Travel Report: 2011 LAPT Lima, Day 4

Woke up this morning with another track from The Last Waltz playing in my weary noggin’. So many great ones on that soundtrack, many with possibly applicable lyrics or titles. But the one I was thinking of was the most obvious: “The Shape I’m In.”

Am fairly well worn-out at the moment. F-Train, Pauly, Reinaldo, and I stayed up into the early hours, so am once again am going on less than adequate sleep as I write here in my hotel room.

I’ll recover soon enough, though. Not in that bad of shape, all things considered.

First F-Train and I completed our epic, two-day-long Chinese poker match in which the wiry one withstood my many comeback attempts to win 52-46 (scoring 2-4). To be honest, it would’ve been a significant upset if I had beaten him, given how badly I mangled setting at least a couple of my hands along the way. Then came Big Deuce with Pauly and Reinaldo. As the night wore on and dawn approached, the tallying became increasingly less reliable, but I’m going to guess Ray managed to best us there.

Safe to say our decision to keep the games going as long as we did had a couple of causes. We weren’t all that anxious to say our farewells. To each other, of course. And to the whole tourney scene, too, I suppose, which even if we end up back on one of the tours again will probably never be quite the same. Nor are we looking forward to the various new stressors that are going to be associated with our newly affected careers. Or our perhaps starting different ones.

So, yea, deal another, we said. Just one more. And then we said it again.

Yesterday’s final table was entertaining, if not too remarkable. Had the lone remaining woman, Samar Hodali of Peru, managed to win, that might have helped make it more so. But after entering the final table in second, she finished fifth. The leader, Daniel Ospina of Colombia, actually bounced out in eighth, paving the way for Kemal Ferri (pictured above) to win the title for his native Peru.

There was a decent crowd on hand to cheer Ferri on, although not as big or boisterous as the one I saw at the LAPT Lima last June. During the awarding of the trophy, amid the music, lights, and noise, we were startled by a small cannon going off right beside our stage-side location, raining shiny rectangles of confetti all over. Was appropriately festive, though, punctuating a well-run event that many enjoyed.

Took Pauly and I some time to finish up the last of our posts and sign off, then the four of us went for dinner down at the Larcomar again before heading back for the card playing.

Today Pauly begins a journey to Machu Picchu where he’ll be seeking visions of his future. Meanwhile, I’ll be homeward bound. Probably won’t be sleeping on the plane. I never do.

No, l have my eyes wide open, seeking visions of my own.