Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:49:16 -0600 From: Mike McBride Subject: [BARGE] Barge 2007 Trip Report This was one of the best Barge's ever as I was "made" as an A.D.B'er this year. QB and I were given the coveted hats and were welcomed into this exclusive and inebriated group of wonderful people. THANKS!! Monday Flew into Vegas for the first time in 12 years. All in all a good flight both ways but I am one of those that believes that it is by the sheer number of people praying that keeps planes in the air, not this flight dynamic mumbo jumbo. Did you know that Binion's serves crappy beer in a 52 ounce plastic football for only $7.00 with $5.00 refills? My wife and I do so this became a pre-tourney requirements for the rest of the tournaments that started at night. The only bad beat on this one was that they don't start serving until 5:00pm so I figured I would have to improvise for the TOC and NL tournaments. Tuesday Everyone is starting to show up a Binion's. See Len and Claude so the wife and I have lunch with them. It was a great time catching up. We make our way over to the poker room and sit in a 4-8 Holdem game for a while with other Barger's and have a blast. About 5:00pm, the wife and I wandered over to the bar and got the first of 3 footballs of beer I would consume prior to the Stud8 tournament. The Stud8 tournament was a fun event. I played pretty well but had a few misreads and fell victim to my own stupidity and busted 40th. Wednesday Spent the day searching for a VP game that would not take all my money to no avail. Played a little ring game with no joy but the fun and laughter shared with the Barger's and some of the looser locals. About 5:00pm (sensing a theme here) the wife and I wandered over to the bar and got the first of 3 footballs of beer I would consume prior to the Lobah tournament. I went pretty deep last year and figured I could do the same this year. After a few rounds of no cards, I went on a small rush and caught back up to the chip leaders. Played pretty well and made no mistakes towards my final demise due to few chips and big blinds. I had a draw to a 6 and paired IGHN. This was the night I got my A.D.B hat. Peter and several other A.D.B'ers asked me to come play craps with them. We get over there and get rolling when Peter says, "Hey Howler, where's your hat?" I think a bit and say, "I don't have one.". He says, "You do now" TOOO COOOOLLLL!!. I am speechless and beside myself with happiness. This is like the coolest thing next to winning the NL in 2002. THANKS TO ALL THE A.D.B. GROUP. I will do everything I can to carryout my duties as an A.D.B'er. I grab a few more beers, roll a few dice, make about $60 bucks and call it a night. Thursday Woke up at 11:00am after playing until 4:30am in the morning. Sue and I rushed down to see the CHORSE event and run the BCC Sales table. We were about a hour into handing the pre-ordered chips out a selling the pins etc when we were told to shutdown as we did not have a retail permit.(sadenz). Oh well, we were able to watch the CHORSE and fun was had by all. Another Colorado poker group headed up by Bob and Brenda had a very decent showing in the CHORSE as well as throughout the Barge events. I guess for someplace that has no "real" casino poker, Colorado can crank out some very good players. Congrats to the Colorado Contingent. The Stud Shootout starts at 7:00pm so the wife and I wandered over to the bar and got the first of 3 footballs of beer I would consume prior to the Stud Shootout tournament. This is one event I wanted to to well in. I have been an ATM in every stud event I have played so I decided last year to study stud and play enough to were I finally felt like a favorite or at least comfortable as the table. I sit down and who shows up but Lou Krieger and Kevin UN. Two players a highly respect and enjoy talking with but really don't like to see at my table. Long poker hand story and horseshoe luck later, we get down to four players, Kevin, Lou, Hector (a very good player) and myself. Kevin suggests a 5% payback by each of us who make money to the other players. It was a unanimous yes so we continued to play. Long poker hand story and horseshoe luck later, I get heads up with Lou. I played pretty aggressive for me heads up as was able to knock Lou out even though he had the best hand before all the money went in. I got a great gift being able to play against Lou and Kevin, two of the three people in the world who have taught me the most about playing poker and how to be a good person. Long story somewhat shortened, I finished fourth and scored $600 and a wealth of experience. We finished up at 3:00am so I decided to have one more football as a night cap and went to bed about 5:00am. Friday Alarm goes off at 8:00am and I am still a little drunk from the night before. Howlerwife and I got get something to eat and head upstairs for the TOC. I busted about middle of the pack. No pomp, no circumstance just a poor boy with no chips and a dream to win this next year. Later, find Jester and Bingo heading over to play some PaiGow and I think we got ruled by the dealer. Somewhere in the conversation, I get treated to the fact that this particular dealer had dealt himself a 7 card straight flush. I leave about $40 down, wander over to get a football and proceed to hit back to back 4 deuces on the same VP machine (CHA-CHING). I am now officially even for the trip. Saturday The NL event starts at 10:00am. I have a great run of cards and some very good luck getting all in bad and winning the hand. I bust 13th and cash a little. I really wanted to win this one again because you just never know if you will get this close again. All that aside, ADB made a great showing this year and Bingo finished second. He has my vote as the best NL player this year, after finishing third in 2006 and bulldozing his way to second this year. I have a football and we head over to the Banquet. Gavin was our speaker and they roasted Dan Goldman. What a great time. Gavin spoke well and is one of my best Barge friends as well. The jokes and quips were hilarious and I think we all had a fantastic time. Final Thoughts 17 Footballs of beer -$87, Tokes and other extraneous expenses $600, Being at Barge 2007 -Priceless!! Amy and Ploink- We look forward to seeing you guys every year. We are lucky to have you as friends and we enjoy your company. Thanks for making this Barge the best. Dan and Sharon- Thanks for all you have done for the Barge community. You are the cream of the crop and really fun people. Good Luck and see you soon. Gavin- Good luck and play well this year. You are my daughters favorite player and we will be routing you on to the final table wherever we get the chance. Great speech and God Bless. ADB- Thanks again. You folks have no idea how much the hat means to me. You are all great people and wish you all the best in the coming year. Have fun, play well and single malt when ever you can. See ya at Barge 2008. To all the rest of my Barge family who are truly to many to name. Howlerwife and I would like to say "thanks" and we love you all. There has never been a greater gathering of truly awesome people. Your generosity, patience, kindness and friendship are truly appreciated. We will miss all of you and we are counting the days until we meet again. Good Luck and God bless you all in this coming year. Signing off from Barge '*The Worlds Largest Home Game"* Howler and Howlerwife