My Second BARGE Jen and I arrived at San Jose to find our flight delayed. The plane arrives, everyone deplanes, but we're not allowed to board. The reason? The flight crew is on a different flight, also delayed, and hasn't arrived yet. Once in the air, I ask a crewmember if we'd have still been forced to wait had the plane been on time. She says yes. We arrive around 10:00 pm, pick up the car, then head downtown. I'd gotten a reasonable offer from Fitzgerald's (comparable to the $25/night at Binion's) and had booked it after hearing all the hoo-ha about the 3% and Paul Phillips. We're too late to make it to the Craps Crawl, but we check in and get our BARGE badges. Friday, Tournament of Champion-style Tournament Before the tournament starts, I meet Ken Kubey and pick up my red BARGE dice from him. I also get my BARGE coins and ADV pins from Patrick. He tells me my (bulk order of) chips is upstairs. Fortunately, JP has agreed to drive them back to the Bay Area for me, so I ask them to wait until I can arrange to get them to JP. I'm at table 2, which means I won't be moved around too much. My starting table includes Dave Roemer (ADV Dave), Harry Baldwin, Michael Patterson (mickdog), Beth Even (ADV Beth), Paul White (ET), David Lawful (sam_6), Tom Weideman, and Ming Lee. Last year, I busted out right after the first break. I was determined to improve on my performance. I haven't really studied stud, but I've read some more and played some low-limit Omaha/8. I only wrote down the following snippets, mostly from memory. In an early stud round, I get rolled-up sixes, but can't trap anybody. In a later stud round, I have (AK)3, go all-in at some point, and make jacks-full(!) In a holdem round, I have AK, flop an ace, and win In an Omaha round, I have A2??, flop 22K, but get no takers. In an Omaha round, I have (A29)5, and river an ace to double up against ADB Iceman. In a stud round, I start with (AK)Q suited, three-bet it on third street and win. I bust out in a holdem round with AKs against Foldem's pocket jacks. I wasn't able to record the Final Table, and I had to abandon my ADV.com teammates at CHORSE. I do apologize about that, and hope you'll forgive me. I'm glad you made money, though! Saturday, No-Limit Holde'em Tournament The blue BARGE dice have arrived, and I get my pair from Ken. I do some chip trading and look over my initial table assignment. Jeremy Miller (ADB Satan), Charles "Chic" Natkins (garnishmensch), Frank Brabec (NUT-Z), Clark Olson (clarko), Tom Weideman, Rich Strauss, Brian Alspach, and Michael Patterson (mickdog). Oh, and Phil Hellmuth too. Of course, Phil doesn't show up, and I set the over/under at 45 minutes, but get no takers. After 25 minutes, our table is broken, and I move to find: Rich Kuhler, Barry Tannenbaum (barryt), Dave Trinidad (ADB Iceman), Paul White (ET), Mark Rafn (dragon), Bill Chen (who actually showed up before Phil), and Roy Cooke. Roy was being very aggressive early on, but as the tournament progressed, he slowed down considerably. He must have really gone card-dead, as he'd been ruling the table before. Again, my recollections are mostly from memory. I bust Paul White and collect one of his CD's when I call all-in with pocket deuces against his J7s. I was getting small pairs (deuces through sixes) all through the tournament, but I was either out of position or the pot had already been raised so all I could do was fold. I bust Ken Kubey when he attempts a button steal all-in with T9. ADB Iceman thought a *long* time before folding, then I called Ken with A9s. I've forgotten what Dave told me he had (KT?), but we both thought Ken was stealing. He'd considered raising to try to knock me out, but I would have called (I was in the big blind and short-stacked) and beaten him. By the way, Dave, on that one hand, I had a Q7o with the queen in the flush suit. The 7 on the turn paired me and gave me the flush draw. Just after Ken stood up, a HUGE round of applause broke out, as Quick had just been eliminated. I opined that Ken had tied Quick for with respect to his last-longer "Quick" bet. Just before the second break, Shyam Markus took an AT versus my AJ, but the board flushed, and neither of us had a diamond to make a better one! I finally busted with pocket jacks against Peter Caldes's ATs. I like to think my chips helped him make it to the final table. I greatly enjoyed Phil's talk, and was quite amused by his story of the home game with the Tiltboy's. Remind me to NEVER attend one of their home games. On the way back to Fitzgerald's, we spotted a TV crew filmin an expisode of "CSI" (Crime Scene Investigators) just outside an entrance to the Fremont. Sunday and Monday, Jen and I spent time doing stuff. We even visited Las Vegas's "Chinatown". This was quite a hoot. You can't miss it as you approach along Spring Mountain, what with the golden-colored tiles over a Chinese-styled arch and buildings. The place is really just a large strip mall. Even more amusing, there are turn lanes and parking spaces for TOUR BUSES! I busted up laughing over the thought of tourists getting bused to this giant tourist trap. (I have this image of an old Chinese man telling his wife, "You go Chinatown with kids. I stay here, gamble.") However. The restaurants there are pretty darned good and the drink shop on the ground floor of the enclosed building makes a KILLER pearl tea. This is the drink that has small black chewy tapioca "pearls" in various flavors of drink and has the giant straws needed to pass the pearls. We also saw a few more tourist attractions, the Dolphins at the Secret Garden at the Mirage (the tigers were already inside, so we didn't pay full price), and Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay (overpriced). We also took a look at the Belz Factory Outlet mall. We partook of the Fremont's Paradise Buffet on Sunday night. They have seafood on Sunday, and with the Las Vegas Advisor's 2-for-1 coupon, for $16.00, you can have all the seafood you can eat. Then we went to the Rio to see Penn and Teller. I'd seen their act in 1999 on my very first trip to Las Vegas. Their act was as good as ever. Their final trick involves two members from the audience and apparently catching bullets in their mouth. It turned out that Ken Kubey, Sandi, and Stephen Mack had decided to see them too, on the spur of the moment. While we were outside waiting for the car to be brought out so I could give them a ride back downtown, we noticed one of the two audience members who had been on stage. We chatted for a bit on how they might have done the trick. See below for our theory on the final trick. On Monday, we took advantage of the 2-for-1 breakfast buffet deal at the Suncoast. There was a long line for the omelette station, but the waffles were very good. Then we spent some time at the Aladdin, looking at the Desert Passage mall and the casino. Although the mall is nice-looking, it has a few terrible flaws. The mall is circular, with the valet parking entrance and the main casino entrance at opposite ends. This makes it tough to get to the casino from the mall's valet. It also placed its main restaurants on "spurs" off the main circle. Anasazi, which recently closed, is almost impossible to see if you're walking counter-clockwise. No doubt this was a factor. Other than the "rain storm" that occurs every hour, there are no "whizz bang" things to see. No animatronics, no jugglers (the acrobats I'd seen on a TV show were nowhere to be found), nothing. Compared to the Forum shops, it is boring. The Aladdin itself is having serious financial trouble, and I can agree with some of the things the Las Vegas Advisor said. The casino's valet entrance is almost invisible from the Strip (it's a tiny off-ramp that dives underground, where hotel registration is). It's location really sucks: too far to walk from the MGM and Monte Carlo to the south, and Bally's and Bellagio to the north. You have to really want to go there. I predict it will be in Chapter 11 by TARGET 2002. However, Jen and I spent an amusing half-hour playing the "I Dream of Jeannie" slot machine at the nickel level. Cost us all of $2 to play for a half-hour. Our flight back was delayed only a few minutes. I want to thank Adam and Debbie Bachrach, especially Debbie, for spending time with Jen. She enjoyed it a lot. Also thanks to Chuck and Mike, as always. Jeff Okamoto ----- Penn & Teller Post Script: For their final trick, a yellow barrier is placed on stage, separating Penn from Teller. They never cross nor approach the barrier. Penn asks for two volunteers, preferably those who know pistols. In this instance, a retired Oakland (CA) police officer, and a current California Highway Patrol officer were chosen. They are brought on stage separately, first to Penn, then to Teller. They are shown the pistols, .357 magnums with laser sights, and allowed to handle them, to verify the barrel is clear, and the firing pins are not filed down. They examine a cartridge. They then select a colored pen, and make a mark on the bullet and the casing. They are then asked to step aside. Having donned goggles, vests, and finally helmets, they position themselves in front of mattresses and behind glass plates (so the bullets must pierce the glass). With the laser sight engaged, they put the dot on the other's mouth and fire. Each volunteer is asked to examine the spent casing. Then from their mouths, they each spit out a bullet. The volunteer from the other side examines it and verifies the bullet as having been fired, and the mark they made on it. The volunteers confirm this. THEORY ABOUT HOW TRICK IS DONE. POSSIBLE SPOILER: Penn and Teller each don the vests and goggles before the volunteers make their marks. Penn explains his glasses are wired, so his voice will sound muffled (the goggles are now in the way). These goggles contain wireless cameras, which transmit an image so a stagehand can see what is being written on the bullet and make a copy onto an already-fired bullet. The volunteer is allowed to choose from three different colored markers, and Penn does say which color is chosen. This means the camera need only be black and white, which would improve the visibility. Somehow the bullet is smuggled onto the cart which contains the helmets, and they palm the bullet while putting the helmet on. They may possibly secrete them in their mouths at this time. Since the volunteers are away from the action, neither they nor the audience can tell that the laser sight is rigged so that although the laser is aimed at each other's mouths, the barrel now pointed along a different axis, so that the bullet, when fired, will pass "behind" the other person (wrt to the audience). This means the bullet actually hits the mattress. Penn and Teller stagger backwards when the guns are fired, and this motion will both distract the viewer from the mattress and possibly hide any motion the mattress may make when it is impacted. If you happen to know how this is done and you want to tell me, please reply to me directly. Don't spoil it for the whole list. Jeff Post Post Script: Jeff Siegal sent me the following URL which contains theories on how this kind of trick may be performed: http://www.foreworks.com/bullet2.html