Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:24:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Trip report

I lost my virginity at Barge 2011! A bit amusing as well since the
trip was also our honeymoon. We arrived Thursday afternoon after
driving up from Phoenix. Dropped off the luggage and went to check
out the poker room at Binion's, pick up badges and see if we could
get into the Limit 6 tourney. I sat down in the 1-2 game to unwind
after the drive, and found myself seated in between Crunch and David
Kluchman. I had a lot of fun talking with them, and once a seat
opened up my dear husband joined the table as well. Chatted some
with DivaDiane who was sitting across the table. We played until
we saw Peter, signed up for the tourney, went to dinner and came
back to play in the Limit 6.

Limit 6 tourney- table was interesting, especially after a long
drive. I sat next to Michael Brennan for most of the tournament. I
got my first bust out gift! Thought I played pretty well and went
out around 30th. Back to the poker room, and played some 2-4 limit
while hubby was playing Dealer's choice. We headed back to our room
around 12:30am. Drink count was around 5.

Friday, we had lunch reservations at Mesa Grill for our honeymoon
and I had a lovely massage at the Golden Nugget. I highly recommend
the Mesa Grill! I had Ancho-chile honey glazed Salmon. It was
fantastic. After lunch we headed back to the poker room and I was
ready to see what this Dealer's choice was all about. Oklahoma was
fun, then we learned Chooce, fun, interesting. The people kept
changing, the games kept changing and it was great to play with so
many different people. I was having so much fun I didn't even realize
it was getting past dinner. I took a break around 8pm while my
husband went and played over at the Nugget. Came back to the poker
room around 10pm and played with Grizz and Janie and Merlynn. I
think we left around 2am. Drink count was at least 8 or 9... maybe


Saturday, I played so-so in the NL. I got super lucky with my 66
vs 99 against Bob the builder. Sorry, no redbird for you! Ran into
aces just before the second break and out I went. Took a break, had
lunch and then came back and played more D.C. before the banquet.
Banquet was awesome. Sat at a table with David from MI, Jeff from
Vegas, and Steven who was at my tournament table earlier in the
day. I believe there was someone else to the right of Jeff on the
table, but due to the amount of Kamikaze's I had consumed my memory
of the evening is fuzzy. The salad was pretty good, prime rib was
about what I expected and David made the dinner special by taking
some photos of our hands with Binion's chips around them that Jeff
had won in the NL. I thought it commemorated the occasion perfectly.
I mean, how many people can say they met at a poker table and then
had their honeymoon playing poker? Loved the speaking and hearing
about the history of this tradition.

Reindeer games- played D.C. with David and Jeff from the banquet
table and Janie and Eileen, Ken and Un. They started the table 8
handed but made it 9 handed so I could play. :) We were drinking
and joking about my Medical Card and watching Un and Ken make just
outrageous chip castles. It was discovered that I am very OCD about
my chips, and Jeff enjoyed knocking them over. I commented that the
pattern they made looked like a fractal, so we were playing with
designs. I'm such a nerd. More drinks came and Un said that I should
be the first member of the ADoubleDB group. We got a great laugh
about that and interesting nicknames were tossed around. A seat
opened up in the 4-8 must sing game, so I reluctantly left my game
and went over to join the hubby....given it was the last night of
the honeymoon and all, but more fun was to be had. I sat with Bree
for a short time, Patti and Randy and Joe and Kyle. I felt like I
needed to have my multi-colored hair! Next year... We played until
4:30am. My favorite memory was singing Row Row Row Your Boat in a
round. Drink count had to be at least 10, plus 2 vodka 7's at dinner.

Sunday, I woke up 15 minutes before check out, we packed up and
wandered around Fremont. There was discussion of playing the 4-8
Omaha Hi at Boulder Station, one of my favorite places to play, but
I was *shockingly* a bit burnt out. We stopped in at the Hangover
Party on our way home and made it back to Phoenix around 9pm, just
after bedtime (oh darn!!!) Monday morning came pretty early....

I had an absolute blast. Thank you all for making my Virgin experience
(and honeymoon) a great one! To all the people I met, who I didn't
mention, you rock and it's true, you are all friends I hadn't met
yet. I am looking forward to the next time I get to play. Feel free
to find me on Facebook too!


Redbird