From: Paul McMullin
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 12:07:44 -0500
Subject: [BARGE] Pre-barge trip report 1

A few years ago, there were several trip reports about all the fun people
had extending their Barge week by coming to Vega$ the weekend before
Barge... last year, I convinced my frequent *arge roommate to come early; we
spent 5 nights in the Venetian and then transferred to the Nugget on Tuesday
for Barge week downtown.

This year, we decided to go a slightly more "low roller" option, and booked
5 nights at the Orleans instead of the Venetian... when we checked in
Thursday night, there were are signs everywhere here in the Orleans
casino/hotel telling everyone 'NO chanting in the hallways or casino' and
'NO bouncing or dribbling in the hallways or casino'... There was apparently
a cheerleading/basketball camp here this weekend - the hotel was filled with
groups of kids in matching T-shirts, often sheparded by a bedraggled
parental unit in a similar shirt... not nearly as many 20-somethings in LDBa
on 4-inch heels as were at the Venetian last year. On Saturday afternoon, I
almost got a bunch of 14 year old girls in matching cheer outfits in trouble
when I passed them going the other way in the casino and I raised my hands
and went "woo hoo" and all fourteen responded with a loud "WOOOOOO!" of
their own...

Friday morning we went to Blueberry Hill Diner: John thinks that it is an
IHOP sort of place that hires retired showgirls for waitresses, so he has a
soft spot for the place, and drags us there once or twice each trip to
Vega$,,, but he has never steeled himself to ask one of them out on a date.

We played ring games for an hour Friday morning in the Orleans poker room
while waiting for their noon HORSE tournament to start... Many of the
players are locals - the dealers know most of their names, and the staff
seem to be annoyed with us tourists when we create work for them by not
knowing "How Things Are Done Here..."  John got up after only three hands in
the Omaha game he got into because the players were bitching and whining at
each other so much, it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to enjoy
playing. As he was leaving, he told them that it was stupid of them to "burn
the turkey", and they could trade their chips back and forth without him
contributing any, but we don't think they realized what he was saying, and
they were probably happy to see him leave so they could get back to their
whining.

At 11:15, the podium announced that tournament entries were on sale for the
$75 noon HORSE event (you play 20 minutes of Holdem, 20 of Omaha, Razz,
Stud, and then seven card stud Eight - it is usually fun to play different
games like that, and often the players only play 1 or 2 of the games well,
so John and I SHOULD have a bit of an edge), so I took $80 out of my pocket
to him.

He gave me a blank look - I said tournament?, and he waved to his left and
said "over there". I walked to the next person, in the cage that cashes
chips: blank look - tournament?, another wave to the left, another "over
there" toward a guy 20 feet further down the room..., the game I was in was
about to start another hand, so I went back to the table to fold another
mighty 74, and then got back up with my $80 in hand to trek across the room
to the third guy (Hawaiian shirt behind another podium - he seemed to be the
leftmost staff member standing along the direction the first two had been
waving, so i was hopeful) blank look, tournament?, "Huh?", "the noon horse
tournament?", "What tournament?"... I turned back around and started back to
my ring game and he called to my back that he was, in fact, selling the
tournament... 20 minutes later (72, 94, J3, Q7,...) I trekked back; handed
the Hawaiian shirt the $80... He fished around for my $5 change (damn
tourists don't know to bring exact change...), and then, "name?" - prm -
"NO, I need your FULL name" - jeeze, could you guys make this any more
unpleasant? - "YOU'RE the one being rude!" - Paul McMullin - (I decided to
cooperate before he called security on me for trying to give them my
money...)

John lasted about two hours; I made it to the final table (they had 48
players at 6 tables in the event), and finished 8th (5 players won money),
so I did only "disappointedly well". After I got up, it occurred to me to
ask the Hawaiian shirt how much they took out of the $75 - $8 for the house,
and $10 for the staff - 24%! overhead...

Needless to say, we went to the Venetian for dinner and played in their
tournament in the evening... "Hi, can I help you?" - tournament? - "See Bob
behind the podium around the corner there" (five steps) "Hi, you want the
tournament?" - yes please - "that'll be $120... Table 56, seat 5, second
table down the row behind you..."

How hard is it for they staff to greet faces they don't recognize and
anticipate their questions?

The Venetian takes $10 for the house and $10 for the staff of the $120 -
-18%, a HUGE difference.

John got unlucky in the tournament before I did... If my AK could beat the
luckbox's QJ, I'd have finished much better than 34th out of 72, but at
least I enjoyed myself while I was donating to the local economy.

John went to a blackjack table and was winning back his tournament entry fee
while I finished losing in the tournament (you are allowed to have fun in
Vega$, you know).

I played 45 minutes in a 1/2 no limit game after I busted out while waiting
for John to finish cleaning out the blackjack pit, but apparently the tide
turned, and he broke even there while I  picked up $145 in the "hardest way
to make an easy living".

Still no fridge in the room at the Orleans (you're on the waiting list sir,
Thanks for staying at the Orleans!)

Played in the Saturday afternoon tournament at the Venetian; it is official
- four years ago I apparently had no clue what I was doing in NLHE
tournaments, and placed in about 1 out of six that I entered... I attended a
WPT "Tournament Boot Camp", three years ago, and since I now have some clue,
I haven't placed in about 36 NLHE events in a row... IFSATG.

Sat into a 1-2 NL ring game, and was up $150 when three young asian thugs
took over the table - limp, limp, thug number 1 raises to $16, thug 2 calls,
thug 3 calls, limpers call. Flop is three random cards; check, check, thug 1
bets $26, thugs two and three call, limpers fold... guy in wheelchair next
to me leans over and whispers (it doesn't seem right to have ti be
3-against-2, and goes off to get a seat change...). Thug 1 bets $40 on the
turn, thugs 2 and three fold and chant "show bluff, show bluff" and thug 1
turns over Q3o. I wonder if I should suggest to the floor to monitor their
activity; I don't think their antics would be tolerated very long on the
dangerous internet poker sites, but in the "safe" casinos, I don't know if a
complaint would get any response. Needless to say, my flopped trip Aces were
crushed by thug 2's flush draw that connected on the turn after all the
money went in ("Trip Aces no good - you go home now"), and I got up poorer
and probably not any wiser.

The fridge DID appear in our room on Saturday while we were out - we loaded
it with some sodas and adjusted the thermostat to "medium", but a can had
already frozen and burst on Sunday morning (Thanks for staying at the
Orleans!)

Randy Collack reserved a table for 22 at Al's Oyster Bar in the Orleans for
9:00PM; 16 showed up and had a nice time. Russ Fox entertained with stories
about his tax practice (I am required by law to put down the numbers my
clients give me - I advise them to give me the "true numbers", but one of
them didn't, and he got caught - *I* am NOT going to jail for my clients!).
Connie Keller and Mike Mauer get younger looking every year, Patti is
awesome as always, Randy's wife Carol, Rick and Holly Mombarquete(?), Dan
Goldman, Marry Massey, Pete Stephenson, Tim Stine. Rich "Omaholic" Bremer
showed up just as the bill was being delivered. Several of us (including
Rich, surprisingly enough)  declined to join the 6-way CCR, which Dan "I'm
running bad at CCR" Goldman lost.

Sunday we trekked to the other Blueberry Hill on Flamingo - the waitresses
there looked a little like less like retired showgirls, but we were sitting
at the counter and two of them were singing "Shake Your Groove Thang" and
wiggling while they added toast to the orders they were serving - we asked
about the showgirl angle and the two dancers confirmed that they had been
headliners at Cheetah's, but they were giggling and whispering to the other
staff members for the next five minutes - it is kinda fun to make someone's
day like that.

Sunday eve JP had reserved a table at Ping Pang Pao in the Gold Coast; Russ
Fox, Tim Stine, JP, Randy Collack, Patti, Dan and Bree Goldman, John and
I... JP asked "Does anyone not want Hot and Sour Soup?", I asked "Does
anyone not want Potstickers?" - both questions being somewhat unnecessary
for this group. Nine additional entrees were ordered (no duplicates - what
are the odds?). In the discussions that followed over the good food, Randy
relayed that there was a debt deal being put together that some congressman
called a "sugar coated satan sandwich"; Bree suggested that they should have
been more alliterative with "sugar sprinkled satan sandwich", after which
someone completed the redundant 'dumb question' trifecta by asking if we had
all seen "Satan sequence" in the SouthPark movie... this time I decided to
"Man Up!" and joined the 6-way CCR pool; it got down to me and Dan... Patti
shuffled the two cards and held one in each hand -  Dan picked "left hand",
and I "looked into Patti's soul" and kept Dan "I'm running bad at CCR"
Goldman's streak going by picking "PAYS"! Score!

I ALMOST busted out of the Sunday evening HORSE tournament in time to
re-enter (still $75, still $18 to the house + staff) and rebuy-into the last
longer pool to "protect my ante", but I actually lasted two orbits of holdem
after the break that ended the "late entry" period. At 1:00 am Dan and Bree
were sitting behind massive stacks at the final table with 4 tired looking
locals when I left the poker room...

Why aren't you here already?

-prm