Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:49:46 -0700
From: Bree Goldman
Subject: [BARGE] Trip Report

This was my first BARGE as an organizer, and I have to give a huge thanks
to Nick and Mickdog for making this so easy for me, and to Peter and Chuck
for paving the way. I think for the first time in my life I truly
understand the meaning of standing on the shoulders of giants! It has been
a truly enjoyable experience, and it makes me beyond happy to hear that so
many of you enjoyed it as well. Don't hesitate to reach out to me with
questions/comments/concerns so we can make improvements for the next time
around. We will be sending out a survey to collect your feedback as well.

My BARGE got off to an early start, since I took the whole week off, but I
didn't do much poker-related stuff over the weekend before things kicked
off. Note to self - take that time off *after *BARGE next year! Saturday
night I went to a fantastic Barenaked Ladies/Blues Traveler concert with
Carol and Jared, then Sunday night I met up with a bunch of BARGErs to play
the weekly HORSE tournament at the Orleans. I managed to somewhat uphold
the Goldman family tradition by final tabling/cashing, but ultimately went
out in 8th.

Monday night I wandered downtown for dinner with the BOD and organizers,
then headed to Binion's with the intention of getting a mix game started.
When I got there I found a table full of BARGErs playing 4-8 LHE with two
tourists. We got another table going, where we agreed to play Paradise
Pickem, a modified version of HORSE where everyone gets 3 cards, then the
UTG player decides which HORSE game you will play for that hand. Cards are
discarded, added or flipped over as appropriate, then the hand proceeds as
normal. We took hold 'em out of the mix after the first orbit to encourage
people to choose the stud games (no one picked them at all in the first
round). I remember that JP and Patti were in that game, as well as a local
who knew about BARGE and was there for our mix games, but for some reason
hadn't signed up. Hopefully he will next time!

Tuesday I packed up and checked into the Four Queens for the week, then
went to Goldie's non-smoker dinner at Vic and Anthony's. That room is a
little crowded with 22+ people, but it's totally worth it! Delicious meal
with a fun group. I sat between Chuck W. and Ice, and as a result had the
opportunity to learn a little about the wine we had with dinner. After we
ate, we headed over to Binion's for the lowball tournament. On the way over
there I got a text from my friend Randal asking if anything was going on
that night. When I told him about the lowball tourney he asked if he could
still get into it - I thought he would be able to, but it turned out to be
no problem at all because he had forgotten that he was already registered
for it. He managed to get over to Binion's in time to take his seat during
the first level. Although this is officially his 3rd BARGE, it's the first
time he's been able to stay for the whole event instead of just playing 1-2
tournaments and some cash games. I'm pretty sure he's sold for life! I
never made much headway in the lowball tourney, and eventually surrendered
my bacon-flavored hand sanitizer bustout gift and headed to the cash room
for more mix game action.

I declared myself an honorary member of Team Sleeping In on Wednesday,
since I wasn't registered for the BJ tournament, and eventually wandered
over to the poker room around 1pm to meet up with my dad for lunch. We went
to the new sushi place at the Plaza, which was good but not great. I would
recommend it if you're downtown and looking for some Hawaiian style raw
fish, but it's not worth a special trip. The one thing that stood out was
the dessert, a Hawaiian (? Wikipedia says it's actually Portuguese) donut
called a Malassada. Basically just fried dough with sugar and cinnamon.
Very tasty! After lunch my dad headed back to Binion's for the VP tourney,
and I went back to my room to deal with a minor work emergency. Back to
Binion's for the Binglaha tournament - big improvement! My dad and I both
final tabled this one, and I eventually went out in 3rd place. Keith Troell
got my plush talking Yoda bustout gift. Go Team Goldman! More mix games to
finish off the night.

Thursday morning brought a team breakfast at the Nugget coffee house,
followed by the new and improved CHORSE. I really enjoyed the new
structure, and I think holding the event and associated cash games in the
enclosed space formerly known as the bingo hall was a brilliant decision.
It really made it feel like a BARGE party where poker was going on.
Contrast this with the setup at the Venetian EMBARGO, where our tournaments
were out on the casino floor and (at least on the first night) our cash
games were mixed into the regular poker room. Even once we got them to move
the cash games out near the tournament area, it still didn't feel intimate
the way the Binion's bingo room does. Back to CHORSE - big props to Un for
a terrific revamp of the structure! The NLHE final table was really fun,
with a crowd surrounding the table and being consulted on most hands. I
skipped the 6-game tournament Thursday night in favor of the smoker at my
dad's house, which was awesome as always (mmmmmm bourbon slushees!). I got
back to Binion's around 1am, stopped by the cash room but was too tired to
play, so I called it a night.

Friday morning I got up for the TOC, where I once again managed never to
make much headway. I turned over my zombie bath salts and zombie soap
(convenient that I had a 2-part gift, since my bustout hand was a split
pot), and headed out to Fremont Street to be a tourist with Randal. I made
it back for the tail end of the symposium and the BOD meeting, plus I
needed to meet up with the karaoke DJ to make sure he had everything he
needed to get set up for the night. Since Randal is originally from Boston,
we met up with David Kluchman's Boston group for dinner at the Triple
George Cafe at 7pm. I had a tasty steak, then booked it back to karaoke.
BARGE karaoke is always fun, but this was one of the more entertaining ones
in recent memory. Not that I can remember much of what happened. but I
remember that it was a lot of fun!

My lack of memory about karaoke led to my unfortunate hangover on Saturday
morning. Although I made it to the main event, I was so sick that I
basically missed 8/10 hands in almost every orbit. Eventually I was able to
keep down some toast and ginger ale, and I had started to feel better by
the time I busted out around 2pm. I surrendered my LOLcats refrigerator
magnets bustout gift and headed back to my room for a nap and shower. By
the time I headed to the banquet I was back to 100%. The banquet went well,
and I thought Karina was an entertaining and informative speaker. Reindeer
games in the bingo hall again, and once again I really loved the intimate
setting, which made it feel like a party with poker instead of a bunch of
BARGErs crammed into some poker tables. I played 3-6 Dealer's Choice, and
my game wound up including 3-4 current and former Binion's employees as
well. I especially enjoyed learning a new game (Wilmington Willie, I think?
Bruce K, is that what it was called?). Overall a really fun night.

Sunday I checked out of my hotel and headed over to my dad's house for the
annual Hangover party. I'm so glad we do this now! In the past, the Sunday
after BARGE has been really hard for me. I'm bummed that BARGE is over, but
I still have the day off and nothing to do but sit around and mope about
BARGE being over. Now I get to hang out with my BARGE friends one last time
before many of them head home. We played Cards Against Humanity, Chinese
poker, and eventually a modified version of Paradise Pickem broke out (the
game options were HORSE plus Chowaha, Oklahoma, Razzdugi and Mississippi
Stud 'Em). We ate all the leftovers from the smoker, plus about 10 pizzas.
People went swimming, or just sat out and enjoyed the surprisingly mild
Vegas summer afternoon. The dogs were ecstatic to have so many people
paying attention to them. If you haven't already added the Hangover party
to your BARGE plans, I highly recommend it for next year! All BARGErs are
welcome.

All of that is pretty much just a long-winded way of saying, "Best BARGE
evah!" Can't wait for next year. In the meantime, hope to see you at
EMBARGO in January!

...Bree