Subject: Trip report - ESCARGOT day 1 From: "sloshr" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Fri, Feb 8, 2002 4:03 AM Message-ID: Sorry if this is duplicated, but my computer crashed when I was writing a long report and I dont know if it was posted, so I will make a shorter one with the important details. Most importantly, congratulations to ADV Beth, who won her first tournament, the ESCARGOT ROE tourney! Dan L. came in 2nd, Ralph S. in 3rd, and Frank J. (PacPalBuzz), who insisted that I report 4 places, came in 4th. In the Bike Nooner tournament (stud hi-lo), JP came in 2nd. I lasted though about halfway in both. I did not have as good a day as yesterday. I lost in the regular games and the CHORSEL game (though I had a lot of fun in that one) and then had a problem in an omaha game that resulted in an argument with a floorman and conversation with the shift manager. I still enjoyed myself and was happy to see my new friends again and meet even more people. I met many people today, most memorably John Vorhaus (one of my favorite writers), Gavin, ADV Beth, Nissman, Random Stu, Big John, MadMary, Andrew, and too many others to mention. We had the most fun table of the tournament with the constant talking and drinking among myself, Peter (ADB Foldem) and Gavin. Despite the losing and the problems, I am still having a great time and am looking forward to tomorrow. But, as it is 4:00 am now, I must go to sleep. Scott Subject: Trip report - ESCARGOT day 2 From: "sloshr" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Sat, Feb 9, 2002 3:56 AM Message-ID: <08898.7536$xK6.1690547@typhoon3.we.ipsvc.net> I'm sure people are waiting for my 4a.m. report, so here it is. Congratulations to Nolan H for winning the ESCARGOT limit hold-em tournament, representing team SoCal and getting even with our rivals up north. 2nd went to Kirk O, 3rd to Gavin S, 4th to Steve Pierce, 5th to MadMary, and an odds-defying 6th place to me. I was actually in great position with a 3-way 5 percent swap with Gavin and Foldem. 2 of us made the final table and Peter was sweating his horses for beer money. We might have done better if Gavin didn't get rivered by Nolan in a huge pot, ending his run. Mary hurt my run by calling my bluff on a QTxxx board with 3 diamonds when she had AT near the start of the final table. After the tourney, several guys led by Bill C went to play 17 card chinese poker. Believe me, you don't want to know what that game is. I met some more friends today, including Joan, Nolan, Chuck H, Michael S (who I had seen around at bridge tournaments but didn't really know), and others who I am forgetting to mention due to the late hour. Several of the people I met 2 days ago are seeming like old friends already, meaning I will have to go to more of these events. We played more CHORSEL, 4-8 this time, and it seems like lowball is my game, though I never get a chance to play it. I didn't arrive until late afternoon, so I didn't play much outside the tournament, making it a roughly break even day. Time to go to sleep. I am looking forward to tomorrow. Scott Subject: Trip report - ESCARGOT day 3 From: "sloshr" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Sun, Feb 10, 2002 10:08 PM Message-ID: I know, I am a day late with this, but I didnt go home last night, having too much fun. Congratulations to ADB Ploink for winning the NLHE match play event and giving SoCal 2 out of 3! Nolan H, fresh off his limit HE win, came in 2nd, and BLT (Betty) came in 3rd with an incredible run. In fact, her first 3 heads-up matches took a total of 12 hands to complete! I made it to heads-up against Fern C at our original table despite her giving me two beats for all of her chips earlier, but she finished me off when I tried a naked bluff into her 3 sixes. I still made it to the heads-up matches where I had a good back-and-forth match until we got all the chips in with my A-6 vs his A-A. The flop came 666, but then I woke up and realized I was out. I guess being the maniac can get you into trouble. But Fern later found out that playing slow can get you trouble too, when her A-A lost to Vincent W's 7-2 with me spectating. I was able to recover almost all of my losses and costs for the week in a 6-12 omaha game when I flopped the nut flush in a kill pot and a crazy local decided he would cap the betting on every round with his nut low and was rewarded with 1/6 of a gigantic pot. I met a few new people today including Fern, Vincent, Paul P (who is killing them at Commerce this week), and Melissa R (the editor of Poker Digest). I definitely enjoyed the crowd at ESCARGOT and hope to be able to make it to BARGE and to next year's ESCARGOT. The banquet was great with John Vorhaus as the guest speaker. He was great! Definitely the funniest poker writer/speaker I've seen. PacPalBuzz was nice enough to teach me the general strategy of Chowaha in a practice game at dinner. He folded almost every hand and told all of us that the secret to the game is to play very selectively. I later tried the World Chowaha Championship, and within the first few hands Buzz raised my blind UTG with 5-3 suited. Thanks for the lessons Buzz. Anyway, despite never playing the game before, I made the final table and finished 6th. I then watched a classic all-ADB final with Foldem beating Ploink in a hard fought match that could easily gone either way. Congratulations to both of them, especially Foldem for being the Chowaha champion. Thanks to everyone for showing me a great time this weekend. Special thanks to Foldem for letting me crash on his hotel room couch last night rather than having to go home at 3:30 am. I hope to see everyone again soon. Scott