From: "David S. Heller" Subject: Re: My BARGE 2001 report Hmmm. Maybe it was something in the water. Or at Binion's, more likely something in the air. Fly in Thursday. My plane was a bit late, but Dave McVay & Jeff Woods waited for me, so we could share a cab to Binion's. Checked in, was told my room was $35. Bad beat; it was supposed to be $30. I go upstairs, drop off my stuff, and come down to the poker room for my badge. I wander around and say hi to people, and then sit down in a 1-4-4-8 game. The Thursday tourney is underway. I keep getting bad beats, like I have AK and the flop is A-5-x rainbow, and I'm betting it all the way and some joker catches a 9 on the river to make 2 pair, 9's and 5's. He stayed in to the end with a pair of 5's. This kind of behavior is common in this game. I eventually figure out that this is one of those games where suited cards go up in value and large unpaired cards go down, because of the community nature of the pots. Things go a bit better after that. I was going to ride over to the Mirage buffet with Bob Ogus, but he was trapped, poor fellow, playing at the last table of the tournament. I was coming back in the 1-4-4-8 game, so I decide to stick around and wait for him. I take my biggest pot of the night when I limp in with Q-2 sooted, and flop a flush draw. There are lots of people still in, and when I bet they call. The river is a diamond, and I take a large pot. Almost back to even! Bob winds up in about 5th place at the tourney, and we head off to the Mirage with another BARGEr. Riding with Bob is always an experience. He announces for those who haven't ridden with him before that he drives "aggressively but safely". No collisions while I was riding with him, so at least in my small sample space he speaks the truth! We're pretty late, and most of the BARGErs have left, but we do get to Mirage just in time to catch Chuck, who takes care of arranging for us to eat. A few other stragglers eat with us, including the inimitable Q. I find this wonderful brochure on the table about the latest thing in Keno. On one side of the card it says that the computer will pick numbers for you that haven't come up recently -- these numbers have to ready to hit!!! On the other side of the very same card, it says that the computer will pick numbers for you that have come up a lot recently -- these numbers have to be hot! I am speechless, not at the idea that numbers can be hot or cold, because there are plausible mechanisms by which these things could be true. I am speechless at the internal inconsistency between the two sides of the same card. I delightedly showed the card to Q, who hastened to assure me that Keno is unbeatable, but I noticed that he kept the card... The Mirage poker room was full with long lists, as was the Bellagio, so after waiting for a while at the Bellagio, we went back to Binion's. I got into the 4-8 game, and got way ahead, then way behind, then wound up almost even. I then played blackjack for an hour and made $3.50. What an hourly earn! I think I shall quit my job to play blackjack with DG full time. Hee hee. Friday was another tournament I wasn't in, so I had lots of time for poker. I played many hours in the 1-4-4-8 game, netting $4.50. Awesome. I think I shall quit my job to play poker full time. Hee hee. The symposium Friday night was quite fun, and it moved much, much faster than usual. I think the pairings plus the pre-bidding helped tremendously in speeding up production, and I vote we do those things again next year. Also, there was enough chicken this time!!! Yaaaaay! After the symposium of course was CHORSE. I played the razz leg for one of the ADV teams. Two events of note. One, ADV Bingo shooting craps with Nolan Dalla and then Lou Krieger during the razz game, and making money at it, and two, me taking Nolan Dalla down in a razz hand. --Begin bragging justification-- Maverick bragged for months about a hand he LOST to Mike Caro. I think I can brag one time about a hand I WON from Nolan Dalla. --End bragging justification-- --Begin bragging-- Last year, I didn't do so well at razz in the CHORSE event, so, in anticipation of the CHORSE event this year, I have been studying up on razz. Nolan made an emphatic raise and everybody folded but me. I knew what cards were gone, and I knew what cards I needed, and I knew I had a killer hand. I bet it all the way. Nolan bet it all the way. When it was over, he turned up 98, I turned up 86. (8 came on the last card -- I had a 96 and was drawing to a 6). BIG POT. I was thrilled. For one hand, I had whupped on a damn good poker player. I had just an inkling of what the fictional character Mike was talking about in that movie where he bluffs Johnny Chan off a pot. Damn, that was fun. --End bragging-- We did OK at CHORSE. We came out a bit behind, but it would have been a bargain at twice the price for 5+ hours of fun! Saturday of course was The Main Event. I start at Table 1 with Kevin Un on my right. (Good thing he wasn't on my left --shows how important luck can be in tournaments. Kevin gave me some wise counsel after the tournament, which I really appreciate. He is a classy guy. You can tell how classy he was by the fact that he played the tourney in a tuxedo, complete with cummerbund). I make one dumb move early on, calling the blinds. The button raises, and we all have to fold. Duh. I suddenly remember what Chris F. said about how you play no limit hold-em. Don't call, RAISE. So when I get good cards, I raise. When I don't, I fold. The deck is kind to me, and before the first main break I have had AA, KK, and AK. My stack is growing. With good cards at the right times, I eliminate several people. Bruce ADV Big Boy (thanks for the shot glass-it's in my trophy case!), Steve Brecher, and the lovely and gracious Mrs. Helmuth, who is NOT a sore loser. When Steve arrived at our table, he was placed at my left, and had a relatively short stack. After a while, he made his stand and wound up all in. I looked at our relative stack sizes and called him with QJs. He had (I think) something like A8s. The flop contained a jack, and he was gone. When Mrs. Helmuth arrived at our table, I didn't know who she was. She had no name-tag and no ring. She had a fairly short stack, and she made her stand, re-raising herself all in against a fellow on my left (whose name unfortunately escapes me). I looked down to see AK, and re-re-raised. The man on my left called, Mrs. H. was already all-in, and we saw a flop that contained an A. I bet again, and he folded. Mrs. H and I then turned our cards up, and she had the misfortune to show the severely dominated AJ. She lost with grace, and we applauded her. After she left the table, someone said that was Phil's wife! We all agreed that Phil H. had demonstrated excellent taste in marrying her. (I saw her briefly at the dinner, and mentioned that she wasn't wearing a ring -- Phil was, y'know. She said she had gotten out of the habit of wearing it during her residency, what with washing her hands all the time and all. So I realized she is a doctor, and my opinion of Phil went up another notch.) People kept sitting down at our table and leaving again without chips. Several of us were doing well. Unfortunately for me, just before a break I got moved to another table, and my relative stack size plummeted. The end came rather abruptly. Somebody raised, the guy to my right re-raised himself all in. I looked at my AK. I looked at his stack size -- almost identical to mine. High risk, high gain, I thought. This could be a chance to double up, but if he's got a pair, I'm an underdog. I called. He turned over AA. Total domination. When the dust settled, I have 2 chips and a chair left. Unfortunately, I ain't exactly Russ Rosenblum. My blind will be in 2 hands. I toss the first one, and then put in my might 2 chips for the blind, and find K5s awaiting me. Not bad considering. Mrs. Nut-Z raises all in, so she gets to take me out. (What, did I have a bullseye on my forehead? Did she mistake me for Phil H.? NO, she has KK!). I'm sure Bill Chen could tell me which hand is more dominating of K5s, but just then I couldn't think of a worse situation than her having my big card and beating my small card. I need a presto flop, big time. No such luck. IGHN. I counted the players remaining after I busted out. 37, so I finished 38th. Not bad for a guy who doesn't know how to play no limit. Still, I felt crushed. I had been doing so well, and in an instant it was all gone. Damn, poker tournaments are fragile. I go upstairs to take a break, and then come down to the 1-4-4-8 game. One memorable hand: I have 88. I call, as does just about everybody. (This is 1-4-4-8, after all). Flop is 8 high, with a 4 and something else, I forget what. I've got top set! Flop is checked to me, I bet, some call, some fold. Turn is an 8! I have, how do you say it, quads!!! I study the flop and check. Everybody else checks, too. I can't remember what the river card was. It didn't much matter as long as it didn't pair the board, and it didn't. One guy, a BARGEr, bets. Everybody folds. I raise. He re-raises. I re-re-raise. Danger, Will Robinson! He just calls. I turn my hand over, saying "Believe it or not, I've got them." He shows 4-4. He also had flopped a set, and he made a full house on the turn; when I was slow-playing him, he was slow-playing me! I'd never seen this situation before in a casino. I felt a little bit bad, since he was a BARGEr, and he was very gracious about it. One of the local codgers down at the end of the table was in awe that I had checked the turn with the immortal nuts. He called it the best poker he'd ever seen! I wouldn't go that far, but once again I was reminded how easy it is to play good hands. I have the feeling the good players are the one who play the marginal hands well. The banquet was fun, the vegetarian meal was good this year, and Phil's talk was quite interesting. As those of you who were there know, his Powerpoint Presentation was brilliantly hacked by the Tiltboys. Phil took questions from the audience, and I asked him what factors he would consider in deciding whether to call an all-in raise of the type I described earlier. He said he would call if he had AA or AK; otherwise it would depend on his read of the bettor. So I feel a little better -- Phil H would have lost his chips on that hand, too. Of course, he might have done better than I did with the two remaining chips... That was pretty much BARGE poker for me. I played some more 1448 after midnight, but I was tired and playing badly, so I stopped. There was one amusing event that night, though. One of the obvious locals was complaining how crowded the poker room ahd been, and the dealer said in a sympathetic type voice "They're going home tomorrow", obviously talking about BARGE. I'm sitting there with my badge on, so I'm thinking how rude and insenstive these people are. I'm also thinking this dealer is an idiot if he doesn't like us. The timing was perfect. Within seconds of this exchange, a drive-by toking occurred, and chips rained down on our dealer. When the madness had subsided, he said, "I hope those guys come back next year!" Hee hee. I caught a cab ride to the airport with Don Perry and Len G. Don insisted on paying the cab fare. Thanks, Don!! I came home, threw all my clothes into the washer (smoke gets in your eyes) took a shower, and went to bed. To paraphrase Warren Zevon, I'll sleep when I'm home. I've been to 3 BARGEs, now, and they keep getting better and better. Only 12 months to go!