VPC Went Vegas 2014; The Trip Report
01-08-2014
, 02:59 PM
Click here for our previous journey: VPC Went Vegas III: A Trip Report
VPC Goes Vegas 2014. The Intro.
In his book ‘The Mental Game Of Poker’ Jared Tendler describes seven forms of poker tilt. After reading the book I came to the conclusion that I suffer from all seven of them. Badly. I’m one of those guys who thinks he’s truly cursed at the poker table and despite taking this silly game of cards rather seriously for a couple of years, I’ve never been able to ban that thought out of my head.
By the end of 2010 poker had been feeding me di-ck for too long. The hobby that gave me lots pleasure, opportunities and great experiences in the past had become one big frustration. Poker had always been just a hobby. I had realized early on it wasn’t going to make me rich and famous due to a serious lack of talent. However, running like only a reincarnated Nazi Pedophile should run had taken its toll on my mindset towards the game.
It wasn’t like I had lost perspective. After the regular five minutes of fire tilt that comes with busting yet another tournament I could put things in perspective rather quickly due to general life run good. This is what I wrote about that in 2010 in my ‘good bye letter’ towards poker .
“I mean, come on. What am I complaining about. Poker. A stupid game of cards. I’m 29 years old, healthy, have a lovely girlfriend, good job, my own house, nice car and I never had to bury anyone close to me. I run sick good in life and definitely realize I rank top 5% world population. Seriously.”
No matter how bad you think you run in poker, you will eventually win a flip or spike a two outer. Unfortunately, the same goes for life run good. My life run good ended on the 18th of March last year. At 17:10 to be exact.
It was at this time a phone call came in that we all now one day may – and most likely will – come, but the thought of it makes us wanna throw up. It said ‘Home Calling’ on my screen. It wasn’t unusual for either of my parents to call at this hour so I answered the phone in my usual witty way.
Upon hearing my mothers voice I immediately reached for my car keys and started running as fast as humanly possible . I just knew the next words where going to change my life. Coming home from her day at the office she found my father motionless lying on the couch. The man who provided me with a careless life for 32 years had passed hours earlier during his regular afternoon nap at the age of 65. Just like that.
I’m blessed to come from a loving and strong family. My mom is handling things like the boss that she is but unfortunately we can’t say the same thing about me. Due to previous life run good I never had to deal with anything even remotely close to what I was – and am - dealing with now. After about 6 week the tensions en stress that come from dealing with such a horrible event caught up with my body causing spasms in my collar, hearth muscle and stomach. These spasms make me feel bad. I’m not talking ‘I felt better’ kind of bad I’m seriously talking ‘thinking your about to die’ kind of bad. By the time we got to September I started adding hyperventilation to the mix, which did not help. At this point I couldn’t stand up straight for more than 5 minutes and when I was up I walked around as if I was pis drunk.
I’ve spend more time in hospital waiting rooms in 2013 than I did in bars and clubs. I have a hard time accepting that these physical problems are most likely caused by stress. I’m still nowhere near feeling 100% and actually feel way worse than I would have hoped by now. But is what it is and we’ll made the best of it. Good thing is I feel closest to 100% when I’m drunk so with that in mind a Vegas trip comes in handy…
Needless to say 2013 sucked. It’s not a big challenge for 2014 to become a better year but to give the year a kick start in the right direction I decided to combine a couple things I like doing most:
A) Drink beer with my mates.
B) Visit Las Vegas.
So this Friday the 17th we’ll be flying out of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport again towards the promised land. We’ll be staying at the Mirage for 7 nights. So who is ‘we’ for this trip?
Only 5 VPC members are taking on Vegas this time. For the first time we loose one of the ‘filthy few’. Peltinho decided that traveling 50 hours for a 7 night trip wasn’t worth his while this time around. He will be explaining his exact reasons in the introduction video below (must see, and hear). Also Roeie & VDH passed on the opportunity to go on their third trip.
And now for the real bad news. Yes, it’s true. Our beloved Fratie couldn’t muster up the cash for this years trip. A striking blow to our Vegas fellowship and more importantly, my trip report. I know you guys basically scroll trough my ramblings looking for the next epic Fratie pic to arise so I won’t disappoint in that area. I’ve collected a good volume of Fratie pics and movies over the last 18 months to provide a worthy ‘Meanwhile in the Netherlands’ series throughout the trip report.
Below are the 5 participants in this years trip. For bio’s check the first post of our previous TR.
Peter “Bozzie” Leijsten. (5/10 degen score)
Tom “Iebus” Ebus (8/10 degen score)
Dennis “Hugo” Reijnhout (7/10 degen score)
Marco “Baars” Baars (11/10 degen score)
Robert “Hamid” Vallen (-1/10 degen score)
Planning a Vegas Trip is usually pretty useless. You never end up doing what you wanted to do anyway but that doesn’t stop us from trying . We’ll be arriving in the early Friday evening and after check in and a shower we will probably wonder the strip, play some cash games, blackjack and what not. If we’re in real good shape we might hit Hakkasan where Calvin Harris is playing.
Everyone has their own weekend plans. Bozzie is going to watch NFL and soccer all weekend, Baars en Iebus plan on visiting the Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock and Hugo and I will be playing Poker mostly. I’m gonna be playing Caesars Championship Event on Saturday (and hopefully Sunday) and an Aria Daily most likely.
Inspired by the brilliant TR of the four Scottish Guys Monday will be used for the “Duh Mat Roulette Casino Crawl”. As a sick coincidence we always bet on number 14 as well. Rules are simple; A) bet 14 in every Casino. B) at least one alcoholic drink in each casino. C) group picture in every casino. We’re not Scottish so we probably end up in a hospital with alcohol poisoning but it’s worth a shot.
Tuesday will be a Downtown day. I’m a downtown fan boy so we are going to take our time there. So much time that we booked rooms at The Plaza for the night (which is lol cheaper than a taxi back and forth). We’ll be doing some shopping at the Premium Outlet first, check into the Plaza to drop off bags and then hit Binions either for their 2PM tournament or a marathon 2/4 Limit Corona Grind session. If anyone has good any good tips on downtown hangouts let us know. I might make reservations for “Oscars Steakhouse” in the Plaza. Better suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday I’ll be checking out the Neon Museum Downtown and probably check the Gold & Silver Pawnshop from Pawn Stars . Downtown breakfast tips also welcome. Afterwards we’ll be heading back to Mirage since we plan on visiting Carlos Santana in the House of Blues later that night. Absolutely no plans what so ever for our last full day.
So that’s it. This will not be a live TR because those mostly suck and I’m not going to waste a second of Vegas time ragging on the nut low that is an iPhone keyboard. The TR will be made afterwards and I will take my time to do so. Check out our introduction video below!!!
I’ve unlocked my Twitter (@Broddelwerk) so you can follow me there. I’ll start tweeting in English if I get some foreign followers. If not, y’all have to learn Dutch real fast.
VPC Goes Vegas 2014. The Intro.
In his book ‘The Mental Game Of Poker’ Jared Tendler describes seven forms of poker tilt. After reading the book I came to the conclusion that I suffer from all seven of them. Badly. I’m one of those guys who thinks he’s truly cursed at the poker table and despite taking this silly game of cards rather seriously for a couple of years, I’ve never been able to ban that thought out of my head.
By the end of 2010 poker had been feeding me di-ck for too long. The hobby that gave me lots pleasure, opportunities and great experiences in the past had become one big frustration. Poker had always been just a hobby. I had realized early on it wasn’t going to make me rich and famous due to a serious lack of talent. However, running like only a reincarnated Nazi Pedophile should run had taken its toll on my mindset towards the game.
It wasn’t like I had lost perspective. After the regular five minutes of fire tilt that comes with busting yet another tournament I could put things in perspective rather quickly due to general life run good. This is what I wrote about that in 2010 in my ‘good bye letter’ towards poker .
“I mean, come on. What am I complaining about. Poker. A stupid game of cards. I’m 29 years old, healthy, have a lovely girlfriend, good job, my own house, nice car and I never had to bury anyone close to me. I run sick good in life and definitely realize I rank top 5% world population. Seriously.”
No matter how bad you think you run in poker, you will eventually win a flip or spike a two outer. Unfortunately, the same goes for life run good. My life run good ended on the 18th of March last year. At 17:10 to be exact.
It was at this time a phone call came in that we all now one day may – and most likely will – come, but the thought of it makes us wanna throw up. It said ‘Home Calling’ on my screen. It wasn’t unusual for either of my parents to call at this hour so I answered the phone in my usual witty way.
Upon hearing my mothers voice I immediately reached for my car keys and started running as fast as humanly possible . I just knew the next words where going to change my life. Coming home from her day at the office she found my father motionless lying on the couch. The man who provided me with a careless life for 32 years had passed hours earlier during his regular afternoon nap at the age of 65. Just like that.
I’m blessed to come from a loving and strong family. My mom is handling things like the boss that she is but unfortunately we can’t say the same thing about me. Due to previous life run good I never had to deal with anything even remotely close to what I was – and am - dealing with now. After about 6 week the tensions en stress that come from dealing with such a horrible event caught up with my body causing spasms in my collar, hearth muscle and stomach. These spasms make me feel bad. I’m not talking ‘I felt better’ kind of bad I’m seriously talking ‘thinking your about to die’ kind of bad. By the time we got to September I started adding hyperventilation to the mix, which did not help. At this point I couldn’t stand up straight for more than 5 minutes and when I was up I walked around as if I was pis drunk.
I’ve spend more time in hospital waiting rooms in 2013 than I did in bars and clubs. I have a hard time accepting that these physical problems are most likely caused by stress. I’m still nowhere near feeling 100% and actually feel way worse than I would have hoped by now. But is what it is and we’ll made the best of it. Good thing is I feel closest to 100% when I’m drunk so with that in mind a Vegas trip comes in handy…
Needless to say 2013 sucked. It’s not a big challenge for 2014 to become a better year but to give the year a kick start in the right direction I decided to combine a couple things I like doing most:
A) Drink beer with my mates.
B) Visit Las Vegas.
So this Friday the 17th we’ll be flying out of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport again towards the promised land. We’ll be staying at the Mirage for 7 nights. So who is ‘we’ for this trip?
Only 5 VPC members are taking on Vegas this time. For the first time we loose one of the ‘filthy few’. Peltinho decided that traveling 50 hours for a 7 night trip wasn’t worth his while this time around. He will be explaining his exact reasons in the introduction video below (must see, and hear). Also Roeie & VDH passed on the opportunity to go on their third trip.
And now for the real bad news. Yes, it’s true. Our beloved Fratie couldn’t muster up the cash for this years trip. A striking blow to our Vegas fellowship and more importantly, my trip report. I know you guys basically scroll trough my ramblings looking for the next epic Fratie pic to arise so I won’t disappoint in that area. I’ve collected a good volume of Fratie pics and movies over the last 18 months to provide a worthy ‘Meanwhile in the Netherlands’ series throughout the trip report.
Below are the 5 participants in this years trip. For bio’s check the first post of our previous TR.
Peter “Bozzie” Leijsten. (5/10 degen score)
Tom “Iebus” Ebus (8/10 degen score)
Dennis “Hugo” Reijnhout (7/10 degen score)
Marco “Baars” Baars (11/10 degen score)
Robert “Hamid” Vallen (-1/10 degen score)
Planning a Vegas Trip is usually pretty useless. You never end up doing what you wanted to do anyway but that doesn’t stop us from trying . We’ll be arriving in the early Friday evening and after check in and a shower we will probably wonder the strip, play some cash games, blackjack and what not. If we’re in real good shape we might hit Hakkasan where Calvin Harris is playing.
Everyone has their own weekend plans. Bozzie is going to watch NFL and soccer all weekend, Baars en Iebus plan on visiting the Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock and Hugo and I will be playing Poker mostly. I’m gonna be playing Caesars Championship Event on Saturday (and hopefully Sunday) and an Aria Daily most likely.
Inspired by the brilliant TR of the four Scottish Guys Monday will be used for the “Duh Mat Roulette Casino Crawl”. As a sick coincidence we always bet on number 14 as well. Rules are simple; A) bet 14 in every Casino. B) at least one alcoholic drink in each casino. C) group picture in every casino. We’re not Scottish so we probably end up in a hospital with alcohol poisoning but it’s worth a shot.
Tuesday will be a Downtown day. I’m a downtown fan boy so we are going to take our time there. So much time that we booked rooms at The Plaza for the night (which is lol cheaper than a taxi back and forth). We’ll be doing some shopping at the Premium Outlet first, check into the Plaza to drop off bags and then hit Binions either for their 2PM tournament or a marathon 2/4 Limit Corona Grind session. If anyone has good any good tips on downtown hangouts let us know. I might make reservations for “Oscars Steakhouse” in the Plaza. Better suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday I’ll be checking out the Neon Museum Downtown and probably check the Gold & Silver Pawnshop from Pawn Stars . Downtown breakfast tips also welcome. Afterwards we’ll be heading back to Mirage since we plan on visiting Carlos Santana in the House of Blues later that night. Absolutely no plans what so ever for our last full day.
So that’s it. This will not be a live TR because those mostly suck and I’m not going to waste a second of Vegas time ragging on the nut low that is an iPhone keyboard. The TR will be made afterwards and I will take my time to do so. Check out our introduction video below!!!
I’ve unlocked my Twitter (@Broddelwerk) so you can follow me there. I’ll start tweeting in English if I get some foreign followers. If not, y’all have to learn Dutch real fast.
01-11-2014
, 05:02 AM
01-15-2014
, 02:32 AM
02-03-2014
, 03:24 PM
So, here we go. Welcome to VPC Went Vegas 2014; The Trip Report. We went to Las Vegas from 17th till the 24th of January and our stories are about to be told. I’ve typed up four days so far so I should be able to keep some speed in the updates. Ideally I would post a new day every day – except for the weekend - but we have to see how things will go this week.
Just like last time I’ll try to take you guys along with us and let you experience the week like we did. The trip wasn’t as rock and roll as some might expect but I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed reliving the trip by typing it all up.
Mandatory 2+2 shoe pic.
From left to right: Marco, Checkko, Bozzie, Iebus & Hugo.
Also, if a Mod wants to change the title of this topic to VPC Went Vegas 2014; The Trip Report I would be grateful.
Just like last time I’ll try to take you guys along with us and let you experience the week like we did. The trip wasn’t as rock and roll as some might expect but I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed reliving the trip by typing it all up.
Mandatory 2+2 shoe pic.
From left to right: Marco, Checkko, Bozzie, Iebus & Hugo.
Also, if a Mod wants to change the title of this topic to VPC Went Vegas 2014; The Trip Report I would be grateful.
02-03-2014
, 03:58 PM
VPC Went Vegas 2014: Day 1. Travhell.
I’ve been sleeping on the couch for quite a while now. Not that I’m in any kind of trouble with the misses but our couch is slightly tilted and that helps me find better positions to sleep in without being bothered by the physical problems I described in the introduction. On the last night before Vegas I give the bed another shot. I’ve had a couple of beers during a sushi dinner so that should help the falling asleep part. However, no such luck. By 3AM I give up and hit the showers. Baars and I are catching the 05:50 train towards Amsterdam so it’s rise and shine very early anyways.
Venlo Train Station
My girlfriend drops me of at Venlo Train station at 05:40 and I conclude that a one way train ticket towards Amsterdam is pretty much as expensive as flying towards every European capital from any Airport in a 50 mile radius. Ridiculous. Baars doesn’t show up till the very last minute. Regular travelers at this hour might have a déjà vu as they see Baars rushing into the train station this morning. A déjà vu because…. well, let’s start the TR of with a funny story…
I put my phone on silent mode every night when I put the damn thing in the charger. The reason is that various persons in my WhatsApp groups are on vampire schedules and I was done waking up at 3AM because bets had to be settled or the hotness of a random chick had to verified. So when I wake up this Tuesday the 14th I’m hardly shocked that my screen is filled with WA messages. However, three missed calls and 40+ apps is rather much even by VPC standards. All the missed calls are from Baars and all the chatter comes from the Vegas 2014 WA group. Before I call Baars back I check the messages and the first one can best be translated as the following; “WHERE Y’ALL AT????!!!”
Missed calls
Now, with any other person I would have thought of a practical joke but with Baars I’m pretty sure this **** is for real. And it is. Baars is at Venlo train station not one, not two but goddamn three days to early! A $ 35,- train ticket in his hand and very much ready to rumble. I don’t even bother calling him back since it’s 06:30 already. Instead I just hit the snooze button and crack a smile that will last for the rest of the day.
Baars and I are traveling together today since we didn’t want to bother anyone for a early morning five hour roundtrip and the train gives us a great opportunity to start of with a run good Tequila. Our Tequila habit was born two years ago when Iebus and I went out for ‘one drink’ in Baars his pub ‘The Splinter’. We entered at eight and where in bed before midnight due to this godforsaken drink.
Run good Tequila
The run good Tequila does its job with regard to the train travels. Dutch railroad services are pretty decent but when they have a bad day everything collapses like a Jenga puzzle and you can be stranded for hours. No such bad luck this morning and we stroll into Schiphol Airport at by 8 o’clock with plenty of time for Starbucks as our Chicago flight doesn’t leave until eleven. For the second round of coffee we get hustled into a Spicy Vanilla Late which may very well be the most horrific cup of coffee I’ve had in my entire life.
Since we have plenty of time to spare at Schiphol I try to make my way to the panorama deck which is closed unfortunately. Four days prior to my fathers death we where at Schiphol together picking up my girlfriend from a Tokyo business trip. We spend a least an hour on that deck as it was the first beautiful and sunny day of 2013. My father loved airports and airplanes. So much that he would take the last train out of Venlo in the evening and spend the entire night at Schiphol whenever he had an early morning flight. I remember him nearly plummeting of the parking deck trying to watch the new Emirates A380 take of when we arrived that day. The panorama deck is closed but the coffee shop were we had our last coffee together was open and I take a few moments at the table we last sat at to remember my old man.
My Old Man
Around nine Iebus, Hugo and Bozzie arrive as well and we check in for our nine hour flight towards Chicago. During our mandatory McDonalds breakfast Hugo show his collection of different Clubbin’ sunglasses he collected during our holyday in Kos (Greece) last September. One for every day in Vegas.
Clubbin' Sunglasses
Meanwhile in The Netherlands:
Fratie wakes up realizing the VPC has left without him.
The flight towards Chicago is only 75% filled up but still it’s probably one of the worst flights ever. One of the reasons I have a hard time accepting that my physical troubles may be caused mental issues is the fact that my distress is highly affected by my posture. I can feel pretty good all day but when I get into a car for instance, I feel terrible before I’ve reached the highway. I can’t find a decent posture in the plane and that makes me feel rather ****ed up.
I try to pass the time by reading a book called ‘Fighting Spirit’. It’s about a Dutch Football player called Fernando Ricksen who suffers from the deadly muscle decease ALS. The fact that this dude is death - 95% certainty - next year is terrible but no excuse to butcher so many good trees printing this terrible book. The writing style is horrendous and the only thing the book shows is what happens when ******ed people get paid way to much. Booze, hookers and drugs. You can do the math. I couldn’t bring myself to finish the book so I switch to a movie. Runner Runner with Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake is about the UB online poker scandal. Now, I don’t know who saw the movie and who was able to finish but this movie is so lol bad that after 20 minutes I decide sitting on the toilet with the lights out would be a much better and more fun way to spend the rest of the flight. For crying out loud.
Terrible Book
Highlight of the flight is by far Bozzie who’s trying to get comfortable in an empty row but nearly busts his kneecap getting into position and spends minutes moaning like bald angora rabbit. The last two hours are passed with monopoly on the iPad and sipping 7$ Budweiser cans, much to the dismay of our fellow passengers who don’t seem to realize it’s 5 in the PM for us, not AM. The 90 minute layover in Chicago gives us time for fast-food but not enough time for a decent beer that we enjoyed here during our first trip trough Chicago back in ‘09.
The 4,5 hour flight towards Vegas can be descripted as; HELL. It’s easily 95 F. in the plane and it think I’ve lost about 5 kilo’s on this flight in fluids. Pretty ridiculous and soul crushing because I can already tell that Hakassan and Calvin Harris are out of the window for tonight. No shower is going to fix our broken bodies and souls. It’s my fourth trip to Vegas but never did the traveling get to me this bad. Are we getting to old for this ****?
Las Vegas Arrival
Our taxi driver makes a run at the Guinness World Record for long hauling despite being told no tunnel. I think it was over $40,- for a ride to Mirage. Since it’s five of us chairing the cab and I’m way to happy the travels have finally come to an end I couldn’t give a flying **** and sprint into the Mirage. No line at the check-in so things proceed quickly until Hugo realizes he left his phone in the cab. GG, sir. Luckily the cap is still in line and Hugo finds his phone rather quickly.
Mirage Room
Our view for the week
We didn’t go for the $ 20,- trick because any room will feel like a suite compared to a room at our former Vegas home, Imperial Palace. The rooms are pretty good and the view doesn’t hurt the eye’s either. A quick shower and it’s of to the Casino floor. I have no $ on me so I hit the ATM and take a good look at the C-notes that come rollin’ out. The new 100 dollar bills seem like monopoly money to me. And that comes from a guy that’s used to euro’s.
Sup with that?
I’m playing the $ 560,- Championship Event in Caesars tomorrow and I didn’t plan on playing any poker this evening because A) I wanted to be ‘hungry’ for poker tomorrow and B) I can’t drop a few buy-ins since that would give me cash problems for the buy-in tomorrow. With that in mind I walk towards the poker room, walk straight to the desk, buy chips en sit down in 1/2NL game and order a Corona. Hugo is joining me very soon and tells me Baars is having trouble getting monies out the ATM. Iebus found a 1/2NL game as well and Bozzie is giving the 3-6 Limit players some of his money tonight.
After about two hours and 7/8 corona’s – we had to put on our A drinking game to keep up with the waitresses - I realize Baars is nowhere to be found. He’s not answering his phone and he didn’t want to lent money from us earlier. Where all a bit cash poor at the start since nobody brought $ along and Baars feels cash poor with anything under 2K in his pocket so I’m assuming he found cash somewhere and is burning it at blackjack.
Iebus and Hugo are stuck big time by midnight and it’s time to move on. Iebus’s last shove just got called by a 70 year old on QT864. The 70 year old tabled A5. Iebus had to muck. I could barely contain myself. We head towards our old residence Imperial Palace / The Quad to check out what has become of the new Linq project and the new O’sheas that reopened a few weeks earlier. O’sheas is packed. I stand at the bar for at least 10 minutes and still didn’t get a chance to order. F*ck it. We move towards Harrahs where Iebus has to make the walk of shame for the first time. On the first night. Just like last year. Aaaaand the years before that.
Walk of shame
After a 6 inch Subway at Casino Royale Iebus and Bozzie decide it’s bedtime. Hugo and I head for The Venetian. I don’t plan on playing poker but the room is just so epic. I know a lot of you guys boycott the room because of the online gambling principals of the owners but I don’t have much principals on that matter and I am here to enjoy myself so I jump in to the first available 1/2 game.
Venetian chips
Venetian Poker Room
Hugo and I get seated at the table near the escalators and that my friends, was an act of god. I just can’t believe how many hot women come rollin’ down those steps. The “hot chick factory” joke is made at least five times but I start to think there almost has to be such a thing at the Venetian . The dealer admits he had to fight three other dealers to get this table for the night. Unreal. Besides hottie watching I watch Hugo burn through a full buy-in in less then 10 minutes without getting to a single showdown. Call pre, call flop, call turn, fold river seems to be Hugo’s game plan for the night and it isn’t a very cheap plan this first evening. I manage to win back the hundo I lost at Mirage breaking me pretty much even for the night. Scratch that, leaving me up about 15 Corona’s for the night. It’s 03:30 and time for bed but we are down to 5 handed and I don’t want to break the game so I play until two guys sit down at 4AM and head for the Mirage. On the way back I take a few seconds to fully enjoy the view and the fact that we’re a back in Vegas again!
We're back!
I walk along with Hugo to his room to see where the f*ck Baars has been al night. Baars is in bed with his clothes on. Baars was pissed that he couldn’t get cash from either the ATM or at the cage and basically went to bed angry. Anyway. Bedtime.
Meanwhile in The Netherlands:
Fratie danced his troubles away
I’ve been sleeping on the couch for quite a while now. Not that I’m in any kind of trouble with the misses but our couch is slightly tilted and that helps me find better positions to sleep in without being bothered by the physical problems I described in the introduction. On the last night before Vegas I give the bed another shot. I’ve had a couple of beers during a sushi dinner so that should help the falling asleep part. However, no such luck. By 3AM I give up and hit the showers. Baars and I are catching the 05:50 train towards Amsterdam so it’s rise and shine very early anyways.
Venlo Train Station
My girlfriend drops me of at Venlo Train station at 05:40 and I conclude that a one way train ticket towards Amsterdam is pretty much as expensive as flying towards every European capital from any Airport in a 50 mile radius. Ridiculous. Baars doesn’t show up till the very last minute. Regular travelers at this hour might have a déjà vu as they see Baars rushing into the train station this morning. A déjà vu because…. well, let’s start the TR of with a funny story…
I put my phone on silent mode every night when I put the damn thing in the charger. The reason is that various persons in my WhatsApp groups are on vampire schedules and I was done waking up at 3AM because bets had to be settled or the hotness of a random chick had to verified. So when I wake up this Tuesday the 14th I’m hardly shocked that my screen is filled with WA messages. However, three missed calls and 40+ apps is rather much even by VPC standards. All the missed calls are from Baars and all the chatter comes from the Vegas 2014 WA group. Before I call Baars back I check the messages and the first one can best be translated as the following; “WHERE Y’ALL AT????!!!”
Missed calls
Now, with any other person I would have thought of a practical joke but with Baars I’m pretty sure this **** is for real. And it is. Baars is at Venlo train station not one, not two but goddamn three days to early! A $ 35,- train ticket in his hand and very much ready to rumble. I don’t even bother calling him back since it’s 06:30 already. Instead I just hit the snooze button and crack a smile that will last for the rest of the day.
Baars and I are traveling together today since we didn’t want to bother anyone for a early morning five hour roundtrip and the train gives us a great opportunity to start of with a run good Tequila. Our Tequila habit was born two years ago when Iebus and I went out for ‘one drink’ in Baars his pub ‘The Splinter’. We entered at eight and where in bed before midnight due to this godforsaken drink.
Run good Tequila
The run good Tequila does its job with regard to the train travels. Dutch railroad services are pretty decent but when they have a bad day everything collapses like a Jenga puzzle and you can be stranded for hours. No such bad luck this morning and we stroll into Schiphol Airport at by 8 o’clock with plenty of time for Starbucks as our Chicago flight doesn’t leave until eleven. For the second round of coffee we get hustled into a Spicy Vanilla Late which may very well be the most horrific cup of coffee I’ve had in my entire life.
Since we have plenty of time to spare at Schiphol I try to make my way to the panorama deck which is closed unfortunately. Four days prior to my fathers death we where at Schiphol together picking up my girlfriend from a Tokyo business trip. We spend a least an hour on that deck as it was the first beautiful and sunny day of 2013. My father loved airports and airplanes. So much that he would take the last train out of Venlo in the evening and spend the entire night at Schiphol whenever he had an early morning flight. I remember him nearly plummeting of the parking deck trying to watch the new Emirates A380 take of when we arrived that day. The panorama deck is closed but the coffee shop were we had our last coffee together was open and I take a few moments at the table we last sat at to remember my old man.
My Old Man
Around nine Iebus, Hugo and Bozzie arrive as well and we check in for our nine hour flight towards Chicago. During our mandatory McDonalds breakfast Hugo show his collection of different Clubbin’ sunglasses he collected during our holyday in Kos (Greece) last September. One for every day in Vegas.
Clubbin' Sunglasses
Meanwhile in The Netherlands:
Fratie wakes up realizing the VPC has left without him.
The flight towards Chicago is only 75% filled up but still it’s probably one of the worst flights ever. One of the reasons I have a hard time accepting that my physical troubles may be caused mental issues is the fact that my distress is highly affected by my posture. I can feel pretty good all day but when I get into a car for instance, I feel terrible before I’ve reached the highway. I can’t find a decent posture in the plane and that makes me feel rather ****ed up.
I try to pass the time by reading a book called ‘Fighting Spirit’. It’s about a Dutch Football player called Fernando Ricksen who suffers from the deadly muscle decease ALS. The fact that this dude is death - 95% certainty - next year is terrible but no excuse to butcher so many good trees printing this terrible book. The writing style is horrendous and the only thing the book shows is what happens when ******ed people get paid way to much. Booze, hookers and drugs. You can do the math. I couldn’t bring myself to finish the book so I switch to a movie. Runner Runner with Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake is about the UB online poker scandal. Now, I don’t know who saw the movie and who was able to finish but this movie is so lol bad that after 20 minutes I decide sitting on the toilet with the lights out would be a much better and more fun way to spend the rest of the flight. For crying out loud.
Terrible Book
Highlight of the flight is by far Bozzie who’s trying to get comfortable in an empty row but nearly busts his kneecap getting into position and spends minutes moaning like bald angora rabbit. The last two hours are passed with monopoly on the iPad and sipping 7$ Budweiser cans, much to the dismay of our fellow passengers who don’t seem to realize it’s 5 in the PM for us, not AM. The 90 minute layover in Chicago gives us time for fast-food but not enough time for a decent beer that we enjoyed here during our first trip trough Chicago back in ‘09.
The 4,5 hour flight towards Vegas can be descripted as; HELL. It’s easily 95 F. in the plane and it think I’ve lost about 5 kilo’s on this flight in fluids. Pretty ridiculous and soul crushing because I can already tell that Hakassan and Calvin Harris are out of the window for tonight. No shower is going to fix our broken bodies and souls. It’s my fourth trip to Vegas but never did the traveling get to me this bad. Are we getting to old for this ****?
Las Vegas Arrival
Our taxi driver makes a run at the Guinness World Record for long hauling despite being told no tunnel. I think it was over $40,- for a ride to Mirage. Since it’s five of us chairing the cab and I’m way to happy the travels have finally come to an end I couldn’t give a flying **** and sprint into the Mirage. No line at the check-in so things proceed quickly until Hugo realizes he left his phone in the cab. GG, sir. Luckily the cap is still in line and Hugo finds his phone rather quickly.
Mirage Room
Our view for the week
We didn’t go for the $ 20,- trick because any room will feel like a suite compared to a room at our former Vegas home, Imperial Palace. The rooms are pretty good and the view doesn’t hurt the eye’s either. A quick shower and it’s of to the Casino floor. I have no $ on me so I hit the ATM and take a good look at the C-notes that come rollin’ out. The new 100 dollar bills seem like monopoly money to me. And that comes from a guy that’s used to euro’s.
Sup with that?
I’m playing the $ 560,- Championship Event in Caesars tomorrow and I didn’t plan on playing any poker this evening because A) I wanted to be ‘hungry’ for poker tomorrow and B) I can’t drop a few buy-ins since that would give me cash problems for the buy-in tomorrow. With that in mind I walk towards the poker room, walk straight to the desk, buy chips en sit down in 1/2NL game and order a Corona. Hugo is joining me very soon and tells me Baars is having trouble getting monies out the ATM. Iebus found a 1/2NL game as well and Bozzie is giving the 3-6 Limit players some of his money tonight.
After about two hours and 7/8 corona’s – we had to put on our A drinking game to keep up with the waitresses - I realize Baars is nowhere to be found. He’s not answering his phone and he didn’t want to lent money from us earlier. Where all a bit cash poor at the start since nobody brought $ along and Baars feels cash poor with anything under 2K in his pocket so I’m assuming he found cash somewhere and is burning it at blackjack.
Iebus and Hugo are stuck big time by midnight and it’s time to move on. Iebus’s last shove just got called by a 70 year old on QT864. The 70 year old tabled A5. Iebus had to muck. I could barely contain myself. We head towards our old residence Imperial Palace / The Quad to check out what has become of the new Linq project and the new O’sheas that reopened a few weeks earlier. O’sheas is packed. I stand at the bar for at least 10 minutes and still didn’t get a chance to order. F*ck it. We move towards Harrahs where Iebus has to make the walk of shame for the first time. On the first night. Just like last year. Aaaaand the years before that.
Walk of shame
After a 6 inch Subway at Casino Royale Iebus and Bozzie decide it’s bedtime. Hugo and I head for The Venetian. I don’t plan on playing poker but the room is just so epic. I know a lot of you guys boycott the room because of the online gambling principals of the owners but I don’t have much principals on that matter and I am here to enjoy myself so I jump in to the first available 1/2 game.
Venetian chips
Venetian Poker Room
Hugo and I get seated at the table near the escalators and that my friends, was an act of god. I just can’t believe how many hot women come rollin’ down those steps. The “hot chick factory” joke is made at least five times but I start to think there almost has to be such a thing at the Venetian . The dealer admits he had to fight three other dealers to get this table for the night. Unreal. Besides hottie watching I watch Hugo burn through a full buy-in in less then 10 minutes without getting to a single showdown. Call pre, call flop, call turn, fold river seems to be Hugo’s game plan for the night and it isn’t a very cheap plan this first evening. I manage to win back the hundo I lost at Mirage breaking me pretty much even for the night. Scratch that, leaving me up about 15 Corona’s for the night. It’s 03:30 and time for bed but we are down to 5 handed and I don’t want to break the game so I play until two guys sit down at 4AM and head for the Mirage. On the way back I take a few seconds to fully enjoy the view and the fact that we’re a back in Vegas again!
We're back!
I walk along with Hugo to his room to see where the f*ck Baars has been al night. Baars is in bed with his clothes on. Baars was pissed that he couldn’t get cash from either the ATM or at the cage and basically went to bed angry. Anyway. Bedtime.
Meanwhile in The Netherlands:
Fratie danced his troubles away
