From: Chuck Weinstock
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 15:37:18 -0400
Subject: [BARGE] Chuck's Trip Report

This is too long. It's probably also inaccurate. The hell with it. I'm going to send it off anyway. Feel free to hit delete at any time.

Chuck

Tuesday, August 3: I've packed for BARGE the night before and get my wife Barbara to take me the approximately 1 mile to where I can catch the 8:25am Pittsburgh bus to the airport. It's free with a bus card and I can't see any reason to not take advantage of it given that I will be returning in the mid-afternoon on Sunday. We arrive at the airport at about 9:20am and security is a breeze. I am in the gate area in plenty of time for my 10:40am Southwest flight. Since I was using an award ticket I had purchased early-bird seating to assure a chance at a decent seat for the flight. I grabbed an aisle on a very full flight which arrived in Las Vegas a bit earlier than scheduled at about 12:05pm.

Un was on a flight from Chicago due in at the same time as mine and had generously offered to give me a lift downtown. His flight was slightly delayed so I had plenty of time to walk to his gate and meet him there rather than at the baggage claim. Un's checked bag showed up on the carousel and we were in a rental car (after the Hertz lady played 20-questions) around 1pm.

For the last several years Un and I have had an ongoing bet as to which of the Bears or the Steelers would do better (go deeper into the playoffs). For (I think) three years running I had won the bet and was promptly paid by Un...a 99 cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate. This year Un won and I had to pay him off. Of course we discover that the price has gone up to $1.99...so a real bad beat. Even worse, walking on Fremont St later the same day I see a sign that says something like "Text 12345 to some number and get a shrimp cocktail for 99 cents." Anyway, we we're both hungry after our flights but did not want to eat too much prior to the Non-Smoker so I paid off the bet before checking into my hotel. By the way the Golden Gate was as dead as I have ever seen it. The lack of the 99 cent special was evident by the fact that there was absolutely no line in that area.

Un drops me off at the Golden Nugget's Rush Tower entrance. I go to check-in and two nicely dressed young ladies who work at the counter tell me that I have to go to the other counter (the main check-in desk) because they are filming a CSI episode in the area. They take it upon themselves to escort me to the other check-in area and then one of them opens up a check-in terminal and checks me in...completely bypassing the line of about 20 people waiting already. As I'm giving her my ID and credit card I hear "Chuck!" and look over and it's Scott Byron checking in at the same time.

I'm soon in my room. The hall area smells like freshly completed construction (imagine that) but the room is very nice...somewhat bigger than I am used to at the GN, and the AC works really well. In fact I only had two complaints about the room at all. The first is that at night the room is so dark and the bathroom so big (with a separate room for the toilet) that it is extremely hard to find it without turning on a light. The second is that the water level in the toilet is, how to put this, uncomfortably high. This never gets fixed to my satisfaction though I found a way to deal with it. I believe I'll stay in the Gold tower the next time.

I head over to Binions to get my badge and to say hello to everyone. I'm in a discussion with Patti and Ice when Carol Kline comes up and introduces herself to me. We chat for a few moments about our mutual friend, TT, and then she goes back to the game. 

I spend some more time saying hello to people and before I know it, it's time for the non-smoker at Vic and Anthony's. I end up sitting between Scott Byron and Randy Collack's wife Carol and across from Ice, Patti, and Nina Goldman. I enjoy some wonderful steak tartare (shared with Patti who shared some of her tuna tartare), a wedge lettuce salad, and a very nice salmon with crab meat. Oh, and for the last several years Un and I have had an ongoing bet as to which of the Blackhawks or the Penguins would do better. The bet is for a mid-level dinner unless the team that does better wins the Stanley Cup in which case it is for an upscale dinner. Because Un was only able to make the last day of BARGE last year, this dinner is my payoff. Un is buying. But I still don't run up the bill...too much (not that it would matter much as the bill was divided equally.)

As dinner ends its about time for the Badugi tournament to begin. Against my better judgement I buy in and sit down at a table with folks such as Nick and Nolan and others who intimidate me. However after the nth time I hear someone say "You're not going to like this Nolan", I am no longer intimidated and go on to bust out early on my own. I hang out a bit, but I'm on east coast time and I decide to go to bed shortly thereafter.

Wednesday, August 4: I meet Ice and Patti and we walk over to the Binions valet about 8:30am.  We are joined by Andrew Prock  and head over to the Egg and I for the traditional Wednesday morning breakfast. We're among the first to arrive and end up sitting at one end of the long table in the middle of the room. I enjoy a too big breakfast burrito (I leave some, but I should have left more) and then get back to Binions in time for the blackjack tournament. I am not playing this year but I hang around a little and it turns out that none of the organizers have shown up by the time it gets to be 11. The staff, recognizing me from years past, ask for some guidance about picking up stacks, etc. I mumble something and then call Foldem's cell phone...waking him up in the process. Shortly thereafter I leave with Ice to visit Aria. The poker room is nearly empty and we spend time scoping out restaurants for a possible dinner later in the week.

Then we head back to Binions where the blackjack tournament is down to the final table. Shortly they start a 3-6 dealer's choice game that I decide to play in. (Yes, I do occasionally play live poker...some of you even saw me.) I believe JP starts the game with a round of razz. Not my favorite game, but it's ok. The second round we play Oklahoma. I made some money in this round. Yolanda our virgin queen calls the third round to be second best badugi...which I play one hand of and then get up before the blinds reach me and go get something to drink. When I come back Erin Ramsey has just called tic-tac-tomaha or something like that and I pick my chips up without playing and cash out after having won about six big blinds in an hour.

A bit later I'm heading over to the craps table with (I think) Goldie and Foldem when we encounter Carol and Katie Baxter over by the steakhouse elevator. We ask and they say they are both craps virgins so we take them along with us with high anticipation of the good things to come. The dice get to Carol first and she has a reasonable roll. Along the way we hear her call out "two way hard eight" (or some-such). Goldie mutters something about "craps virgin my ass". It turns out that she is just a BARGE virgin. Katie, on the other-hand, is both. But she doesn't have a great roll and we soon cash out of the game. I only lost a quarter.

For the last several years I've had an ongoing bet (actually only this year, but we also have it for next year) with Nick that Binions will be unable to host BARGE. The loser buys the winner a nice dinner while in Las Vegas. When I made this bet in mid-December I figure I can't lose. I still figure I can't lose because it's a good have dinner with friends. We end up being joined by Foldem, Mickdog, and Jester...though they are paying their own way. We go to a very good Mexican restaurant called Mundo. It's at the Design Center which is mobbed with folks attending a furniture show. Nick and I both had the pork tenderloin. Highly recommended.

Later that night, as I was heading back to the GN I wandered by the Four Queens. Someone handed me a card that offered me $10 in play (with an additional $10 on a subsequent day) if I joined or reactivated my slot club membership there. So I went in and played $10 followed by another $20 and called it a night.

Thursday, August 5: I was able to sleep in because I didn't have anything to do until 10am. However I was feeling guilty about all of the food I'd been eating and wanted to a least try to protect my fairly big recent weight loss. So I got up a bit earlier than necessary and for the first time in any BARGE went over to the GN spa to use a treadmill. I saw Paul McMullin on the Lifecycle when I arrived. I did about 30 minutes on the treadmill then took a steam bath and a shower and was ready for my breakfast with my friend Kiera at the Carson Street Grill. We had a nice chat over a good breakfast and at about 11:30 I went over to watch CHORSE. A past member of the champion Icicles, I decided to defect and join Team Sleeping In this year. I enjoyed the camaraderie of that team almost as much as I enjoyed playing on the Icicles.

Then it was time for sushi. I catch a ride over with Un and I sit next to Un and JZK which gives me time to catch up with him for the first time in a while. Across from me is Paul McMullin and next to him is John Moser and Erin Ramsey (with Chris Jepson next to him). We all have a marvelous time snarfing down "your father's moustache" or some such. Every year I've taken the under in the over/under bet and every year I've won. This year I am pretty sure it's going to be over though and I win again. Actually it was a pretty good payoff because there were relatively few of us who took the over.

Being stuffed I can't think of food for a while so Un drops me at the GN where I am just in time to ride over to the Goldman smoker in Goldie's car with him and Bruce Kramer. I'm along as the designated driver so that Goldie can participate in the bourbon tasting without worry. I'm there mostly for the conversation but also for the BBQ...in spit of the sushi. Neither disappoints and while the evening is a little late for this senior, I manage to drive us (plus Foldem) home without incident.

When we arrive the A.D.B. Craps Crawl is well underway. The "main" table is full so I join a secondary game at another table and am soon joined by Goldie. We're up and down and then it happens. Six is the point and Goldie has a $10 bet on the hard six. Hard six comes up and Goldie parlays it. If he wins he makes $1,000. Of course the next roll is the come-out roll and the dealer asks if he wants the bet off for the come-out. Goldie says yes. I think you can see where this is going without me finishing the story. As for me, I only lost two quarters.

Friday, August 6: I have not set an alarm, but I wake up early enough to again go to the Spa and use a treadmill. I feel great afterwards and wonder why I don't do this every morning at home. Oh yeah, because it's relatively easy to get up an hour earlier when ones body clock hasn't caught up. I'll have to try to think of something though because I really do feel better. I have no time for breakfast before the TOC begins but I have a banana in my room and then go over to Binions to find my seat. I recognize and actually know the names of everyone at my table (then...I remember nothing now!) and play reasonably at least for a while. At the first break I decide to go over to the ABC store for another banana. Nolan hears this and asks me to get him two bananas and a bottle of wine that has to be at least 17% alcohol. First of all I can't find the wine he is looking for and second of all a part of me thinks he is kidding. So I buy the bananas and then I see these little airline sized bottle of wine. I find a red wine with 13% alcohol (not seeing anything higher) and buy it for him. Nolan was crestfallen...especially when he saw the small bottle which he was prepared to drink until he saw it was a Merlot. Of course this is why I was invited to join the ADB's because of my vast knowledge of all things alcohol and not because they wanted another last longer to win. Anyway, I busted out of the TOC with about 48 people left and hung around until it was time for the Symposium and Board meeting.

The symposium was fun. I joined my usual syndicate (Chicless) with Goldie, ActionBob, Chuck Humphrey, Warren Sander, and Steve Evans. Bob fronted the money so rest of us didn't even have to contribute anything until we knew the results. I think we purchased 14 teams and had high hopes for all of them. The food spread at the symposium was terrific. I'm glad that Binions was finally able to get its catering act together for us. Heaven knows we tried over the years. The board meeting was interesting, though I did not particularly like sitting on the stage with nothing to do but look pretty.

After the directors meeting four of us (Patti, Ice, Goldie, and myself) had plans to enjoy a nice meal at Sirio Ristorante at Aria. Ice was already at Bellagio I think  and would meet us there but the rest of us agreed to meet at the Binions valet at 7:30. The only problem was that Patti was still in the tournament which didn't resume until 7:00. Patti solved that nicely for us by busting out and we left Binions only a few minutes late. We then proceeded to find the back way into Aria to avoid the Strip on a Friday night. This seems to involve getting of heading West on Flamingo and working ones way around until one finds the Harmon bridge across the freeway. In any event we arrived in plenty of time for our 8pm reservation and enjoyed a really terrific dinner. I believe I had a romaine salad (but not a Caesar salad) and a braised lamb and (I think) pork, over pappardelle with mushrooms and shaved truffles. Out of this world.

I was too exhausted for Karaoke when I returned, but I went up to the bullpen to observe for a while. As I walk in the door I hear Sharon shouting something like "where the hell is Chuck Weinstock" and I know I am on the hook for at least one song. This is the fourth year that she and I with assistance from Jester and the crowd have done "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and it was a blast (at least from my side of the microphone.) This year I did it without having a drink which may have been a mistake (at least from your side of the microphone.) I stayed around for a bit longer and then called it a night.

Saturday, August 7: Again I'm up early and again I head over to the spa. This time I see Paul McMullin just leaving and Deadhead running something like a half marathon on a treadmill....while I do my measly 30 minutes at no more than half his speed. Then I meet Bruce Kramer, Goldie, and ActionBob and we go over to the Bay City Diner at the Golden Gate for breakfast. I had heard good things about this place and wanted to try it. The menu said that they were famous for the buttermilk pancakes so I tried them. They said they were served with butter and syrup but when they came there was no butter to be seen. It turns out that they are dipped in clarified butter before they are served. They were delicious but I couldn't come close to finishing. I noticed that neither Bruce nor Bob could either. (Goldie had an omelette which he did appear to finish.)

The NLH tournament starts and I suffer my first bad beat of the day (along with 164 others in the tournament) not sitting at JZK's table to have a shot at his bust out gift. Anyway, I make the most of what I have and I play "ok" but not great in my opinion and find myself somewhat short stacked by the time we have the group photo taken. Then I get moved to another table and go on somewhat of a tear and build a really nice stack. I don't think I'm the chip leader at my table but I could be close. Then I move to another table where I am definitely not the chip leader. Before I know it we are down to 19 players. Since we are only paying 18 Rodney proposes that we do a Scottro...you know, a save for the 19th place finisher. We quickly agree and shortly thereafter Betty Tannenbaum busts. At this point it's, I believe two ADBers against two Virgins in the last longer. For me its ADB Iceman and myself. For the Virgins it's Carol Kline and (I believe) John Foust. Iceman and I both have a reasonable number of chips. I don't know where Carol and John are at this point. Sometime later this a confrontation at the other table and Iceman loses all but about $500. I wasn't at the table so I don't know all of the details or all of the players. Anyway he stalks away from the table to get paid but is informed that he still has chips which he proceeds to lose the next hand I believe. I win the ADB last longer. (Aside: newly inducted ADBer Randy Collack won the last longer for the TOC.)

Before we know it we're down to 10 players and then the final nine. This is the first time I've cashed in the BARGE NLH event much less made it to the final table, but I arrive there clearly the short stack. I have not quite an orbit of blinds and antes and I soon find a hand that is probably playable (K-To) and shove all in. Len Greenberg thinks for only a second or two before he calls me and flips over his cards. I don't recall what they were but one of them pairs (I think it was a Q) and then I pair my T, but that obviously isn't good enough and I bust out ninth. I'm pretty sure I could have sat back and let my chips fritter away and made eight, but I was trying to build something to play with and maybe do better than that. Oh, and for the first time in many years ADB loses the last longer with the Virgins.

The bust-out wasn't long before the banquet started so I didn't have time to go back to my room to change. I usually sit at the front table but this year I decided to forgo that privilege and sat in the back of the room with Big Mike, Warren, Goldie, Chuck Humphrey, ActionBob, and Fich. Binions did a great job with dinner as well. After Nick Christenson served the Roast Chuck I enjoyed the rest of the after dinner festivities. (Well maybe not being singled out by Barry as an example, but I'll live with that if he let's me publish his next book.) Seriously though, Barry's talk was a lot of fun and it looked like he had fun giving it as well.

After dinner I chatted with a few people and then went down to watch the rest of the final table. Before I knew it someone was saying it was down to heads up and I got there just in time for the final hand...which came about 15 minutes after play had resumed 4-handed. I guess everyone wanted to get to the reindeer games. Congratulations to Chuck Humphrey for winning this prestigious event. He also caused our syndicate to show a profit (we had 5th place and 1st place this year) which is always nice.

I had an early flight home so I said my goodbyes shortly after the tournament ended and then remembered that I had another "free" $10 to play at the Four Queens. I did so and then put in another $20 and eventually cashed out at $30 meaning I was only $10 behind at the Four Queens.

Sunday, August 8: I checked out of the GN and met Heldar at 6:30am at the Gold valet to share a taxi to the airport. My flight was at 8:30...his at 8:20. We told the driver to take Paradise but he convinced us to let him take I15 to Tropicana ("it's only a couple of dollars more and it's much faster even on Sunday morning") and we were at the airport by about 6:50am. We were both on Southwest and I discovered that my flight was scheduled to leave from the B concourse. Since B is connected to C now I suggested to Heldar that we both go through security at B. In the past it has always been less crowded than the traditional Southwest security area. This was no exception as there was nobody ahead of us at all.

I said goodbye to Heldar and then went off in search of breakfast. Gate Guru is an iPhone app that tells you what concessions and services are at various airports and I was able to find a place to make a sandwich for later (which I ended up not eating) and another where I had a small breakfast. I then went over to my gate area. I have a personal tradition of playing $20 through a slot machine/video poker machine at the airport when leaving Las Vegas even though they are awful machines. I actually have a profit for life doing this. I added to the profit this time on a Deuces Wild machine turning $20 into $40 before I stopped.

The flight to Pittsburgh boarded on time and even though I was 31st to board I was able to get an aisle seat in the two seat exit row (my favorite seat on Southwest aircraft). The flight was almost full, and just before the doors closed an attractive (relative to me) young (relative to me) lady sat down in the other seat in that row. Although I had intended to read and she intended to sleep (she had just gotten off the graveyard) we ended up chatting for about 2/3 of the flight before that happened. Usually it's a mother with three lap kids changing diapers in the seats next to me (though not in an emergency row ... another reason to love them) so this was a pretty good beat.

The fight arrived early which enabled me to catch an earlier than expected bus back to town. Usually this bus has plenty of seats. It's a full-sized city bus with no particular place for luggage but that's never a problem. Except this time it was. I got a seat just fine, but after getting settled about 10-12 new University of Pittsburgh students from India boarded with luggage which must have contained most of their worldly possessions. The only downside of this was that it took a really long time for them to board and get their luggage situated somewhere (some of the bags looked like they might contain a few hundred pounds of stuff.) Other than that the bus ride itself was fine and my wife Barbara was there to pick me up shortly after I got off and I was home before 5pm.

This was the best BARGE evahh...even if I didn't organize it. Thanks to Peter, Michael, and Nick for a terrific event. As far as I am concerned BARGE just keeps getting better and better.

Chuck
ADB Enabler