Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2013 23:02:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird Trip Report part I

Hello Bargers! My trip report is going to be really long, so I am going to break it up and send it in installments. I hope you enjoy. It was wonderful to see many of you again, and great to meet so many more new friends. 

We arrived Monday July 29th. Dean had always wanted to come up at the start of Barge. We had intended to drive up right after we dropped Josef, the middle genius, off at choir camp. (Barge class of 2025) We left much later so we could spend some time with Dean's mom. She got good news at her appointment, so that perked our spirits and we headed out around 3pm. We were both exhausted so we stopped for an extended time in Wickenburg. I started driving from there, and it was so nice driving my little BMW Z4 through the mountains. I asked Dean how fast he had gotten the car, and he said about 105. I saw a spot where I could accelerate and quickly got it up to 110. Man that car flies! Those curves, so smooth. Later when we switched, Dean got it up to about 117. It starts getting a little loose then so he backed off. We cut off all the time we spent in Wickenburg and pulled into Vegas at 7:30. 

Got to the Nugget and see a huge line at check-in. I was tired and wanted to change clothes and eat, before seeing anyone. Find out the key system is down. Wait in line for an hour. Finally we get checked in, and of course, none of the things we requested on our reservation are available. We ended up with 2 doubles, mid floor, at the end of the far hallway about as far from the elevator as you can get. We had a separate reservation on Wednesday so we figured we would change rooms then if we really wanted to. I changed my clothes and threw on some makeup. Doug Grismore was trying to get me to come over and play lowball via twitter but I assured him without makeup I would be dead money. 

We headed over to the Binions cafe to eat, turns out I have comps! Sweet. I order the pulled pork sandwich and inhale most of it. Dean gets the club and eats half. He had eaten in Wickenburg and I hadn't. We head to the poker room. Get our name badges. I laugh seeing Legitimate Bastard for my nickname. Everyone still calls me Redbird :) We look over the room and see some Bargers playing. There aren't any seats so we just wander in and get greeted by Bob O and Ron G. Ron and I are sitting chatting when Patti and Steve come in and talk Nolan H into playing Open Face Chinese. Apparently they think I am going to be the 4th. Thankfully Goldie walks in and we chat for a bit and he says he will play. They head to a table and we follow so we can watch. I watch for about 15 minutes and then Bob asks us if we want to play in a HOE game; Hold em, Omaha High, Omaha Eight. There is some confusion about the E, but we get it straightened out. I am bouncing between the
 two games, playing and watching. Someone asks Nolan H what Open Face Chinese is. He puts his face between his hands spread out like a picture frame and smiles broadly. He says "Open Face Chinese?" and cracks up. I laugh and then take a photo. After about 30 minutes he gets up and tells me to play his chips. I can't seem to get anything going in the HOE game and Brenda is just cleaning up on the table, so I have no shot, so I say sure, even though I have never played it live. I win some points on the first hand, lose a few on the second and win again on the third. Nolan is happy and says he trusts me to play his chips anytime. I head back over to the HOE game and start talking to this couple from WI who are down for the furniture show. She's bored and irritated that the guy she is with just wants to play poker. He's a total fish, and Dean is just egging him on, keeping him laughing and drinking and buying in. She wants to learn how to play craps so I
 tell her I will take her to learn. It spreads around that I'm going to go play craps and Peter comes over and says, Redbird I heard you are going to play craps! Let's go. (I never play craps. I lost 300 in about 20 minutes on a cold table at Binions 4 years ago and that was it) But Peter says, we are sacrificing a Virgin... so I'm in. 

We head over and Ellen, the craps and Vegas virgin, has to use the restroom and we see Dan G leaving the lowball where he had just cashed. He and I chat and then he says he wants to come sacrifice the virgin. We see the Virgin Queen and he mistakenly thinks Ellen is a Barge Virgin. Since he is several levels of inebriated and so is Ellen, this hilarity goes on for awhile. I feel like I am having to do drunk speak interpretation. It was like prank calling a Chinese Restaurant on one phone and then calling another Chinese place on another phone and having them talk to each other about the order! 

We get to the table and I explain what to do, if you aren't betting the dark side (Peter, Jeff, Regis ahem....) I buy in for 60, since I'm leery of the table. Should have known with virgin luck. I hit a few points and she hits like 6. I walk from the table with 200. Amazing. I'm now up for the night. I pull Dean off the table and we go up to bed and I fall asleep around 3am. 

Day 2 to follow tomorrow! 
Redbird

Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2013 17:37:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird's trip report Day 2.

Captain's log star date.... oh wait, never mind. Tuesday July 30th,

I woke up on the early side for me, which was odd given the 3am bedtime the night before. Dean was hungry and went to go get breakfast for us while I relaxed and woke up. He had been trying to get my hotspot working and was able to get it finally. Since we didn't have anything scheduled for the day, I figured it would be a good day to get the majority of my school work done. I did 3 out of the 4 assignments that I had, and then we decided to venture out for the day. 

I had been reading my twitter feed and saw that Tina G, Ron G, Randy C and Chris M were going to go to Boulder Station or were there already. I love Boulder Station's crazy Omaha game. (side story, when my daughter's dad lived in Vegas we used to exchange at different places when we were in town and one of the places we met up was Boulder Station and he was being a total jerk so I didn't want to see him and went in to play the game while he gave Selah to Dean. He asked Dean if I was in playing the game when I wasn't there to meet him!) 

As we head out, I am trying to find a place to get my hair done. The humidity in Vegas was making my curly hair look like Diana Ross invaded my hair DNA. The Nugget spa said that they started at 45 for a wash and blowout and it went up depending on hair length and thickness. So, my hair would be at least 100 bucks. My best friend in Vegas suggested a Supercuts. I grabbed the car and we headed down the strip to Sahara. At the corner I see a sign that says "massage, hair and nails" I say to Dean, what do you think? He says,"probably an asian place, bet it would make a great story for the trip report. Much better than Supercuts." I think and then flip a U-turn and pull into the parking lot. They have a sign that says flat iron 25.00. I'm sold. We walk in and surprise! It's a shop with 3 sistas running it. Totally not what I thought. There was one other customer getting her hair done, a white lady getting extensions. The lady asks me if I need something so I
 ask for a flat iron. One of the girls says no problem. She sits me down and is instantly in love with me hair. I know I'm in good hands. We are there over 2 hours. She washes it, gives it a deep conditioning treatment, massages my head for like 10 minutes. Then she blows it out and starts flat ironing it. She takes the tiniest sections. I know I'm going to be there awhile so I settle in. I'm chatting with all of the them like I'm a regular. Finally she's done and my hair looks fabulous. I ask her how much. She goes outside and says, 25 for the flat iron and I did the wash and the bang trim.... um 30 bucks? I was stunned. So I give her 50 and thank her for her time. We head back to the Nugget and get ready to go eat. 

Dean really wants to play the Chinese Poker tournament, so we tweet Mickdog who thinks we can probably get in. We have dinner over at Grotto for Happy Hour. Mickdog tweets that he is looking for dinner partners so we invite him to join us. He heads over and we have a great relaxed conversation. It was great to get to know more about him and his life. The pizza at the grotto doesn't suck and the price is good. We have a couple, plus the guys have some bellinis. Dean wanted the Mango and the peach to try and the waitress brings him two that taste exactly the same. He drinks half of the "mango" and then tells the waitress that they are the same. Hahaha! She brings him a new one. 

We head over to the tournament area and see if we can get in. We can, but we are at the same table. Mickdog flips Dean and David Low so that we aren't together. Our starting table is Rick Becker, Deron Brod, Me and then David Low. We are not sharing the table with another 4some so we have the dealer all to ourselves. We are just flying through the hands. I'm hanging in there and getting the hang of it. I play on my phone but had never played live before. I am getting decent cards, but David Low is on fire. Finally I look down and see a straight flush. I have 5-10 of hearts in my hand. I set the hand so I can use the 10h in a straight in the middle, the 9 high straight flush in the bottom. We turn over our hands and Rick Becker also has a straight flush, to the 8 in clubs. He was so bummed to have to pay me. We laugh about it and David asks Paul if we have a bad beat for Chinese Poker. Paul announces that we have straight flush beating straight flush. The
 next hand I look down, mind you a different deck, and I have a 9 high straight flush in hearts AGAIN. I play it, and I look over at David Low and he also has a 9 high straight flush, in spades! He's shocked and I'm shocked. We tell Paul again, and he announces something about back to back straight flushes. We get broken up and I go to a table with Caryl A and Ryan T and not sure who is to my right.... (I know we chatted but the memory is drawing a blank so my apologies!) This table has another grouping and I notice the pace is slower. I'm happy about that, but Caryl is just owning the table. Ryan goes out and Tina G comes in. She busts as well and then the other side gets broken so we are back to one dealer for all our hands. Pace speeds way up. We get broken and I get my seat. Sigh..... 

I move to a table with Kenny S, David L and Andy B. REALLY????????? We play a few hands and I am trying to just not look like a total ass. Kenny remarks about how quickly I can scan and set my hands. I mention that I play bridge so I am used to looking at 13 cards. Kenny says that it would be fun to play bridge when Bill gets to town. I'm not good enough to play bridge with them I say. Russ F is to my left in the other grouping and he laughs as he overhears our conversation. I see a hand that I am not quite sure what to do with. I can make aces full in the bottom but then the rest is shit. I reset the hand putting broadway in the bottom, another straight in the middle and a pair of aces up top. I ask Andy if he can look at the hand and tell me if I played it right. We all turn over and I ended up scooping the table. Andy looks at me and says "Pretty sure you played it right." I apologized and said that I really wasn't sure and I think he can tell I was
 sincere. David goes out shortly after that and Paul McM. gets moved into his spot. We were getting down to the end, about 16 players left. I was getting short, and I'm in on a hand and I have a straight flush again in the bottom but I'm worried about the other two spots. I'm short so surrendering doesn't make sense and Andy B takes me out of the tournament. He doesn't quite know what to do with the boob bust out gift. 

After taking my walk of shame to the poker room, I get into a 3-6 dealers choice game with Dean and Chris J, Rod, Nolan H, Scott S and Rich and a couple other players I don't know/can't remember. Nolan, Scott and Rich are all at the other end of the table and are playing raise poker. I finally get a hand that I can raise with and they all fold. I'm like, really? You action junkies and you fold to my raise? I get into a huge pot with razzdugi and my hand holds up. I get 3/4 because Jepsen catches on the last card to tie my 6 low. Dean then calls Scrotum N-2 and he wins a big pot. Dan G takes my spot in the game. I'm watching the other end of the table drinking coffee and alcoholic drinks at the same time. I'm tired and fried so I pull Dean off the table and we head to bed. It's about 3am again. 

I saw a lot of the people arriving today and I got lots of hugs and kisses from people as I saw them. I'm happy that I played Chinese and did as well as I did. Would have been nice to cash, but I'm happy with the way that I played. I also got lots of compliments on my hair which made me happy. 

More to come! Stay tuned!
Redbird

Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 14:49:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird Trip Report day 3

Wednesday! Hump Day! 

I wake up around 11:30. In typical schedule fashion now, my fibro has completely kicked in from sitting at tables for hours and hours and I am in pain. I can hardly get out of bed, so I take my time and stretch, do some yoga, and try to wake up my body. I flat out refuse to let my Fibro wreck Barge. I had a text from my best friend in Vegas wanting to get together for lunch before she left to go out of town. She works at the DA's office for Clark County and suggested Boston Pizza. It's on the strip, in that gray area of not downtown but still north of the Stratosphere. It's daylight so I am not too worried about going there, although I was not thrilled about parking my BMW in the parking lot. Dean and I meet her for lunch and then we head back to the Nugget. Every trip we talk about going to the Gambler's General Store, and the Gambler's Supplies Store but we don't get there. Even though Dean had wanted to nap we decide to take the field trip. 

We wander around each store and find a few things. Dean gets his bustout gifts and a couple of t-shirts for a dollar. I posted to my Facebook looking for things that I should try to get photos of for a Vegas Photo Scavenger Hunt. After those trips are done, Dean wants to walk around Fremont to find birthday cards for his Mom and my Dad. He finds a postcard that he thinks will work and he wants to ask people to sign it. I also find a neat little gift for my Dad. (for those of you who don't know the story, I connected with my biological dad, just about 6 weeks ago, for the first time in my life. We have yet to meet in person, but there are some cool developments around that too that I will share if they happen!)  I was excited to buy him the first birthday present and think it's appropriate that it says Las Vegas on it. I take a few photos for the scavenger hunt. By this time, dinner plans are being made and we arrange to meet up with David O'Grady and
 Anne, Chris Jepsen and Rod. 

We decide on the Grotto again since we are all at the Nugget and the bar is packed. No tables. We sit at the counter and we have this bartender who was totally picking on Rod and Chris. Especially Chris. He was pretty funny. Of course, we give it right back. Food is taking forever. But that's ok. We finish up in time to head over to play the 6 game. 

I get to my table. I've got Doug G, David Lawful, David Low (again!) Ron Nutt, Bob L, Andrew P. David Lawful shows me which card protector he chose to bring since I had suggested he bring them all. I laughed and said good choice. The boys are all laughing about my squishy boob bust out gift. Jessica is our first dealer and she actually leans over and asks me if she can touch my boob. I'm in the 1 seat so it's right there. I say sure and then tip her for asking politely. I start off with a great hand that gets crushed when David Lawful hits a full house in S/E. I'm not liking all the ante games and the starting stack. Bob and Andrew are playing like Bob and Andrew so I just chill. Doug and I are having some conversations and then Doug gets a phone call. He sees it's from his wife and answers. We hear silence and then he says "Wait a second, what do you mean a car hit the house?" And then drove away?" Silence, and we are all stunned. Then he asks a few
 more questions and finally stops himself, and says, "Wait, fuck all of that, are you OK?" Good man! They chat more and then he hangs up and we get to hear all about it and talk about what he is going to do about it. Apparently the car hit the house and managed to drive off, missing trees etc. He shows me a photo on google earth and I am shocked. How do you hit and run with a house???? 

Bob and Andrew bust out and then Len G and Rick B come over, as well as Warren S. Len and I have a loud discussion about my boob. It's a popular topic. I'm all in and Rick B is in the pot and I think he was looking for revenge from the straight flush vs straight flush from the night before. I was going to scoop but he catches his flush card on 7th and takes half the pot. I stick around a bit longer but eventually bust to Ron Nutt. He gets the boob. 

Dean is still in and playing well. I take the postcard and get some more signatures for his mom's birthday. I talk to a ton of people while I'm sweating him. Peter S, Tina, Nolan D, QB, O'Grady, Deron and Tracy B. Tracy and I connected at my first Barge in 2011 and I really missed her in 2012 so it's nice to chat. Around 1am Dave and Chris K arrive from their flight and I wish Chris a happy birthday since it's after 12. She laughs and says she gets to celebrate the turn of the day twice with the time difference. Dean is all in and can't seem to catch on a razz pot. He just has to beat a 9 and is drawing to a 6 on 4th when the money goes in. He busts- bubble. He's really irritated. I distract him with food and he and I, Chris and Dave and Kenny S go and have a late night snack at the cafe. More comps! We head back to the room around 1:30 and another day is in the books.

Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 15:45:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird Report Day 4

Thirsty Thursday! 

The day I have been looking forward to was finally here! CHORSE and PLO. I woke up around 8:30 and found out from Dean that Dave and Chris had gotten both of our rooms moved so that we were able to be closer to the elevator and Dean and I could finally have a king bed instead of two doubles. Dean headed over to breakfast with his team and Chris, Dave and I got all the luggage and stored it at the bell desk. Checked on the rooms, they were ready, so got everything all set before CHORSE began! 

I had my laptop in tow because I was going to work on my homework in my off rounds. I was playing the Razz leg for my team and sharing the stack with Chris Jepsen. Chris looked really rough and I wasn't sure how he was going to play. I had Un to my left, playing for the Virgins, and one of the guys on the McLibtards, Joe Long and Dan G. I won some good hands and even bluffed a hand with three pair. I was pretty excited about that. Once I played my round, I switched with Chris J and then worked on my paper. People were checking up on what I was doing and I had some great conversations about my current class, my paper, and my future goals. 

I play the next round and then as I get up, Chris J is nowhere to be found. Thankfully Chris Mecklin was available to sub in. The role of Chris Jepsen was now being played by Chris Mecklin. I spent the morning with Chris Kluchman and by this time, I figured we should just name everyone Chris. (side note, lots of people named Chris and David at Barge... think about it...) I was worried about Chris J because I had seem him drinking a lot and have had the experience of alcohol poisoning and the 2-3 day hangover. It's not pretty. I work more on my paper, then back to play. I won a couple more big pots against Un and Joe Long. Tried to take Dan G out but I couldn't catch. CHORSE ends and I quickly grab a hot dog so I can eat before PLO. See our buddy Todd B who was in town for a big get together for 40th birthdays with his buddies and was playing some events at Barge. I find out that the Arrogant Bastards win! I'm seriously happy! 

Go up to PLO and see that Dean and I were at the same table randomly so I switch seats. Todd B ends up at my table too. I've got Ross P, Carol K, a couple guys I wasn't sure of their names, Goldie, Tom White and Todd. Tom has the best shirt on that I had seen at Barge. "The Cat in the Box" by Dr. Schrodinger. He lets me take a photo. People keep commenting on his shirt. He later says that it's his nerd detector. Well played Tom, well played. Our table is good, we are first to break. I move to a table with David Low (hahahahaha I think I'm stalking him now) Corey I, Larry B, Steve from BC, Alan V, Sharon, Janie and a couple others that I am drawing a blank on- again my apologies. Eventually Oliver and Dean end up at the table. Dean is playing Dean poker and had come over with a big stack. He gets hurt in a couple of pots and then we get broken up. I keep on playing. Move around some more, we are getting down to the end. I end up at a table with Dan G,
 Larry B, Corey I, and Tom W again. I'm short. Murray and QB come in. I have a last longer with Tina and I win that. Dan is joking around with me about Tom's shirt and my boob. I go all in and he's thinking about calling me, and as he folds I joke with him that he could have had the boob and I may have let him pick which boob. He tries to retrieve his cards! Eventually I get too short and am all in against QB... we split the pot with AK. I'm still alive, but I gotta push with the blinds. Dan takes me out and finally gets my boob. I go out 13th. They pay 10 spots. 

As I get up and go find Dean I realize that I am starving. I'm grumpy and crabby. Warren S asks Dean if we want to join him at the Steakhouse. We say sure and quickly go change clothes. We go up to the steakhouse. I didn't realize that the elevator goes on the outside of the building. I'm not a fan. We meet Warren up there and get a table. We have a great meal and a great chat. I was really pleased to learn more about another Barger.  We leave about 9:30 and I tell Dean I really want to go in the hot tub. We see Tracy in the poker room and she asks if I am going to do the Craps Crawl. It's not really our thing but I say I will think about it. We are on our way back to the room and we see Steve M and he says we should join the Craps Crawl. Hot tub can wait so off we go! 

We meet up with everyone at Binions. I throw a 100 down and the dealer looks at me and instantly asks to see my ID. I started laughing. I'm getting carded. I take it out, and she instructs me to put it on the table. She picks it up and then hands it back sort of irritated. I'm sorry I look so young for my age...  Tracy and Sharon give me high 5's. Table is cold so I move around. Jeff D is playing the dark side. We end up heading over to the California. Regis joins us there, and Sharon is talking to a bunch of people. I end up playing her chips for her. She thanks me by giving me a couple of motorboats. After a few rolls, we head over to Main street. The tables are packed so Dean and I head up to where a bunch of Bargers are playing Video Poker. I haven't played that before either. Jeff D helps me understand it some and I play a little. I end up having a great chat with Bob H and Murray about my super strict religious upbringing. I also talk some to Big
 Boy. So nice getting to know more people. We head back and I learn that the winners of the CHORSE get to be on a plaque in the poker room. Now, I'm seriously excited. I wanted to go in the hot tub, but I see a PLO game going and I can tell Dean really wants to play. I tell him to play and I sit in this DC game with Skippy who just arrived and O'Grady and Andrew and Eileen and Grizz. They tell me about this guy who is super drunk and was giving them a hard time about being Bargers and he's some old timer. He ends up coming back to our table and telling us how we aren't real bargers and we are pathetic and probably play Dungeons and Dragons. We are laughing really hard. Dealer Jessica is playing in the game and motorboats me right in front of Skippy who misses it. Hahahahaha. Creepy guy loses his money and keeps wandering away and then coming back and trying to insult us more. Around 3am we break the game and head back to bed. Another great great day in
 the books. And, I totally did not make it to the hot tub!

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 21:07:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird Trip Report Day 5

Friday! 

I knew when I registered that Friday would be a rough day, and was I glad that I did not play the TOC. Dean also sold his seat and I pretty much slept until 12:30. Then I did some more schoolwork and stayed in bed until 3pm. I finally got up and we headed over to the Symposium. I enjoyed the Q and A with Stanford Wong and had fun chatting with various people prior. We stayed for the board meeting. 

Tracy then asked me if I would come over to the Sigma Derby and I told her I would think about. Dean and I wandered around some and then we got coney dogs and headed into the D. We had a blast with those horses. We were pretty rowdy. I played a few quarters on the old school slots. Then we headed to karaoke. 

Last year was my first year at karaoke, and I was hoping that it would be a great time again. It didn't disappoint. The singing was great, the atmosphere was fun, even being sober! We had a new DJ this year and she was fantastic. I think the plan is to have her come back for Embargo and Barge. I definitely got a little crazy but that's what makes it fun. We paid the DJ to stay until 2 and then we had the final acoustic set of the night. I enjoyed the songs that Kevin and Nolan wrote. I laughed and I cried. I cried really hard when Andrea was singing "You've got a friend" because I realized how lucky I was to be sitting in a room full of people who like me, just for being me and I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not to make someone happy or be accepted conditionally. If you've never been to karaoke, you should come. There is actual talent in the room, and people are there to have a good time and it reminds me of hanging out in college. 

Once again bedtime was around 3am. A "short" but fun day.

Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 13:21:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Becca Kerl
Subject: [BARGE] Redbird Trip Report, the rest

Recapping the last day or so of the trip now with a couple of other stories I forgot...

After the symposium on Friday Bruce I and Lyndsey stopped by my table and asked about my WSOP experience. I had been asked several times over the week and it just made me feel so loved that people were asking how it was. We had a nice chat and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who asked about it and wished they could be a part of it. You were all there with me in spirit and I really have never felt so supported in anything in my life. It made a profound impact on me. 

I also forgot to mention in my Friday report, how after karaoke was done, Tracy B, Dean and I walked back to the Nugget and we see metro all over. One of my photo shots to get was someone being arrested. Tracy offers to be "arrested" and walks over to three Metro standing outside Gold Diggers. One of them willingly offers to pretend to arrest her and we take the photo. Priceless and Tracy has some guts to do that! After we got to our room both Dean and I were hungry and he headed over to Binions to get a snack and got propositioned and saw 8 Metro hauling 2-3 prostitutes in handcuffs. And, forgot the camera!!!! 

Saturday was the NLHE. I was at Table 2. I had North Shore, Bill Chen, Lennie A, Claudia, Connie, Tray Racer, Sharon and Todd B. Table was friendly enough and we were having a great time. Sharon was giving away the Flying Fuck helicopter. There is some early action and North Shore is accumulating chips. Then the disgusting hand. There is a raise preflop by North Shore. Then Tray Racer raises and North Shore Calls. Flop comes Kd 4h 6h. North Shore bets 1500. Tray Racer goes all in and it's 1050 more to call. North Shore says, I'm way beat here but it's not that much more to call so I have to. He calls and they show down. Tray Racer has a set of kings and North Shore has a pair of tens. Turn brings a 10. Table holds it's breath as Lennie says "he's got outs" and BAM the river brings the 4th ten to give North Shore running quads. We all screamed because it was just so crazy. 

North Shore then goes on a tear and takes out half the table. Claudia goes, someone else comes in the seat Tray Racer had and loses with kings to North Shore's flopped set of 9s. Bruce H comes over and Bob Jones come over. I win a big hand with Aces after Bob raises and Lennie calls my all in with his kings. It felt like it was a personal victory from my hand at the WSOP which Bill and I discuss a bit. He didn't quite understand why I was happy about it. 

I have aces again and I raise UTG and Bruce thinks for a minute and ships it. Comes back to me, I call. He has JJ. J on the flop and J on the river. Cripples me. I take Sharon out with AK in a three way pot and win the Flying Fuck. It was the only thing I won, because Todd took me out and I gave him his choice of the Redbird or the boob. He picked the boob. Barry K was also at our table after Bob J busted and it was nice to play with him as well. I went out in the 40s. I was happy with it, after getting crippled on the second AA hand. I see Rick and Tracy and invite them to join us for dinner. We had a group going to the steakhouse. Tracy was playing the Binion's tournament, and said they would join if she busted. 

Dean and I went back to the room and I took a nice nap while Dean put my project notes into Powerpoint. He does it all the time for work so he saved me. We headed over to the steakhouse and met up with Rod. He was also joining us for dinner. Rick B made it and we had a nice dinner with Dave O, Anne, Chris J, Scott S, Erin R, Dean, me, Rod, Rick B and Steve and Jan Pearce who I had not met before. After dinner was done we headed down to the poker room and Reindeer games was getting into full swing. I put my chip down on the bastards table and quickly went to go change. I hate playing poker in a dress. I come back and the 4-8 table behind me wants me to play with them. David K and Goldie are in the game so I sit for a few hands. I see Paul McM is looking for a seat, so I give him mine. I go over to the bastard table. Play a few hands, can't seem to get any traction. 

PLO starts up and I tell Dean to go play. He had played a couple of sessions, including some during karaoke. I know he loves it, so I encourage him to go. He heads over. Later when I am checking on him I see the table next to him has Regis, Claudia, Chris K and Sharon L. They beg me to come play with them. Said they needed me. I can't let my girls down, so I go over there. They are playing two card Chowaha. It was fun and I was starting to get the hang of it. Claudia wins a pot with AA and I ask her if lesbians are allowed to have aces. I mean, it's not like they have had tons of rights, so you know, I gotta ask. She and Regis laugh and Regis says, well, yeah, Strap-on Aces! We all die laughing at the table. Patti joins us at some point and Stephanie comes into the game. It turns into full on, no man can play we are out to get you poker. Dean comes over and tries to bribe his way in. He gives a boobie chip to Regis and Claudia, a condom to Patti and
 pictures of himself to Chris and Sharon. They are about to let him sit, and I say wait a sec, what about for me? The girls all think this is extremely poor taste and they throw his gifts back at him. We let him play one hand and then Stephanie kicks him off the table. This starts the trend of one hand, sit and done. We make Tracy get in the game even though she is needing to pack and is on tilt from her tourney. With every guy that comes in we get louder and louder. We sing the guys off the table. One of the most fun tables I have been at in a long time. 

I think we left the poker room about 3:30 and then when I got back to the room I uploaded my powerpoint and did some more school work before passing out around 5am. 

Sunday we got up at 10:30, quickly packed, checked out and left our luggage at the bell desk. We went over to watch the dealer tournament. I could not believe how much they were drinking. Paul was dealing and I even got a photo of him in the old Binion's ties. We stuck around until the end and were going to go home but stopped at the Goldman's for a few on our way out. Dean played Cards Against Humanity and I went in the pool. Rod and I were out there and then a bunch of people came out to join us. We left at 5, and we took a leisurely ride home. 

I had a great time. Barge this year was fantastic. I met a lot more of the Bargers and pushed myself socially. I am hoping that in the next year we can make FARGO and/or ATLARGE and also EMBARGO. 

I also want to give a big shout out to our organizers, Mickdog, Nick and Bree. You guys put in a ton of work. I have organized things in the past for our autism groups and it is an incredible amount of work. To volunteer to do this and run it smoothly, is truly awesome and for the shit you guys get from time to time my hats off to you. Thanks to the board for doing what you do and also fielding the complaints and handling things in a timely manner. Good organization matters! 

Love to you all and see you at BARGE 2014. 
Redbird