Author: Heather

Best Thing to Do in the Berkshires: Clark Art

Best Things To Do in the Berkshires

Heather Leave a comment

This weekend we made our annual pilgrimage to the Williamstown Theater Festival (WTF) in Western Massachusetts. Every summer we make sure to fit in a play at WTF and spend the weekend in the Berkshires, enjoying some of the great things that the mountains of Western Massachusetts have to offer. Last weekend we also snuck in a quick visit to The Rivers a mere hour and a half away for another poker survivor tournament. We thought this was a perfect time to share our thoughts on the best things to do in the Berkshires.

Best Things To Do in the Berkshires

Visit Museums

There is an amazing variety of museums in the Berkshires. You can find cutting edge modern art at MASS MoCA, a world class collection of impressionists at The Clark Art Institute, and a combination of art, science, and natural history at the Berkshire Museum. Whatever type of museum tickles your fancy, you can find it in the Berkshires.

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Poker Bucket List - Casino Monte Carlo

My Poker Bucket List

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Every poker player worth his or her salt has a poker bucket list. Whether it’s to play in Paris or win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, everyone has their own must-do poker experiences before they fold their last hand. My poker bucket list has evolved over time. Five years ago, one of my items was cashing for $1,000 in a tournament. I have since exceeded that amount both at the Venetian Casino in Vegas and at my favorite local card room, Hampton Falls. So now I’ve kicked that goal up to $5,000. For many years I yearned for Vegas, and now, happily, Paul and I make an annual visit to Sin City. So my eye is now on the Monaco prize.

In no particular order, below are the items on my poker bucket list.

 

Poker Bucket List

Win Over $5,000 in a Single Tournament

As mentioned above, I broke the $1,000 cash barrier a couple years ago. Sure, I could aim for a $2,000 cash next, but why not aim high? Paul and I usually play sub-$200 buy-in tournaments, so it is rare that first prize surpasses $5,000. However, we occasionally play in larger fields with larger buy-ins, such as when we take our yearly sojourn to the WSOP. While we are not entering the Main Event any time soon, there are plenty of smaller stakes tournaments in town during the World Series that offer reasonable buy-ins and have top prizes over $5,000.

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Favorite Poker Websites

Our Favorite Poker Websites

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Thousands of poker websites vie for your attention every day. There are news sites, strategy sites, training sites, forums, and more. Given our love of poker, Paul and I check out new poker websites all the time. I probably access at least five different poker websites every day. Here are our favorite poker websites along with the reasons why each makes the list.

Favorite Poker Websites

PokerNews

PokerNews is probably the closest thing that poker has to a newspaper. Whenever there is something going on in the poker world, PokerNews is the first place we turn to learn more. Whether you’re looking for the latest information on your favorite player, World Series of Poker (WSOP) tips, strategy articles, or poker videos, PokerNews is on it. They also offer live reporting for some of the biggest poker tournaments out there.  PokerNews even gives minute by minute updates of the WSOP Main Event. If you prefer to get your poker updates through headphones, PokerNews offers podcasts as well.

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Five Great Reasons to Visit Key West

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We visited Key West this winter as part of our extended poker vacation. We’ve already reported on our visit to Miami and shared some of the things nobody tells you about the Florida Keys.  Our ultimate destination as we traveled down the Keys was, of course, Key West. After a wonderful stop on the island, here are our top reasons to visit Key West.

Five Great Reasons to Visit Key West

The Sun

Let’s start with the key. The most important reason, for us at least, to visit Key West is that is 75 degrees in February. We timed this trip specifically to get out of the chilly New England weather. Even in January, the coldest month of the year, Key West averages 75 degrees during the day. Few spots in the continental US can beat that. Not Los Angeles (high of 68 degrees in January). Or New Orleans (63 degrees). Not even San Diego (66 degrees). If you’re looking for some reliable warm sun in the middle of the winter, Key West is your best bet.

Five Great Reasons to Visit Key West

 

Key West is also one of the few points in the US where you can watch the sun both rise and set over the water. We’ll admit that we didn’t get up early enough to enjoy the sunrise, but the sunset celebration at Mallory Square can’t be beat. The festival begins every evening two hours before sunset and includes jugglers, musicians, magicians, artists, and food vendors. At sunset everyone pauses to watch the glorious sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Enjoy the WSOP

5 Ways to Enjoy the WSOP Without Spending $10,000

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Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. However, we would never recommend a product or service that we don’t use and love ourselves. We promise! For more information, see our Disclosure page.

 

Paul and I are heading to Las Vegas in June for the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP). No, we are not laying down $10,000 and playing in the Main Event. While that is a bucket list item for us, we imagine fulfilling that dream many years down the road. Instead, we are lucky enough to be heading to Vegas in our role as ambassadors for Advanced Poker Training, the poker training site for which we also blog. APT is holding a WSOP Meet N Greet and they asked us to help represent the site. We did not have to think very hard before saying “Hell, yeah”!

We have been to Vegas a few times before and loved it. However, we’ve been only once during the World Series of Poker. In planning this trip we discovered that while the WSOP is in town most casinos suspend their daily tournaments. On our previous trips The Venetian and the Aria have been our go-to rooms of choice. Both hold regular small stack (less than $200 buy-in) tournaments that we really enjoy. As we planned our current trip, we discovered that both are hosting tournament series alongside the WSOP. As we currently have one child in college,  and two more coming up fast, $1,500 (or even $500, really) buy-ins are off the table for this trip.

Low Stakes Tournament Options During the WSOP

There are plenty of options to play well-structured low stakes tournaments during the WSOP. For the purposes of this article, we define low stakes as anything at or below $200. If you are looking for such a game, here are your top five options:

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