Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:25:24 -0400
From: scottro
Subject: [BARGE] Scottro's BARGE 2009 Trip Report - A Weekend at Benny's

Scottro's BARGE 2009 Trip Report - A Weekend at Benny's	

First, let me say that I would not have been able to attend BARGE 
without the amazing generosity of the BARGE community.  There is a 
debate about the word "altruism" which I will not get into at this time 
as it is pointless, but I want everyone to know how thankful I am for 
every single act of generosity that I was the recipient of over the past 
couple months.  Below are several standouts:

Sean "Oscar" McGuiness.  He covered my entire airfare.  Without Sean, I 
would not have been able to attend.  A long-time poker travel companion, 
best friend and just amazing guy, Sean has been a poker mentor and 
friend since before our first BARGE way back in 2000.  Thank you so 
much!  I know you said it's a loan, and I will do my best in the baby 
online games to pay it back as soon as I can.

Russ "The Messenger of Doom" Fox.  Offered a room share, ended up paying 
for my room at Binion's, and lent me $400 to play with (which I was able 
to return in full after scooping a monster pot in the $5/$10 Suicide 
Hold'Em game on Sat night (sorry Leslie).  Russ has also been a 
long-time best friend, accountant (keeping my shit straight), co-author, 
and life mentor.  I will add that Russ also purchased my EA study guides 
so that I can begin a new career as an Enrolled Agent.  That's all BARGE 
needs; another tax geek!

Mike "Howler" McBride.  Not only has mike been one of my best BARGE 
buddies for years, he also spotted me $100 for gaming use on Saturday. 
I wish I could've turned it into something Mike, but maybe next year. 
Mike also spotted me several single-malt scotch units at GN, and we have 
decided to make that a tradition.  You rock, dude!

All donators to the Scottro BUSTO Bail-out fund.  You people are just 
fucking amazing.  The stone-cold nuts.  I'm honored to call each and 
every one of you a friend.  In no particular order: Paul Person, Don 
"Bingo" Reick, Chuck Weinstock, Bob "Blues" Herlein, Bob "O" Ogus, Diana 
"Prof. Chaos" Mercer, Jeff "Jester" Woods, Ken "QB" Kubey and the TARGET 
players, Joe "Chiprider" Long, Jeff "blofeld" Deitch, and a very special 
thanks to the BUSTO fund organizer and donator Guy "Grizz" Berenstein. 
I apologize if i mis-spelled anyone's name or if I left anyone out.  I 
did my best to thank you all via email and in person.  I so hope I've 
not left anyone out.

OK, on to the fun.

I arrived in Vegas at about 9:15 A.M. on Friday.  Due to Russ's 
over-reactive Indy-style driving, we made it to The shoe (as it will 
always be to me) in time for the start of the TOC.  When we got there, I 
checked my bag at the slower-than-fuck bell desk.  It was at this time 
that Russ informed me I had a pre-paid room.  Thank you so much!  Good 
beat #1.

After milling around and saying hi to lots of my BARGE friends, I took 
my seat in the TOC.  At 41 my memory is starting to really suck, so I 
don't remember many of those I played with.  I do remember one rather 
drunk (at 10 A.M.) Tanya at my table.  Tanya proudly announced that she 
pretty much plays every O/8 hand.  Her criteria was something like any 
pair (this is Omaha, remember), any two suited cards, any Ace or 
anything that "looks good".  she didn't disappoint.  Played EVERY hand 
in the first two rounds of Omaha and pretty much won or scooped all of 
them.  needless to say, she busted shortly after the first break.

On the other hand, I broke my own longevity record in this event and 
almost made the third break.  Obviously I didn't, however, but it was 
fun while it lasted.  Llew busted me out and I gave her a signed copy of 
each book, which made her happy.

Walked over to the Symposium with Russ and was saddened to see none of 
those great little sandwiches we always get.  However, they had good 
chips, salsa, guacamole, and lots of yummy cheese (and veggies too), so 
I ate my fill.  The faded red hat auction was a complete and 
embarrassing fail.  Stupid fucking idea anyway.  Russ won with a 
sympathy bid of $27.77.  He still has the hat but told me I could have 
it back.  Russ rocks.

Speaking of that, Russ and I went for $110 (way over-priced as usual) 
and I still owe Russ $27.50 for my quarter.  He made it deep but didn't 
cash.  Maybe next year one of us will get some money back.  Anyway, the 
symposium is boring when you're not bidding on horses, so I left early 
with only two drinks in me.

The TOC resumed play and I was rooting for Russ, Tina and Mike McBride. 
  I was REALLY hungry, and Russ and I were going to get dinner after he 
busted.  He ended up making the final table though.

I met up with Tina "Dilli" Gonzolez and we decided to have a few drinks 
and catch up while the tournament was still going on.  That was great. 
Tina and I have been friends for a long time (we share the same birthday 
1/7/1968) and we really needed to catch up.  We were going to meet up 
later for more drinks, IIRC.

I got back to the tournament in time to see Russ bust (great showing, 
Russ), and by the time we got to Triple 7 at Main Street, I was 
famished.  We went with Oscar, Bob Jones, Hime, Chris Mecklin and Ron 
Grosberg..  I ate an ass-ton of sushi (it ended up being half of the 
total bill!) and downed a couple house brews (red lager).  I was finally 
full and satisfied.

Afterward, I ended up wandering over to karaoke and only saw a little 
bit when Dave Fruchter asked me if I wanted to play the 11 P.M. 
tournament at Binions.  He said he'd back me, so duh.  He and I walked 
over to Binions with Mitch firestone to play.  I felt like I was dogging 
Tina because I kinda went over there to see her, so my apologies Tina!

The play in the 3-table tournament was awful.  None of us made the 
break.  Sorry Dave.  I'll let you back me again next year if you want. 
I wandered over to find Tina in a cash game and convinced her to go have 
a late meal with me at Carson Street.  She agreed.

We had a massive pile of yummy nachos and two huge burgers with fries. 
It was way too much food.  The conversation was great as always, and 
Tina even picked up the tab (did I mention the staggering generosity of 
my BARGE friends?).  I walked Tina to the elevators and said goodnight 
before stumbling back to The Shoe myself.  It was about 3 A.M. and I was 
beat.

Saturday morning I woke up without a headache.  This is the first time 
in my 10 years of BARGE that I didn't have a headache on the first 
morning.  Throat was a little dry, but a monster energy drink and some 
water took care of that.  I settled into my NLHE seat hoping I could 
break the 9-year no-cash streak.

The break-by-break updates are on my Twitter page.  basically, I played 
five hands in the first three levels, winning them all.  I was rather 
card dead the rest of the time, and although I lasted well beyond the 
second break, I just let myself get blinded down, finding no situations 
that were favorable for steals or shoves.  I finally ended up pushing 
with AQ and got knocked out by AK.  Being 41 and horrible with names, I 
forget who knocked me out.  He was a really nice guy though, and a good 
player, and I hope he enjoys the books.

So that was the NLHE for me.  Another year, another 4-hour no-cash.  A 
HUGE congrats to Heldar for taking it down.

The chronology of the rest of the evening is fuzzy at best, but here's 
what I remember.  Howler and I went over to the Nugget to play some 
poker.  He'd given me some cash to spot me in a game, but we both 
decided not to play there after checking out the games and the room. 
Instead, we headed to the bar for some scotch and bourbon.  I think we 
had four each, but it could have just been three.  the first scotch was 
just ok.  We had some Gentleman Jack (one of my favorite bourbons). 
then we had some excellent 12-year.  Howler will know which was which. 
We might have had a fourth as well.  Anyway, it was a great experience 
just talking and enjoying expensive drinks.  Can't wait to do it again 
next year.

Later, Russ and I had some time to kill before the banquet, so we sat 
and played some FPDW at Binion's (there's a bank of 4 near the Deal or 
No Deal slots down near the coffee shop).  The deuces were very, very 
kind to both of us!  We headed off to the banquet in very good spirits.

At the banquet, we sat with the LJ contingent; Oscar, Hime, Bob Jones, 
Ronsrants, Tom Bayes, Russ's friend Aaron, and a few others I don't 
recall (but there are pictures).  After we all settled in with a few 
drinks, milling about saying hi to many friends, nick got up and started 
to speak.  Now let me first say, Nick does a fantastic job speaking.  He 
really knows how to be serious and funny at the same time, and it was 
rather enjoyable.  I could do without the endless string of standing 
ovations though.  It seems like people were just looking for a reason to 
stand up, applaud, sit down, rinse, wash repeat.  It got tiring. 
anyway, he grilled me pretty good in front of all my friends, and I 
enjoyed every second of it.  I got to say thank you to everyone, and 
that was priceless.

The food was good, although the steak was a little too done for my 
tastes (although the flavor was good).  I noticed other steaks were a 
lot less well-done, so I guess it was the luck of the draw.  Still, GN 
did another exceptional job catering the affair.  the dessert was 
outstanding, and although I was stuffed (I'd eaten a late lunch with 
Russ earlier), I finished the whole thing.

Congrats to all of the winners this year.  That's one of my favorite 
parts of the banquet.  People getting recognition for their poker, 
blackjack and video poker accomplishments.  Even luckboxes like chic! 
Great job everyone!

Nolan is such a good interviewer.  No real softball questions either, 
just good stuff that people wanted to hear Doyle talk about.  I really 
enjoyed the format, and Doyle was a treat to listen to.  Most of the 
stories he told were ones that I'd already heard, but it was still fun 
to listen again.  I'm really, REALLY hoping we can get Jen Harmon or 
Annie Duke next year.  That would be superb.

I'm really glad Peter made it to the banquet.  He had us all worried, 
but Patti Tweeted updates, and all was well.  Thanks Patti for that, and 
for taking him to the hospital.  Peter, you've got balls, my friend.  I 
wish you a speedy recovery.

After the banquet, I went up to the room to relax and change clothes. 
That jersey is fucking hot!  I actually changed into the clothes I was 
intending to wear to the banquet.  Much cooler.  I had hime lock me up a 
seat in the $3/$6 Razz game.  After some rest, I descended into the 
Binion's poker room created for BARGErs.

Fuck Razz.  I played for about an hour, and dragged one pot full of 
antes.  None of my hands held up, and my cards were crap.  -$120.  after 
Howler beat me n my last hand where I actually had something, I decided 
to rack up and go drink.  The waitress service in the room was horrible, 
I should add.  no fault of the BARGE organizers though.  I just thought 
that Binion's would understand by now that BARGErs like to drink a lot, 
especially on Saturday night.  anyway, I was a bit of whiny asshole 
during the Razz game (filled with very nice people), so let me now 
apologize for my sour demeanor.  I was just very frustrated.

I wandered over to sit with Bree and catch up for a while.  She was in a 
$5/$10 dealers choice game with Grapes, JP, Sabyl, Marlin, Bob Lauria . 
. . you know, a really soft game.  I had no intention of playing.  I 
just wanted to talk to Bree and get a few free drinks.  That lasted 
about an hour until I decided it was Saturday night, and I was supposed 
to be playing.  Besides, Bree and I were drinking doubles, so I was 
feeling rather spiffy. I bought in for $300.  The game at the time was 
suicide hold'em.  Basically, it's a $5/$10 limit hold'em game, but at 
the showdown, the best two hands are in contention to win the pot.  The 
button rolls a single die (grapes got us a really big one), and a 1, 2 
or 3 means the second best hand gets the pot.  4, 5, or 6 and the best 
hand wins the pot.  Obviously, it is in your best interest to ram and 
jam, building a huge pot and giving yourself the best chance to win it. 
  Needless to say, I had the nuts on two pots fairly close together and 
the dice were rather cruel to me.  I was stuck about $200.  I bought in 
for my last $100 and decided to stick it out.  That's about the time 
Leslie joined us.  What a joy she is.  Always smiling and having fun.  A 
joy to play poker with, and a rather good player at that.  A few hands 
later, I turn the nut flush and it holds up on a paired board.  There 
were four of us at the river, and the pot was a monster as we capped 
just about every street.  Leslie had a smaller flush, and this time, the 
die was my friend.  I was suddenly $250 to the good.  Being tired and 
hungry and finally a small winner at BARGE (it's been three years), I 
racked up.  I could've played all night tho, it was a really fun game.

Hime and I went for a late night bite at Carson Street.  He's a great 
guy.  Odd, I know, but a really great guy.  I hope he comes back to 
BARGE although it's not likely.  He felt he just didn't click with 
people.  I ate way too much food again and was stuffed to the gills when 
we got back to the Shoe and I headed off to bed, happy and full and 
still slightly buzzed.  It was a great night.

Sunday morning Russ and Sean let me sleep until after 10, which was 
nice.  I packed up my stuff, checked out, and met everyone downstairs 
for our annual Sunday at Bellagio.  Oscar, Russ, Chris M., Hime, and Ron 
and I all headed down to Bellagio where we set up camp in the race book 
and those awesome over-sized chairs.  I drank Heineken and I think 
everyone else had Strawberry or Orange Julious.  We had a great time 
betting the ponies.  Chris is a genius and a moron.  :- )  We all 
pitched in $20 and ended up getting $5 back each after a few fun-filled, 
relaxing hours.  It was time for Russ to drive me to the airport.

When we got there, I said goodbye to Russ and headed in.  I was still 
pretty buzzed from the beer on an empty stomach, so I figured after I 
zipped through security (there was only one person in front of me), I'd 
grab one final drink before boarding.  I had a monster big Sam Adams 
draft (had to be 32 oz.) and wandered over to my gate.  Lemme tell you, 
flying while slightly drunk is the best way to go.  I put on the 
headphones, turned the iPod to Pink Floyd and fell asleep.  Fastest 
return flight ever.

Upon arriving in Cleveland, I was rested and totally sober.  The 1.5 
hour drive home was pleasant, and I even had time to grab some fast food 
before crashing.  It was just a perfect ending to a great BARGE.

Thanks as always to the amazing organizers Nick, Mick and Peter (with 
lots of help from Chuck from what I understand).  I can't thank you guys 
enough for everything you do to make this happen every year.  I've 
sitting here starting at my Old timers coin and I just can't believe 
it's been ten years.  Every year has been spectacular, and you guys 
really make it happen.  thank you so much.

and once again, to the generous BARGERs who made this possible for me, 
thank you so very, very much.  You guys rule!  I hope I'm in better 
financial shape next year so I can donate to someone else's BUSTO 
Bail-Out fund if someone needs it.  I've never felt so fortunate to have 
such awesome friends.  I love you all.  I really do.

See you next year!

77