First and foremost, Merry Christmas to everyone or happy holidays if you celebrate some other weird holiday. Just kidding, I don’t discriminate ;) I had a nice Xmas with the fam. Pretty quiet, but lots of great wine and amazing meals!
Anyway, so lately I haven’t been up to all that much. Just lots of shopping for the holidays, which is thankfully now over, and trying to get some work done, which is as usual pretty unsuccessful. Also been hibernating in my house as it has been ridiculously cold lately.
Vacations… I bought a plane ticket to head back to Argentina on January 21st for 2 months. The prices were so good and since I have been hating every day of winter since I got back I thought it was the right thing to do. Also, I will be going to Venezuela on January 6th for 1 week, so if you are looking for me, good luck! I’ll be on the beach without my computer.
Work… trying to get back into it. Have many projects that have been sitting in limbo that I am trying to get going again. Wish me luck! Dreading doing my taxes, but I know it has to be done. I have the gov’t, bunch of criminals!
Hopefully everyone is enjoying this little break in the year and having a nice time with their families!
I end this post with something I saw today on Wicked Chops Poker… possibly the greatest commercial of all-time! I won’t give any spoilers, BUT be warned… this is NSFW. Enjoy!
Just received a nice email from good ol’ PAP and after reading the first line was turned off from reading on:
You have received a new private message at Poker Affiliate Programs – Affiliate Community for Poker Affiliates from hanford, entitled “Affiliate oppertunity“.
The email came from some crap site called Cool Hand Poker (Coolhandpoker.com) which is obviously the site of choice for the math team judging by the picture on their ugly homepage. The site itself looks very poorly put together and the name is awful. I guess this is what happens when people don’t want to spend more than $6.95 on their domain registration.
The rest of the email was all about the standard crappy bonuses and typical commissions. Can’t anyone be original anymore!!!
Anyway, keep on spamming your crap site, but really its just a waste of time as there is no way I would ever promote Coolhandpoker.com.
On a side note, it seems like I have been getting a ton of spam PMs lately over there, but since I don’t go there anymore I could really care less. Way to keep those spammers out PAP. Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten rid of all your mods!
I am still recovering from the past few days of debauchery as I write this post, but let me try and recap what was probably one of the funnest weekends of my life thanks to Aced.com.
As an active affiliate with Aced, I was given the opportunity to join them for an affiliate retreat in Vegas thanks to their amazing affiliate manageraffiliate director poker room manager (I think that’s the title he is using now): Brandon Berndt. Brandon is one of the most liked people in this industry and definitely knows how to throw a party (anyone remember the Stinkyfish Party at the 2006 CAC?) so I knew this was going to be a weekend to remember and there was no way I was going to miss this. In fact, I had contemplated extending my time in Buenos Aires, but decided that it was probably in my best interests to make it back for this weekend in Vegas.
Day 1
My friend (and business partner) Greg and I arrive in Las Vegas and manage to track down Brandon, Kendall and Jeremy “$100 Slot and Candy College Fund” Enke in the airport and jump in a stretch limo to the Hard Rock Hotel. (If you know Vegas, you will know that the Hard Rock is one of the best party hotels to stay at in the whole city). We walk into the hotel and notice a rather large line forming around the check-in counter. Fortunately, this is completely irrelevant because we are going straight to the VIP Room where our room keys are waiting for us. Here we pick up the itinerary for the trip which includes things like: partying in the penthouse suite for the HRH hottie model search, dinner at Nobu, private poker tournament, bikini contest in the penthouse, and the best booth in Body English on the last night. OMFG this is gonna be fun!
After a quick shower and stop in the room we all head to Center Bar (the bar right in the middle of the casino). Here we meet up with John Halloway, Jeremy Miller, and Mike Murphy (plus his girlfriend Alicia). We have a few beers, shoot the shit then head over to Ago (Robert Deniro’s restaurant) for an amazing dinner. I am really picky with food, but this was probably one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had in my life!
After dinner we hit the casino floor for a little gambling. Jeremy M. helps teach me how to play craps again as I had only played once before. I quickly lose $150 or so and find out that we are going to be going up to the Penthouse Suite now to help judge a “Hottie Model Search”.
We all pile into an elevator and these two girls follow in behind. Because we had been taking so long the elevator started to make a buzzing noise, so I said, “Sorry girls, you are too heavy”. Fortunately they did not hear this, but half of the other people in the elevator did 😀
Up we go to the top floor and walk into one of the most incredible hotel rooms in the world! The room comes complete with huge bar, bowling alley, stripper pole, massive LCD TV’s everywhere and much more! There are smoking hot girls walking around everywhere and are all dying to get to know you to try and swing your vote: AMAZING!
We’ll get to the girls pics in a bit, but for now here are a couple from walking around the room:
Me, Kendall, Jeremy, Greg, and Brandon
Jacuzzi with stripper pole in the background
John Halloway
Bowling Alley on Left, Bar area straight ahead
Guitar on the dining room table
After chilling here for a bit and many free vodka red bulls, some of the group decides they are going to hit the strip club. Greg, Mike and I decide that we would rather hang out at the party for a bit more and hang back, but from what I heard the next day they had quite a night and one stripper in particular by the name of Candy was able to retire that night thanks to Jeremy “Breaking All the Stripclub Etiquette Rules” Enke.
We hang out in the Penthouse for a little while longer and decide to break out for one of the clubs downstairs. Greg and I head over to Wasted Space, which is a club owned by Freestyle Motocross Rider, Carey Hart (also known for Hart and Huntington Tattoo’s). Wasted Space is a rock bar/club with attitude and mixes in a bunch of other types of music. There is gorgeous girls everywhere, amazing music and we have a blast here for several hours.
Wasted Space Day 2
After only a few hours sleep, I wake up around 8am for some unknown reason. Possibly the red bull is still flowing in my blood, it could have something to do with all the oxygen they pump in the rooms or I am just really excited about the day ahead. Since everyone else is still sleeping I decide to hit the casino for some gambling. I go on a serious run at the craps table (at one point rolling for about 30 minutes straight) and make a few hundred dollars. Funny Moment: At one point I went to throw the dice and missed the table completely and hit some girl. The dealer said in all his time there, he had never seen this happen. By this time I manage to get a hold of Brandon and we hit the bar for a bloody mary to reminisce about the debauchery that went down at the strip club. Apparently one of the Aced Consultants, John, is quite the legend at the Spearmint Rhino and knows many of the strippers personally so he managed to hook the guys up with quite an incredible night.
After some time the rest of the crew starts to file down to the casino floor and we all head for lunch at the Pink Taco. We have a nice lunch then all head up to the Lucky 7 Suite to do a little presentation about the future of Aced. We talk about some of the current issues, cool custom features like their Outs program and learn the future plans for the company. All I can say is that they are definitely headed in the right direction and I expect some big things from these guys in the years to come.
Stripper Pole in the Lucky 7 Suite
Lucky 7 Suite
Bar in the Lucky 7 Suite
Jacuzzi In Front of the Stripper Pole
We break up for a bit and Greg, Mike +GF and I decide to hit the mall for a little shopping. We pick up some new clothes for the evening and head back to the Hard Rock for a poker tournament that the Aced guys have set up for us. We have the sickest table in the room which is usually reserved for high roller games. The poker game is tons of fun and we are pretty much laughing having an amazing time from start to finish. John Halloway gets nice and lucky against me after calling a bet pre-flop with KJ for a 3rd of his chips. I have AQ and since over half of my chips are in there I have to push no matter what comes on the flop. With K Q X on board I make the shove and so goes my chance at the $1500 prize pool generously put up by Aced.com.
The crew playing poker in the new poker room at the Hard Rock.
After the poker ends we head to Nobu for dinner thanks again to the Aced guys. They organize an Amazing dinner with huge platters constantly being rolled out to our table, sake, something called purple haze and a massive desert platter. We feast like kings and have a great time over dinner. For the food pictures you will have to talk to Kendall, as he was doing his John Chow thing after every course came out.
Our table at Nobu
Amazing Red Snapper Dish
The night is young and we are already getting buzzed so we head to the Lucky 7 Suite again for a couple of drinks. After hanging out for a bit its time once again to go up to the Penthouse Suite for a Bikini Contest with the girls that we met the night before. I won’t get too much into detail here, but rather just post some pics to show the amazingness that was organized by the Aced guys:
Me and one of the Contestants
The Bikini Contest
Me and Sanja… one of the coolest girls there.
John from Aced.com on the couch and Carey Hart on the right
The crew in the Lucky 7 Suite
After the contest ended we all headed back to the Lucky 7 Suite again to have some more drinks. After about 30 minutes it was time to head down to Body English to finish the night off in style. We had a VIP Host escort us to the club where we were sat at the best table right in the middle of the club. Our security guy Joe quickly introduced himself and said if we needed anything at all he was there for us and he wasn’t kidding. Right after that he went to scour the club for hot girls to bring to the booth. While he was off doing this, our bottles started to arrive in true Vegas style. 3 girls carrying bottles of Dom and Grey Goose show up with huge flares and all:
We were definitely the center of attention for the whole club at that point. The night got pretty sloppy and people started to head back upstairs to the casino or their rooms. Brandon, Jeremy M. and I stuck it out the longest then decided to hit the casino after for one last craps session. The rest of the night is kind of a blur but included things like me playing craps alone at the table for like 45 minutes, Brandon cashing over $100 on a penny slot after one spin that lasted about 15 minutes, and much more. What a day that was!!!
Day 3
We were all up around noon as many of us had to check-out to catch flights home. After a quick lunch in the Hard Rock I thought, what Vegas trip would be complete without a trip to the Gun Range. So, Brandon, John H, Kendall, Mike, Greg and I all got into cabs and made our way over to The Gun Store Las Vegas. Since many of the people had never fired a gun before, we decided that the Coalition Package was probably our best bet. This included:
John “#6” Halloway – John knew instantly when he saw this target that it was his choice… others were a little more tactful in their approach. When asked why he chose that one, John replied “I’m from the ATL”
The happiest man holding ammo
Me and the M-16
I think Kendall is even happier than me to be holding that gun!
Thank you Brandon, John and Xander for everything this weekend as this was probably one of the best weekends of my life!
Finally, to wrap this up…. If you aren’t promoting Aced right now, I suggest you do ASAP. They treat their affiliates like kings, and did so much for us this weekend which I am so thankful! Or, I could say, if you don’t promote Aced, Brandon will shoot you:
Ooops… been back for about a week now and forgot to post about the rest of the Buenos Aires trip.
Well, I survived the paragliding. What an experience that was! For the rest of my time in Mendoza I went rafting and biking around the vineyards. It was probably one of the best parts of my trip and I had a ton of fun there. Here are a couple pics:
Gettin Ready to Jump
On top of the mountain
Biking to the wineries
Dinner with the Dutch Girls on their last night. Amazing Tapas and Wine!
After Mendoza I headed back to Buenos Aires where the trip came to an end after a few more nights of partying.
All in all it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I went. I met a ton of great people from all over the world and made some new friends.
Here are some more highlights from the trip and things that I’ll miss about Buenos Aires…
– Finding out they have Stoli Elite for less than Absolut at Godoy (obvious mistake)
– Celebrating Colombian Christmas at Claudia’s Appt
– Daily beer tips to Plaza Serrano
– Seeing a new “hottest girl in the world” every single day
– My friend Lucio trying to pick up the same girl about 50 times in a row while she is standing at the bar with her boyfriend
– Cheap amazing dinners at sick restaurants every day
– Random blaring of “Feliz Cumple Anos” in nice restaurants
Plus many more!
I might be heading back there again in the new year. If anyone is interested in coming down, let me know.
Well, I hope not, and am knocking on wood right now….
This morning I arrived in Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is a city in the north that sits right on the edge of the Andes mountains. It is most known for being the wine region of Argentina and probably South America as a whole.
I took the bus last night by myself and arrived here at 8am (John decided to stay back in BsAs with his future wife). Last week I met a few Dutch girls who mentioned they were going to be coming here also, and we managed to meet up at the bus station and head to the same hostel. In a few hours we are all going paragliding. When I signed up for it, I thought it was hangliding, but apparently I was mistaken. Anyway, should be a lot of fun!
Tomorrow we are thinking of doing a wine/bike tour. Basically you go from winery to winery on bikes getting drunk along the way on great Argentinian wines. Should get interesting…
If I have time, I am also going to go white water rafting. I have always wanted to do it, and it is only like $30 here, so its hard to say no.
I am also having my first real hostel experience. The last few times we stayed in hostels we did the private room thing, but this one I am in a shared room. I was supposed to be in a room with some russian guy, but the room did not have lockers so I asked for another. The only other room had 3 spanish girls, so I decided that I would suffer and take that one 😉
Anyway, hopefully I’ll be writing again in the next few days to let you know how it goes. Bye for now!
