‘Everything I ever needed to achieve the Final Level was within me all along…”
Searching for that life-changing fortune cookie must end at some point. It’s up to you, if that happens today or in some distant future – whether you accept it or not, the gun will be there when you arrive. For those of you not in the mood for riddles, translated in plain English it simply means all answers you will ever need are the current situation you’re experiencing. Yesterday, for me that meant booking an extempore trip to London – more precisely my favorite city when you’re feeling good & having tons of vibrant energy to grind & do sports (eating and sleeping can vary). So that’s what Im going to be doing for the next 6 days, along with a fellow player aka CupOfTea.
Like all self-respecting poker enthusiasts traveling abroad, I packed my suitcase in 2 minutes with the bare minimum items. Besides sneakers and a few pieces of clothing, it looks approximately like this:
So what next? Like all successful ventures, poker trips also need a bit of planning. We Finns like to do that by gathering up and heating up a sauna while discussing which casino to attack first. And while waiting for some food after sauna or basically waiting for anything, those of us that play poker can’t help but put up a game of Open-face Chinese poker. We played with 2 jokers + & 2 playing as jokers, and pair of sevens at the front opening you to a Narnia/Fantasyland (just google that one if you haven’t tried it before, as it’s the salt and sugar of the game really):
As Iron Maiden likes to put it, it’s 2 Minutes To Midnight and my flight is leaving at 8am. Luckily I managed to hire a private chauffeur to take me to the airport in the morning, so I’ve got plenty of time to dream about sunrunning like never before, before the alarm clock hits me in the ears.
A couple of hours later:
”We’ll never give up, Never come down, We’ll never sleep, We’re gonna rave ’til the end of the time”
Listening Now: Scooter – God Save the Rave
State of Mind: Forward-looking & Optimistic
Location: Stockholm SWE, Arlanda T5 Lounge
I listened to 2 full episodes of a poker podcast, went through passport & safety control and landed from Helsinki to Stockholm in about 45 minutes or so. And we haven’t even had breakfast yet, so it was clearly time for Lounge and ‘frukost’ á la Sweden:
I’ve managed to lock down some plans during the stay: Lebanese dinner for tonight in London downtown and a catchup including sports trading talk for Tuesday with a sharp sports trader whom I met back in 2013 in Smarkets’ Open Office day. Back then I was placing bets for a betting syndicate but I’ll write some stories about that another time. Meanwhile, it’s time to chill & listen to some music.
Spotify album recommendation: Scooter – No Time To Chill (1998)
Coming up next: Where to play live poker in London
