From: Mark Hughes Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:38:59 -0500 Subject: [BARGE] Better Late Than Never Trip Report BARGE 2009 - Oldbear's Great Adventure Year 2 Appreciation ---------------- I just wanted to send out a heart-felt thanks to the organizers and the mul= titude of others who lend a hand with official and non-offical BARGE events= ...Nick=2C Peter=2C Michael=2C Patrick=2C Nolan=2C Dan=2C Asya=2C Ron=2C Ra= ndy=2C etc....forgive me if I left out your name or event. I also want to = thank the Binion's staff. No screw-ups this year and the dealers were effi= cient and good natured. To say it simply=2C BARGE 2009 was simply the best!= !!!!!!!!. Thank you all!!=20 I may not have made it to the Guitar Hero Singalong=2C the Sushi Outing/Sak= e Tasting=2C the Ethiopian Diet Adventure=2C the Death March or the Craps C= rawl (You were supposed to save me from the Pai Gow table=2C Peter)=2C etc.= =2C The rest of the events such as CHORSE=2C TOC=2C NLHE=2C Reindeer Games= =2C Symposium=2C Sat Night Banquet with the Doyle & Nolan Show=2C BBQ & Bo= urbon at Dan & Sharon's house=2C Shelly Lewis Memorial TITS Tour=2C etc. we= re great fun. =20 As the organizer for MARGE event in Biloxi=2C I understand some of the diff= iculties in getting everything ready and I appreciate all that goes into ma= king BARGE a success. I cannot imagine organizing for 250+ crazy BARGErs= =2C some needing name changes on their name tags=2C entry into tournaments = after registration is closed=2C etc......my hat is off to you organizers.=20 A very special thanks goes out to Bob O. who picked up John Grout and me at= the airport Wednesday morning and continued to cart me around for most of = the offsite events. Bob=2C you are the best! The Oldbear limo is waiting= for you at MARGE or any other time you can make it to the Biloxi/New Orlea= ns area. Dinner is on me! BARGE 2009 Planning ------------------------ BARGE 2009 dates were announced in early 2009. I first considered riding m= y 1997 Honda Valkyrie to Vegas. It would be fantastic to tour across the s= outhern U.S. then drop in at BARGE. Then reality set in...I counldn't tak= e off enough consecutive days from work...too much was going on...I decided= to fly instead ...one year I'll ride my bike though. Hey Grizz...meet you= in St Louie!! Last year I participated in every event I could make....the 5 main tourname= nts in 5 days plus CHORSE=2C Death March=2C Symposium=2C Sat Night Banquet= =2C Ethiopian Restaurant=2C Blackjack Tournament=2C Video Poker Tournament= =2C and several Last Longer bets. As a BARGE Virgin in 2008=2C I felt it wa= s my duty to get the most I could out of my first year. I was not disappoin= ted.However=2C I felt like I had missed some of the fun by being too busy. = I decided to take a more relaxed approach to BARGE 2009. =20 I didn't play every tournament. I signed up for CHORSE=2C TOC=2C and NLHE = instead. I would love to have played in the Courcheval tournament though..= .too bad I missed it. =20 When the BARGE dates were announced I immediately made reservations using m= y flying miles with American. Sure am glad it wasn't United. Unlike Dave = K=2C I reserved early enough to be able to use only 25K miles for my ticket= . I also decided not to get a rental car since I had one in 2008 and only = drove to and from the airport. The hotels were no cost since I received a = flyer from the Plaza for two free nights and a flyer from Binions for two f= ree nights and the third one at $19.95. (When I checked out there was no c= harge...guess I played too many slots.) Wednesday 29 July 2009 -------------------------- I got up at 3AM and showered=2C dressed and got on the road to New Orleans.= I had packed the day before. My plane left at 6:30 AM. (Not 6:40 AM which= was my original time) This was only about the third time the flight number= and flying times had been changed over a 6 month period. Good thing I did= n't throw out the American Airline e-mails telling me about the changes. The flight took off on time. and I was not worried until arriving in Dallas= /Ft Worth and the pilot said he was going to try and land before the thunde= rstorms covered the airport. I hit a lucky streak at this point even though= my next flight didn't leave for a couple of hours...the storms never touch= ed the airport and I was able to take off for Vegas on time. I landed at M= cCarron about 10 muinutes early...located John Grout in the baggage area an= d eventually found Bob O at the passenger pickup section. I had the wrong = cell number and was not able to call him but Bob was very puntual and appea= red out of nowhere. Both John and I were dropped off at our respective hot= els in short order. I relaxed for a bit and then called Diana Mercer (CHAOS) who had ordered al= l the DV8 shirts and patches for 2009. She was staying at the Nugget with = her hubby=2C Steve. It was really good to see my BARGE 2008 Virgin friends= again. Diana did a bang up job ordering our shirts again this year (She o= rdered the Virgin 2008 shirts too=2C great job!). They looked sharp and fi= t well.. I just loved the flying martini and the DV8 Jester was excellent.= Steve had done all the art work for these. Superb job=2C Steve!! I spen= t some time chatting with them before taking the shirts back to the Plaza a= nd eventually wandering over to the Binions poker room. =20 I dropped into the Binion's poker room saw several friends..Diva Dianne=2C = Da Pickle=2C Bob O.=2C and others...good to see them all. Got to meet Dian= a=2C Steve and finally their newly legal (21 year old) family friend Spence= r....Damn Boy!! You been eatin nuclear material...have the Breen Bay Packer= s called yet? Watched a little video poker expecting Chic to suck out. He = only came in 2nd this year...saddenz. Several of us including Diva Dianne=2C Da Pickle=2C Bob O=2C another Barger= =2C and I went to an authentic Mexican restaurant. Nice place. Really enj= oyed their atmosphere. Very kind people too. My dinner was unbelievably spi= cy hot and I couldn't eat it even after I scaped off most of the offending = hot sauce. They whipped up another round without the hot sauce. Thank you= !! Enjoyed the friends and dinner very much. Then we headed back to Binio= ns. =20 I hit the slots for a bit and then drifted to the craps table. There were = three black gentlemen at the end of the table when I arrived. I finally ha= d a chance to roll and did so for about 20 minutes. I hit several numbers = but was only playing a couple of bets which hit only once in a while. After= hitting numerous other numbers the gentlemen at the end of the table were = playing=2C they began to put me on hard way numbers and boosting my odds b= et at the pass line. Very nice of them...made them a good bit of money bef= ore I crapped out. Made some for myself..over $130. Woohoo!! Don't remem= ber too much else from Wednesday with the ecxception of the Plaza Casino/ho= tel. I smelled smoke when I entered the place=2C smelled smoke in the "Non= "-Smoking room smelled smoke no matter where I went in the casino. I hit th= e 5 cent video poker machines next to the south hotel tower...very profitab= le...left up $35 before going to sleep. Thursday 30 July 2009 ----------------------- I planned a DV8 Team 1 breakfast at 8:30 to get all the CHORSE team members= together except DV8 Team Too...not sure what happened to them but they wer= e invited. Team 1 showed up...Michael Klein=2C Tom Bayes (or is that Chris= Mecklin?)=2C Diana Mercer=2C Keith Troell=2C Janie McIntosh. Diana brough= t the shirts that hadn't been picked up and passed them out. We had more t= han enough chairs so when Marlin and a fellow ADB walked into the room we i= nvited them to join us and they did. It was a fun breakfast. The blueberr= y pancakes liked fantastic and I made a mental note to try them later in th= e week. Marlin and Janie were wimps...couldn't even finish their blueberr= y pancakes...heard something about too many blueberries...really? didn't k= now know you could have too many...Finally wandered up to the Binion's poke= r room and waited for CHORSE to begin. I really enjoyed meeting lots of ol= d ARG friends..too many to name...Good to see them all. =20 Finally CHORSE starts. I play the holdem leg...play pretty tight...up abou= t $30 in chips on last hand of first round. Team 1 stayed pretty much even= in the first round. We balanced the two tables and are still about where = we started. My hat is off to Diana=2C Michael=2C Keith and Tom for keeping= us in chips..well played.=20 Second and third rounds were up and down. I remember losing a hand in Hold= em to a str8 flush when I had a decent hand...sucked. We combined our chip= s with DV8 Team Too at the end of CHORSE and together the DV8s lost half ou= r investment.(DV8 Team I 1300+ in chips=2C DV8 Team Too 200+ in chips) I played in an Omaha 3-6 game with a half kill. It didn't take too much ur= ging from Bob O to get me to sit down. Lost $200 in less than an hour. Dam= n=2C the cards were not anything like Pokerstars...good ol' Jokerstars. I = was always one card off and chasing...got chastised by Bob later for chasin= g...I was having such a good time in spite of losing though...oh well=2C I = must not like money. We finally made it to Dan & Sharon's house for the BBQ. Absolutely wonderfu= l!!!!! Thank you! thank you!..had a grand time...food and company were won= derful. I stayed out of the bourbon tasting (being the non-drinking pu77y = that I am) but could smell something when the tops came off the bottles...e= ither it was the bourbon or the cooked apples...yummm!! Got to see Dian=2C= Steve & Spencer again...Packers call yet? We left around 11ish and made our way back to Binions. Not sure all the thi= ngs I did..more slots=2C table games etc but finally left at 2:30 AM (Frida= y) when the funniest thing happened to me on the Fremont Street experience.= ..still a few people milling through the area. A pretty hispanic girl in h= er early 20s came up to me and asked if I wanted a massage or "anything els= e" to which I took a long 2 seconds considering the massage...was very tire= d...then opted for the less interesting option of going straight to sleep f= eigning old age and marriage...showed her my wedding ring...If I were 18 ag= ain...I'd have been in deep trouble. Too much excitement for this oldbear= =2C time to go to sleep. Damn why didn't I at least get the massage...? si= gh....=20 Friday 31 July 2009 --------------------- Had blueberry pancakes in Binions coffee shop. Weeeehaaa=2C they were goot= ! I wandered up for the TOC. This was a very uneventful tournament. I pla= y a little tight at first and lasted to about 61st or so. I don't even rem= ember how I busted out....too many blueberries in the pancakes...destroys b= rain cells... I checked into my Binions Room and was pleased with the wonderful shot of t= he upper steel of the Fremont Street experience. At least the room didn't r= eek of smoke. Wandered over to the Symposium at the appointed time. Enjoyed the show and= the food. Thanks again organizers!! I bought myself back.=20 I wandered off to join Bob O=2C AllKnight=2C and another Barger for a night= of carousing. We got back around 10:30? PM and everyone was hungry excep= t Bob O who headed to the Binions poker room. The rest of us headed to the= Four Queens for a late dinner in their restaurant. I decided to play some = craps after I realized we were going to stand in line for a while. I had th= e strangest thing happen at the craps table at the Four Queens. Normally= =2C I arrange the dice with 55 up and a 6 and 4 on the right side. No Marl= in I don't throw any better but it makes me feel like I do (rolled for 40 m= inutes and $800 last year). After arranging the dice I have a habit of tap= ping the table felt twice and throw the dice to where they bounce once=2C h= it the opposite wall=2C and stop. The guy overseeing the table told me to = stop...."What??=2C you want me to stop tapping the table before I throw??" = I have never had that request before. I was aggravated. On top of that=2C= the girl running the numbers across from me didn't ask me if I wanted odds= on my come bet. That was strange. She just stiood there. Normally I have been asked if I wanted odds. oh well...I was still aggravat= ed by the request for not tapping the dice before I threw them. I took abo= ut $25 from the table and left to go eat.=20 AllKnight=2C the other Barger (Graduated from Berkley)=2C and I enjoyed din= ner...not bad..had the prime rib with cheese cake for dessert. We chatted = for a while=2C told a few stories and I mentioned what had happened at the = craps table. Allknight thought it was to get me off my game. I made up my = mind to go back after dinner. As we were leaving=2C I headed back top the c= raps table=2C took about another $100 from them and left feeling much bette= r about the whole thing. Then at Binions i donked off some $$ playing tabl= e games=2C slots and the like. Time for sleep. Saturday 1 August 2009 ------------------------- Had blueberry pancake again in Binions coffee shop. (Are we detecting a pa= ttern here?) I wandered up to the NLHE for some fun. I was seated with Da= ve KLuchman=2C a fellow virgin from 2008=2C Rick Charles=2C Jr.=2C and a fe= w other interesting characters. First=2C let me set the stage. In 2008=2C= I busted Dave K out and finished 11th. This year=2C we reversed roles. =20 I picked up a few hands early at the expense of Rick=2C Jr. I lost a small= stack to him when my AK ran up against his AJ with a flop of A X J=2C and = the turn and river were blanks. Fine hand Rick. I won one more then basica= lly went card dead for 2 hours. The group picture was a blast. Thanks Rod= ney=2C it turned out fantastic!! =20 Finally=2C I catch QQ with only about 1200 left in my stack....Kluchman rai= sed $400 and I went all in. Dave was blessed with AA and neither of us impr= oved sending me to the rails out at about 160th. Dave went on to finish 11= th I think is what I saw. Very nice run Dave and congrats on the Stud win!= ! Next year I propose we don't do this again and get seated at different t= ables to begin with...organizers? Can you make that happen? I dabbled with the penny slots and the table games again until the banquet.= I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Doyle speak and I really thank Nolan for tal= king Doyle into letting us greet and speak with him outside the dining area= . It was the best!! Reindeer games- I sat down at a Razz game with Howler=2C Scottro=2C John Gr= out=2C Diana Mercer=2C LLew=2C and several others. Rodney was kind enough = to spread a massive amount of pictures on the poker tables across from us s= o it was a nice diversion to go look for myself and and retrieve them. I s= lipped Rodney a few $$ for the prints. Thanks again!! Back to Razz...took = a massive stack of chips down against John Grout when my 74 beat his 76...(= I think I got the cards right). Diana eventually lost her stack and got up.= LLew did pretty well I think but I too decided to get up...a few $$ ahead.= Time for bed. Sunday 2 August 2009 ------------------------ Pancakes again in Binions coffee shop? You bet!! =20 I piddled around most of the day waiting to go to Rosemary's. Patrick Mill= igan was kind enough to give me a ride. Thank you Patrick! Bart Simpson wa= s kind enough to give me a ride to the airport afterward. Thank you Bart!! =20 I decided to forego the wine. I ordered a la carte. The food was spectacu= lar and the company was good. I really appreciated the little trays of swe= ets after dinner.=20 Sadly=2C it was time to go home. I had an uneventful trip back although the= re was a 6 hour layover in Dallas/Ft Worth. One thing to note about Americ= an...they sure had a lot of overbooking. on numerous occasions I heard them asking for people ..in one case 8 people=2C to give up their seats because = they were overbooked. I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from that but t= he airports were pretty busy...even at odd hours in the AM. One morning...Think it was Sunday=2C I had an opportunity to to eat breakfa= st with a Barger who works at a bank making investment decisions. Really i= nteresting conversation ensued. I've forgotten the name...must have=20 been the blueberries again. To whoever I had breakfast with=2C contact me o= ffline...I'm really curious about which direction your bank takes. Many other things happened...just can't bring them to the forefront of my c= onciousness so I can write about them. =20 BARGE 2009 was a grand event. Many thanks again to all who make it happen. Oldbear