This was officially my second day in Aruba. I didn’t do anything but catch up on some sleep and then play online poker all day. I didn’t play too many tables but I got a good amount of tournaments in and played the bigger tournaments. It wasn’t a very good day online and I only got deep in one $100 freeze out but no final table/win/anything.

Tomorrow I will most likely play in the $5k Aruba Poker Classic Main Event hosted by UlitmateBet. I haven’t bought in yet. It’s about 11:30pm and it’s too late to buy in tonight. I haven’t had a full meal since yesterday afternoon either lol. I woke up late for breakfast at the resort today and jumped right into poker. I bought snacks from a grocery store on the Island yesterday and that’s all I ate so far. I ate yogurt, granola bars, peanuts, and some cookies the chef here made which were amazing. They were cranberry and coconut cookies and they were delicious. I also had about 5 vitamin waters. I wouldn’t call a yogurt and vitamin water a good meal lol. Hopefully someone comes back to the resort soon and we can go get a bite to eat somewhere.

I’m currently staying at this private resort called Club Arias (http://www.clubarias.com) It’s really neat. There are about 10 rooms and it’s on the other side of the Island from the casino where the poker tournament is being held. That’s the only negative thing I can say about this place. The whole staff, the owner, everyone involved in this place (like 3-4 people) are awesome. They have shown us around the country and taken great care of us. There is breakfast every morning and a 4pm snack (the cookies I ate earlier were the snack the chef made today.) The compound has one lounge pool that’s really neat, a big jacuzzi, and a normal pool. They also have a lounge where I played poker all day today. If you go to the website you can see the pictures. The owner, Arias, has done a great job showing us around and teaching us about Aruba and everything that goes on around here. There are about six other poker players staying here too.

Yesterday Arias took us to San Nicolas where we ate at this local restaurant. It was great. It was a small restaurant with about 4-5 tables but the food was awesome. I had some chicken/rice dish and the chicken was seasoned really well and just the whole meal was great. I need to brush up on my Spanish though! I really see how important it is to know some of the native language in other countries. Of course some people know English to an extent but it’s always important to be able to communicate if nobody can speak the language you speak. I am such a gringo here but it’s alright lol. I also went over to the Radisson where they are holding the poker tournament. I ran into a couple poker players I know and got to see the resort and the other side of the Island a little bit. I watched the UM game at the outside bar and just hung out around the casino until everyone was ready to leave.

I don’t have any other plans other than playing this $5k and winning it. There are a couple other side events. A 1k NLH, 2k NLH, and 2k NLH 6max. Those tournaments aren’t even on my mind right now. So that’s all I will say about Aruba/Aruba Poker Classic and everything else for now.

I will keep everyone updated on my progress through the 5k Main Event. I probably won’t post any hands until the tournament is over because I wouldn’t want any of my opponents to get any extra information. Talk to you guys later.