From: Chuck Weinstock Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 23:24:28 -0400 Subject: [BARGE] Chuck's BARGE Confession For Peter and I BARGE begins in the Fall when we finally recover from the previous edition and start the planning for the next. So it was that in October and November of 2005 we put together an RFP for BARGE 2006 which was sent to several casinos who had expressed an interest in bidding. I made a trip to Las Vegas over the Halloween weekend to take care of some business that I had missed because of my canceled trip to BARGE 2005. I made the rounds of several casinos including the Plaza, Binions, and MGM Grand (who had expressed interest.) I hand delivered RFPs to each of these locations. Later, after Caesars poker room had opened, they received a copy of the RFP as well. The RFP asked for a response by early December. The responses rolled in--not. MGM dropped out early deciding that they could not handle us. Caesars did not get their act together in time. Binions response was a non-response. Basically we said X, Y, and Z in our RFP and Binions said that they'd be happy to give us A, B, and C but only if we paid for D. It was clear that the new management there had not consulted with the poker room. On the otherhand, the Plaza was happy to give us everything we asked for and more. They even included a free banquet. So we chose the Plaza. We also confirmed sponsorship from our friends at PokerStars and Paradise Poker. "Boy that was easy," Peter and I said to each other. "This will be the easiest BARGE ever. We've got everything lined up and it isn't even 2006 yet." So we sat back and relaxed and awaited June to begin registration without much to do. Fast forward to Thursday, July 20th. I'm getting ready to go to Ohio the next day for a train trip when I receive a call from Peter: "Chuck, it looks like we have a disaster brewing." It develops that someone at the Plaza (presumably in their compliance department) has written to the gaming board asking for permission to run the BARGE tournaments. And, as best we can tell, the document mentions our sponsors and somehow implies that BARGE is an online poker site. This may not be exactly right, but not much else makes sense. In any event, the result is that the Plaza has decided that they cannot host BARGE 2006. Go back and look at the date above, July 20th. BARGE is to begin on August 15. That's less than 3 weeks! After a good nights sleep (yeah, right) and various conversations, our good friend Nolan (who has absolutely nothing to do during the WSOP which is occurring at the same time) manages to line up Caesars Palace for us by late in the afternoon on July 21. BARGE is moving to the strip! Everything is hunky dory except somehow I have to figure out how to throw a symposium for $15 and a banquet for $10 a head! Peter goes on vacation to attend a family reunion in Michigan. While I'm pondering the banquet situation I receive a call from Jester who thinks he can get his bosses at PokerStars to pay the difference. I get some quotes and Jester gets the go ahead and I fax the signed contracts to Caesars catering department. At the same time I'm trying to get the names of contacts out of Caesars to try to salvage the video poker and blackjack tournaments. Calls and emails are not being returned quickly and a part of me starts worrying about that. Peter returns. On the evening of August 3 I'm sitting at Pittsburgh International Airport (called that because it still has nonstops to Toronto I believe) watching thunder and lightning make my Southwest flight to Chicago later and later. I'm heading (eventually) to Alamosa, CO to ride yet another train. My cell rings. It's Peter. "Chuck, it looks like we have a disaster brewing." When Caesars compliance guy contacted the Plazas some of the executives at Caesars started to get cold feet and has decided to pull out. This in spite of the fact that we subsequently learned that, subject to some conditions, the Plaza had eventually received an approval letter from the board. The next day, Friday, with only 10 days until BARGE and while I'm driving between Denver and Alamosa, I spend a lot of time on the phone with Peter and others as we attempt to get something going elsewhere. The best bet at that point looks like the Palms because somebody knows somebody who knows somebody at the gaming board, etc. etc. I also talk with my contact at Caesars catering and get him to hold the contract I'd faxed earlier in the week. The guy at the Palms is Gene Trimble. He is willing to hold BARGE at the Palms, but only if we have the banquet there, if we pay about 50% more per person fees, and there will only be a cash bar. We're between a rock and hard place though. We're about to go ahead when they come back to us with "we don't have enough time to get gaming board approval." So Plan C is a non-starter. At this point, I've still got the guy at Caesars holding the banquet contract because it is looking more and more like Phil Gordon's speech will be the only BARGE event where everyone will be together. Peter details Steve Nissman to collect information about tournaments at the various rooms. Our idea is to target one each day and designate it the BARGE tournament of the day for all of us to descend upon. We'd give the room a heads up (which they might even listen to) that they are going to get a bigger than usual field. While were discussing this and thinking that it's going to be an interesting BARGE and betting each other that we can have fun as a group in Las Vegas without any private tournaments, etc. we get a call from Dan Goldman, acting as Dan Goldman, BARGE attendee. It's become obvious to all that the problem is the sponsorship money. Sometime between BARGE 2005 and BARGE 2006 the climate had changed (perhaps with the arrest of the Bet On Sports guy several weeks earlier, perhaps at some other time) and what was ok in 2005 was not ok in 2006. Apparently dot coms were out but dot nets were still allowed. All of our funding comes from the dot net marketing arms, but we never realized it was a big deal. Had we known, the ads, etc. on the BARGE site would have said .net instead of .com and would have been just as correct--that might have made a difference. Dan is friends with Kathy Raymond at the Venetian and he thinks that if we return all sponsorship funds, that she might be willing to host us in her new poker room. Earlier in the process Joan Hadley and Alan Bernstein (and others?) had suggested this room, but at the time we were already talking with Caesars and then events took on a life of their own. Also, Chuck Humphrey had suggested returning the sponsorship money while we were talking to Caesars. At the time we did not appreciate the scope of the problem. In any event Dan and others meet Kathy at the Venetian and Peter and I have a conference call with them to see if it's going to fly. By the end of the call it is apparent that it will and we've got a home for BARGE 2006--again. Maybe this one will even work out. At this point I write checks to Paradise and PokerStars for their full sponsorship contribution and then realize that I do not have a clue where to send them. Money has never flowed in that direction before. (Well, it has from my own Neteller account, but that's different and not what was needed here.) So I ask my contacts for this information and discover that they aren't sure either! (I eventually hand Dan the PokerStars check, and finally got an address and mailed the Paradise check yesterday!) I also prepare a letter to be faxed to Kathy saying that we've returned all sponsorship funds (or will do so as soon as we know where to send it). She had asked for it to be on BARGE letterhead. There is no BARGE letterhead so I send it on ConJelCo letterhead. FInally, I ask the guy at Caesars catering to tear up the contract and he very nicely agrees to do so. (He didn't have to do this.) To recap the situation at this point. We have a home for BARGE. We have $15 a head to pay for the symposium. We have $10 a head (which had been intended as gratuities for the staff at the "free" banquet the Plaza was giving us) to cover the banquet. We have nothing for entry fees and nothing for tokes. Peter and I discuss how to deal with this and figure we have only two options: 1) take the entry fees out of the prize pool and require player toking, or 2) find some people unaffiliated with online poker or gaming to make donations to make up the difference. Neither of us like 1 very much because of the reason we sought sponsorship in the first place. Our tournaments are long, and they have low buy-ins. Thus the fee and tokes would end up being a very large percentage of the buy-in. This year, in the worst case event which is the TOC, to make the tokes be at the level we'd promised we'd have to have taken about $25 out of the $75 entry to cover the house fee and tokes. So option 2 seemed like the better choice. Luckily we have a great community and the people we approached all quickly agreed to help. The next thing I had to do was to talk to the Venetian about catering. The prices at Caesars were high but doable. The prices at the Venetian were a good 20-30% higher. Again Kathy Raymond stepped up to help. She got the Venetians very capable special events people involved which resulted in discounted pricing which put the banquet and symposium back within the realm of possibility. I haven't seen the invoice yet but I'm not expecting surprises. Then there was lining up a projector for Phil's talk. In past years Goldie has shipped one out from his office in New Jersey and we've shipped it back at the end of BARGE. I was hopeful I could avoid having him do it this year. A friend of mine (no, his name is not Mr. Fry) has a video studio in Henderson and he agreed to bring us a projector. In exchange I invited he and his wife to attend the banquet. All of this was finally determined by Monday, August 14...the day before BARGE was to officially begin. At this point the only loose end that I was aware of was the fate of the Video Poker and Blackjack tournaments. We had high hopes that it would be possible to hold these, but it turned out that there simply wasn't enough time to make the arrangements by the time we figured out who to actually talk to. This was partially because Kathy was new at the Venetian and had to learn things along with us. Next year, if they'll have us, this should not be a problem. Tuesday, August 15, I awake very early and drive to the Pittsburgh International Airport to catch my flight to Las Vegas. I'm worried about the post-London lines. I make good time until just before the entrance ramp to the airport where traffic is backed up bumper-to- bumper. At about this time I hear a traffic report that says that the police are investigating a single vehicle accident on that ramp (it turns out that a young woman had taken the ramp at too high a speed and flipped her car, fatally, over the hillside.) I decide to pass the airport and approach from the other direction. There is a lot of traffic coming that way as well, but it's actually moving. A quick cross of the median and I'm in that line and into the airport having lost only about 10 minutes total. I score a spot in the lot very near the first shelter where the shuttle drops you on return meaning a quick escape on Sunday evening. A shuttle comes immediately. There is no line at luggage checkin. There is no line at security. I'm faced with almost two hours before my flight. I keep expecting the phone to ring with Peter on the other end saying: "Chuck, it looks like we have a disaster brewing" but it doesn't and we don't. The flight out was very uneventful (the best kind) and I arrive at about 10:15. Because I did not want to have to replace all of my liquids I had checked my bag, but I still managed to be in my rental car by about 11am. I recall the In and Out discussion and remember that Paul McMullin said he was going to stop there on the way to his hotel from the airport. This seems like a good idea and I head there for an early lunch. The place is mobbed and it isn't even 11:30. While I'm dining II look up and there is Paul, Bev Matthews, and her niece. They join me at my table and BARGE officially begins for me. I head over to the Venetian and check in. The room isn't ready but we get the paperwork done. I leave word that Peter is to be given a key as well (we're sharing to save money.) I check my bag at the bell station and head to the cage to deposit the cashiers check that contains the prize pool and most of the entry fees (but nothing else). I'll really need those donations as we get deeper into BARGE. That accomplished I head over to the poker room and meet Jimmy Knight (manager) and Tim Mix(TD). Later I meet Kathy whom I'd met before on my one trip to FARGO a number of years ago. A bit later Claudia from special events comes down and we go over the symposium and banquet and I sign off on them. (I'll really need those donations!) In the meantime my room is ready so I go to get the key. It takes me nearly 20 minutes to get my bag from the bellman. Peter said he waited over an hour for his to be delivered to the room. As I begin walking to the room I discover that it is actually at the Bellagio. Just kidding, but the walk to it is about as far. I had arranged to have dinner with Mason Malmuth and others I work with on the twoplustwo.com website. Mason had selected the Mexican restaurant at TI. I walked outside at the poker room and turned right to find a crosswalk. I ended up having to walk to the corner of Spring Mtn and cross first to Wynn, then to the Fashion Show Mall, and then to TI, all on overhead walks. As I was crossing to the Mall I happened to notice the overhead crossing that I should have taken if only I'd looked left when I stepped outside. :) Dinner was quite good. I especially liked their guacamole, but the pork tamales I had were excellent as well. By now it was about time for the Lazy Pineapple non-Charity tournament to begin. (In addition to giving up the sponsorship funds, we were asked to make the event not be a charity event because there is more paperwork for that sort of event.) I've given up playing in the first event of BARGE because I've got too many things to do and also because it's at night and if I'm going to win the tournament I'll be up way too late for my east coast body (and if I'm not planning on winning what am I doing playing anyway?) I do sit down in a $3-$6 HORSE game populated entirely by BARGErs. In the middle of this game it becomes time for me to get the prize pool and house fees for the tournament, a simple transaction at the cage that took only a few minutes. Then I had to give the prize pool and fee to the house to be distributed. This took much longer because they'd never done this before. We eventually treated it exactly as if I had paid the buyins and fees for each of the players before the start of the tournament. So I pay the money in, the cashier bundles it into envelopes as determined by the payouts, and hands it back to the TD. I come back to the HORSE game and find I've missed my blind. The dealer asks if I want to post and everyone at the table says "he was on BARGE business, he doesn't have to post" and the dealer shrugs and goes along with it. I'm doing well until the razz hand where my near nut...wait, I'll stop now to save some money. I play a bit longer and start to get tired. When I get up I'm down $60 and ready to go to bed which I do a short time later but not before winning back most of the loss on a -EV VP machine. Sleep that night is fitful. I am still worried that "the other shoe will drop". In fact I continue to worry about BARGE until after the banquet (at which point I don't really care!) About 3am or 4am or something Peter comes in but the only reason I'm aware of it is that I'm a light sleeper. He's as near to noiseless as possible. Wednesday Morning I awake around 7:30 so that I can get to the Egg & I in time for the group breakfast. I go down to valet parking in front of the hotel (where I had left my car) at 8:30 and 20+ minutes later it shows up. I'm not happy. Then I turn onto the strip to head for Spring Mtn and a construction vehicle has several lanes blocked. I end up making the left turn into TI and then go out the other side, catching the lights in such a way that I actually get through faster than if I had stayed on the strip. I'm only a few minutes late to the breakfast but it's oversubscribed. I end up sitting with Timmer, Paul McMullin, and his roommate John Moser. Breakfast is as good as or better than Ice said it would be and I leave stuffed. Oh yes, and when we asked for our check it had been taken care of by someone. Thanks Ice? Timmer had brought 2 2-fer coupons which he gave to the waitress as a sort of an additional tip. With the VP and Blackjack tournaments canceled there is the problem of giving back the entry fees. I don't really want to write checks to 40+ people so instead I take some cheques out of the cage. Peter has agreed to take responsibility for getting the funds back to those who are owed them and so I hand the two racks of green and red chips to him and stop worrying about it. He's playing in the Venetian noon tournament and while waiting for it to fill up we're chatting about things. Seated to his right, with one empty seat intervening, is Penn Jillette's SO, Emily. She tells Peter that they'd be playing in the NLH except that Penn & Teller have an out of town conflict this time. While they are talking a man takes his seat between them. Emily tells us that she is instant messaging Kim Scheinberg. Peter and I both say hello at which point Kim tell Emily to "give Chuck a kiss and grab Peter's crotch". Without missing a beat the man sitting between Peter and Emily looks at her, extends his hand and says "Hi, my name is Peter". We probably should have asked him to attend BARGE based upon that. Anyway, as far as I know, Emily neither kissed me nor grabbed (either) Peter. Finding myself with an afternoon off, I decided to spend a little time at one of the Venetian's pools. This lasted about an hour or so before I went back to the room to start to change for the non-Smoker at 9 (at 530, but who's on first?) while I was getting ready my cell rings. It's Kathy Raymond. The Venetian's VP of Compliance has some questions for me. She's on a speaker phone and begins to ask some questions about the sponsorship money. I cut her off and suggest that this would be easier if we met face-to-face. And so, at about 4pm I find myself walking through the back end of the Venetian (not nearly as well decorated) to the VP of Compliance's office. It seems that she's writing the letter to the gaming board about BARGE and wants to make sure that she has all of her ducks in a row. This particular duck involves two things. 1) The letter I sent on ConJelCo letterhead, and 2) how could I not know where to send the checks to? For 1 it turned out that she went to the ConJelCo website and saw the ads for both of our former sponsors. She figured that the board would as well and that would confuse things. I offered to replace the letter with an identical one without the letterhead assuming that was kosher. The original was only on letterhead because of Kathy's original request. As far as 2 went, I explained that the money had only ever flowed in one direction. I offered to let her hold the checks until they were ready to be sent and to let her see the emails in which I asked for the addresses. She did not want the checks, but she did want to see the emails. I also promised her copies of the canceled checks whenever they show up. I'm pretty sure she was satisfied--at least the rest of BARGE happened. By this time I barely had enough time to go back to my room to drop things off, and then get my car and go to Nine. It was approaching 5:30 when I got there. There first thing that happened was that Goldie bought me a beer. We then sat down at a table for five: Goldie, Chuck Humphrey, Alan Bernstein, Bart Simpson, and myself. We ordered a shellfish appetizer for the table (though Alan and Goldie didn't partake significantly). Alan and Bart ordered the steak for 2 x 2. The rest of us had more modest appetites. My NY strip steak was terrific. I also wasn't playing in the Lobah tournament, but had to go back to the Venetian to get the prize pool out, etc. Also, there was the matter of tokes for the pineapple tournament. Over the years it's become the BARGE practice to guarantee a specific amount per dealer down as a minimum toke. In practice this means toking the dealers the day after the event...when we have a down count. So in addition to the prize pool and fee, I had to get the tokes from the cage. Another early morning on Thursday so I went to bed, again, before midnight. I awoke Thursday to a dark room and a still sleeping roommate. I dressed quietly and walked to Bellagio where the Icicles CHORSE team was having a strategy breakfast. The team consisted of myself, Ice, Siona, Ross Poppel (who had breakfast comps for us all), Bob Ogus, and Stacy Conrad. Ross showed up with George Wattman. So much for our strategy discussion. But breakfast was good and whatever we did must have been right, because we dominated the competition and won the first prize. Peter had specified the order of games, and we both found ourselves going 2nd in the high-low split rounds (him Omaha/8, me Stud/8). Unfortunately the timing was such that it was difficult for us to get the SO Stud tournament started. But we managed somehow thanks to the very competent Venetian tournament staff. My most interesting CHORSE hand began with the first four cards being A, 1, 2, 3 in some order. Of course I ended up with A K for high and no low. Gavin Smith was the only other one in at the show down and he didn't appear to have anything (but we know looks can be deceiving.) I'm pondering a bluff bet and know that I've taken too long to make up my mind and decide to bet it anyway on the grounds that: 1) if I don't bet, he will and then I'll probably have to fold, and 2) if I do bet, he might fold, and 3) if I do bet and he calls I'm pretty sure I have him beat. (I ignored 4 which is what would happen if he raised me back.) In any event Gavin says "I know you're bluffing, but I can't beat you". With my round of CHORSE done, I head over to the cage to get money for the SO tournament and the Lobah tokes. The SO tournament is designed to be non-threatening which means that when you sit down you get your entry fee back and are playing for a $100 added prize pool. So no risk. However, between that $100 added and $5 that Peter added from his toke chips to the Lobah pool to make it round properly, we've managed to arouse someone's interest. I get a call from Kathy Raymond that the compliance people want to know where the $5 and $100 came from. I explain about the $15 per person registration fee which is designed to cover incidentals such as this, trophies, badges, credit card fees, etc. This apparently is good enough as I don't recall hearing from compliance again the whole rest of BARGE. Since our team won, we have to hang around to the bitter end for pictures, etc. This makes some of us late leaving for Sushi. Patrick Milligan has his mini-van and offers to drive us. We accept. We get there after most everyone is seated and I score the best seat in the house next to bride to be Amy. Oh yes, I was also seated next to Ken Kubey. The Sushi was terrific and even though I arrived late I felt like I had gotten my money's worth. Patti set the line on the bill at $46 per person. On the way out Patrick had told me that it had come to $40 the previous year and I couldn't imagine it was more this year so I bet the under...along with a lot of other folks. It was $40 again (or $37 for those of us who had the under and $45 for those who had the over.) We got back to the Venetian and I cleaned up and got ready to head over to Boulder Station to hear a ruling blues group, Little Charlie & The Night Cats, with Frank and Shari Brabec. Frank had arranged for two limos to the event. One from downtown and one from the Venetian. I waited at the Venetian with John Reed and the bride and groom to be Chris and Amy. There was a minor mixup but we made it to the showroom just as the set started. Also there was David and Caryl Aronson, and several others (please excuse my faulty memory.) The music was good and the company was great. After the set we went out into the pit to play a bit. Frank had arranged for the return limos to come after the end of the second set at 11:15, but Chris, Amy, and I found ourselves ready to go back about 10pm. We went outside and, as promised, there were no taxis. So we asked valet parking to call one for us. While we were waiting a limo pulled up and offered to take us back to the Venetian for $40. We bargained him down to $30 which was only a bit more than the tip we had given the guy on the way out. When we got back I dealt with the prize pool for the stud tournament, and then found I was hungry and ended up having a take-to-the-room dessert from Grand Luxe. About Friday morning I realized that my estimates of the number of downs per tournament were way off, usually too high. I puzzled about this because they were derived from the number of downs in previous year tournaments. I finally realized that it was because of the automatic shufflers used in the Venetian poker room. They speed the game up enough that we save downs. This is a good thing. The only tournament this was not true for was Lobah. Guess what? That tournament used a 53 card deck and had to be manually shuffled. Peter and I get the TOC started with a full complement of 162 players. I find myself seated in one of the seats I hate, the 2 seat (because I can't see cards at the other end of the table well). I'm also seated to the right of a very aggressive Kevin Garret. Who made these assignments anyway? Oh, never mind. Shortly after it starts I pick up the microphone to announce where the symposium will be and to acknowledge Chuck Humphrey as one of the founders of the TOC. Unfortunately Chuck isn't in the room when I do this...he was just returning from the bathroom. Sigh. I was not focused on poker this year. Too many things on my mind I guess. As a result I busted out fairly early, but after the first break. It was a stud hand and I had two pair early on and was betting hard against Tony Goldstein. The dealer inadvertently flips my 7th card up and after discussing what to do with the floor and Stephen Landrum and others it's decided that Tony's card should be dealt up. That is how I know that I was ahead of him all the way until the last card when he made his second pair. My three pair was lower than his two pair. IGHN. The good news about this is that it solved a problem for me. It turns out that Fich and I have made a tradition over the last several years of going out for Mexican food at some point. We had been unable to identify a time for this with everything else going on. But all I had to do was wait for him to bust and then we went over to the Tuscany for a very respectable Mexican lunch. When we got back the TD was wondering where the prize pool was, and after that business was taken care of it was almost time for the symposium. At the symposium, I somehow gave Chuck Humphrey the idea that I was going to join his group for a Chinese dinner when I meant to tell him that I'd get back to him if I could. (I was committed in several directions.) Upon reflection I can understand how he got that idea and I'm really sorry that I appear to have upset him when the symposium was over by not going with him. In any event I realized during the symposium that I had not spent much time with Jester, Un, Bingo, Kubey and for that matter Peter and ended up going to Main Street Station for some brew and a burger prior to the craps crawl. It was a very enjoyable dinner. Peter and I did not participate in the credit card roulette only because our dinners were picked up by the others. Thanks guys! The craps crawl found its way up Fremont Street to Binions. The tables were rocking, but I stepped outside during the Fremont St. Experience at 10pm. It was higher resolution than when I last saw it. But it wasn't any better. Eventually we made it to Fitzgeralds and the wedding in the showroom. I have to say that this was the highlight of my BARGE. The bride was beautiful. Ploink was Ploink. Everyone had a ball. The ceremony was cute. I noticed that Peter, who was sitting next to me, had the same allergic reaction that I had during the ceremony. Then I noticed that Patti had it as well. It passed though. I had promised Amy that I'd be singing Teen Angel to her and I managed to get on the schedule to be the first song after the wedding. I decided to try it without the words being displayed and the music being played. Someone pointed out that this was singing, not Karaoke. I had not thought of it like that. I just remembered that the last time I did Karaoke I had been hooked off the stage. The song I had chosen was played at a totally different beat than I was used to and I couldn't deal with it. I figured that without the music that wouldn't happen again. Everyone seemed to like it and I enjoyed doing it. Before singing I announced that the SO Hold'em tournament would henceforth be named the Amy Stragalis SO Hold'em tournament because I had the idea for the tournament while talking with Amy during a break in the CHORSE tournament in 2004 when she said that she'd like to play but was intimidated. Later I also sang (this time with words and music) "She Drives Me Crazy" which was Barbara's and my song when were dating (and still is.) I dedicated it to her and almost sang it right. Still later Sharon and I did Paradise Under the Dashboard Light (with assistance with the ball game part by Jester.) I had a ball. This was the latest I'd ever stayed up during the 13 BARGEs that I've attended. Peter and I caught a cab back to the Venetian, weaved our way past the fairly aggressive hookers outside the lobby, and were back in our room at 4am. And then it was Saturday morning and it was time for the NLH tournament and neither Peter nor I wanted to be up but we both had to be (as did most of the rest of you.) If my self seated in one of my least favorite seats, the nine seat, with Kevin Garrett (still aggressive) seated to my left. This was the luck of a random draw, though somehow Kevin doesn't believe it I think. In any event, between lack of sleep, lack of focus, lack of cards, and lack of skill I am soon out of this tournament as well. This solved another problem. During the football playoffs Un had bet me 2-1 that the Bears would outlast the Steelers in the playoffs. I don't care about football but I took the bet because it was payable in Golden Gate shrimp cocktails and that seemed like a can't lose proposition. Anyway, we had not been able to find a time to head downtown for the shrimp but after he busted out there was plenty of time. While I'm downtown my phone rings something like 6 times. People are wondering where I am because I had not gotten the prize pool out of the cage before I left. We hurried back and I pulled out the something like $29k in $5k and $1k chips to cover the prizes, the fees, and the tokes for the SO Holdem and TOC. $29k in chip form is quite small when in those denominations. Kevin and I walked across the casino trying not to lose any. :) Before I knew it, it was time for the banquet. Soon I'd be able to stop worrying. The only real issue prior to the start of the banquet was when some of the staff noticed, dare I say it, gambling going on and asked me to announce to the crowd that it wasn't allowed in the banquet room. Somehow people managed to have fun without gambling. Hey, they even got down the Roshambo tournament without gambling. :) The menu for the banquet was picked mainly because it was cheaper than most of the other alternatives. Given that constraint, I think that the food was quite good and it appeared that everyone enjoyed themselves. Peter and I had resolved to not thank each other in public. So, of course, the first thing Bruce Hayek does before introducing Phil Gordon, is to thank us. Thanks Bruce. I had decided that the best way to introduce a Tiltboy was to have another Tiltboy do it. I had not run this by Peter first, but he agreed that it made sense. Then it was Phil's turn and his talk was great on a whole bunch of levels. After Phil's talk I went to the cage to have a check cut to cover the balance of the funds on deposit. "Can't do it" the cashier told me. It seems that because I had deposited the donations from our donors in the cage as cash, and that was the last money in, they could only give me cash for the balance. This was many thousands of dollars (because the banquet and symposium were being billed) and I was not comfortable with this idea. Kathy Raymond tried to intercede on my behalf but it did not work out and before I knew it, I was walking around with a manila envelope full of $100 bills. For me, a little while later, BARGE was over. I was exhausted (and tired too) and went back to the room perhaps a bit earlier than I might have. Peter told me he'd be along soon. Soon was something like 3am, but I was barely able to note the time I was so tired. Morning came too soon, and I got up and dressed and finished packing while Peter slept. I woke him up enough to say goodbye, got him a wake up call, checked out and left for the airport where I had to cross through a maze of Southwest (and maybe America West?) people in the luggage check in line. I had no trouble checking my bag in and was through security in less than 5 minutes. I picked up some Cherry Cordial candy at Ethel M's for Barbara (after making sure that the liquid centers wouldn't cause boarding problems) and then found a table in the food court where I availed myself of the free Internet. While I was there Rich Strauss came up and sat down next to me with a Burger King sandwich and we chatted until it was time to head to our respective gates. The flight home was early and I was in the door before 8:30 even after a slow luggage retrieval. This BARGE had some high points for me, and I had some fun during it, but I have to say that I was too worried about things working out, and had to jump through too many hoops during BARGE to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I later learned that I was right to be worried, but thankfully the worries never came to fruition. However, it appears that, gaming board willing, we have a new home for BARGE and I fully expect to be back in better form for BARGE 2007. I also have to say that this year BARGE friendships really came through for us all. If it weren't for Peter, Nolan, the donors, Kathy Raymond, the Venetian, and lots of other people who pitched in, BARGE 2006 would not have been as successful as it was...and maybe wouldn't have happened at all.