Looking Ahead, Poker and the Road

Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Brandon Cantu

 The past few days I have been looking at my schedule for the upcoming months.  I will be traveling quite a bit and look forward to seeing as much of the world as much as possible each year.  Traveling has becoming one of my favorite past times and has become a traditional post World Series of Poker activity.

Last year, immediately after the WSOP, I traveled to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with my agent and good friend, Matt Palmer.  As I have previously mentioned, I have stayed in Vegas since the WSOP lounging at home, playing a ton on UltimateBet.com and just relaxing.  However, I now have the itch to get on some planes, play some poker and visit some destination spots. 

Looking ahead in August, I will be heading to the World Poker Tour’s “Legends of Poker” at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California on August 22^nd.  After winning my second WSOP bracelet this year, I wouldn’t mind making a strong run at another WPT victory. My stay in California will be about a week.

After the Bike tournament, I return to Vegas to quickly repack for the next stop, which is Portland, OR, for my 10 Year Class Reunion.  Though I get back regularly with all the boys and old friends; 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, Holiday parties, some NBA games, etc., I look forward to seeing classmates who I have lost ties with.   All in all, it will be good to be back in my hometown.  Portland weather is perfect this time of year and will be an added bonus to reconnecting with old friends.

After a week or so back home, I will again return to Las Vegas planning to play online before heading out to London for the WSOP Europe.  Two of my good hometown friends, Tony and Dave traveled with me last year.  We were able to travel Europe a bit after the WSOPE and this year should be quite similar.  This year I plan on traveling to Amsterdam, a destination I look forward to exploring for a few days I have free time.  This year I will be traveling with poker player and friend, Allie Prescott.  He and I both traveled to Venice for the WPT event and are going to continue our adventures post WSOPE. 

Once the European travels are done, I will be flying directly to UltimateBet.com’s Aruba Classic, October 3^rd – 10^th.  I am very excited for this tournament.  Not only because Aruba is beautiful and that I will have friends attending, but that I am a sponsored UltimateBet Pro.  It almost feels like it will be a “home game” for me.  It will be nice to see some of the UB staff I met at the WSOP this summer, as well as play and visit with all the other UB Pros. 

I feel lucky to have the opportunity to see so much of the world.  Safe travels to everyone else that is also making the rounds the next few months.  Good luck.

Brandon Cantu 

Tags: Amsterdam, aruba classic, Bicycle Casino, Brandon Cantu, Bycicle Casino, Costa Rica, Legends of Poker, Matt Palmer, NBA, Nicaragua, Poker Poker Poker, ub, Vegas, WPT, WSOP, WSOPE

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The Series so far…

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - P0ker H0

As I reported in my last blog, round 1 of the WSOP was a great one, even though I didnt play 1 event.  I was busy winning bracelets in BlackJack rather than Poker:)  This time, would be different.  Poker wise it was somewhat of a let down, as I went 0-3 in the 1500’s and 500 venetian, but the rest of the trip was Vegas as Vegas should be.

The first night I found myself really intoxicated in the SNG room, and bought into a 550 single table.  Normally this wouldn’t be anything to talk about, but as the table filled up, I noticed a couple of faces that stood out.  Grammy Winning Recording Artist Nelly was in 1 of the seats, while the owner of the Lakers, Jerry Buss was in another.  Well as you know, when I’m drinking it’s my job to make sure people know who I am.  Even Nelly and Jerry Buss.  After singing and dancing to “It’s Hot in Her”, Nelly definitely knew who I was.  And how bout Jerry Buss.  Here the Lakers are playing game 4 of the NBA Finals, and he’s sitting with me playing a 550 single table satellite.

The Next day I would play the 1500 NL WSOP Event.  Thing went great all day.  I was up to 12k never seeing a river. About 5 hours in I would see a flop of 10 6 5, and have my opponent shove his entire 12k stack into a 900 chip pot.  I held 1010 so I obviously called, and my opponent tabled 7 8 for an open ender.  GG me.  This kind of put me on tilt for a couple days and I really wasn’t into to much poker for the rest of the trip. 

One thing I miss doing that I did this time, was going out to nice restraunts in Vegas.  There are so many great places to eat that you can’t eat anywhere else.  I tried NOVE which is an Italian restaraunt at the Palms.  I highly recommend that.  Also Cafe Mortarano in the RIO has the best Pasta Carbonara if you are into that.

I came home for a couple days once again, but I will be heading out again soon, and staying for the remainder of the summer.  The UB Party is on the 29th at Studio54 and it will be a blast just like every other year.  Best of luck to everyone this Series and see you out there.

P0ker H0

Tags: Jerry Buss, Lakers, NBA, Nelly, Poker Poker Poker, Rio, Studio 54, ub, UB Party, Vegas, WSOP

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