Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 22:04:46 -0400 From: don perry Subject: [BARGE] Barge 2005 It was, as usual, THe Best Barge Ever. I understand the temperature in Hell is returning to normal. For those who don't know, I won the NLHE event. Along the way I became discouraged and was sort of ready to pack it in after having a pretty large stack cut in half or worse after a few beats. I called Dan Goldman's bet ( which put me all in ) with 7 10 off, basically thinking, " Screw this, i'm going to go play some HORSE." Dan shows 77 ( a scooter) and I catch a 10 to double through. 9 out of 10 psychiatrists agree that "doubling through" is better than antidepressants for the depression caused by losing hands. Now...here's the punch line. Dan Goldman, in a misguided attempt to penetrate my inscrutable winning startegy asked my reason for making this call. The answer my friend is blowin in the wind. Thanks so very much to Peter Secor, Chuck Weinstock, the people at the Plaza, the horses that were sacrificed to stock the Las Vegas Club meat locker, to Poker Stars and Paradise Poker, to Peter and Mad Mary for a timely rescue and to all of the great friends (old and new) that I couldn't wait to see before BARGE and can't wait to see again, after BARGE. Trip report to follow. PS: Lennie in Lingerie has been pretty much ruled out as a chip theme, although I find the idea titillating. Suggestions greatfully received. I have no intention of doing the Canadian sidestep ! ________ BARGE 2005 is being supported by PokerStars.com and ParadisePoker.com. Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:05:57 -0400 From: don perry Subject: [BARGE] TR little poker mostly sentimental drivel. I am picked up at my home by my friend LenG and we head to Claude's compound, collect him and head for Islip's MacArthur airport, for The Southwest flight to LV. A new direct flight for a change. The smallest seats in the industry I am told. Being 6'4" and closing on 300 I am dreading the flight. As we leave Claude's I pull an Ace bandage and a cast boot out of my carry on and proceed to wrap my foot . This is to lend credibility to my need to pre-board, thus locking up bulkhead seats. As usual the ploy works and Len and Claude and I get front row and about 12" more leg room then the poor bastards crammed into the seats behind us. I sit and watch with a mixture of guilt and amusement as some rather hefty passengers file past. In fact I don't walk well and do tend to get wicked leg cramps that require that I move around a bit but I still have some guilt about the wheelchair and the preboarding ploy. In return for prostituting myself like this all I ask is that Len and Claude call me Master for the duration of the flight. By the way, having been off cigarettes for over two years I have come to join the vocal complainers, who I used to think were just whining pussies. Len and Claude are both smokers and took turns smoking one cigarette after the other all the way to the airport, about an hours ride, anticipating nicotine deprivation. It was brutal. Arrive LV and we are to be met by my good friend Paul Stein. I have gotten confused about where he was meeting us, I recall he knew where we would be coming in and so we waited in the passenger pick up area for about 45 minutes finally grabbing a cab. We figured Paul just got in a game, and I had said if he didn't make it it wouln't be a big deal. Paul was waiting inside the terminal, we were waiting outside the terminal. Got to the Plaza,, and if the room was a bit dumpy, and the bathroom a bit small but my room was clean, quiet , well air conditioned and the housekeeping staff was pleasnt and helpful , The south tower is the spot for me. Close to the poker room, and the snack bar is just outside the elevator which is great if you just want a cup of coffee at non-room service prices. It was like a family reunion in the poker room, seeing a bunch of old friends. The best thing about BARGE is that every year you become a little friendlier with people you have interacted with only slightly in the past so your circle of friends is ever expanding. And with the great bunch of virgins theis year it was really great . I hate to mention people by name because I am bad at names and I hate to leave anyone out. I did have a great time playing with my new CHORSE teamate John Planown and meeting his great wife Terry. And I had a super time at a baby pl game with Bob Jones and another virgin whose name tag I could never see, but who I also ran into again deep into the NLHE game. I had some great fun playing blind man's Omaha 4/8 and had a great run playing without looking and using Action Bob's strategy of raising eevry chance you get. Damned if it isn't workable at hi low Omaha. You seem to wind up heads up a lot and at least getting half a pot when you aren't scooping. I was in the one seat and Pete Secor tells me the local in 9 was actually turning colors, he would get so pissed off when I hit a scooper. Good for him. The dealers looked like they were having a pretty good time too and God knows we Bargers were laughing our asses off. I played pretty poorly in the tournaments. A newbie I called The Good Mav tilted me pretty good during one tournament. Now I call him the other Mav the Dick. I played too aggressvely early on and was crippled early. In the TOC I was just too tired to be there and played Omaha blind till I busted out at 1pm. I went right to bed and didn't wake up till 6:30 PM. Next year I don't think I will enter every tournament, but will try to pace myself some. At 55 I can't do wht I did at 35 or even 45. It's a bitch getting old. Everything is slowing down except the part of you that wants to do it all. NLHE: This was the one we ALL come to play, the main event at the 'arg main event. I did well early on due to the fact that I was a card rack for a while. AA about 4 times the first 90 minutes. I figured I was jinxed being in seat 1 at table 1 though. I guess not. After building up a great stack i lost almost half to JJ when my AQ didn't pair up and then pissed away a bit more when I was moved to Dan Goldman's table. I was card dead and began to get bored and depressed and started thinking about playing some HORSE or some OMAHA. Dan Goldman went all in way ahead of me and in a suicide attempt i called with 10 7o. I doubled through and suddenly felt pretty good again and started playing like I was serious again. I have tolg Dan how sorry i am that I put that kind of beat on him in that spot. He plays to win and I know losing a hand to someone not playing seriously sucks. I did play for real thereafter though. I won't ever do that again and if I want to quit in future I am going to let my stack be blinded off. I should know better than to let some losses get me down. This is my worst although not my only weakness,The year I won the 7 stud trophy I was literally at the felt early on and did a total turn around. Without boring detail I went on to play Nick Christianson heads up for the trophy after dinner. By the way that was the single worst dinner I have ever been served and I include the meals at boy scout camp back in 1962, The shrimp smelled like the tide was out and the steak may have been from some large stringy rodent.I choked down the shrimp without too much gagging, felt queasy, sawed off a hunk of the 'steak" and then abandoned that project and went to my room to lie down for a bit. Shit...next year why not serve soylent green at the banquet ? The one year I don't do "veggie" it turns out to be the winner. So I go back and play Nick heads up. I have learned that I am not meant to be a high stakes poker player. I wanted the BARGE NLHE trophy so bad I was actually shaky. And I was not crazy about playing with a crowd standing around watching. I woud have prefered to go up to a room and play in private. For a heads up game I had a pretty good run of cards, often a K , a few A's Not a lot of total crap. I did bluff a bit, but not a lot, raising a bet of 45k by 45k and getting a laydown, thank God. Nick IS the better card player and I won with a run of luck when my A against his 2 picture cards held up. I was really pretty choked up about it since this is likely the biggest tournament I'll ever win. I also could put myself in Nick's shoes and I hated to see a gentleman of his caliber walk away with 2nd. He was as gracious as anyone could be in that spot. Thanks Nick. I hope you win it next year if it's not me again. Keep your laughs to a minimum please. After the tournament I went up to my room for a bit, came back to the poker room to say some goodbyes and went to bed . I was absolutely beat. I thought thePlaza was just great, The rooms were cleaner and quieter than Binion's. I was oblivious to the dealer shortage though. I Thought all of the dealers I dealt with were very nice and the floor people pretty nice, Betty (?) being the exception. She was super. The Buffet at the Plaza was horrendous. I recall posting that complaining about food in LV was foolish because you can always get vegetables at even the cheapest buffets. I have found the exception and it's name is Plaza. Two vegetables if I recall correctly. Canned corn and mashed potatoes. The salad bar was minimal too. Once was too much. I ate fish sticks and salad that night and I'll never go back. Shoulda had a veggie sub at Subway. The free breakfast was pretty decent though. The price was certainly right. I did pick up a new bad habit this BARGE called Chinese Poker. It's new to me and I really enjoyed getting some lessons from a very patient group that included the prodigal son, Kid Z. ( Ummm..your no kid anymore Mike !) Also picked up a quick hundred from my group of Boure students. Noted poker author Russ Fox may be hooked on Boo-ray. It was as always a great BARGE. I'm just not in the mood for trying for the cheap laugh right now. I'm still recovering. Takes longer every year. It was really good seeing you all again and meeting all you virgins. Why don't we just start a commune so we can hang around together all the time? Oh yeah.That was LAST century. Sorry. I get confused. I am trying to work with the chip committe already. This may not work out . It would seem that a certain degree of good taste is involved. They have rejected Vagrants of Vegas and sexy Men of Barge ( see link for an example I have proffered). I'm not sure where I'll turn next. Thanks Chuck, Peter, Mike, Poker Stars and Paradise Poker and all of you Barger's for another "best week of the year". http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/trythat/sexydon.jpg ________ BARGE 2005 is being supported by PokerStars.com and ParadisePoker.com.