Been back from Goa for about a month now, so its about time I posted some of my experiences there! Booked a charter flight with Thomsons direct to Goa, travelling with runadrum(Duncan) and AvonGirl(Helen) from PuntersLounge - landed in Goa about 5pm local time, when it was about 30 degrees 
. After getting our luggage, and some Rupees we ventured outside to be hit with a swarm of local taxi drivers fighting for our money! Fortunately Duncan had booked a car to take them to their hotel, and I managed to cadge a lift.
Indian driving is something you have to see to believe: one hand on the wheel, the other on the horn. Overtaking on blind bends, crazy mopeds all over the place - and the odd cow wandering in the road just to make it really interesting. We managed to arrive at the Silver Sands resort in Colva in one piece, and luckily they had a spare room for me. It wasn't great, but was reasonably clean, and the hotel was only 200 yards from the beach.
After dinner met up with Duncan and Helen at a bar on the beach; it was still about 25 degrees even at midnight. Big bottles of Kingfisher for about 60p a go - what more could you ask for? Spent a lot of the following day on Colva beach, before heading back to the same bar for dinner that evening.
Thursday morning we left Colva and headed for the Intercontinental Grand Resort, where the poker was to be held. After an impromtu shopping stop at the request of our driver we arrived at the fantastic 5* resort - all marble floors, a private beach, and great poolside bar!! A welcome dinner had been arranged for that night in the hotel grounds, but before that we met up with the mole and Ed, punterslounge members from Darvel. I couldn't have hoped to meet two better guys to spend the next few days with - we seemed to share a common interest in the delights of Kingfisher! Got to bed about 4am, then up about 11 for a cocktail by the pool before lunch, then it was time for poker.
There were 142 entrants in the main event, with a $1 million prize pool up for grabs. We started with 10k chips, one hour levels, and a break every 2 hours. We were due to play 9 hours the first day, then down to final table the second day. I settled into a routine of one beer between each break, and steady poker, winning a couple of early pots from the big blind.
After the first break I was on about 7k, but sat down to the table with my favourite dealer:
First hand after the break she dealt me KK. John Kabbaj, sat on my right put in a raise - I reraised, and after a lot of thought he eventually folded. A few hands later, same thing happended, but this time he called my all-in reraise with QQ. I was up to about 15k by this stage, but never got much more throughout the rest of the day. I managed to scrape into day 2 in 34th place of the 36 left with 11300 chips. Stuck to the same plan that night - drinking until 4am, and a couple of sit'n'gos with Dave Woods (PokerPlayer magazine) and Shelley Rubenstein (InsidePoker/Flush). Then another cocktail by the pool before the next days play.
I was on the feature table to start day 2, and shoved first hand with AQ, but got no callers. I'd only just got my first beer when I got moved tables. Third hand on the new table was 88 on the button, two limpers, so I pushed all-in. First limper re-raised all-in, other guy folded. I was up against K8, and my 8s held up - was now up to about 30k and feeling confident of making the money. A few hands later I get AA, and raise to 4k (blinds 600/1200). Get one caller, and flop of JQ7. I push all-in, and am happy to get called by KK. Turn is another A, but a 10 on the river knocks me out in 33rd. Worst thing was, 2 of the 10s had already been folded. Was absolutely gutted, so decided to get drunk!!
Watched the final table the next day, seeing the guy who busted me go on to win the tourney and $320k. Then spent most of Monday swimming and suffering a hangover from hell.
The trip was fantastic - great weather, lots of beer and brilliant company from Helen, Duncan, Ed and Stef. I'll definitely be trying again next year.
