the right mix of travel and excitement. There is still time to do a few more this year. Okie Vegas is out, we have a prior commitment. Is there gonna be a "Rainy Vegas" out west (looking at you WA, OR, BC)? How about a "Peach Vegas" in Georgia? Anyone? Bueller?
Travelling by myself has never really been a problem. I actually enjoy the surreal solitude you feel being alone in a sea of strangers. My itinerary had me travelling from home, to Minneapolis, to O'Hara and then to YYZ in Toronto. Only one new airport for me this time. It's almost impossible for me to travel without hitting MSP and O'Hara. Both are starting to feel like home. The picture on the left is the lovely eastern coast of Michigan.

I didn't really spend that much time at O'Hara, about an hour and 20 minutes. I did a lot of Twittering there and got my internet life in order. You see, Canadians enjoy paying outrageously for thier data plans. My beloved iPhone was gonna cost me $.02/kilobyte. That's ~$20/MB or HOLY SHIT! Once I left Chicago, data roaming was being turned off. Goodbye Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader. I will miss you.

This second leg of the journey was on the smallest commuter plane I've ever ridden on. Each row was 3 seats wide. I had discovered this while planning the trip. On the big plus side, I picked a seat on the single seat side. I really was looking forward to this, stretching sideways sounded like heaven.

Both of these flights were right around an hour. I remember complaining about how the little bag of pretzels you got on a flight seemed so tiny by comparison to the price of the flight. Now, I miss those salty buggers. I packed a few things to nimble on while on the journey, but of course, this little flight stowed the carry-ons at the gate.

While en route to Toronto, the flight attendant had stopped by with the customs form. It's funny, they give you these shortly after giving you a beverage. That's not a lot of room on that little tray. 

I was a little bummed about the timing. I was rereading parts of "Elements of Poker" by Tommy Angelo and got to one of my favorite parts. He writes about "The nut nothing." I had never given any thought to the concept of having the best high card and giving it a name. Still makes me chuckle.

I grabbed my pencil and started filling out the form. My headphones were cranking out Bauhaus at the time. For some reason, the dark Gothic sounds of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" seemed fitting. Listening to someone screaming in Latin while wondering why it matters if I've been to a farm in the last week. Who would answer the truth if any of this was true? Am I really gonna tell people that I have more the $10,000 in cash with me? I'm going to a home poker game and try to only bring what I can afford to lose.

When I arrived in Canada, I seriously considered dropping to my knees and kissing the ground. Remember the joy I had with having no one sitting next to me? Well, this comes with a price. On approach to YYZ, the ride gets so rough you no longer question the fasten seat belt sign. Buckle up!

Deboarding the plane at YYZ, you don't realize it at first, but the plane seems to have landed in another state. Shortly before landing, I realized that all the Coke Zero was starting catch up to me. Never fear, this is quite possible the worlds longest concourse. After travelling for what seems like a quarter mile, you make a left and travel about a half mile until you see this escalator down, welcoming you to Canada. Whew, the end! 

Psych!

No, more hallway, a couple more turns and eventually, you finally reach a door. A fine government employ is sitting there. I wasn't really sure what he did. I'm assuming what ever it was, he was doing it well. He didn't move much but he was 15 ft from a bathroom.

For those of you that read my person blog, I've posted this before there. I wrote this down because while at the time, my tired brain was struggling with the whole thing, the story was actually quite entertaining. Here's the list of questions I was grilled with:

• Why are you travelling to Canada. For leisure.
• Did you bring more the $10,000 in cash? No (but really wanted to say - to a poker game, are you crazy? Kept lips tight on that one. 
• Are you visiting anyone? Yes.
• What is their names? Names of people I'm visiting. The short list, for god's sake I'm meeting up with like 20 other poker player/bloggers.
• Where are you staying? The host's apartment building has guest suites. Rather nice ones I might add...never mind.
• What's the address? Oh thank you Kat for emailing me this!
• How are you getting there? Jeebus, The host's husband is picking me up...crap this is gonna lead to more damn questions about people I know but vaguely...I'm really hoping my creative writing skills are enough here...oh, and my ability to bluff like a pro.
• What is his name? [name] - Here we go, this is one of my blogger friends non-poker playing, non-blogging husband...thank god I met him once.
• What do you do for a living? Computer Programmer - I could have given him the long form of my actual job title - Senior Analyst/Programmer, but that just leads to more questions. By this time though, I'm struggling with every once of my being to not be a complete smart ass and just start making shit up...
• What kind of car is Keith driving? Grey Mazda - Are you friggin' kidding me? I don't even know what kind of car my parents drive. I think my minivan is blue. So glad they told me ahead of time...and I thought they were nuts for telling me that.
• What do your hosts do? School teacher and a (eyes shifting up and to the left - you do this when you are thinking creatively) sound engineer. I have no idea of EXACTLY what he does for a living. This is pretty close...whew.
• How long are you staying? Would it be kosher to just give him the link to this blog? Seriously, I'm an open book...fine. 4 days.
• Do you only have the one bag? No dumb ass, I rented out the entire plane for all the crap I'd need over the next 4 days. Single guys always bring extra crap...yes sir. The one bag.
• Are you travelling with anyone else? For the love of Pete! No, I'm travelling by myself.

Have a nice trip, and welcome to Canada.

I had called Keith (Kat's husband) about halfway through the baggage area. We were arranging a method for us to converge. It would seem that on the other side of baggage claim is one more customs desk. Who knew? One of these guys didn't take kindly to me talking on my cell. 

"Put down the phone, NOW!" - one of the armed security guys screamed at me. I know I look like a 40 year old disgruntled poker player, but I hadn't even gotten to the desk yet...geez. His counterpart was a lot nicer about it and rolled his eyes. I could tell the power trip his friend was on was starting to lose it's luster on him. I was saying good bye when he yelled it any way.

Eh Vegas was planned for the same weekend as Spring Break. The place was a bit of a zoo, thankfully, they were fleeing and I was arriving. Keith would pick me up in departures, his grey Nissan was a welcome site.

I've met Keith before. He and Kat had stopped at our house on their way to Alaska. We drove towards the tall buildings, I was almost there. He's an easy person for a conversation. After travelling most of the day, it was nice to talk to someone. I had planned my flights to get me there with enough time for a good meal and some beers. It also meant we departed the airport at rush hour. Keith admitted to choosing poorly the route home. I really didn't mind. He got to show me some of the older parts of the city along Lake Ontario. So much history. It was really cool.

By now, I was looking forward to just slowing down. Back at the Kat and Keith's towers was a place for me to hang my coat and relax. Also back at their apartment were some of the TuckFards. Donkaa and NutzCarson were there with their lovely brides...and they had beer. Oh, sweet, sweet beer. It tasted so good. I don't even remember what it was, I just remember thinking how good it tasted.

It was awesome to finally meet them. I was a bit travel brained, so hopefully I wasn't too big an ass. Kat wasn't there yet, she arrived a few minutes after I did. She had keys to a place for me to keep my stuff. I got my hugs and with some quick cell phone calls, plans for dinner and drinks were arranged.

We were heading to the distillery district...

More later...this has dragged on long enough.

Hey! Midwest Bloggers...

I'm bringing Canadian money home! Finished 3rd in the Eh Vegas! tournamet. When I left, Astin and NutzCarson were heads up. There is much beer to drink...better go!

It's Canada, eh!

Successfully arrived in Toronto and have met up with many a blogger. We ate here, at the Mill Street Brewpub last night in the beautiful Distillery District. I haven't had the chance to finish sampling all the brews yet, but a valiant attempt was made. I could spend all night in this area with my camera. Fantastic place for some night photography!

After dinner and beers, we adjourned to the TuckFard's guest suite for a little cash game poker...ah, sweet blogger cash game poker money. Well, I didn't end up that much, for a $.05/.10 CAN cash game, $30 pots were not unheard of...geez!

The tournament is today. Still plenty of time to explore the great white north!

It is time - Eh!

• Passport - Check
  
• Luggage - Check
• Accommodations - Check
• A Pocket Full of Loonies - Check
• Rides to & from airports - Check
• Kids at Grandma's - Check
• Grown Responsibilities Taken Care Of - Check

That's it. I'm out of here! It's Eh Vegas! Weekend and I'm going!

Sure, I get the big FAIL at finishing the Winter Gathering Recap prior to going to my next blogger gathering, but what's a guy to do.

I'm either going to post a lot in the next couple of days or I'm not. Since traveling south to Toronto apparently puts me into AT&T Canada, I have to disconnect my iPhone from the intertubes and spend long periods of time without bits of data to consume. Hell, I may not even be twittering much. But then again, I might just find unsecured Wi-Fi connections just sitting there open. Who knows?

The point is, I'm heading out to spend a weekend with friends. Throwing chips, take pictures, eating, drinking, throwing chips, laughing, drinking (did I say that again) and laughing some more.

Have a great weekend!

I need a ride

I'll be on a plane that's landing in Toronto (YYZ) at ~5 pm on 13 of March

Anyone know of a good home game that weekend? Preferably one featuring drunken bloggers?

On a more serious note, OhCountess will not be travelling with me. Anyone need a roommate that weekend?