Yet another poker trip - Unplanned

I had a trip all planned out starting the Friday before Labor Day. I was going down to South Beach with Ali and she would fly back Monday night so she could attend her classes. I was going to spend Tuesday through the next Sunday with my parents in Hollywood just chilling out, enjoying the beach and playing poker at the Hard Rock in Hollywood.

No such luck...sort of.

My mother calls me yesterday and calmly suggests that it might not be a good idea for me to spend that week with her. Without getting into details, there are some personal matters she's attending to that week that require her full attention and it wouldn't be "fun" to be with her. Having heard the situation, I tend to agree.

But what to do about my trip? My tickets are non-refundable. Granted, I'd only lose the return leg of the trip (which was only $110), but money is money. But I ignored that and concentrated on other places I could go, to play poker of course. And it would have to be somewhere I'd never been before where I could knock out a whole bunch of poker rooms. I thought about Biloxi, Tunica, Reno and San Francisco. All of them had the same problem, namely that with only 10 days to go before the trip, the ticket prices were too high. Once you add hotel costs for 6 nights and a car, you're talking about at least $1000 I wasn't planning on spending. I'm not running well in my cash game (FUCKING CRASIANS!) and I've spent a boat load already on trips with Ali and the new table (Arriving today, thank you very much!). So $1000 isn't what I had in mind.

Then it hit me. Florida has 30 poker rooms, of which I've only been to 5. I could try to hit those and make a trip of exploring the state! As long as I planned it in a circular fashion, I could keep my existing car rental AND plane ticket home!

So that's what I'm doing. After dropping Ali off at Fort Lauderdale airport on Sept. 1st, I go immediately west to the Fort Myers area where there are 2 casinos for me to play at. The next day, I head up to Saratoga and then Tampa where there are another 5 casinos. The day after, I drive to Daytona Beach and then south toward Lake Okeechobee. Through Palm Beach, I travel back down South to Hallandale where I finish off Miami and even end up having Saturday dinner with my mother before leaving Sunday for home.

It wasn't on my agenda, but there it is none the less. So, that makes 3 poker trips I have plannes before the end of the year. Total number of new poker rooms I plan on playing at? 40.