Travel

BARCELONA--It's nice to see everyone working so hard! Snaps to Amy and Tim for all their efforts on The Articles. Dan and Jen, I'm envious of your trip to Tahoe. I lived there for a winter in 1994 and loved it.

Since leaving Vegas and the WSOP, I've been up and down the west coast promoting my new travel book, What Color is Your Jockstrap? It's a part of a four book series of anthologies that started with Sand in My Bra. What does that have to do with poker? Well, Phil Gordon has a story in it! "The Fruit Salesman" is about an experience he had in Thailand where a fruit salesman attempted to sell him an aphrodisiac. I read it at Powell's in Portland, OR last week and it received many laughs.

So, I had events in San Francisco, CA, Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA before jetting off to Barcelona for the final table of the first European Poker Tour event. I got in last night after 24 hours of travel, and that is not worthy of getting into our next collection of travel misadventures.

I'll write an article about today's final table with some pics, and then next week I'll be in London for the second EPT event. After that, I'll be writing a column (that still needs a fun name) about gambling/travel destinations. Casinos and cardrooms from around the world and how to make the most of your visit once you get there. Help me think of a clever name, please.

I hope everyone is well.

LAKE TAHOE, CA--Jen is correct in extolling the virtue of The Block -- "the world's first snowboarder's hotel." Considering that we had a hard time locating a hotel in Tahoe, we scored big with this locale. But a few pieces of greatness that she didn't point out are how on most nights the sweet smell of kind bud wafts up from various balconies; how the "maids" don't show up to clean your room until early in the afternoon -- no need to wake a partier too early; and how the people who do said cleaning have long hair, ponytails, and tattoos. Oh, and the DVD's you are welcome to borrow ... they've got everything from Monty Python to porn.

Everything a snowboarder might desire.

Also, check out the sign posted in the bathrooms from management:

DEADWOOD, SD--I just spent 3 weeks in one of my favorite poker places.

Deadwood South Dakota (made famous by the HBO series) is an old mining town tucked away in the Black Hills National Forest. The people here are extremely cool and the town is very much a poker town. Next month they're having a city-wide tournament called the Deadwood Shootout where all 5 card rooms are participating. They also keep tournament points across all 5 casinos, how can I not love it here?