World Poker Tour Bay 101

I’ve been alternately promising Emily a vacation and insisting that I haven’t had enough time for poker for months now. Finally, she offered the very appealing suggestion that we go to Northern California for the World Poker Tour event at the Bay 101 casino in San Jose. We’ve tacked on a few days to the end of the trip so that there’ll be vacationing no matter how the tournament goes, but having a few extra days in the Bay area isn’t a bad consolation prize if I don’t last long in the tournament.

We flew into Oakland Saturday night and had a minor adventure at the airport. Our hotel offered a free shuttle, but the Colgate Women’s Lacrosse team was already waiting for the shuttle when we got to the depot. It looked like the driver was going to need at least three trips to get all of them, and rather than waiting half an hour, we went to find a cab stand.

Along the way, a woman who seemed like a helpful airline employee (suspicious combination, I know, but in my defense I was tired) told us we could take a commercial shuttle for “about $5 each”. We waited a few minutes for the shuttle to arrive, and then a driver with a thick Indian accent started to pick up our bags and ask where we were going. He had clearly never heard of our hotel, which was practically walking distance from the airport, and started his price negotiation at $20.

When I informed we were told $10, he grew irate, first at us, then at the woman who, it turned out, worked for the shuttle company and was aggressively recruiting customers at the airport. As best we could tell, she’d roped us in then called for a shuttle, but the driver didn’t consider it worth his time to come out to the airport for a $10 job and was angry at her for calling him. We slunk away as the man berated her, and she shouted a meak apology and directions to the cab stand at our backs.

Yesterday we drove from Oakland to San Jose, stopping in a park to hike through a Redwood canyon. They weren’t the colossal redwoods that are so famous, but they were still pretty big, and we saw some turkey-sized birds, so it was all good, though more than a little muddy. I’d upload some pictures, but this hotel internet connection is blazingly slow.

We stopped for lunch at a Chicago-style pizzeria called Zachary’s just outside of Berkeley. Having lived in Chicago for four years, I can say that it wasn’t a particularly authentic recreation, but it was quite good in its own right and came with one of the best mixed greens salads I’ve ever had.

Play starts in less than two hours, and I’m looking forward to starting the day with a big breakfast, so I better go. Wish me luck, and check back tonight for an update!