TRIP REPORT: Zbigniew at BARGE 2002

Cousin Zeb: Uh, is this a game of skill?
Zbigniew: Not the way I play it, no.

Pre-BARGE

I decided early this year that I would attend BARGE. I tried to get the Men's Poker Night crowd to attend. There are at least 13 MPN regulars, but, in the end, only three of us go: Zbigniew, Captain Stubing and laglenn.

Stubing and I leave on Wednesday, taking the train to San Francisco International. We arrive early, make it through security rapidly, and cool our heels with a couple of drinks in the airport bar.

Inspired by the pre-BARGE announcement of Zorak's Chinese Poker tournament, I taught myself Chinese Poker two nights before. In the airport bar, I teach Stubing how to play Chinese Poker.

On the flight, we play CP for a dollar a point. This is a very enjoyable way to pass the time. (Perhaps because I win a buck. )

If you would like to learn CP, you should know that I found Don Smolen's Chinese Poker site very helpful.

Stubing on the train.

Exiting the train.

At the airport.

On the plane.

Wednesday

Landing, cabbing, and checking in at Binion's are trouble-free. We arrive early in the afternoon, drop our bags in the room and go to the mezzanine for our first view of a BARGE tournament, the TOC-style. (We arrived too late to play in it.) In the tournament room, I recognize ADV Beth and introduce myself. Beth is an excellent hostess and makes us feel comfortable immediately, chatting with us, advising us how to pick up our badges and more.

LAS	Cab line.	Our cab.	Our cab driver.
Sights on the cab ride to Binion's:
Luxor	Excalibur	Paris	Bellagio
Caesar's Palace	Mirage	Stratosphere	Downtown
The Hotel Room:
Room	Room	View	View

I plan to attend the Dork March and convince Stubing to do the same. So, we cab to Circus Circus, and play poker there until the Dork March start. I sit in a tightish 3-6 holdem game (one $3 blind) and Stubing sits in a 1-5 stud game. After about an hour, I notice Stubing sitting by himself at the poker table. I walk over and ask, jokingly, "So, did you bust all the locals and break the game?" Stubing replies, dryly, "As a matter of fact, yes, I did." I finish the session down 1.5 big bets.

As we walk through the AdventureDome to the miniature golf course, I see three or four BARGErs headed our way and try to make eye contact, to no avail. One wears a hat labeled "ADB Jaeger," so I guess that they are headed to a bar for a little pre-Dork-March beverage. (The AdventureDome, being a "family entertainment center," serves no alcoholic beverages.) The golf course was ominously BARGEr-free, but soon, Oz, ADV Beth, mickdog, Shelley and Sabyl arrive. After about ten minutes, we wonder about the absence our fearless leader and Dork March organizer, IFSATG. He never shows up. I never met him during the week, so I don't know what his story was, but missing your own event? Ai ya. After a 30 minute wait, we start the Dork March, slowing the play of many people behind us, knocking balls off the course and making r00ling holes in one. As I recall, Shelley, who had a fair front nine score, makes an ace on 10 and, inspired, proceeds to kill the field on the back nine, taking the $30 first prize. Oz and mickdog chop second (for a net of zero) and Sabyl takes the consolation prize (for a net of zero).

Dork March Results

(In dollars; I do not recall the scores. The scorecard for Shelley, Sabyl and Oz is in my possession, but not immediately available.)

Dorks

Dorks

Dorks

Dorks

Shelley kindly gives us a ride back to Binion's, where I get involved in a 4-8 holdem game, which features Rick, the abusive drunken maniac. Rick raises with nothing, then swears at you when your top-pair top-kicker hits a second pair on the river. "Fuck! Suck out on me, will you?" and so forth. Rumor had it that Rick dropped at least nine racks of white in that game.

Rick raises preflop, as usual. I am on Rick's left, peeking at QQ. I reraise. Stubing, on the button, makes it three bets. Rick makes it four. I think I capped it. The board comes T83. Rick bets. I raise. Stubing three-bets. Rick four-bets. I cap. At this point, I am pretty sure that Stubing has a bigger pocket pair than I do. I think I know well Stubing's play. He thinks I'm pretty tight. He's not stupid. If I can make him believe that I have a hand like a set or two pair, he will lay down AA or KK. Pushing Stubing off this pot will vastly increase my chances of winning it. Turn board: T835. Rick bets. I raise. Stubing—w00t!—folds. Rick three-bets. Ruh roh! From the little I have learned about Rick, I put him on two pair or better here. But, maybe not, so I call. River is T8355. Rick bets. I call, fearing a boat. Rick shows 83o for a flopped two pair. I show bigger two pair. A mountain of chips is pushed to me. Stubing looks ill. Rick curses and goes into a tirade about my huge suxout. Later, Stubing fesses up that he held AA. It may be a long time before I push Stubing off a big pocket pair again.

Somehow, it's folded to Rick, who is in the small blind. I'm in the big blind. Rick, of course, raises, I call with 76s. Board: 87xxx. I call Rick's bets to the river. (This is not such a bad play, as "bluff calls" have been successful against Rick: Rick bets to the river, you call to the river, and Rick mucks his hand when you call.) Rick's 82 is g00t.

(The next day, a new dealer hits the box in the Binion's 10-20 holdem game. It's abusive maniac Rick.)

There is one other monster pot that I recall: I have KQo and limp early. There is probably a preflop raise, which I call. Flop: QJ7 with two suits. I bet, and it comes back to me at three bets. I muck, and it ends up capped on the flop. Plenty of action to the river, QJ7x7, where PokerStars Dan shows 77 for quads. TrayRacer mucks QJ face up.

Thursday

Mirage Buffet day. Stubing and I plan to play all day at The Mirage, then head to the buffet at the appointed time. Stubing wants to play in a satellite for that evening's 120+100 NLHE tournament, so we stop by the poker room and he signs up. As Stubing completes his sign-up, one of the guys behind the desk asks, "Are you guys BARGE people?" I jokingly reply, "No way! We are not BARGE people!" then fess up, "Ya, we're from BARGE." He replies, "Figgers. Only BARGE people would show up this early for a satellite." (It was a little before noon.)

We breakfast in the Mirage cafe, which was probably the best breakfast I had on the trip. My staple BARGE breakfast was eggs, breakfast meat, taters, toast, juice and coffee and The Mirage did it best of all the coffee shops.

Stubing plays a couple of satellites and loses. I play three hours of 1-5 stud, my idea being to get my chops in shape for tomorrow's stud shootout tourney. Daytime Vegas low-limit stud is THE WORLD'S MOST BORING GAME. Pity the fool who raises on third street; he wins the dollar bring-in. Everybody has the correct basic strategy for a no-ante game: play so tight that you squeak. Somehow, I lose 25 bucks in this game. But, the practice probably did me a little good. (Foreshadowing.)

I play some 3-6 and 6-12 holdem, but get nothing going. I see Prock playing 20-40 and observe him for a few minutes. He seems quite anxious to look at his cards. He grabs them and makes a move to peek, then seems to realize that he "should" wait and watch while those ahead of him act. So, his hands pop back to the table edge, as he waits for the action to reach him. The guy to Prock's right looks familiar. I convince myself that I played with the guy in a tiny Mandalay Bay tourney last January.

Nothing is happening in my holdem games, so Stubing and I head back to Binion's. I sit in a 10-20 game where, again, I get nothing going, then am called to a 4-8 game with plenty of BARGErs. This game is a lot of fun: Deadhead, grizz, TrayRacer, Eric S. are jamming it up, drinking and laughing. Mirage tourney players begin to trickle in with news of many BARGErs at the final table and, ultimately, of Bingo's win.

Bingo arrives, all smiles, and sits in our game. He raises preflop, seven people call. "Hey!," says Bingo, "You have to respect that raise! I WON A MAJOR POKER TOURNAMENT!" Everyone laughs, someone sucks out and we repeat the cycle. ActionBob sits down and plays blind-man's poker, rarely looking at his cards, raising profusely. There is a local or two in the game, and they can't believe what they are seeing. Somehow, Grizz and ActionBob, neither of whom have looked at their cards, push Bingo (who has looked) off a pot and something like J3 takes down a big one with a pair of threes.

Deadhead ("I suck at this game!") asks Bingo for a loan. Bingo forks over a Franklin. Tray observes, "Didn't you tell us a while ago that you never repay loans?" Bingo looks a little worried, then looks more worried as Deadhead does his damnedest to lose that hundred, playing like a wild fish, tipping the dealer ten bucks at a time and so on.

I had so much fun, I played until 5:45 AM. I am not sure how, but I won a rack.

Friday

Stud Shootout day. Stubing wakes me up, I get a shower and zip across the street to get a cup o' joe and a bear claw at Starbuck's. While standing in the middle of the longish line, I see Prock step in, look at the line, then turn his back to leave. I shout his name, tell him I'll buy him a coffee (effectively letting him cut in line ) and we exchange pleasantries. I'm a bit of a Prock fan. I played with him on IRC and always enjoy his writing. He mentioned that he had played at The Mirage with Norm McDonald, to which I replied, "Who?" and he explained that the reason that guy to Prock's right at The Mirage looked so familiar is that he's a TV star (Saturday Night Live). Heh.

I sit down in seat 1 of table 9 and survey my opponents. I recognize Foldem, Tray and Lou K. Somehow, I manage to play reasonably well. ("I suck at stud.") I can track dead cards at least through third street. My aggressive play tends to pay dividends. After a few hands Tray predicts that I will take second at the table. (More foreshadowing.) I get some nice hands (rolled up A's, fifth street flush, others) and manage to build a decent stack! I note that Masa and Crunch are pretty g00t players. I use this to my advantage on occasion, for example, pushing Masa off a pot with not much of a hand but a scary board. At one point, Crunch has two other players all-in and Crunch himself has one chip in front of him. Crunch wins that pot and begins his comeback. I bust Masa with a good, but forgotten, hand and it's me vs. Crunch and I have a big chip advantage. I try to push Crunch around, but he does not suck at stud and will not allow me to push him around. I end up getting a little too pushy, finally putting all my chips in with no pair and maybe a flush and straight draw. I recall having an open-ender on sixth street, but get no help. Crunch shows trip queens and I'm out fairly quickly. (Ours was the second table to finish.) I played much too loose and aggressive once we were heads up and that's what killed me. Crunch was a gracious winner, complimenting my play, which pleased me very much. I was happy to cash, though not to profit.

Stud Shootout

Stud Shootout

Stud Shootout

Crunch

I go downstairs, not too interested in poker and look over my friends, old and new, as they play. I chat it up with the virgins in a 4-8 holdem game. I'm shouting and joking and laughing. I am right behind a cranky old local. The cranky old local pipes up, "Can you just be quiet and play some cards!? You're slowing the game!" I reply, "Ya, quit having fun, you assholes!" I chat a little longer and louder, then realize I'm resting my hand on the back of the cranky old local's chair, probably shaking it with my laughter. I decide not to push things too far and skulk off. I try to get a nap in the room, but visions of the stud shootout prevent sleep. I come back down and railbird until it's time for the Virgin get-together.

As with jury duty, where the first person to pipe up in the jury room is elected foreman, I became "King of the Virgins" when I was the first to mention my virgin status on the BARGE list. I tried to organize a virgin calcutta syndicate, a "booze-n-shmooze" and set up a virgin web page and mail list, but most virgins were pretty quiet. At the Mirage Buffet, I tried to track some down, going from table to table asking if there were any virgins and managed to turn up one hitherto unknown virgin. (Hi, aces4me.) I also met another previously unannounced virgin at the 4-8 table on Thursday. (Hi, Marc.) But, there were two virgins on the official virgin list that I never met! Anyway, the virgins were not terrifically cohesive. Thanks to North Shore Mike, I secured a number of "Bust a Virgin" buttons that all got handed out to virgins. In spite of my effort, there were only four of us for the booze-n-shmooze, which morphed into a meal at the Golden Nugget coffee shop. (Because we ignorant virgins had heard that, typically, the appetizer pickings were slim at the calcutta.)

The virgins managed to snag laglenn just as he was checking in to Binion's and had a nice meal at the Golden Nugget. Celebrity sighting: two tables away were Chuck W. and a couple of people who I thought were the TV folks (Sopranos) mentioned in other trip reports and whose presence was a hot rumor for about ten minutes. Virgin Eric looked over the table and said, "Is that Sklansky?" I didn't recognize him until Eric pointed him out, but, sure enough, it was Mr. Sklansky. The virgins managed to concoct an all-virgin last-longer bet during this meal. The virgin lasting longest in the NLHE tourney would win the pool, unless a virgin took first place, in which case the second-longest lasting virgin would win the pool.

Beth and Crunch walk by and I snag Beth to inquire about participating in the ADV syndicate. Crunch, again, makes complimentary comments about my play in the shootout. ("Listen to this man!" I shout to my fellow virgins. ) But, this time, he adds "...a little loose, maybe," which was a very helpful comment as I thought more about my performance.

We zip to the calcutta. laglenn had neglected to sign up for it, but, fortunately, he is able to pay at the door. We discover that the appetizers are plentiful and tasty and that we had made a virgin mistake by eating a meal beforehand. Those interested are able to participate in the ADV syndicate. (Thanks, ADVers!) Doyle Brunson is in the room and is introduced. At that point, at light bulb appears over my head. I introduce myself to Mr. Brunson and ask how long he would be there. He replies, "Not very long." I tell him that I have a copy of Super/System in my room and ask if he would be willing to sign it. He is graciously affirmative and I hustle to Binion's and back to the calcutta. Doyle is still there and signs my book, "To Zbig, May all your deals be good ones." I show my autograph to a few others, asking, "Does this r00l or what!?" which it does, very much. Thanks again to Doyle and whoever (Razzo?) got him to attend.

I dig out my camera and take a few shots of the calcutta action. Another light bulb appears, but when I look for Doyle, thinking I might get a photo with him, he had left. I settle for a photo of me with Razzo.

I bump into Masa at the calcutta and he inquires how I did in the stud shootout. He guesses that I had won our table, because of my big chip lead when he busted out. I break the bad news that Crunch seriously r00led me.

For some reason, probably an over-funded syndicate, Stubing and I (we voluntarily paired ourselves) go for $45 at the calcutta. We buy back half of ourselves from the Bladders. The whole event goes smoothly and quickly, though, I think I agree with the person who suggested reviewing the event as, except for the autograph and the picture with Razzo, it was not extraordinarily fun.

At the Calcutta:
ADV Beth	Accountants: Kim, jzk, Fich	Razzo	Masa
Razzo, No Food	Razzo and Zbig	QB and Rich S.	Bidding Action
laglenn and Stubing	laglenn, Stubing, Eric S.

Back to Binion's. I get into a 10-20 holdem game. Lou K. and his Gambling for Dummies co-author, Lord Palin, are in this game. It is interesting having a poker author in the game. I assume he knows I am a BARGEr, as I am wearing the badge, so I try to play my best. It pains me to fold to Lou's turn aggression a couple of times, but I'm pretty sure I am beat. I think I call him down once in a similar situation and he shows me the best hand, harumph. Again, I can make nothing happen and end the night down nearly two stacks, in spite of a lively player at the table. (More on her later.)

I get to bed around 2:30 AM and get a fair night's sleep in anticipation of Saturday's No-Limit Holdem Tournament.

Saturday

Stubing and laglenn and I plan to eat a g00t breakfast prior to the tourney, so we meet near the Binion's poker room around 8:30 AM. I survey the 10-20 holdem game, still going, and spot a familiar player from the previous night. I tell this story to a number of people:

The night before, there was this crazy lady in the 10-20 game. She would play any two cards for any number of bets preflop. She would raise preflop with apparently random hands. (She did fold preflop sometimes. I could never figure out her standards for doing that. Five-gapper offs00t cards less than ten, maybe?) If she hit the flop (any pair), she was in to the river. If she had what she deemed a good draw (gutshot, backdoor flush, two-gapper straight), she was in to the river. She was making some r00ling suxouts. She was also going into her purse every 20 minutes for another C-note. And, there she was, at 8:30 AM, with a massive pyramid of chips in front of her. She could barely see over it. I tried to count it down and I think it was at least seven racks of red. Once I had told this story to a few people, the rumors really started flying: that she had more money than sense, that she was into the game for 15K or more. It was never really clear how she got that pyramid, but it did appear that all of it was, at one time, in her purse as cash. Later in the day, a 20-40 game is built around her and she sits happily behind eight or so racks for the rest of the day. She certainly played more than 24 hours straight.

A quick and decent breakfast, then to the NLHE tourney. I survey the table and recognize a couple of names (Sippy, ???) and one face: Stephen L. I discover that one of the missing virgins, Babette, is at our table. I give her a "Bust a Virgin" pin and she proclaims "I'll just put this on my bust!" as she pins it on. Babette is a hoot, much more outgoing and talkative than most of the table. Apparently, she's been trying to hit a big bad-beat jackpot at The Sahara and hasn't been to BARGE until now. Alas, she busts out in 141st and appears to be headed back to The Sahara, and I'm forced to exacerbate her injury (which she took very well) by asking her to pay up on her last-longer bet. I never saw her again.

How to Be Deceptive by Playing Scared: I manage to pick up a few limps and blinds by raising preflop with some decent hands, so I have a little more than the buy-in. Stephen L., in middle position, opens with a "standard" raise. I have AK and either call or reraise. If the latter, he calls. The flop comes KQx with two suits. Stephen makes a big bet. I'm scared of him. But, I have top-pair top-kicker. I'm not certain what he has. I call. I don't recall the turn card, but it's not scary. Stephen makes a big bet. I call. The river is a forgotten card. Stephen checks. I look at my stack and I have enough to continue the tourney if I lose, so I check behind him. Stephen turns over 99. I turn over my AK for a pair of K's and cripple Stephen severely. I know I played this poorly and might have been able to take all his chips, but I was scared by his bets. At the same time, I knew I had a good hand and "just called" and hoped for the best. Fortunately for me, the best happened and, unfortunately for Stephen, he busted out shortly thereafter. In retrospect, my weak play may have made me more chips.

I nearly doubled through, so I have a big stack and try to push people around with it. My next hand was a strong one, and I raise big and win the blinds. There is joking about me being a big-stack bully. I manage to bust one player out in a typical medium pair vs. overcards matchup. Him: 88? Me: AK. No A or K falls, but I go runner-runner Broadway. I'm sorry I forget his name, but he was in the 9 seat of table 2. I take the big-stack bully bit a little too far, end up having to fold two or three times and my stack is down to 1825. (We started with 1500 and I was as high as 3000 or so.)

This interesting hand develops during the 50-100 round (Apologies if I forget details.): There's a limper (?) and Len G., in seat 10, raises to 300. I am on his immediate left on the button and look down at JJ. I raise 500 more. The blinds fold, the limper folds and Len pushes all-in. I look at my JJ. I think. I look at my very small number of remaining chips and feel pot-committed. I think it's unlikely that he has a pocket pair bigger than JJ, but that he might have two overcards. Maybe it's 65% smaller pair, 25% overcards and 10% overpair. My remaining chips are so few that I decide that it's now or never and call. Len turns over TT. I turn over my JJ. I feel good. However, somebody neglected to tell me that Len G. won the World Roshambo Championships the previous evening. Of course, we all know there's not a whit of skill in roshambo and that anyone who wins is obviously a luck bucket. The final board is: Jh Ax 9h Xh 7h. Len has Th and IGHN, beaten by a flush. I congratulate Len, hopefully graciously, steam a little, and stand up.

I was happy that I managed to get it all in preflop against a seriously dominated hand. Let's see, what does brec's program have to say?

                              JdJc         ThTs
% chance of outright win     81.115269    18.525916
% chance of win or split     81.474084    18.884731
expected return, % of pot    81.294677    18.705323
fair pot odds:1               0.230093     4.346072
pots won:                   1392012.00    320292.00

Ya, a luck bucket. Later, I gave him a virgin-button bounty.

As I go to Stubing's table to regale him with my bad beat, I bump into him in the aisle! We busted out at nearly the exact same time. He took KK (all-in preflop, I believe) up against TT, which flopped a set. TT r00ls.

I take a few fuzzy photos and monitor other virgin performances, meeting The Occupant for the first time and giving him a button. No virgins cash in the tourney, but laglenn wins the virgin last-longer bet.

No-Limit Holdem Tournament:
Pre-Tourney	Pre-Tourney	Virgin Babette	Table 2, Seats 8-10
Table 2, Seats 4-5	Table 2, Seats 6-8	Virgin laglenn	Virgin Marc
Patti B.	Virgin Eric	Virgin Occupant	PokerStars Dan
QB	mph	Prock	TrayRacer
Len G.

After about an hour, I feel up to poker again and sit in the 10-20 holdem game at Binion's. I am able to play well and finish up over a rack. It is a pleasure to sit between Lord Palin and RktSci who are good conversationalists and can cover a wide range of topics. The crazy chip pyramid lady is still playing 20-40 out of eight racks or so and RktSci provides a weather report of sorts: "She's down to seven racks. Oh, now she's at seven-and-a-half. Up to eight. A little more than eight. Oh, back to seven." If ever there was a bigger "soft" game to take a shot at, it is that one. But, I chicken out and stay in the 10-20.

I quit early, shower and dress for the banquet, which is very nice. The food is excellent. Tom S. is at my table and he introduces himself around, but misses me, as I was engaged in a conversation. (In a post-BARGE email, Tom tells me that he got sidetracked by a seating problem.) Though laglenn and I have played together for years and he was with me on my last poker trip, I really didn't know him very well. But, the banquet is a chance for me to hear the Story of his Career and I am pleased to get to know him better. I also have a nice chat about poker with virgins Eric S. and aces4me. Cardnac the Magnificent is very funny; I appreciate Jester and Bingo's effort. Linda J. is even funnier. The WPT presentation is, uh... Is there an AV Monitor in the house?

After the banquet, the fun BARGE games are spread and, at first, I am a little shy, sitting in a 10-20 game again. But, after a dealer lands in the box with a bucket full of tips, I get over it and sit in the must-move Chowaha game. ("Fifteen cards on board and neither of us pair!? Ruh-roh, you have kicker problem. My AK g00t!" ) I build a minor-league foot-tall chip castle and have a lot of fun. (The engineer in me must observe that my castle was so stable that I could lift and carry it to the main Chowaha game where it finally collapsed.) I lose a few bucks playing Chowaha, but over half of it was tips. I go to bed happy.

Sunday

I wake up late. laglenn and Stubing are on a guided mountain bike tour of Red Rock Canyon, so I go to breakfast at the Golden Nugget by myself. I'm a little bored, so I decide to play small-bet keno at my breakfast table and manage to hit a 120 payoff. Cha-ching!

Back to Binion's and the 10-20 game. The crazy chip pyramid lady is there in new clothes (so she must have gotten some sleep), to my immediate left. She goes to her cargo pocket for the fourth C-note in an hour and I spy her bank roll. It's about two inches thick. She's a little cranky today and finally pronounces, "This game too tight. No action! You all a bunch of rocks!" and moves the the 4-8 omaha/8 game. Sigh. I don't follow her, but I do manage to pick up four big bets before Stubing and laglenn return.

We decide to go to Bellagio. We stop at Gambler's General Store on the way. I find that set-ups of Kems are $18.95, a far cry from the $28 or so (including shipping) that I paid at some internet joint. I buy a set-up and a chip rack. As we continue to Bellagio, I inquire about what Stubing and laglenn bought. Stubing says, "I got those nice round plastic chip protectors." D'oh! I wanted some of those.

"How many did you get?" I ask, hoping I can snag some spares from him.

"Six."

"What did you get them for?"

"My BARGE chip set."

"There are eight BARGE chips."

"D'oh!"

We get to Bellagio. There's a list. We wait in the Sports Bar and cadge a drink in exchange for video poker play. I go on a run and end up winning 33 bucks by the time they call my name for poker. Ding.

I absolutely sux at 8-16 holdem and donate plenty. I leak chips calling people down when they check-raise me on the turn. We have a pleasant dinner at Noodles. Then, I go sux some more at 8-16. laglenn has to leave early, due to an early flight the next morning, and Stubing I leave with him, before my damage is severe.

Monday

Yes, Monday. My typical Vegas run involves staying until Monday and taking the last flight out. The airport lines are short on Monday night. Things worked out well in this respect, but I regret missing the earlier BARGE tournaments. Maybe I will brave the crowds next year or add a day or two to my stay.

We wake up fairly early. Check out. Go to Bellagio via Gambler's General Store (to pick up those "D'oh!" items and a little more). The cab driver does us a favor and waits for us at GGS without running the meter. In GGS, I recognize a BARGEr and shout at him. He looks at me in confusion. I introduce myself as a fellow BARGEr. He's Dave O. and we have a short chat about our purchases. He leaves with us, but is going the opposite way, so I ask our cab driver to radio for one for him.

Bellagio is fun. I get sucked out on once. I have KQ. He has JT. Flop QJx. We pound the pot on the flop. I bet the turn. He calls. River QJxxJ and I have the sense to check-call. His J is g00t. I probably suxout a couple of times and finish the day with a small loss.

Breakfast at Bellagio:
Stubing	Pool	Pool	Lobby

We arrive at the airport and are from Bellagio, through security and in the bar in less than 25 minutes. Chinese Poker resumes. Martinis are consumed. Plane is boarded. Chinese Poker continues. I end up winning eight bucks from Stubing.

It was strange to be home and start thinking about real life again.

General Observations

Maybe it's because we're internet geeks, but a lot of people were shy, and that includes myself. People I skipped or completely missed, that I wish I hadn't: Stephen L., to discuss that NLHE hand; pygmyhipo, who I bug fairly regularly about the RGP FAQ and who used to work in the same building as I, but who I have never met; Nick C., to thank him for his book review web pages; Bill C. and mpn, to thank them for their thoughtful writing; brec, to thank him for Hold'Em Showdown; Mike C., to thank him for Chowaha; IFSATG, to give him grief about missing the Dork March; the "mystery virgins."

There will be a small post-BARGE revision to the Code of the BARGE Geeks to make it a little more general.

Thanks to Chuck and Foldem and KidZee for organizing a r00ling event. See you next year.

Created  08/07/2002 05:50 PM PDT
Modified 08/15/2002 10:13 AM PDT.