Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2016 11:43:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Chuck Weinstock Subject: [BARGE] Fwd: Meeee's BARGE trip report -- very long, little poker content. On Tuesday, August 10, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, David Aronson wrote: > > Meeee's BARGE trip report -- very long, little poker content. > > Prescript: Imagine there is an (sp) next to everone's name in this > report. Also, some of the events and people described may have changed > from reality due to whether conditions. That is, whether or not I am > remebering correctly. Also, I can't do any more proofreading, so you get > what you paid for. > > > Wednesday, August 4th. > > Before leaving for BARGE, I e-mail Andy Latto about sharing a cab from > the airport to the Orleans, and we arrange to meet at "Ground > Transportation". Just be for I leave for the airport, I get an e-mail > form Tony Goldstein stating that he wants in on the ride also. So I > e-mail him my plans with Andy and a description of what to look for in a > Meeee. Andy had also invited Tony along, but didn't pass on the > information about Meeee which I had supplied. > > So what happens when I get to Vegas? First off, there is no such place > as "Ground Transportation". There are some signs that say "This way to > ground transportation", but once you arrive there are taxi stands and > bus pickups and car rental places. For anyone attempting this trick in > the future, I'd suggest meeting at the Information desk between the two > baggage claim areas. Second off, Tony has left for the airport before > he got my e-mail, so he has no idea what Meeee looks like. Third, > Andy's flight was canceled and he isn't going to be showing up for some > time. So I wait around a while, hoping that somebody will bump into me > and ask if I'm Meeee, but that doesn't happend. Instead, I see a bunch > of people wandering around looking lost, but I can't figure out which > one is Tony. > > I give up and take a cab to the Orleans with just Meeee, myself, and I. > The cabbie and I chat during the ride, and it seems he is a poker > player. In fact, he played Chowaha during BARGE last year. What a > planet. When I arrive at the Orleans registration line, sure enough one > of the people who was wandering around looking lost is also there and it > is Tony Goldstein. > > I register at midnight and get room 902. I stop by the poker room to > pick up my badge and to look for Robert Hwang to arrange a ride to > golf. I meet a bunch of BARGErs and get my badge from Ratly, but Robert > has failed to materialize and he was supposed to be there in the > afternoon. Someone (or was it me?) decides I should find out if Robert > has checked in. So I call the front desk and ask if they have a Robert > Hwang checked in, and the next thing I know the phone is ringing and I > wake up his roomate, Peter Siegal -- DOH! Then, as we are chatting, > Robert walks into the poker room. Double DOH! We arrange to meet for > breakfast tommorow. > > Anyone else get an x02 room? If you missed it, I can give you an idea > of how far from the elevator it is. Remember those experiments to > determine the speed of light where they bounced a light ray off of the > mooon? They could have just as easily been conducted between the > elevator and room x02. > > Thursday, August 5th, Golf > > Breakfast with Robert at the Orleans buffet. Good food -- not the > Mirage, but then again what is. Throw my golf gear into Robert's car, > and off we go to the Legacy. First, we make one lap around the hotel > looking for Decatour (sp?). Robert has theese chicken scratchings from > the elevator security gaurd which he is trying to pass off as > directions. I wonder if we will actually find the place. After > circling the hotel, Robert decides to find a gas station. Strangely, > the first station that we come to is on the corner of Tropicana and > Decatour. Ding! On the way to the course we discuss handicaps, how I > disliked playing from the white tees last year, and how Robert always > loses when he plays for money. > > The golfers that show up to Kevan Garret's tourney are Meeee, Robert, > Mike "Oz" Ozborne, Ken Kubey, Gerry Peterson, Jim Foley, and of course > Kevan himself. We get a double DOH! from Oz, as he hasn't played golf > for 8 years and has no clue that metal spikes are out and plastic is in, > plus he has to have a shirt with a collar to be allowed on the course. > The spikes can be replaced at the course, but the cheapest golf shirt is > $49.00. So the great Oz dissapears, and comes back with a nice shirt > from K-Mart, for only $5.00 -- WTG Oz! Ken has been up all night at > the poker table before joining us at golf, giving new meaning to the > phrase "playing through". > > Its a beautiful day, maybe 100 degrees at most, nothing like a "death > march". I suggest that we play from the blue tees, and everyone > agrees -- Ding! Kevan sets up a long drive hole and a closest to the > pin hole. Oz, Robert, and I go off in the second group. > > After reasonable drives on the first hole, Robert suggests how much we > should play for and how many strokes he should get, and I agree. Robert > misses the green to the left, and I hit the back of the green, about 40 > feet from the hole. Robert has a nasty chipshot up a 20 foot rise to > the green and then about 50 feet to the hole, and he proceeds to roll it > right into the cup for birdie! Great, I've been in Vegas less than 24 > hours and I've been hustled already. But I get back to even by chipping > in for birdie on the 2nd hole. > > Robert and I have a close match on the front nine, which he evenutally > wins by one hole. In the meantime, Oz is using the rocks on the course > as a pinball machine. That is, until we get to the long drive hole. > Nobody in the first group hits the fairway, and Robert threatens to hit > a 7 iron if Oz and I miss the fairway. I hit my usuall 3-wood off the > tee, and it manages to stay in the fairway about 240 yards out. Oz > proceeds to nail one down the right side, scooting a piece of rough that > juts out into the fairway. Robert hits a good one also, but it looks > short of mine. Robert and I want to make a deal to split up the 3 ball > prize, but Oz won't hear anything of the kind (maybe he really coulnd't > hear us?). It turns out that Oz is past me by about fifteen yards, > giving him a shot at the daily doulbe of long drive and high score. WTG > Oz! Robert wins the closest to the pin by being the only one to hit the > green, as I miss the green by a foot into the collar just right of the > hole. > > Unfortunately, Robert kind of collapses on the back nine, and I close > out the back nine and total by the sixteenth hole. Robert wants some > extra motivation on the 18th hole, so we go for double-or-nothing. I > make a birdie to finsish off the match in style. > > We go in for a beer (or a soda as the case may be) and some friendly > golf talk. Ken beats out Oz for high score, and I take the prize for > low score, which isn't too shocking since I play virtually every day. I > make arrangements to go the the Mirage buffet with Jim Foley, and head > back to the Orleans with Robert. > > Thursday, August 5th, Mirage Buffet > > As Jim and I are waiting 10 minutes for valet parking to bring up his > car, Mark KT Hunter if he can get a lift with us. No problem, except > maybe squeezing into the back seat of Jims is-this-smaller-than-a-Yugo > car. We navigate to the Mirage with little difficulty. > > At our table its Jim, Meeee, and Steve "Pain" Smith with his gas mask. > I sure hope he doesn't need it during dinner. Pain downs a almost a > dozen glasses of orange juice and half a cow's worth of milk during > dinner -- I guess he is still growing. Peter Siegal joins us and > discovers that it is I that woke him up last night. I try to lay the > blame on the hotel operator, but Peter doesn't fall for it. In the end, > he forgives me like a true BARGEr. Foley and Pain stick Siegal and I > with the tip. Peter assures me that he will steal the money back from > Pain. Peter, did you get it? > > The Mirage buffet is the same as always, fantastic. I'm full after > three entrees and desert. I head over to the poker room to see how I > can get back to the Orleans. Fortunately, there is Jim Foley, and he > wants to go back also. > > Thursday, August 5th, Craps tour and drive-by toking. > > There are about 20 of us on the craps tour. We hit Fitzgeralds, the > Lady Luck, the Las Vegas Club, and some other places I can't recall. > People are having a good time, but I'm losing money. Chris "KFish" > Hartman predicts and then has a decent roll which keeps me from going > bankrupt. WTG KFish! Then we go to Binions, where I lose more money at > Craps. > > Peter "Foldem" Secor has been talking the whole tour about going to the > Binion's poker room and toking the dealers. I think it was his idea, > but I might be wrong. The motivation for this was, I believe, that the > dealers shouldn't suffer just because BARGE moved out of Binions. > > We all get $1 chips and set our plan to gravitate throughout the poker > room and throw chips to the dealers, hopefully distributing the tokes > evenly to all the table. As we approch the poker area, one of the > cocktail waitresses says "oh look, its the internet poker group!" She > is immediately toked. > > We then swarm through the poker room, with the leaders heading to the > back of the room, and the rest filling in towards the middle and then > the front. All play is stopped as chips come raining in from behind the > players, landing in the pot or in the dealer's chips. Shouts of the > dealers saying "thank you" ring throught the building. Then, as > quickly as we entered, we all leave. It was simply awesome. > > Mike Zimmers later got a call from Binion's asking where BARGE was this > year. I hope we had a positive influence on this call, and didn't get > into any trouble. It would be nice to think we could have helped in > getting Binions to invite us back, but it would be hell to think that we > got us barred from there for life. Mike, did they mention us in your > phone call? What did they say? Enquiring minds want to know. > > After Binions we go over to the Plaza and spew a few more dollars. > Nolan and the other darksiders hit a good run. After a while, Steven > Markawitz wants to take a cab back. I try and arrange a ride, and end > up going outside with Nolan, Bruce Kramer, Ernst, and Steven. I'm not > sure what happened, but I think Nolan and Bruce gave a cab to the rest > of us and then they walked a few blocks to where they were parked. > Thanks guys. > > > Friday, August 6th. Orleans Omaha Tourney > > Since Jim Foley was out all night at the craps tour, he didn't call me > to play golf on Friday. That was fine, because I needed to get in some > live Omaha play to practice for the team horse competition. So I signed > up for the Orleans Omaha/8 $20 buying $10 rebuy tourney. > > Before the tourey started, I watched a bit of the blackjack tourney and > chatted with a few BARGE buddies. Then I did the lunch buffet, which > was not very good. At noon, it was time for the tournament. > > I've played in hundreds of tournaments -- 99.999% of which were on IRC. > For live tourneys I've played in two BARGES (this will be my third), a 4 > table tourney at the Luxor during BARGE 96, and an omaha tourney during > BARGE 98. My basic strategy was not to go broke, because I've got > nothing else to do before the calcutta. > > (Note: I forgot to put a "T" in front of all the dollar values below to > denote that this is Tourney chips, not real $$$) > > We start with maybe $400, with the blinds 5 and 5, with 5-10 limits. > The first two rounds seem to take a long time, which they do because the > floorman forgets to move up the blinds once. This will come back to > haunt me later. I play a few hands, miss a few flops, lose a few > blinds, play pretty tight. Nobody is raising the blinds, so its a > pretty easy-going game. After a while I'm under $100 and am eligible > for an add-on, so I take it. > > I was seated next to Randy "Mitch" Collack, and we had some nice > converstations. Poor Randy had a splitting headache that wouldn't go > way. But he played well, and watching him really helped me out. > > Now the blinds start going up, and exactly every two orbits they are > increasing. And every time they go up, I get the big blind. I'm not > exagerating -- it happens every time. I'm trying to play hands that > either have 4 high cards, 4 good low cards, or two cards that can make a > low and two cards that can make a high. One big hand that I remember I > had Ad4dJc10s and flopped the flush draw. Betting all the way, I made > the flush on the turn, and scooped the pot with the A4 for low. Those > chips would last until the time for rebuys ended, where I took the > double add-on (or whatever it is called -- I gave them another $20 and > they gave me some chips). > > The blinds had been at $50-$100, with betting at $100-200. Now the > decision comes to move the blinds up to $100-$300, with betting at > $300-600. That seems like a rediculous jump to serveral of us at the > table, but what can you do? It seems that the floorman found out that > he missed raising the limits once, so now he is going to jump over one > rount. And as usually, I'm in the big blind. This large pot gets > going, and I have to call the turn because of the amount in the pot, > when all of a sudden the floorman realizes that it was a reduculous > jump and the game comes to a halt. Instead of giving everyone their > money back and starting over, the floor decides to play out that hand at > the higher limit, then drop back to betting of $200-400. DOH! I fold > the river and just hope to make it through. > > I somehow get enough cards to make it to the final two tables, and then > into the final table. Don't ask me how, I don't remember. I can tell > you that this is a bounty tourney, and at the final table I have > colected exactly one bounty. I've got the third smallest stack, with > about $5,000. We lose the 2 lowest stack in short order. The blinds > and limits go up, and other people start falling out. > > When it gets down to four of us, its at no limit with blinds of > $5000-$10000. I'm the small stack with about $17,000. The guy with > the third stack of $27,000 pushes all in and is called by the chip > leader, who crushes him and now we are down to three. I collect a few > chips and get up to $24,000, when the floorman decides to raise the > blinds to $10,000-$20,000. Guess who has the big blind? This could be > my last hand -- the other two guys each have around $140,000. > > I get dealt 448J offsuit, and the flop comes 338. The both check. Turn > is a ten, they both check. River is a J. I throw in my last $4,000, > they both call. They can't make a pair, I win the whole pot. Yeah, > sure, I'm doing well because I'm a master tourney player -- NOT! After > this hand, I'm still in 3rd but it is much closer. A few hands later, > the big stacks get into a fight, after which one of them is much bigger > and one of them is smaller than me. I then start talking about a deal, > and we make one. Ding! Second place, and I'm ahead for the trip! > > I get congratulated by BARGErs left and right. I really love this > group! > > > Friday, August 6th. Calcutta > > The food was great. Too great, from what I hear. > > Everyone had a chance to meet the people at their table. The virgins > had a table, and the bladers had a table. I looked around and wanted to > meet everyone. It took me a while to start, but I then went to all the > tables on my side of the room and stopped to shake hands and chat with > everyone there. Unfortunately, the calcutta ended before I could start > on the other side. > > I'd like to make a proposal for next year. The person being bid on > should stand up on their chair so people can at see who they are. Well, > everyone except Mike Paulle. > > I bought Steven "MIT" Markawitz. We had talked just before and during > the craps tour, and he appeared to be slightly above the genius level. > Then, while we were cashing out our chips at the Plaza, Nolan came up > and told Steve how he admired his play in the tourney last year. Want > to guess what I paid for this stud? A whopping $30 -- what a steal! I > also bought 1/4 of Monte Christenson. > > > Friday, August 6th. Team Horse > > Most of the players on Team Feesh are top notch. I played the Omaha > leg, and lost more money than anyone else. It was up to the rest of the > squad to bail me out, and they did a fine job. We came out with about > 80% of what we started with. I'd go into some of my hands, but it > might expose too much of my game, and in the team event it is mostly > other peoples money. > > Greg did a great job getting it organized and getting it down. WTG > Greg! > > > Saturday, August 7th. Breakfast. > > I missed the math get together, so I had breakfast to make up for it. I > walk into the buffet alone and have a brief chat with Oz and his lovely > women. But they are almost done, so I move on. Frank Irwin is at a > table with Jazbo and Steve Jacobs and someone else who I don't know, and > I ask if I can join them. What choice do they have but to say yes? I > take a seat between Jazbo and Steve, and they continue with their > discussion of Kelly utility as a non-linear step function due to the > nature of not being able to move up from betting $1.00 to $1.01 because > you can't bet $1.01 -- you have to next bet $2.00. A most fascintating > exchange occurs, but it is terminated because the tourney starting. > > > Saturday, August 7th. The Tournament. > > I already know from last year that the blind will go up fast. I resolve > to play as long as I can and not get upset due to the speed issue. That > was fine, but next year I will resolve to be more careful when trying to > steal the blinds. > > I got through the 25-50 and 50-100 levels, but didn't improve my stack > at all. Then at the 100-200 level, I tried a couple of blind steal that > failed, and the last one cost be about T700. After tossing several > hands of the 73o variety, I picked up AdQd. Gerancio Galacia is to my > right (having come in where Bingo vanished with his AT losing to AJ), > and he goes all in for about T500. I also go all in. Lee Jone's wife(? > sorry I forgot your name), who is playing in her first tournament, also > calls and Gerancio and I don't feel too good as Lee said that when she > gets into a hand she usually has the goods. We turn up our hands and > they look like: > > Meeee: Ad Qd Gerancio: Jh Jd LJWife: Ac 7c > > The flop comes something like Ah Th 3d and I am looking good. I've got > Gerancio out-paired and LJWife out-kicked. The turn brings another > heart, doing nothing for LJWife but giving Gerancio a flush draw. And > then for the river we get the 7h, making Gerancio's flush and giving > LJWife a second pair. I go from first to last, from trippling thru to > the rail. > > The rail was a good place to be, however. First I got to watch Ploink > and Patty playing backgammon. Then Sam Paik, Linda Johnson and a > couple of ohers were playing bridge. And then there was poker. Boy, > was there poker. What a table: > > Lee Jones. Patri. Russel Rosenbloom. Abdul. Quick. Foldem. Darn, I > can't remember who else was at this table, but it was quite a collection > of poker talent. It was here that Russel made his precipitous drop to a > single $100.00 chip, not even enough to cover the small blind, followed > by his amazing rise back into contention and on to the final table. And > I got to watch it all. Something about silver linings comes to mind. > > My horses both did better than I, but busted out in the middle of the > tourney. Steven Markawitz got blinded down hand had to go in on a bad > hand. I heard that Monte had a pocked pair and got all in when the > board came up three of a kind, but lost to Qx when a queen came on the > river. > > It gets down to 2 tables and there are still two golfers in the > tourney. Robert Hwang and Oz are both still there, and Oz is doing > rather well. I kick myself for not having bought either of them at the > calcutta. When it gets down to one player, Oz is the chip leader. > > Oz's demize has been well reported, but here is a word from this > reporter. Oz had Russel set up for the killing, and turned over his > kings against Russel's all-in queens. But Russel hits the two outer on > the river, and Oz is crippled. Instead of having 80% of the chips and > an almost sure first place, he's left with 8%. Oz busts out shortly > after that when his hand is the underdog. > > The rest of the story you know, so I'll stop here. The tourney ened at > 4:00, and the banquet wasn't until 8:00. Hmmm, why couldn't the rounds > have been a bit longer? > > > Saturday, August 7th. The banquet: > > Between the tourney and the banquet, I hang out with Tony Goldstein. > We chat, and finally both of us needs food. He treats me to fries at > Terrible Mike's. WTG Tony! Then I watched him play in the half > omaha/half holdem pot limit game with Patri, Mellisa, Traz (a young guy > who plays on IRC and was in the Omaha tourney with me), Paul Hodash, > Peter Caldes, and whoever else that I can't remember. It was a > fascinating game to watch. > > (Note: sometime before this Bruce Kramer bought me an oatmeal-raisin > cookie. He also gave me a piece of his white-chocolate-chip cookie, > which was better than mine. WTG Bruce!) > > At the banquet I sat with Jay "bad beat jackpot" Johnston and Martin > Maughn We each got lots of rolls. I offered to make a deal for the last > roll, but they insisted that I take it. WTG guys! Dinner was good. > Sexton about put me to sleep, though. > > After the banquet I am hoping to join the group going downtown, but due > to my stupidity of booking a flight out at 1:00am, I was unable to do > so. I make a note not to do this next year. I did get a look at Beth > in here toga, and she looked great! I was also there to hear Lee Jones > take in $3.00 listening to bad beat stories. WTG Lee! Quick told one > which lasted forever, and Oz told his, and I can't remember who the > other one was. In the middle of this Steve Brecher described a couple > of hands involving Patri at the pot limit game. > > Sager and Sabyl are in the poker room, and we start talking. I tell > them I've got up to $15.00 to pay for a ride to the airport. It seems > that they are going over to the Sahara, and if I can go to the airport > on their schedule, then they can give me a ride. Of course they > wouldn't even consider taking any money for it. This makes up for my > bad beat on the way over from the airport. > > Sunday, August 8th. The End. > > I had a great time. Thanks to Mike and Chuck and everyone else I met > and didn't meet. Hopefully I'll get to know everyone next year. > > David (Meeee) Aronson > > P.S. As I said on numerous occasions during the trip, I don't come to > BARGE for the poker, I come for the people. Both Ming Lee and Mike > Sager asked about my brother, and neither of them had seen or heard from > him in over two years. How cool is that?