From: David Trinidad Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 11:04:26 -0500 Subject: [BARGE] ATLARGE 2008 Trip Report Part 1 I ended my ATLARGE adventure a day early. Just to say Goldie put on a great tournament festival and I look forward to next year! My adventure starts with taking two exams on Thursday. I thought I would be free by noon . but I took a bad beat and was not finished until 3:30 PM. It is 7 or so hours to NJ from North Carolina and thus the smoker was out of the question. Ahhh next year my friends. This ARGE event was one of the best in terms of meeting my friends. I am beginning to enjoy the poker and gaming less, and I am enjoying the socializing more each event. I think it is a combination of realizing how precious time is (like we lost John H. this year) and the evolution of the ARGE events from a medium to share knowledge -- to a gathering of the masses. Still, my friends made this such an enjoyable event. I did not get all the way to NJ from NC on night one. I was exhausted from working numerous math problems expounding on my 30 year old recollection of calculus with a recent review. After driving 4 hours I got to Fredericksburg Virginia and decided to call it a night. I popped up the next morning to complete the drive into NJ. Once I arrived and got my kit - BTW) A nice card protector, a very nice hat and of course a badge. Though the line is "we don't need no stinking badges" .. The rules are no badge -- no tournament .. J I get seating arrangements finished and settled in for the HOS tournament. I have some time to kill so I play 1 -2 no-limit 300 Buy in max. That means short to medium stack no-limit. Much to my chagrin we need better role models for our upcoming poker youth. Now I have been complaining about the Matasow and Helmuth "want-to-be's" in prior posts. Now I have to contend with the Jamie Gold "want-to-be's"-"I have the top two pair . do you have a straight." And all the posers that want to count down stack and go into the tank .. only to fold. I play only a couple of hands. In one hand I put a local kid so on tilt it is worthy of text. I get 8-6 suited on the button raised $5 to me with 3 callers. I call and the SB and BB fold. There is now $31 in the pot. The flop comes J-9-6 - with the J-9 suits matching my 8-6. I have a non-nut flush draw and a pair. It is checked to me and I fire $30 into the pot. The UTG smooooth calls and the other two drop. A brick (3) hits on the turn and the UTG checks and I check. Then with all beauty - a 6 on the river. J-9-6-6-3 board. UTG fires $60. I raise $120. He does his Jamie Gold impersonation and has the dealer counts down my stack. After 5 minutes he makes a crying call. He flopped top two and I got there with trips on the river. Now starts the Mike Matsow impersonation. After the 15th F*K he really blows a gasket. "How can you play those cards!!" "How can you fire $30 into the pot with a draw??!!!??" "I would much rather be lucky than good" Now for discussion what is a good hand now might not be so good later. I have no idea what he was thinking I had when I fired the $30, but when the 6 paired his hand has more problems. There is the possibility that he could have been thinking that I fired into the pot with 10-10 or some under-pair looking to take down the pot. I think he was thinking top two vs. some bottom two pair. That is my read. Then again .. I could only imagine how on tilt this guy would have been if my hero "Chic" would have played this hand. I am quite tired of this idiocy and so now on to the HOS tournament. Speaking about Chic . now I am really annoyed. There are now the "Chic want-to-be's." What in the hell is this world coming to? First, there can only be one "Chic" and two, being "Chic'ed" is far more than dumping endless raises with any random hand that gets there. It takes years of establishing a reputation that Chic has paid the price to be revered. No! There is only room at ARGE events for one Chic! Anyone trying to pose as a "Chic" should be immediately given poker lessons in an environment more akin to "A Clockwork Orange". That should break them of their pretending! Ok first hand at HOS. Raise Re-raise Re-raise .. second hand raise re-raise re-raise. You get the picture. I am going to have to pick my spot carefully. I now completely believe in a God, and he protects drunks, and maniacs. I play one hand and Maverick (Not Bret) 3 bets pre-flop, flop, turn and gets a call on the river with J-7 vs. a straight draw, and a over-pair. Turn a J -- river a 7. It is my believe that your hand selection has to be more toward level-1 hands than to loosen up because your opponents are foolish. That is because you do have implied odds after the flop. Four people and 3 raises has 6 BB for 12 to one Pot odds on the flop and conceivably 12-1 on the turn if you get a nut draw, but you are going to dump chips to draw. Certainly 12-1 covers all the normal draws including an inside straight, but you cannot go back to the ATM machine in a tournament. I did get seated with "TrayRacer" who is always enjoyable to talk with. We start a conversation about flopping a flush and after taken a 6 hour exam I could not multiply .25 * .25 *.25 in my head nor do the statistical math to get an exact answer. but off my head and thinking memorizing situations I feel I am right that flopping a flush draw is 8.1/1 but I was only close in that flopping a flush is 118/1 (off the top of my head I thought 150 to one.) I guess I lose one M+ .. (Geek signatures) Anyway Math discussion aside .. I wait to find a spot to engage and win two sizable hold'em pots and an Omaha pot. But .. That 7-card stud eats those chips up . . especially when you are rolled up but the other guy gets there after you have been dumping chips to make it a mistake to draw ..I think it would be interesting to create a discussion on this. Is it worth 4 weaker players to dump chips into the pot to make foolish draws worth the pot odds? Let's say 4 weak players collude in a limit event to always raise like a "must raise pink chip game" making their bad plays profitable. What is the strategy for a stronger player? Finally the blinds get to the point I have to make a stand. A-K suited on the BB. A player called J-P (Not JP Masser) who would raise with any 'A' any position. I get a read on a "A'-X raise and decide to re-pop. He goes three and I am almost all-in. Flop comes J-T-7. I am at this point very sure I am up against Kings and I have 7 outs twice (Any 3 aces and any 4 queens for a straight) JP bets and I am all-in. Brick Brick and I go home now. The event was somewhat frustrating for me because I had not geared up mentally for chat and pretend gamesmanship. I used to be very extroverted but I am finding myself getting more introverted. That is I have to get by myself and recharge rather than use the energy around me to recharge. I take a walk to the Tropicana to experience a really frustrating "bad beat." In 2002 I had to leave ATLARGE early to bury my brother in law. Jazbo put my prepaid entry fees into the cage. I have not been in Atlantic City since then and thus I thought someday I would find out the fate of the money. The people at the Trop looked at me like I was from Mars. After 1 hour of discussion the final word was that I needed to write to the accounting department; however, the manager did not have an address. I could just look it up online. Customer Service at its best. My mantra . "David no need to do 10-20 just breathe deep .." Ok walk back to the Taj. Get car. Drive to Hampton Inn in Voorhees. I need a break from the crowds. After a nice quiet dinner I fall right to sleep. I sleep for 12 hours. I guess I needed the rest. Part II coming ... Dave T From: David Trinidad Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 11:28:01 -0500 Subject: [BARGE] ATLARGE 2008 Part II DAY II =85. I drive from Voorhees and arrive just in time . to wait for 45 minutes = ..not everyone got the word that we are starting at 10am rather than 11 . but = we started a little early. I get settled into the NL Holdem tournament. My table is much more sane today. I have been posting quite frequently lately about the" All-in syndrome." My argument is that a = tournament, unlike a cash game, has a much more finite risk of ruin. Thus the equity of any hand must not only be weighed in terms of the EV of gains but the risk = if the other guy sucks out. My strategy is to play my selectively = aggressive style but consider the risk of ruin much more in the equation. I am = going to limit my all-ins from 50/50 races and I gave myself an artificial quota = on all-in's. In the second hand "Bryan" gets pocket rockets against a young = ladies cowboys. The typical raise re-raise, all in .. Bryan is now doubled up. Although I was not involved in the hand, this hand gives me lots of information about how Bryan reacts to a big hand. How he reaches for = chips, his mannerisms, and his affect. This really helps later on. One hand of interest that set a tone on the table for my play. I got 88 = mid and made a 2.5 BB raise in the cutoff. (Representing a low cost steal) = and was called by the Button. Flop came 8-7-7 and I filled up. I checked and = the button came out firing making a 2BB stab at the pot. I flat called. The Button stabbed at the turn and the river, which I of course called. Of course I made the customary value pop at the end and was called. I could check down and call a monster with the same demeanor as if I were = drawing. I also called down A-A out of position vs. T-T probing against a dangerous board. There is no need to get all my chips in and I feel I got the = value from the hand. The lack of raising does not mean weakness. I believe = this hand as instrumental when weaker opponents were faced with a dangerous board. They did not do the routine "jam" post flop with big pairs = and a dangerous board against me. I was pretty much card dead when I got A-J suited UTG. By card dead I do = not mean a lack of class 1 hands in all positions. I was willing to make = some steals but when the opportunity presented itself =96 it would be raised = before it got to me. I just had to be patient. However, I always feel you have = to have strength UTG. Sometimes I take a J-T suited crack at the pot = because I feel the hand plays well out of position. You either hit your flop and = it pays or you know where you are at pretty quick. Now I It was time to = change things up and not wait for a class one hand UTG. I make it 3BB and was called by Bryan. Bryan has gotten very lucky in that he has had monster hands with great second hands in the pot. People spewed chips to him = against the worse situation. Like the A-A vs. K-K hand number 2. His stack is 2 = =BD times my stack so he has me more than covered. I feel this is an extra cautious time to think. OK=85=85the hand. He was not enthused pre-flop. = The Board comes J-7-3 and he lights up. His affect and mannerisms are very similar to when he picked up pocket rockets. I make a =BD pot bet and = he comes over the top. I read set and fold. He shows 7-7. The betting = pattern, mannerisms, and my gut feel all came together to confirm I need not = cripple my stack to test whether his lighting up was with K-J or a set. Another critical hand was against 3 players against Bryan was a set over = set situation with a flush draw on the board. I have 3-3 and the flop comes 9-8-3. Again I see the same mannerisms. He has flopped a monster. He = bets out and a second player goes all in on a straight flush draw. Both = players have me covered (probably due to my weak tight play J ) and I fold = bottom set. Sure enough my instincts are right Bryan flopped top set. The = straight flush draw does not get there and Bryan has more chips. I hover right around the starting stack because I would built it up only = to engage in a hand where I was definitely beat. Raise pre-flop, called and then spend 600 or so 'T' to find that a player has hit their hand. I = am pretty sure because I was proudly shown the monsters after I folded. I = guess the players wanted me to know I made a good fold. This is really key = because in years past I would invest a lot more of my stack to find this = information out. I would not consider enough the big vs. little stack proposition. Bigger stacks can call with a wider range of hands and thus you might be more likely having to engage with all your chips. Anyway I bounced from 2000T =96 3000T picking my spots carefully I have one interesting hand in which I discuss with Jerrod. I have K-J suited with three people in an unraised pot. That would be Jerrod and = one other person. The flop comes K-K-7 with the K-7 suited. Jerrod makes a = 300T stab at the pot. There are three possibilities in my mind. Bluff, he has = a K with a better kicker or worse kicker, or a flush draw. If he had a set = of 7-7 or a K-7 he checks. So there is now 900T in the pot and I have about 2200T. It looks like Jerrod has about 1600T and I have 2400T. If I jam Jerrod would risk 1600 more to gain 3300 about 2-1. The flush draw is = 4-1 twice. I think about it and decide to jam to make the flush draw a bad choice. If he is bluffing I doubt Jerrod would make a second stab at the pot. He was bluffing and we discuss the hand at great length later. That is the really neat thing about ARGE events and why I keep coming. = It is just not another tournament. I see many players that do not understand = the wealth of knowledge that is bestowed to them. I paid a steep price on = the tables to gain a =BC of this knowledge in the school of hard knocks to = be an average player -- when accomplished players will give you this for free. Definitely I feel the latest crop of attendees fails to understand the = rich history of ARGE and why we gather in the first place. I feel it is seen = as a private gathering of a clique rather than an exercise in student participation. How many times do you have the opportunity for really = good poker players to show a hand and tell you what they were thinking during = a hand? A couple of times I discussed hands with some of my favorite = ARGEers and I got sarcastic feedback from new ARGER's like "Oh you think you = are such a great player . ya you could give me lessons.." OK. Whatever. = 'ARGE is changing. I just hope the party last with my friends long after I am gone. This card sparring continues. I build a stack up and then lose a little = to find out where I am at with a big hand. Finally I am moved to another table. The two ARGER's I recognize are Tracy and Crunch. Tracy has = built up a sizable stack and Crunch and I are struggling at about 2400 with the blinds at 100-200 25 ante. Tracy is bullying the table. Any 'A' and = she is all in. This pattern continues. In one hand I have K-T suited in the big blind and the UTG makes it 3BB to go. Tracy goes all in with A-6 suited = and I fold. UTG calls with Q-J suited. 'A' holds. The flop comes with a = T high and turn a T. I would have tripled up! So I explain to Tracy this fact = and she replies "That is why I raised!". A kind of funny situation occurs. I have "Mitch" (not Bruce's = Mitch) sitting next to me. He is obviously drunk. He is posing as an professional poker player he has seen on TV combined with being a "want to be = ADB'er." The game slows incredibly as he goes into the tank almost every hand. Playing = Jamie Gold "Do you really have a hand?" It is getting on my nerves. I = have only one good ear and it is facing this loud drunk. I am not having any fun anymore and I have a headache. I get a value hand K-7 suited. I tell = Crunch that I have had enough and I am going all-in with this hand no matter = what. Now the very amusing part of this story is that I have been playing my = 'A' game for 5 hours at this point and now I decide to play my 'X' game. = Crunch and I have been exchanging innuendo on a tell from the very nice young = lady in the 4 seat. Ok I go all-in thinking only the blinds are left. No, the very nice young lady had already gone all-in but I could not hear that because of the loud drunk and I did not see that because I am buried in = the 10 seat behind the dealer. Crunch immediately says "Did you pick up on = that tell?" "No I was going all in no matter what." However, to be = honest, I did not intend to call the UTG who went all in. Well she has a weak hand I = know. A-4 vs. K-7 and I get there with the 7. My lucky hand of the day. The = only hand I engaged all my chips as the dog. Now I have doubled up and a stack. My real goal is to get the drunks = chips. Not because I see a weakling but I cannot take anymore yelling in my = good ear. I tell Crunch; "I am getting this man's chips soon or I am = going to do 10-20.." The drunk gets a hand UTG and goes into the tank. Before = looking at my cards I start putting him on a range of hands. A-X but not A-K, = maybe A-J or A-T maybe medium pair =96 he goes all in. I pick up A-K suited. I = am either a big favorite of a small dog. I go all-in. A-J suited vs. A-K suited and I flop a 'K'. Now I have tripled up in three hands. Tracy is back bulling the table but now I have a stack that is just over = =BD her stack. Now back to my all-in mantra. Why risk your entire stack = where =BD your stack or even less will do the same thing? With the plan of = isolating the UTG or bullying the table--If she wanted to eliminate draws I = believe 3000T does the trick nicely. Instead I believe the worse of all = situations occurs because you are only called if you are beat or have a reasonable chance of being beat. The other problem is that your big hands will not = get the value besides the blinds. This pattern continues until I get 8-8 as = the big blind. Tracy looks at her hand and says all-in. I get a read for = A-X. Maybe a kicker less than an 8 which improves my odds greatly. OK Time to make a stand. I feel very good I am not up against a bigger pair. Well = I was wrong =85..in that the kicker was a 'Q'. A-Q vs. 8-8 and I flop = a 8 to win the race. Now I have a stack to contend with. Some might criticize I played too weak tight by folding certain = situations but it was my plan not to get into 50/50 races from the beginning. That = I am a good enough player that if I am patient my spots will occur. I = engaged in one race all day and one time I was a dog. I am on the button with A-Q offsuit and make a 2000T raise. Corky picks = up a monster. I can tell. He looks at his hand and stares for 5 seconds and = then looks again before saying all-in! I read A-A or K-K. He shows A-A. This might be a situation that before I did not use the clues around me and = just convince myself that I am up against a medium pair. This of course would have been a "how unlucky I am that the BB got pocket aces against my = monster A-Q" story. I again make a 3500T raise on the button with Q-J suited = and when Corky picks up his hand and his affect changes to show a monster. = He goes all-in, I fold and shows Q-Q. This is a point where previously I might have gone on tilt. I mean I = have been selective all day in my spots and when I do get opportunities I am = up against a monster. It is a time where I lost my 'A' game and = started thinking ok "I just need to win race." Crunch is getting down to the felt compared to binds. He starts stealing = my blinds -- I think knowing I am being very patient. Eventually I get A-2 suited and play back at him and he calls. The flop comes K-Q-J and he = goes all in for =BD my stack. I fold. Come to find out he had crap but that = is ok because I will pick. my spot. After stealing one more blind Crunch = commits half his stack early. I have K-K. I go all in and isolate. Crunch got = his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. He folds his pure bluff =BD = stack bet. I make up for the stolen blinds and a little bit more. Patience sometimes does pay off. Now we are getting down to 18 where we start discussing would you fold = A-A on the bubble? We see a player on the other table who's BB will = consume his stack before Crunch. Now the payoff is only 180+ which might be a = pittance to most of the experienced players in the group but it is the principle = of always making the right play. A three time ATLARGER picks up a Big Pair = and Crunch is sitting there with =85. "Pocket Rockets". The irony is overwhelming. Well Crunch calls with his stack and the Aces hold up. The = guy with the T-T does not appreciate our discussion at all and goes on tilt. Ahhhhh I see two different sects. One sect that plays at a tournament = that is less expensive than the WSOP but has good competition to show off = their perceived expertise, and the other sect that is enjoying the knowledge sharing party. The T-T guy was not enjoying the party at all. I can get this angry too but you will find myself saying nice things but stewing. Saying mean things only takes years off your life and permanently scars = what people think you are. The blinds go up and up =85 and we are at the final table. They want to = make a deal to split 1000 8 ways and leave the rest to the top three. I am more than happy because I am down to a M2. I thought it was more than = generous to not wait until the blinds killed me to make this deal. A grand pays for = the trip. Always good in negotiating coming back with the significant other. = "OK We have a deal?" I I ask. Yes! I push all in UTG with A-6 suited, = which is folded to the BB who has =85. T-T .. flop comes a T and IGHN. From: David Trinidad Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 11:39:30 -0500 Subject: [BARGE] ATLARGE 2008 Final Words Just some final words . One thing about the Taj. I really appreciate having an ARGE event at a major hotel and the graciousness of our host. However, the competency of the staff is really questionable. The dealers made mistake after mistake. In one case the dealer dealt the cutoff first rather than the SB three times in a row! During the HOS events the "table captains" had to read the high lows for Omaha and keep the dealer in check. Sometimes due to slow players wanting to look like they were in the tank, bad dealers, and general confusion we got maybe 8 hands done in 20 minutes. Often the dealer exchange took 5 minutes or more. I complain about online poker and 15 seconds per hand but it has affected bricks and mortar as well. Then the really bad beat. While chipping off the greens the staff decided to also chip off the hundreds. We had Tracy buy all the greens watched them counted and then left for the bathroom The floor and the dealer come back while Tracy was gone and chipped off the hundreds. Unfortunately they could not count and left her 1000T down or 5% of her stack. Now the floor was insistent that he was right, but myself and one other saw Tracy counting the correct amount before going to the bathroom. The argument gets more absurd as we go along. The dealer lost all credibility because when they spread the deck and were ready to shuffle -- the "Ks" was hidden behind the As. They did not even check. (I did look, move the As out of the way, and saw the edge of the K and it was a spade.) Now the question comes "How can you be so sure about the count if your dealer was lax in checking the deck?". It escalated to a mess .. But Tracy took the bad beat. I usually tip the dealers but I was just too disappointed at the lack of organization. I felt they got about what was expected. Ahhhh 8 hours later I can finally relax. Goldie invites me to dinner with Bill Chin and three very nice friends, Michelle, The real "Chic" and Bruce Kramer. After waiting for the final table to break we head off to Tomatoes. Now there is a little history there. Way back when .. a long time ago .. we all went to Tomatoes and me being a generally ignorant soul I ordered Radicchio and Crab salad. I really was not hungry and I wanted something light. The crab sounded very good but I really did not understand how much Radicchio is in a Radicchio salad. It was . awful. Now I try and be polite but for some reason the Radicchio salad put me on tilt. This stuff it bitter. Bruce will not let me forget that Radicchio is bitter and that a Radicchio crab salad is going to have a lot more Radicchio than crab. This time I order the tried and true "Cow butt." I know what that is ... I am seated next to two of Bill Chin's friends and Chic. We talk about the economy and stuff. The conversation drifts into that One of Bill's friends at the table, Alex, lost 150 pounds. I am simply amazed. The reason I mentioned it here is that the concepts of nutrition are like the concepts in poker. There are no absolutes and it depends. Like the subject of Cholesterol. "Cholesterol is bad for you." In today's 30 second sound bite world this is a quick answer to a very complex question that science does not really understand. About 20% of the cell wall consist of Cholesterol so how can it be bad for you? Then there is "good Cholesterol" and "bad Cholesterol." No not really. There are carriers of Cholesterol called Low Density Lipid proteins (LDL) and High Density Lipid proteins(HDL). There is a correlation between HDL and Cholesterol moving from the liver to your cells. Remember as your cells divide and make new ones part of the cell wall will have Cholesterol. LDL is correlated with Cholesterol moving back to your liver. So high LDL levels are indicative of Cholesterol moving toward your liver for storage. Meaning that quite possibly you have too much floating around in your system. That is much different than "Cholesterol is bad." But in our world we want 30 second answers. Poker too does not have easy answers. A evening to learn a lifetime to master. Hopefully we have many more ARGE's in our future. Well Alex and I exchange our experiences in nutrition much to the dismay I feel of the table. I can get passionate about medical stuff. Hopefully I was not too obnoxious! A Big thank you to Bill C who covered the bill! The company was great, the wine was fantastic and the meal splendid! I could not have had a better combination of pleasures. Hopefully I can see you all next year. David "ADB ICEMAN" Trinidad AKA "Crackaces"