VPC Went Vegas III; A Trip Report
04-09-2012
, 02:15 PM
Who are we?
We are The Venlo Poker Crew. Venlo is small town in the south of the Netherlands. We used to play a lot of home games en and local tournaments till about two years ago. The VPC name is not to be taken seriously in any way and actually given to us by others. We have played exactly one home game in the past 12 month and that one was to decide whoever was entitled to the only single room available on this Vegas trip. We’re basically a group of friends who know each other from supporting our local soccer team and take any excuse available to drink as much as possible and laugh until our jaws hurt.
What did we do?
After four of us went on VPC’s first Vegas expedition in January of 2009 we took our second trip with nine idiots in February 2010. It took us over two years to recover both mentally, physically and financially form that trip but last week we went on third heads-up match against Sin City. Again nine of us took the trip with only one substitution to the 2010 fellowship. We were in Vegas form 29th of March till April 5th and our stories are about to be told.
The Crew:
Peter “Bozzie” Leijsten.
Member of the original four. On his fourth to Vegas quest as he visited Vegas back in ’98 while traveling the county with some friends. Only father of the crew. 37 years of age. Used to be a decent poker player but hasn’t touched a card for two years so nowadays his poker analysis will hurt your ears. Bozzie can definitely degen it up but has enough commonsense not to lose his shirt mostly because a phone call home for more funds would ensure him of returning to an empty house…..
Jeroen “Peltinho” van Pelt.
Member of the original four. This 40 year old single is on his third Vegas trip. Pokerwise almost the same as Bozzie with the difference that Peltinho knows he sucks at the game these days and could not care less. Visits Vegas mostly to drink huge quantities of alcohol and watch plastic tits. Also our photographer for our travels although none of us have ever seen a picture of the 2010 trip…..
Tom “Iebus” Ebus.
Also member of the original four and therefore on his third Vegas trip. This 28 year old managed to hook up with a girl a week before this trip and should therefore be qualified as “single”. The girl is supposedly hot but the jury is still out on that one. Definitely a true degen with balls of steel and can get 85 year old ladies to call – and win - pot size bets with A high.
Ruud “Roeie” Gereads. (Right)
Second trip for this 28 year old single. Roeie has the unique talent to always be around and never stand out. If you can’t remember what happened the night before just ask Roeie. He was there. Did you see him? Not a chance.
Marco “Black Jack” Baars. (Left)
Only Vegas virgin on this trip. This 33 year old single owns a bar in Venlo in which a lot of VPCers play cards or popmusic quizzes. He probably got tired of all the Vegas stories and decided to see for himself what all the fuss is about. Little did we know we took a TRUE degen to town…………………
Dennis “Hugo” Reijnhout.
Dennis is my brother in law and on his second Vegas trip. Dennis had never met any of the other VPC members before boarding the airplane with them on the 2010 trip. Dennis somehow managed to become everyone’s hero on that trip and get called “Hugo” along the way. Hugo’s goal for this trip is to show my sister that he can spend – a lot – less money this time around. Will he succeed? Odds are not in his favor as Hugo is known for ‘attacking’ style of poker.
Tim “VDH” van der Hoogt. (Left)
VDH. 27 years old. Not single. Second trip. Famous for sleeping with extreme hot chicks. No one knows why this happens.
Rens “Fratie” Fraters.
Fraters is a 27 year old single on his second Vegas trip. I’m pretty sure everyone jumped from their chair when the heard Fratie would join us once again on this trip. The dude is simply epic. He ended up in the hospital during the 2010 trip with what turned out to be a panic attack. Fratie is back to take on Vegas full throttle this time. Also looks great in every picture.
[IMGhttp://nopictureofmeyetbecauseidonttakepicturesofmyself[/IMG]
Robert “Hamid” Vallen.
Me. 30 years old. Third trip. Not single. The fact that I had to quit playing poker for the past six month to save moniez for this trip gives you a good indication of how good I am. Previous trips were paid with poker winnings, this one with hard labour. Poker was my main goal for the last two trips but this time it’s about enjoying Vegas en watching plastic tits with Peltinho.
Why 2 + 2?
I used to makes these reports for a Dutch www.pokerinfo.nl forum but this lovely piece of web space kind of died on me over the last two years. The forum has lost a lot of its regulars and with the poker hype leaving the Netherlands there’s now an average of around 10 posts a day. I haven’t been able to be active on the site as well for sometime now but still feel bonded enough not to make this trip report for an other Dutch forum.
I’m a member here since 2008 and have been active in the Las Vegas Lifestyle Community the last months prior to this trip. As it takes lots of time and energy to make a decent trip report I like it to be read by more then 10 people. The trip report will be posted here and copied to pokerinfo.nl and my blog; checkko.blogspot.com if that’s not allowed for any reason please let me know.
I don’t know if I’m even remotely funny in English but I’ll guess we’re about to find that out. I will start of with a short story about our travel leading up to day 1 one: “A typical Vegas Night” . I will add a lot of pictures in the report because as I found out over the past few months, you guys are just like children . I apologize in advance for butchering your language but I think my English is decent enough to let you understand what I’m trying to say. My goal is to finish the entire report within two weeks.
We are The Venlo Poker Crew. Venlo is small town in the south of the Netherlands. We used to play a lot of home games en and local tournaments till about two years ago. The VPC name is not to be taken seriously in any way and actually given to us by others. We have played exactly one home game in the past 12 month and that one was to decide whoever was entitled to the only single room available on this Vegas trip. We’re basically a group of friends who know each other from supporting our local soccer team and take any excuse available to drink as much as possible and laugh until our jaws hurt.
What did we do?
After four of us went on VPC’s first Vegas expedition in January of 2009 we took our second trip with nine idiots in February 2010. It took us over two years to recover both mentally, physically and financially form that trip but last week we went on third heads-up match against Sin City. Again nine of us took the trip with only one substitution to the 2010 fellowship. We were in Vegas form 29th of March till April 5th and our stories are about to be told.
The Crew:
Peter “Bozzie” Leijsten.
Member of the original four. On his fourth to Vegas quest as he visited Vegas back in ’98 while traveling the county with some friends. Only father of the crew. 37 years of age. Used to be a decent poker player but hasn’t touched a card for two years so nowadays his poker analysis will hurt your ears. Bozzie can definitely degen it up but has enough commonsense not to lose his shirt mostly because a phone call home for more funds would ensure him of returning to an empty house…..
Jeroen “Peltinho” van Pelt.
Member of the original four. This 40 year old single is on his third Vegas trip. Pokerwise almost the same as Bozzie with the difference that Peltinho knows he sucks at the game these days and could not care less. Visits Vegas mostly to drink huge quantities of alcohol and watch plastic tits. Also our photographer for our travels although none of us have ever seen a picture of the 2010 trip…..
Tom “Iebus” Ebus.
Also member of the original four and therefore on his third Vegas trip. This 28 year old managed to hook up with a girl a week before this trip and should therefore be qualified as “single”. The girl is supposedly hot but the jury is still out on that one. Definitely a true degen with balls of steel and can get 85 year old ladies to call – and win - pot size bets with A high.
Ruud “Roeie” Gereads. (Right)
Second trip for this 28 year old single. Roeie has the unique talent to always be around and never stand out. If you can’t remember what happened the night before just ask Roeie. He was there. Did you see him? Not a chance.
Marco “Black Jack” Baars. (Left)
Only Vegas virgin on this trip. This 33 year old single owns a bar in Venlo in which a lot of VPCers play cards or popmusic quizzes. He probably got tired of all the Vegas stories and decided to see for himself what all the fuss is about. Little did we know we took a TRUE degen to town…………………
Dennis “Hugo” Reijnhout.
Dennis is my brother in law and on his second Vegas trip. Dennis had never met any of the other VPC members before boarding the airplane with them on the 2010 trip. Dennis somehow managed to become everyone’s hero on that trip and get called “Hugo” along the way. Hugo’s goal for this trip is to show my sister that he can spend – a lot – less money this time around. Will he succeed? Odds are not in his favor as Hugo is known for ‘attacking’ style of poker.
Tim “VDH” van der Hoogt. (Left)
VDH. 27 years old. Not single. Second trip. Famous for sleeping with extreme hot chicks. No one knows why this happens.
Rens “Fratie” Fraters.
Fraters is a 27 year old single on his second Vegas trip. I’m pretty sure everyone jumped from their chair when the heard Fratie would join us once again on this trip. The dude is simply epic. He ended up in the hospital during the 2010 trip with what turned out to be a panic attack. Fratie is back to take on Vegas full throttle this time. Also looks great in every picture.
[IMGhttp://nopictureofmeyetbecauseidonttakepicturesofmyself[/IMG]
Robert “Hamid” Vallen.
Me. 30 years old. Third trip. Not single. The fact that I had to quit playing poker for the past six month to save moniez for this trip gives you a good indication of how good I am. Previous trips were paid with poker winnings, this one with hard labour. Poker was my main goal for the last two trips but this time it’s about enjoying Vegas en watching plastic tits with Peltinho.
Why 2 + 2?
I used to makes these reports for a Dutch www.pokerinfo.nl forum but this lovely piece of web space kind of died on me over the last two years. The forum has lost a lot of its regulars and with the poker hype leaving the Netherlands there’s now an average of around 10 posts a day. I haven’t been able to be active on the site as well for sometime now but still feel bonded enough not to make this trip report for an other Dutch forum.
I’m a member here since 2008 and have been active in the Las Vegas Lifestyle Community the last months prior to this trip. As it takes lots of time and energy to make a decent trip report I like it to be read by more then 10 people. The trip report will be posted here and copied to pokerinfo.nl and my blog; checkko.blogspot.com if that’s not allowed for any reason please let me know.
I don’t know if I’m even remotely funny in English but I’ll guess we’re about to find that out. I will start of with a short story about our travel leading up to day 1 one: “A typical Vegas Night” . I will add a lot of pictures in the report because as I found out over the past few months, you guys are just like children . I apologize in advance for butchering your language but I think my English is decent enough to let you understand what I’m trying to say. My goal is to finish the entire report within two weeks.
04-09-2012
, 02:48 PM
04-09-2012
, 03:34 PM
04-09-2012
, 03:58 PM
04-09-2012
, 03:58 PM
04-09-2012
, 05:33 PM
Day 1: One Hell Of A Trip
Venlo is about a two hour drive from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It's hard to be any further away form Amsterdam and still be in The Netherlands. Although our country is small we manage to get nearly 20 million people on the little space that is given to us. We usually travel trough Germany’s Dusseldorf which is only a 30 minute drive but the prices for traveling that way where way more expensive so we choose for the more bumpy road.
Our flight to Philadelphia leaves at 10:50 so check in time would be around 09:00 and that’s pretty much impossible for us due to traffic jams. Now, we could take the first train out of Venlo at 05:00 but Dutch Railroad Services are about as reliable as the elevators in Imperial Palace. Not an option. Six of our group take a hotel near Amsterdam en Hugo’s sister is friendly enough to let Hugo and myself stay over as they live only 20 minutes from Schiphol.
My pink suitcase.....
After having Hugo and my sister over for dinner we say goodbye to our better halves and leave for Amsterdam at around 9 PM on Wednesday. We arrive in time to see the highlights of the Champions League matches and conclude that only Barcelona – AC Milan is worth waking up for the next week. After a couple of beers we decide to go to sleep at around 01:00. Little did I know horror was upon me…
I’ve heard my sister complain about Hugo’s snoring but I’ve shared a room with Hugo before during a drinking binge in a Spanish coast village a year before and didn’t really hear anything. Well. I did hear something this time. I’m still thinking of words to describe the sound Hugo starts making after about 30 seconds but I just can’t find anything to compare it to that will do it justice. For the rest of the night I need al my muscle strength to hold on to the couch to prevent me from falling of the damn thing due to the sound waves Hugo creates. FML. Hugo actually wakes himself up with his snoring from time to time but needs about 12 seconds to go back to full throttle snoring. Unfortunately there are more unexpected house guests and therefore no (more) rooms available. I seriously consider sleeping outside with a temperature of around 45 F.
Hugo’s sister wakes him up at 06:30 and I squeeze in 27 minutes of powersleep until it’s my time to shower. Just what I needed before a Vegas trip. 27 minutes of sleep. Great. Hugo & Baars booked the trip later then the rest of us and are flying trough Houston but leave an hour before the rest. Hugo’s sister drops us of at Schiphol at 07:30 where we are anxiously waiting for national Radio DJ Giel Beelen to call Bozzie to make him sing a stupid song on national radio but Giel calls some 40 year old milf instead of our Bozzie so we proceed to the gates quickly.
Baars had to keep his pub open the night before but found someone to drive him to Schiphol. Baars & Hugo have met only once before when I booked the trip for both these lads and are now going on a 15 hour trip together. I can only imagine how hilarious the interrogations by the gate must have been.
I wait for the rest of the group to arrive and treat myself to my very first Starbucks Vanilla Latte of this trip. After the check in I need food. Not that I’m hungry but I don’t eat in airplanes because, well, I rather get sick the normal way. McDonalds seems as good an option as any at 09:30 in the morning so I score no less then three McKroketen. You don’t have these burgers in the US as they are a Dutch specialty. If you happen to come across these burgers by change you should try them. They rock.
MCKroket FTW
Transatlantic Whut?
When we arrive at our gate I immediately through up a little when I see our plane. It’s small. Really small. I’m tall. Fratie is beyond tall. Fratie can easily tell you what brand of watch someone at The Stratophere is wearing so this isn’t looking to good. When we enter the plane Fratie is about an inch away from his first panic attack of this trip. It’s my first trip with US Airways ever and - besides the three obligated ones that are still to come - already my last one. You can’t put people in these seats for nine friggin hours. This is just cruel.
!@#$%^&*()_
The airplane makes noises you don’t even want your bicycle to make but somehow we arrive in Philadelphia alive. Bozzie, Iebus & I pass the time meanly by playing Monopoly at $ 5,- a pop on the iPad. Although I play strategically perfect variance hits me the wrong way. Bozzie has no clue as to what he’s doing so we both donate to Iebus. Oh well.
Waiting inline for customs I see Bozzie & Peltinho make their first epic fail of this trip. Bozzie & Peltinho are at least eight spots in front of me but then decide that the row to their right moves faster. These gentlemen are no poker players. The forgot to look at the opposition. They switch from a row with two Swedish families to a row with a group from Kazakhstan and two bearded guys with passports that look like something a dog threw up. GG.
About 45 minutes after all of us passed customs Bozzie & Peltinho arrive only mildly tilted. We head to the nearest burger joint for six beers & a diet coke. Bozzie drinks diet coke. Lol. We order some burgers, Bozzie isn’t hungry but changes his mind last minute and orders a cheeseburger. The food arrives and by the time I’m done putting ketchup on my plate I look to my right and see Bozzie whipping his face with a napkin. His burger and fries are gone. Smoke still coming up from his plate. I forgot how fast this man can eat. Unreal.
After another one of these small beers we accept our fate and board the plane to Vegas. The aircraft is way more comfortable then the previous one but still sucks. There is no television and Bozzie surrendered the Monopoly game so I can’t do much more than read. I’ve been neglecting my poker game for the past six month but normally that is noting Jonathan Little and his secrets of professional tournament poker book can’t fix. I read ten pages and give up. I just can’t do it anymore. The content seems extremely dull and there was a time when I read this book three times in two days. I have to seriously debate what I want to do with my poker hobby after this trip if I can’t get myself to read more then ten pages in the best poker book ever written. For now, I just enjoy the fact that I have to do absolutely nothing. Vegas is on it’s way……
Venlo is about a two hour drive from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It's hard to be any further away form Amsterdam and still be in The Netherlands. Although our country is small we manage to get nearly 20 million people on the little space that is given to us. We usually travel trough Germany’s Dusseldorf which is only a 30 minute drive but the prices for traveling that way where way more expensive so we choose for the more bumpy road.
Our flight to Philadelphia leaves at 10:50 so check in time would be around 09:00 and that’s pretty much impossible for us due to traffic jams. Now, we could take the first train out of Venlo at 05:00 but Dutch Railroad Services are about as reliable as the elevators in Imperial Palace. Not an option. Six of our group take a hotel near Amsterdam en Hugo’s sister is friendly enough to let Hugo and myself stay over as they live only 20 minutes from Schiphol.
My pink suitcase.....
After having Hugo and my sister over for dinner we say goodbye to our better halves and leave for Amsterdam at around 9 PM on Wednesday. We arrive in time to see the highlights of the Champions League matches and conclude that only Barcelona – AC Milan is worth waking up for the next week. After a couple of beers we decide to go to sleep at around 01:00. Little did I know horror was upon me…
I’ve heard my sister complain about Hugo’s snoring but I’ve shared a room with Hugo before during a drinking binge in a Spanish coast village a year before and didn’t really hear anything. Well. I did hear something this time. I’m still thinking of words to describe the sound Hugo starts making after about 30 seconds but I just can’t find anything to compare it to that will do it justice. For the rest of the night I need al my muscle strength to hold on to the couch to prevent me from falling of the damn thing due to the sound waves Hugo creates. FML. Hugo actually wakes himself up with his snoring from time to time but needs about 12 seconds to go back to full throttle snoring. Unfortunately there are more unexpected house guests and therefore no (more) rooms available. I seriously consider sleeping outside with a temperature of around 45 F.
Hugo’s sister wakes him up at 06:30 and I squeeze in 27 minutes of powersleep until it’s my time to shower. Just what I needed before a Vegas trip. 27 minutes of sleep. Great. Hugo & Baars booked the trip later then the rest of us and are flying trough Houston but leave an hour before the rest. Hugo’s sister drops us of at Schiphol at 07:30 where we are anxiously waiting for national Radio DJ Giel Beelen to call Bozzie to make him sing a stupid song on national radio but Giel calls some 40 year old milf instead of our Bozzie so we proceed to the gates quickly.
Baars had to keep his pub open the night before but found someone to drive him to Schiphol. Baars & Hugo have met only once before when I booked the trip for both these lads and are now going on a 15 hour trip together. I can only imagine how hilarious the interrogations by the gate must have been.
I wait for the rest of the group to arrive and treat myself to my very first Starbucks Vanilla Latte of this trip. After the check in I need food. Not that I’m hungry but I don’t eat in airplanes because, well, I rather get sick the normal way. McDonalds seems as good an option as any at 09:30 in the morning so I score no less then three McKroketen. You don’t have these burgers in the US as they are a Dutch specialty. If you happen to come across these burgers by change you should try them. They rock.
MCKroket FTW
Transatlantic Whut?
When we arrive at our gate I immediately through up a little when I see our plane. It’s small. Really small. I’m tall. Fratie is beyond tall. Fratie can easily tell you what brand of watch someone at The Stratophere is wearing so this isn’t looking to good. When we enter the plane Fratie is about an inch away from his first panic attack of this trip. It’s my first trip with US Airways ever and - besides the three obligated ones that are still to come - already my last one. You can’t put people in these seats for nine friggin hours. This is just cruel.
!@#$%^&*()_
The airplane makes noises you don’t even want your bicycle to make but somehow we arrive in Philadelphia alive. Bozzie, Iebus & I pass the time meanly by playing Monopoly at $ 5,- a pop on the iPad. Although I play strategically perfect variance hits me the wrong way. Bozzie has no clue as to what he’s doing so we both donate to Iebus. Oh well.
Waiting inline for customs I see Bozzie & Peltinho make their first epic fail of this trip. Bozzie & Peltinho are at least eight spots in front of me but then decide that the row to their right moves faster. These gentlemen are no poker players. The forgot to look at the opposition. They switch from a row with two Swedish families to a row with a group from Kazakhstan and two bearded guys with passports that look like something a dog threw up. GG.
About 45 minutes after all of us passed customs Bozzie & Peltinho arrive only mildly tilted. We head to the nearest burger joint for six beers & a diet coke. Bozzie drinks diet coke. Lol. We order some burgers, Bozzie isn’t hungry but changes his mind last minute and orders a cheeseburger. The food arrives and by the time I’m done putting ketchup on my plate I look to my right and see Bozzie whipping his face with a napkin. His burger and fries are gone. Smoke still coming up from his plate. I forgot how fast this man can eat. Unreal.
After another one of these small beers we accept our fate and board the plane to Vegas. The aircraft is way more comfortable then the previous one but still sucks. There is no television and Bozzie surrendered the Monopoly game so I can’t do much more than read. I’ve been neglecting my poker game for the past six month but normally that is noting Jonathan Little and his secrets of professional tournament poker book can’t fix. I read ten pages and give up. I just can’t do it anymore. The content seems extremely dull and there was a time when I read this book three times in two days. I have to seriously debate what I want to do with my poker hobby after this trip if I can’t get myself to read more then ten pages in the best poker book ever written. For now, I just enjoy the fact that I have to do absolutely nothing. Vegas is on it’s way……
04-10-2012
, 11:19 AM
Kroket is a dutch "delicacy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroket#Netherlands
McD made a burger of it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroket#Netherlands
McD made a burger of it
