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Herbie's final CR Bash report (UNNECESSARILY LONG)
Part 1 - http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/players-ta...ip-report.html
Part 2 - http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/players-ta...-part-2-a.html
Part 3 - http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/players-ta...-part-3-a.html
Day x – After a relaxing side trip to Montezuma I again returned to San Jose for the bash via a bus bumming swigs of some cheap wine from a couple locals I luckily got seated near on the ride. As it was late when I arrived I opted for a cab to go back to the hostel where I left my DC rather then making the short walk at night. I briefly arguing with the taxi driver about using the meter but tiredly gave in and agreed to two thousand colones for what likely would have been a one dollar ride back to the hostel. This actually turned out to be a good deal as the driver had no clue where he was going and, after showing up at the wrong hostel (possibly trying to tout me into staying somewhere else?) and an unplanned 45 minute late night tour of vacant areas of downtown, I would have been convinced I was getting long hauled if I had pressed usage of the meter.
After arriving at hostel and re-receiving my DC I opted to stay there as it was getting late and I had no other reservations or plans. I briefly talked to a good looking young girl from Canada who had just arrived in Costa Rica and was trying to figure out how to get the beach. After considering inviting her to the bash (using the upcoming trip to Los Suenos as bait) I decided against it as I figured it was better to show up to the bash unattached due to the expected large number of eligible girls who would be scheduled to be attending (or late rumored unannounced appearance by moderator Shari?) So instead of working on this plan, before going to bed, I walked a couple blocks to a grocery store and brought back some beer, oranges, cheese and bread for my dinner which I shared with the overnight desk clerk.
Day x+1 – I woke up at 7:00 AM as I sleepily misread my phone and subtracted an hour rather adding during the conversion on my phone's still mistimed clock. With no other morning plans (and after eating the free breakfast of pancakes and pineapple and taking advantage of the free wifi) I decided to try and see if I could check in early at the Marriott for the first day of the bash. Upon arriving via taxi (a hostel worker steered me away from trying to use a bus) I ran into the problem of paying the deposit on the room as I had a dry DC and less then $80 in various currencies left. This lead to me having to skype my mom to get her to redeposit some money on my card (which worked out semi-well as it got me an access code to the internet without paying the over priced daily rate).
After about an hour I secured my room and spent the afternoon watching indoor futbol on a local tv channel before deciding to tour the Marriott looking for some cheap food. After this proved completely unsuccessful I ran into Chilidog and handful of other posters and went out to a local bar for drinks and and a late lunch consisting of some sort of cheap (but good) seafood cocktail. After several beers and a few shots (and some Barcardi in someone's room at the hotel) we showed up at the reception already slightly intoxicated where I huddled in corner on the balcony near the open bar, chatted up the legendz girls, chain smoked and enjoyed my never emptying glass of cranberry juice and vodka.
While attempting to drunkenly stumble back to my non-smoking room to sleep off the opening party I went out front of the hotel to have a final smoke before going to bed. This was a mistake as the buses to San Jose were loading at that time and with almost no encouragement I instead climbed on one of the buses heading to the Del Ray.
After somehow surviving the mentally swirling ride back to San Jose I made a quick round in the Del Ray looking for a bathroom. After getting groped at least three times in the ten minutes I spent inside I quickly realized I was in no shape (physically, mentally, or financially) for this place and sheepishly retreated back to bus where I spent the next three hours or so chatting up the driver Marvin (who spoke excellent English) about his life in Costa Rica while I sobered up and watched the crazy scene from the parking lot. After the buses had stayed the mandatory length of time I returned alone with Marvin to Marriott on the strangely empty buses which had previously been packed full on the ride there.
Day x+2 – After the trip to SBR headquarters (no spindling occurred that I was aware of although Carpe and Extra Innings where notable absent for a lengthy unexplained period of time) we made the trip to the Marriott near Jaco. I again had CC problems (I later found it was blocked from the previous deposit at the Marriott in San Jose) and was forced into bumming a bill from Shannon for the second deposit till I got my travel reimbursement money after being unable to figure out how to talk to human via the 800 number listed on the back of my DC. (Upon returning to the United States and navigating the automated menu for another 30 minutes I found out that claiming to have a payment dispute is the best (only?) way to get to speak to someone).
From there I proceeded directly to the poker tournament which was unsuccessful for me (and ruined my plans of renting a cabana for a few months in Montezuma when I binked a win). This was despite get seated to the left of the nitiest player in the tourney (i.e. Lou – who allowed me to unmercifully abuse him every hand we played together without any meaningful response). Someone quickly busted Lou and I eventually followed after getting almost all-in pre-flop in race with a pair that lost after flopping a set that got ran down by a later acquired flush. (Apparently the local dealers were trained to use the same “random generator” shuffling techniques as SBR's poker software?) From there I very quickly got my remaining less then a big blind stake in with 7-4 offsuit against Q-4 a couple hands later leaving me 0-4 towards cashing in the bash tournaments.
The banquet that night was of course a good time with great food. Despite a less then average comedian much better entertainment and humor was provided by DJ Loshak and Mr. Hank Webber via video. I then lost $5 playing quarter slots in the small bland hotel casino after opting out of a trip to the popular Beetle Bar since I planned on going fishing in the morning.
Day x+3 – I don't play golf so (once again being rich after receiving my travel funds from SBR) I instead did the fishing trip. After a couple commits no-showed on us all who did show up had a amazing day on ocean on a trip that cost around $65 plus tip after SBR chipped in for a large portion of the cost and Harlee negotiated a great rate (thanks to both). Upon returning with ~8 kg of Tuna and taking advantage of the public shower at the pool (what would stop someone from sleeping on the beach and shower at the pool... possible an +EV travel idea for Zeta next year?) a restaurant in the resort prepared an amazing meal using our catch (which was the best twenty dollar meal I've ever had). After the nine of us were full there was still enough food left that a couple posters still staying at the hotel scored a big plate of amazing leftovers.
From there I took the late bus back to the airport as I thought I had a 6 AM flight and I didn't think it was worth traveling to and from San Jose again for a few hours of sleep. After learning my flight actually left at 9:30 AM I still decided to crash at the airport, despite a very generous offer from 20four7 to let me crash in his room at the Sportsman's Lodge till my flight in the morning, as I was both extremely tired and completely worn out at this point.
Day x+4 onward – After a very easy sleep in a dark corner of the terminal in San Jose I caught my flight to Dallas. From there I planned to skip my connection back to Denver and take a Amtrak train to Oklahoma but missed the once per day departure as I got held up in customs (having the only two custom agents working in the room take two hours to clear ten people and wrongly being told I could buy two cartons of cigarettes and a bottle of liquor (instead one of each) at the duty free shop). After the conclusion of that lengthy ordeal (an expensive $10 duty tax) I failed to catch the train in Fort Worth but was able to pick up a bus in downtown Dallas to OKC where I been staying with some friends for the last three or four days.
Outside the above, since I been back in the US, I have another couple of pretty good stories to share but this is already getting pretty long so I'm going to hold off writing it up for now. Currently I'm again sitting on a slow bus heading to Tulsa (which should help explain the length of this). Since I've been informed that the remainder of my belongings from my failed marriage (which I've been storing in my brother's garage for free for about a year) have outstayed their welcome right now I'm planning on staying here a couple weeks to get that taken care. Despite having a likely lead on a fairly decent electrician's job, I'm thinking I might try busing/thumbing it to Canada and Alaska (before in gets too cold) or try and get a hold of enough of a working roll in the next couple weeks to try some sort of traveling/football ticket scalping thing this fall.
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Originally Posted by SBR_John
