Rebecca's Recommendations - June 2, 2006
CAP Spring Break 2006. Miami.
Day #1. Saturday
After a rather pathetic attempt at recovering from Montreal, I found myself on a plane to Miami bright and early Saturday morning. It is incredible how excitement and anticipation can disguise exhaustion and liver damage, and I'll tell you why. The second I landed in Miami I felt like a million dollars, especially because I was about to see one of my all time favorite people- my affiliate manager at Absolute Poker. I love this girl. As soon as I got to the Palms Hotel we were reunited, and this pretty much made my day. I felt great. So, after getting all dolled up and ready to go out, we headed to the Poker.com opening night celebration at the Clevelander, a fun bar/club right along the main drag of South Beach. After many drinks and apps, a bunch of us hopped on the BetOnSports stretched Hummer, yes I did just say stretched Hummer, for a stylish ride to Mansion, one of Miami's hottest nightclubs. Thanks to BetOnSports, I had a wrist band and was able to get into the VIP section without any problems from the scary bouncers. Over the next hour, many more people from the opening party arrived and splurged on VIP tables and bottles, so the night got pretty ugly...Dom Perignon (thanks to BetOnSports, yet again), people falling over chairs, girls making out with each other, fights, sleeping on the beach instead of in my nice soft bed, etc, etc.
Day #2. Sunday
I opened my eyes to an 11am wake up call (the equivalent to 5am anywhere else in the world) in a bed full of sand. I can't lie to you, I don't remember coming back to my room, but I did wake up alone...a step in the right direction, to say the least. At this stage in the game I downed about 19 glasses of water and made my way to a delicious poolside seafood lunch thanks to the folks behind First Web, Wild Jack, All Slots Casino, and All Jackpots Casino. Later that afternoon I went for a jog along the South Beach boardwalk (I'm crazy, I know) and got myself ready for the Casino GrandBay, Jupiter Club and Lake Palace Casino yacht cruise. After an amazing three course meal and a plethora of drinks from the open bar, we finished up the cruise and headed to Nikki Beach, a club featuring sandy floors with beds scattered throughout. So Miami. Anyway, on our way to Nikki Beach, I was able to get a hold of the Gambling 911 Founder and President, Chris Costigan, who I had met a few days ago in Montreal. Chris joined our group along with his photographer and the sultry Jenny Woo, and shortly thereafter, we were joined by the rest of the CAP crowd. About 5 vodka sodas later, I decided to exit stage left along with the Absolute Poker team for some much needed pizza. I got back to my room around 4am, all excited for bed...until my hotel phone rang. I will not tell you who called, nor will I tell you what question was asked, but I will tell you that my answer was "no". Use your imagination. Ha ha. God, I love CAP Spring break.
Day #3: Monday
My wake up call was delivered at noon. Still painful. Regardless, I felt well enough to join some lovely gentleman for an elaborate lunch at one of Miami's finest- Sushi Samba. Myself, my very special tequila loving friend from Royal Vegas Casino and Fortune Room, his Microgaming pal, and one of his affiliates participated in this wild experience. I'll put it to you this way- my friend from Royal Vegas Casino took complete charge of the ordering which consisted of two bottles of Sushi Samba's finest cold saki, four Japanese beers, an enormous amount of food, dessert, and tea. Four hours later we finished our meal and guess who got stuck with the bill? Microgaming. Absolutely hilarious. By the time we returned to the hotel it was pretty much time for dinner. Perfect. Lucky for us, the Golden Reef, Music Hall and Challenge Casino crew had arranged a delicious poolside meal followed by a late night cocktail party thanks to 777 Dragon and Sun Vegas Casino. At the conclusion of the party, rather than hit up yet another crazy Miami club, I decided to go swimming with my friends from The Gaming Club Online Casino, English Harbour, and Platinum Play. We grabbed some booze and participated in some other recreational activities until we were yelled at by security around 4am. Typical.
Day #4: Tuesday
I promised my Absolute Poker friends that I would attend their beach olympics at 11am, so I decided against sleeping through the event (contrary to some other individuals out there). Believe me, I hit the snooze button about 30 times before I was able to pry myself from bed and somewhat pull it together. I must admit that even though it was a struggle to get into the "athletic" mode, this event was one of my very favorites (even though I suck at volleyball). Immediately after the olympics, we headed to the pool for a nice BBQ, and then my Nine.com contact arranged yet another volleyball game because he is an ANIMAL. More volleyball? No thank you. Dinner that night was served aboard a Tiki Boat, thanks to my friends at Lucky Nugget, Vegas Towers, and Microgaming. During the Tiki Cruise I was lucky enough to win a fine bottle of tequila, and believe it or not, the individual handing out this precious prize was my tequila loving friend from Royal Vegas and Fortune Room. How ironic. I think I might save this bottle for the Bodog Conference in July so I can enjoy it with him- it's only fair. So after the cruise, we went back to the Palms Hotel pool to enjoy our final event, a late night cocktail party. The wonderful folks behind Kiwi Casino and Fast Win Casino hosted the party and this is when the highlight of my entire trip occurred...I won a trip to New Zealand. NEW ZEALAND! This is not a joke. You can see for yourself on the Gaming Partners homepage. Nice pic, right? ha ha. So there you have it. Kiwi Casino will be sending me to Christchurch in December, all expenses covered, $1000 spending money, and I will have the pleasure of spending time with my amazing Kiwi Casino and Fast Win Casino contacts. Can life get any better? I think not.
On Wednesday morning I finally returned to Boston. What an amazing 1.5 weeks. Good thing I’m headed to Costa Rica on Tuesday for another five days of straight boozing. Alright, before signing off, please take a look at my featured sites below as I spent time a lot of time with their affiliate managers in Miami and they are all fantastic people. Lastly, I hope you get a good laugh out of this week's picture- meet my precious bottle of tequila. 