Those juicy cash games I USED TO BE enjoying such a lot this spring unfortunately dried up. After a couple of more weeks of serious action, many of the players moved directly to Las Vegas for the sector Series of Poker. I traveled there myself in the midst of June to play a couple of events, but unfortunately I needed to skip the primary Event. I had an exceptional reason, though. I USED TO BE taking a visit to Russia.

Why Russia? I'VE a pal who have been living in Moscow for the last six months. He's a Mexican chef and was hired to return over there and open a restaurant. He adapted very well to the rustic and is already planning a second restaurant. Since moving there, he's been urging me and our group of friends to come back over and visit him. However, our time was running out to take this trip because my roommate is getting married in a couple of months. So we found a super solution. We decided to have his bachelor party in Moscow!

This isn't Russia.

Even though the timing conflicted with the primary Event, I TRULY desired to go. I ASSUMED I WOULD get to go to Moscow someday, but never with a chum who's living there. Having a 'local' guide would make it much easier to get around and I'd even have someone there who spoke the similar language as me. All of the street signs in Moscow are in that funky alphabet and without him I FEEL I'd wander off pretty quickly!

I also had the chance to spend every week in London after EPT Monte Carlo. My girlfriend is studying art history and he or she was about to start out a three-month contemporary art program there. In terms of art, I'm more or less a donk. I LIKE taking a look at it, but if I'm at a museum, I never know where to head. So having her as my tour guide was perfect. My favorite place we visited in London was the Tate Modern. That they had a unique exhibit going on, a Lichtenstein retrospective. I ACTUALLY enjoyed it and learned such a lot. My girlfriend likes to tell me about all of the different artists, their backgrounds, what their process is like, and the meanings behind their work. Before I USED TO BE just paintings on a wall. Now I'VE some deeper understanding and it makes the entire museum experience much more interesting. So far, the Impressionists are my favorite.

Next time, I'll you should definitely inform you guys all about our little Mexican invasion of Russia!

Christian 'el grillo' de León is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

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