From: "Russell Fox" Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 19:13:35 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Russ Angles BARGE, Part 1 Russ Angles BARGE (Part 1) Or, It Starts Good and Ends Good Thank you Peter and Chuck for giving me the opportunity to spend time with people who I now consider to be good friends: my fellow BARGErs. How all of you can stand a non-drinking, non-smoking straight arrow (we don't get into politics here, so I'll skip some other remarks) whose biggest gamb00l outside of poker is to lose $20 playing video poker - well, I'll go with Peter and say that at BARGE everyone is a friend (I even saw Fruchter and Maverick conversing normally!) All BARGE trip reports are supposed to have some story about travel difficulties. Usually, that's easy - there's always construction on Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, the drive both coming and going was easy as pie. On my return today I had a beautiful view of the sunrise over the Mojave with scattered clouds - a picture perfect setting. So no travel problems. Last year I got knocked out on the first hand of the Barge Chip Committee (BCC) tournament, held after the sorting of the BARGE chips. I survived the first hand, but it looked like I might be the first victim when my AA fell to Randy Collack's KJ (K on flop, J on river). However, I overcame my short stack and won the tourney - a good omen for the week. Early BARGE moment: After busting out of the Nugget tournament on Tuesday, Scottro and I head to the Bellagio. I start in a dull $2/$5 blind $200 buy-in NLHE game while Scottro plays in a r00ling $8/$16 hold'em. Scottro convinces me to join his game and I get on his right. About five minutes into sitting at the table Scottro raises my big blind; I look down at K8o. I call (along with ~4 others). Scottro bets throughout, but I have a double belly buster straight draw that comes home on the river. That's *not* the key hand - it's the very next hand when I'm in the small blind (94o) and Scottro (42o) has the big blind. I ask Scottro if he wants to chop; he says no ("It would spoil the integrity of the game.") so I call and Scottro checks. The flop is 494 [ding!]. I check, Scottro bets, I call. The turn is a Queen. I check-raise Scottro who asks me, "Russ, you don't have a bleeping nine, do you?" I don't answer, but I do bet the river (5) and get paid off. I played the Tuesday charity Triple Draw Lowball tournament. This is the only tournament where I got good cards: unfortunately, I got good high cards. I was dealt three full houses, a pat Broadway, and various other good high hands. And when I got (or made) good low hands, such as an 8-perfect, Gavin would turn up with a rough 7. I was done quickly. On Wednesday afternoon I deserted BARGE and headed to the Orleans to play in their noon NLHE tournament. This year I had not cashed in any tournament to date; I decided I wanted to go back to the scene of my first success. I appeared to be the only BARGEr among the ~80 entrants. The play was what I expected - fishy - and I easily made the final table. When we became four handed we chopped the prize pool (the big blinds was 20% of a stack) and I netted $717 and some renewed tournament confidence. I probably made the most money for Team Presto! in the CHORSE event. I got three wheels, including the last hand of the tournament, a very well hidden three deuces, and I scooped at least five pots (I never split a pot). Thursday was the TOC. I was in Stud heaven, completing on 3rd street whenever I could get away with it and rarely being played back. I was also in Omaha hell, getting good starting hands and missing the flop or bad starting hands. The key for me was hold'em. And I flubbed the key hand and Ploink played it beautifully. I raise with 98s, Ploink calls (I think his hand was QT, but it's not important). The flop misses me completely but it gives Ploink a straight draw - we both check. The turn hits my 8 but gives Ploink a flush draw, too. Ploink bets into me and I tank and then correctly read him and call. The river misses both of us. Ploink bets, and I fold. I'm not sure why I didn't trust my read - but it was a key hand for both of us: a swing of $4,000. Kudos to Ploink in doing it right (and demerits to me for getting it wrong). Thursday night was the Rio buffet. I had great conversations with Iceman, Chuck Weinstock, Don Perry and others. As to the food, the Rio has the quantity (if you're looking for a specific entrée it's probably at the Rio) but the Bellagio has the quality. By far. Part two of this report will detail: - How to Angle-Shoot, Russ Fox Style - If you're going to knock someone out, you might as well get a straight flush - If you're going to suck out, you might as well keep doing it until you win your table - The dead stacks should always be to the left of the person who wants them picked up - How to Angle-Shoot, Russ Fox Style (method two) - How to end a trip in the best possible way; and more! -- Russ Fox From: "Russell Fox" Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 21:20:42 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Russ Angles Barge, Part 2 Russ Angles BARGE (Part 2) Or, It Starts Good and Ends Good West Coast poker players have a reputation of being unable to play stud. I hoped to change that at my shootout table, with Steve (I'm always at a table with Russ) Johnson, Michelle Lancaster, Rick (Stubing) Kerndt, myself, Paul McMullin, /david Huberman, and Bob Wynne. I do almost nothing at my table (I'm at $950 at the end of round 3 and $1425 at the end of round 8) until it matters. Michelle builds up a huge stack; she easily has half the chips. Steve, Rick and Bob are the early casualties. Four-handed with the limits huge (relative to my meager stack) I pick up (6c7c)9c and complete /david's bring-in. David has a pair; I catch the 5c on fourth and I'm all-in. I *think* /david had (9h9d)3dKs. No matter, I catch the 8c on fifth street and /david is down to $75 and effectively eliminated. Three-handed, the money moves in a circle between Paul, Michelle and I until Michelle has the bring-in with the Td. I look down at (ThTc)Ts and flat-call. Paul has a King as his up-card and completes the bet and I manage a call. The money goes-in on fourth and I get Paul's 1994 BARGE chip as his bust-out prize. (I gave out 'kill' buttons in the first three events as bust-out prizes.) I'm *exactly* even with Michelle at the end of Round 9. We then get the dealer from Hell, who deals one hand every three minutes (he dealt my table in the NLHE on Saturday and worked at a much faster pace; apparently, he just doesn't get stud). Three hands later (and 15 minutes or so) he was gone and our heads-up battle began in earnest: Jordan dealt the final 45 minutes of our table. The structure sheet may have said, "The tournament should end in the 10th level or one of the first few hands of level 11." We were within six minutes of level 12 when we finished. Both Michelle and I played well, but I was able to suck-out repeatedly. I was all-in four times and needed to hit something (or, a lot of somethings). Michelle had two pair; I made trips. Michelle had trips; I made a straight. Michelle had Aces and I had three rags; I made two pair. Michelle had a small straight; I made a bigger straight. Then it was Michelle's turn (sort-of); she had a pair of fives while I had a straight and flush draw that didn't get there. And we exchanged bring-ins. Again, again, again, and again. I ask the dealer (in jest) if we complete level 11 is level 12 programmed on the clock? But then comes the final hand. Michelle starts with (QJ)Q while I have (QJ)J. We both catch nines on fourth street. I'm not sure how the betting went but the money goes in (we started this hand exactly even). Michelle gets another nine on fifth street while I catch a five. Michelle is an 87% favorite - until I get the case Queen on sixth street. During an early stud round I do a beautiful angle-shoot. I complete the bet with, say, a King showing (and junk underneath). Michelle raises (and I can tell she has something) so I fold. As I throw my cards to the dealer with my right hand I pull the bet back with my left hand. I do this on a subconscious level. In any case, the dealer asks me for "the other." I tell her that she has my cards. She then asks for my bet - and boy did the table have fun with me for a while: straight-shooter Russ gets caught angle-shooting! I helped out working at the Symposium/Calcutta. Although I think that the Calcutta may have outlived its usefulness I know that Peter disagrees with me. The food, though, lasted beyond the end of the symposium. The Calcutta pool ended up being about 30% under the NLHE prize pool. I again buy back ¼ of myself for $32.50 (same price as 2001; this year I was paired with Don Perry). It's again a good buy-back. After the Symposium I get to play one hand of $1/$2 (blind) PLB (pot limit Bingaha). I call with A3sJJ. I completely miss the flop and am out of time - the final tables of the stud shootout are starting. My table is full of people who know how to play stud (with, perhaps, one exception). To my right are JP and Michael Maurer while to my left are David Tahijian, Taki and Bob Herlein. Bob goes on the early rush at JP's and David's expense. David is first out. I rarely get an ante stealing type hand; in fact, I rarely get any hand. I do knock out JP with a wheel. Bob Herlein suffers two bad beats and falls out and we're at the final table. I'd love to say that I did well at the final table but I didn't. My chips go in with Queens against Karma's underpair but he catches a second pair and I don't so I end up in eighth place. Still, I played well. Even better, my roommate for BARGE, Peter (Taki) Caldes wins the event! While in Dallas on business two weeks ago I stopped at a five and dime and saw a plastic fishing rod with a magnetic fish bait/hook along with four magnetic fish. Even in my heat-fried brain I immediately knew that was the perfect BARGE bust-out gift. So after breakfast Saturday I grab my reel and fish and play a little Blackjack at the Nugget (I think I lost $20) while everyone looks at my fish and rod. Two of the dealers want to abscond with it. But I'm able to save my fish and bring the over the Horseshoe for the NLHE. The only question in my mind about my starting table was would Scott Byron be on my left or right? He was in seat 2; Caryl Aronson was in seat 1, Phil Gustafson in 3, myself in 4; Tina (dead stack #1) Gonzalez in 5, Steve Evans (dead stack #2) in 6, Erik Seidel (dead stack #3) in 7, John Chase in 8, Jim Bullard in 9 and Barry Kornspan in 10. It's a fun table, and we discuss the benefit I have of three empty chairs immediately to my left. It's huge, and that's why the dead stacks have to be picked up sometime. (Erik shows up near the end of round 2 and Steve arrives near the end of round 4. Tina is a no-show to the tourney.) In any case I'm able to double up fairly early when I hold my second (and last) pair of Aces against Caryl's Kings. Unfortunately, I stay in the $3,000 to $4,000 range for a long time. I'm still there when our table breaks and I'm moved to Action Bob's table (I say that because I think he dominated the play while I was there). I'm able to reraise Walter Hunt out of a steal (I probably had the better hand) and I cripple JP, again. I didn't make any notes about the hand, unfortunately. My second angle shooting incident happened at this table. I raise on a hand and take the blinds. I keep my cards and the dealer deals a second hand (I don't recall if the dealer forgot to ask me for my cards back or if I forgot to give them back). In any case, I soon have two hands to choose from.. This table breaks and I'm moved to my home game table: Ploink, Jerrod, Marc Gilutin ("The Occupant") and Michelle Lancaster all have good stacks. Ploink has a huge stack. I have a meager ("adequate," according to Marc) stack. But I'm able to continually grow my stack at this table without great cards: my best hand from here out would be pocket nines (I did raise once with AKs but didn't get called). Jerrod falls by the wayside, and Ploink suffers two beats and falls on the bubble. One interesting hand (I think we were at three tables when this occurred) was against Michelle. Michelle raises my big blind (she has a big stack) to $1800 ($300/$600 blinds with an ante). I look down at 99 and re-raise to $5000. Michelle goes into the tank for several minutes. She calls. I put her on a middle pair (TT, JJ, or QQ) and pray for a 9, K or A on the flop. The flop comes As8s3h. She checks, I go all-in and she folds. I spoke with her later and she said that she had a small pair so I misread her hand. I would have had a tough decision if she had re-raised all-in pre-flop. Well, that will do it for part 2 of this trip report. Part 3 (the conclusion) will detail the final table (at least what I saw of it), the banquet and how I ended this trip in the best possible fashion. -- Russ Fox From: "Russell Fox" Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 15:30:13 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Russ Angles Barge (Part 3) Russ Angles BARGE (Part 3) Or, It Starts Good and Ends Good Note: This won't be the conclusion. Because of posting size restrictions a Part 4 will follow. The last hand before the final table - and I know that because we're going hand for hand and someone busts from the other table - I look down at AJo in the big blind. Gavin raises. I hear clapping from the other table so if I fold I make the final table. I push all-in; Gavin's standard for raising are two cards above a three. He is very unhappy that I played back at him. Eventually (he thinks for about three minutes) he calls with his 76o and I double up when nothing untoward happens. I go to the final table with ~$42,000; Gavin has the big stack. The other players (but not their exact stack sizes; sorry) are: Seat 1: Steve Pierce, huge amount of chips; 2: Me; 3: ADB Nut-Z (Frank Brabec) ~$50,000; 4: Michelle Lancaster: ~$80,000; 5: Karma (Tony Goldstein) ~$50,000; 6: Dan Nussbaum: ~$80,000; 7: Tiger123: over $100k; 8: Perry (short-stack) Friedman (~$30,000); 9: Gavin ('cocktails, please') Smith: huge amount of chips. Perry is the first one in danger when he's all-in with KQo against Frank's A9o but he survives. Michelle is the first out when her QJ is beaten by KK (I think by Gavin, but I'm not positive). I pay my blinds but am able to double-up after that when I hold AQ and am all-in against Dan's Q7. Perry becomes extremely short-stacked and calls in the big blind all-in without looking against Gavin's raise. Perry has 32 against Gavin's 77. But the flop is 239! The turn is a 7, though, dooming Perry to 8th place. At 6:30 the clock sounds ending the level and we're about to hit the dinner break when the key hand of the tournament occurs: the two big stacks battle. Gavin raises the blinds to $15k (the blinds were something like $3k/$6k. Steve re-raises to ~$32k. Gavin (AA) goes all-in. Steve (AK) quickly calls. Gavin has Steve barely covered and becomes the huge chip leader. The good news (for me) is that I have just paid the blinds and should move up a spot or two even without doubling up. We then break for the banquet. [I'll talk about the banquet after the rest of the final table.] When we return the stacks are: me: $31k (and the button); Nut-Z $54k (sb); Karma $30k (bb); Dan $31k (utg); Tiger: ~$80k; Gavin: ~$180k. On the first hand Gavin raises to $40k. I look down at 82o and fold, as do Frank and Tony. I was very surprised that Tony folded - he must have had a 72o type of hand. On the second hand I hold 42o. It's folded to me and my cards join the muck. Karma moves in and Dan, shrugging his shoulders, calls with his 65o. Tony has K2, but his King isn't a heart while Dan's five is - and the board comes with four hearts so Dan adds to his stack. Tony finishes sixth. On the third hand Gavin raises utg to $40k, I look down at 42o (again) and fold. Tiger re-raises all-in from the big blind with JTo. Gavin instantly calls with AKo. There is no Jack or ten on the flop so Tiger finishes fifth. On the fourth hand Gavin is the bb (no sb) and everyone folds (I hold T5o utg). It turns out that Gavin also holds T5o. On the fifth hand I ante $1,000 and post the $10k big blind - I'm down to a stack of $16k. Dan raises all-in (~40k). Everyone folds to me. I look down at Q4o and think. It's pretty clear that Dan has a good but not great hand (at least that's my read) so I put him on something like KTo (his actual hand, as it turns out). I figure that at worst I'm a 2:1 dog (I'm actually 1.89:1). I'd be risking $16k to win 45k so the pot is giving me the right odds. If I fold I'm crippled and must play my random sb or hope someone else is eliminated before I post my bb again. An additional factor is the flatness of the payouts; fourth paid just under $1800 while first was around $3600. So I call. There's a ten on the flop so I need to hit my Queen (or runner-runner fours) but I don't and am done in fourth ($1,780 real money). Congratulations to Gavin on his victory. When we were at two tables Gavin constantly yelped "I'm the worst player here." Yeah, really. Gavin is one of the best nlhe players I've encountered (his record speaks for itself) and I wish I had had the opportunity to face him heads up. It would have been a lot of fun. After I bust out, I'm mentally wiped out. This is normal for me after a tourney; I'm using my head the entire time (or at least I try to) so my brain needs a break. Randy Collack convinces me to join his r00ling $6/$12 hold'em game with a full kill. I do, and drop over $100 as I get few cards and fewer hold up. Part 4 (to follow momentarily) will detail my ring game follies. -- Russ Fox From: "Russell Fox" Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 15:35:28 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Russ Angles Barge (Part 4, the Conclusion) Russ Angles BARGE (Part 4) Or, It Starts Good and Ends Good SOME OTHER RING GAME LOWLIGHTS: Goldie, in his trip report, commented about a $1/$2 blind NLHE game at Binion's (unlimited buy-in). It was real fishy, populated by two totally clueless people (one who bought in for $100 at a time at least nine times that I saw) and another who thought that bad drawing hands were good. Goldie noted that I suffered two beats: he was wrong. I suffered three, on four consecutive hands. On the first hand, clueless player #1 (Mr. $100 at a time), clueless player #2 (Mr. Draw), and Nolan Dalla (who is definitely *not* clueless) all call. I look down at QQ, and raise $25 or so. Clueless player #2 goes all-in (for about $40 more). I call. He has middle connectors but hits both. Oh well, I'm back to even. On the following hand I look down at AKo. CP #1 and a couple of others call, I raise, and CP #1 goes into the tank. He finally calls, and also has AKo. We chop the pot. It was unlucky for me because he was calling anything and everything. I fold the next hand and then, on the following hand, have JdJh. A bunch of people (including both CP #1 and CP#2, and a friend of Nolan's) call. The hand was straddled to $4, and I make it $24. The three callers are CP #1, CP #2 and NF. The flop is Qxx, all diamonds. I was in one of the blinds and must decide what to do. I elect to go all-in. I might have the best hand, I might draw out to the best hand, and I might convince aware players that I have the best hand (there's about $100 in the pot, and I have about $200 left on the table). CP #1 folds quickly; CP #2 tanks for five minutes and folds. Nolan's friend calls with two low diamonds (83?), and I don't hit my outs. I'm annoyed, but that's life in no-limit. I elect to leave the game because when I'm upset I don't play well. Scottro talks to me about this and cools me down by allowing me to lose some money playing VP at Main Street Station where we run into Martin Veneroso. Fast forward to Sunday (8/1). I head over to Bellagio and first sit in a good $8/$16 game. It's fishy as hell and the player next to me (a kid from Tulsa) notes that he's going to move to the $2/$5 $200 buy-in NLHE game. I'm on the list for that and now know that's where I'm going to end up. After losing $100 in the $8/$16 (just missing my draws), I move into the NLHE. I sit on the left of Tulsa and another fish. Actually, with one exception, the game is incredibly fishy. Of course I'm losing - I play almost no hands and never hit my nice draws. The kid from Tulsa plays fishy but hits everything and leaves with over $1,000. But the game stays real good. A good player from Louisiana sits down in the game and runs his $200 into $2000 ($50 was from me when I couldn't make my flush and straight draws): he doesn't miss a hand and the fish are helping a lot. I rebuy and add $200 to my stack. Finally, I'm able to get a hand (sort-of): I hold KQo in the bb and see a flop of Qxx. I know I have the best hand. A new fish, a long-haired bud light drinker (lhbld) tosses a stack of chips ($25) into the pot. I call. The turn pairs one of the low cards: I'm sure it didn't help him. Lhbld tosses some more chips into the pot; I raise him all-in. He quickly calls and shows his Q7o (there wasn't a 7 on the board). My hand holds up and I double up. I talk with the guy from Louisiana; it turns out he's playing this game as a pro and clearing (if you believe him) $9,000 a month. I do believe him: he's a good player and the game is quite good. I don't know how long the game will remain this way but it's a gold mine. Well, I told Scottro I'd treat him to the buffet at Bellagio, and it's almost 7pm so I get a couple of racks. I'm up about $200 (I have $600 on the table) when I look down at AA. I make the standard raise to $20. To my surprise seat one, a new fish (nf), raises to $100. I have a bunch of choices: I could just call, I could re-raise, or I could push all-in. Scottro and I talked about this hand at dinner: he thought I should push all-in. In retrospect, I think I should have called and re-raised (or called) his almost certain-to-come flop bet. No matter, he called my re-raise to $300 and then called all-in my flop bet. He had KK, of course, and the board didn't change a thing. Now that's a great way for your last hand of poker to be in Vegas. But that wasn't the best last thing about BARGE. I had r00ling talks with a bunch of people, and I wish I had had time to talk with a whole bunch of others. Thanks, in no particular order, to Goldiefish, Chuck, Peter, Nolan, Scottro, Steve Day, Un, Michelle and MickDog. I'm forgetting several others, and I know that, but I'm still suffering BARGE withdrawal. Of course, I need to thank Chuck, Peter and Binions/ Harrah's for there tremendous work hosting BARGE. A great time was had by all. Finally, I should make a comment about the banquet. The less said about the food the better: it was awful. However, Greg's talk more than made up for it. Given my 'success' at attracting putrid speakers for ESCARGOT I should have taped the talk as an example of what a speaker *should* talk about. That's it for 2004. I'm sure BARGE 2005 will be just as good. I can't wait! -- Russ Fox