From: Len Granowetter Subject: [BARGE] Len Granowetter's BARGE 2002 Trip Report: Part 1 As usual, I don't get around to making flight reservations until a month or so before BARGE. Frequent-flyer-redemption seats on all good flights (like the only non-stops from Boston, on America West) are sold out, so I'm stuck changing planes in Charlotte on the way out, with arrival at midnight, and stuck with 2-hour layover in Pittsburgh on the way back. At 5am on Monday. And I'm planning on going to work Monday. Anyway, the trip out was uneventful. Cab to Binions, and get there around 12:45, but since it's nearly 4:00am east coast time, I'm exhausted. Say hi to just a couple of people, and head up to bed. 'Course, jet lag sets in, and I wake up at about 5:30, and can't fall back to sleep. I watch an hour of TV, try to sleep some more, then give up by around 7:30. Vegas always feels so deserted at 8:00am. Not seeing any BARGERs in the poker room (which only has 2 tables going), I walk up and down Fremont Street for a bit, and grab some breakfast. Eventually wander back to the poker room, and see Bob Ogus and Phil Gustavson, both of whom I know by face, but neither of whom I've met before. They are headed over to the Mirage, and I grab a ride with them. I find out that Bob is in the same industry as me (military simulation), and that we go to the same trade shows, know some of the same people, etc. We hear a story of some recent career-related events in Bob's life, told in more detail than a Matt Matros trip report. :) At the Mirage, I sit down in a $20-40 stud game. Decent game, but I play very poorly. I'm tired, and not concentrating. I fold unimproved aces on the river to a bluff, with a large pot. "Mathematical catastophe", I think. I call down what I know to be a bluff, but I have a hand that can't beat his most likely bluffing hand (pair of 5s versus pair of 6s, with a 6 doorcard). Despite my subpar play, I'm ahead, and feel fortunate to cash out +200 to head over to the Mirage buffet. I typically try to sit with different people at the buffet each year - to try to get to know people I haven't met yet, or don't know well. This year, I end up sitting with Bob Herlien and Dave Orr, among others. As usual, you can count on BARGErs to be good company. Unless I woke up a little, I figured it'd be a dumb idea to play in the Mirage tourney, but once 6:30 rolled around, I felt like I didn't want to miss out on the fun. I got there a few minutes after they filled the tourney, but was 3rd on the alternate list. Hung out for a while with Andrew Prock and others on the alternate list, and by 7:10 figured I was out of luck. But then they called my name at 7:15, and sent me over to a table with 2 empty seats. One of them was a no show, and I was pointed to that seat. There'd already been a round or two of blinds, so the stack I inherited was down to T465 from T500. That seemed rather unfair, but the floor said that was the rule - that I didn't get a full stack. It seemed even more unfair when the second empty seat (which was vacated by an early bustout) was filled by someone behind me on the waiting list, and *his* $120 bought him a *full* stack. I still can't believe that that's the rule. Anyone know for sure? THE MIRAGE TOURNEY Anyway, as I sit down, people are buzzing about Norm McDonald, and I find out he was the early bustout at this table. Looking at my watch, I ask "He didn't rebuy?" The answer: "Yeah, he did. He busted twice." BTW, I think it would be hilarious for someone to piece together a Norm McDonald trip report based on the various sightings described in other BARGE trip reports. :) "After Jimmy Fallon drops me off at the airport.....I start off real lucky, taking a bunch of chips from some guy with a badge....later, some guy gets lucky against me in the Mirage tournament - what are the odds he gets AA when I have a monster like 33?...so then I go play some Keno to cool off." Alright, actually, I guess it wouldn't be that funny. :) Back to *my* trip report, I start off well in the Mirage tourney. I limp in early position with small pairs a couple of times, and hit a set on the flop once. Flop checked around. I raise the turn, and take it with a bet on the river. I then double up with JJ against Warren's AK. I raise to 75, he reraises to 215, I jam, he calls, and I double through. I make it to the break with T775, and rebuy for T1000 more. I have AQ in middle position, and raise to 150. I'm reraised, and I fold. Another AQ calls, and loses to the re-raiser, who has rockets. After AQ-boy is gone, I say, that's funny, I had AQ too. Crunch turns to me and says "You chose...wisely" :) In the 50-100 round, I have AQ in late position, and raise to 300, and get a caller. I go all-in on a flop of TT3, and take it. I'm up to T2000. I've realized recently that in past NLHE tournaments, I've always been way too weak tight - hoping for big hands. In recent NLHE tournaments, I've tried to be much more aggressive - trying to be the one to take down those pots where no-one flops anything. After getting whittled down a bit, I get all-in pre-flop with AQ against an early limper who had JTs. Board AJ92J. IGHN. Always disappointing to lose when you get all-in with the best of it, but I had actually had some decent hands, and a good run. Certainly more fun than those tourneys where you can never get anything going, and hang on short-stacked for several hours just waiting for a hand. After the tourney, I got into a $6-12 hold-'em game with several BARGErs. One hand of note: I have AKo, and hit a broadway straight on the turn, for the nuts. Mike Chow had just been calling the whole way, and calls again on the turn, so I figure I've got this one locked up. But on the river, we get into a raising war, with Mike eventually realizing we were going to split, and calling with *his* AKo. :) Not at all what I put him on when he threw in that first raise on the river. Later, Dave T. was nice enough to give about 6 of us a ride back downtown. :) Thanks Dave. I figured I was likely to wake up early again, so I didn't even both setting an alarm. I *was* up for a while at about 7am again, but fell back to sleep, and when I woke up and looked at the clock, it said 9:48. Aiyahhh! Stud shootout tournament starts in 12 minutes. I got down at about 10:03, and the clock for round 1 already was down to 17 minutes. Boy, these BARGE tourneys really do start on time! I settled in a surveyed the table. Obviously, the table draw is particularly important in a shootout, because these are the only players you'll have to beat to get to the final 2 tables. First thing I notice, is that the table's only 7-handed. Great, I only have to beat 6 people to advance! At my table are Bennett, Ernst, Sippy, Pizza, and others I don't remember. I figure my chances are pretty decent, since stud is by far my best game, and the table doesn't seem to have too many stud specialists. THE STUD SHOOTOUT In the T15-30 round, I start with (9A)A. Ernst raises with a 5 doorcard, and I just call. He bets a 52 board on 4th, and I call again. On 5th, I catch a small card suited to my doorcard, and raise. I probably have the best hand, and representing a possible flush draw may make him call with a pair smaller than aces on the end, or might make him fold incorrectly if I make an open pair on 6th. On 6th, I make a hidden two pair with a 9, and he makes open 2s. I get to raise him again, and drag a big pot, when he calls my river bet too. I have T1200 at the break. In the ever-popular T35-70 round, I win a decent pot against Sippy, though I have to make several marginal calls to get there. Sippy raises with a K doorcard, and I have (Qh7h)Qs. Especially in a tournament, you've got to consider folding anytime you're raised by someone representing a larger pair, and you have no overcard kicker. But one king was dead, and my hand was live. I call. 4th street brings me a Js, and he gets the Jc. A third player catches a King. He bets again, and I call - I have added equity because my board is well-connected, and may be able to win without a showdown if I improve some more. The third player folds. I consider raising of course, but there's not much chance he'll fold right here, taking some of the reason for a semi-bluff raise away. On 5th, I catch a 3rd heart, Sippy catches a blank. He bets again, meaning that he probably really does have kings. But I'm fairly certain he doesn't have 2 pair, I can fold if he makes an open pair on 6th, and I've picked up runner-runner flush outs. I call again. On 6th, I catch a 4th heart, and he catches another blank. Now a call is definitely correct. On the river, we both check, and I catch queens-up and win. Soon, I lose a big pot: I start with 3 clubs, and five players see 4th street! I catch a 4th club on 4th, and bet. 4 players. I pair my doorcard (and eight) on 5th, and bet. Sippy calls with 2d 9c 4d. I make my flush, and bet the river, and Sippy calls with a higher flush. Down to T1150. Now two good hands in a row. First, pocket aces hold up against Bennett. The next hand, I have split kings, and raise. Bennett calls with a king up too. He bets 4th and I call. I check-raise 5th, and bet 6th. We check down the river, and my kings hold up against his nines with a flush-draw. Up to T1650. Now, a loser: Bennett brings it in for T75, and Ernst raises all-in for T95. I call with a 3-flush. On 5th, I have eights with a king kicker, and call down a single pair of jacks (river was checked). At this point, we're 4-handed. I improve split queens to queens-up, and win another. Then comes a big hand against Bennett. I start with pocket jacks, and make a hidden set on 4th. Bennett started with pocket aces, and made open 3s on 5th. I win several big bets, and get up to T2600 out of the total on the table of T7000, at the start of the T100-200 round. I crack pocket aces again, this time against Sippy, starting with TQK, all clubs. I catch an offsuit jack on 4th, raise, and call a reraise. I pair my doorcard on 5th, bet, and Sippy throws it away. I have more than 1/2 the chips at the table, and we're 3-handed. Bennett cripples Sippy with a straight, and he goes out soon after. Bennett and I start heads-up play nearly even (T3650-T3350). I start with 4 to a straight flush and lose to 3 sevens. Then, I get pocket kings, and fold to a 5th street raise when he catches an ace. I win a small pot when I back into a wheel on a hand that's checked the whole way. I win a decent pot starting with pocket queens against pocket jacks, and get back ahead. I make trip sevens on 5th a win a decent pot against a big pair. Up to T5000. I win with a straight to get up to T6K, and lose with split aces to get back down to T5K. We both start with three big cards, and I make trip tens to win a big pot, and Bennett's down to T400 now. He's down to T150 at one point, and goes all-in for the bring-in. He rivers a wheel and and doubles through. At the break, he's back to T375. I have T6625, and figure I'll win the table in another couple of hands. I have to keep reminding myself not to be too sure, though. The limits are high now (T300-600), and a couple of doubles-through and Bennett's right back in it. He starts with 234 against AQ6. He pairs and doubles through. I raise with 8QJ against a 7 showing. He has sevens, and doubles through again. He then starts with pocket queens two hands in a row, and gets up to T1000. A hand or two later, he starts with 3s against my AKQ, and they hold up. A hand or two later, he starts with split nines against my split sixes, and they hold up. In the course of a dozen hands, he's started with five pairs, and I've had decent (but worse) starting cards in most of those hands too. He's climbed back above me in chip-count! We were one of the first tables to get heads-up, but now, many tables have finished. We've had a gladiator-like heads-up battle for an hour and a half. We're playing T500-1000 now, so the first decent pot will likely decide it. I start with 79Q, all diamonds, and raise. I continue to push it when I catch other big cards on board, but he continues to call. It's the first time I'm all-in all tournament. He makes a pair of sevens, which hold up. IGHN. This was one of my most disappointing tournament finishes. 1/2 hour earlier, I had T6850 out of T7000, and just couldn't close the door. I had played extremely well throughout, and played very patiently as I was building up that huge lead heads-up. In retrospect, though, I probably should have been a bit more patient as he was climbing back into it, and waited for better situations to put him all-in. But with that big a lead, I went for the strategy of "If I put him all-in three or four hands in a row on basically even-money propositions, the only way I can lose is if he wins them all." Trouble is, he woke up with some big starting hands just at that time. Similarly, once we were back to even, although the limits are high, you can still play reasonably tight, since bring-ins and antes don't hurt you *too* much. Maybe I should have given up that final hand a little earlier, since I had nothing, and waited for a hand where I was more likely to be ahead. Bennett surely got rather lucky at the end, but he had played excellent short-handed poker throughout the tournament, and put himself in a position to win the table. The most important play he made, actually, was the hand before he got down to T400. There was a big pot, yet he folded on 6th street instead of throwing in his last chips. Many people would have just called, thinking "I know I'm beat, but if I lose this hand I'm virtually dead, so I may as well call and hope to get lucky". Well done, Bennett. Well, at least I got my $60 back. Small consolation. I really felt like I could have gotten very deep into the tournament if I'd won my table. I find Andy Latto in the Binion's poker room, who like me, hasn't eaten lunch yet. He whips out his Las Vegas Advisor coupon book, and finds that he can get a comped lunch at the four queens by acquiring 50 slot points. We walk across Fremont Street. Halfway across, he's fumbling with his wallet trying to pull out with four queens slot card, while reading the coupon book, and his whole bankroll falls out of his wallet onto the street! I see it fall and stop immediately, but he actually walks a good two additional steps before I can catch his attention! :) Luckily it's not a windy day, and we aren't in a crowd, so we're able to corral all the bills before they scattered. Definitely one of those "it's funny beacuse it didn't happen to me" kinds of situations. :) When we get to the 4 queens, Andy examines the VP machines, finding the kind with the least negative EV, and plays the max for just 8 or 10 hands until he's built up 50 points. Of course, it costs him $50. Actually, $51, because he suffers a bad beat when he gets shorted by a dollar cashing out. So much for the "free" lunch! :) Later, all *sorts* of confusion occurs as the cashier tries to figure out how to split the check between Andy's comp, and my cash. She keeps trying to charge me $17 for $6 burger, and a $1.50 soda. It reminded us of that old r.g.p. post, where a cocktail waitress is asked why the hero is being charged $15 for like $6 worth of food, and her response is a triumphant: "Tax!" After lunch, I get into a $10-20 HORSE game at Binions. Most people seem to be either skipping the Symposium altogether, or showing up late. I play till 7pm, and pick-up down $110 to head over to the Nugget. Food was actually plentiful this year, with lots left when I got there at 7, due to lower attendance. As usual, I don't pay much attention to the Calcutta, except to buy myself (paired with Crunch) back. Instead, I try to mingle a bit, take a break from poker, and catch up with people. As has become an annual tradition at the Symposium, Lennie Augustine sneaks up on me and "circles" me. Payback for the first the first time I met him: when I randomly ran into him at DisneyWorld years ago, recognized the Tiltboy hat, and circled him before introducing myself. Lennie and fellow Tiltboy Bruce Hayek were trying to drum up support for the World RoShamBo Championship tournament. I managed to avoid agreeing to put up $100 on such a silly proposition. But I said I'd enter a satellite for up to $25 if they could get one organized. THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF ROSHAMBO Although I don't know any of them that well, I've always been a big fan of the Tiltboys. I've read all their trip reports. I'm one of the guys who actually thought it was funny when they showed up to the NLHE tourney that time wearing snorkels and fins. I thought the O+ "universal chip donor" shirts were among the most clever I'd ever seen at BARGE. I once kept a bottle of Tilt'n Root Beer from the Tilt'n Diner in Tilton, NH for six months, and brought it to BARGE to give to the Tiltboys, but forgot. (Incidentally, that time that I went to the Tilt'n Diner, I really wish I had a camera. It's right near Lake Winnepasaukee, which is a popular fishing spot. And the sign on the restaurant read "Tilt'n Diner - Anglers Welcome".) And I count the aforementioned circling of Lennie in DisneyWorld among my proudest moments. :) So as Lennie and Bruce started gathering a quorum for RoShamBo satellites, I was actually getting excited about the opportunity to play in the RoShamBo World Championship. I started grabbing people and trying to help drum up interest. Eventually, there were a total of ten RoShamBo players: Lennie and Bruce, who were buying their way into the $100 event, and eight satellite players, who would play two four-person satellites for a $25 entry fee. Soon, the money was collected, seeds were randomly drawn, and cards...er, fists...were in the air. The satellite matches were race to 5 - and my first match was against Andy Latto, a fellow RoShamBo rookie. I think we got to 4-4 before I won the final throw. At this point, I at least had some confidence in the mechanics of the game, and didn't have to think for 5 seconds to figure out who won each throw anymore. :) In the finals of my satellite, I faced MadMary, who had won her preliminary match despite some questionable ambiguous or late throws which had to be ruled on by judge Lennie. Mary was no match for me, and I easily won my satellite! In my mind, the event really did acquire the air of a Championship event. We had actually gathered a reasonable-sized crowd - at least 20-25 people I'd say, including the participants. We were playing for a healthy prize pool of $400. Adrenaline was pumping, dreams of victory danced in my head. I was well aware that a non-Tiltboy had never won the World Championship of RoShamBo, so I knew the odds were against me. But coming off two satellite-match wins, I had confidence. :) The two Tiltboys drew opposite brackets, so an all-Tiltboy final was possible. No easy road to the finals for me... I was to face Lennie in the semi-finals. I remarked that this match would determine who was the best Lennie/Lenny at RoShamBo. Too bad Len Greenberg (LenG) wasn't also involved somehow. :) I took an early lead in the match, and was getting close to victory. But Lennie mounted a comeback. Periodically, he would put his fist up, and then pull back before we started the throwing cadence. The RoShamBo equivalent of stepping out of the batter's box just before the pitch to rattle the pitcher. At one point, when I was up 8-6 or so, he pointed out that my "catching hand" was getting quite red. And so it was. I was so "in the zone" that I failed to realize that I was beating the hell out of the palm of my left hand. I also suddenly noticed the pain in my right pinky too! Who said RoShamBo wasn't a contact sport? "Throwing too hard. Classic rookie mistake," says Bruce, who was studying the match intently, looking for tells and insights into my strategy. When play resumed, it only took a couple more throws for me to win. I had beaten one of the two Tiltboys in the Championship! One down, and one to go, because Bruce handliy defeated his opponent (I forget who) to reach the finals. This is it - the Championship Finals. Mano-a-Tiltmano, for all the marbles. Or most of them, anyway. Looking across at my opponent, I smelled fear. Or maybe that was just the eggrolls. Anyway, in a supreme show of non-confidence likely to get him ridiculed by his fellow Tiltboys for decades, Bruce suggested a save - we each take $100 from the prize pool, and play for the remaining $200. I considered declining, just to try to put him on tilt, but I figured it would make sense to lock up a $75 profit for the event. After all, the glory was the important thing here, and besides, despite feeling confident, I still realized I was the rookie, facing a seasoned RoShamBo veteran. Again, I jumped out to an early lead. Bruce hardly knew what hit him. Someone commented on the lack of trash-talking and tilting going on. Bruce looked beaten already. I figured that a sophisticated RoShamBo player like Bruce would figure that I'd be playing rock or paper more often than scissors, because scissors is the most technically awkward move, and most likely to be forgotten by a rookie. Therefore I thought Bruce might overcompensate by throwing paper too often. I bombarded him with a barrage of scissors, cutting his paper nearly every time. Bruce's paper and scissors are hard to distinguish - since his fingers are spread wide for paper (a possible angle - to be able to quickly react to tells, and switch between scissors and paper at the last moment?) So on a couple of the throws, it took me a second to figure out who had won. But on the last throw, I knew my scissors had prevailed. I threw my hands in the air, paused to shake a dejected Bruce's hand, then embarked on a victory lap around the circle of spectators. Of all the money I've won at poker and other games of skill and chance, victory has never tasted as sweet as it did as I watched Bruce Hayek count $300 into my hand. I was the World Champion of RoShamBo! I put the icing on the cake later that evening, as I shared a cab with Lennie and Bruce over to the Bellagio. They were headed over for dinner, and I was looking for a decent stud game. Of course, we played the mandatory round of RoShamBo to decide who paid for the cab. Round-robin: each person plays two single-round matches - one against each of the other two. Results: Lennie: 0-2, Bruce: 1-1, Me: 2-0. Yup, still undefeated in my professional RoShamBo career, and Lennie was left digging for his wallet. :) It's been two weeks, but I'm still waiting for the endorsement deals to roll in. :) I guess all those corporate bigwigs must be dotting all their i's and crossing their t's before they approach a big-time RoShamBo World Champion like me. Singer and PaperMate are probably in a bidding war, vying for my coveted Scissors endorsement. And I'll bet International Paper and Staples are still trying to figure out if they can raise enough money to afford my endorsement of their Paper products. At the very least, I'm hoping to be featured in the next Chevy: Like a Rock commercial. :) OK, I'd settle for a Len Granowetter World RoShamBo Champion bobblehead doll... What? No bidders? Oh well... Coming soon: Part II: including Saturday's NLHE Tournament