Tao of Pauly

Hungover

By Pauly
Melbourne, Australia

Man, am I wicked hungover today.

I woke up and a small pile of multi-colored Australia money sat at the edge of the desk. Purple are $5. Blue are $10. Reds are $20. And Green are $100. A mountain of coins sat near the bills. Lots of 20 cent pieces and a few kangaroo $1 coins.

When I woke up initially... I was still drunk. An hour later, the hangover invaded my brain. Head throbbed. Mouth was parched. Stomach churned.

This is how drunk I was.... at 3am, I went in search of food, and don't recall much. Nicky told me I should have ordered room service before she passed out. That was the last thing I remember, because the only thing open was Chinese food at the foodcourt or McDonalds. I assume I went for McDs which I never ever eat, only under extreme circumstances. Drunk and desperate, I went for the fast food giant. I don't even recall going, but the distinct brown McD's paper bag sat on the floor at the edge of my bed with an uneaten batch of french fries in there. The grease had seeped through the bottom and left a stain on the carpet of my swanky room.


I don't even remember going there... and it's a nice five-seven minute walk from my hotel room. Alas, I was in the middle of a semi-blackout and drunk food scavenger hunt.

Why?

Nicky and I got off work early. Super lucky. Our assignment ended after a few hours. We had the shortest day since we arrived. I barely ate dinner and started drinking and playing poker. Nicky sat at my table with a lot of horrible poker players. One crazy Asian guy tried to bluff me and I picked him off and took all of his money. Some old Greek guy tried to do the same. I made a sick call and took all of his money. I had the most chips at the table and cashed out. I headed to the bar and drank with some young Aussie pros as I kept my eye on my Amsterdam roommate... Johnny Mushrooms. He cashed in the day's event and had gone deep. (Side note: He managed to make it to day 2 with 14 players left).

Anyway, after drinking, Nicky and I almost went to the Rhino. We got sidetracked courtesy of poker pro Gavin Smith. I ended up playing poker with a couple of drunk pros (Gavin and Paul Wasicka who have several million dollars in career earnings combined). The stakes were small, but everyone was drunk, so I felt the field was leveled.

You can read about the hijinks over at my poker blog.

Alas, I lost $300. A small price to pay for a ton of fun. And I got enough material for my Bluff column. So that's always a plus.

Time to try not to puke in the shower, shove some undercooked Aussie bacon in my belly, drink a bunch of fizzy water, and jump back in the trenches. Of course, I get a wicked hangover the night before a 16 hour work day. Well planned, dipshit.