Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 01:28:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rick Duggan
Subject: [BARGE] BARGE virgin 1 day micro trip report

Started Friday at the Virgins gathering. I apologize in advance, but I
will be forgetting names, events, and probably the truth at some point
during this report.

Met up with DaveK, his lovely wife Peg (Chris), Diana, Mecklin/Bayes,
et. al for construction of the awards. Then a discussion of the
Calcutta (truly an example of the blind leading the blind) wherein we
threw in the towel on understanding what was going to happen and just
put $20 each into a syndicate.

After that, watching the Calcutta became much like playing baccarat.
We had already made our decisions, so there was nothing to do but
watch. Plus I hadn't met the syndicate leader yet (Mike) so I had no
idea who we were bidding on or who we won.

Had the chance to meet up with some other locals (Allknight and Bart
Simpson) and exchanged contact info.

Most memorably, I had the chance to finally meet ADB Foldem in person.
He had done me a favor years ago and vouched for me to get into the
Diamond Club in NYC. What he didn't know is that I had to bluff my way
into the club when they didn't believe me and wanted to talk to him. I
knew he was traveling, so I said he wasn't reachable. They ended up
letting me in anyway. For those who never got to see it, think
Rounders (though the Mayfair was the actual inspiration).

Went over to Binions and played some PLO with LenG, Bart, and a few
others (like I said, I forgot some of the names).

Grabbed a quick bite to eat, then started the Second Chance NLH. Was
very privileged to sit next to ADB Bingo, and we had a good time
chatting. Played well (read: got lucky), made it to the final table.
Blinds were fairly large (1 & 2K, I think) and I had about $16K. Moved
all in with 77 figuring I'd either double up or bust out, but I wanted
more chips to make a run at first. Ran into 88 and AKs and busted out
8th. We had all agreed on a final table save, so I walked away even
(minus tips).

Got into the BARGE tradition of toking the dealers during the
tournament for any little thing. New dealer. Toke! Dealer drops a card
during the shuffle. Toke! Dealer looks to his left. Toke!

I tried to start a new tradition (with moderate success) when I
started tipping the dealer after hands that I lost "because I might
have won."

Quite simply, there's only one word to describe BARGE. Unfortunately,
I don't know what that word is. Can't wait until next year.

-Rick