Subject: FARGO "Rookie" Trip Report (Long and potentially boring - you've been warned...:-)
From: stevezang@yahoo.com (Steve)
Date: 18 Oct 2001 12:15:52 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker

First off, I'd like to thank the entire FARGO group - I enjoyed
playing with everyone and had a fantastic time. Since I came in late
Friday and my sister and her husband came down from Boston on Saturday
afternoon with my 1.5 year old nephew, I didn't have a chance to meet
as many of you as I would have liked but hope to do so at future rgp
events.

The grand plan on Friday (after sleeping in my car - LI golf nuts will
understand) was to play Bethpage Black in the morning and then
straight off to Foxwoods.  Unfortunately, office duties could not be
avoided in the afternoon so I ended up having the additional pleasure
of a five hour twenty minute car ride from midtown NYC.  A must pit
stop is normally made in New Haven as I call ahead 30 minutes or so to
Frank Pepe's or Sally's to place a takeout pizza order. 
Unfortunately, Pepe's was backed up an hour and a half ! (only whole
pies at these great pizza joints, no slices) and I couldn't get
through to Sally's so I just kept going.  I arrived at Foxwoods the
same time as my old college roommate Andrew Richman who had flown into
Providence from DC.  We played some 4-8 hold'em to get warmed up for
the tournament before going to bed.  We passed on the Fri. night FARGO
events to save our ammo for the perceived easier ring games.

The highlight of the weekend was playing in the hold'em tournament.  I
didn't do any research on the newsgroup so I didn't know the various
player reputations Ð I already knew going in I had the least
experience and I figured I didn't need to scare myself.  If memory
serves me correctly, I (1 seat) had Llew and Jaeger at my table to
start.  I would classify my play as weak-tight and spent most of the
beginning rounds folding.  Then, Raydon (10 seat) joined the table and
Llew and Jaeger made some noises about his coming to the table on
their left and not being too happy about this development Ð I soon
found out why.  My newbie status was known at the table and Ray, after
christening me the "Rookie", started taking my blinds with regularity.
 Jaeger casually informed me that all I needed to do was come over the
top of Ray and that he always folds.  Hmmm... not sure I believed that
 [:-)] I wondered if Jaeger was sorry to see so many of my chips going to
Ray instead Ð I folded most of my hands to Jaeger whenever we were in
a hand together so he definitely was taking his share.  In any event,
I loosened up a bit and started re-raising Ray when I had something
reasonable in my blinds and he did fold a few times.  I wasn't
stealing enough blinds in late position or protecting my blinds enough
from Ray so my stack was dwindling slowly as the rounds went on.  Joan
eventually joined our table.  I'm not sure if I was in on a hand with
her but I do remember looking up while in a hand and having Joan
looking right at me and seeming to know what I was playing.  I was
nervous about giving away my hand  (I felt I had a number of tells
that people were picking up on) so I tried not to talk too much or
look at anyone whenever I was in on the hand.  This was quite
difficult with Ray since he'd be asking me about my hand, how I felt
about it, was I feeling lucky, did I have face card,  etc.  I don't
think he was taking it easy on me at table although he did call from
the small blind one or two times and that seemed out of character.  In
any case, I heard enough table talk to fold to Ray when the flop came
ragged.  I can't remember what Llew busted out on and Ray took out
Joan later which brought a big cheer.  I was able to extend my stay in
the game when I got pocket rockets versus someone's pocket Kings and
busted him out.  Our table finally broke up and although I was having
a really good time at the table, I was relieved pokerwise to get away
from both Jaeger and Ray (never knew what they were playing with) and
having to debate when to protect my blinds or not. Of course, after
taking my seat at the new table, Ray happily came to the same table
and sat on my right and picked up where he left off.  My stack was
doing its normal decline from folding often and not enough
stealing/protecting blinds.  Eventually, I wound up on the big blind
with pocket rockets for the 2nd time in the tournament.  There was one
call and Ray raised from the small blind.  I was really nervous
because I felt this was my best opportunity to win a big pot with
potentially two other players.  I reraised the same amount and the
other person folded.  Ray, after commenting on my silly limit size
raises, turned to me and casually asked if I had a pair.  I nearly
blurted out something stupid, like, "uh, I have pocket aces" but  I
just meekly replied that he'd have to pay to find out.  Thinking I had
given away my hand, I was relieved that he reraised me and then I went
all in.  Ray turned over pocket queens and thankfully, no queen fell. 
That beat left Ray short stacked at the table and I was soon moved to
the other remaining table.  Ray was definitely sorry to see me and my
funds go.  At the new table, I took a check of the various stacks at
both tables and saw that I was short stacked and needed to start
winning a few hands soon Ð this was something that Andrew taught me as
I really had no knowledge of tournament tactics (he learned this from
playing a marginal hand and busting out just before getting in the
money at our previous Foxwoods trip - sorry andrew :-)).  I had
Russell to my left and another huge stack on my right.  Russell asked
me where I was from and then if I played at all in New York (I guess
my inexperience hadn't made the full rounds yet although my play was
soon transparent from the various comments such as "hey, he's
loosening up, he's now playing pocket queensÉ").  After folding
straight through a few rounds, I finally caught AK and bet it.  The
big stack to my right forced me to go all in and Russell to my left
after having called me decided not to play. He got some good natured
guff from the other players for not staying in the hand Ð he explained
to me later there was no reason for him to come in and let me get back
in the game with a possible win over two bettors Ð sounded sensible
enough, especially when I ended up having aces full over kings.  I
could have used one of them later when the big stack to my right
busted me out when my AK didn't get help and his 9 something paired up
after another few rounds of folding.  Good luck (two hands with pocket
aces)and decent play had placed me 12th which I was very happy with.

I ran off after the tournament to spend time with my sister.  I caught
up with Ray later that night and he was surprised to learn I busted
out right after him (well, I didn't have anyone to pick on once he
busted out  [;-)] .  After my sister left that night, I made it to the
hospitality suite to drop off some alcohol which I had been planning
to do the prior night Ð I think Art S, Mike K, and Al M were there but
I just poured myself a drink and went back down to play some more. 
There were a few hands in the ring game to note.  1) Andrew raised
with 26o on the button and ran down a player with KK in the big blind
Ð only significance to this bad beat was that I was in the small blind
and the big blind told me to protect my blind against my friend. 
Didn't feel that this was a very sporting gesture when he reraised
behind me.  2) Saw Victor L get his AA sucked out by a low gutshot
straight (draw on turn, made on the river) after the guy took two bets
cold preflop (after Victor reraised my QQ) and raised the flop after
Victor bet out Ð well played, sir.  3)  Andrew made a hand with an 8
on the river to beat me and another guy and we discussed a bit about
checking the hand down if we were ever heads up.  Sure enough, a few
hands later I'm in the small blind with pocket 8s and bet the flop
with 89T on the board.  After getting the case 8 on the turn, I check
to Andrew (we're now heads up) who bets out.  I give him a strange
look and raise.  River comes and I once again check and he bets out
(made his straight).  I give him another look and raise (now hoping
he'll reraise me the bastard :-)).  My play started to deteriorate
from there Ð don't know how the rest of the FARGO crowd can keep
concentrating for so long Ð I'm wiped out and go to bed around 1am.

Stud Tournament

I've only played low limit stud a handful of times while waiting for a
hold'em game and had never played before in a stud tournament.  Uncle
Al and Jazbo were sitting one and two to my left respectively and were
kind enough to give me some pointers.  After raising the bring in bet
out of ignorance whenever I played, Uncle Al casually mentioned I
could just call.  With all the friendly advice I had been receiving
throughout both tournaments, I felt guilty about having sneaking
suspicions that there were ulterior motives lurking behind the help. 
In any case, I didn't have any feel for the game but Uncle Al's
pointer on stealing the antes with a good scare card worked well since
Jazbo had an inordinate amount of bring ins. Of course, Uncle Al made
sure to give me a complete lesson when he (with pocket kings) stomped
me when I attempted to steal again. One time, Jazbo tried to raise his
bring in bet after me and another person called.  Needless to say,
both of us checked and folded to him on the next round of betting, and
the veterans at the table remarked that if they didn't know Jazbo so
well, they would have thought his attempt to raise a great ploy as
opposed to an honest mistake.  Although I was holding steady with my
stack, there was a part of me that wanted to get back to playing the
hold'em ring game before having to drive back to NYC (that's my alibi
and I sticking to it) so I started playing trash and Uncle Al
mercifully busted me out with enough time left in the afternoon to
play hold em.  I ended the weekend recovering my tournament fees at
the ring games but I had way more fun getting poker lessons and
listening to the various FARGO players at the tournaments.

Mercifully, the drive back to NYC went fast without much traffic Ð
again, no luck with stopping in New Haven for pizza.

I have limited knowledge of the game and the players and I did not
take notes so this is my advance apology for any misrepresentations
above.  I don't recall any bad suck outs Ð I played fairly tight so I
don't think this happened much if at all Ð I don't recall any "well
played, sirs" coming my way.  Thanks again to Bill and Joan for
organizing Ð looking forward to next year's event.

Steve