Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 22:24:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Zbigniew To: barge@barge.org Subject: [BARGE] TRIP REPORT: Zbigniew at BARGE 2003 [Part 1 of 2] Woohoo! My second BARGE and it can not come soon enough. Stubing (also a BARGE sophomore this year) and I are signed up early. I encourage my fellow MPN'ers (Men's Poker Night, the home game) to attend and we get two more, Bone and Keith, as well as a college buddy and his friend, LGHO and Madge. TUESDAY We take an evening flight from San Jose, uncrowded and on-time. Bad beat: two drinks at the airport cost 17.30. Good beat: I pick up 9 from Stubing in the airport/airplane Chinese poker game. (0.50 per point.) We prearranged a cab-share with ADV slouie and meet him with no problems or delays. On to The Horseshoe! I check in and, in spite of the fact that the reservations clerk told me that the cost would be 29 per night Tuesday through Thursday, am told that my cost will be 35 per night. I point out the discrepancy. I am told I will have to talk to a manager, who is not on duty until tomorrow. I decide that a talk with a manager has a positive expected aggravation value, so I skip it. We ask for a room "as high as possible" and land on the 22nd floor with a view to the north (away from the strip). I plop down in a 6-12 holdem game with several other BARGErs, say hello, and we are off to the races. I pick up red 55 (Presto!), cap it preflop, slow down after the flop re-reraise, call the turn and river and get shown AA. Presto no g00t. After telling this story to other BARGErs, I am informed that my poor play of not capping the flop and turn ensured that I would not hit a set on the river. I pick up Presto twice more in this session, play them meekly and lose with them all. North Shore Mike and PattiB get into a raising war on the river. After Patti puts her sixth river bet in the pot, Mike finally calls. Board: Q4x4x. Mike has QQ. Patti, of course, has 44. Ploink open-raises from late position. Folded to me in the small blind, I three-bet. I bet and Ploink calls the flop and turn. I check-call the river. Board: QJxxJ. Me: AQ. Ploink: AJ. What a r00ler. WEDNESDAY The first BARGE tournament is limit holdem and I have high hopes, having placed sixth in the same event at ESCARGOT. I can not pick up much, though. In round 2, the button open-raises. I reraise from the small blind with A8. Big blind folds. Button calls. Flop is T-high. I bet. Button folds. First pot won. In level 4, I have AT and take it up against KK. Flop is A-high. I check-call to the river and take it down. (Trapping or weak-tight? I suspect the latter.) I three-bet from the big blind with AA. I bet out on all streets, including the river which completes the flopped flush draw. Someone is in the pot with me, but I do not remember who. I show my AA and he mucks. In level 6, Fich raises from late position. I call with JJ from one of the blinds. Flop: JQx. I check. He bets. I call. Turn: JQxT. I check. Fich bets. Making the perfect weak-tight play, I call. River: JQxTK. I check. Fich bets. I really should lay down my set here, but I make the crying call. Fich turns over A3 (s00ted!) and I muck. I played this like a fish and got everything I deserved, including a big dent in my stack. Short stacked, I decide to go all in, calling a raise, with 88. I am up against AA. IGHN. 52nd place of 87 players. Feh. LGHO and I pay Stubing for our last-longest bet. I play the 10-20 holdem game. Win a couple of stacks in the afternoon. Lose four in the evening. This was a pretty tough game, IMHO. Feh. Bone arrives late in the evening. He is a little leery of casino poker and opts for the 2-4 holdem game. Keith arrives later, also wants 2-4. I put my name on the list, too. It is late. I am tired. I tell Keith I am going to sleep. But, two seats open up simultaneously, so, yah, I have to play with my friends. Welcome to flop lotto! If this was an online game, the board would read, "Plrs/Flop = 85%." Raises, especially preflop, are practically nonexistent. (Bone, Keith and I make the majority of raises.) I decide to play any two cards that appear in any starting hands guide in any poker book. Later, I realize I am taking a page from Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em." (Page 52 of the revised edition to be precise, "Another viewpoint.") Fit or fold. Pound 'em if you got 'em. One young guy forcefully throws his chips in every pot, as if we will muck due to the power of his bets and (more frequent) calls. Perhaps he read somewhere that it is g00t to be "aggressive." (I would win two extra big bets this session if I get to keep every errant chip that rolls into my stack from his bullet-calls. ;) But, are we intimidated? Are we gonna fold in the face of young guy's powerful chip toss? No way! We have a pair! We have a draw! We have overcards! We are calling stations! Young guy takes his beats seriously and holds grudges against those who beat him, no matter how ill-advised his play. When I cap it on the turn (Full house g00t!) against someone who put a beat on him recently, he is rooting for me. "Yah! Get him!" he says emphatically with each of my raises. (A young chick sweated young guy stoically for hours, listening to his shrewd poker observations and wisdom. What some women will do to please their men!) A pretty young woman (PWM) sits down with a rack of gray checks. She says, "I do not know what to do." The dealer kindly explains the procedure and prompts her as we play. She picks up the procedure pretty quickly. She plays ten hands in a row. Then, she learns how to fold, apparently from observing her opponents. (Gotta give her credit for that!) She wins a few. She loses a few. She calls down a bettor, shows her straight and the pot is awarded to the bettor, who has a flush. "Why did I lose?" asks PWM. "This gentleman has a flush," says the dealer. "Oh, so five-of-a-color beats five-in-a-row," says PWM, quietly. "Yes," I reply, also quietly. PWM lasts for at least a half-hour before she busts and leaves. I play for nearly 2.5 hours and pick up 27 big bets. THURSDAY The History of Poker tournament features lowball draw and high draw, games rarely played these days. This turns out to be a good thing, as the novelty encourages many discussions of strategy and tactics. If one is a good "sponge," one can pick up a few things to try during the tournament. My table looks a little tough. I recognize JohnnyD and Fich. Ali M. appears to be a lowball veteran. MPN'er Keith is at my table, too. The first tough decision I face is in a lowball round, where I pick up T422Joker. Reciting to myself, "Never draw two," I muck. I, like others, suffer from the alternating-game version of "flop lag," picking up A233Joker in the first game of a high draw round and a big, but forgotten, hand (AAxxx?) in first hand of the subsequent lowball round. I pick up some pots here and there. One hand is folded to the small blind, JohnnyD, who raises. I, in the big blind, three-bet. JohnnyD calls. JohnnyD draws one. I draw two. JohnnyD checks. I bet. He calls. I turn over trip 6's. Johnny says, "Oh, I just have two pair." There is a shocked silence. Somebody finally pipes up, "This is a lowball round!" I say, "D'oh! Well, his two pair beats my trips. Give him the pot." BarryT/PokerBear is now at our table and gives a great "Wotta-couple-of- dolts" eye-roll. I whip out my notebook and Johnny moans, "Oh, man! Now I am gonna get written up in somebody's trip report as a total idiot!" "At least you won the pot, Johnny." I had a great laugh. I write this down after I lose a pot, not sure if I played it right: no-limit high (Yes, I am sure) draw. JohnnyD opens the pot for 150, the minimum. I raise to 600 with AAKKx. Johnny calls. Heads up. Johnny draws one. I stand pat. We both check after the draw. Johnny shows a straight. I was torn between drawing to improve and scaring Johnny by standing pat. I am not sure about my post-draw play, either. Johnny is either drawing to a straight or flush or two pair. If the former, Johnny might raise if he hits and will fold if he misses. If the latter, I probably have him beat and should bet. Comments, draw experts? I bust out on this no-limit lowball play: I am in late position and open-raise about half my stack with T765A. Bwana, I believe, calls my raise. I stand pat. Bwana draws one. I push the rest of my stack in and Bwana has an easy call with a very smooth 7432A. This generated some discussion and a gratifying compliment (At least, I >think< it was a compliment. ;) on my play from BarryT. Bwana tells me that he had 97432 and broke it, discarding the 9 after I stood pat. I gave Bwana a chance to "unimprove" by standing pat and put pressure on him after the draw. As he said, "He got lucky." I gave him a bust-out gift, something I gave everyone who busted me in a tournament, but particularly apropos in this one, a Joker. I finish around 50th of 83. Stubing wins the MPN last-longest. The HoP tournament is novel and a lot of fun. There is talk of deleting it next year, but I would enjoy its return. I would especially like to see a game that I believe was included in past HoP's, five-card stud. The MPN gang heads to Mirage for a little action and the companionship of BARGErs, many of whom are playing in tonight's NLHE tournament and/or the baby pot limit game. I think of trying to enter the tourney via satellite, but we arrive too late for satellites and, for that matter, tournament registration. I sit in a 6-12 holdem game and, two to my left, is a grumpy Barney Fife. Quiet, sullen, spitting image of Don Knotts. On the button, I open raise with KQ. Small blind folds. Barney defends. Flop is Q-high. Heads up. Barney check-calls the flop, then bets out on the turn. True to my weak-tight form, I call this bet and his river bet. We both turn over KQ. I laugh. "Nice hand, sir!" The pot is chopped. Barney sticks out his lower lip in silence. Again on the button, I open-raise with a monster, 73 (s00ted!). Again, the small blind folds and Barney defends. Barney checks. I bet with a pair of 3's. Turn is a 7. Barney checks. I bet my two pair. Barney raises. Weak-tight (me) calls. Barney bets the river. I call. Barney turns over AA. I show my two pair and take it down. Barney grumbles. I raise in early position with AQ. Two callers, including a blind and Barney, now behind me. Flop is rags. Blind checks. I check. Barney bets. Blind calls. I call. Turn is an A. Blind checks. I check. Barney bets. Blind folds. Shaking off my weak-tight mantle, I raise. Barney calls. I bet the river. Barney calls. We both show AQ. I laugh. "Nice hand, sir!" The pot is chopped. Barney mutters, "You think I am some kind of girl?" I am not sure what he means. :) AllKnight cracks Barney's AQ (s00ted!) which flops a flush, on a board of ThJh9hJA. AJ (?) g00t. Barney grumbles, racks up and leaves. What a fun guy! I go over to talk to Bone at his 3-6 holdem table. I observe, "I like my MPN buddies. They are very aggressive. The problem is, after their aggression, they end up showing down the second-best hand!" (I have really observed this too much. Good for me in the home game. Bad for my buddies when they are in the poker room.) As I state my observation, Keith, at Bone's table, gets in a raising war preflop and on a flop of Txx with two spades on board. Turn brings a third spade and six bets are added to the pot, with Keith making the last raise. The river pairs the board and I say to myself, "Here is where you check-call, Keith," who I put on a flush. Keith bets out. Opponent raises. Keith reraises. Maybe Keith has a boat!? Opponent reraises. Ruh roh! Keith calls. Turns over a s00ted A and announces, "The nut flush." Opponent turns over a full house. D'oh! Not again! Back to my 6-12 game, where LenG lands in the nine seat. (Do not confuse LenG with Len G., who busted me in last BARGE's NLHE tournament.) Introductions are made. LenG is a hoot. Joking and talking trash and announcing his hand. ("I never lie!" -- He does not and it saves me a couple of bets.) LenG is a master of something which I believe Mike Caro writes about: he is so fun and makes people laugh so much, that they actually >enjoy< losing to him! One of Len's lines, to a wife who comes by for the third time to check on the progress (or lack thereof) of her weak-passive husband: "Ma'am if you ever take up poker, do not take lessons from your husband." She laughs. He laughs. He loses another pot to Len and smiles. Beautiful. Len manages to charm the beautiful "Princess." He dubs her this after a dealer tells him that she is an expatriate Russian princess. She is a regular. I recall playing with her at Mirage last year. She is very quiet and polite and never smiles. By the end of the session, even Princess is smiling! I take a pot down with QJo and Len tells me, "They call that hand 'Going to Hawaii.' A friend says that if you >never< play that hand you will save enough money to take a trip to Hawaii." Later, I limp in with QJo. (Thanks for the advice, Len. :) I flop a gutshot draw to the nuts. Check around. Turn is a T, giving me the nuts. Someone bets out. I raise. He reraises. We end up capping it. Opponent bets on the river. I raise. He calls. He shows a flopped set of 6's. (Slow play no g00t!) I announce that I am going to Hawaii and show the nuts. Note to LenG: below are PokerStat data on my performance with QJo: Player Name: Zbigniew, Starting Card: QJo Total times dealt: 818 Won when not folded preflop: 42.73% (191/447) Average won/lost when dealt: $1.32 (0.12 BB) ($1,075.75/818) Average results when dealt: Win/Loss: $1.32 (0.12 big bets) ($1,075.75/818) Avg. Win: $22.92 (2.56 big bets) ($4,377.00/191) Avg. Loss: $10.35 (1.23 big bets) ($3,301.25/319) Total win/loss (dealt): +$1075.75 (+96.76 big bets) <--I'M GOIN' TO HAWAII!!! When dealt: won money: 23.35% (191/818) lost money: 39.00% (319/818) even money: 37.65% (308/818) Losses when folded preflop: -$232.75 (21.82 BB) Times folded preflop: 45.35% (371/818) Went to showdown when saw flop: 26.62%, (119/447) Stubing, Len and I all quit winners at the same time. We compare notes and discover that we collectively removed 92 big bets from the game. ________ Thanks to PokerStars, Paradise Poker, and Quiotix Technologies for their generous sponsorship of BARGE 2003. Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 22:54:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Zbigniew To: barge@barge.org Subject: [BARGE] TRIP REPORT: Zbigniew at BARGE 2003 [Part 2 of 2] FRIDAY I call Peg to say hi. Peg sez, "I got a receipt for traveller's checks in the mail today." Ruh roh! Auto club membership is in Peg's name and I bought the checks there. Now she knows the size of my roll. "Um, well, I took all the money from my account." "Mmmm," says Peg. In my mind's eye, I can see Peg's evil eye. Guilt flows, but not for long. We start with seven-card stud in the TOC-style tournament. I have rolled-up 7's on the very first hand. I raise a completion on third street. Continue my aggression on fourth. Fifth street brings a possible flush and straight to my lone opponent and he bets. I slow down and call. I call his sixth street bet. I call his river bet with no boat and he has a straight. I really can not do much in this tournament. I have only two playable Omaha/8 hands, which flopped nothing. I raise once with KKJ2 (!?). SteveBIA calls. Flop comes QQx. I bet. SteveBIA raises. I reraise. He re-reraises. I muck. I have KdQxJd3x. Oz three-bets preflop. I call, thinking this puts me all-in. I do not remember, but I am pretty sure I said, "Call," and did not announce "all-in." The flop comes 873. Oz, thinking I am all-in, turns over his AAxx hand. At this point someone points out that I am >not< all-in, that my call leaves me with a few chips. I now know Oz's hand and the flop. Oz says, "Do whatever you want." I ask, "What's the honorable thing to do?" No answer. Oz is emphatic that I do what I think is best. I decide to muck. I do not really notice that I have a pair of 3's until I toss my hand. My remaining chips are so low that I probably have odds to draw to trips or two pair. Oh well. I thank Oz for letting me act in my own interest. He says, "No problem." Wotta guy. I bust out in a holdem round, with Ad9d vs. Grizz's 66. Board comes with a diamond on the flop and turn, but no improvement on the river. IGHN. 108th of 144. Ugh. We travel to Bellagio, where I play 8-16 holdem. I am stone cold. It gets so bad, that I log some mucked hands: 82o, KTo, T3o, A9o, 86o, KTo, 95s, 54o. After an hour and twenty minutes, I win my first pot with 66. I limp in with Th9h. Flop is QhXcXc. There is a bet and I am sorely tempted to chase a backdoor flush. But, discipline rules and I muck. The board comes QhXcXcJhKh. I can only laugh at my folded straight flush. I manage to drop nearly four big bets. Not bad, considering my cards. SATURDAY I am not a no-limit or tournament expert. (See prior three finishes. ;) But, I have boned up in a couple of books that I bought with this tournament in mind. In the first round, I try to steal with absolute rags, raising the 25 blind to 75. One caller. Checked to me on the flop, I try to bet 150 into the 200 pot, but somehow manage to throw 300 out. I get check-raised. I fold. Nice start. I raise to 100 with KQ in the first round. It is reraised 300 and there is a cold-caller. I muck. Showdown reveals I was up against AK and AA. G00t laydown, Zbig. I cut my stack in half early, mostly with foiled steal attempts. I did manage to limp in once with a Doyle hand, 8c7c, but fold when the flop misses by a mile. Limping opportunities are very rare in this game, with all players typically opening with a raise. I tighten up. Under the gun with blinds of 50 and 100 , I raise to 400. Folded to Oz on my immediate right in the big blind. He says, "I have a hand that I should put you all in with." I look at my stack, see 350, realize it might have been better to push all-in. After surveying my stack, I say, "I just realized I look pot-committed." Oz pushes all-in. I call. He has JJ. I have KK. KK g00t. In the cutoff, I make a standard open-raise (three times the big blind) with 33. Button and small blind fold. Grizz, in the big blind calls. I flop a set. We both check the flop. The turn is innocuous. Grizz checks. I bet the size of the pot, about half my stack. Grizz comes over the top all-in. My book learnin' comes in handy and I recall, "You want to flop a set and take their entire stack." (Or double up, in this case.) I have an easy all-in call. Grizz has AA. (Slow play no g00t!) I double up. I am so excited by this second pot that my notes are shaky scrawls. The table is broken and I land on PattiB's right. She has a huge stack. To her immediate left is Tom McEvoy, also with a huge stack. No stealing here, folks! Folded to me in the small blind. I peek at Ad7d and make a standard raise. PattiB pushes all-in. D'oh! I actually think for a while. (Not taking time to think is my past problem in NLHE tournaments.) She is a solid player. She probably observes that I am playing tight. I think she must have a decent hand. I fold. Patti kindly (or to say, "Don't mess with me, bubbee!") rolls over JJ. G00t laydown, Zbig. With the blinds at 300-600, TrayRacer raises to 1000 from middle position. I, in late position and by now short-stacked (I have a little more than six big blinds and there are antes.), push all-in with 88. Folded back to Tray and he goes into the tank. He finally folds, saying, "There was a 60% chance that my fold was charity." I tell him to remember the hand, so we can talk about it later. (Later, that evening, he tells me he folded AQ and wanted to avoid a coin flip. I told him my I had 88. He did, indeed, avoid a coin flip.) In round 9, a short stack goes all in. I call with 99. We roll over the cards and opponent has KK. Oops. I am left with 225. I fold and fold and fold (Two rounds?), looking for an ace or pair. They never arrive. I put the nearly all of my chips in the big blind. There is a raise. Everybody folds to me. I have something like 150 left and it goes in the pot without looking at my cards. NUT-Z shows KdQd and, lo and behold, I have TT! "Woohoo, I am a favorite!" Tom McEvoy replies, "Yes, but a very small one." Hey, I was happy to get all my chips in with even slightly the best of it. Board comes KxxKx and I am done. 28th place of 180. It takes me five minutes to realize that I made it to ten out of the money. I won only two pots of consequence, but managed to last quite a while! It seemed like I spent the last half of the tournament short-stacked and looking for that elusive all-in hand. It never came until I was all-in on the big blind. Keith lasts the longest of the MPN'ers in tournament (24th?). He and I decide to go to the hospitality suite to get a drink and snag some swag. Keith visited the suite previously and announced that there were no more XL or larger t-shirts. On arrival, we find crates and crates of XL's and XXL's. Keith, apparently a suite virgin, did not realize that there was a second room in the suite during his previous visit. We chat with Patrick M., compliment him on his effort on the BARGE pins and chipsz, thank him sharing his tournament clock. Patrick lives near me and we have exchanged email. I remind him of this and the topic turns to our respective home games. "We are having a big tourney this month. Twenty or thirty players are expected!" I crow. "Do you think I could play in it?" asks Patrick. "Um. Probably. But we have to clear it with the King of MPN." "I will bring my clock." "Woohoo! I think you are 95% in." "I have 1000 chips I can bring. And a poker table." "OK. I think you are 99.5% now!" The banquet is a lot of fun. The four MPN'ers sit together. (LGHO and Madge drove home earlier today.) Kevin U. and Heldar and others (Sorry! We should have introduced ourselves!) are a lot of fun and there is much interesting conversation. We clear Patrick's MPN tourney attendance with King Bone. Howard Lederer's speech was pretty g00t, and I was pleased that I had, long before tonight, already incorporated his two tips into my game. :) In response to the centerfold-signed photos, I brought a copy of Patti's home page, which features a photo of her clad in leather. (Though, this is not Patti's typical wardrobe.) Patti graciously signs it. ("Be careful!") I hope it will bring me luck. The Saturday night BARGE games are spread. The NLHE final table is going. I opt for must-drink HORSE, having played Chowaha last year and skipping the may-drink HORSSE table. (>That< lineup looked tough.) I have plans to build a chip castle after my "second-rate" effort last year. I even consult with fellow MPN'er and art dweeb Bone on a design. ("I will split the winnings with you!" (I had heard rumors of a five dollar first prize. ;)) I start on the must-move must-drink HORSE table, so wait until I am moved to the main game before I start my castle. I have high hopes, as I have seen no other castles tonight. (Winner by default!) But, soon, word circulates around the room that Jesus is building a castle. Ruh roh! He is a past world champion! (Yes, in chip castle building.) I survey the competition and it is looking pretty darned g00t. Back to work! I spend hours and about 1350 building my castle, which ends up looking something like a chess bishop in a tornado. I take a couple of breaks, introduce myself to Jesus, try to trash-talk him a bit. But, his hands are steady and his castle is impressive. Foldem, the Official Judge, shirks his duty ;) and asks to declare a winner by acclamation. Jesus wins, hands down. But, my table-mates are in favor of my castle, which was gratifying. Congratulations, Jesus! A, um, large dealer comes to our table, sits down and pulls her chair in. My chip castle collapses. My cards are cold. I play tight and end up losing a couple of stacks. Like last year, my "loss" was probably all tokes. (There is a great BARGE tradition of profuse toking on the last night.) SUNDAY Last day in Vegas, boohoo! Bone and Keith have early-morning flights. Stubing and I make our way to Bellagio, looking for an 8-16 holdem game. The lists are full, so I get on the 4-8 list, too, and get seated in that game first. I can not get much going, but win a couple of smallish pots. Four people limp in. I, on the button, peek at AA and raise. The big blind calls, as well as the other four. Flop comes AhJx4h. Big blind bets. Folded to the guy on my right, who calls. I raise. Big blind reraises. We end up capping it with the third party calling all bets. I am in heaven. Turn is AhJx4hQh. Big blind bets. Third party calls. I call, back to my old weak-tight ways. (I am worried that third party has a flush.) River, praise the lord, pairs the board: AhJx4hQh4x. Big blind bets again. Third party calls. (?) I raise. Big blind reraises. Third party folds. (??) I re-reraise and big blind finally calls. He turns over J4o. I drag a monster pot with my nut boat. Big blind mutters, "That is the second full house I had cracked today!" (Nice hand, sir. Well played.) In this game, I encountered the fourth instance on this trip of, what is for me, a new breed of player: The Young Fresh-Faced Guy Who Plays Really Tight Preflop and Really Crappy Postflop. (YFFGWPRTPRCP, or YFFG for short.) The YFFG plays two hands per hour, raises or reraises preflop, bets all the way to the river, shows down unimproved AK and loses the pot. I guess these guys have read the books, but not cover to cover. I win another big pot and, with my 37.5 big-bet buy-in, now have a four-stack-high ziggurat of checks. This actually instills some fear in my opponents! And a few questions: "Having a good day?" "How long you been here?" Stubing and I cash out, gather our bags and bump into mickdog, who shares a cab to the airport with us. (Ding!) I had no chance to catch up with mickdog until now, and it was a pleasure to do so at the last minute. We make it to the gate 15 minutes prior to boarding. We are in the final boarding group (Southwest, y'know.) and the only adjoining seats are in an exit row. One row faces rearward, so we opt to sit facing one another. "All the better to play chinese poker!" say I. I start some CP trash talk and we attract the attention of the couple sitting next to me. "What are you guys playing?" asks the gentleman. "Chinese poker!" "How do you play?" We demonstrate a hand. (I scoop, but Stubing sez he would have surrendered.) "You wanna play?" I ask. "Sure!" So, we gamb00led with a total stranger on the flight home. R00ling! Our new-found opponent and CP newbie dropped a buck. I picked up 9. (50 cents per point.) Stubing, YGHN! As we are playing, we are answering the usual "ice-breaker" questions. The female half of the couple asks, "Are you guys married?" "No," I reply. Stubing looks at me strangely. I guess this says something about my attitude on "same-sex unions," because I thought that she was asking if Stubing and I were married to each other! I quickly recover, describing our opposite-sex marital status. WRAP-UP Unfortunately, my rushes happened in the lowest-limit games. I was card-dead (and sometimes brain-dead) in the higher-limit games. Ditto the tournaments. But, BARGE was a blast. A big thank-you to all attendees for being tough opponents, interesting conversationalists and huge fun. Profuse thanks to host, organizers and sponsors. --- A++ G++ PKR PEG-- B TB ADB? M+ ________ Thanks to PokerStars, Paradise Poker, and Quiotix Technologies for their generous sponsorship of BARGE 2003.