From: Sabyl Landrum Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 16:31:13 -0700 Subject: [BARGE] Sabyl's Trip Report Thanks to all the official and unofficial event organizers and the BOD - BARGE was lovely as always!! I don't envy the organizers at all because it is impossible to make every body happy all the time. For me, I am so grateful I don't have to organize and I am impressed by how smoothly things run year after year. *Pre-BARGE Sun * I am frantically trying to cram in the last bits of community property and corporations and 1st amendment into my brain and I read about JP and others going to Ping Pang Pong. Thursday can't come soon enough. *BARGE Monday - * Lowbah!!!! Yay!!!! Love Lowbah!!! Lowbah was a bread ad butter game for me for a while. Wait??!! Why am I in Ontario, CA - and that's California - NOT Canada. Oops I accidentally registered for the bar and not BARGE - bad beat!!! And Andy Hughes, Fich, Chris and someone I am forgetting who r00lz lowbah prove there is just no skill in that game. So I didn't really miss anything - woulda been a donkey luckfest anyway. *BARGE TU-TH * Still stuck in Ontario, California. Exhausted. Bar examiners decided to embarrass BarBri, the test prep company, not the doll, and test us on the 13th amendment, dual sovereignty via tribal disputes, and other nonsense we were told never gets tested on the bar. We end on the bright note of a performance test involving reading cases about battered woman's syndrome. In a stupor, I pass on joining my classmates at the alcohol providing versions of a bar in the hope that Steve and Kai will be waiting for me at the hotel and we can make it to Vegas in time for the craps crawl. The daunting task of packing for a baby and the joys of So Cal traffic has Steve arriving at the hotel at 8:00 pm instead of 5:00 pm. So I am now starving and cranky and still cant wait for Vegas. We crawl into Vegas rather late - way too late for the craps crawl. Our gracious hosts Connie Kellers and Mike Maurer have made it easy for us to get settled into their guest bedroom with our little one. Way to tired to venture out I resign myself to the fact that BARGE will start Friday AM for me and not Thursday PM. *BARGE FR - TOC and HOSER* * * After sleeping on the way to Ontario and on the way to Vegas, Kai got into the spirit of Vegas by wanting to play all night long, meaning he would wail if we tried to get him to sleep. We don't want to wear out our welcome to fast, so we let Kai sleep in between us in the bed (you learn as a parent that reality and your fantasy of raising your kid are not the same thing) and he finally goes to sleep. It seems two hours later the alarm goes off and its time to get up. Connie and Mike have arranged for their standout sitter to watch Kai, so Steve and I are both able to enjoy BARGE. We arrive fashionably late as usual, after parking at MSS valet and me grabbing my much needed Starbuck. I walk up to my table and see that I am seated about halfway between Bob Lauria and Bill Chen - stuck in the middle again. Fortunately the distance means I don't get into too many confrontations with either. I run really good in O8 but not so good in anything else and am short when the table breaks. I am now next to David Heller (right? My memory is super hazy for this tourney) and Warren Sanders is at this table. I think JP is as well. A short Warren in O8 raises and I have 2346 (or maybe 2345 I forget). I can call and have a little over a bet on the flop or go all in preflop or fold. I think 234(5/6) is too flop dependent to go all in and maybe too strong to fold so I call - the hubby thinks I could have found a fold since there are a few people behind me to act, JP I think said he thought a call was reasonable. But once I flop a pair and low draw I am stuck playing the hand out (again I think this is what I had but I am still in a fog) and I am crippled and down to 800 chips when the table breaks and we break for the Symposium. Enjoyed catching up with David Heller and Andrea at the symposium. Our plan was to grab a bite after the symposium and during the BOD meeting, but we were so well fed by the excellent spread (nice job organizers!) that there was no need for a bite afterwards. I also had a chance to see Patti, Fich, Bill, Kenny, JP, Karma, Barry K and his lovely girlfriend who crushed me in Chowaha later in the week, Qb, Betty, and I can't even remember who else - so many people and so little time. The speaker, Stanford Wong, was great. He reminded me of Steve in some ways - more into solving the puzzle than into the actual play of the game. He seemed very down to earth. Woulda loved to hear more stories about the good old days of advantage gamb00ling. I skipped the BOD meeting but heard some sort of a WTF suggestion of BARGE starting in CA as I am heading out of the room. I missed the context but I was just shaking my head, glad to not be an organizer or member of the board and grateful someone is willing to do the job. I think Steve and I played a small amount of VP before play starts back up at the TOC and I bust to Taki. I decide to earn 300 points at Binions for the wheel spins and find Rich Bremer who also plays. He promptly hits quads. I play my points through, get garbage on my spins and head back to check on Steve. The HOSER tourney will be starting soon and I am so torn on what to do. I have gotten less than 5 hours sleep, and some nights only 2-3 hours sleep, for a week now and don't know if my brain will hold up, but I love mixed games. I go get some coffee, see there are two tables going and cave in and enter, especially since Steve is still r00ling in the TOC. I start off strong, getting lucky and being in my element - short handed limit. 5 handed play with Rich Bremer, Monte, Ice and Patti (soft table draw here - huh?). But soon my fun is spoiled and not only are we no longer 5 handed but Bill Chen joins the fun, and then we get Jeff Siegal. Lots of dead money in this tournament I see. Somewhere in here, Steve busts in the TOC after cashing - go Steve! Right around the first break I hit a wall and can barely think. I can't remember the game from hand to hand. All I want to do is sleep. I am so so so tired. I think it is after midnight, maybe 2am when I bust, but Nooooooooo, it's just after 9PM. Sigh. Well at least I die early - I woulda been miserable busting anywhere near the bubble as tired as I am. Normally I love to play HOSER, but not Friday. I just want my pillow. But the pillow is delayed as I help Steve get in his 300 points and he get $15 in FP - yay Steve! *Saturday - NL* * * Poor Kai is so excited at all the fun in Vegas, and he is very congested, so he doesn't sleep well, which means we don't sleep well. Andrew P and Kelli drop off their lovely kids with the sitter and Kai has new playmates for awhile under the care of the same awesome sitter. I am depressed thinking about how tiny Andrew's kids were when I last saw them - it seemed like such a short time ago. We decide to do breakfast at Binions since a food comp was one of our wheel spins. But alas there's a long line. But hark! What's that I see? I see a group of BARGERs looking at me. So Steve and I grab seat with friendly faces and say hi to David and Andrea at a nearby table. We scarf breakfast and head over to the NL. At my table is Ross Poppel, my calcutta mate; Len G; Asya; an ARGER I don't know as well and whose name I forgot but proved to be a luckbox against my KK; Bob Ogus; Rick Becker and a few others. My NL pattern of being luckier than average with AQ when I go in behind and being unluckier than average with KK when I go in ahead holds true. Who knew. So I more than double early and have 9K in chips and then lose a giant pot with KK, but no where near as badly as Pete Segal lost with his. I do win my Goldie bet - YAY!! But hose out of the tourney. Steve also hoses so we decide to go to the D to do their new card sign up bonus, which proves to be a bad decision later in the week. Congrats to David L and my bro Bob for taking 1st and 2nd. Happy for you both! We play about halfway through the max of their sign up bonus. But we fail to collect on it as we need to rush off to dinner and the coin droppers delayed our cashing out. For dinner we ditched the banquet. Steve and I rarely get a Kai free night together. And I have a $500 celebration dinner to use at Harrahs for being 7 stars. So we go to Nobu and bring along Fich who makes excellent dinner company. We opt for the Omikase. Some of the offerings were simply amazing - some not so much. And as full as I was I found room for the super yummy lava cake (a weakness of mine when done right). Then back to Binions for reindeer games. I play Chowaha. Barry K's girlfriend outplays me in a pot and I fold the winner for half a decent pot when my AK rivers a broadway. But a flush is possible on the river and there are a couple of board pairs, so when it is bet and raised to me on the river I decide not to make the call. Her raise with AK was bold, but won her the entire pot instead of just half the pot. I fail to make up that loss. As Chowaha starts to break (it did not as it turns out) I notice an OFC game going, which I really, really want to play despite my lack of chinese poker instinct. OFC makes me feel stupid. I took a risk on a hand which was a stupid risk and cost me royalties to boot when I end up fouling my hand. But somehow I made money at the OFC game. Blind luck making a full house right away and the like helps. Steve plays his 300 points at Binions and I decide to ride back with him rather than play all night *Sunday - Hangover Party* * * I sleep in a little bit on Sunday as Steve is super daddy. Mike makes yummy pancakes for breakfast and we hang out in the yard chatting and eating. Steve took Kai for a swim. We finally get out of lazy mode and head to the Goldmans. Yay!!! More people to catch up with. Kai meets Susan Abraham, Karma, Fich (who makes a perfect crazy uncle that all the kids love), Linda Lewis, and so many more. Kai is in heaven getting so much attention but really wants to be a free range baby. But the crowd doesn't make for a good free range experience. At 5:55 the Reverand Patti Beadles and Saint Bill Chen are on hand to Baptize Kai. Grizz is videographer. Kai is given the 72o and told he must discard them to show his fealty to the Church. He is given the cards facing away from him, so I am guessing his hesitancy in releasing his hand is that he is playing the hand dark and for all he knows he has AA. The gamb00ler in him, which he gets from me, just wants to play the hand dark. But eventually he sees the light and relinquishes the 72 after receiving spiritual guidance from the Reverend Patti. And he is anointed into the Church! Yay!!!! He is now well on his way to being WSOP champ of 2034. I play some more Chinese. There's a table with JP and Bill - um no thanks. There's a table with Bingo, Grizz, Kyle and Ron. Now they are from fishies, but at least I stand a chance as we are all learning the game. I make some huge mistake that Bill witnesses because I missed one of the cards I needed being out somehow. And even still it was a questionable play. So Bill makes me feel like the OFC idiot I am and already knew I was. He tells me download the app. I say I won't play for real $ - he says just $1 a point. I am like, I've been playing $1 a point - that's not small change when he has a huge skill edge over me. My only hope is to be able to play every hand in fantasyland. Kai enjoys some pizza and spending time with Linda and Fich and Regis and Claudia and David H and more. Soon it is time to go home as Kai is getting tired, as are his parents. Thanks Dan and Sharon for an awesome party!! *Post BARGE Monday - highs to lows* Monday starts off nice at the Egg & I. Kai has a grand ol time eating out as always. JP, Steve and Susan Evans, Linda L, Ron McNutt, and Bruce K were there to join us. Good food and good company make for a happy morning. As does a happy Kai. Kai just loves Linda. I have Kai duty in the afternoon while Steve goes and unsuccessfully chases EV at the D and Binions. I take the night shift. I check into the Wynn, hit a few must hit progressive slots and play freeplay through on VP. We donate our room at the Wynn to Bob L who gets a staycation. I then head back downtown where disaster strikes. First I lose my ass at the D chasing EV. I also somehow managed to lose my phone. I check everywhere and no one has turned it in. Find My iPhone can't track it either. I am guessing I had the phone out on my machine and that it was taken when I was tipping the waitress delivering my drink. It's the only thing that makes sense. Then it gets worse. I parked at MSS again so am walking through Californian. As I round the corner to the escalators to cut across to the Wynn I hear something like "Give it back to me! Come back give it back to me now!" and then I am shoved by someone with quite some force and fall over. The woman yelling had her purse stolen and I was collateral damage in the getaway. Fortunately I am just shaken and bruised. After talking to security and filling out a report I can finally go home - down $$, phone and bruised. I am also a little shaken now to be downtown alone at night. I get home and it takes a long time to get some sleep. *Post BARGE Tuesday* We do a lovely brunch courtesy of the Wynn with Connie and Mike, as well as a friend from law school and two of her nephews. My classmate is amazing - she is a PhD, professor and was nominated for a nobel peace prize in her past. One of her nephews is physically disabled in a wheelchair but will be getting his degree at UC Riverside and her other nephew is 14 and already taking engineering classes. Brilliant family. It was also nice to do a meal with our hosts as we really enjoy their company. I would have been happier if Wynn's website was accurate as I thought they served breakfast foods until 3 but they stopped just after we got there :-(. So food-wise I enjoyed sushi and cream puffs and lox. Too tired to head home, we get some sleep for once and have an uneventful drive home on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who helps make BARGE what it is. I wish I could have been there all week long. Not enough time to catch up with everyone. Also I know we never got out all our thank you cards for the virtual shower from last year. I can't tell you how much the generosity you all showed meant to us - especially Patti who organized it. Kai still uses so much of the bounty, including his favorite monkey binky. I love everyone who helps make BARGE what it is and can't wait until next year.