From: RMITCHCOLL@aol.com Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:21:42 EDT Subject: [BARGE] Schmengie Trip Report Part 1 cross posted to RGP and _http://schmengie.livejournal.com/_ (http://schmengie.livejournal.com/) I attended my first Barge in 1999 and immediately decided to never miss another one. Somewhere along the way, it has become an obsession. I start looking forward to the next Barge the minute I bust out of the current one. Since 2001 I have planned my trips to include the weekend before Barge. Usually this gets me there for the last weekend of the Orleans Open but this years late starting WSOP changed that. I planned to leave Friday morning and just stay downtown the entire time. On the Sunday night before the Main Event I got an e-mail from Rick Mombourquette saying he qualified on Stars. I told my boss, a poker fan, that if he made the final table, I was heading to Vegas a day early since it would take place on the 10th. Sure...no problem he says. As Rick started making waves it became more and more possible that a final table could happen. On Sunday they were down under 150 players and Rick still had a nice stack. SWA said I had to change my flight that day or I wouldnt be able to use my rapid reward ticket. So I made the decision to fly out Wednesday night instead of Friday morning. Unfortunately Rick busted out a few hours later and sabyl did before the morning. But obviously it was now too late to change back so 11 nights and 10 days in Vegas it is. Arriving in Vegas is always exciting. This place has a palpable energy. you can almost feel it as you come over the mountains on approach to land. I got to the hotel at midnight which was 3am my time..had lingering headache so I just went to sleep. In the morning I drove to Rio just to see the madness..all the hospitality suites were closed..one live game..final 2 of last cheesey bracelet (tm others) event. saw setup for final table..and I left. Coming to WSOP today is sorta like making first visit to Major League World Series in the 9th inning of game 7. I played the 10a NL 70+40 at Binions. only 10 people so it was basically a SnG paying 2 spots. doubled up early with KK vs AQ. stole enough to stay average. At 5 handed I picked up an almost 100 percent tell on the guy to my left when I was SB and he was BB. This allowed me to take blinds and antes at least once per round fairly easily. At 3 handed we each had 10kish stacks and blinds were 500/1000 so we chopped taking a 125 profit after tip. Got a comp for lunch and signed up for 2p same tourney...didn't cash. Drove to Bellagio..played 4-8 HE lost 98 in 5 hours of unremarkable play..did get to hear this gem. I have folded and there are a few people who see flop of 553..Guy to my left gets into raising war with guy to his left...turn 4...more bets and raises...river A..more bets and raises. Guy to my left shows K5o. Other guy shows AA...guy with K5 says to me..I guess if you chase you sometimes get there...LOL...nhs,wp Friday I met Bob Ogus for breakfast at Binions coffee shop. Caught up on stuff since we haven't seen each other in 3 yrs. Those who know Bob are aware of his storytelling prowess. I am convinced that Bob is the Forrest Gump of Barge. he knows all sorts of famous people and has done some amazing things in his military and professional life. Bob told a story later at dinner about how he knows baseballs Don Zimmer..story started in the 20s,25 years before Bob was born and before Zimmer was born. It included tales of his godfather Joe Dimaggio and Bob sitting on Marilyn Monroes lap. Another trait of Bob is he can challenge fich for role as #1 table captain. We started out playing at Venetian. They were very excited about hosting us. beautiful room..better looking waitresses. lost 100 playing 3-6. walked over to mirage and allknight joined us for some 6-12..won 200 including flopping quads against Adam. My sister was in town and she came by to say hello..dinner at Carnegie Deli with comps from Mirage then over to Venetian to play some more 6-12. Was down to felt from 300 buyin when I rallied back to even. This included taking many chips from Bob when I flopped K high straight flush and he flopped ace high flush. Cashed out down 60..decided to play nugget 1a 105 NLHE tourney ...made bad read with 88 vs JJ, battled back to even then lost with QQ vs A8 when A hit turn. Saturday I went to play at Wynns. scottro said the 8-16 was a great game. It wasn't going yet so I played some 4-8..very loose game with big pots..I won a few bux and jumped to the 8-16 when it opened..big mistake. very rocky..smaller pots then the little game..hopped over to Orleans. Had dinner plans with Scottro, oscarmc, rlm, timmer stine, pauls, bob,a dam and fich for 8p at Cajun Als oyster bar. Before dinner I played in a wild 4-8 game for 4 hours..went down 120 without dragging pot then won biggie and got even. lather and rinse...repeat 3 more times then bust..lost 100 total. Dinner was great. The last few years a few of us have made Saturday night at Als kind of a tradition. After dinner we headed to Binions. Carol was excited to see us and she spread a 4-8 horse game for 8 of us. Great time, only lost $29 and called it a night 1a. Sunday was chip packing day at Chez Timmer. Its always great seeing the other BCC members for some conversation and a quick NL freezeout. Scottro won this year. We headed to Main Street Station where I enjoyed a good burger at the brew pub I then played Binions 2p nl with Oscar and me swapping 25%. I took first and $1700. At final table I did not lose a single hand where I voluntarily put in chips..grizz chopped second and third for 1k win also. I am bad about taking notes or remembering hands, but there was one hand which propelled me to the final table. It was first hand after the break..blinds were 300/600 with $50 ante. Both the SB and BB along with 4 other people were not back in time. From the cutoff I raised to 2k hoping to take all the dead money with 9To. The button raised all in for another $2500. I called and my hand sucked out vs 66 when a ten hit the river. I headed to meet my sister for dinner at what turned out to be a shitty overpriced Italian place (Onda) at Mirage. I am beat and decide to call it a night. Monday was an up and down day...mostly down. Lost 100 playing 4-8 at Bellagio waiting for the noon tourney at Caesars Palace. Then donked off all my chips to Oscar when my JJ was no match against his AK especially when two kings flopped. He did have to pay me $20 when we teamed the event and he final tabled. Won $334 playing 6-12 at Venetian and gave it all back playing 9-18 and the 8p tourney. Again I decide to play the 1a tourney at the Nugget...and again I suck. Tuesday is finally Barge. It feels like I have been here a week already..oh wait, I have been here a week. Man I love Vegas. I figure this is my 25th visit give or take a few since I started coming to Vegas in 1977. More and more friends are starting to arrive. A hug here, a hand shake there, an introduction to a first timer...its all good. I decide to have lunch at the Grand Luxe Cafe. Wow..this place is great. I had a seafood salad that was almost too pretty to eat..almost. I win around $200 overall playing various games heading into the Lazy Pineapple tourney. Things are actually going relatively well for me as we are down to around 30 people left. I get AA3 and raise only getting 4 callers :-). The flop comes QJ8 rainbow...obviously not what I am looking for but my bet folds all but one. (ominous foreboding here). Turn is a low card completing the rainbow. I bet and again get called. River is a 9 and my opponent bets out. I hopelessly call and he takes down a monster pot with...55T. Oy vey. I bust out a few hands later and he makes the final table. Dinner at Noodle Asia..i love noodle bars and this one is the best I have eaten at in Vegas..much better imho then the one at Bellagio. This is my last solo nite this trip. My wife Carol arrives Wednesday night. I am looking forward to moving to Bellagio from the Plaza and spending some time alone with her. This is the first vacation without any kids since...well since Barge 1999 before Aidan was born. part 2 next.... From: RMITCHCOLL@aol.com Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:22:57 EDT Subject: [BARGE] Schmengie Trip Report Part 2 continued.. Wednesday I check out of the Plaza and head over to The Egg and I for a breakfast organized by Ice. Food was great, company was better as 25 of us enjoyed omelets and coffee. Thank you Ice for buying all of us breakfast! I drop stevecohen off at Caesars and go to check in at Bellagio. I had asked Goldie the best way to get a room with a view. He said get a Green chip and hand it to the clerk with my credit card telling the clerk what I want. I try this asking for a room with a view of the fountains. He sees the chip but says they are all sold out. I ask harder but to no avail. I get a room on the 25th floor of the spa tower and a view of...I-15. No way. I do not unpack and head back down and pick out a different clerk. This time I stick a C Note behind my key and tell the guy I really dont like my room view. He starts working ...looking for a room. Its only 11a and people are still in their rooms. He tells me to come back at 3p. I go play some cards and at 3p he sends me on my way to the new room. Its in the main tower but still no view of the fountains..at least its a strip view though. Wasnt exactly 100$ well spent. Overall I am kind of disappointed by the rooms at Bellagio. The little things are nice, the turn down service, the bathrooms, the comfy mattresses. But if Carol isnt joining me, I cant rationalize spending $200 per night here instead of $20 per night at the Plaza. When i am asleep, all rooms look the same. I settle in my room with just enough time to freshen up and head over to the Palms Casino for the Non Smoker at N9NE. I took a cab instead of driving because N9NE makes the best Martini's ever and I intended on having a few. Dinner was great, company was better. I shared a table with Doug L, Dave L, Ice, Tina, Stacy and others. Share a cab back to Venetian with Ice and get there just in time to play the Zimmers Memorial Lohbah Tourney. One of my favorite things about Barge is getting a chance to play lowball. Not really sure why I enjoy it so much but I do. This tourney goes very well and I find myself at the final table. With a reasonable stack. The best I have ever done in a Barge event was 5th in the stud shootout a few years ago and I am hopeful of doing better this time. We get down to 4 handed and its me, Chris M, Kenny Shei and gunga_galunga. Kenny has perfected the art of calling 2 cold and drawing 2 and getting there. On other occasions he raises, then draws 2 and gets there. This is a skill I have not yet perfected. At 3 handed I get all in against Gunga, I draw one and so does he. I make a pair of 2s and he makes a pair of 1s...ighn. 3rd doesn't suck and neither did the $770. Of course I had to pay Cohen $77 since we had a 10% swap. This does nothing to stem the bleeding he is incurring playing Chinese. Carol had already arrived but she was pretty tired and we headed back to the Bellagio. Thursday was a big day for Carol. I bought her a 2 hour massage/Vichy shower/therapeutic bath at the Bellagio Spa starting at 9a. I figured this was the least I could do to thank her for letting me come to Vegas for 10 days. It would be a great way for her to unwind and get ready for the next 3 days. After she went down, I headed to the Bellagio breakfast buffet using a comp from the day before. This would be the only buffet I attend in 10 days...clearly a record that will be hard to break. Carol had a shopping day planned over at the Forum Shops and I was playing with the Math is Hard Five in the Team CHORSE event. We won this event 2 years ago and finished last in 2005. We split the difference this year earning $76 back for our $75 investment. I alternate between hating this event and enjoying it. The trash talk and teamwork is fun, the chaos and long periods of boredom are not. I am not sure I will compete again next year, but I probably will. The event ended just in time to head over to the I Love Sushi outing. Asya put this together for the second year and I was looking forward to it. Carol loves sushi as much as me and she finished shopping in time to join us. Jester and Jim Anderson rode along and 30 minutes later we were there. Going Flamingo to Eastern seemed to be a lot smoother then 15-215-Eastern. This place has THE best sushi in the world. Its the presentation that makes it work. Dishes like "I love my ass" and "smells like my ex girlfriend" and "John Holmes Roll" sorta tell you that this place is different. Carol and I were also looking forward to the Sake sampling being presented by Ben. We got to try 5 different Sakes and each had a unique flavor. For the second year in a row, the unfiltered tasted best to me. Once again I took the over on the per person amount of the bill. Once again I paid $5 when it went under. I highly recommend making the Sushi outing part of your Barge experience next year. Lee Jones joined the 4 of us for the ride back to the Venetian and we get back just in time to play the Stud Shootout. I have cashed in this event twice in 3 years so I was looking forward to it. I never really got any traction going and busted out middle of the road. I did enjoy getting to chat with Sabyl, Eric and Oliver among others. Carol and I headed back to Bellagio deciding to get a late night snack when we got back. It turned into an hour tour of the Bellagio grounds that ended with us eating nuts out of the fridge. We started by walking back towards the poker room since I knew the snack shop was open. When we get there, Carol decides there is a Gelato place at the end of the shops going towards Caesars. I know this place doesn't exist, but Carol knows it does. After confirming that I was right, we decide to eat at the Bellagio Cafe...all the way back to the registration area and through the gardens. Long ass line there so now she decides the snack shop is just fine..all the way back to the poker area in time to see the snack shop close. Cashews and Diet Coke sounds fine honey :-). Friday Carol planned an outing to the Outlet shops with Ellen Cohen and Holly Mombourquette. I planned on a long day playing the TOC event. This one is a great event, with deep stacks and a structure that allows you to play. I had dinner reservations at 530p with a show afterwords but figured if I was still in at that point, Carol would understand and go without me. (This was event work had organized so she would not be alone.) I played solid unremarkable poker as table after table busted. As 4pm approached we were down to 4 tables. I was a little surprised when they brought over bags for us to pack up our chips. I had thought we played down to the final table and then came back later to finish. There were 3 hands left before the break and I was pretty short stacked. The last thing I wanted to do was miss dinner/show and then play a short stack. The blinds were 800/1500 and we were playing O8. The last hand of the limit had me in the BB posting $1500 out of $6300 in my stack. Oscar raises UTG and if you know Oscar the range of hands he does this with is all of them. A caller, then Sabyl calls on the button and the SB folds. I really dont want to fold and have only 4800 as we raise the limits and move to NL after the break. So I call hoping to hit a flop and maybe get a nice stack. My hand was K643 with a suited K. Flop comes K4x with 2 hearts, I bet, Oscar raises and reraise all in. I am slightly ahead but the heart on the turn hits Oscars nut flush, I dont resuck the river and I am done. This hand has bothered me for over a week. Did I lose this hand because of dinner reservations or did I play it correctly based on stack sizes. Comments I have gotten elsewhere are pretty split and I welcome more. It was off to the symposium where mickdog and I worked the door making sure only Bargers got in. I stayed long enough to buy back my action from Goldie. I was in the ADV syndicate and I am pretty sure I have a little refund due from my $50 share. I picked up Carol back at the Poker room and it was off to Wynns to meet my co-workers at 530p at the SW Steakhouse. We got there early enough to pick up the La Reve show tickets and have some drinks at the bar downstairs. Dinner was again very good, but I think N9NE is a lot better overall. The view at SW was very cool especially when they opened the patio windows to the waterfalls. We then head to see La Reve. I wasnt really looking forward to this since it was directed by a Cirque alum and I am not a Cirque fan. But boy oh boy was I wrong. La Reve was the best show I have ever seen in Vegas. From start to finish I was in awe at the acrobatics and artistry. I HIGHLY recommend this show. From here we headed downtown to the Karaoke and Wedding. I caught the tail end of the craps crawl losing $100 before I knew what hit me. Upstairs to the nuptials. We stayed long enough to see a few songs including If I had a million dollars by Marlin, Howler and prock. The highlight was Rappers Delight by RGP Slim1der joined for a bit by terrencechan. I felt like getting my roller skates on as this brought back memories of those dark disco days that were just morphing into rappers like Grandmaster Flash and Sugar Hill. The Virgins also represented. It was time for the wedding as The Right Reverend whipartist called adbploink to the stage. Next was Nolan Dalla resplendent in a white suit escorting the lovely Amy down the aisle. I am sure I was one of many people wiping away tears as Chris and Amy exchanged vows. Simply beautiful, I thank both of them for allowing us to share their moment. Saturday finally arrives...the last day of Barge. A year of anticipation and its almost over. Carol and I head to breakfast at the Grand Luxe (great) and she surprises me by asking if she could still play in the SO NLHE event. I am surprised because in 12 years of playing poker, she has never once expressed a desire to play. Chuck said no problem and Carol made the final table finishing 8th I think out of 20 or more players. I sat down to play the Barge main event and again never got any traction. Just before the first break, I raised all in from the SB with 88 over the top of BarryT who raised from the cut off. Lenny Augustine thought for a few minutes before calling with JJ. Barry had AK. I once again failed to suckout and I joined Barry on the rail. I have often said that the moment I bust out of this event is among the most depressing moments all year for me. But not this time. I had a great Barge and a great week before Barge and was very satisfied with my play. I found my wife and we had some lunch at Noodle Asia. She went off to play some blackjack and I sat down in a nice quiet 6-12 game with Murray, Bullbert, ADB BFB, Paul Stine and JR (i think). It was quiet until I decided to straddle. This touched off a must straddle game where a nice lady in the 5 seat went from being on the felt to having 600$ in front of her in maybe 5 hands. After a while I got up and Action Bob took my seat. He proceeded to play blind and take the game up another notch. I decided to take a seat in my first Badugi game..a 3-6 game of mostly Bargers. It was my first time playing this silly game :-). I think I made a 5, a 6 and a 7 going up $150 pretty quickly. I ended up winning $65 before the game broke. Once Warren got up there was no point playing :-). I went back to the same 6-12 game which continued to be a must straddle game. Lunchbox was now in the game vowing to drink one of each beer the house offered. Soon after we headed over for the Banquet. Carol and I sat with Ross, George, Paul and a few others..(memory fails). Dinner itself was so so but considering the things Peter and Chuck went through to plan this, it was great. Phil Gordons talk was interesting and enjoyable. Once again Bob Ogus enhanced his Forrest Gumpian ability by being the guy who played J8 to take out Phil and Bill Chen and in doing so, tilt Phil for hours. I signed up as always for the lowball game and as always I never expected it to get going. But surprisingly they called the game around 10p. We had an early flight home and needed to wake up at 345a to get to the airport. Around 11p Carol said it was time to leave. I walked around saying good bye to as many as possible but there is no way to talk to everyone. My 8th Barge was over and I enjoyed the hell out of it. There are no words big enough to express my thanks to Peter Secor and Chuck Weinstock. So many opportunities to give up, but that thought never seemed to enter their minds. Thank you as well to Nolan Dalla and Dan Goldman for the parts they played in finding venues for us. Thank you to Pokerstars and Paradise for the thoughts and thank you to the donors who came through for Barge. Thank you to Kathy Raymond and the entire Poker room staff. You guys were tremendous. I hope you enjoyed having us and I hope we can come back next year. Thank you to my wife, Carol, for allowing me to indulge myself by coming to Vegas for 10 days each summer. Thank you to Chris and Amy for allowing us to be part of your life. Thank you to all my old and new friends at Barge. I cant wait to see you again next year. One last thing...I made a series of last longers with some virgins. Here are the results. I went 5-0 vs Tanya, the virgin queen. I went 3-2 vs Fellnight and Omaholic It was great getting to meet you guys and the other RGP first timers like elg, slim, da pickle and many more. I went 1-1 with Raider Dave and lost to George W 1-0. Thats it...thanks for reading this far and see you all next year. Randy Collack