From: "Edmund Hack" To: Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 22:43:41 -0500 Subject: [BARGE] BARGE Trip Report - Monet Style A short trip report this year, an impressionistic take on BARGE, rather than a detailed recitation of facts. I almost missed my first BARGE since 1991. The past year has been STRESS* and SLEEP---. Details after my .sig. Got to Vegas on Wednesday and spent some time with the Good Doctor (my PEG^huge) at the Palm playing VP and having a late lunch. Then on to BARGE. We stayed at the Nugget, on a slot club comp offer for the week days, but had to pressure them to give us a rate near the "poker pals" rate for Friday and Saturday. I miss Steve Wynn - his staff wouldn't have quibbled. I played in HOP, TOC and NLHE tournaments. Pretty well, too. I stayed in the HOP tourney for quite a while, which is amazing as my total draw and lobah experience is in playing this event. I tried to "reverse engineer" the games by what I saw others doing. One bit of bad timing: I was dealt a wheel on the second or third hand of the tourney. While playing draw. Which lost. Anyway, I think I stayed in until about 4-5 tables were left. In the TOC, I took a bad beat in the seat draw. I was in seat 5 and had the following to my left: Bill Chen, Andy Bloch, Matt Treasure (Poker Investigator!), and Michael Maurer. Ai-Ya. I don't play stud or O-8 much and piss away my chips after a while. I think I went out about in the middle. After busting out in TOC, I went over to the Orleans for their Friday NLHE $60/$40 rb tourney. It had 150 or so entries, and paid 10 places. I played really well, collecting two $10 bounties for busting players, and building a stack that was second or third at my table. One bad beat we had - the director was slow to break tables (we played 7 handed at times) and the players sent to us were all short stacked. At the second break, the average stack at the 4 remaining tables was about T4k and our biggest stack was T5.5k and I was third at T3950. So, when we collapsed into the final two tables, I was at T4k, with T200 ante, T300/600 blinds. After a couple of hands my AQs was raised all in by the chip leader who easily had T20k, I call and his 66 holds up and IGHN after 4 hours, in 20th. Several mentions of BARGE and all the wild action at the 'Shoe. In the NLHE, I played really well for a change. I was table chip leader for a while, and made some good plays. I was also lucky, busting out a smaller stack who had KK with a 44 that made a runner-runner straight. I felt bad for a nanosecond. After a table break, I sat for several orbits slowly bleeding chips to blinds and, IIRC, antes. I end up all in against Barry Tannenbaum's AQs with A8s and bust out, somewhere past the halfway point. The banquet was quite pleasant, made better by the fine company of Jazbo, Steve Jacobs and their PEGs. Beth Even, Fich, and others dropped by to talk and greet the Good Doctor. I enjoyed Howard Lederer's talk and put some of his concepts to work later in the 4-8 HE game. I applaud Binion's for going out of the way to make us feel welcome this year. Thanks to the fine sponsors for all they did, paying for events & drinks and for the celebrities that they brought. And of course, thanks to Chuck and Foldem. I think I may have heard the Quote of the Year for BARGE XIII. While watching the heads up duel between Patti and Paul, I was amused by the comments and reactions of the occasional tourists that wandered over. However, one took the prize. A couple in their 60s was walking away after watching for a few minutes. The woman turned to the man, and in a German/Middle European accent said: "Vell, ven ve see it on the TV, ve can say 'Ve vere dere.'" Vell, I vas dere, and it vas fun. Edmund Hack (RktSci) A*-1 G++ PKR+ PEG+ B+ TB ADB M+++ Reasons for STRESS* and SLEEP--- since BARGE last year: My daughter started high school, going from an 8th grade class of 10 at a private school to a very competitive public school of 3k+. In February, the Columbia accident. It has colored every work day, as I am assigned to some of the return to flight tasks, I had worked with one of the astronauts (K.C.), and was at JSC for Challenger. In March, my father was hospitalized and spent the next 3.5 months in intensive care and the time since in a rehab hospital. In April my mother's mother died. If it is true that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, I'll be able to win the heavyweight championship by next BARGE. ________ Thanks to PokerStars, Paradise Poker, and Quiotix Technologies for their generous sponsorship of BARGE 2003.