From: Ron Grossberg
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 02:42:02 -0400
Subject: [BARGE] BARGE 2016 Trip Report

I didn't take notes, so this is my recollection.  Dates and events may be
mixedup and or completely fictionalized, though it is not my intention to
mislead. Reader be warned.

Sunday - Flew in. Good seatmates, uneventful. Flew on Delta, no problems,
even got free movies. Took "Uber" to Orleans. It was driven by my female
friend who I met back at EMBARGO. I offered to pay for the trip, but she
told me the trip was free though I had to take her out to Hugo's for
dinner. I guess there is no such thing as a free lunch. Pretty much went
straight to bed.

Monday - CeeMeck and I took our time getting up and packed. We took our
luggage with us and walked across the street to the Absynian Ethiopian
restaurant. I thought the appetizer was delicious and the rest of the food
was acceptable. Then we Uber'd downtown and tried to check into the Four
Queens. Our room wasn't ready, so we checked bags and went to Binions.
Hopped into a HORSE game and lost a rack or two. Cashed out and played in
the 6 Max shootout. I was the 3rd person to bust at my very hard table.

Tuesday - Ended up skipping the Lotus outing. :( I played more HORSE and
won a few racks. Then went to play the 26 game mix. At the first break, I
was down to 1.5 bb but coming back from break, my table was going into
Razzdugi. Within 20 minutes of the restart of play, I had over t60,000 or
roughly 20% of the chips in play. Carried that stack to the final table
hours later. The final table saw my stack go up and down like a roller
coaster. I made a good laydown against Gerdog even thought he math said I
should call. It left me crippled, but I got it all in a few times and held
and/or got lucky and made it to HU against Chris Quam, a virgin BARGEr. We
got the Hold'em and I took 80% of his stack when I made a flush against his
straight, but I wasn't able to get it all in and over the next 30-45
minutes he ground me down across a variety of Omaha and Stud variants. He
was by far the superior mix game player and deserved the win which he got.
I had a late meal at Magnolia's with Scottro and I "won" CCR.

Wednesday - Woke up and went to Hash House A Go Go. Never ate there
before.  It was fine, but I'm not much of a breakfast person. The food was
plentiful. I tried to make it work to meet up with my Ubergirl, but our
schedules didn't work out that day. Went back to Binion's and was first to
sit at a table. I decided to revive a game I learned at BARGE a few years
ago and enjoyed: Inception. It took a little arm twisting, but I got a
table full of BARGErs and one local to try it. Unfortunately, as soon as I
would explain the rules/procedure to the dealer and they would deal the
hand, the dealer was then replaced by a new dealer. I'm not sure what was
up with that, but we went though 4 dealers in 4 hands which really slowed
it down. Once we got a dealer for an entire 30 minutes, it went smoothly
and people really enjoyed it.  I really enjoyed it too, to the tune of 4
racks. It warmed my heart to see this game that I revived spread throughout
BARGE this year like a virus. It became very popular very fast and I think
it was played every day for the rest of the week. I had to leave the game
around 3pm to make sure the Four Queens Pizza/Brewpub was ready for the
Virgin meet and greet. They did a fine job of providing food and drink and
we had 20 or 21 attendees with about 40% virgins. Couldn't have asked for a
better result. (There were 31 registered virgins, but some never showed up
and others only came on the last day). After the meet and greet, I headed
over to Binions to play in the lowball/2-7 tournament. I had a great table
draw with Kenny Shei, Derron Brod, David Aronson, and Chris Mecklin.
Everyone kicked my ass. I couldn't make a good hand and when I did, I got
pipped. When I tried to snow, I got looked up. Even CeeMeck punished my by
forcing me to fold my 77643 and then gleefully showed his pair of 8s. When
you don't make hands, you bust out quickly. I was one of the first people
out. I decided to hang out with JP who also had an early exit from the
tournament and he crushed me for over 200 points in open face Chinese poker
until we finally quit playing around 3am and went home.

Thursday - Made it just in time for CHORSE. My first couple of levels, I
couldn't get any hands, so I just did a lot of folding. On the third round,
I made my moves and accumulated a lot of chips, but it wasn't enough for us
to move forward to the final table. I met my Uber driver for coffee at
Starbucks. At least I was able to smooth things over and show that I wanted
to spend time with her, even though I was busy playing with all my other
friends. Then it was time for the Pot Limit Omaha. I had a little more
success in this tournament, but Doug Grismore busted me when I got it all
in with KK92 double suited against his AAxx non-suited. Hung out for a
while and tried a new herbal candy. It didn't help me and turns out to not
be my thing. I played the Crazy Pineapple, but I was just tired and out of
it. Had fun, but didn't get near the bubble. Went to bed early.

Friday - Woke up early for the Fun Run. Had 8 participants in total. Shout
out to the originals who keep coming back each year:  Deadhead, David
Lawful, Joe Long, QB, Mickdog. Fruchter and one of the virgins joined us
(Can't remember...was it Blair Rodman or John Campbell?) I ran one mile.
Lawful ran two. Everyone else ran three. After a shower, I had breakfast
with Bingo, Mickdog, and Deadhead. Then we went to the TOC. This is my
favorite event, but alas, I'm still having bad luck and just can't get
enough traction to go deep.  Busted out just after the first break. Played
more inception or horse. Went to Binons steakhouse with a bunch of the
Donkeys and burned off over $100 in comps.  The food was OK and the service
sucked. Missed the start of the the Ante Only second chance Tournament.
Chris Kluchman was kind enough to let me register for the last open spot in
the tournament until they could get a second table going. Once they did get
the second table going, I got moved there. Dean Kerl shows up on my left.
He folds the first hand he is dealt and then busts to me on the second when
he gets KK to my AA. I eliminated a few other players and soon am back at
the first/final table. I tried really hard to eliminate Lew because I knew
I'm competing with her for crunchypoints, but even though we got it all in
twice, she sucked out. Then we got it all in when she had me covered and I
didn't suckout. IGHN in 3rd place, but it is a cash. Not quite ready for
bed, I go to Dupar's with a bunch of donkeys. I make $25 playing some
chinese pai gow variant. I also end up losing CCR and the last longer so my
$5 slice of pie ends up costing me $105. Fuck me.

Saturday - Woke up ready to play some Poker. I collected as many virgin
last longer participants money as I could. I once again liked my starting
table, but lost half my stack to Blair Rodman when I overplayed KJ vs. his
AQ. I nursed my short stack lower and lower before doubling up with a big
pair vs. a smaller pair. Then went back to short stack before shoving it
all in with JJ and getting called from a blind with AA. IGHN before the
first break, I think. I just couldn't connect with any of the flops. Sucks
when that happens. Played some cash, took the photo, fetched Becca a
Sprite. Couldn't make the Ubergirl's schedule work today. Hung out and lost
some money playing cash. Then went to the banquet. I was a bit underwhelmed
by the speech, but I usually am so don't read into it. Then went down and
played reindeer games. My first table wasn't very fun for me. I busted two
racks on various omaha games which I didn't like and Klaus the dealer
wasn't very cooperative with us when it came to making game switching
decisions, etc. I went to a different table and played some HORSE, but they
were playing straight RAZZ which wasn't much fun either. I lost two racks
there also. Finally I quit an railed the NL final table. I watched the
Virgins take 2 of the 3 last longer bets and distributed as much of the $$$
as I could and then watched Redbird take it down. Big hugs for my friend. I
go to Magnolia's with Scottro and Bob Jones. It is nice to catch up with
them.

Sunday - I play some Inception while the dealer tournament is going on.
DCK, Mav, and Jared all crush me on various hands and I lose a couple more
racks. I suck at poker. I catch a ride with Ron Nutt and Grizz to the
Goldman hangover party. Fell asleep there for a little bit too. Lost two
buyins in LCR and enjoyed some bourbons and company. Caught a ride back to
downtown with Lew and CeeMeck. Messaged Ubergirl and she eventually met me
for ice cream from Lapperts. We sat in the California and talked for a few
hours and had to call it after midnight. She invited me over to her place,
but being the idiot that I am, declined thinking it would be too
complicated to get my luggage from the room I was sharing with CeeMeck,
etc. I *AM* an idiot. I wasn't ready to sleep, so I go the Golden Nugget
and plan to play a hit and run session of NLHE. That doesn't work well as I
lose my stack on two hands AQ v. AK and the Bob (888) vs. a flush. I go to
bed around 3am.

Monday - CeeMeck wakes up early and checks out. I wake up later and slowly
get my act together kicking myself for not waking up in a different bed. I
grab some hobo stew from the Binion's deli and make my way over to the
Golden Nugget. DCK is playing the small buyin tournament. Its in late reg
and he convinces me to buy in. I get seated on his left. He is the only
active player. I fold a bunch and then I pick up AA in the SB. Folded to
DCK who....folds. FUCK. I raise and BB folds. Then I get moved to the other
table. Just before the break, I double up when I get it all in with AK vs.
QQ. I spike a K on the turn and eliminate the other player. Now I have as
many chips as DCK. I go on a heater and take out a few more players after
the break. Then the cocktail waitress spills a drink down my back. We get
moved to the final table and I'm still wet. The loud drunk lady on my left
who has been drinking at a Monte pace is now on my right. She pushes DCK
around and goes all in when a 3 flush shows up and he folds. This gives her
a lot of chips. So many, in fact, that she now has me covered. Now she gets
it in with me. I make another set of 888 and she goes all in on the river
which brings a 3 flush. I call and she shows the flush. I'm crippled to 1.5
bb. Go all in on my BB and though I have the best hand with T4 against DCK
and the lady, one of them rivers me and IGHN.  I sit down with Un at a
tightish 2-4 LHE table. First hand, I get birthday and pull a nice pot with
flopped two pair. Soon after that, it gets ugly. I get the table
loose...very loose. Now I'm getting called down to the river by 5, 6, even
7 players. Unfortunately for me, I get KK cracked and in continuing the
streak of bad luck, I get AK 4 times and it loses each time. I lose two
racks before calling it quits. I go for a walk around downtown and also
hangout in Binions for a bit. No one playing cash, the room is dead. I
can't play the tournament because I have dinner scheduled with Ubergirl.
The tournament looks super juicy as they are down to 5 players at the break
and it pays two spots. UGH.

I meet the girl and we go to Hugo's. I've never eaten there before. It is
really good. All my food was delicious and the service was awesome. For
just a little more than the binion's steakhouse, this is by far the better
choice. Eventually it is time for my flight, so Ubergirl drives me to the
airport and we both decry the poor planning in our schedules and my stupid
decision the night before which prevents us from ever making the beast with
two backs this trip. However, not all is lost. I get to the airport with
plenty of time to go through TSA. My TSA screener is extra happy to give me
a pat down and in fact, he does a double check of my crotch from both the
back and the front, so I ended up getting some action after all. He also
was wearing dirty gloves because he left a long streak of black grime on my
shorts leg which bothered me way more than I thought it would. I even took
a picture of it if anyone cares (hint:  you don't). I slept on both flights
home, but both flights were also inordinately warm/hot. As far as I know, I
didn't have a fever, it was just warm. I got home and started catching up
on work, but I was exhausted. Did a load of laundry and picked up some
Chinese food because I was too tired even to cook. Ate some food while the
clothes were in the dryer and lay down in bed around 5pm just waiting for
the dryer to stop so I could take out the clothes and go to bed. That never
happened because I closed my eyes and the next thing I know, it is 7am on
Wednesday. Whee!

Even with all the cash game and CCR losses, I ended up with more money than
I started with.

Best BARGE Evah!




Thanks,

Ron Grossberg
Palmetto Legal Gophers
PO Box 6108
Columbia, SC 29260
www.palmettolegalgophers.com
803-216-1621 x700