From: Lou Krieger Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:23:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [BARGE] Lou Krieger: BARGE Trip Report A Very Cool Card Protector: I've been coming to barge for more than a decade now, which qualified me for one of Patti Beadles "Barge Old-Timers" card protectors. I've got a lot of card protectors, including my former prized possession, a sterling silver Binion's 1996 WSOP commemorative coin--but I like this one better. Much better, in fact; it's now my card-cap of choice--and a symbol of BARGE that I can take with me whenever I play. Nice! I didn't arrive in Las Vegas until Thursday, which was when the majority of attendees seemed to pull into town. My wakeup call Thursday morning was early--5:00 a.m., to be exact--allowing me sufficient time to make the 270 mile drive from the Coachella Valley to Binion's in time for Team Chorse. For me, this event is the best time to talk with friends I see maybe once a year because the downturn between orbits you're scheduled to play in is a perfect opportunity. Coney Island Whitefish Fail Again: My team, the Coney Island Whitefish (named for the used condoms that floated out to the ocean through the New York City sewage system back in the days when it emptied into Coney Island, to the dismay of the beach's swimmers) didn't come close this year, but there 's always 2011 to look forward to. Each year I enter this event with the belief that we can't possibly lose. But every year we do. But our motto is, "Once a Whitefish, always a Whitefish," and I'll be back for again next year. Cashing, and the Essence of Chowaha: Thursday evening was a six-game tournament, comprising hold'em, Omaha/8, razz, 7-card stud, 7-stud/8, and chowaha. If you're not a BARGE regular, and just reading this trip report to feed your poker Jones or you wandered onto the BARGE list by accident, or perhaps you're just trying to make sense of your significant other's annual pilgrimage of madness--a summer rite that you put up with but don't quite understand--the game is a hold'em variant and a BARGE staple, played with three boards, two turn cards and one river. A link to the game follows, and if that's not enough, just google "chowaha" and you'll come up with plenty: _http://www.wolfspokerpage.com/chowaha/_ (http://www.wolfspokerpage.com/chowaha/) . I managed to finish fifth in the six game event, but that meant not leaving the table until 2:30 a.m., and was a long day, even with a couple of bucks for a fifth-place finish in my pocket. By the time I got to sleep it was probably 3:15, so I had about three or four hours sleep that night because my body is used to rising early, and besides, I had to play in the 10 a.m. Tournament of Champions-style event Friday morning. Sleepless in Las Vegas: Three to four hours sleep per night is about par for me at BARGE, though some people never seem to sleep at all. Whenever I think I'm sleep deprived, I realize I'm not, because all I have to do is recall the story of North Shore Mike going two or three days without sleep until finally falling asleep--Or did he pass out? We'll never know--standing or leaning against a tree during the death march. Like life imitating art, the North Shore vertical sleep story always flashes me back to the scene in Cat Ballou when Lee Marvin is drunk-asleep-passing out on his horse at the movie's end. Shrimp Cocktail at the Golden Gate: I did not do anything in the Friday tournament, but busting out early gave me an opportunity to indulge one of my favorite Las Vegas activities: going to the Golden Gate--Las Vegas' oldest hotel and casino--and pigging out on their inexpensive shrimp cocktail. They've raised the prices recently, and the piano player--who played ragtime and stride piano and evoked memories of Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, and Count Basie, to everyone's delight--is nowhere to be found. Still, the ambiance can't be beaten, and $3.95 for a jumbo shrimp cocktail is a terrific deal. The Dealers Will Always Love Us: When I got back to Binion's I played cash games and just bounced around with no real results other than enjoying the games, the people, and Binion's poker room. The poker room loves us. They always have, and it's more than the fact that we continuously rain tokes on the dealers. While I'm sure the dealers wish BARGE was a month-long event if for no other reason than we increase their earn significantly, I think we remind them--yes, them; those battle-hardened veterans of downtown Las Vegas who have been there, done that and seen it all--that even a dealer can still have fun in the poker room. Pocket Queens No Good, YGHN: Saturday is BARGE's main event, a no-limit hold'em tournament where I lost the majority of my chips early on when I reraised with pocket queens after my opponent had made a smallish bet into a flop of three blanks. Since he also made a smallish raise before the flop, I figured it for a standard continuation bet and assumed that my pocket queens were at the top end of his wagering range, since the only hands ahead of me were pocket aces, pocket kings, or an extremely unlikely set of rags-- a real longshot because it would have meant he raised from early position with a very small pair before the flop. My bad. He had pocket kings. IGHN--well, to be accurate, a few hands later. A queen never came and I was very short, and went out not too long afterwards when I had to make a stand with A-4 suited and the blinds staring me in the face. The Siren's Song of the Cash Games: The good thing about the early bust-out was that the cash games were calling me, and this time they were rewarding. I won during the afternoon in a mixed game that was populated almost entirely by BARGEers, and again after the banquet, which featured Barry Tanenbaum doing his usual terrific job as guest speaker. If you've never attended a Barry Tanenbaum seminar, you're missing a lot. He's a great teacher with an encyclopedic knowledge of poker, and extremely witty. After the banquet I found an empty seat in a no-limit hold'em cash game with three locals and six BARGE players. Two of the locals didn't seem to understand us at all, played very predictably, and went broke. The other local was having loads of fun, drinking way too much, and losing a few buy-ins in the process. I played until I was too tired to concentrate at all, got up, went to bed, got the requisite three hours sleep so I could awaken early, drive back home, and reenter the ::sigh:: real world. When does registration for 2011 open up?