From: Max Roman <max@hipbone.com>
Subject: BARGE: Running Bad, playing bad, and loving it

BARGE Trip Report

Or

“Running Bad, Playing Bad, and Loving it”

This is really long, with a bit of poker content.  It’s not edited
at all.  I hope you like it.  That is all. =).

Thursday, August 3rd, 2000

So, the night before I am to leave for BARGE, I had attended a
concert that went until fairly late.  So, being the insane
Rooooooler that I am, I decided that the really smart thing to do
would be to not sleep at all, and just get on the plane in the
morning.  So I did. Needless to say, I was very tired when I arrived
in Vegas (although the one smart thing I did all trip was to take
Southwest instead of America West—no delays for a change).

So, Ploink, being a great guy (despite being from Southern
California) had offered to pick me up at the airport when I got in
(we were also supposed to get Random/Disco Stu, but unfortunately
his plane was delayed).  So, he picks me up, I try to check in at
Binion’s, but of course they have no rooms ready.  So, I check my
stuff at the bell desk, and proceed to play in the History of Poker
tournament.  I can sort of play lowbahhh, but not really draw or
5-stud.

Of course, I proceed to rule at 5-card stud.  (I did realize that
split aces aren’t too good, though—the exposed ace kills all your
action—I liked little pairs better =).  So, the deck hits me over
the head, and I build up a pretty good stack.
Then, I get creamed in a draw hand with a pat aces up in like 16 way
pot or some such.  Doh!

I then bust out playing no limit lowbah, as I expected.  I watch the
end of the tournament (long enough to ensure that we Nocallers won
our bet, getting ALL TOP 3 PLACES).

Go to Mirage buffet—don’t eat that much, as it will just make me
tired.  Charles Haynes buys me into the no limit tourney (thanks
Charles).  Watch Patri and Paul Phillips play like maniacs,
straddling and restraddling and tilting everyone at the table (Paul
sure was running good—only he can make nut flushes and pick up
pocket jacks playing blind—tune in next week for another episode of
“Young and Bankrolled”  =).

Sit down in tournament—table is me, 8 other BARGERS, and Pat
Fleming.  BARGERS include Patti Beadles, Patri, and LenG, and some
other people that I can’t think of right now.  If you were there,
and I forgot you, I sincerely apologize.

Play for a while.  Play reasonably well.  Get a little short at one
point, but double through Patri with QQ vs. his AQ.

Tournament gets down to two tables or so.  Steal the blinds in good
spots two hands in a row.  Then, in early middle position, I pick up
TT.  Jam my shortish stack.  Get called by Ming, who has a bigger
stack than me.  We table hands.  Presto for him.  Nice hand, he says
to me.  5 comes off the top of the deck, and IGHN.  Nice hand Ming,
well played ;-).  Power of presto stays alive.

Patri, Shaym, and I split a cab and go back to Binions.  Go directly
to sleep (missing pot limit Chowaha, and HORSEL (more about HORSEL
later)).

FRIDAY

Wake up, and go down to poker room early to play in TOC tournament.
Draw a fun table, with Andy Hughes and Melissa Hayden at it.  Banter
around a lot.  Realize that I need to play Omaha better.  Bust out
of tournament a little past midway through.  Norcallers win bet
again.  (We rule).

Play some 10-20 Holdem.  Get stuck like $150, as I knew I would.
Play ok, but not terrific.  Never ever make draws, as it my norm
these days.

(one rooooooling hand, though.  There are a couple of limpers, and
I’m on the button with 62 of spades.  As I toss the chips in the
pot, I say “this hand has great ITO”.  Flop comes As7s3s.  DING!  I
bet and raise against JK’s presumed “Big Ace”, all the time hoping
another spade doesn’t hit.  It doesn’t (for what seems to be the
first time ever, I got a little lucky =) and when I show my hand he
mucks his digustedly.  Sorry about that JK, although it did brighten
my day =).

Go to Calcutta.  There has been discussion about syndicates and all
that, but to be honest with you all, I didn’t really care that
much.  I bought back half my action, and I was fine with that.

I did have a totally Roooooling idea during the Calcutta though--$20
no limit holdem freezeouts.  MPH offers to get cards, and for the
first one, it was me, him, Patri, and Melissa Hayden.  On the very
first hand, I totally misread my hand like a total idiot, and bust
out to Melissa.  I then deal the rest of that one.  A bunch of
people notice us playing in the corner of the Nugget, though, and
want in.  So, the next one is me, Patri, Melissa, Scott Byron, James
Kittock, Jeff Okamoto, MPH, and someone else I can’t remember (sorry
to whoever that is).  What a lineup.  Only at BARGE.  BARGE
roooools.  =).

That night, we go back to the Horseshow for Team CHORSE. (I think it
was that night, anyway.)  I sit in 2-5 pot limit game for like half
an orbit, misplay AK, and lose $300 to Steve Brecher.  You’re
welcome Steve =).  (56s is now my least favorite hand).  Oh well,
that’s the way I’ve been running (plus, as I mentioned above, I did
misplay the hand.)

Go play in Team CHORSE, and have a GREAT time.  I’m playing stud,
and at my table is Tiger, John Harkness, Dave Tahijian (I think
that’s how you spell it) Russ Fox, and some other people I didn’t
know.  We have a good time, and I make a Rooooling suckout on Tiger
(although I don’t think it was that big a suckout, after thinking
about it).  Here’s how it went, you be the judge.

Hand before this, I lay down pocket tens when Harkness pairs his
doorcard 5—turns out he had only the fives.  I stand up and yell
“I’M GOING TO SHOOT MYSELF IN THE HEAD”.  (I had had a few beer
units by this time).  So, now I’m buzzed and tilted.  The very next
hand, I look down and find pocket Jacks.  I think I had a 4 up.  I
complete the bet, and Tiger re-rai with an Ace.  Uh oh.  However,
there are like 2 or 3 other people in the hand.  Anyway, long story
short, the pot was 4 handed all the way (with one guy who went
all-in on 5th street) and I catch all clubs, culminating with the
King of clubs on 6th street (my other cards were live, if anyone
cares).  I bet out when I catch the 4th club.  Tiger thinks a long
time and calls, and I don’t like it.  He checks blind on the river,
and I look down, really really hoping to find a club.  Instead of a
club, I find another king.  Hmmm.  I think about betting, but
don’t.  I turn over my hand, and Tiger gets pissed and says
something along the lines of “Nice hand, sir, well played”.  I of
course, take this opportunity to stand up and scream “I AM THE
SMARTEST MAN ALIVE”.  I’m sure Tiger appreciated that =).

So, my team made like $20 a person in team CHORSE, and a good time
was had by all (not to mention quite a few beer units).

So, then I try to hustle up a Missippi Stud game with Patri.  We had
played it a bit at his home game, and it’s a lot of fun.  Of course,
I was sort of drunk, and had been running bad—a Jedi cares not about
these things.  ;-)

So, long story short, I play Mississippi Stud for a REALLY long time
with Patri, Andy Bloch, Maverick, ADB Timmy, and assorted other
people for a while (I know Ploink sat down for a while, too).  I
didn’t play very well, got unlucky a few times, and wasn’t a
favorite in the game to start with.  Bad combo.  I figured I was
lucky to only lose a rack of red or so.  I need to work on stuff
like that.  Anyway, up to bed to sleep for a little bit before the
NLHE tourney the next day.

SATURDAY

Stagger downstairs just in time for NLHE tourney.  Too late to book
my usual last longer, but I just parlay all the people that had been
participating in the previous tourneys.

Play fairly tight at the initial table.  Chatter a lot, as I am
prone to do—a lot of people had been limp-re-raising with big pocket
pairs, and I start talking about that.  Then, I get pocket deuces
for like the third time in early position, and briefly consider
limp-reraising them before I muck them.  Would have made quads,
which would have ruled.

A couple times, I was folded to on the button, and find good steal
hands (KQ, A8, stuff like that) and raise, only to have Jared
Ankenman come over the top.  I mucked, voicing my displeasure with
him =).

I manage to pick up a few chips at this table, and then it breaks.
I get moved to a table containing, among others, Brian Goetz, who I
play in a home game with, and Frank “Nut-Z” Brabec, who is a nice
guy.  Brian and I talk strategy for a while (until he busts =) and I
again pick up a few chips, but not a lot (I had aces in the blind
once, and thought about just calling a raise, but I jammed and
didn’t get called).  I feel like I’m playing pretty solidly, and
players are busting out right and left.

Now this table breaks, and we’re down to four tables.  At my new
table is Mike Chow, Frank Brabec again, John Reed, Lee Crocker and
some other people I don’t remember that well (I was real real tired,
remember).

Anyway, I don’t get many big hands.  I manage to steal the blinds a
number of times with OK hands, and steal some pots on the flop with
hands that missed (which is why I like no-limit).

I come back from the break, and look down and see AJ of clubs.  I
was pretty short at this point (the blinds were huge) and I push
in.  Win blinds.  Next hand, I pick up two red kings under the gun.
I think about my options—I could call and try to slowplay, but I
don’t have that many chips, and if someone’s going to play their
hand, they’re all going in anyway.  So, I shove in.  I get called by
Mike Chow on the button, who I have covered.  He has AK (black, I
think).  No Ace comes, and now I have a pretty good stack.  People
have been busting all over the place, and now we’re down to 20
players or so.

I don’t play a hand for about two rounds, and am getting blinded off
(I think the blinds are 1.5k-3k at this point, and I have about
22,000, 17,000 after the blinds.)  On the button, it’s folded around
to me and I have QJ.  I make it 9000 to go, and John Reed shoves all
in from the blind with about the same number of chips as I have.  I
might call here on a coin flip gamble, but John had been playing
SUPER tight, and I don’t think that there was any shot that I had
the best hand here.  I fold.  The very next hand, it’s folded to me
again, and have As4s.  I shove in for my last 9600.  John Reed again
calls me, and I know I’m screwed.  He turns over AKo.  Doh!  The
flop was actually pretty good, two spades, no ace or king.  12 outs
twice.  Of course, true to form for me, they didn’t come, and I’m
out at number 20.  They paid 18.  I didn’t mind, as the bottom five
places didn’t pay much, but I was bummed later when I found out
everyone in the money got a Binion’s WSOP jacket.  Oh well.

Go sleep for a while.  Get up just in time for banquet. Go to the
banquet.  Have a pretty good time sitting with Melissa Hayden, Scott
Byron, and Patri.  Real real tired is the dominating thought in my
head.

Get back to Binion’s and sit down in 4-8 HORSEL game with Jerrod
Ankenman, JP, ADB Bingo, and bunch of other cool people that I can’t
think of right now.  Tiger, and some other’s join later.  I consume
many many many Corona units, and play like a total maniac fish.
Scoop some pots.  Make Rooooooling suckouts.

Highlights include:

Letting Patri play my chips, and making a wheel in razz.
Scooping pots in Stud/8 and Omaha/8, and yelling SCOOPER as loud as
I can, and toking everyone in sight.

Hitting the lowball dealer the next table over with “remote tokes”.

Sucking out on Jerrod like a million times.

Making a full house in Omaha and Patri and I simultaneously yelling
“Fung Hou!!! Many many Fung Hou!!” (I had two different ones).

Getting to know Tiger, and getting some Stud/8 lessons from him.

There are more, I may post them later.

SUNDAY

Woke up in the evening.  Went to Orleans to play limit holdem
tourney, $100+20, $100 rebuy.

Play well, make final table, along with Ploink and Crunch.  (Crunch
refused a save, pissing off one local to no end.)

Bust out 7th.  Got my money in good—pocket nines vs. KQo, flop came
8-3-2.  All-in on flop.  Turn comes King.  So it goes when you’re
running bad.  (NOTE: This happened in subsequent hands—next to last
table with Ploink on my right.  Folded around to me in big blind—I
have pocket aces.  Next round—folded around to me in big blind—I
have pocket kings.  Break to final table—first round—folded around
to me in big blind—pocket Jacks! DOH! So it goes when you’re running
bad.)

Have a good time playing with Scott Byron in 4-8 Omaha game.

Go to Binion’s and play more 4-8 CHORSEL like a maniac.  Fun.  Go
catch flight.

So, thanks to everyone who made BARGE what it was—I had a great
time.  I’ll be back next year—and hopefully running a little better.

Max “Norcal” Roman


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Max Roman                        email: max@hipbone.com
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