Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 23:56:00 -0600 From: Joe Long Subject: [BARGE] Pre-BARGE mini trip report OK, since this is a road trip this year I decide to make a mini trip report of our adventures on the way to BARGE. First, we drove from Castle Rock to Las Vegas Sunday, staying the night at Main Street Station. We joined the gang for the $100 HORSE tournament at the Orleans. I was asked if I wanted in the Last Longer, but I don't usually do that so I declined (a mistake as it turned out). In the tournament I played, uh, well ... erratically. I'd been up since 3am and we'd driven 13 hours, and I was a bit spacey. I played some hands downright lousy, but it seemed that every time I did that I got lucky afterwords and got my chips back. So when the gang came and payed off Dan Goldman for the Last Longer, I was still in. Then I soon had more chips than Dan, courtesy of one of those hands that I played poorly but got lucky and sucked out on him. The upshot was that Dan and I both made the final table, and were both in the deal that was made there. So I began the week with a $510 net profit in the tournament. Dan asked if I was OK to drive back to the hotel, since I'd now been up almost 24 hours and was clearly spacey. I said "Sure, no problem." Well, problem. I nearly had a fender-bender, then I nearly missed my exit and actually stopped in the non-lane area where the exit split off to re-read the signs. But I did make it back OK. The next morning it was off to the Barona Casino near San Diego to use our free room. I'd been told that the drive to the casino sucked, but we found the drive out from the beaches to be short and pleasant. It was the drive from Las Vegas to where we exited I-15 that sucked, big time. When we came over the hill and saw the hotel we thought Wow! Foxwoods West! Well,not that big but pretty impressive. The hotel room was large and nice, and the casino likewise (except for allowing smoking in parts of it). We found the poker room and entered the Monday tournament, but it didn't go (not enough players). I played some 1-2 NL, 3-6 with kiill, and 4-8 with kill, and ended up with a profit. Today it was off to the beaches. Kat enjoyed soaking up the sun while I took a long walk; we both had our own good time. Back to Barona for the Tuesday tournament, which made. However, it was a very fast tournament (less than two hours) so we had do play fast and take bigger risks, and for both of us that resulted in an early out. Oh, well, it was only $40 each. Then some 1-2 NL live, and we used up the last of our meal certs at the table. I finished up a short while ago with a small net profit in poker for the two days. Tomorrow we come back to Las Vegas for the rest of BARGE. We really enjoyed this side trip, and had a great time at the casino and the beach. Since we have our car you might think that we could give someone a ride from the airport, but nope. We're driving the Miata which has only two seats, and its limited trunk space is stuffed full with our stuff. See y'all soon! -- Joe Long aka ChipRider jlong@chiprider.com A++ G+ PKR+ PEG+ B+ M+ Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 20:44:12 -0600 From: Joe Long Subject: [BARGE] BARGE 2013 trip report I've finally gotten to this. I'll pick up with our return from San Diego to Las Vegas on Wednesday. We checked in at the Nugget, where we always stay when Kat is along. I hoped to make some use of their pool, but with so much going on I didn't get a chance until Saturday afternoon and then it was so crowded, and the water so cloudy, that I passed. Went to the six-game tournament and had a pretty good run, but missed cashing by four places. Thursday I played the razz rounds in CHORSE, plus a few hands covering for other of our players when they needed a short break. Had a really lucky first round, so-so later rounds and lousy last round (I would have preferred that order to be reversed). The Repeat Offenders didn't go bust but we did finish behind. In the PLO tournament I played terribly. I used two of my three lammers up front, and early on got in a hand where I turned a straight. The flop had been a rainbow so I'd stopped thinking about a flush, and foolishly watched only for the river to pair the board or make higher straights. When it did neither, I potted it and was surprised when Dean Kerl re-potted (for all my stack). Then I made a mistake that's been plaguing me recently: I didn't review the hand before acting, re-playing the action or re-checking anything. So I call, and get shown the flush. This is not a bad-beat story, it's a me-stupid story. I should have seen the flush and gotten away from the hand. Anyway, I used my one remaining lammer but was card-dead and out soon after. Friday was the fun run, only a few participants but a good time as usual. We went about four miles, at an easy pace. I honestly don't remember much about the TOC, it was pretty uneventful for me. Of course I enjoyed playing our mixed and DC games Thursday and Friday night. During this time Kat was visiting family, she has a nephew living in Henderson and they had some of her brothers and sisters visiting there at the same time. Friday night was also Karaoke, and it was a blast as usual. Everyone really gets into it, and multiple singers often join in. Well worth the contributions to keep it going. Saturday the main event. I was reminding myself during the event to take my time with big decisions, to re-play the action before deciding. Even so, I should have been out fairly early when my pocket tens ran into pocket Aces -- until I rivered a ten. After that things went pretty well for a time, but my stack began dwindling especially when I tried to take out a smaller stack and failed. Then "the hand" where I made the same mistake again anyway: pocket tens again. When the button raised I shoved, thinking he'd fold if he was just trying to steal and I'd probably be a coinflip otherwise. Oops ... pocket Aces (again). This time no miracle ten and I was out, about 38th I think. The usual fun at reindeer games. At one of the DC games during the week a game was called that I'd never seen before: three-card triple-draw lowball. A23 is the nuts. The first hand I stayed with a 75 just to see if that had any chance, and discovered right away that it did not. The worst hand shown down the entire round was a 6, once, all the others were 5 or better. Anyway, I went on a heater. Once I was dealt A23, and got action to showdown. A couple of hands later I was dealt A93, and my first draw was a 2, giving me the wheel again. A profitable round. Anyway, at Reindeer Games I played DC until the table broke at 3:30 am. Overall I made a small profit in tournaments for the week, and a bit larger profit in cash games, which is always nice. Sunday I drove Kat to her nephew's house then went to Dan's open house. I had my first chance to play "Cards Against Humanity," which is hilarious. Then back to get Kat and head for home. With the late night we didn't try to drive straight through, we stopped for the night in Utah. A great and memorable trip, again. Thank you organizers and everyone else who helped to make BARGE the fantastic success that it is. -- -- Joe Long aka ChipRider jlong@chiprider.com A++ G+ PKR+ PEG+ B+ M+