This Bogus Poetry

Portugal is one of my favourite travel and poker destinations, but I have a terrible record of booking accommodation there. During the first time I had played beach volleyball, I received a recommendation of somewhere to stay in Lisbon. Firstly let me say, don't play beach volleyball. It really hurts your hands and you get sand in your face a lot. On my ill adjudged foray into this sandy and painful game, I got talking to my team mate and mentioned I was about to go to Lisbon. "I know a great place to stay" she assured me. We chatted further between points and as I had no writing device to hand, I made a mental note of the B&B she strongly urged me to stay in Lisbon - Casa de Hospedes . It sounded great and just up my street. A couple of days later, with the trip approaching, I still hadn't booked anything. I remembered the beach volleyball tip. A quick google and it popped up straight away. I had a personal recommendation and it was very reasonably priced so ...

As a poker player travelling the live tournament circuit, it is important to keep expenses low. If you aren't sponsored or don't satellite into the event and win a package with accommodation - then every cent you spend on lodgings comes directly out of your potential profits. When travelling alone, I generally try to find the cheapest and most convenient place to stay, which has unfortunately led to me staying in a few what might be described as ' absolute shitholes '.  Am I cheapstake? Probably . But I have found a few diamonds in the rough over the years and I take a perverse pride in finding the best value place to stay. In the following posts I will write about some of the worst places I have frequented over the past 15 years travelling and playing poker. I should point out that I am highly privileged to have been able to travel around the world playing cards and I don't take that for granted. We will begin with an honorary mention of staying with a nudist in A...