Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:21:30 -0400 From: Stephen J Daniel Subject: [BARGE] A Crunchy Trip Report - Lessons Learned I have not written a BARGE trip report since 1999 however this one deserves one because of the wonderful poker and non-poker conversations I had with old and new friends and eating and drinking my way to gaining four lbs in six days even on less than five hours of sleep per night. I lost $80 playing poker on the trip because my Binglaha losses ate my Bellagio tournament win. And half the loss came on the following hand. I have about 1200 and am to the left of the UTG/Straddle and look at As Ks Ad Qd which I have been told is the best starting high hand you can be dealt in Omaha High. I made it 20 to go. Six callers and the flop is KJT rainbow, one spade, no diamonds. I'm thinking this is a pretty good flop for me with the current nuts (Broadway), a backdoor nut flush redraw + a few backdoor boat redraws. I bet pot (120). David Croson, who is playing Binglaha for the first time and has entered almost no pots, bets pot/all-in for about 500. Fern Chamberlain, also playing Binglaha for the 1st time and is playing tighter than David, re-re-pots/All-in for about 900. I insta-call. We turn over our cards. David had KK54 with a heart flush draw and Fern had AQJT with a Club Draw. Turn is a blank, river is a J! I lose 900 and am thinking how did this happen? Ok, next day Bart and some of the other more experienced Binglaha players educate me. Post BARGE I did the following analysis. Surprisingly my starting hand only wins 52% of the time against two random hands in a show down. Against the specific hands I was up against (and given whom I was playing against these hands or similar are very very likely) I will scoop only 5% of the time, split with Fern 60% of the time and lose 35% of the time. Factoring in the $ and I am -78 EV on the flop and should have folded. Thank you Bart. The next day, during the reindeer game Binglaha I am facing a similar situation. On the flop, and after the die rolled high. I have a wheel with no redraws. Flop is A35, Turn=Q, two hearts. I have about 1000 in my stack and am covered by both Sabyl and Chaz. Sabyl bets out 40, I pot to 160, Chaz re-pots and Sabyl re-re-pots. I think for a few moments and remembering the hand from the night before and my discussion with Bart, I fold. River is either an A or a Q making Chaz's boat. On the turn he had top 2, nut flush draw and a higher str8 redraw. I believe Sabyl had the wheel with both flush and str8 redraws. Lesson learned. Thanks to the organizers who once again made all the wonderful times possible and thanks to all the BARGERs for being who you are, intelligent, competitive and gracious. This is a rare mix these days. Finally to my old BARGE friend who I spoke to at the Goldman Smoker, "forgive him for he knowth not what he says." Crunch