EPT MONACO - MONDAY

Travel day went well, but was long and tiring. I was on an empty stomach for the LAX to JFK leg, and Delta pulled a fast one on me by charging for lunch. By the time they got around to distributing menus, I was satiated with orange juice, and in the middle of a movie, so I decided to wait until JFK and see what I could find at the airport.

I watched SPELLBOUND on my laptop rather than AFTER THE SUNSET, which was the in-flight showing. SPELLBOUND was absolutely fantastic. This is the documentary on the National Spelling Bee, not the Hitchcock minor classic. The film affected me emotionally, which was unexpected. I was expecting to see a handful of kids prep for the spelling bee, but I wasn't prepared for the stress that I would be feeling for them once the big moment was at hand. I was doubly affected since I could identify both with the kids on stage and the parents agonizing in the audience. A few of the kids were kind of disturbing, but some of them brought out such feelings of parental pride in me, that you'd think it was my kids up there. I could definitely relate to the months of preparation leading up to the big event, at which the luck of the draw plays a major role in determining the winner. The parallels to the European Poker Tour event were obvious.

Just the competitive angle was story enough, but this film managed to offer in its backstory a look at America that was stunning. I have been reading and writing so much lately on the seamy side of America, it was good to be reminded of what is right about America, and unique in all of history. The immigrant Indian father who has boundless energy for everything he does, which includes prepping his son with thousands upon thousands of words to spell, leading up to the event, says it best: "Only in America is success guaranteed - if you come to America, and you work hard, you will succeed. No other country can offer that." We are given glimpses into the lives of eight disparate contestants, and it is interesting to see the driven children forsaking things that other kids beg for, so that they can devote their time to study. These children are uncommonly driven to succeed. Some of the kids prepare without any input from their parents, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, some parents hire foreign-language tutors to school their kid in etymology. One girl is straight out of the Washington DC projects, where she spends her days reading the dictionary and praying for a better life. Of the eight contestants whom we follow, it is the child with the least crazy parents, as it turns out, that becomes the eventual winner. This is a beautiful film - the few minutes we spend with each family telling us so much about the country we live in and especially the immigrant experience - and that is not even the main focus of the film. Or is it? I look forward to this team's next feature.

I had some time, but not much, to eat something at JFK. The usual American airport food dilemma reared its ugly head, and I wound up eating some Burger King crap just to fill the belly. A few hours later, I was treated to a free meal on the Delta international flight. I watched the in-flight film, which was THE LAST SHOT. It had some stars in it, but I don't remember this film ever being in theaters. It was mildly amusing, and well-acted, but ultimately formulaic. The gist is that Alec Baldwin is an FBI agent who pretends to be a Hollywood producer as a cover for a sting operation. He ultimately hires unknown writer, Matthew Broderick, and assigns him to direct the script. Brodericks' enthusiasm is so contagious that Baldwin grows into the producer role, and ultimately, they land a big star who loves the script, and they start production on the film. Baldwin sees the money to be made making films, and proposes to make more films for the FBI in whatever cities they wish to mount a sting operation. The funniest line in the film is "Joe, the FBI is willing to give you a three-picture deal." Second place goes to Baldwin, when Broderick asks him if his late wife was in the business, Baldwin looks at him for a long time and asks, "Why would I marry a whore?"

I got in sporadic catnaps during the flight, and even managed to listen to Paul Simon's GRACELAND with my fancy Bose noise-reducing headphones. It was Monday morning when we landed in Nice. The airport experience was very smooth, and I took a bus to Monaco, after filling my wallet with euros. I got to Hotel Hermitage at 11A. Check in is not until 3P, but with a call to housekeeping, they were able to promise me 1230P, so I walked around Monte Carlo a bit. It took me awhile to find a beer, which I finally was able to procure, but not before I found a Cohiba for later. Once I got in my room, I unpacked, took a bath/shower, and generally took it easy for several hours, determined to stay awake until nightfall. This room goes for $425/night according to the website, and is quite luxurious. There is a walk-in closet, in addition to the coat closet in the hall. There's a sitting area, a makeup area (where I've set up my laptop), and a small balcony which overlooks the harbor and its dozens of yachts, the biggest of which has a helioport on deck. Makes me wish I had a loved one with whom to share the experience. This is easily the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, nudging Madrid's Palace Hotel to second place. The only bummer is that there is no iron. I would gladly trade the bidet. I received a carte d'or (gold card) which will enable me access to the swanky casinos, with proper attire.

In the lobby, I saw a girl with a clipboard, wearing a PokerStars shirt. I asked her how many PokerStars players are in the tourney, and she said there are 127, including direct buy-ins. I'm feeling good about the high percentage of online players at this tourney. At 530P, I decided to go out for some food, then come back and crash, since there was not yet word from Team PokerRoom. I put on a sports coat and headed out. When I got to the lobby, I decided to return to my room for a tie, in case I wanted to happen into a casino. I was struggling with the tie when Thomas of PokerRoom phoned. He had just gotten in and wanted to get together later. I went out for a walk, traversing nearly the whole of Monaco, yet unable to find bottled water for sale. I asked a comely French babe if she knew of any water for sale, and she directed me. They were small and expensive, so I got two for the room, and figured I would make do with refilling them from the tap in my effort to stay hydrated and in peak form.

When I returned to my room, Thomas phoned me from the lobby. There was not yet a badassmuther1, but mdjohnny and Thomas were hanging out with a PokerStars player and ready to go out on the town. We walked over to Cafe de Paris, which is inside a casino. Being on the Mediterranean as it is, the offerings leaned towards shellfish and more shellfish. I ordered the grilled salmon, which was quite good. We went to the bar in the casino and Thomas bought us a round of his favorite drink: Havana Club rum with coke and lemon - very tasty. We walked around Monte Carlo a bit, then returned to the bar, where we each bought a round of Heinekein and talked movies. Thomas is the most American sounding Swede I've ever encountered. He is a great guy who makes for good company. Johnny is a great guy as well. Neither guy has made it out of his twenties, but we have many interests in common. Thomas even knows a little about baseball. No word yet on badassmuther1. I managed to stay up past midnight, which was great for acclimating to the time change.