Subject: SARGE Trip Report From: Barrister Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Tue, Mar 4, 2003 7:14 PM Message-ID: <1jla6v4ricudllrag555gj2al2rb6l11lg@4ax.com> This first time SARGE attendee left home the morning of Thurs. Feb. 27, drove to DFW airport and boarded a plane bound for Memphis. Steve Jewett had arranged for transportation from the airport to the Horseshoe. (Thanks Steve). Upon arrival, the Horseshoe's security man/courtesy van driver was waiting for me with a banana and bottled water as I exited baggage claim. Forty-five minutes later, I was registered at the Gold Strike, unpacked, and waiting for a table in the Horseshoe poker room. Sat down in a 4-8 HE game and thirty minutes later decided to play a SARGE satellite event. Winner was to receive paid up entries to all 3 SARGE tournaments. Got to meet my first group of other attendees all of whom I found to be personable and accomplished poker players. The poker gods smiled upon me as I managed to survive a couple of all-ins. When we were down to four players, one of the four, Peg (PegSmithNOW), announce that nature was calling long distance and was getting furious about being put on hold. When just Peg and I were left, I had her about two to one in chips. Out of gentlemanly courtesy, or more likely trepidation that she would end up beating me silly, we agreed to a deal. I would get the free entries to the two HE tournies and Peg would get the Omaha entry. As a result, I parlayed my $43 buy in to two entries worth $230. Not a bad start. Sat down to the limit HE tourney that night and met most of the rest of the attendees. What a good bunch of folk. Temporarily abandoned by the dieties, I place 19 or so out of 32. Major downer. Back to the ring games, faith is restored as I finish out my first day cashing out up over $200. Friday was the Omaha tourney which I took a pass on. Primary reason being that I wouldn't know a good Omaha hand from a horrible one. Ring games eat me up to the tune of $500. One bad beat story is in order. 4-8 HE game composed by a pretty good group of players but very loose action. Seems like every 4th hand is getting capped pre-flop. I spend a good deal of time mucking and watching as chips fly. Finally, I look down and find A,Qs in mid position. One bettor and one raiser before me and I call. Sure enough betting is capped pre-flop. Six players. Flop comes down Q,Q, blank. Amen! I raise early position bettor, cute young blonde to my immediate right calls without hesitation. I immediately put her on KK or AA. No problem, I flopped the set with an Ace kicker. Four players stay in. Turn comes another blank. Early position player bets, I raise, blonde smooth calls, BB drops out. River comes A. I am full and happy until I remember the blonde. I bet, she raises, I call and watch as sure enough she shows AA and drags the $200+ pot, having caught the case A on the river. Soon thereafter, I call it a night (morning) at 5:00 a.m. Saturday brings the no limit SARGE HE tourney. I pull my sleep deprived self out of bed at 11:00 a.m. Caffeine up and head to the Shoe for the tourney start at noon. I play tight, steal some blinds, make a few hands and somehow manage to survive to make it to the final table with the short stack. Not entirely sure how I did it but managed to win a couple of good pots as others fall. Gets down to two players, myself and another Texan. He has at least a two to one chip advantage on me and I mention that his victory should be short work. After about twenty minutes of heads up play, I manage to eat a bit into his stack but he is clearly still significantly in the lead when I find QQ in the hole. I move all in, he calls and shows K,J o. Flop comes two spades and something else, none of which apparently helped anyone improve. Turn comes another spade. River brings the King of spades and I stand up to congratulate the winner. While I am still standing shaking his hand, a couple of astute BARGErs point out that one of my Qs is of the spade variety giving me the spade flush. I have the winner and take a huge bite out of his stack. Man, I like the rule that cards speak for themselves at showdown. Now that I have the chip lead, I get aggressive. Soon I find A,Q in the hole move all in and he calls with a small pair of sixes. A Q comes on the turn and and an A on the river. I take the victory; my first tourney win in a B&M setting. What a glorious feeling. The rest of Saturday and Sunday are spent playing ring games at the Horseshoe and Gold Strike. These sessions result in another $200 positive banking. Horseshoe security saw to it that I made it to the airport for my uneventful return flight. The Horseshoe poker room in Tunica ranks as my favorite poker room anywhere. And yes, I have played in Bellagio, Mirage, Mandalay Bay and a number of others rooms in Vegas and elsewhere. The staff is friendly and capable. Dealers are good. Waitresses are cute and competent. Comps are easy to come by. They bent over backwards to accommodate SARGE even when in many respects it was a losing proposition. For example, the tables devoted to BARGE tourneys could easily have been filled by players on the ring game waiting list. My personal thanks go out to Jimmy Sommerfield who did an outstanding job putting and holding the details together. The Gold Strike poker room should not be overlooked. Several BARGErs and I found the games to be well run and stocked with less than stellar quality players. If you can avoid getting pinched by the long shot draw outs, these games scream "free money." In fact, there is a signifcant population of purely recreational and often clueless players in these games. I figure they tend to find the games at the Horseshoe too intimidating and feel more comfortable at the Strike. Gary, everytime I played you were not around. I really wanted to introduce myself and never got the chance. Hope to do so next time around. To Steve and Randy. Thanks for a fantastic time. I know each of you put much time and effort into organizing this event. Your kindness and selflessness in this regard is a model for others to follow. The world would be a better place with more people like you and fewer people like.....nevermind. I hope to see you guys again next year if not before. Last but not least, thanks to PokerStars. The cap and shirt were nice and some of your add-on money returned to Texas with me. I met some great people, some of whom I have "known" for years either through IRC, RGP, or elsewhere online. Quite interesting to finally put faces on those cyberbeings. Smiles go out to all SARGErs. I met great people, had a fabulous time, won a trophy, and made money to boot. Isn't life great? Steve B. "Barrister" And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love You make "The End" The Beatles