Subject: Buckshot's BARGE Report - Enjoy! From: buckshot.b@nospam.home.com (Buckshot) I've decided to change my nick from Buckshot-B to Buckshot. So I'll be "The Poker Player Formerly Known as Buckshot-B" ~stephen ============================================ It's early in the afternoon on August the 6th. I'm trying to recollect the entire week of BARGE and, quite honestly, I'm having a tough time. I wonder if it's because of all the alcohol I consumed during the week and the wee hours? Or could it be the lack of sleep? More than likely it is both. Before I start this epic report, I want to apologize forthwith to all the people whose names I forget. I especially do not remember last names. I also want to take this time to give Kudos to the staff at Binion's. I had a great time and it was by far a wonderful experience. With that said, here's the story of my experience at BARGE. And I'm sticking to it. July 31st I arrive at McCarran at ~11am. I spot Steve C, PktKings (Pat), and Bill leaving with their bags in tow. I chat with them for a minute while I wait for my bags and then we agree to meet for food and poker later. After I get my bags I'm walking out and notice that the line for a cab is a mile long. I'm already cursing the dry heat when the attendants outside start a brand new line right next to me. Sweet! $30 later I'm at Binion's checking in then unpacking for the week's stay. I find myself sitting in a 1-4-8 game afterwards and lose a rack by playing almost every hand and straddling as much as I can. I already have a target on my face that says, "Sucker." I also made friends with the waitress named Tandra. It had gotten to the point that I didn't have to order anymore. She always had a Corona, no lime (I don't do citrus in my drinks), every time she came into the room. Ah, sweetness. Nothing like a woman who recognizes a man's needs then acts upon them. That might be the next best thing to…. well, use your imagination. Basically, I just spent my day at Binion's and played with the locals and enjoyed myself immensely. Steve C and I make arrangements to play golf the next day at 8am and all is well. I go to sleep fairly early and ponder the week's activities. August 1st Steve C and I meet downstairs in the lobby and catch a cab to the golf course. For those of you who like to play golf and don't mind spending a little on a premium course I suggest playing at the Las Vegas National. It is prime golf for you dollars and you can tell all you friends that you played a PGA course. It held the Las Vegas Invitational up until 1996 when Tiger brought it, and the field, to its knees. I shot a respectable 84 and Steve a 91. It was good times, but the beer wench was exactly that. I'm convinced that the course I regularly play at has the best looking beer babe in the US of A. Here's a challenge that I brought to the golf group. Take a pic of the best looking beer babe at your local golf course and put up $10. We'll pool the pics together and take a vote on them. You have a full year to find the beer babe that you think will beat mine. The babe with the most votes will win the pool. We should probably do a 1st through 3rd. But I'm confident that everyone else is playing for 2nd and 3rd. We make plans to take a trip out to the Bellagio for some mid-limit games and find many RGP'ers hanging out so we head to the buffet for dinner. It was pretty good but also pretty pricey. I didn't really eat more than a plate and a half and went back to cards. I played 15-30 for a while and dropped a ton in the best 15-30 game I ever played. I don't know if they were locals or tourists but any 2 suited and any 2 face cards r00led the table. Everyone's flush hit and everyone's gutshots caught the river. It was amazing. I decided I couldn't take the swings there any longer so I put myself on the 30-60 list. I played there for a while and let $400 go into the game when Huck Seed was called and I picked up. I don't know if it was wise to do that because I heard 30-60 wasn't his limit. When I get back to Binion's the place is jumping and I see more of the East Coast crowd. I go to the room and tell myself to sleep before tomorrow's Death March excursion. ActionBob had just arrived and wants to play a little Poker downstairs so I join him. We sit in the 1-4-8 table and drink and play many hands blind and straddle. Twice when I played blind I had pocket Queens and didn't win with either of them. Bob on many occasions sucked out on my hands on the river when he played blind. It was a ton of fun and my rack sat quaintly in front of Bob. He was all to happy to tell everyone he was playing with my money. The best/worst part about it was the last hand I played he tipped the dealer my $8 dollar bet and said, "Here, have some of Steve's money." Doh! As I was going to be an RGPer (I forget his name) asked for 10% of my golf action. He had heard I shot an 84 the day before and wanted a piece of me and as much of ActionBob's money he could get his hands on. I told him no problem. August 2nd 5:30am. I'm a total idiot for signing up for the Death March. I had a real tough time waking that early to play golf. Bob and I make our way downstairs and see the guys ready to play. North Shore Mike is up drinking and playing 1-4-8. He's playing in our group so I figure he won't make it through the day. Boy, was I wrong. Not only did he not pass out at some point on the course, he shot the best score too! I'll have to take my hat off to that guy because he played so well drunk that I'd hate to play with him while he's sober! Mike won the long drive contest by a mile and was the only guy in our group (ActionBob, Steve C, and myself) to hit the green for the closest to the pin contest. When we were done we were baked. But there were a few notable things that happened on the golf course that day. Mike and Steve C were the only people to have birdies. Steve's birdie was a wedge from about 100 yards out that nailed a goose sitting close to the green. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe and if I didn't have to conserve my fluids I'm sure I would've peed in my pants. If the goose wasn't hit we were pretty sure he could've drained the ball. Bob and I used our cart to go up every swell and ride down like we were on a rollercoaster. Our hands were splayed to the sides and we screamed like giddy girls. I wanted to ride down this really tall hill on 17 that dumped into the lake but Bob didn't like the idea of a log flume ride. Sissy. We did manage to ride a couple times on 18 which had some pretty nice hills. By the time we returned the cart it was 95% drained of energy. We also had a 6's going. We paired up on the first tee then changed partners every 6 holes. We played for $5 a team. Steve C won 2 of 3. Mike and I broke even and Bob lost 2 of 3. Our score were; Mike: 84, Steve C: 90, Bob: 92, Me: 87. Something like that. I didn't figure to score to well when on the first tee I topped my driver. It dribbled and I took my 3 wood and topped that one too. Very frustrated I hit my 3 wood again and put it on the green. From there I 1 putt for par. Now how many people go Driver, 3 wood, 3 wood, putter on a par 4? Only the truly horrible players. We came back to Binion's and debated on whether to sleep for a bit or play. Play took precedence and there was mention of a tourney at the Mirage that started at 7pm. This would turn out well since the buffet was at the Mirage and started at 5pm. We traveled to the Mirage and sat in a 10-20 game shortly before the opened a satellite for the tourney. Well, this was the best chance that I was going to get to see the potential field and get a little practice. I wish I had taken notes on the satellite because it would make it easier to type this report. ActionBob was the only person at the table that I knew but I did make friends with the person on my right. I mean, how could I not. Her name is Mo (sp?) and she's an acquaintance of Lucky Rebuy (Tom Goodwin). Bob knew her from AC where she played Stud. In fact, she plays 40-80 Stud at the Mirage and she's very attractive. If you don't know who I'm talking about you cannot miss her. Take a trip to the Mirage and you'll see. Anyway, The buy-in is $25 with no rebuys. You get T300 to start and its No-Limit format. I do well to chip up and don't really make any moves until the limits start to get a little higher. I try to loosen the table up by my trademark, "Everyone, let's do the wave. Wooo. Woooo." As you can imagine, not many participated, but I did get smiles and laughs from Mo so it was all good. I knocked few people out of the tournament, one of them being ActionBob. He probably remembers the hand and I think it was something like A9s. I remember him being short stacked so I re-ra all in on the button. I hit my hand and he missed. It didn't take too long to be 3 handed so when I knocked the 3rd person out it was heads-up with Mo. She offered a split and that was fine with me. You got a buy-in ($100+$20) and an extra $100. If it were anyone else at the table I would have played it out. I got this thing for attractive poker playing women that I cannot seem to deny. I gave her $80 and she gave me the tourney buy-in. Sweet. The buffet was pretty good. I didn't get to eat more than 2 plates of food but I did have a blast talking poker with some of the best poker minds I've ever come in contact with. There were a few arguments about an AJ hand but I think the degrees varied to the personality of the player more than what is the best play. Either way it was an incredible learning experience and something that I won't likely forget anytime soon. The tournament was starting pretty soon and I find myself at Table 2 Seat 6. I don't know anyone at the table so I feel pretty good about being someone that could go far since I'm a relative unknown. In front of me, in seat 9, is an attractive woman with red hair. The tourney starts and I find out that her name is Melissa Hayden. I've heard her name before, but like all the poker names, didn't register a face with a name. But that's ok. I established a rapport with her and we had a good time at the table. Little did she know I was watching her every move like a hawk and tried to pick up on things that would help me later in the tourney. I wholly expected to see her at the final table. I played solid poker up until we were at two tables. Lucky Rebuy makes it to my table as does Jerrod and ADB Fitch. I'm not sure if Jerrod is affiliated with anyone but he can speak up if he chooses. Bill Chen takes a couple of bad beats when he hits our table and runs into pocket Kings twice in 2 hands. The first time he had Jacks and the second time was against me and I busted him when he had Tens. Geez, this game is easy. Fitch, Lucky Rebuy, and myself get tangled in a hand when Fitch comes in for a small raise UTG. I have 9's on the button so I raise all-in. What really scared me was when Tom calls all-in from the BB with AK. Fitch thinks for a minute and calls too. I didn't like my 9's at that point. Fitch has A9 and I win the hand and bust 2 people. It's down to 2 tables and I'm sitting at a pretty good chip count, ~T20,000. Jerrod busts out Melissa with Kings when she had AJ. Jerrod is clearly the chip leader at this point as we're making the final table. I'm 3rd chip lead at the table and sitting on the left of Nowalowski or something like that. You might remember him from the WSOP. I had no clue who he was but Melissa was gracious enough to give me the down low on everyone at the table and a little strategy. A couple of people get busted and I feel like I'm getting low in chips. The blinds are T1000-T2000 and I'm sitting at ~T14,000. I am certainly not the lowest man on board but I'm pretty close to it. Just before the blinds are about to move up again I find myself with pocket 6's. An early player comes in for double the blinds. I read him for KQ and push after a little thought. I have him covered by a little so if he hits his hand I will still be in the game. Unfortunately, Jerrod wakes up with AK in the SB and pushes himself. When the early guy calls Jerrod's raise I have no choice but to figure I'm beaten all around. I guess my reads aren't as good as I thought they were. Well, I was partially right. The early guy has KJs and I knew I was a favorite to his hand. When an Ace flops I pray for a 6. It doesn't come and I'm out in 6th place for $1,092. There were 93 entires and 89 rebuys. I wasn't too displeased with my performance but like they say, it's one mistake and you're on the rail. I didn't have to put my money up on a coin flip but I was having a hard time stealing and chipping up. Every time I had an opportunity I was beaten to the pot. I'm sure that with a little more experience I will have no difficulty moving my chips around. I felt good about the tournament and chalk it up to time spent and excellent experience. I will certainly take my new found knowledge to AC and clean up there. Maybe. The rest of the night went without incident. I didn't play cards because the tournament pretty much drained me. I didn't leave until it was after 12am. After all the golf that morning and the poker that night I was ready for bed. I took a tour of Binion's when I returned and saw the room where they held the first WSOP. It's a small room that has Baccarat now. I perused all the historic pictures and displays of Benny's guns. It was a nice nostalgic trip. August 3rd Today was the TOC style tournament and I cannot say that I faired very well. If you heard a guy yelling, "I'm in Omaha hell." It was me. I reveled in the Hold'em rounds but didn't get much by way of Omaha hands. My very first Stud hand I was with rolled up Kings. The person on my left was talking about how he was rolled up and jokingly I said, "I hope so." It was 3 handed to the river when an open pair checked and a made flush bet. I didn't fill up to this point so I had to look. I paired my 5 on the river for the house and took down a nice pot. The very next hand the guy on my left has the bring in with a deuce and he's rolled up but loses to a flush. Weird. The only other notable hand was when I had rolled up 5's and filled on the river again to beat running trip 8's. Talk about lucky. I put my last bit of chips in on this Omaha hand, A234, suited Ace. I missed everything on the flop and was done. Most of my other friends were done so we gathered together to hit the Orleans tournament and some great Sushi buffet nearby. Let me tell you about this buffet. It was the best food I had eaten all week. I wish I could remember the name of the place. Perhaps one of the guys could help me. Anyway, I had 3 plates of food and the jumbo sized beer. We were ready to go. We had a little time before the tournament started so we grabbed an open Let it Ride table. There were 6 of us so we monopolized whole the table. It was Rebuy, ActionBob, Me, Scott, George and Tom. The very first hand was won by a fullhouse, a flush and, I think, a straight. I didn't win a single hand. I dropped $100 into that stupid game quickly. The best part was I was getting tons of action on my bets. Everytime I put my bets up I had Rebuy say, "Here's $30 I get a 1/3 of your action." Tom would drop $15, George dropped $15, and it was nuts. The theory was I was bound to hit sooner or later, but I never did. I'm getting frustrated and the card machine starts to act up. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was something along the lines of, "Is that f-ing think broke?" Notice the f-ing because I didn't say fucking, I said, "f-ing." Attila the fucking Bitch behind the table says, "Hey! You can't say that here!" Our table just froze in a quiet awe. We were perplexed and I retorted, "I can't say 'f-ing'?" She immediately gave me the evil-eye- by-gore and snapped, "No! You cannot say that." The snickers at the table were starting to get louder and I just couldn't let this go. Scott pipes up with, "I never heard of any place that doesn't want me to drink, laugh, carry on and spend lots of money because someone says, f-ing." I say, "It's not like f-ing is a bad word or anything. I didn't cuss." She continued to glare and the guys told me to let it go. She comes back to the table and replaces the deck of cards in the shuffler and I noticed she's chewing cud. I politely ask, "Can I have a piece of gum?" The guys lose control now and they're laughing. Bob says, "If we get kicked out can we still play in the tournament?" I tell her Clorets is my favorite gum and I could really use some. We picked up shortly after and went to our tournament tables. I tell you one thing. The Orleans is a terrible place to play. The staff and the players are miserable. We're there to have a good time but all the miserable cusses just want to put a damper on my style. I, of course, wasn't going to allow that to happen. I busted some lady at our table pretty quickly with KQs in the BB. The flop is Queen high and calls me all-in with AJo. This was before the rebuy so I didn't get the bounty. I figure it was only a matter of time. There was one pro who's featured in Card Player at our table. We never got mixed up in any hands but his demeanor was a thousand times better than the rest of the field. It's after the rebuy period and ActionBob and Scott are out so they're gallivanting around. I notice at Scott's table there's this buxom blonde. I ask Scott if she's good and he says no. They're paying $10 for bounty's and I get 3 before I bust out with 2 tables left. I have a piece of Rebuy's action and he makes the final table so the event didn't cost me much. The hand I got busted on was AK v. KK. UTG makes the big raise and I go all-in we show and I flop and Ace but the turn is the case King and I'm done. I head over to the bar with Scott and we see the buxom blonde there. We chat it up and ActionBob joins us for a little while. We get bored so we make plans to meet at the Mirage when the tourney is over. Scott and I ride with the blonde (and it's killing me because I cannot remember her name) to the Mirage. I find myself in the 20-40 and Scott tools around before he finally heads back to Binion's. She's shooting craps and eventually lands in a 10-20 game. I'm not doing much in the 20-40 game. I might have won a few hands but nothing amazing. Well, nothing amazing until the last hand I play. Here's the deal. I have pocket Jacks in the SB and the BB just posted, he's a new player. The lineup isn't anyone I recognize but that doesn't really matter. Before the flop the action is 5 bets, 7 ways. Let me repeat. 5 bets ($100) with 7 people seeing the flop ($700). And it wasn't one of the circumstances where I called 4 cold in the SB. I would have folded the hand if it happened that way. It was more like I put in the 3rd raise, then another bet, okay, I call the cap. The flop is Ten high (club) with 2 baby hearts. I check and the BB bets it out! I look at him and ask, "Did you just flop a set?" He does this thing out of the corner of his eyes where he looks at me, then looks away immediately, then looks at me, then looks away immediately. I swear he would poker clack if he knew what that was. There are few callers and the button raises. I ask the button, "Did you just hear me ask if this guy flopped a set or not? I pretty sure he did." I call and the BB re- raises. The other calls and the button calls. Whew. I didn't have to put any more so I could see the river pretty cheap. The turn is a baby club and the nuts right now is a baby straight. I check and BB bets. A couple of folders and the button calls. I call. I'm thinking of what could be the best card for me at this moment. I look to see if I have the Jack of hearts and I don't so I really want to see the Jack of spades. As if by magic the dealer rivers the Jack of spades. I bet it out so fast I don't think anyone had time to think. The BB raises me immediately and I think, "Shit, he does have the straight." The button folds and I 3-bet the trips. "If you have that straight then you're going to take all my money off me, sir." He calls and sure enough he did have a set of 4's. I think the pot was ~1,200. It took me 3 hands to rack all the chips and I left when the blinds came around to me. I sat in the 10-20 game she was sitting in and the game was good. I picked up another $300 quickly. It was pretty evident at 3am the guys weren't going to make the Mirage so she dropped me off at Binion's and I went to sleep. I should have done the shaving cream in hand trick because he snores too loud. August 4th Bob and I make our way upstairs to the buffet and quickly eat since both got up pretty late. We shove our food down and head to the table. I'm not going to go into much detail about this table since 2 people, Russ Fox and ADB Bingo, made the final table. I could have busted Russ and Fich at the same time. I know I could have doubled through Fich, but I think Russ had me covered by a little (I had ~5K and I think he was at ~6K). Russ made a raise (QQ) and Fich went all-in (?) with Russ calling. I had Presto and didn't call but would have flopped a set that would have held up. How sweet would that have been? I did get very lucky twice with AJ when both my opponents flopped two pair and I rivered a Jack both times for top two pair. I made a huge mistake with AK. Mistake one was I didn't move my chips pre- flop when I had the chance. I was up against Ploink and he makes a sizeable raise. I see AK and decide to only call. Normally I would move in but for some reason I didn't. The flop is Jack high and ragged. There is no excuse at this point to fold the hand and I didn't. I can only express disappointment in myself. I had the opportunity to release the hand but didn't. There's nothing to say except I blew the tournament myself. Ploink had Kings, in case you were wondering. I wagered the rest of my chips on pocket Deuces only to come up against pocket Aces. Then to add insult to injury she flops an Ace! What bugs me the worst about the event was the fact I was bought in the Calcutta by a name player and ended up being a disappointment. I know I could've played better but didn't. I'll get them next year. Bob busts out on the bubble and is met with a better hand so we decide to drown our sorrows in food when we hear the bubble hasn't been busted yet. How can this be? Well someone screwed up the tourney and started playing hand for hand earlier than needed. Instead of Bob busting at 19th, he busted at 20th, which would've changed his strategy and certainly the blinds. He was infuriated so to calm his nerves we decided to head to the -EV tables and play 3 card poker. The first hand I play the guy on my left gets trip Queens. He tips the table a buck and I say I'm glad I decided to play now. After too long I'm already in for $100 and Bob's pretty much even. I take $15 off his stack and say, "This is my last hand." He complains that I'm stealing his money. Blah, blah, blah. I put the chips out in from of me and look at my hand. It's the Kd Qd and Jd. I yell, "I got a straight!" I look down at my pay out and Bob says, "No, you've got a flush!" I look at that payout and it dawns on us. "It's a straight flush!" Holy rusted metal, Batman. The payout is 40 to1 and it pays for our week's stay at the wonderful Binion's Horseshoe. Who says those games aren't +EV? After we were done with that I spy the pot limit game with the likes of Melissa Hayden, Paul Phillips, Joan (AlwaysAware), and a TiltBoy. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to watch the pros play up close and personal. Whether it was my musky cologne or the dashing smile I'll never know, but I do know it was an experience I won't soon forget. It was certainly an eye opening experience. Paul is a great guy to have been slow rolled by Joan with running Eight's that kill his Kings cold. I don't think I've ever seen a person laugh so genuinely about a hand. It was refreshing to see. In AC you would tend to get thrown cards or verbal assaults. I don't know if it is similar at other venues but I'm sure it's close. They also played Mississippi Stud, which is a 7-Card form of Pot Limit. It was interesting and I'd like to add it to my home game. The banquet was good eats. I sat with the East Coast guys and we just chatted about poker and reflected on the week. North Shore Mike joined our table too. He's a great guy; too bad he's another country away. I'm sure we'll keep in email contact. Phil Hellmuth was the speaker and it was interesting to hear his views on Limit Hold'em tournaments. I wanted to ask a question about he theory of always coming in for a raise. I'm wondering if this holds true if you're on the button and/or in the blinds? If someone is close to his ear and is reading this, please let me know what his thoughts are at those positions. Considering this was my first year at BARGE, the choice of speakers was perfect. Conclusion I'm sure there is much, much more that I'm missing but this is already a long report and I'm anxious to have it posted. My plane is departing at 4:02pm on Sunday so the guys get this bright idea to stay up all night before we head out on our respective flights. We're handing around the Bellagio early in the morning shoot dice and having fun with 3-card poker, but cannot seem to shake the -EV apparition. It's getting close to 7am and we're leaving the Mirage because there isn't a game going except 300-600 Stud. We're watching the game because Tom knows Mo so they're talking and I'm just watching the table. Bob eventually finds himself roaming the Mirage and Tom wanders after him. I'm still watching the game because there's no reason for 3 souls to wander aimlessly at this hour in the morning. One of the floor guys come right up to me and says, "Are you with anyone?" I look at him quizzically and can only stammer, "Huh?" He repeats, "Are you with anyone?" I eye him again and counter, "Why? Are you gay?" I don't really notice if he's offended but he makes himself clearer, "If you're not with anyone at the table then you need to back away." I look at the table and mentally gauge the distance and before I can move one of the players says, "You need to stay way back." I leave and start the search for Bob and Tom. We're in the parking lot of the Mirage and the sun is shining bright, almost too bright. I start to feel like an undead lost in Las Vegas. Bob gets this wild hair that we should visit a strip joint at seven in the morning. Under much protest by myself we go. I almost forgot to mention that Tom almost kills us by going up a one-way street near all the construction at Palace Station. He's jamming the gas to make the light before it turns red and we're laughing our asses off. Bob's in the back seat trying to get some shut eye and I tell him not to look. It probably should have been more threatening but on 30 hours of sleep nothing seems that stressful. I leave the guys at the club and catch a cab to Binion's for some much needed sleep. I sleep until checkout then play a little 10-20 before the rest of the gang head over to the Mirage. I play 10-20 with Matt for a couple of hours and then head off to the East Coast. I slept the entire way. The entire bottom of my torso fell asleep and it took 5 minutes trying to get feeling back into my legs. I'm forgetting Sgt. Slaughter but it's better to let me show you my imitation of him in person. If you're in AC or at FARGO or WPF then I'll be more than happy to imitate Sgt. Slaughter. He was sooooo funny at Binion's that Matt and I were crying. Shit, were still crying Sunday morning thinking about him. It was all good times. Props BARGE Sweating the Pro's A purple Bellagio pullover for $9.95 (On sale. Woohoo!) Tandra (waitress at Binion's) Phil Hellmuth's tutorial Being purchased at the Calcutta (I never did meet ADB Iceman) Las Vegas National Mike McManus' Happy Gilmore Steve C's "Birdie" 6th at the Mirage tournament R00lers Overhead conversation: RGPer Guy 1: "Are you a virgin?" RGPer Guy 2: "No, but my wife is." Slops Not laying AK down $30 cab rides Let it Ride Misreading hands Hugs, ~stephen aka Buckshot