From: foldem Subject: Foldem's BARGE Ramblings Random thoughts from home... Trip reports are such a genuine joy for me to read, but can be devastatingly time consuming and sometimes difficult to organize. I plan to write down some anecdotes & comments over the next week or so. Sort of a train of thought, rather than a cohesive whole. Best all-around. Congrats to winner and all around nice guy Don Perry on his win. A suggestion if the current formula (next best finisher wins) would be to require the winner to cash in at least ONE of the events to win. For example, under current rules a player finishing 38th and 38th places higher than a 1st/40th. With my suggested modification, the 38/38 guy wouldn't qualify. Binion's, chowaha and tokes. WOW! Cathi Woods and her staff did an outstanding job. As a consequence they were rewarded. I estimate that the three chowaha tables (2 on Saturday evening) threw off over $1,500 in tokes and maybe as much as $2,500. A bonanza for the 11PM to 4AM dealers who know BARGE as "Christmas in August". Now I am famous for toking, but can anyone figure out how we can move some of that toking action to the other shifts? Horsel. Yikes. The game ran pretty much from Thursday to Sunday when we weren't in tourneys or eating. Ploink, who was playing Nolan's chips and I got all of our sheets unfurled with schnapps and beer chasers while playing Nolan's stack to the felt. Fortunately, the "4 players to a hand" rule was in effect, so we could consult before we made our horrible raises & calls! The story of what happened after we replenished Nolan's stacks will be told by others. Worst play by local award. Clueless Player (CP) sits in horsel and proceeds to build good size win by incredible suckouts. This guy was so bad that when the floorman thought the game would break, I assured him the game would run into October if CP didn't get up :) Best example: playing Crazy Pineapple/8 or better, I raise with AK3. CP and others call. I can't remember the exact board, but on the river I have a Broadway, so no low is out. CP had bet the turn, and now bets the river. Having the nuts ("Those aren't the nuts, sir. THESE are the nuts." - ADB Jaeger), I raise and CP calls and turns over 6d4d (no d on board). Stunned, I return his last call ala stud players who can't beat the board and call. I assume the game broke as soon as he left it. Banquet. I can't help but be amused by hearing World Champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson tell a rapt audience that they should raise or fold because calls should only be made by experts. LOL. I fully expect a year of calling by would-be expert RGPers. Bill Alan. At the banquet a quorum of ADB's, unsure of which way was East, hoisted glass after glass in toast to the missing merry one, as they turned to the four corners amid cries of "To Bill Alan!". Becoming concerned that we had missed East by Southwest. Jeff "ADB Jester" Woods solved the problem with a masterful whirling dervish salute while consuming an entire heineken. Don't try this at home, folks. World Roshambo Championships. Last year's WRC was a makeshift affair won by my roomie Don "Bingo" Rieck. This year's WRC was a makeshift affair won by my roomie Don "Bingo" Rieck. (Cut & paste is cool!) Thinking we would steal the championship with 4 from our table at the banquet and it would be over in seconds, we made the mistake of looking for ADB Patti Beadles, last year's runner up, to have her join us. Word spread like wild fire and 19 entrants eventually contested for the championship including Kevin Un, Patti "My tatoo is prettier than yours" Beadles, Russ "I'm almost a lawyer" Rosenbloom, Patri FF, Nolan Dalla, Jeff Woods, Barry Tanenbaum, Pain Smith, Jacksup, Jerrod A, Max "NorCal" Roman, Bill "MathWeenie" Chen, Shelley, Mellisa Hayden, Scott "Bwana" Byron and Andy "There is no Wednesday Night Poker Game" Latto. What a distinguished cast of reprobates! Luckily one end of the hall was clear and after milling about aimlessly for a few minutes totally random best of five matches quickly eliminated half the field (organizer's bye :) Despite somewhat disapproving glances at such disruptive noisome hijinks by a nameless waif whose initials are kidZee (FAQ!), the mayhem continued and we did best of 7, then best of 9, where I sucked out on Big Al Weber with my "I'll go rock!" strategy learned at the feet (you looked down, I circle you!), OK, the hands of the master, the dearly departed Perry F. Now facing defending world champion, the distinguished roshamboist from the midwest, Don "ADB Bingo" Rieck I was faced with a daunting task. While hundreds (oh, ok, 10s) of onlookers cheered wildly (oh, ok, were mildly amused) the grand final race to 6 was won by the defending champion. Congrats, Don (and thanks for the deal! :). I'll work on that tell, Jester. Binion's Buffet. Yuch. But free. And not just breakfast. For the first time in 5 years I got to have "Brunch on Binion's" because the buffet people let us in until about 2PM. Unfortunately while the salads and fruits were edible, none of the prepared foods was. The food at the WSOP was MUCH better and in the same place. Rumor. Two dealers playing in my game told me that they had been somehow cheated out of the tips they were supposed to get from the player's entry at this year's TOC. They said it was common practice for a large percentage of such fees to be used for "Management" expenses. Class action suits were mentioned as a possibility. Later, at the Stratosphere I asked another dealer and he seemed satisfied. Perhaps DH will use the toke money for lawyers? TOC. I had a great finish, punctuated by some terrific flops for me (all in with AJo, flop comes KQT rainbow/ allin with JsTs, flop comes Ks 9d7s, turn Q and I live on). I think I played well throughout, but you have to get this kind of luck too. The only complaint I had was that at the end, with stacks nearly identical at T60K or so and 3 remaining players the blinds went from T4k/T8k to T10k/T15k turning the finish into a crap shoot when there should have been play. If it's so important that the calcutta get started, then bag the players chips and finish another day. Congratulations to the winner Tony "Karma" Goldstein who neatly took me apart when we got heads up. And speaking of 4th, doesn't it seem like quiet unassuming Ross "Roadkill" Poppel always finds a way to get some money in *ARG events. Nice guys don't finish last! Craps tour. We had about 50 people on the long hike to the El Cortez to start the ADB cheap bastards sleazy craps tour. I was a little panicky because I know there won't be room for so many at the tables and I wanted the newbies to get a chance to "roll da bones". I needn't have worried. Despite lack of playing space, the social aspects of the group were more than enough to make it a merry affair. Kudo's to the floor at the Lady Luck for having the sense to lower the table minimums on her empty (but manned) $5 table to $2 so we could shoot. After wandering around some and shooting at 5 or 6 of the downtown sawdust joints, we ended with the traditional Main Street Station draught beer. Try the Red. I'm a little worried by the number of people who want to do this. Maybe we'll have to warn the casinos ahead of time. Yuch, more organizing. Team HORSE. Near perfect. Binion's had an absolutely beautiful physical arrangement for this event with four tables cordoned off just outside their main poker room. There was plenty of room for spectators and I felt the event was the "social event of the season". This must be one of the hardest events to play in, since there are so few soft spots in each game. The directors did a great job, and in typically flexible Binion's style, changed procedure midstream at the suggestion of the players to speed up the rebalancing of stacks. I am hoping to hear from one and all on how we might improve further. I personally almost destroyed Team FEESH when I busted out on the last round of Crazy Pineapple, only to discover that teammates Sam "Ratly" Hartman, Guy "Grizz" Berentsen and Suzan "Sabyl" Cohen had pretty much destroyed the competition in their last rounds leaving me only -$12 for the event. WTG! The ADB Contenders Team was the best this year, so ADB's are 2-1 vs the field. Mike and Chuck. Man oh man oh man. Thank you. Pan. Hey Q, how about a baby game of pan with lessons for a couple hours some night? Similar to the learning game Mike "kidZee" Zimmers set up for Lohbah? Inquiring minds wanna know :) Bring Sophie. Nice hats. Calcutta. I don't think syndicates are a real problem, but I would suggest that only pairs be auctioned (save final table) and not allowing large groups. The value on large groups can't be estimated and is tough for most (but clearly not all) to bid on. If 10 go for $500, then (A) You need that much capital and (B) You have to chase around to sell ½ back. I think coupling worked well - just randomize the couples and things should be ok. Note that this years results were extraordinary (the bladders syndicate had 100% of 1st and 50% of 2nd) for a net to each member of $245. We ain't talking riches here folks. Typically syndicates get shut out or break about even depending on some luck. Formal syndicates insure all players get bought in the auction and market forces (!) will drive poor ones out of business. I'm sure that some of the slut^h^h ADVs will drop from their syndicate. Ploink. Welcome to the ADB's! Now if I can only figure out how to embroider that gray fedora... What a wonderful evening, night, morning we spent together spewing chips, shooting craps and swatting the odd fly....How much did I donate to that horsel game anyway? I wanted to book the Keno round and we never got to Canasta...... Chouettes Saw in passing. $5/pt is beyond my skill level..looked like fun though. Locals. I thought the Binion's locals really enjoyed having us, even when it meant they had to wait for games sometimes. They see all the gamb000ling and just know (sometimes correctly) that they will get their share. Some even joined in the toking crazes. Max Scheinberg-Kullman Thanks for the walk and buffet. Your ADB (Alt.Delightful.Baby) hat will be coming soon. PEG. This was my fifth BARGE. My wife and I were married on August 4th and BARGE is her gift to me each year. What an awesome and loving thing for her to do. Thanks sweetie. I guess this is long enough (too long, maybe). I will post more by commenting on others reports. All you HORSE players owe me a report :) Thanks for the memories. Peter Recovering BARGE addict. Less than 359 days to BARGE!