Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2013 21:22:50 +0000 (UTC) From: ADB Howler Subject: [BARGE] ADB Howler's Barge 2013 Trip Report We have put yet another BARGE a stern. There are many memories I will try = to convey in the text below but please forgive me if the names and quotes a= re not exact.=20 Sue and I arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon. A seven hour drive fr= om Grand Junction Colorado and we were tired and hot as we drove up to the = Main Street valet. As always, the car attendant greeted us warmly and gave= me the valet ticket. I schlep our luggage to through the casino to the re= servation desk. We get checked in and start to go to our room when I reali= ze that I forgot our COMP offer for 3 free room nights and $40 in food comp= s. We get situated in the room , shower, and get ready to head over to Bin= ions to see what was going on. We get over to Binions and I re-remember in= need to get the COMP offer out of our glove box. We see most of the usual = suspects and some new folks. We say hey to everyone and I decide to sit in= a 4-8 Holdem which Ron =E2=80=9CLike My Dress=E2=80=9D Grossberg warns me = it is playing like 10-4-8 game. Well, needless to say, I lose most of my = stack and Sue and I decide to head back to Main Street for some VP and dinn= er. We play a little and have a good dinner at the Brew Pub. Sue had the = taco salad and I had the Fish and Chips. You do get your monies worth at t= hat place. We make it and early night and head to the room about 8:30pm. Wednesday is the 6 game tournament and I will say I have never played Razzd= ugi before. I do a quick Google search on best starting hands, betting etc= while I am in the Binions bathroom and decide I can play this game. I end= up seated at a good table and we get the cards in the air. All of the sud= den I realize I HAVE NO FOOTBALL!!! Holy shit, I can=E2=80=99t play this w= ithout my football it would be bad luck and bad form. I wait for an opport= une moment and I dash to the Fremont Street bar just inside Binions to get = my lucky charm. This year they had a nice wheat beer so I gave it a shot. = Wasn=E2=80=99t too bad at all even through a straw. I rush back to the ta= ble, very much at peace with life and proceed to go deep into the tournamen= t. I think I busted somewhere in the mid 20=E2=80=99s which, in my mind, w= asn=E2=80=99t a bad showing considering the best rounds I had were in Razzd= ugi. More VP losses ensue and Sue and I get back to Main Street and head t= o bed. Special Kudos to Dave Lawful for winning this tournament, more on t= his luckbox later. Thursday is CHORSE and POT LIMIT OMAHA. I am on Heller=E2=80=99s team (MPN= ) playing CP. I play pretty loose and win a few pots coming from behind an= d one scooper that was very helpful. The rest of the team is playing well = but we just aren=E2=80=99t generating the kinds of runs you need to win thi= s tournament. Few rounds later, Heller busted our stack at the CP/RAZZ tab= le. I think I am done so I kind of start muddling around the casino. I co= me back a little later and we are on life support. Dave Low asks if I want= to play his Omaha 8 rounds for him so he can go eat. After making sure th= at was kosher with all involved, I sit down and begin a run that was un-How= ler-like. I am hitting almost every hand I play and making good decisions = to get out from under bad situations ( I know not like me). To my chagrin,= I did not realize that once they re-balanced the stacks, we had chips at t= he CP/RAZZ table again. As I was not there, Heller had to play my CP round= s and, paraphrasing his words, =E2=80=9Chaving never played the game before= , managed to take down a few pots not knowing what he was doing=E2=80=9D. = I had the best hand of the trip against my good friend and same year fellow= ADB inductee, Ken Kubey. To make a long story short, we both flop the nut= straight with flushing possibilities in the same suit. Bang the turn, spa= de, Bang the river, Spade. Ken turns over the nut flush, I turn over the s= traight flush, busting Ken=E2=80=99s stack. The entire team showed a 50 ce= nt each profit from these last rounds to beat team Sleeping In. =20 I have never played Pot Limit Omaha before this tournament. I have played = it limit but not PL. Needless to say, I was a little nervous but again, I= went deep and thought I played ok. I will need to study this year to get = ready if this tournament presents itself again. Got to meet the Barge Virgin Queen at the BWC event at Bennys Bull Pen. Ch= ris is a great guy and fits right in. Got to spend time with the committee= , drink and have a cigar (Thanks Peter!) Thanks to the BCW and I think we = are on the right track. More events for the virgins next year I hope. Friday was the TOC. I really want to win this tournament. I have made the= final table several times but never arrived with enough chips to compete. = Again, went deep busted 10 spots out of the money and I made one mistake t= hat I could not recover from. I love Stud...I love Stud...I love Stud. Karaoke was AWESOME. I feel extremely privileged to have been mentioned in= UN=E2=80=99s Barge song both last year and this year. I appreciate what = goes into transforming a known song into something new and fresh and Kevin = has a special talent. The way he can eviscerate us with his keen wit and i= ntellect and have us clamoring for more. He truly is the Taylor Swift of B= arge.:-) Many thanks to Sharon, Bree and Un for making this happen again. = We love you guys. Many drinks later I was forced to leave as I have no ha= ir for anyone to hold while I puke. =20 Saturday was the No Limit Main Event. I had a very good table with Bob Lau= ria to my left as well as Bingo. I played well and built up a good stack = but then I donked most of it off in an ill conceived all in against to shor= t players. Should have let them duke it out but I just had to stick my nos= e in the middle. I ended up making a small come back until the blinds ate = me up. Again, went deep, no cash but I think I played well for the most pa= rt. Congrats to Dave =E2=80=9CLuckbox=E2=80=9D Lawful for winning his seco= nd tournament this Barge. Also, special thanks to Bob Lauria for the great= conversation and the special book. =20 Some quotes from this year: =E2=80=9CI had him, but I didn=E2=80=99t know I had him, but he did=E2=80= =9D =E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99ve seen less hair on a woolly mammoth!=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CDo you get a free bowl of soup with that hat?=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CHow long are you going to let me punish you before you fold?=E2=80= =9D =E2=80=9CKen, smile and say straight flush!=E2=80=9D All in all another great Barge week. Thanks again to the organizers, the B= OD and most of all to the wonderful Binions staff. We love you all, have a= great year and see you at Barge 2014. We are bringing both our daughters = next year so it should be a hoot! Mike =E2=80=9CADB Howler=E2=80=9D McBride