From: Steven Evans Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 15:05:06 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Scoop's 2008 Trip Report- Part 1 I did not see this go thru so I busted it up into 2 parts... To all BARGER's This is not your typical Trip Report, there are no bad beat airline stories, I am local and hate to fly and/or go to the airport, so take that you frequent flyer, car renting, TSA lovin aficionados...;-) Being a local, I often find myself busy with work and life when BARGE rolls around, and this year was no different. Even though I had a busy week, I was sooooo looking forward to seeing you all and having some fun! I can't drink like I used to(can I borrow a liver?)and I have to drive home every night so you won't find any drunken stories or escapades about me, but I enjoy watching others exhibit the behavior I can now only dream about! So many times during the week I wanted to play in some reindeer games but I would have to sneak out and take care of some errand, only to rush back for a tourney or The Cal, er, symposium. I have toyed with the idea of staying downtown during BARGE, and partaking of more events, seeing and spending more time with more of you, but at the end of the week, you will all go home and I will still be here, still wanting to gamb00l! Maybe next year I will get a room for at least a couple days so I can PARTY a bit more! Tuesday... Drove to Binion's, parked in self parking, but toked the valet as they are the bomb when I use them. For BARGER's who are not locals, you can have the poker room stamp your parking validation and it will be good for all day, rather than the 3 hours you get from the casino...just a note for future use...got my BADGE and my first bad beat...forgot to enter my nic at registration so my badge did not say 'scoop'. I fixed that the first night with some whiteout and a magic marker! Wandered around and said hi to old friends, and met Dave K of the Virgin group. I concur with others that the Virgin class of 2008 were great fun and took their place in BARGE history seriously and should be proud of their showing. They could of lost more money to other BARGER's but they will get the hang of it sooner or later! I played the NL to HORSE shootout but did not last long as I suck at NL...table was fun, company was great, but IGHN early....so I can get up and have breakfast with Ice and a cast of thousands... Wednesday... Made it to the Egg and I, Susan joined me in one of her few BARGE appearances this year, and we sat and had a very pleasant time with Randy C and his Peg. I love this venue and this event, thanks to Ice for his generosity once again! Great food and a chance to catch up, meet new folks and raise our glasses instead of raising pots! Many left to go play on the strip, or downtown...we left to go and do a home inspection! I am really a very lucky man, as my Peg(Susan)works 2 jobs at the present time. She has her own Home Inspection business, besides working at the Venetian/Palazzo in surveillance. She understands what BARGE is and what it means to me so she always tries to cut me some slack around this time of year... which brings me to...Part 2 From: Steven Evans Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 15:13:18 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Scoop's 2008 BARGE Trip Report-Part 2 Part 2 Thursday For those that do not know, or may not remember, Thursday, July 31st was our 15th wedding anniversary. Every year when the BARGE schedule comes out, I look to see if it fall on or misses our day. We usually try to go out of town, maybe to Mt Charleston, Laughlin, Mesquite, or up to Utah to go fly fishing, but if BARGE is happening(usually 90% of the time) Susan will always defer to BARGE, and maybe we go out of town the week before or after. When she saw the schedule, she insisted we stay in town, maybe go out for a nice dinner and BARGE it, as she calls it. She was asked to play for Team PMS in CHORSE, and I was playing stud for Ice's team...when mickdog put out the table assignments, I saw we were playing the same game, same table! How sweet is this I thought, and with position! We had Rick M between us keeping it all clean, we tried to razz him a little, but he would have none of it! Kept mumbling something about getting a room! This has always been my favorite event, love the concept, the trash talking, the drinking in the AM, etc. I hope to never be on Team Sleeping In! We did not win but we gave it a shot. We had dinner plans so we had to rush out, get home in rush hour and take care of the dog who has by now thought I moved. We rushed back downtown for a 5:30 DINNER AT HUGO's with some non-BARGER friends. We had planned this dinner a month prior, with the understanding we were going dutch, when we sat down they stated they would be buying dinner, we argued but they would not have any of it. Dingz! And they ordered 2 bottles of Silver Oak Cab....yummmmm! Needless to say, it was a great dinner but I was late to the stud shootout!!! Oh noooooo! I don't mind being a little late, but I absolutely cannot miss the 35-70 round. This is the greatest tournament structure in the world! My Peg and friends see my anxiety and tell me to get out of Hugo's and go play. WOW! Ala Lou Gehrig...today I feel like I am the luckiest man on the face, face face of the earth, earth earth... The Stud Shootout was great fun, a blast in fact...had Nolan to my right, and we were laughing all night long, can't remember what about now, many good wine drink units! I got to heads up with Steve ?, can't remember his last name, I had a 2-1 chip lead but squandered it away and Steve beat me. I knew that he would be a formidable opponent when I first sat down, me thinks I played a little aggressive and it cost me. Nice hands, sir...well played! I went out to the pit and found my Peg ruling the BJ game, she booked a nice win and we wandered out to the desert and found our way home. Friday...Saturday Played the TOC, don't remember alot, went deep but did not cash(this happens to me too often), hooked up with my buddy Bill(SOB) and headed over to the Cal, er symposium. We had plans to buy ourselves back as well as buy a few teams if we could get them cheap enough. We bought 2 other teams but they must suck at NL cause no one ever came up to either of us to give us money! Was planning on playing later in the evening but got a call from a client who wanted to look at a home...at 9 PM!...so I reluctantly left to the showing....wait!, she wants to buy it! Dingz!!! I race home, do some research and call her back...I write the offer up at 11 PM, meet her at 9:30 AM to sign, and get to Binion's before the cards are in the air for the ME...whew! I play and get no cards for the 1st 2 or 3 levels...try to steal a few blinds and antes, JP is on my left and will have none of it most of the time. Unfortunately for him, on one of my steals, he repops it and I had QQ...HGHN. Our table breaks and I get moved...can't remember much at this table, was not there very long because I raised all-in with JJ and someone was not smart enough to lay down AA so IGHN...I really wish that whoever it was had talked to Diane before the tourney...she could have let them know how overrated AA was and how easy it is to lay down!...;-) I had a abso-fuckin-lutely great time this year! We will miss your expertise at all this Chuck, hopefully we do not miss you! To Peter, Nick and Mickdog, you guys are the bomb. The feeling of family and what you all mean to the BARGE community is pretty evident when you get a bigger ovation than the speaker. I can feel the love when we all stand and cheer for you all! Thank you for all you do from the bottom of my heart! Extra highlights... sitting at the CHORSE table and finally order a cocktail..."double Baileys and coffee please, no whip"....and someone says, "you are obviously NOT ordering that for PATTI....the table roars with laughter, except the 1 seat, must be the Virgin Team! The day before Team Moosecock won the CHORSE, someone send me an email with a moose wandering around a meadow checking out a buffalo statue...you only have to imagine what happened next, but if it was a case of statutory rape I needed answers, so I printed it out and gave it to Murray....methinks it was a BARGE highlight for him. Please do us all a favor next year...wash those damn Moose ears, they smelled as musty as a bull in heat......Ahhh, never mind! A special shout out to Un, I missed Karaoke but got to hear a reprise during the Calcutta...Kevin if you could post your lyrics we would all love it...I caught the majority, but missed a few words...maybe you/we should add a verse every year based on a previous years escapades. I can only concur....I LOVE THIS BARGE! scoop