Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:36:00 -0400
From: "David A. Soussan"
Subject: [BARGE] Barge 2010 Trip Report - Soussan

Monday 8/2: Wife is going to spend time with her mom capturing some
video stories - I spend most of Monday night & Tuesday morning getting
equipment, DVDs, monitor, recording equipment, etc. together so this can
happen while I'm partying at BARGE. So I get about 3 hours sleep.

Tuesday 8/3: Got to the airport hours early to see if I can catch an
earlier flight. Delta's policy is different from Northwest Airlines: "It
has to be in Delta's best interest"

It was as my flight was full, but the earlier flight had no available
space so the gate agent #1 said I should take my originally scheduled
flight. 5 minutes later I heard them "cancelling no-show seats" so I
hung around anyway, and when I asked gate agent #2 he said he could find
a seat for me. So I arrived ~3 hours before I was supposed to.

Win #1.

Checking the BARGE arrival list, I found David Heller was scheduled to
arrive about the same time. Call, ring/disconnect. Lather rinse repeat.
Text, message failed. Get a call back, can't hear anything.

Note to self: Don't try to make a phone call while the airport train is
going underground.

5 attempts to call / answer / text later, we are talking and setting up
to share a cab to downtown. On the way David shows off his very nice
Green Lantern ring. I express my inner Sheldon: "Way cool!"

Sharing the cab ride: Win #2.

Meet up with my brother Jeff (AKA: Blofeld) in the tourney, I donk off
chips in the 2-4 HE game while he plays Badugi, then we get a bite to
eat.

Between the 3 hour time change, getting up early, and other associated
distractions the day before, I'm whipped. Go to bed early (~11 PM?) I'm
a pu77y, I admit it.

Wednesday, play in two 1-2 table tourneys @ GN. Hit the bubble or
bubble-1 in each, can't seem to cash. Before, between, and after I do
some much needed work back in the hotel room. Nothing eventful. Lowbaw
is uneventful as I see more two pair and three of a kind hands than I'm
supposed to. Made it past the first break, I think the second, and then
I'm gone.

Tired, I crash early.

Thursday, lose a little at 2-4, come close but not cash in another GN
tourney, then to sushi.

Pig out, contributing heavily to the over winning this year. Should have
bet the over. Another loss. Big win was splitting an extra "seat" at the
Sake tasting. I think I'm going to like this Sake sampler next year!

I ask about Asya's way cool Ro Sham Bo shirt and where she got it -
apparently only available in women's. Channeling my inner Sheldon again,
what I'll admit to the group is that I really want a Rock Paper Scissors
Lizard Spock shirt. I'll bet ThinkGeek.com has it. Yes, they do, and
I'll have one at Barge 2011.

Back to Jeff's place, get to see his newly minted son, Brilliant
Uncirculated daughter, and lovely wife. We chat, Jeff works, I try to
soothe crying baby but us guys just don't have the good stuff he wants,
so its back to Mom. Then off to the Goldman's for my first non-smoking
smoker as I haven't smoked since I was three years old.=20

I pop my bourbon slushie cherry and enjoy in careful moderation as I'm
the DD for my bro, so I also go very easy on the Bourbon tasting trying
to break the world's record for tasting the smallest quantity of bourbon
in each sample.

Jeff's slushie gets my overflow :) - it is good to have a DD!

As for the bourbon - my taste buds have been opened onto another new
world!

Still absolutely stuffed from Sushi, I have a bit of BBQ. What a spread
- great job Dan, Sharon, & Bree. Towards the end of the evening, I help
clean up a bit until Sharon puts the guilt trip on me. Great food, great
conversation, and I can't wait for next year.

As DD, I get to drive Jeff's TT back to DT LV. Sweet ride! Enough TLAs
for everyone?

Friday, playing some 2-4 before the TOC, someone orders an Orange
Julius. That sounds good, so I have one as well. What comes back: Lots
of ice, watered down orange juice, and some whipped cream on top. An
insult to Orange Julius everywhere. I upgrade to MGD.

TOC goes well, I make it past two breaks and have a nice stack going
into the third session. My 15 way straight & flush draw goes up against
a flopped set - I don't make mine, but he upgrades the set to a full
house. This cripples me and IGHN soon after somewhere in the 60s.

Chock up another loss.

I found Devon and invested in our syndicate, electing to not attend the
symposium this year but delegate the finances to someone more qualified
than I am.

Dinner @ GN buffet w/Jeff & (Bart?), with a choice seat overlooking the
pool and eye candy below, then back to poker. I sit in some 2-4 and have
a run up to Karaoke for a bit where I finally get to say hi to Tanya, my
virgin year's virgin queen. Every year we've started at the same NL
table for the big dance, but she isn't playing this year (booo!)

Saturday morning's NL tourney, I brought a pre-bust-out gift/bribe of a
dozen Krispy Kremes to my table to "Be gentle with me". Our table has 3
no-shows for most of the first 45 minutes so there were a few extras.
This year's virgin queen (Yo!) is at my table and she is one tough
cookie (poker wise)! After I finally give up on our now shows I run
around and some of those Krispy Kremes end up with folks at other tables
- he/she who spoke first, got one. One seat shows up (I know her but
name hidden to protect the innocent) and busts out in a few hands. I win
two all-ins and make it past the photo break with a decent stack. Then I
go completely card dead for a long time, and IGHN in the 130s.

So I lose & pay off my LL bet with Jeff. First year I've lost the LL
with him.=20

To pass the time, I sit in and get run over by the 1-2 NL, then go lose
another $100 in a GN tourney.

I really suck at this game!

Banquet was good, and I thought Barry made some good points. Perhaps I
should have table changed during the tourney? Oh, wait - I can't....
Sigh.

Reindeer: I played in the dice rolling 16 game random game till 2 AM,
drank way too much, had too much fun, and donated $65 to the other
players. The night is foggy in my mind, but I smile when I think about
it, so my subconscious remembers a good time. I have memories of a
rather lively sex in the butt discussion with one of the female BARGers.
Put the iPhone video skills to use recording a BARGE virgin's first time
rolling the dice at a poker game. Sorry, but his name is also lost in my
alcohol induced fog. Sometime during the reindeer games one of my
syndicate's investment team (Devon? Michael?) gives me back less than I
threw into the pool - but it is > $0, so even though I lost money there
it feels like a win.

Sunday, after all those losing sessions, I see Russ Fox and ask if he
has another copy of his book "Why do I suck so bad, am a contender for
#1 chip donkey, and are such a f-ing loser at poker?" but he has none of
them left, so I lose the chance to improve through some reading as well.
I was playing in Binion's tourney and am first or second to bust out of
that, giving me an even worse complex.

I go back to GN and sit in their tourney, end up splitting 1st & 2nd
places - breaking the losing streak  (finally! Or was that a blind
squirrel finding a nut? Don't answer that!) then spend the remainder of
the afternoon recovering from all the partying in the room watching a
movie and vegging out.

That evening I walk downtown and have finally taken the camera out of
the camera bag doing some 'available light only' photography, practicing
looking at a scene and correcting for the camera metering for 18% grey
with exposure compensation. After a recent wedding, I need to learn & do
this with less chimping and more auto pilot.

Monday 4 AM wake-up call, 4:15 AM shuttle back to the airport, and Barge
2010 comes to a close for me.

Props to all the organizers for a great BARGE experience again this
year!

Hmmm.... How many days till Barge 2011??

David Soussan