From: "Russell Fox" Subject: [BARGE] Russ F's Barge Trip Report (Relatively Short) Ok, in past years my trip reports (for Barge) could be rated long, longer, and longest (except in comparison to Matt Matros'). Well, I did win the nlhe last year so I thought I could get away with something.... Anyway, I drove up this year last Saturday (7/27). I had a blast -- again, it's hard not to at Barge. Some highlights (and lowlights): (1) I place in only two tournaments -- the Sunday NLHEs at the Orleans (5th & 6th). I really didn't do too much spectacular (although Chu Tran may differ with my opinion). Actual poker content follows: I hold A6 (suited, I think) on the button. We're eight handed (a full table is 10), I have an average stack. It's folded to me and I make my normal bring-in raise (I think the blinds were 75/150 & I made it 550). Chu Tran, on my left, calls (with AJ). The flop is 3 rags -- but they include a 6. I go in, he calls, and I get his chips. On the next hand I double up with pocket 3s (versus a presumed AK). (2) Do not play Chinese Poker against people who can compute the percentages (of hand placement) to 6 decimal places when you can only figure it to 2 decimal places. So JP, Spencer, Steve Landrum, Jerrod, Chu, etc. you've gotten all the money you will get from me in that game. Oh yes, I played in the Friday Chinese Poker tournament and busted out in the middle. (3) I go on tilt for the first time in 2 years. In the Barge TOC tourney, it's early, and we're playing Omaha 8. I make a raise with AQQT (ace suited to something). Beth Even, in the BB, calls. The flop is something like 664. Beth & I check. Turn is another low card (say a 7), giving me the flush draw. Beth bets. Now I have an interesting decision -- should I fold or call Beth's presumed low? My pair of Qs is probably good for high, but she could have a straight. Folding would have been wiser because.... The river pairs one of the unpaired low cards. Beth & I check. Beth then miscalls her hand, saying 'straight,' but doesn't have it. I muck before checking for it! Mea culpa, I threw away half a pot. And I went on tilt for an hour. I bust out to Harry Baldwin when Harry makes the nut flush (when I have third nut and the other player in the hand has 2nd nut). (4) The Barge 2002 chips were very well received! Thank you Patrick Milligan for your design help. (5) I don't place in any Barge tournament. I exit in the middle in the HOP, early in the TOC, in the middle in the Stud shootout, and late-middle in the nlhe. I've already commented on the TOC, and I don't remember the HOP (and I didn't write it down!). In the stud shootout, with the antes/limits getting high, I go all-in with a pair of 7s, against Lennie Augustine' AKJ. Lennie rivers a pair of K's and IGHN. Lennie ended up winning our table. In the nlhe, I never got anyone to go all-in against me. When I got good hands (mostly in the bb this year), no one called my re-raises -- and on three occasions, everyone folded to my monster bb hands! (side note: do I have a tell when I haven't even looked at my cards in the bb?) In the nlhe, Mike McBride, the eventual winner, got my chips when he made an all-in raise with a mediocre hand (AA) and I called with a poor hand (AK). Congratulations Mike on a well-deserved win! (6) I have horrendous results in almost all my side-game action. If I was in a game, you should have bet on the opposition. I actually played reasonably well, but I either caught cards at the wrong time or, well, here is an example: Today, playing in 8/16 HE at Bellagio, I picked up A5s just off the button. I call, the BB raises, and 5 of us see a flop of Q42 with 2 of your suit. The raiser bets, 2 call, you raise, and 3 see the turn of an offsuit 3. The raiser bets, you raise, he (alone) calls, to see the river of another 2 (offsuit). Of course he has pocket Qs.... [Note: this is my obligatory BB story]. I do have a good beat story. Playing in 4/8 Omaha 8 in the smoky environment of Binion's, you're at a table with 2 obnoxious chain-smoking maniacs (both non-Bargers). You pick up As3s5x, and call ocsm's raise (along with 3 others, including Corey Imsdahl). The flop is reasonable for your hand, 2s4sJo. ocsm bets, 3 (including yourself & Corey) call, and see a turn card of another 4. ocsm bets, Corey (on my right) and I call, and see a river of the 5s. After double-checking to see that I wasn't hallucinating (I wasn't), I re-raise Corey's raise. The ocsm was quite annoyed with my hand (Corey also had an A3 so I got 3/4). (7) Binion's, pros and cons. The staff at Binion's treated us extremely well. They know how to do Barge. The tournaments were upstairs in the Bingo room (now called Benny's Bullpen). They spread anything we wanted. We received comps into their coffee shop (where the food is actually decent). On the con side is the smoke. I found it worse this year than in the past. Maybe it's my advancing age that's making me less tolerant, or perhaps it's that I play in California where there's no smoking. Anyway, I think my side-game performance in rooms with smoke (e.g. Binion's) was noticeably worse than in rooms without smoke. =20 Of course, the biggest negative about Binion's is that some Bargers have either been told that they aren't welcome their (e.g. Paul Phillips) or believe they're not welcome (e.g. Andy Bloch). And many of us (i.e. Spencer Sun & Steve Nissman) were not willing to give Binion's any/much action. I don't know what the solution is -- Binion's understands us while the other choices (Palace Station & The Orleans) have their own significant negatives. I'll leave that for future discussion. (8) The Calcutta/Symposium. It ran smoothly, with only 40-50 attendees. But one of the attendees was quite special -- an honorary Barger -- Doyle Brunson. I only wish that I had brought my copy of SuperSystem for him to autograph. Doyle knew who I was (thank goodness my last name begins with an 'F' rather than a 'G'). We definitely appreciated you being there! Btw, I think the Calcutta/Symposium has outlived its usefulness. I'd guess it started as a way for everyone to get to know everyone else, but with declining attendance (at the Calcutta), and with Barge having expanded, we have plenty of other occasions to meet each other. (9) The Banquet. The best part was the Karmak (sp?) the Magnificent impersonation. That 20 minutes was hilarious. Linda Johnson did a good job with her talk, and Steve Lipscomb showed (with some difficulty) a nice promo for the World Poker Tour. And I now know the answer to the question, how many Bargers does it take to make a VCR work? (10) The People. I got to meet many of you -- at meals, at the table, and in passing -- and I cherish this. I come to Barge for the people. It's my vacation, and being self-employed it's very hard for me to step away from my business for 10 days. So thanks to all of you: Adam, Aaron, Corey, Lennie, Paul, Tim, David, Mike, Johnny, Tiger, Bob, Sean, Scott, Michelle, Stephen, et.al (I'm getting tired of typing names) for making the past 10 days go **way too fast.** (11) Binion's put up a huge number of posters welcoming Barge. Most had pictures of last year's champions (made up like postage stamps -- btw, it's $0.37 now, not $0.32). Indeed, I haven't seen my picture looking this good except at the Post Office.... (12) Back to the Real World (aka a California Ending). On the drive home tonight, Jerrod & I endured a 30 minute delay outside of Barstow as traffic stopped because when a lane was coned off (for road construction), traffic stopped to look at a slightly askew cone. That, more than anything else, was a jolt back into the real world. Thanks, everyone, for allowing me to have such a great time. And thanks to our organizers, Peter, Chuck, and Zimmers (in absentia) for doing such a great job. Only 6 months to Escargot 2003... -- Russ Fox