Subject: Russ' Marge Trip Report From: "Russell Fox" Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 03:35:01 GMT At Barge this past summer, several people bragged about how good the Gulf Coast version of this event (Marge) is. So I decided to see for myself. They weren't exaggerating. After uneventful flights from John Wayne via Houston (where I met Steve "Ice" Eisenstein) to Gulfport, Steve graciously drove me via the scenic (gulf coast) route to the Grand. The Biloxi Grand has two hotels -- the Islandview (along the shore) and the Bayview (across the street). Our rooms were in the Bayview and were typical corporate-type hotel rooms. So Wednesday afternoon I walk over to the card room. The casino at the Grand is on three levels; the card room is on the top level near a non-smoking area. Unfortunately, the 21-table card room allows smoking. The ventilation is adequate but by the end of a day I smelled like smoke. There are, though, a huge number of positive things to say about the room. Overall, the staff (floorpeople, dealers & management) are the best I've seen. Everyone really cares. I had forgotten about Southern Hospitality but it was in evidence everywhere at the Grand. The dealers were, by far, the best I've seen. Only two of the dealer downs I witnessed would be rated as less than excellent! The management, too, cares about the room. Abuse is simply not tolerated. I had a talk with Tony Collins (manager of the Grand's room) about the difference between Biloxi and LA poker. His attitude toward abuse (thou shalt not) is carried to all of the floorpeople at the Grand. There are several other excellent features about the room. First, there is a soda machine, hot dogs and snacks at the rear of the room. Comps are readily available (three hours gets you an $8 certificate good at most of the Grand's restaurants). Games are ten-handed (stud eight-handed) with a 5% rake to $3 plus a $1 jackpot drop. Game selection is reasonable (Stud: $1-$5, $2-10, $20-$40; HE: $1/$4/$8, $5/$10, $10/$20, $15/$30; O8: $4/$8 with half kill; $10/$20 with half kill; $15/$30) and the games are good. I did **much** better in the side games than the tourneys. On Wednesday night we headed to the Beau Rivage for the smoker at their Brewpub. While we had a good time talking among the Margers, the food service at the brewpub, to be blunt, stunk. The table setup, also, was not ideal. This was one of the few downers of Marge. On Thursday and Friday were the PLO & TOC tourneys. The less said about my performances, the better: I finished dead last in the TOC (I didn't win one contested hand) and I finished below average in the PLO tourney. Barry Shulman won the PLO tourney and Steve Jewett, one of the organizers of Marge, won the TOC tourney. I did better in the NLHE tourney, finishing 20th (out of ~60). For the first hour I don't think I voluntarily played a hand. In the 3rd set of limits I pick up QQ in my big blind. Mark Hughes raises to 300 UTG & I call. The flop is 236, 2 spades. Mark bets 300, I move in & he calls. Mark has an A, the turn is an A, and river a Q, crippling Mark. At the break the Grand gave us a tremendous spread of food (at the first break on Thursday & Friday the Grand provided Pizza for not only the tournament players, but the live game players too). Unless you wanted to spend money on food you didn't have too at Marge. During the break Ice tells me of a hand he held against Bob Opus. Ice had A8o and called Bob's raise to 100 (during the first round; blinds of 25/25). Flop is Q88. Bob bets 300, Ice raises to 1000, Bob calls. Turn is an 8. Bob moves in, Ice calls because, "I had the Ace kicker...." (Bob held Q9). During the 4th round I eliminate Mike McCraken when he moves in (he had a short stack) and I look down at my BB and see AA. During the 5th round I see Adam Bachrach (the eventual winner) raise to $1400 (blinds of 200/400). I look down and see AKo (I have 4500, Adam covers me by about 1500) and move in. Adam thinks and thinks and thinks and thinks and finally calls. He has AKo and we chop. I am down to ~$4000 when we move to two tables and am short-stacked. My first hand at the new table I look down and see A9o. I'm two from the button. What do you do? I raise, of course, trying to get chips. My goal is to win a tournament, not get to a final table. Unfortunately, the button had JJ and the flop was AJx and I finish 20th. Barry Shulman did an excellent job at the banquet both speaking and answering questions. Barry had a couple of questions about Escargot (dates, events, etc.) and I'm hoping he'll be able to attend. After the banquet I play in the baby PLHE game (1/2 blinds). Early on I pick up 44 and win a decent pot when I flop a set. A few hands later I pick up 22 in relatively early position and call. Five of us a see a flop of 247. Johnny Davis bets $7. I make it $25. Johnny says, "I have a set of 2's. I don't think that can beat your set of 4's." I turn over my cards and the table gets a good laugh. Overall, I had a great time and I'm looking forward to coming back next year. Like all ARG events, the people are great. A bonus (for me) is how nice everyone else (besides the ARGers) is. The staff did everything possible for us. I know that if I'm ever in the neighborhood that I'll patronize the Biloxi Grand. -- Russ Fox