Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 13:56:21 -0800 (PST)
From: John Harkness 
Subject: ATLARGE trip report

There is something enormously satisfying about waking
up the day after you've booked a big win. You stretch
and reassemble your thoughts. Which were weird enough,
because I was having this dream where Philip Seymour
Hoffman was helping me buy a car. Some sort of
Toyota-ish piece of crap. I decided not to buy it.
Which reminds me, I've got to call a car service for
my New York trip.

But you wake up and think, hmmm did that actually
happen, or did I do that, then you check your pants
pocket and yup, there=92s that fat wad of bills sitting
there, all green and worn.

Anyway, It was a strange weekend, because I got into
town on Thursday and started, well, winning. And not
at poker, because I don't play in live games, just
tournaments. And not at blackjack, because blackjack
in AC is essentially unplayable for any but a great
card counter and besides, it's so long since I played
against a shoe game -- eight deck shoes in AC, unlike
Vegas, where I play two deck games -- that I hadn't
done my checks for the strategic differences and
necessary card-counting conversions for playing the
shoe.

Nope. Video Poker, and Atlantic City doesn't have very
good video poker, at least not at the Tropicana, where
I'm staying, and not at the Taj, where the ATLARGErs
are hanging and playing our tournaments. I'm playing
negative expectation games -- unbeatable long term pay
structures, and I'm just hitting stuff. Busted out of
the first ATLARGE tournament on Friday, walked over to
a double double bonus machine and within ten hands of
starting, hit a progressive Royal Flush for over a
thousand dollars. =


By Sunday, when we're sitting down for the stud
tournament, I'm up about $1800 on the trip, and that's
including everything except my hotel bill and airfare.
That's meals, cabs, the car service from Philadelphia.
Well, I'm also picking up meal comps from the Trop and
on Sunday I picked up a $90 cash back from the Taj for
my VPoker play. (It's a thing slot clubs do to attract
customers, returning some small fixed percentage of
your action -- and it's one thing they do better in
Atlantic City than they do in Vegas, where the Vpoker
machines have better structures -- for the amount of
play I put in at the TAJ, I would have maybe gotten a
$30 or $40 cashback at the Four Queens in Vegas.

Anyway, after some flirtations with bust out,
including finding myself down to the felt on a couple
of occasions -- that is, all my money's in the pot and
there's nothing but green felt in front of me, no
chips -- I find myself at the final table of the
ATLARGE seven card stud tournament, and then the final
five, which is where the money starts, with a
reasonable stack. This is the sixth ARG event I've
cashed in lifetime, and the third stud event, and the
second time I've cashed in the ATLARGE stud event -- I
was the first to bust at the final table last year,
netting myself about $100 for five hours work.

Anyway, cards were dealt, blah blah blah, knocked Bill
Chen out when I pulled one of a couple of dozen outs
to make a flush to beat his tens. woohoo. That's my
fourth ARG tournament win -- BARGE 99, SARGE 04,
ESCARGOT 05, all in No Limit Hold'em, and ATLARGE 06.
Hmmmm.... I should check into how many other people
have won four ARG events. I may be better than I think
I am.

Off to NYC.  Edvard Munch at MOMA, Robert Rauschenberg
at the Met, and the Goyas at the Frick. and grab the
delta shuttle down to DC for the Cezanne show at the
National Gallery

With about $4K more in my pocket than when I arrived,
I decide to splurge on the car service to get me to
NYC for the rest of my vacation. Request a town car,
like an airport limo, nothing flashy.

What shows up is, ahem, a white stretch limo. What I
really need for this scenario are two strippers,
Michael Irvin, a big pile of Cocaine and, oh, what the
hell, Madonna. What I've got is a lot of legroom.

If anyone is interested, my Sunday night was spent in
front of the TV with the Oscars, and you can read THAT
report here...

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-03-02/oscar_special.php

John Harkness