Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:01:23 -0400 From: "Stevan H. Goldman" Subject: [BARGE] goldiefish trip report - BARGE2009 As the organizer of ATLARGE (ATLARGE twenty-ten will be March 4-7, 2010...= mark your calendars) I have a small appreciation of the effort put forth by= Mike, Nick and Peter for our mutual benefit. I say "small" appreciation b= ecause BARGE is like ATLARGE, but on steroids. It is many times larger and= requires many times greater effort than does ATLARGE. So, I'd like to add= my heartfelt thanks to the aforementioned r00lerz for their hard work in m= aking BARGE a total joy for all of us. BARGE is truly one of my most fun a= nd enjoyable weeks every year, and it is directly because of these people. = Thank you, Mike, Nick and Peter. And to the others who, while not officia= l organizers, also make significant efforts for all of us, thank you too. = Nolan comes to mind. So do the Goldmans. And Patrick Milligan and the chi= p committee. And Ice. And Chuck Weinstock, Emperor Emeritus, of course. = And, the staff at Binions cannot be thanked enough. Thank you for treating= us like old friends. Thank you for hosting us. Thank you for "getting" u= s. Thank you one and all. Due to a prior obligation on the weekend preceding BARGE I was unable to ge= t to Vegas until Monday. Ice was on my flight which departed and arrived o= n time. I told Ice that Chic was already in Vegas and had offered to pick = us up at the airport, but that I had rented a car as I thought it would be = worth having during the week. Ice said something like "Chic's in Vegas alr= eady?" To which I said..."Yeah, he got out of work early...a year-and-a-ha= lf ago!" That line set the tone for another BARGE full of fun and laughs. = I told Chic what I said, and he went around repeating it all week. Upon retrieving luggage we rented a car and headed downtown to check in at = the Golden Nugget. Despite having made the drive up I-15 to downtown countless times I was dis= tracted by the conversation and got off at the wrong exit. This meant we h= ad to make our way downtown on the surface streets, but when we reached the= Nugget the street construction meant we had to circle around before we fou= nd our way to the valet. Neither of our rooms were ready, as it was just after noon, so we checked o= ur bags with the bellman (NOT Bruce Belman - heh) and headed out for lunch.= We decided on the M Hotel, south of the strip. I had been there but Ice = had never seen the place, so that's why we chose it. Lunch was lovely. We = each had cobb salads. The hotel is nice, and brand new. I'd consider stay= ing there on a future visit just to check it out. After lunch we decided to head to Bellagio. We both like the $30-$60 games= there, but when we arrived there was only one seat open at that table. Th= ere was also one seat open at the $15-$30 table so I took that, and Ice sat= into the 30 game. The 15 game looked pretty fishy, so it looked like a good spot to drop my l= ine and see what I could catch. It turns out that I caught a marlin! That= marlin would be our own Steve "Marlin" Cohen. When I sat down he was to m= y immediate left, and Bob Lauria was to Marlin's left. Needless to say, I = was unable to make a raise at this table without being three (or four)-bet = behind me by either or both of these r00lerz. And perhaps I should mention= that both of them were several cocktail units into the day, which only add= ed to the action I got. I won a pot or two and lost a couple and I was pretty much holding my own (= up roughly $50) when the following hand occurred: I was the big blind. Ma= rlin raised to $30 from UTG. He got called by a calling station in middle = position and called again by a woman on the button who also made lots of ca= lls and saw lots of flops. I looked down at KQ offsuit, so I naturally thr= ew in the $15 and four of us saw the flop for $30 each. The flop came down KKQ, which seemed to fit my hand pretty well. Not knowi= ng how to play this hand, I checked to give myself time to think. Marlin t= hen (surprisingly, since he was the pre-flop bettor) checked. The first ca= lling station checked. Then, just when I thought I wouldn't get even a sin= gle bet in on the flop, the lady on the button bet. Whew. Thank you, lad= y on the button, whoever you are. I called, still thinking hard. Marlin then raised to $30. The first calli= ng station called. Doh. The lady on the button called. Double doh. Now,= having had plenty of time to think, I decided to risk a raise, just to get= some added information on my opponents. I made it $45, and got my informa= tion. Everyone called. LOL. There was now $300 in the pot. The turn was = a blank. I bet, everyone called. The river was an off-suit 9. I bet. Ma= rlin, bless his inebriated heart, raised, having made his straight! The tw= o calling stations forgot their strategy and both folded. I raised. Marli= n called. I announced that I had flopped the joint and dragged down the $6= 00 pot. Things got quiet at the table for me, so shortly after landing that marlin = I picked up (+$480), ready to head downtown. Ice had been r00ling the $30-= $60 game and he wasn't yet ready to leave, so I told him I was going to pla= y a little VP and would check with him again before leaving. He was satisf= ied to take a cab in the event that he wanted to stay longer than me and wa= s unable to find another ride downtown. I went to play VP and have a drink (my first BARGE cocktail of the trip). = I played, I lost, I was ready to head downtown. Ice was ready so he picked= up and we retrieved the car at the north valet and headed to the Nugget. = This time I got off at the proper exit, but the valet was so overwhelmed an= d understaffed that I had to drive around in circles about 4 times until th= e valet could take my car. I checked in and got my room. I had plans to meet AJ for dinner at Joe's (Forum Shops). I had invited Bo= b Lauria and Marlin, even telling Marlin I would buy his dinner as my thank= s for "The Hand". But, come dinner time Bob and Marlin were too many drink= units into the night and didn't feel they'd be good company at dinner. Di= nner was great. In a town chock full of great restaurants of every type, J= oe's is as good as any. Great food. Great wine list. Noisy, but pleasant= in every other way. After dinner it was back downtown to see other arrivi= ng BARGErs, and to gamb00l. I was up early on Tuesday (eastern time thingy), so I hit the gym at the Nu= gget, not knowing how many more times I would get to do so for the week. B= y 10:30 or so I was in a $3-$6 dealer's choice game when Patti texted me ab= out breakfast. Chic (+ step-son Joe) were also ready, so we all went to th= e HASH HOUSE A GO GO. This place serves the largest meals you can imagine.= No one could finish their meal!! Chic's pancake (single) was the size of= a hubcap (really) and almost 2" thick. There is a picture of it on flickr= . He couldn't finish it. I had a Caesar salad (it was lunch time). It wa= s big enough to feed four people. I couldn't finish it. Neither Ice nor P= atti could come close to finishing their meal. The proper strategy in this= place is to share. Following lunch we all headed to the pinball museum on East Tropicana. We = spent some great time (and VERY few dollars) in that "dusty arcade bangin' = them pleasure machines". It was a ton of fun, even though we didn't find a= ny factory girls to chase, or, for that matter, a boardwalk to chase them u= nder. Also, I don't know if anyone unsnapped their jeans. You'll have to = ask....ahh....never mind. Pinball was fun. Back downtown, clean up, change clothes, and off to the Non-Smoker dinner a= t N9NE. Ten of us were at the dinner. Great group. Picture on my flickr = site. Ice ordered the wine...two excellent choices. Back downtown, into t= he PL Courchevel tournament. I enjoyed playing, if only for the new format= . I never got any traction. I didn't play poorly, but just never had any = chips. Later, after I busted, the most notable event Tuesday night (I was not at t= his table) occurred when the three river cards in the Oklahoma game came 6-= 6-6, and the dealer was awarded the $200+ pot. Great BARGE moment! Everyo= ne in the card room stood and applauded. Very cool. Then, a day later it = happened again when Tominson (?) dealt T-T-T on the rivers and was awarded = the pot. It was smaller, but he then toked the players!! A truly classic = BARGE moment. Wednesday was the EGG & I breakfast. I rounded up a full car and arrived a= t the EGG about 8:45. There were 64 of us for breakfast, and I think every= one had a good time and a good meal. Ice and I hope so. I wasn't entered in either the VP or BJ tournies, so after some carpool jug= gling, I headed to Bellagio with Ice. I couldn't get anything going in the $30-$60 game, so I picked up just shor= t of losing a rack, and decided to get a drink and play VP. Ice had been s= tuck in the game too, but he was close to getting back to even, so he wante= d to stay in the game. I told him I'd check up with him in a while and I h= eaded to the bar that is south of the poker room (not the sports bar, but t= he one with the progressive jackpots, just east of the "O" store). Unbekno= wnst to me, I was about to get one of the best beats EVAH! I mean, one of = the best beats of my life! I lost $100 playing VP, got up, went to find Ice to see if he was ready to = leave. He wasn't, but I was. So I retrieved my car from the north valet a= nd headed back to the Nugget. I went up to my room and upon walking in I n= oticed the message light blinking on the phone. Earlier I had gotten two m= essages, both from the Golden Nugget, attempting to sell me on spa treatmen= ts, show tickets, massages, etc. I expected another such solicitation and = almost ignored the message light. But, I thought that maybe a BARGEr was l= ooking for me so I retrieved the message. It went like this: "Mr. Goldman= , this is Chris in the security office at Bellagio. You lost your wallet a= nd we have it." I hadn't even noticed that it was missing! Whenever I check into a hotel I get two keys. I always put one in my pocke= t and one in my wallet. This has frequently saved me from having to get ne= w keys, as I often forget to put the key in my pocket when I leave the room= , but I *never* forget my wallet. This time, the security at Bellagio found= the Golden Nugget key in my wallet and tracked me down!! I got back in the car, drove back down to Bellagio, where the security offi= cer met me at the north valet. My wallet had fallen from my pocket at the = VP bar and it was found by a security guard, not another tourist. That's w= hy EVERYTHING was intact when it was returned to me. Amazing. I thanked h= im profusely, and he indicated that that's what security does...finds lost = things and returns them to the owners. Ice then asked if the security guar= d could help find the $1400 he'd just lost in the poker room!! I lost my wallet once in 12th grade, but never since. I had put on shorts = that morning, and the shorts have very shallow pockets. That's how my wall= et fell out when I sat at the bar. I never felt anything when it fell. Th= at cannot happen in my jeans because the pockets are deeper. Needless to s= ay, I wore jeans for the remainder of the week! I don't think you can get any luckier in Las Vegas than I did this time. A= mazing. As I said, one of the BEST beats EVAH. I had called Ice on the way back to Bellagio and he was ready to leave when= I got there so after getting my wallet we drove back to the Nugget. I don't play Lowball, so I made arrangements to have dinner with Bruce K an= d his increasingly lovely wife Shirley, along with Marlin and Chic and Joe = at Piero's. I have always loved Piero's. I still think it's one of the be= st restaurants in Vegas, and probably the most notable of the non-casino re= staurants (yes, I love Rosemary's too). You can almost always see local Ve= gas glitterati at Piero's, from Mayor Goodman to Wayne Newton, and everyone= in between. I had the swordfish, which I love. It was excellent. Back downtown for more p0cker and gamb00ling. Won a little playing 3-6 Oma= ha variations. Lost a little playing VP. In bed by 2:30am. Other than Saturday night, Thursday is probably my favorite day at BARGE be= cause it's so social. I love CHORSE, despite the nightmare scenario of my = former team winning again, this time without me. There's the sushi outing,= the Goldman Smoker Dinner, and finally the craps crawl. Yup, Thursday is = a great day at BARGE. Even if we move the craps crawl to Wednesday as has = been discussed, I'll still think of it as being on Thursday, but it'll be t= he first Thursday event instead of the last. Congrats to the "Math Is Hard 5" team. They employed the same exact strate= gy to win this year as they (we) did when we won it a couple years back. T= hat strategy? Simple. Prevent Chic from playing *ANY* hands once they had= a lead. I believe they beat Team PMS by only $110, so if Chic had played = even a single hand in his last round, they would have lost (unless Chic won= a hand). So, nicely done, Math Team. A couple years ago we had to reign = in Marlin and we also barely managed to win. So, I give Marlin credit for = learning from the past. I guess there's something behind that blank stare = after all. ;-) Regarding notable CHORSE hands, I played Stud. I hate Stud, but it's what = I grew up playing, so I'm half decent. I took two nice pots from JP in the= first round. I have been JP's nemesis since I beat him with a standard, f= inal table, 300-1 suck out in the 2007 BARGE TOC. Anyway, he and I get inv= olved in an early stud hand. I had hidden Ks, so when I made an ace on fif= th and again on sixth streets my aces-up were better than his two pair. Th= e fact that I also sucked an ace on seventh to fill up didn't matter. Then= , in the next round, JP completes and I called. My teammates were behind m= e and I leaned back and said "Pay attention to this hand!". I took another= pot from JP with my unimproved rolled up 9s, but unfortunately I didn't wi= n any more hands worth noting, and my liberal teammates apparently thought = it was a nice gesture to share the chips I had won with other, less fortuna= te folks at our table. To me, CHORSE is more about socializing than p0cker. I enjoy my time away = from the table, whether in a side game (where else can you multi-table LIVE= poker, except at BARGE?) or just talking to friends, old and new. And I a= lso love the smoker dinner at the Goldman's house Thursday night. Again, i= t's all about meeting new friends, making new friends, and sharing quality = time will existing friends. This year, as an added bonus, Chuck Weinstock = did the driving thereby allowing me to partake in Dan's most excellent bour= bon tasting more than I could in past years. Thanks, Chuck. And thanks to= (in aesthetic order) Bree and Sharon (tied) and Dan. I love Thursday at B= ARGE and this Thursday was certainly no exception. Oh, and thanks to Grizz= for the copy of The Dead show in Chicago. It's already on the ipod. Than= ks! The craps crawl was somewhat uneven (having nothing to do with Kevin) becau= se we could never get enough of us at a single table. So, some crawled off= in one direction, while others crawled in another. I played until about 2= ish then made my way back to Binions, and then off to the GN. I slept late-ish on Friday, but arrived at Carson Street in time for breakf= ast with Paul Stine, Len Greenberg, Mitch Firestone (long time, dude...GREA= T to see you!), Dave Fruchter and Barry Kornspan. Pictures on my flickr si= te. Then, off the the TOC-style event. My first TOC table was: 1. Paul Bremer 2. Mark Hughes 3. Frank Castagna - later replaced by Oscar mcguiness 4. Dave O'Grady - later replaced by Serrena 5. Bob Beberfeld 6. Me 7. Bob Ogus 8. Masanobu "masa" Fujioka 9. Caryl Aronson I lost a couple early hands when the blinds were small, then built my stack= to above average before going card dead and slowly fading away. Nothing r= eally memorable, although I think I played pretty well. Omaha still confus= es me and Stud still bores me, but I kept my concentration and played well.= If nothing else, I was gearing up to play my best on Saturday in the NLHE= (in which I had almost $800 of exposure in G4G last longer bets.) The Symposium was next, on Friday afternoon. During the day Peter had enli= sted me to participate in the fake bidding for the SECOND pink hat, after t= he auctioning of Scottro's hat (it isn't pink anyway). The idea was to STA= RT the bidding at whatever Scottro's hat sold for and go higher and higher = from there. I enlisted Ice to help. As you saw in Scottro's report, his (not) pink hat sold for $27.77. So, Pe= ter gets up and says "OK. Now let's see if we can raise some REAL money" a= nd pulls out a PartyPoker (truly) pink hat. Immediately Nick Christenson y= ells out "THIRTY DOLLARS!!". The bidding progressed from there. The look = on Scottro's face was fabulous. He was still up on the podium and he's loo= king out at near-frenzied bidding on an alternate hat immediately after his= hat had attracted virtually no interest!! Finally, someone who was actually NOT in on the scam organized by Peter bid= $125!! I don't know who it was, but just as Peter was saying "Going once,= Going twice..." Ice yells out "TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!" from the back of th= e room, and everyone turned around. I was laughing. I then bid three hund= red, Ice covered my mouth and bid Four Hundred. Peter then announced that = it was all in fun. But, the funniest part might have been the person who b= id $125 perhaps expecting to actually buy the hat. I'm pretty sure that bi= dder didn't know the whole thing was staged. I think he just got caught up= in the bidding! Chic and I have shown a profit in our Calcutta syndicate for each of the pa= st four (maybe 5? Chic?) years. But, that streak was broken this year. E= ach share of our syndicate lost $70. The fault is mine. Chic wanted to bu= y Brenda but I declined and she went on to finish second. I still like the= Calcutta because I love having a rooting interest at the final table. Our= syndicate did have a rooting interest as two of our horses (Ben Gamble and= Corey Imsdahl) made the final table. So, we cashed, but not enough to com= e out ahead. Well, there's always next year. Chuck W. had always wanted to go out to a nice dinner on Friday of BARGE, b= ut for some unknown reason he never had the time during prior BARGEs. This= year he did have time, so four of us (Ice, Patti, Chuck and me) went (back= ) to Joe's. Ice ordered a fabulous wine, and I think everyone had a great = meal. The usually reserved Ice even expressed a high level of satisfaction= with his filet. After the dinner Ice and Patti went to the LOVE show and = Chuck and I headed back to Binions. As you know, I had a nice number of last longers on Saturday, so I was dete= rmined to play my best. I was actually in bed and asleep by 11:30pm on Fri= day night! I got a good night's sleep, and went to work out at 7:30am. Great workout,= showered (even shaved), breakfast at Binion's coffee shop and felt great a= t the start of the NLHE. I was absolutely ready to play my best. First table: 1. Dave Aronson 2. Warren Sander 3. Dave Low 4. Barry Spencer Noyes-Lloyd 5. Edmund Hack 6. Pete Segal 7. Sabyl Cohen 8. Me 9. Steve Sherman (Diana M's husband) Nothing really notable happened at this table. I believe I won every hand = I got involved in (3 max), but none for any really worthwhile pots. Still,= when this table broke I had already won three last longers and I headed to= my second table with about 4000 chips. Second table: 1. Me 2. Connie Kellers 3. Mark Rafn 4. Kyle Minnis 5. Paul Person 6. Ken Anderson 7. Bobby Harris 8. Michael Hunter 9. Orlando Rojas Two notable hands at this table. The first occurred just before the first = break. In fact, everyone was already headed out for the picture while I wa= s still deciding what to do. I had As7s. I don't remember the exact betti= ng, I'm pretty sure I was the big blind and saw either a free flop or a che= ap flop. Connie had called UTG, and I think Orlando had called on the smal= l blind. Anyway, the flop comes down K high, but with two spades. I bet t= he pot with my nut-flush semi-bluff draw (I had a bigger stack than either = opponent) but Connie immediately jammed. Orlando folded, leaving me with a= decision. At this point, I *may* have made my decision with my last longe= rs in mind. It was early in the tourney, and it was a chance to knock out = Connie and pick up substantial chips. But, the only hand I could legitimat= ely put her on was a set, or a mid pocket pair (7s, 8s, etc.). The flop ha= d been K-5-x, and I'm pretty sure she limped UTG, so I'm thinking she had f= lopped a set with presto. If she had, I thought she'd probably jam, hoping= to catch the K in the hand and to put as much pressure on any flush draws = as possible, and the pot was already worthwhile. I couldn't put her on a K= because I think she would have raised preflop with AK. KsQs was possible,= but would she have limped UTG with it? Other than that KQs possibility I = didn't put her on a flush draw because I had the nut flush draw. I was sur= e I was behind, but the draw to the nuts was obviously attractive. With ab= out $700 of last longer risk, not to mention bragging rights with all those= players, I folded and showed Connie my hand. She showed her hand....Js5s.= She was on a smaller flush draw, but she had paired the fives on the flop= , so she was ahead. It's possible that I would have still mucked absent th= e last longers, but that issue definitely entered my mind, and I was actual= ly disappointed that part of my decision was based on strictly surviving. = I vowed to not let that happen again. My next chance came soon enough. I think I remember this correctly. I certainly remember the outcome. I op= en raised with AK. Mark Rafn jammed. Obviously, the range of hands he cou= ld be on is about TT and higher. He had me slightly outstacked, but both s= tacks were above average at this point. I didn't think he'd jam with AK in= that situation, and AQ and lower were out of the question. The most likel= y hands for him to hold were AA, KK, QQ, JJ and TT. Again, I faced the dec= ision of whether to put all my chips at risk, with the overwhelming majorit= y of my last longer opponents still in the tournament. I estimated my last= longer risk at roughly $500 at this point. But, I was determined to NOT ma= ke the decision based on the last longers. Now it came down to this: If I= fold, while not crippled, I'm in tough shape. I'd need to find a hand to = play pretty quick, and it'd have to win. If I call and lose, I'm out, but = I get lots of cheers (and lose lots of money). And, if I call and win, I'm= the chip leader at my table by a lot, and I have room to play. The likeli= hood that I'd go much deeper into the tourney were quite high if I won. At= this point I think there were still roughly 165 still in. Maybe more. I = made the call because I came to BARGE to gamb00l. The dealer burned the card and before he could put out the flop I said "STO= P". He did (don't you just love BARGE?). I stood up and announced to the = entire room "ATTENTION. I am 'ALL IN'". Play in the room stopped. Severa= l people came over to watch the hand play out. We tabled our hands. Mark = had QQ. With Marlin yelling in my ear QUEEN! QUEEN! I flopped a K and the= hand held up. Mark was out and I was in great chip condition. While I pl= ayed deep into the tourney I didn't cash (I finished 31st). But, this was = the first key hand as far as last longers were concerned because winning th= is allowed me to play deep and outlast lots of players. I didn't go all in= again until much later, and I won one more all in before busting. Another big hand occurred when someone (Bobby Harris?) who was becoming sho= rtstacked pushed his chips and I looked down to find AA on the big blind. = That hand held and I now had enough chips that, barring one of those hands = on which you have to go broke, I knew I'd win money in my collective last l= ongers. It looked even better when I got moved an I was put exactly to JP's left! = And, he had a big stack! Man, I thought this was going to be my tournament= . I may have even drooled a bit. But, it was not to be. I made a couple = correct plays at pots, and I made two particular calls with very worthwhile= draws. But the cards weren't coming. I think I played my best and went a= s deep as the cards would allow. As I look back I really can't think of a = hand I misplayed, except perhaps not calling Connie. But, I was trailing i= n that hand, so it is very likely that I actually made the correct decision= . I finished 31. I went out on the button. It was folded around to me. = I had Ah2s. I pushed my short stack. The small blind folded, but the big = blind woke up with AA and called. The flop was three hearts, giving me a g= reat shot at winning, but I bricked on the turn and river and was out. I ended up with 55 G4G bets (presto!) in amounts ranging up to $20. Some p= layer's email to me got stuck in my spam folder (because they failed to fol= low instructions properly and send their response to my gmail account...heh= ), but in the BARGE tradition everyone honored the honor system. I defeated 43 players, roughly in this order: Matt Ivester Bob Herlien Sean McGuiness Dave O'Grady Rich Bremer Paul McMullin Warren Sander James Hammer Len Greenberg Ron Nutt Bryan Slick Mark Rafn Tim Showalter Raffy Kaloustian John Reed Ken Sias Ernst Dieter-Martin Chuck Weinstock Barry Kornspan Michael Patterson Ron Grossberg Tanya Peck Paul Stine Scott Byron Mark Hughes Pete Segal Keith Fichtemaier Lynne Higgs Sabyl Cohen Landrum Peter Secor Don Rieck Steve Cohen Jeff Woods Patrick Milligan Beverly Matthews Stephen Landrum Erin Ramsay Scott Samarel Tom Bayes Bart Simpson Tom Overton Jeff Dietch Kevin Un The following 12 players defeated me: Murray Logan (we actually busted on the same hand, but he started with a bi= gger stack, so he won!) Randy Collack Brenda Mowrey Russ Fox Corey Imsdahl David Heller (doh!) Bruce Kramer David Kluchman Larry Stone Merlynn Schuck Deron Brod Michael Brennan My net result: +$430 I just love the G4G bet. It is the most fun I have at BARGE. After busting, I sat into the $3-$6 Omaha-type game and made two big hands.= On the very first hand I flopped nut-nut (wheel), with the nut flush redr= aw. Warren didn't believe me. The hand held up. Later I made another nut= -nut s00per sc00per and left that game +310 after about 90 minutes. I left= to get cleaned up for the banquet. On the way out of the poker room I ran into Jeff "Blofeld" Deitch. Like so= many friends I've met in this group, we are kindred spirits in many ways. = I really appreciated getting to spend some quality time with him. I was ab= le to bring him up to date on a BARGE issue on which he had questions. He = raised one subject that made me smile. Can you guess? Yup....Mav. Don't = worry, Mav. Relax. After a few minutes with me I'm pretty sure Blofeld no= w knows more about you than you know (or will ever recognize or admit) abou= t yourself. Speaking of quality time, I was fortunate to sit next to Edmund Hack at the= banquet. This afforded me the wonderful opportunity to fill in some of my= knowledge of the early BARGE years, before I found this group. Ed has bee= n at EVERY barge except the first, so he knows where all the bodies are bur= ied. Early stories about Abdul, JP, etc. helped me fill in the gaps of the= prior stories I'd heard, and makes my entire BARGE experience more complet= e. Let me say this....a few minutes with Edmund and in my mind JP is even = MORE of a legend. Really. Thanks, Edmund!! I thought the banquet was great, and Nolan did a great job interviewing Doy= le. I'd been at prior, similar events with Doyle (one in NY in which Doyle= , Howard Lederer, David Williams and Phil Hellmuth took questions after din= ner) and he's been the same in all cases. He speaks easily and honestly. = He's unpretentious, entirely genuine. He has no one to impress, and he doe= sn't try. He has been blessed with an interesting and successful life, obv= iously including poker, and I think he really just enjoys sharing his stori= es. That's certainly the way he has come across every time I've seen him. = I enjoyed the banquet very much. Rather than fight for a spot in any reindeer game (I didn't want to have to= use my pull as a member of the inner circle) fich and I decided to head to= Bennie's Bullpen for a cigar. We snuck through the s00per seekrit passage= (is ANY trip to BARGE complete without traversing this, the Khyber Pass of= Las Vegas, at least once?), along with ActionBob Hwang and Dave Fruchter i= n tow. I think it was Dave's first trip through the seekrit passage. AJ j= oined us a little later, but walked around. I don't think AJ knows about t= he s00per seekrit passage, which only adds to its appeal. ;-) There was o= ne BARGEr there when we arrived, a virgin whose name escapes me. I apologi= ze. If you read this remind me who you are and I'll never forget again. B= esides, you're a cigar lover so we're probably going to spend more time tog= ether at future BARGEs. So, it might be nice for me to know your name. Following the cigars I made my way back to the tourney area (through the s0= 0per seekrit passage, of course) to find out how much I had lost in the cal= cutta. I never did get into a reindeer game on Saturday night (a first for= me). Instead, I just hung out until about 2am, visiting with friends and = basking in the glow of another great BARGE week. My flight out was at 8:30= am, so I was able to grab about 3 hours of sleep before departing for the = airport. I certainly play lots of poker at BARGE, and I try to recount the key, and = or funny hands here. But to me, BARGE is more about spending time reconnec= ting with friends. And, as always, while I cherish the time I do get to sp= end with friends (old and new), I'm also always disappointed that time seem= s so short. Among those great people I got to see, but wish I'd had more t= ime with are: Ken Sias (great political discussion), Murray Logan (another= kindred spirit), Mike Klein (great to see ATLARGErs at BARGE), the Marcian= os (more old friends from AC), Bob Ogus, Tina Gonzales, Scott Byron, Chuck = Humphrey, Ernst, Harry Baldwin, bingo, jester, regis, The Tannenbaums, Adam= and Debbie, QB, Rich Korbin (thanks for ALL you do for us!!) & Nolan (of c= ourse). One special thanks to Lynn for the chip from "goldie's" cardroom i= n Seattle. I'm sure I've forgotten some folks, so please don't be offended= . BARGE is one of my most fun weeks every year, and every one of you help mak= e that happen, and I thank you all. Don't forget ATLARGE, the second biggest ARG event each year!! -goldie