Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 23:48:06 -0800 From: Ken Kubey Subject: [BARGE] QB's 2016 EMBARGO Trip Report My fifth EMBARGO. "Big Money! No Whammies!" Thursday, January 28th ---------------------------- I have a big suitcase. I must have room for all the trophies an bust out gifts. Ha! Kristina and Taylor the Dog drop Sandi and me off at SJC. Sandi and I play 5-draw and blackjack on the flight down. We plan to take an airport shuttle. $10 each now? I talk Sandi into a cab to the Plaza. $40 including tip. Yeesh. Sandi has a comped room at the Plaza. The room is so much better than when I last stayed there in 2005. Way nicer than the Four Queens. Not as nice as the Golden Nugget. I head over the Binion's at about 11:30 p.m. to get my badge and check out the action. Rich B. eventually finds my badge. I watch Linda Llew win the Thursday tournament. Two in a row for the ladies after Jennifer's BARGE NL win. Get a club sandwich to go for Sandi and me and head back to the room. Friday, January 29th ---------------------------- We finish off the club sandwich for breakfast. Sandi leaves early to go play slots and then BINGO at the Plaza. I head over to the GN to cash in Sandi's bet on the Warriors from last year. I won't let her bet on them this year at freakin' even-money. I'm kind of hungry. McDonald's at the D. Get two McDoubles for $2 planning to have one and save the 2nd. Make the executive decision to eat the 2nd one on the spot so I won't have to lug it around. --- Time for the World Chowaha Championship. Each player gets two cards and must play two from the hand and three cards from the boards. Boards? 3 flops, 2 turns, one river. Final boards look like this: F1 F1 F1 T1 F2 F2 F2 R T2 F3 F3 F3 Turn 1 can be used with the top or middle flop. Turn 2 can be used with the bottom or middle flop. River can be used with any flop. Got it? No? Good. Around the table: David Low, Kenny S., JZK, Me, Chuck H., Eric R., Ron Nutt, Gillian. My lucky waitress Rochelle is on the scene. Table discussion about Scotch, $2 bills, sissy drinks, etc. JZK likes my BARGE dice. He claims he didn't know that I had them made many years ago. Anyway, I tell him that I have more in the room and he can buy a pair on Saturday for $7. David looks at the board at the next table and asks if he can use his cards from the last hand at that table. "Table Lag." Text from Sandi: "BINGO!! $160!!!" I'm doing okay as the table breaks. New table: Me, Mickdog, Dan, Chuck H., JZK, Paul Z., Jeanne, Becca and Doug G. Random comment dept. >From a female to another player: "Can I get a selfie with your butt?" JZK has some tough puzzles. Little metal pieces you have to put together or take apart. Zircon the dealer suggests using pliers and a hammer. We laugh about that. Later, Mickdog says "Big Money!" Dan is half a second faster than me replying with "No Whammies!" Next table: Scott S., Gerdog (no relation to Mickdog), Ben, Larry, Nutt, Bremmer, Me and Ryan. Random comment dept. "Hootie and the Blofeld." Text from Sandi: "BINGO!! Winner again! $120!!!!" I raise with JJ. Joe 3-bets. Ron N. calls all-in from the BB (I think.) Joe doesn't have a lot more so I 4-bet him all-in. Ron has 65s. Joe has QJs. Same suit. That's good for me. Ron's 65s wins the main pot, but my JJ holds up to knock out Joe. He gives me a Colorado shot glass as a bust out gift. Notes are getting a little sketchy after many visits from Rochelle. Sandi texts that she's having a bloody Mary. I bust Samarel out when my 33 in the blind flops a set. Oh, Mickdog had raised preflop. It was a 4-way pot. I bet right out when I flopped the 3. If I had gotten cute and had checked the flop, Mickdog would have hit trip jacks on the turn. Glad I didn't slowplay. I take out David Lawful's KK with AJ when I flop two jacks in the middle. David gives me a choice of bust out gifts. Either a BCC chip (I already have a bunch of those from Russ Fox) or a wooden "Good For One Drink" token that expired in 2008. I go for the wooden token. David Low offers us a slice of pizza. I refuse saying: "It might cut into my buzz." The dealer Rene laughs pretty hard at that. I tip him a buck. Suddenly we are at the final table! Ron, Ben, Dean, Mecklin, Tony, Me, Beirman, Diana and Bingo. Were Dean and Bingo at every final table? As I'm writing the names, I notice that we all have an "N" in our names. I mention this to my table mates. No one cares, Kubey. Larry and Ron go out. We agree on a $60 bubble save for 7th place. Sandi hits a $75 jackpot on a quick hit slot. Dean, Tony and Ben go out. I think Diana and Mecklin were doing most of the damage. Hmm... 4th place is $400. I'm getting a little low on chips. Around here I try to steal Diana's blind with Q5. She 3-bets. Oh no. I have to see the flops getting 5-1. Flop a 5 on one and a Q on another. I hit a miracle Q on the right turn card and win a big pot. Massive pot develops with Diana, Mecklin and Bingo involved. Diana 55. Mecklin 88. Bingo 44. All three of them flop sets, but Diana's set is on a board that pairs 7s giving her a full house. Mecklin is pretty unlucky here as he had the best hand on the flops. Bingo is busted in 4th for the 2nd tournament in a row. I win the ADB last-longer. A whole $30! I think Chris Mecklin was still alive after that pot, but he went out in 3rd soon after. Diana has me out-stacked about 5-1 or worse. Could it be a 3rd tournament win in a row for the ladies? She is super nice and even suggests a deal where we split the 1st and 2nd prize money evenly, but she gets the trophy. I've never won a BARGE or EMBARGO tournament, so I have to turn down the sure $110 extra for a shot at the World Champion title. We wish each other luck and play on. The chips go back and forth. I'm grinding away a little when the big hand comes up... I raise with A4, Diana 3-bets with AK. There's a K on one flop for her, but two 4s on a different flop for me. I double up on this hand and then the cards really go my way. I make a Q-high straight with Q9 while Diana makes a J-high straight with J-7. That was an important hand too. I think I had KQs on the final hand to beat Diana's KT on a K-high board. I tossed the dealer my last seven toke chips. Holy crap! I'm World Chowaha Champion! Diana and I pose for a pic with out trophies. I lost track of how many 7&7s I had during the 6-hour tournament. 12 maybe? I get paid $935 in chips for first place. I think most people know that I'm a first-rate cheapskate, but I was overwhelmed with BARGE spirit and tipped $100. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone for $60 to $80, but I don't regret it much. If I have to throw away money, it should go to Binion's or Binion's dealers and waitresses. --- Patrick wants to go to the Carson Kitchen. Diana, Peter, Bingo and I walk like a mile to this place. We have to wait upstairs for a table. I bought a round of drinks. Rich Strauss joined us late. The food is great. Tacos, meatballs, mac and cheese, tater tots, some lamb dish. I know these sound like simple dishes, but they were really, really good. Good call Patrick! We walk up Fremont street on the way back. Man, the whole street is rockin' and crowded the entire way. I think I managed to get Bingo to skip one cigarette. A small victory. --- Nap time for all good mice. Saturday, January 30th ---------------------------- Sandi and I go to Hash House A Go Go. We share some monster dish with fried chicken on top of bacon and eggs and cheese on top of potatoes. Sandi is off to play BINGO at 11:00 a.m. Two more BINGOs for $120 each! --- No-Limit hold'em tournament. I'm at a table near the rail and near the doors. No one else is at the table, so I don't want to leave any of my stuff there. The dealer and other players start to show up around 10:40. Gillian is across the table and says "Hi GamboMouse!" I say hi back. Then hold up the mouse and say "Hi Gillian!" in a high-pitched voice as I help Gambo clap his hands. JZK comes by to buy a pair of BARGE dice. At first I want him to pay with some of his $2 bills. Then I agree to just take 7 $1 chips. As good as cash to me. Around here, GamboMouse goes missing. I check my jacket pockets. I check my ABC bag. I check my pants pockets. I check the floor. Over the next half hour, I check all of these things again about four or five more times. I ask Russ to make an announcement and he is happy to do it. Oh gosh, I'll try to play poker now. --- Around the table: PeteZa, Mecklin, David Low, Me, Samarel, Chuck H., Russ, Jeanne and Gillian. Rochelle delivers my first 7&7. I tip her $10. I'm getting nowhere in this tournament. I steal the blinds with 99 and AJ. Raise with AQs and fold when the board comes out all small cards. I get lucky hitting trip Ks against Scott on one hand, but otherwise, I'm just sitting there folding away. We do more searching for GamboMouse. The people at my table convince me to report this to Binion's security. I'm still hoping it is just a prank, but after 90 minutes the reality that some local or tourist grabbed GamboMouse to take home to a kid is really sinking in. Very sad. We have other mice at home, but only three have been to ARG events and Sandi now only approves of two of them going to Vegas. This one has been with us for 14 or 15 years. Sigh. After about 2 hours, Jeanne raises UTG to about 1100. Pete calls. Pete has been playing quite tight. I look down at 88. I only have about 8000 of my starting 15K stack. I'm pretty sure Jeanne will give up anything below Group I, and I think Pete probably has something like AJs or 44. Let's blow them out of this pot. I jam all-in. Now Scott goes into the tank. Oh hell. He has a lot of chips and probably has me beat. He folds! Whew. Jeanne folds. Pete calls quickly. Oh no. Oh, he "only" has AKo. I'm slightly ahead. Scott mentions that he folded the best hand, JJ. I think that's a reasonable fold. I could have QQ/KK/AA. And even if JJ is ahead of me, Jeanne or Pete could have a real hand. Flop K-J-X. Scott: "Now I really folded the best hand." No miracle 8 comes and I'm busted. Maybe the 5th or 6th out. I get a nice round of applause. I have to remember that you get more applause when you bust out early. I go report the theft to security. I fill out a form. The guy asks me to put a value on the stuffed animal. They seem to lose some interest when I put down $6. A security guy comes with me to see where things happened. Most of the players at the table get big smiles when they see me with the security guard who is snapping pictures. Go back to the room for a nap. --- Sandi and I were planning to go to Main Street for dinner, but neither one of us is that hungry. She sends me to Binion's for a cheeseburger. I need to get back before 6:30 so Sandi can get to her 7:00 BINGO session. I go to check on the tournament. Rochelle comes by and asks if I want a 7&7. Sure. I can wait 5 minutes. Rochelle comes back. She's forgotten my drink. LOL. She apologizes and promises to bring one on her next round. I tell her I'm in a little rush, I need to get a burger, blah, blah. She says she'll bring the 7&7 to the snack bar. Wow! Guy next to me says "The charge $1.25 for a slice of cheese." I explain that Sandi wants a cheeseburger. He immediately understands and approves my paying the extra $1.25 for a cheeseburger. Rochelle is nowhere to be found during the 15 minutes I wait at the snack bar. What sort of day from hell is this? Get the burger and there's Rochelle. She couldn't find me, but left the drink in a to-go plastic cup with my friends. Awesome. Back to the poker table... Ask about a drink. Everyone says Rochelle left one for Kenny. They are of course thinking of Kenny Shei. Once this is cleared up, I give someone (Dean?) the money for the tip he gave to Rochelle and the world is right again. Sandi and I share the awesome burger and potato salad back in the room. She rushes off for BINGO. I tell her I'll meet her in the BINGO room later and then we'll go to our show. Find her at 7:45. She hasn't hit a BINGO yet this session, so I'm on a free-roll. If she loses, it's just a bad session. If she wins, then I've brought her good luck. We are calling for number 7. It's a Seven! She hits a 2nd chance BINGO on the next to last game! $125. Oops, no, someone else has it too. $63. Well, that is more than she paid for this session, so she's happy and I *am* good luck. --- We head over the the Four Queens for the Elvis show. See Peter Secor playing video poker. They are happy to see each other. He tells Sandi about hitting a royal and then quad deuces twice the day before. Also winning at craps with Bingo. (the guy, not the game.) What a luckbox. Foreshadowing. Pretty inexpensive show. The usher gave us really good seats. I think because we were a little dressed up compared to some of the other folks who were in shorts and T-shirts. We had a good time. --- Sandi wants to play blackjack at Binion's. 6-to-5 on blackjacks. Sigh. We are at a really fun table. Two young guys in seats 1 and 2. Two young women in 3 and 4. Sandi in 5. Nice older guy in 6. I'm standing behind Sandi. Sandi is betting $5 to $7 a hand. 3rd base is betting $5 to $20. The guy in seat 2 is a wild bettor. Anywhere from $10 to $100. Nothing to do with the count. He looks a little like Ross from "Friends" so Sandi and I refer to him as Ross the rest of the time. He bets $100 after the shuffle. Blackjack! Everyone is thrilled. Of course I know Binion's just saved $30 by paying him $120 instead of the normal $150. Later, seat 6 gets a blackjack against an ace. There's some commotion. I think he should take even-money here. BJ will only pay $18. Even-money (taking insurance) will pay $15. He doesn't take insurance. Of course the dealer has a BJ for a push. Later I ask him about it. Oh! He can't take even-money because this is a stupid 6-5 table! We figure out that he could insure for $5 to guarantee a $10 win. I kind of think insuring a BJ vs. and ace makes a little more sense at a 6-5 table, but I'm probably wrong. Ross bets $50. Splits a pair, doubles after the splits. $200 out there. He gets two stiffs against the dealer 7. Sandi stays on a 16. Dealer has a 9 under. I say "We're live, we're live!" Dealer brings out the next card... an 8! She busts! The table goes nuts! Sandi finished with a $3 win. She was down $35 at one point after losing 9 of 10 hands, so we were pleased to get out ahead. --- About here I congratulated Linda Llew on her 2nd tournament win. Two for Llew. Sunday, January 31st ---------------------------- I pack up in about 10 minutes. See an e-mail from the mousenappers with their first demands. I'm happy to know that GamboMouse is alive and well. As I write, he is still being held. I hope this story ends with a Super Duper Squeak. Sandi suggests another club sandwich. Twist my arm. Diana gets the last hug of the trip when I spot her in coffee shop. Say "See ya later" to Rene at the empty poker room. He seems kind of sad to see me go. Sandi and I pack up, check out, and take the Plaza's FREE airport shuttle. Rain starts as we are waiting for our flight. Nice quick flight. Say hi to Ryan at the arrival gate. Kris and Taylor the Dog are there to pick us up. Taylor just loves Sandi and she is whimpering with excitement from the backseat as we load up the luggage. She goes totally nuts when we get in the car. Wagging her tail and licking Sandi's face. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Binion's for hosting EMBARGO once again. The poker staff, dealers and waitresses were great. Thanks to Connie and Mike for hosting the Sunday party. Sorry we couldn't make it. Amazingly, I only played the two poker tournaments. No regular poker, no slots, no craps. Weird. Thanks to the organizers for another great rec.gambling event. Oh, where the hell are my steak knives? -- 2016 World Chowaha Champion. Ken Kubey kenkubey@gmail.com