BARGE Glossary

This document contains terms and definitions common to the BARGE (Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion) event. If you attend BARGE or join one of the BARGE mailing lists, you might hear some of these words and phrases. If you consult this guide, you might actually find out what they mean. You might also be confused since some of these definitions contain something we like to call irony. Please provide suggestions for additions to this document.

ADB

alt.drunken.bastards, a USENET newsgroup that epitomizes the philosophy of a subset of BARGE attendees. Note, these days it would appear that none of the three components of the group title are actually required to be granted membership.

aiyah!

An expression of dismay over one's circumstances. Adapted from the asian language. Yes, we know "asian" isn't a real language. Trust us, this makes sense in this context.

Al

The generic name for the husband of a BARGEr. See Peg.

binglaha

An Omaha poker variant popular at BARGE. It is played exactly as pot-limit Omaha, except that after the flop betting a single die is rolled (typically by the player on the button.) If the result of the roll is a 1, 2, or 3, the game is played high-low split eight-or-better. If the roll is 4, 5, or 6, the game is played high-only. The person originally responsible for this monstrosity is Don "ADB Bingo" Reick.

Calcutta

Calcutta? You must be mistaken. That would be wrong. In other contexts a Calcutta refers to a wagering pool on the outcome of some other event, something especially common in the backgammon world. At BARGE, something like this would be unsanctioned wagering, and we wouldn't want any of that, now would we? You might be looking for the symposium.

Canadian presto

If presto is pocket fives, then given the current exchange rate, Canadian presto would be pocket fours. Similar to the old joke about pocket queens being called Canadian rockets. Canadian exchange rate jokes are always funny.

chat friend

1. Friend from the Internet. Originally referred to IRC, but these days is likely to be mistaken to refer to a more modern real-time messaging protocol. 2. More often than not, this term would be used ironically by someone who is imitating an Internet newbie from a point in history where there was such a thing. An example would be saying quite loudly, "Will you be my chat friend?!"

chic'd

The act of being drawn out on in a game of chance by a player who is believed to be of inferior skill but wins despite taking unwarranted risks. Some don't consider it being chic'd unless the winner also displays an inappropriate amount of glee over the victory. This term is named for someone, but I don't want to talk about it. Usage: "He chic'd me when he called and won the hand with king deuce after I first moved in on him and then showed him my pocket kings."

chip castle

Like a sand castle, except more valuable because it's made out of casino chips that can typically be redeemed for currency. Some poker players make fairly elaborate constructions out of their chip stacks. Most of the people who think they do this but have never been to BARGE are pikers.

chowaha

A poker game frequently dealt at BARGE. "Casino chowaha" differs from "real" chowaha, a game invented by BARGEr Mike Chow. We can't imagine how it got its name. In casino chowaha, everyone gets two cards, followed by a round of betting. Then there are three flops (forming a square of nine cards), followed by two turn cards (placed to the right of the flops, in between rows 1 & 2, and rows 2 & 3, respectively), followed by one river card (placed to the right of and between the two turn cards.) Each player makes the best five card hand out of both of their two down cards and three out of each possible five board cards. Note: If one is playing the top row of the flop, then one cannot play the bottom turn card. Similarly, if one is playing the bottom flop, then one must play the bottom turn card. In Casino chowaha, the pot is awarded to the high hand. Real chowaha is often played high/low split, and is typically played with more than two cards per hand.

craps crawl

Annual tradition at BARGE whereby a group of inebriated BARGErs start at one end of Fremont street playing craps wildly and drinking wildly working their way through a variety of casinos. Betting the "dark side" is allowed, and betting the dark side and spiking the ball when the dice show "7" is grudgingly tolerated.

dark side

1. Betting the "don't pass" and "don't come" in craps. This is as opposed to a right side bet. 2. Nolan Dalla's ADB nickname.

death march

Annual BARGE golf outing, traditionally held at noon by badly hung-over participants.

ding

The sound that occurs in one's head when a fortune smiles on such a person allowing them to win in a situation where victory had previously seemed unlikely.

dork march

A play on the death march event, except it's miniature golf and traditionally not held at the height of the day's heat. Participants may or may not be hung-over.

gamb000l!

A battle cry for someone who plans to engage (enthusiastically) in some contest of chance. Can be used as a verb, as in the grammatically problematic, "I gamb00l you!" The number of "0"s is variable, but at least two is required and more suggests greater emphasis. Can be abbreviated "gambo".

golden r00ler

A virtual trophy (and on occasion, an actual trophy) given as an award to the person who least exemplifies the spirit of BARGE for the year prior to a given BARGE event. The inaugural recipient was Ernie E in 1998. See also r00ler.

Goldie bets

An offer of a last longer bet by Stevan "Goldie" Goldman against the field in the BARGE NL hold'em tournament. This is the resurrection of the infamous "Quick bet".

gumbo

The Texas hold'em starting hand of 85, properly called "Nacogdoches gumbo". Nacogdoches gumbo does not have to but may be suited. The hand was one of many named by Tyler Wong, but this is pretty much the only one anybody remembers.

IGHN

Abbreviation for, "I go home now." A phrase one utters when one has just been forced out of a gambling situation due to lack of money or chips.

Irwin?

If someone announces "Presto!" at a gambling table, this is what you ask them to determine if they're really BARGErs. The correct BARGE counter-counter-sign is, "Actually, no."

jerj

Jerk, as in a person whose behavior is unsocial. The origin is the following post to rec.gambling.poker.

mass barring

Some casinos have been truly paranoid about blackjack card counters, some to the point of being so aggressive that players without an advantage of any sort have been frequently barred. Starting in 1993 [ I think ], and running through 1996 [ maybe ] an unofficial BARGE event was for a bunch of card counters would descend on one of these casinos, and get backed off. Hijinks ensued. One of these trips is chronicled in the book Knock-Out Blackjack, by Vancura and Fuchs.

must drink

A poker game in which teetotalers are not welcome. The "must" terminology comes from the familiar "must move" type of poker game. Often at BARGE a "must drink, must straddle, must toke, must not move HORSEL (HORSE + California lowball)" game will break out.

Nolan, you're not going to like this.

A sentence you might say to Nolan when something is about to happen that he won't like, such as getting beat by a brutal suck-out on the river, again. Can also be applied to another r00ler by substituting their name for Nolan's, although statistically it's much more likely that something will happen that Nolan won't like than that such an event will happen to another person.

non-smoking smoker

A smoker is a dinner where one is encouraged to celebrate the end of a fine meal with a cigar, a tradition at early BARGEs and ATLARGEs. Some who might have liked to participate in such an event are non-smokers, so they created their own "rival" event. As of December 8, 2006, restaurants in Nevada do not permit smoking, so the original "smoker" no longer exists.

north shore

The verb form of pussy, as in, "I heard Scottro was coming to BARGE this year." "Naw, he north shored at the last minute, again." Named for Mike "ADB North Shore" McManus.

Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, each player is dealt four cards. It is played exactly like Omaha/8, except for the way the board cards are handled. Whenever board cards would be revealed in Omaha, three sets of board cards are revealed in Oklahoma. Players must play their hand in conjunction with one of the three rows of cards. So, on the flop three rows of three cards are placed on the board, follwed by three turn cards placed immediately to the right (from the dealer's perspective) of the flop cards, followed by three river cards. Before the river betting, the board with the lowest river card is removed from play, leaving two rows of five cards in play. If the lowest river card is paired, then those two rows are removed. If all three river cards are of the same rank, the hand is over and the pot is rewarded to the dealer. Because of the number of cards in play, the game can be played by a maximum of eight players.

Peg

A reference to one's wife. For example, "I had planned to go to Las Vegas for the whole week, but Peg would only let me stay three days." Referring to one's wife as "Peg" comes from the long-running television series, Married With Children. Consequently, a female BARGEr talking about her husband would refer to him as Al.

pocker

A gambling game of skill played with cards. Some would spell it "poker". Those people aren't true r00lerz.

presto

A two-card hold'em hand consisting of pocket fives. The ultimate hand of magical significance among BARGErs. Loosely, it can also refer to any hand that includes two fives. The first telling of the story has been chronicled on rec.gambling.

pussy

A term, originally popularized by the tiltboys, used to describe someone who doesn't attend BARGE. Ironic, isn't it, that the tiltboys, or should we say, tiltpussies, rarely attend BARGE these days. Although, I suppose it should be pointed out that a couple of them did show for BARGE 2010 after a many year absence.

Quick bet

Dave "Quick" Horwitz would offer a last-longer bet against the entire tournament field of the NL hold'em event, called a "Quick bet". In [year], Dave was the first person to bust out of the NL tournament. Lately, this challenge has been taken up by Stevan "Goldie" Goldman with his Goldie bets.

rai

An abbreviation of the commonly used poker term "raise". Must be said emphatically. A proper response to a player who says, "Rai!" can either be "Re-rai!" or "Rai-rai!"

RGP

An abbreviation for the USENET newsgroup rec.gambling.poker.

right side

A bet with the shooter at a craps table, as opposed to the dark side.

rocks-n-beer

At one point in Las Vegas history, it was possible to find poker games, usually 7 card stud, where there were no antes and the bring-in was provided by the winner of the previous pot. This means that if you never play a hand, there's no way the game can cost you any money. You can sit there all day, never play a hand (playing like a rock), and accumulate complementary cocktails (or beer). In fact, a group of people could sit at a table, never play hands, and drink a lot. If these people took care of the dealers and the cocktail servers, it's possible nobody who noticed would even complain.

r00ler

Someone who "rules" at gambling. On occasion, this can be used ironically. Can also be used as a gerundive (r00ling) or a verb (to r00l). The proper plural is "r00lerz".

saddenz

What one says when something unfortunate happens. If "saddenz" just doesn't cut it, one could always invoke "mega saddenz", as in, "I can't go to BARGE this year. Mega saddenz."

Scottro

The namesake Texas hold'em hand consisting of pocket sevens.

Scottro save

In a poker tournament, there is always someone who is the last person to bust out who receives no money. This phenomenon is commonly called busting out "on the bubble". As the bubble position approaches, the game often slows down, going hand for hand on all tables until someone busts out, leaving all remaining players "in the money".

In some tournaments the players agree to set aside some money for the bubble player both to ease the pain of the bubble and also to remove the necessity of going hand for hand and slowing down play. The name is ironic, as Scottro is famous for categorically rejecting all tournament poker deals of any sort.

second best hold'em

This game is played like regular limit Texas hold'em, except that if there is a showdown, the second best hand is awarded the pot.

stoloff

To make a bet and then refuse to honor the terms of it. This is tantamount to a capital crime among gamb00lers. Named for someone, but we can't think of who at the moment.

symposium

BARGE event whereby BARGErs sit around and ostensibly debate matters of great importance to society rather than perform any unsanctioned gambling, such as bidding on players to win the annual no-limit hold'em tournament in a format commonly called a "Calcutta" in other settings. If you go, you might want to bring a pile of money, though, just in case some sort of opportunity comes up.

Team CHORSE

A tournament-like competition between teams of six players each playing one of the games that comprise CHORSE in rotation. (These days the teams/games are split so that two members from each team are in action at any one time.) CHORSE consists of limit Crazy pineapple, Hold'em, Omaha high/low split, Razz, 7-card Stud, 7-card stud high/low Eight-or-better. The game is played for a fixed duration, and the team with the largest (remaining) stack is declared the winner.

throw down the pink hat

A BARGE way of challenging someone in some manner.

tiltboys

A group of gamb00lers who used to attend BARGE. They have a web site. Many BARGErs consider them to be a bunch of pussies.

virgin

1. A first-time attendee to BARGE. 2. As "craps virgin", someone who has never played craps before. Craps virgins are thought to be lucky by "right side" bettors.

virgin queen

The representative of a given BARGE's class of virgins. This title is given regardless of gender or orientation.

WABOR

Abbreviation for "what a bunch of r00lerz".

WAR

Abbreviation for "what a r00ler".

world roshambo championships

A tournament typically held after the banquet each year. Since no casino is involved, it would be improper to gamble for money, so the tournament is just for fun. The cost to enter traditionally is 100 units of fun.

YGHN

Abbreviation for, "You go home now." Said to an opponent you have just decisively r00led.