Machu Picchu

I thought I'd post a few pics from the Machu Picchu backpacking trip.

Our group was composed of 2 guides, and 9 tourists (besides the 10 or so porters who carried all of the tents, food, and equipment).


There were only two or three small tunnels along the 4 day, 3-night trip.


The trails were incredible, especially when you consider that they were first made hundreds of years ago by people who didn't have metal tools.


Of course, the highlight of the trip was Machu Picchu.
I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did. I mean, I'd seen several television shows on the site, so I thought it was going to be boring, but there is a huge difference between seeing it and being among the walls.


We had a speech about the site, then we were free to wander around on our own.

Machu Piccho has a visitor center, that has a bus that goes to a small down called Aguas Calientes. From there we took a long train ride to another town, and then a shuttle back to Cuzco.

I had a blast, and I would totally do this trip again.

Long time no see... or poker

I did not join the CardsChat Spring 2011 League. I got a new girlfriend and poker was a much smaller part of my life so I decided not to sign up.

A couple weeks in I missed the one game a week, so I signed up as an alternate.

Poker's Black Friday hit and nuked real money games in the United States, which caused people to drop from the league and I got picked up by a team in middle position.

The team ended up getting 1st place, and I won league MVP for the third season in a row. (Nobody other player has won twice, let alone three times in a row)

I felt obligated to play in the Summer 2011 league, and am doing well in it (3 wins, and 2 2nd places over the 5 games I've played so far).

I made a chart showing my finishes for the individual games over the past 4 seasons:

Those stats are laughably high. 17 first places in 38 games is crazy.
I still have 4 more games to play this season, and one guy is right on my tail, so my good finishes this season by no means lock me for a 4th MVP title.

I'm watching a teammate play a game right now, and the conversation at the table tickled me.
You start with 3,000 chips and 10/20 blinds. Early in the game the conversation went something like this:

DM - I'm so card dead this game. It's frustrating.
SP - You're card dead over what, maybe, 20 hands???
CK - 19!
DM - Ha ha! Yeah, I get frustrated if I don't see K/K or A/A within the first five hands.
CK - If you're so card dead, how come you don't have 2,900 chips?
SP - LOL!

DM had 1,850 chips instead of the 2,900+ chips he'd have if he just folded every hand.

I have a tiny bit of money on Carbon (and a friend generously doubled it) but I just don't have the urge to grind it. I think I have $1,400 or so on Full Tilt that I never expect to see again and I have a few hundred on UltimateBet that I can almost guarantee I'll never see, so building a bankroll on Carbon has lost it's appeal.