Subject: tiger's barge2001 trip report (1)
From: tiger123@aol.comXnoXspam (TIGER123)

part 1

this was my third barge, and my eighth or ninth "rge" event.  the poker is
wonderful, but we must not ever lose sight of the fact that ours is a game of
people.  you can play poker anywhere!  were it not for the people, who would
ever go to these things?

7/31 tuesday
it's 4 pm.  where's my limo?  the phone rings.  it's the limo.  he's across the
street, and can't find my building.  ok.  i'm on my way downstairs.  we pick up
mitch "bfb" firestone and arrive at jfk airport two hours before our flight.
cocktails, anyone? we're in the lounge for more than 10 minutes before mitch
loses patience, and orders two brooklyn lagers from the bar. ahhhhh...

after we board the plane, our flight is delayed for an hour, and the bar isn't
open yet! the young woman sitting next to me has a persistent croupy congestive
cough - sounds like a two-pack-a-day habit.

the rest of the flight is uneventful, and we actually arrive at mccarran on
schedule! we meet chris "ploink" straghalis at the dollar rent-a-car counter,
and give him a lift downtown.  we check in at binion's, and mitch makes sure
that we get the binion's poker room rate ($30), rather than the special barge
rate ($35).  up to our room, and we unpack.

down to the poker room.  ray v is a very dear friend of mine, whom i met at the
poker tables in atlantic city.  over the years, we have become quite close.
ray suffers from a rare and incurable degenerative disease which, sooner or
later, will end his life.  he's retired on full disability, and we used to hang
around together in atlantic city each weekend.  about a year ago, he sold his
house, and moved back to allentown, pennsylvania, to live with his mother. i
miss him so much.  ray is touring the country (much like i did two years ago),
and we had made arrangements to meet in las vegas this week.  when mitch and i
get to the poker room, the first thing we hear is ray's booming laughter.  last
week, he started with $2 on the pass line.  45 minutes later, when he finally
sevened out, he'd racked up a $4500 win!  :)  we make plans to meet for
breakfast tomorrow, and he goes to bed.

mitch and i get our feet wet in a 4/8 horse game populated by such pushovers as
russ fox, jerrod ankerman, ploink, sean mcguinness, john harkness, and a few
others.  in one straddled pot of hold 'em, i've got kings in middle position.
i manage to lose a great number of chips to john harkness, who was clever
enough to start with aces....    :::::sigh:::::   in another pot (this time
omaha/8), mitch scoops me when he shows down aces full with the nut low.
:::::sigh:::::   when my fingers are burned to the tune of $238, i decided that
i've had enough poker for my first night.

8/1 wednesday
i'm up and out of bed two hours before the wake-up call.  down to the
nearly-empty poker room, where i grab a seat in a 4/8 hold 'em game, populated
entirely by chain-smoking locals.  in the only significant pot, i've got tens
in late position.  two limpers and i raise.  the button, both blinds, and both
limpers come along for the ride.  thank goodness i flop a ten. but there's two
diamonds out there, and there's a nine... three people go for three bets on the
flop.  the turn is a rag, and three people go for four bets.  i'm screwed when
a diamond hits on the river.  :::::sigh:::::  mitch shows up; ray shows up; and
we go to the golden
nugget for breakfast with paul mcmullin and his sister beverly.

ray's going to stay downtown and see if he can count down a few double-deck
blackjack tables. he tells us that he's been beating the 8/16 hold 'em game at
the bellagio, so mitch and i decide to give it a try.  we give don "bingo"
rieck a lift to the bellagio.  as we pass the  mirage, i tell bingo the story
of how, at barge97, i told a bunch of rgp'ers the story of the mirage volcano.
that story (sub-titled "and the whole fucking thing goes up in flames!"), has
been told here by the inimitable nolan dalla.  bingo loves it!

at the bellagio, brushman "don" puts us down on the 8/16 hold 'em list, and
asks me if i want to play a little 4/8 stud while i wait.  ok.  put me down.
within five minutes, they call  down a new 4/8 stud game.  i lock up my
favorite #8 seat, but we've got too many players.   don comes to the table and
wants to know why i've locked up a seat when i wasn't even on the list.
:::::sigh:::::  but they soon call down a new 8/16 hold 'em game, and mitch and
i grab two seats. we're soon joined by joan "always aware" hadley.  the game is
uneventful, but i can't win a pot.  after three hours, i'm stuck about $400 -
and i haven't made a mistake all game!!  ack!!  but then, dealer "terri" sits
down in the box and proceeds to hit, strike, clobber and maul me with the deck.
 when her shift is over, i'm winning $65.  and i'm outta there!

bruce "adb big boy" kramer has told me that someone (he doesn't remember who)
wanted to talk to me about something (he doesn't remember about what).  thanks,
bruce!  };)

i see eddie cooper in the box at an adjoining table.  eddie is the guy who
started poker tourneys in atlantic city, and his efforts were greatly
appreciated by all who attended the first two "atlarge" events held at resorts.
 when resorts closed its poker room, eddie moved to las vegas, and he's having
a ball!  eddie's son,  michael, a former dealer at the taj mahal, is now
working in los angeles.

nolan wants to check out the poker room at mandalay bay.  when we get there,
there's no staff member at the desk, but we are immediately greeted by bill, a
prop.  bill's a great guy, who didn't hesitate to jump up from his seat and
solicit new customers.  the room has about eight or nine tables, two of which
are working.  we help crank up a new 4/8 hold 'em game, and are joined by paul
berkowitz, a former atlantic city resident, who has recently moved to vegas.
the manager of the room is kay, a tall redhead, who was actually working at the
luxor poker  room several years ago, when a bunch of drunken rgp'ers descended
upon the room and started toking dealers as fast as they could!  pretty soon, a
slew of rgp'ers (scott byron, john harkness, etc.) show up for a tourney.  i
had a pretty good time at mandalay bay.  there's lots of room, the place is
well-lit and well-ventilated.  here's an amazing table story:  mandalay bay has
a high hand promotion - there are separate jackpots to be won for particular
high hands,
and both hole cards must play.  paul has the 4d5d in one of the blinds, and
flops the 2d 3d with another card.  he makes the 6d on the turn for a
straighflush!  the river is the 7d.  as it happens, the jackpot for a 6-high
straightflush was about $700. but the jackpot for a 7-high straightflush was
about $150.  how's that for a bad beat?  ray shows up and paul, nolan, mitch,
ray and myself have a delicious dinner at the chinese restaurant in mandalay
bay.

back downtown.  last year, i had a big blackjack session at the las vegas club,
just a few doors away from binion's.  they've changed the table rules
considerably since then, but i still manage to win about $85 in an hour.  :)

back to binion's for a little more 4/8 horse with the gang.  i finally get to
meet razzo, who's not nearly as intense in person as he is online!  };)
jeremy "satan" miller and i play a hand of omaha/8.  at the river, i spread my
cards and declare "aces up and an ace-six for low!" jeremy notes, "tiger!
there isn't any low!"  "ok," says i, "split it up!"  but scott byron, on the
rail, points out that i have a straight.  oops!  my scoop!  sorry, jeremy.  i
tip the dealer, and feel obligated to toss a white chip to scott, too!  lol!  i
book a nice win, and get to meet nolan's father.

i get up from my seat to introduce myself to benny binion behnen.  in the ten
minutes we spend chatting, he chain-smokes three cigarettes!  binion's
horseshoe poker room isn't going to follow the modern trend and go no-smoking
at any time in the near future....

(more to come)

Subject: tiger's barge2001 trip report (2)
From: tiger123@aol.comXnoXspam (TIGER123)

part 2

8/2 thursday
mitch and i have breakfast at binion's with steve goldman and russell
rosenbloom (who *still* owes me a dinner at the taj!  };)  ).  we discuss a
question of house rules that steve encountered at the bellagio the night
before:  can you win a pot without a hand?  in a hold 'em game, the five cards
on the board made a broadway, with no flush possibility.  one player declared,
"i'll play the board!" and discarded his hole cards without showing them.  the
house ruled that his declaration was sufficient to qualify to split the pot
with his lone opponent,
who retained his hole cards.  since i've returned home, i've checked my copy of
the bellagio rulebook, and, sure enough, there it is:
     "In Texas Hold'em a player may play the board by announcing that he
     is playing the board before throwing his hand away.  Throwing his
     hand away first will forfeit the right to any part of the pot."

in the poker room, i pick up my set of barge2001 chips, my barge2001 t-shirt,
and my barge2001 pin!  patti beadles presents me with the first of my four adb
shot glasses.  these are pretty cool!  the front of the glass depicts a pair of
dice, a martini glass, a beer stein and four aces, all above the letters "adb."
 the rear of the glass has a line (at about 1 1/2 oz) entitled "normal shot",
and another line (at about 4 oz) entitled "adb shot"!  lol!!

roy cooke is distributing planet poker baseball caps in the poker room.  i
accept a cap and  introduce myself.  i inquire about the status of the
caro/cooke/bond universal rulebook.  we soon become involved in a discussion of
the new rule in binion's poker room about forward motion with chips.  we sit
down at an empty table, and i demonstrate a few moves with chips. razzo happens
to be in the box, and he happens to have a digital camera.  he snaps our candid
picture just as i am about to pick up chips.  razzo has posted this photo as
part of his slide
show - note the middle finger of my left hand!  mike caro would declare this
bet to be a bluff!  thanks, razzo!   :)

chuck weinstock buttonholes me in the room, and we discuss a business
proposition.  he also manages to convince me to buy into the history of poker
tourney.  why not?  i cough up my $60, and find myself at the same table as my
atlantic city roommate, tom "rebuy" goodwin.  we make a $10 last-longer bet.
in the second hand, len granowetter makes aces full.  in the first round of
lowball, jim bulbert draws three cards and makes a wheel (rebuy is still
mumbling about this one)!  george wattman comes over to the table to announce
that in his first round
of lowball, he was dealt a pat straightflush to the queen!  lol!  i have a
couple big draws in the second round of draw, but miss all of them. in the
second round of lowball, i'm in one of the blinds with a pat 7.  there's an
early raise, rebuy smooth calls, and i re-raise.  the raiser just calls, and
rebuy pumps it up to four bets. i cap it and the other player mucks.  i'm pat.
tom is pat.  my seven probably isn't any good, but i bet it and call tom's
raise. he's got a pat 6.  query: we're using the "sevens rule", where you must
bet a seven or better after the draw, or lose all action after the draw.  did i
throw away a bet in this spot?  a few hands later, i'm on the button with
KK1085, and it's folded to me.  i raise and only the big blind (steve zeiger)
calls.  he draws one and i rap pat.  he checks and i bet.  he mucks,
and i can't resist showing this one down.  :D  in my last round of draw, i'm
dealt three queens, don't improve, and lose to a pat broadway held by russ fox.
 in my last hand, my presto just isn't enough to beat queens full of aces.  i
win a copy of tex sheehan's book "secrets of  winning poker", and ask if i can
get it autographed.  no one at my table knows that tex  passed away ten years
ago.... i pay tom the ten bucks and ighn.

i drive "action bob" huang, steve "buckshot b" benton, and his buddy scott to
the mirage. i'm on all kinds of lists, and sit down next to paul mcmullin at a
5/10 stud table.  almost immediately, i see pocket kings.  a queen raises and i
re-raise.  a local calls two bets cold (uh oh.  this is real trouble.  the 5/10
stud is the tightest game in town.  for a local to call two bets cold on 3rd
street is a real problem...).  but i make a king on 4th street for hidden
trips, and the local gets a suited card.  i bet it and get two calls.  not much
happens on 5th street, except the local gets a third diamond.  i'm a loser, and
lose even more chips when the original raiser decides that his queens up are
good for a raise on 6th street.  i don't improve
and lose the pot to the local's flush.  the dealer is swede andersson, who's
been in the industry forever!  flamingo hilton, las vegas hilton, o'shea's
....i've met swede every single time i've been in vegas!  :)  i'm called for
10/20 stud and sit down next to my old buddy sy, who remembers me immediately.
ernst-dieter martin sits down at the table, and i finish the session with a
small win.  time for the buffet!  among my table-mates are warren sander and
barry kornspan.  i contribute $5 to the betty tanenbaum flower fund.

a couple of the guys want to check out the new regent casino.  we'd heard that
doyle, bobby, and the rest of the boys were regularly playing a *big* game out
there.  mitch drives his  buddy dan, and i pick up a ride from steve "ice"
eisenberg (who actually lived in las vegas when he was in high school!).  the
regent is 'way, 'way, 'way out of town, at the end of the summerlin parkway.
it's a very pretty hotel and casino, with a little poker room set off on the
side.  the room has about eight or ten tables of low-limit hold 'em, omaha and
stud.  we learn that the big game hasn't been spread in the room for more than
a month.  kathy wood, formerly binion's poker room manager, is now a shift
supervisor at the regent, and we chat for a few moments.  i put my name on a
list or two, and wander into the pit.  i win a few bucks playing blackjack
(table rules suck!), and go back to the poker room.  mitch and dan have now
arrived, and we help crank up a 4/8 hold 'em game.  it's steve, dan, mitch and
myself against four tourists and two locals (who are there for the
entertainment).  we have a few hours fun, and i book a small win. the regent is
a lovely cardroom that doesn't have a chance to succeed. the casino is simply
too far out of the way.  too bad.  :(

and i've missed the "craps crawl".  too bad.  :(

but it's time for some more "mandatory toke" 4/8 horse.  i sit down at around
12 midnight,  and play for five hours.  i have consumed many (large) glasses of
knockando single malt scotch, and decide to book my $18 win.  mitch wants to
stay a while....

8/3 friday
when i wake up, i see mitch still hasn't made it up to the room.  by the time i
get downstairs, the toc-style tourney has already begun.  mitch has stayed up
all night.  he continued to drink many (large) glasses of knockando all night,
and booked a win (get this!) of more than $900 playing 4/8 horse!!  and it took
him another 24 hours or so before he remembered that he also won about $400
playing blackjack!  lol!!   peter "foldem" secor has decided that mitch's
performance has earned him a place as the newest adb'er!  wtg mitch, now known
as "adb bfb"!!! by the way, for those of you who don't know it yet, "bfb"
stands for "blackjack fuckin' blows!"

i introduce myself to linda johnson.  she's just as nice as everyone says she
is!  :)

i've made arrangements to meet ray for breakfast.  i stop by the four queens,
and win about $100 playing blackjack.  i make a reservation for dinner tomorrow
night at "hugo's cellar", the four queens' steakhouse.  i walk to fitzgerald's,
and proceed to lose about $100 playing blackjack. ray shows up and we go
upstairs to the fitzgerald's cafe for breakfast.  back downstairs, where both
of us book nice wins at the blackjack tables.  then, back to binion's where
both of us book nice losses at the blackjack tables.  lol!

there's a seat open at the 10/20 hold 'em game in the poker room, and i sit
down next to jan fisher.  we'd never met before and she turns out to be a
terrific lady!  ernst-dieter martin raises; he's called by the button.  i'm in
the little blind and look at pocket deuces.  i call, as does jan, in the big
blind.  the flop is J 10 2.  ka-ching!  check; check; bet; call, call, call.  i
check-raise ernst on the turn, and win a big pot when jan pays me off on the
river, when she makes three jacks.  next time i have the little blind, i see
rockets.  i raise and it's head-to-head with a local who limped from early
position.  the flop is Q 9 5.  bet and call.  the  turn is another five, suited
with the queen.  i bet, get raised, and make it three bets.  he
calls.  there's no flush card on the river; i bet and get called.  he played a
65o to make bottom pair on the flop.  "nice hand, sir."  and then the game
breaks.  :(

i wander back to the tourney area, and see rachel crosson.  dave and rachel
didn't make last year's atlarge, because rachel got tenure and took a
sabbatical at berkeley!  nice work, if you can get it...  it's always fun
talking to dave and/or rachel!  no matter what the subject of the conversation
is, they know a lot about it! i've never met a couple with such combined
intellectual prowess, and broadband knowledge.  and they've both very nice
people, too!  i complete her survey.  lou krieger sits down with us, and we
reach a deal on the business  proposition brought up by chuck.

i do one more blackjack session at the las vegas club, until my neighhbor
exclaims, "oh!  it's nine o'clock!  i have to leave for the airport right now!"
  uh, oh.  nine o'clock?  it's time for "team chorse!"  ack!!

(more to come)

Subject: tiger's barge2001 trip report (3)
From: tiger123@aol.comXnoXspam (TIGER123)

part 3

without a doubt, this was the highlight of my week.  i scurry back to the
horseshoe to find that the hold 'em leg is first.  my fellow adb'ers are
looking high and low for me (they probably shouldn't have bothered with the
high - i'm not much more than 5'2").  patti beadles presents me with my second
adb shot glass, and i lock up seat #6 at one of the flop tables.  uh, oh. this
really is the "table from hell"!!  i don't recognize the woman in #1, but #2 is
roy cooke. mitch's friend dan is in #3, and there's this fellow called abdul
jalib in #4.  there's this fellow called spencer sun in #5.  nate woodstock in
#7, and there's this fellow called "crunch"
(steve daniel) in #8.  #9 is this really tall, thin guy called
"hellsomethingorother".  yeah. this really is the table from hell!  :)

in the first round, phil hellmuth calls a raise from roy cooke.  roy bets the
flop, and phil faces his cards.  two black nines.  phil wants to everyone to
know:  "don't you know that this is the very same hand where i won the world
series of poker?  and the same hand where i lost $1.1 million upstairs?"  and
then he mucks.  ;)  i win a few bucks in the first round.

once my first round is finished, i go back to my room, wash up, and put on my
adb uniform.  a few months ago, bruce kramer made arrangements to have some
really beautiful individually-embroidered "adb poker team" shirts made.  and,
of course, peter secor is responsible for those ridiculous red-and-white
baseball caps!  and as long as i'm in the room, i might as well take some goods
back down to the poker room with me.  my "goods" consist of a particular
quantity of private label single malt scotch, cleverly concealed in an empty
bottle of dasani water.
i insist that my co-adb'ers taste some of this stuff!  :)     ahhhhhh....

in the second round, i'm dealt an unsuited slick in the small blind.  it's
folded around to abdul, who raises in the cutoff seat.  i re-raise, and we're
head-to-head.  as the dealer counts off the three cards of the flop, i'm gazing
up in the air.  and as the flop hits the table, i look directly at abdul.
hehehehehe....he's looking directly at me!  i chuckle.  i had already decided
to bet regardless of the flop, so i don't bother looking at the board, but look
down at my chips and smoothly make a bet.  abdul raises.  by now, i've seen
that the flop is K 10 4 rainbow, so i re-raise.  he doesn't hesitate to muck,
and i've just taken a pot from one of the best in the world!  :D  adb rules!!

i watch this amazing hand in the third round.  crunch raises under the gun; dan
re-raises; then spencer sun raises!  three players see the flop of A Q J (two
diamonds).  crunch checks; dan bets; spencer calls, and crunch check-raises.
two calls!  the turn is another diamond.  crunch checks; dan bets and gets two
calls.  the river is an eight.  crunch checks; dan bets again, and gets two
calls.  dan shows down a pair of nines.  nines???  spencer hesitates, and
crunch spreads an AJ for two pair.  spencer mucks and crunch takes down a big
pot.  during the next break, crunch, roy cooke and i decide that, besides the
button, spencer must have had A 10.

during one of the breaks, i see that abdul has two copies of the latest federal
court complaint from the doogster.  the named defendants are "john does # 1 - #
100."  i quickly read through the 80-odd pages of legalese, and declare that,
in technical terms, the complaint constitutes "a piece of shit!"

in the final round, i pick up pocket nines under the gun.  i raise.  crunch
calls, dan callscall-in, and spencer calls.  the flop is a wonderful 9 8 2,
with two diamonds.  i bet, crunch calls, and spencer mucks.  the turn is a
queen or jack, and crunch doesn't call my bet.  the river is a rag and my set
of nines are just enough to beat dan's 63o.  adb rules!!

i don't stay for the end of the competition - there's a hot 4/8 horse game in
the main room! it's a great game, including a few rgp'ers, a few locals, and
two clueless players.  eventually,i get to the #9 seat, and tiltboy lenny
augustine moves to #8.  i had met lenny a few years ago, but neither of us
remember much about it.  he's a corporate attorney in palo alto, and orders a
rusty nail (scotch and drambuie).  as soon as i realize that lenny is a
scotch-drinker, i  insist that he try some of the knockando that they have at
the bar.  he loves it!  looks like we've got another convert!  :)   i tell
lenny that if he tries to put any drambuie (a scotch-based liqueur) in any
single malt, i'm going to punch him out!  :D  i book a nice win (with  multiple
knockando units).  oh, yeah! at one point, bruce kramer came over to the table
with my winnings from the chorse tourney! the adb'ers won $50 per person in the
tourney, and another $20 per person in last-longer bets!  adb rules!!

8/4 saturday
i'm waiting to meet ray in the poker room, and sit down at a 4/8 razz game with
six chain-smoking locals.  i win a pot of about $20, and (falsely) exclaim,
"wow!  i've never played razz before! this is the very first pot of razz i've
ever won!" and tip the dealer about four white chips! ray arrives and i stand
up (while the locals are still grumbling....).

after breakfast, i help start a 4/8 horse game.  players include sean
mcguinness, ray, jupiler, griz, nolan, mitch collack, paul berkowitz, paul
stine, kevin garret, ken kubey, lou krieger, and many others. one player is
"john" (last name?).  he's from the bay area, and his wife is a lawyer. john
was actually wearing a "dewey, cheatem and howe" t-shirt last night!!  lol! i
rooooled this game, and after a few hours, booked a win of some $200.

i go back upstairs and manage to grab an hour of sleep.  now it's time for
dinner at hugo's. as far as this feline is concerned, hugo's is one of the
finest restaurants in town.  ray and i opt for the caesar salad dressing; mitch
wants the honey-mustard-something else-something else. the salad is romaine
lettuce.  and bay shrimp.  and red onion.  and a big chunk of garden tomato.
and heaps of pine nuts.  and croutons.  and shredded hard-boiled egg.  and blue
cheese.  and even
anchovies!  and a few shavings of parmigiana cheese and some fresh-ground black
pepper on top!  wow!!  my medium-rare filet mignon is done to perfection.  and
i've ordered an ice-cold samuel adams beer with my steak, and it arrives
(ice-cold) in a large bucket of ice.  vincent, our  waiter, pours my beer into
my ice-cold glass exactly as i like it - without a millimeter of foam.  wtg
vincent!  one of the best meals i've ever eaten!!  i say goodbye to ray, who
wants to get an early start the next morning on his way to los angeles.

after dinner, i drive to the bellagio.  it's time for some 15/30 hold 'em.  i
buy-in for two racks of red, and quickly establish some credibility by the way
i extract the chips from my racks.  first, i tilt one rack with my right hand,
and remove all five stacks from the rack without disturbing a single chip, and
then i repeat the procedure with a mirror image tilt of the second rack with my
left hand and remove all five stacks from that one!  did i ever tell you that i
handle chips pretty well?  };)  ming lee is at the table, with greg, a local
friend of his.  greg is a systems administrator for cheaptickets.com and a nice
guy.  also at the table is the most beautiful creature on earth.  she's about
5'5" tall, built like a brick  you-know-whathouse, with this creamy-golden
skin!  she's got full, sensuous lips and long chestnut-brown hair.  i can't
quite determine her ethnic background (thai?  some filipino? some japanese?
maybe even some hawaiian?), but when they invented the word "gorgeous", they
had her in mind.  and she's dressed to the nines in a long, low-cut silver
evening gown.   right.  how'm i going to play poker with her at the table?  but
i must have done something  right, because i book a win of more than a rack of
reds.

after i cash out, i spot steve carbonara in a 4/8 hold 'em game.  i sit down
next to him, and we play for a little while.  he's roooooled that game and
booked a win of some $400!!  all right! i give steve a lift back downtown.

it's time for some scotch!!  i parade around the poker room, proclaiming that
the bar is open! i gather nolan, ploink, bev mcmullin, kevin un (a
scotch-drinker from 'way back when), adam "allknight" bachrach, and steve
eisenberg, and we go upstairs.  mitch is already in bed, but he knew that i was
going to have a party.  i pour some of mitch's bottle of glenfarclas for
everyone.  to a man (and, in bev's case, a woman), every single one of them
loves the single malt!!  and then i pour some of my craigellachie (still
carefully concealed in the dasani bottle) for ploink and kevin.  ahhhhh......

8/6
mitch and i have breakfast at binion's, and i sit down at a 4/8 hold 'em game.
i win a few stacks of whites before i'm called for the 10/20 game.  alan
bostick and dave "quick" horwitz are at the table.  i don't win a single
god-damned hand all afternoon, and give back my entire win from the night
before.  :::::sigh:::::  but the session was worth it for this:  camille is a
rather large lady who handles the front podium in the poker room during the day
shift.  at one point, a player mistakes her for a cocktail waitress, and
attempts to order a drink. camille does a 180, takes a few steps away from the
table, and asks, "does this look like the rear end of a cocktail waitress?"
gales of laughter.....

i get my two remaining adb shot glasses from peter secor, and say goodbye to
all my friends in the poker room.  i go back upstairs to pack in anticipation
of our red-eye flight at 10pm. mitch and i have dinner at the microbrewery at
the main street station casino at the end of fremont street.  man, has this
been a fun trip!  let's do it again, next year!  :)

i know that i met an awful lot more people (north shore mike, paul phillips,
andy hughes, john cervanyk, tom mcevoy, etc., etc.).  and there was lots more
that happened.  i'll make one note:  i thought that the name tags were a
failure.  the font used for our names was simply too small to be of any use.  i
had to get within three feet of anyone before i could read  the name on their
tag.  i'd like to tell the story of how "action bob" huang got screwed when the
tourney director of the no-limit hold 'em game couldn't count to 19 (or 20).
and i also got my "craps crawl" t-shirt from jeff woods, but i haven't the
slightest idea when that was... one night, david "adb iceman" trinidad crashed
in our room, but i don't remember which night... jeez...where did the time go?

i hope you had as much fun reading this report as i had in living it!  :)
seeya next year!

tiger