Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:24:41 -0400 From: "Stevan H. Goldman" Subject: [BARGE] BARGE05 trip report - goldiefish BARGE'05 - a week of "Face Ache"! PRE-BARGE As BARGE05 drew near, anticipation grew. Geometrically (if that means "a lot"). In all previous years I arrived in the desert on Tuesday. Don't ask me why I felt the need to spend Monday in the office. I mean, if you can take off Tue-Fri, how much worse can it be to take off Monday too? And, taking Monday off opens up the prior weekend for consideration. So when I first booked my trip it was Tuesday to Sunday. Then, having decided to take off Monday, I rebooked for Sunday - Sunday, planning to spend most of the weekend with my wife and son, and arrive Sunday night in Las Vegas. Then, with only one week to go, my wife and son made plans to be away for the prior weekend (DINGZ!), so I'm on the phone looking to change flights again. The best I could do was a Saturday departure that had me in grin city by 4:00pm Saturday afternoon. Thirty hours longer in Vegas than the prior Sunday-to-Sunday plan. That's 30 hours more grinning. I know my face is going to hurt from all the smiling, laughing and grinning by Wednesday anyway, so an extra 30 hours on the front end seems tolerable. Besides, it hurts so good when your face hurts from smiling. Kinda says something about BARGE. AND real life. American Express was more than willing to accommodate the *slight* airfare "modification" (i.e. now double what my original reservation would have cost, after all the changes), and Alan "AJ" Bernstein helped me out with accommodations on Saturday night (DINGZ!), since my hotel reservation didn't begin until Sunday and adding just a Saturday (without the adjoining Friday) isn't easy at Bellagio. Alan and I have been friends since we met in college (Washington University, St. Louis) in September 1971. After all these years, it was nice to finally realize a benefit from all the effort it has taken to stay friends with someone who, for reasons I will never understand, rejects his own intellect. Only kidding, Al. We both know you're the smartest person I know. I'm glad all those poker lessons I paid for in college have paid off. For you. SATURDAY I got upgraded on the flight (DINGZ!), so I was able to catch a few zzzzzz's (apologies for inappropriate apostrophe) in flight, and I arrived feeling great. Grabbed the rental car and followed AJ's meticulous directions to his house in Sun City Anthem in Henderson. Checked in with AJ, relaxed for a few minutes, cleaned up, and headed to the strip for dinner with Adam and Debbie Bachrach and Adam's parents. Arrival on Saturday night gave me the opportunity to meet Adam Bachrach's parents (DINGZ!). They were in town visiting Adam and Deb the week prior to BARGE, so my earlier-than-originally-planned arrival provided the chance, and I jumped. Adam and I agreed in advance to not fight over the bill, but we neglected to include his dad in that discussion, and despite being the oldest horse in the field, dad grabbed the check and wouldn't yield. No question why Adam is such a class act and where he gets it from. Dinner (Joe's Stone Crab in the Caesar's Forum Shops) was delicious, and the company was superb. Thanks to all the Bachrachs, especially dad. Dinner at six was perfect for me, as I was still on east coast time. After dinner I played a little $15-$30 Holdem at Bellagio (+$400, 1hr)(DINGZ!) and by the time I got back to AJ's it was close to 11:00pm local, and I was ready to get some of the last, best, and longest sleep I would get for a week. I did, and awoke refreshed and ready (DINGZ!). A shower, and shot of OJ and I was off. First stop, Bellagio to check in. SUNDAY I was offered a room in the new "Salon Tower", and because I had never stayed in that tower I took it. It was a mistake, as it doubled the difference in distance between the poker room and my room. I kind of intended to change on Monday, since I was going to be there for a week, but I never go around to it. Instead, I adjusted my thinking and looked at the long walks as my daily exercise during BARGE. Remain flexible. That's the key. (DINGZ!) Took John Novak with me down to the Plaza. I checked it out, he checked in. Things were pretty quiet there, so I headed back out to Bellagio. Three hours of $15-$30, during which I was absolutely TORTURED by one of the worst players I have ever seen. The good news is, since he barely spoke English, any temptation I might have had to go on tilt was mitigated by the fact that he wouldn't have understood anything I might have spewed. I took that as a good sign and kept my mouth shut and considered it a rest for my soon-to-be-sore-from-too-much-smiling cheeks. His name was apparently "Said" (pronounced like the port city in Egypt). He was friendly and all, but he was absolutely one of the most passive, weak players I've ever seen at that level. Still, he took my chips hand after hand, and most other players' chips (proper use of apostrophe?) as well. He won over $3500, $600 of it from me. I considered myself lucky to have only lost what I did, and I decided it was time for a short nap. When I got back to my room I emailed Andy Bloch and made plans to meet him and Jen for dinner. (DINGZ!) I also emailed Nolan, but he didn't actually get back to me until Tuesday. While that was pretty fast for Nolan, it was too late for him to join us for dinner on Sunday. We ate at Jen's suggestion: Rosemary's Restaurant in Summerlin (DINGZ!). The food was fabulous. Jen said it was "Uncle Howard's favorite restaurant". Uncle Howard knows good food and wine. If you've never been to this gem, put it on your list. And, for you enophiles (note American spelling, French is oenophile), Sunday is "half price wine night". EVERY SINGLE bottle on the list is exactly half price on Sunday nights! SO, that ETUDE Pinot Noir, which is entirely enjoyable at $66, is remarkable at $33. (DINGZ!) Jen is looking just radiant, and I'm not talking about ONLY the ring!! Ahhh, young love. Ain't it great!! (DINGZ!) Back to Bellagio for a nightcap and cigar at the bar while blowing off $200 playing video poker (absolutely NO "DINGZ!") capped off Sunday night, and I stumbled off to bed about 1:30am. Note that after tonight's VP loss, I am now ahead $3400 LIFETIME at VP. But, the VP bleeding had only just begun. MONDAY Monday was a day for poker. You know - against strangers (non-BARGErs) - only goal is to win. I had a lovely breakfast in the Bellagio coffee shop (is the service there slower than before Wynn opened, or is it me?), and headed for the poker room. To my absolute delight, Said was still there, (DINGZ!) wearing the same clothes, + one day's beard, but was now in the $30-%60 game. I got on the list immediately, and sat down reading CARD PLAYER while awaiting the call. I also had plans to have lunch with a local friend. Interestingly, I introduced him to on line poker where he plays nothing but SNGs (no apostrophe at all, but changing case) on Party. He's settled in to those $33 events and he ain't going anywhere. I can't even get him to look at PokerStars. He's lived in Vegas for about six years. Before moving there he had never played in a public B&M poker room, despite the fact that he used to live less than one hour from AC. Since being in Vegas, he's tried the B&M rooms a few times (AFTER I introduced him to playing on line) and he just hates it. "Too slow, too uncomfortable, too many unbathed players, too noisy. Nothing enjoyable about it at all." So despite multiple invitations from me, he has no interest in BARGE. To each his own. Anyway, his office is on Industrial, south of Flamingo and we had a 12:30 lunch date. I had to leave for lunch just as my name was called. Sigh. After lunch, I quickly got into the $30-$60 game. Said was still there. (DINGZ!) But, even more remarkable, there were about 3 or 4 other very weak players in the game too. The absolute best kind of fish...the trembling kind! They put in every possible chip while calling with the worst of it, and they won the absolute minimum when they had the goods. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen SO MANY apparently weak, *passive* players at one table. One or two were positively TIMID. I'd have been willing to bet that this were their first or second time in a public poker room. Anyway, the game was great. Not the richest I've ever seen, but it seemed like it would have been hard to lose in this game. Still, I gave it a good try. But, before you ask "how many racks did you lose", I'll tell you that I played GREAT (as good as I can play) to win $195 in four-and-a-half hours of play. (DINGZ!) I left for dinner, looking forward to returning to this game. I had dinner at N9NE (steakhouse in The Palms hotel) with Warren, Crunch, AJ, Stacy "Big'Uns" Conrad, her brother John. Damn! Who am I forgetting? Nick? Or were you with us on Sunday? Sorry. Anyway, dinner was delicious. (DINGZ!) I like that restaurant and make it a point to get there when I'm in Chicago (where the original is). After briefly considering an expensive drink at the Ghost Bar, we rejected it in favor of heading back to Bellagio. Remarkably, I got back into the SAME GAME, and Said was still there. (DINGZ!...DINGZ!) So were the other shaking fish. I played for 90 minutes, won $560, (DINGZ!) and decided it was time to pay more Video Poker dues, under the guise of a nightcap and cigar. $200 and NO dingz! later (quarters, not dollars) I was ready for bed at 2:00am. Tomorrow is Tuesday, the official beginning to BARGE! TUESDAY Following a late brunch at the Bellagio buffet (-$48 Keno), I decided the reason I was losing at VP was because I was playing too late in the day, following too many adult beverages. I also decided that since my luck was due to turn it was time to step up my play from quarters to fifty cents. This proved to be an expensive miscalculation. Another $300 off the lifetime-VP-winnings, and I headed to the card room. No Said, but same timid game. Four or five players afraid to bet their hands and afraid to muck their no-value draws. I played just under two hours and won $625 (DINGZ!). Since I arrived, I haven't really had anything anyone would consider a good run of cards. If anything, just the opposite. But, the games were so soft that as long as you didn't get REAL unlucky, winning seemed to be only a matter of time. I headed downtown to the Charity PLO event. I wasn't entered, but I wanted to see everyone. Prior to the event I ran into Gavin, who convinced me to shoot craps with him. As he pulled out his BIG bankroll of inflated American currency the craps dealers announced "Get ready for BIG MONEY!". To make a long story short, Gavin won over $500 while I lost $50. Plus, Gavin threw $10 down for the dealers on all the hardways and hit the hard 10. So, as the PLO charity event began, I was down $50 and looked like a cheapskate to the dealers, while Gavin was stuffing his pockets with an extra 5 C-notes (I don't know how he found room in his pockets) and was being thanked by the dealers. I sought consolation where I knew my skill level should prevail...three card poker. As soon as I got my $50 back I decided I was hungry. Other than the coffee shop at the Golden Nugget and Hugo's Cellar, I didn't know anywhere else worth eating downtown, and I wasn't in the mood for Hugo's. I needed a suggestion as to where to eat downtown. Gavin recommended the restaurant upstairs in the Plaza. Easy to see why Gavin is losing weight!! After choking down some semi-satisfactory pasta I got into the PL Binglaha game that was r00led by Nolan. My turn for punishment at his hands came when, with no low after the turn, Nolan bet the pot with the nuts (J high straight). I had the same hand (nut). However Nolan had the redraw to the higher straight and the full house on his set of 8s. I had the redraw to the nut flush. I called for all my chips, ready to utter the famous words "Nolan, you're not going to like this..." as soon as the heart fell. Alas, Nolan liked the river and I didn't. He made the higher straight. He didn't even notice that he had the higher hand until Jerrod pointed it out just as the pot was about to be split. IGHN. NH, Nolan. And, THANKS, Jerrod. Nolan: Please return BARGE to what is used to be as soon as you're done draining money out of it. Of course, I burned ANOTHER $200 in VP, but I considered it training for the BARGE VP tourney the next day. WEDNESDAY I was entered in both the Blackjack and Video Poker tourneys. For Blackjack I wore my "HAIKU SPOKEN HERE" t-shirt. I R00led Blackjack. Right up until the end. (DINGZ!) While every other MoMo was content to bet small amounts, I was out there with my $200 max bet by the third hand. I won my table easily, ending the round with over $1900. When I got to the final table I discovered that no other first-table winner had more than $1100. So, I began the second and final round using the same strategy. Before long I had a lead on every other player of roughly $1000, and looked like a lock. So, I started getting cocky, thinking my lead was insurmountable. One time, I doubled down with a 16 and hit the 5! Presto! Finally, we were down to two, and sensing that he couldn't possibly win by continuing to bet vary his bets as he had been, Steve Markowitz began to bet the maximum $200 per hand, and when he won the last 7 consecutive hands, he beat me by about $140. Nice going Steve. Still, as I r00led most of this tournament I began to lament the time I've wasted trying to learn to play p0cker. BUT, I found out that they spread this "blackjack" game every day, so I'm looking forward to monster profits in the future at this easy game. Perhaps we could form a team. Andy? JP? On to Video Poker. I changed into my "I MAJORED IN VIDEO GAME THEORY" t-shirt and then headed to the VP area. On the way I ran into Ken "QB" Kubey. He gave me a copy of his book. I had seen it before but now I had one of my own. Thanks, Ken. I'll treasure it. (DINGZ!) I also (nearly) r00led in the VP tourney. I think it was the shirt, and the $500+ I had spent on practice lessons earlier in the week. I was in the first flight, machine #3. I made quads twice and r00led with a total of 1285. Based on the scores against me, I felt pretty good about being in the money, maybe even winning. Then, Connie "baguette" Kellers hit a royal on MY SAME MACHINE!! Nice going Connie!! Now that it was clear that she was the winner, the issue was whether my 1285 would hold up for second place. It did until the very last flight when "Tuscaloosa" John Kampis beat me by 5 points! Nice going Johnny!. Still, now that I had gotten away from the -EV of p0cker, I had pocketed over $500 in new royal-chasing, VP seed money!! By now it was time to get ready for the [non] smoker at Pieros. (DINGZ!) We had a MUCH smaller crowd than in prior years, owing to the simultaneous LOWBALL tourney taking place at the Plaza on Wednesday night. The dinner was fine. I think most people enjoyed the food, and I KNOW everyone enjoyed the company. Dinners are one of my favorite aspects of BARGE. As Nolan so eloquently (does he sound better now that he's so accustomed to having a microphone in his hands?) opines: "I can play poker any time, but being with friends in BARGE only happens rarely.". He was talking about why he had no intention of playing at Bellagio when there were so many of "us" at the Plaza, but his point is well taken. That's why I like the dinners. More time to chat, reminisce and renew than most of our other events. After dinner we all headed back downtown to pick up on the end of the LOWBALL DRAW tourney. A WORD ABOUT BUTTKISS: The BUTTKISS idea had its supporters and detractors. I got some compliments about it. I took some criticism about it. But, the last laugh belongs to the backers. When I returned to the Plaza they were down to two tables, and the syndicate's (proper use of apostrophe) ONLY HORSE was still alive! Several hours later ALEX Z. won the event. Nice going Alex! So, after exactly ONE event, and backing ONE player the BUTTKISS syndicate was assured of showing a PROFIT! (DINGZ!) In addition, Josh DeBoo, a young up-and-coming player with whom I work, and who I also introduced to BARGE, finished fifth. The extra money allowed him to rent a motorcycle the next day and visit the damned Dam (is it Hoover, or Boulder?). He had a great time, so I was doubly happy. Incidentally, the anticipated "face ache" from smiling was at full ache by the time Alex won the event, and it didn't subside until I was home for a week. Wednesday was a GREAT day. But, TOMORROW I get to break out my "BILL CHEN" badge! THURSDAY I ran into Dave "greatplans" Fruchter and his MUCH better half, Leslie, at the Bellagio as I was headed for breakfast. They joined me and Chic and Stacy. We enjoyed the coffee shop (service was better than earlier in the week), and we were downtown by 10:30, ready for the TEAM CHORSE. Last year, "The Math is Hard 5" r00led the event, and I was anticipating another good showing. We lost "Pussy Marlin" to some weak-assed-family-based excuse, but we had replaced him with Stacy "Big'Uns" Conrad, an OMAHA8 specialist. So, we juggled our lineup and I felt confident. Unfortunately, Chic was on tilt from having lost most of the prior day to a business distraction that he didn't learn of until he stepped off the plane. He didn't get to bet or lose enough on Wednesday, so he made up for it with our TEAM CHIPS on Thursday. By the time he had lost EVERY SINGLE ONE of our chips I reminded him that this was NOT a tourney in the sense that the chips had REAL VALUE, and didn't have to be lost entirely as in a real tourney. As he was getting up from the table he looked at me and said "Oh yeah. I forgot." So, The Math is Hard 5 was the ONLY CHORSE team to go completely broke. I must say, the KARMA (hey, where the hell was Tony Goldstein anyway?) was bad from the outset when teammate George Wattman failed to wear his "Math is Hard 5" custom shirt. He kept babbling some lame excuse about having framed it and hung it on his wall. Can you imagine trying to run a bluff like that past us? His TEAMMATES, for crying out loud!. Still, he stuck to his story. Our chips stuck to other stacks. We'll be back next year. I'm not sure what the team will look like, but we'll be back. Following the CHORSE, I changed into my "BEER HUNTER" t-shirt and about 30 of us headed to the "fish eat fish" sushi place in Henderson. It was excellent. As advertised, the rolls were creative and delicious. I will definitely return to this restaurant for the good food, but it is especially nice that it is so close to where some of my friends live. Incidentally, someone set the over/under on the sushi bill (including tip) at $40 per person. I would have bet the ranch on the OVER. There is NO DOUBT that the exact same meal at a strip hotel would have been $75-$80 per person. Easy. Fortunately, I don't own a ranch, so I settled for losing $10 when it came "under". They MUST have had an early bird special for half price before 5:00pm or something. $40 for what I ate, INCLUDING tip, was the deal of the week. After the group feeding, we headed to Bellagio where I played another 4.5 hours of $30-$60, and won $142. (DINGZ!). Picture this...in my rental car (Ford 500) were me, Bruce, Regis, Claudia and Stacy (We would gladly have strapped Patrick to the roof just to set the Guinness record, but he had another ride). I still don't know how we all managed to squeeze into that car, but by the time we piled out at Bellagio, I wouldn't have given you one red Taj chip for the springs in that car! I celebrated by blowing off ANOTHER $300 in quarter Video Poker machines. Meanwhile, I get a call from Chic...he has just hit a royal in VP at the Plaza, and while he has me on the phone, he hits quad 2s!! It was another semi-late night, especially with the TOC-style event looming on Friday. FRIDAY "Be Bill Chen" Day. As is evident from many of my pictures (especially of Kevin Un), I have a security badge from work that belongs to Bill Chen. Last September Bill was a guest in my house in Atlantic City (during the Borgata tourney). When the maid cleaned the house the week after we were there I got a call saying "I found some underwear and a badge under the bed in the guest room". I told her to "burn the clothes, and save the badge". I saved it for a year to wear to BARGE, only to be disappointed when Bill didn't show. SO, thinking quickly, it occurred to me that there were quite a few p0cker players who would like to be as good at math as Bill. I decided to rent out the Bill Badge for $14 per half hour, $20 per hour. I don't know if it helped anyone at math by "being Bill Chen" for a short time, but no matter. Kevin Un enjoyed wearing the badge so much that I waived the fee. I played "OK" in the TOC, but my total lack of familiarity with OMAHA was my undoing (for a change). No bad beats, just bad play. I've always said that those who play OMAHA well have the biggest edge of any poker game. Unfortunately, I'm one of those without a clue. Even the Bill Chen badge didn't help. One of my most enjoyable times at BARGE was spent at the bar Friday afternoon, smoking cigars (and losing at VP while Chic kept winning) with Bruce "ADB BigBoy" Kramer, Keith "ADB fich" Fichtemaier, Wil "call me Wes again and it'll cost you $100" Wheaton and Mike (KidZee) Zimmers. It was GREAT to see KidZee once again, especially looking so good. Glad you could make it, Mike!! As indicated, I mistakenly called Wil "Wes". I remain a big fan of ALL the Star Treks, so I had a small slip of the tongue. Wil was quick to chide me, and advise me of the "Star Trek" rule of one free pass followed by a $100-per-offense penalty for referring to any of the actors by their character names. I know others have said it before, but Wil is one of us. It just took him a little longer to find us, but he has always been one of us. He is definitely one of those existing friends we just hadn't met yet at BARGE, until this year. It was great to finally correct that oversight. Thanks to Lee Jones for the excellent recruiting. Then came the SYMPOSIUM. The event Chic & I (and our partners) have come to R00l in recent years. I mean, we may not be able to PLAY p0cker, but damn it, we know how to RECOGNIZE p0cker players!! For the third year in a row we showed a handsome profit. We were joined in our buying conglomerate by Stacy and AJ (second year with us for AJ). Last year we CRUSHED the event, hitting the exacta, owning BOTH of the final two finishers, Gavin and Frank Brabec. This year we only had Nick Christensen, but he finished second to ...well, I forgot who, but Nick finished second, and we showed a profit of 35%! We bid on Steve Day *and* Adam Bachrach but didn't stick with it. Both also made the final table. No sour grapes here, but watch out next year...we won't back down so easily on our bids. This is your warning: The cost of the symposium is going UP! Our THREE YEAR profit in the symposium is a gaudy 400%+!! Talk about positive +EV. We r00l. Next year we may accept additional members of our buying conglomerate, but there's already talk of a premium for entry. I mean, I've got to do SOMETHING to defray my expanding VP expense. Bring money, suckers! I made one last foray into the $30-$60 game at Bellagio late Friday night (+$55 in short session - I quit on PRESTO!), took some more punishment (like a man) from the VP devil, and off to bed, prepared to play my very best in the NLHE the next morning. SATURDAY Saturday morning of BARGE arrives pretty Goddamn early, if you axe me. I *think* I was sober at breakfast, but there remains the possibility that I was mistaken. Nonetheless, I was feeling pretty chipper by the time I found my table for NLHE, and I looked fit and ready in my "Poker - Hand to Hand Combat" t-shirt, and in the early going I was hot. Before the first break I had AK three times and won all three hands, and TT twice winning both those hands. Before our table broke I had busted Harry, Tom Orr, Michael Maurer, Jen Creason and one other person (seat #1) whose name I don't know. Sorry. Too bad, because he was the player who kept track of how many times I won with AK and TT. ;-) When the table broke, I gathered up my armful of bustout gifts. After a short stint at a table in the back room, I was moved to the table with Bruce Kramer and Don "Hot Sex, Spotted Dick, old-waitress-magnet" Perry. We were down to six tables at this point, so it was getting to be that time. The next few hand would determine my chances of making the money. Unfortunately, "horseshoe" Perry took a big pot from me, and then I got all my chips in with the worst of it against Bruce Kramer, and it held up. IGHN in 62nd place. BUT, with a BIG pile of bust out gifts, all of which I will treasure. Our conglomerate had bought Bruce at the symposium, so if I had to pick someone at that table to dump all my chips to, it would have been Bruce. As our fearless (and clueless) leader says "Mission Accomplished". But Bruce was unable to do the right thing with those chips. Rigged. I tell you, the site is rigged. Following my bustout, I sat into a quiet, lazy $4-$8 Holdem game. For the first nine hands I played every hand without looking at my cards. I raised every chance I got. I won 5 of those nine hands, four of them without a showdown. Then Len G noticed that I wasn't looking at my cards, and Pandora was out. This quiet little limit game became a rip-roaring, capping, straddling, no-peeking laugh-fest. Len won a MONSTER pot, with KK I think. Needless to say, once everyone knew I was playing blind, my edge was gone. Unable to resist my dead money, people started playing only premium hands against me. Bastards! Worse yet, their hands were holding up. Damned p0cker Gods. Anyway, the game was cheap for me compared to Video Poker, so despite dumping 2+ racks into this game, I considered myself as having saved a couple C-notes by avoiding the VP machines. As we headed toward the Banquet (does "banquet" mean "inedible" in Las-Vegas-Club-speak?), my damned cheeks were KILLING me. Face ache supreme. What a week! As you know, the highlights of the banquet were Zimmer's speech, Nolan's plaque presentation(s), and the applause for Chuck on the phone. Oh, and Wil was the nuts! It certainly was NOT the food (if you can call it that). If we're stuck at the same dump for our next banquet, I vote for bringing In-N-Out Burgers for everyone. After dinner I entered the World Roshambo Championship. I smoked my opponents in the first two rounds and found myself staring at Asya in the finals. Well, OK, I was staring at *part* of Asya. Maybe it was the distraction, but she eliminated me 10-7 to take the crown. Well done, Asya. Next year your ass are mine!! The craziness that is BARGE Saturday night followed, but maybe it was something I ate, but I was really feeling poorly around 1:00am. So bad that I took some time in my room to try and feel better, and when I didn't I called it a night. This is the first time I bagged out early on Saturday, but I really didn't feel well. I didn't even play any VP before bed. EPILOGUE Maybe its because I've been the organizer of ATLARGE for the last three years and as such I seem to get to see everyone's face at least once there. BUT, at this BARGE (with roughly the same 230 or so in attendance as ATLARGE) it seems like there were lots of great people I never saw at BARGE, or saw only briefly. I know they were there, but somehow the week flew by SO FAST that we barely bumped into one another. They include, but are not limited to: Ice, Nolan Dalla, David Heller, Len G, Don Perry, Adam Bachrach, Nick Christensen, Sean "oscar" McGuiness, Scottro Harker, Randy Collack, George Wattman, Pattie (plans to go geocaching never materialized - my fault), Eric Holtman (saw in at Bellagio but never downtown), Dave Fruchter, Andy Hughes, Andy Prock, Terrence Chan, Sabyl and others. It wasn't for lack of interest my friends, only lack of time. As to events, the only two I missed were the craps crawl (did it happen at all?) and the karaoke. I regret missing each of these...I won't make that mistake again, especially the karaoke. And, some other great friends just couldn't make it, including: Chuck Weinstock, Kim & JK, Matt Matros, Matt Treasure, Bill Chen, Joan Hadley, and yes, Tiger. You were all missed by me, but thought of fondly. FINALLY I have said before that 2005 may be the "last BARGE as we knew it". The WSOP has already affected us, and if there is ANY overlap next year between the WSOP and BARGE, we will be adversely affected. Even if someone plays in one of our events on say, Thursday, if they intend to play in the WSOP on Friday morning how late will they be with us on Thursday night? And, how much will they drink? Also, the lure of the side action during the WSOP is overwhelming. Those side games were astounding. No real poker lover can ignore them. So, I believe that ANY overlap at all is going to change BARGE. That doesn't mean I won't be at BARGE.... I will DEFINITELY be at BARGE. But, the shadow and static of the WSOP has to affect us, and not for the better I'm afraid. I hope I'm wrong. Thank you all again for the most fun I have playing poker every year. And, thank you Al Gore for inventing the Internet, without which I would never have met so many great folks. Final results: +1100 in "real poker", +500 in BARGE events and last longers (not counting buy-ins), -$1400 in Video Poker. My face still ached by the time I got home. I had to frown at my wife and kids for a week just to get back to feeling normal. -goldiefish, counting the days until FARGO ________ BARGE 2005 is being supported by PokerStars.com and ParadisePoker.com.