Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:49:11 -0700
From: David Low
Subject: [BARGE] Barge Trip Report

I feel like I haven't seen a lot of trip reports compared to past
years. Just a reminder to those, this is a great way to share your
memories and provide a big thank you to everyone who volunteers their
time, money, and patience to put up with the rest of us.

I don't know what it was this year but it took me a while to arrive at
barge. My body and money arrived, but it seemed that I was in a dense
fog. I used my travel ninja skills to walk to Caltrain and arrive
minutes before the train departed (hourly departure) without checking
the schedule. Aside from the cabby ignoring my "Don't take the tunnel"
request, the trip was uneventful.

I check in at the nugget and the person checking me in highlights that
there is a strict non-smoking policy for my room and I will be fined
$200 for smoking. This of course sets me up to arrive in my room and
find a strong stench of pot. I head back down and swap rooms. I think
I should have gotten a $200 credit.

I didn't really go anywhere in the limit holdem tourney but did manage
to get my "Team Sleeping In" swag. Many thanks to Patti, even though
she managed to bust me in the tournament.

The blackjack tournament is normally a lot of fun. This year, the
house was completely cold decking my entire table. I managed to last
10 hands before having the swift slap of the back of lady lucks hand
hit me and I was eliminated. Corrie was the last person standing after
13 hands (she won 2 hands).

Binions was nice enough to send an offer for free promo chips. I cash
in my coupon at the cage and they give me tournament chips. I ask the
person at the cage "Are you sure". She nods and I head to the table
and they have no problems accepting it.

We played the new game at the casino called Burn 20. If the house has
a 10/face card up, the dealer will check for a 10 down and if they
have one, they will burn their hand and deal another one. The game
sucks just as much as blackjack can, so I am just glad to leave the
table.

I started playing the video poker tournament a few years ago. I have
never hit a big hand, but I always have fun playing it. I realized
that this is mostly a game of "who has quads", but will play it again
next year.

That night was the lowbah tournament. I actually cashed in this
somehow in a previous barge so I think I have some idea how to play.
Apparently my memory lies and I was the first eliminated from my
tournament. I wasn't happy with the way I played as I wasn't paying
enough attention to understand when I was behind.

Every year we play the 7/2 game in any holdem game. I managed to win
my $5 bounty for bluffing someone out on the river in a 4/8 horse
game. Over the week, I was only able to pull this off once which
probably cost me a couple of racks in failed attempts.

I may not ever go back to playing in CHORSE after this year's monster
Thursday. Thanks to Team Sleeping in, I got a late start. I met up
with Ryan at the craps pit and we go on a monster run to double our
buy-in over a 45 minute period. After a loco-moco at Egg and I, its
off to the strip.

We played some Asia poker (Doug and I discovered this game during a
trip we made back in April). It's a fun game with some strategy to it.
Doug managed to swing himself quite a bit and broke mostly even by the
time we cashed out a few drinks later.

We then made our way back to the Nugget to play a new game called
zero. It was the first day it was being dealt in the casino. The game
deals like blackjack and the goal is to get as close to 0 mod 10 with
a blackjack hand. The third card is free, and you have to double your
bet to get a fourth card. No bust. you can split on 8 or 9. The house
will stand on 4 or better on a max of 4 cards.

My rush then continued that night in the 6 hand game where I managed
to not only make the final table but received my first barge plaque by
finishing second. One mistake I made during the tournament happened
when we go to the final 3. Spencer had the chip lead. Arthur and I had
equal stacks. Arthur asked for a deal, Spencer wasn't interested.
Arthur then wanted to do a deal between the two of us. Paul, the TD
jumped in to say it was a bad idea, but Spencer said he didn't object.
This being the first time in the final 3 of a tournament, I had no
idea. I took the path of least resistance which was to agree to the
deal which said that between Arthur and I, that we would bump up 3rd
place by the difference of the two places ($200 in this case). This
deal was a bad idea as it allowed Arthur and I to attack Spencer
without any fear of losing money. Fortunately Spencer won the
tournament so I wouldn't have to bear a guilty cross over a bad deal.

Many thanks to Doug and Ryan for staying up late to sweat me at the
final table and then grab a bite to eat at the nugget before heading
to bed. The late night affected all 3 of us the next day in the TOC as
none of us seemed to be able to get things going. At least I got to
spend time with some other bargers that I hadn't had a chance to get
to know yet such as Jeanie and Katie. George (a 17 barge veteran) also
sat next to me and he is great to talk to.

The next day, I get to the NL tournament to find 7 of the 9 people in
the same order at my table from the day before. The random number
generator was obviously broken but its barge and we move on. I did
manage a nice double up early when I saw a raise and all-in before I
see pocket aces. It was the only good hand that I could make work
during the tournament and my barge tournaments for 2011 came to a
close when my KQ lost to QJ as a straight fell. At least I got my
money in good.

My girlfriend Tracy flew in the night before and was playing in the SO
tournament. She had a had fought battle against Randy's wife Carol.
Tracy had the chip lead for a while but her A8 lost to A7 and then the
rest was history. Tracy ended up cashing in her first poker game she
ever played in and has a plaque to back it up.

After the reindeer games, we had a bite to eat. Even after 5 days of
gambling, I had some left in the tank. Doug, Tracy and I played some
zero where I could do no wrong. Doug struggled a bit so we went over
to the 3 card poker table so Doug could recoup some of his losses.
After about 30 minutes, a straight flush arrived and the world was
better once again.

I met some great new friends this year. It was also great to spend
time with old friends like Len, Tina, Bree, Carol and Ron. I missed
catching up with others like Josh. And of course miss those like Bob
who couldn't make it this year. Fortunately Embargo is 5 months away
and the countdown to Barge 2012 is on.

Thanks to everyone who organize, plan, support, and attend Barge. I
look forward to this week every year. Without you, this would be some
crappy set of tournaments with a bunch of donkeys that starts sometime
at the end of May and goes to the middle of July.

-dave