This is somewhat of a departure for me, as I am not a very prolific writer, nor do I take very good notes during RGP events. However, I had a pretty good time all around this year and thought I would share a few of the experiences with all of you. Just a quick warning: I tend to get a big long winded. I have tried to sectionalize this note; so that you can go to the sections you want and skip the rest. But I am sitting on a flight from Philly to Chicago with little else to do. Also note that I may have some of the facts mixed up (names and hands) and if I offend anybody like saying "Nolan called with a 2Qo" instead of "I called with a 2Qo" then call it fuzzy memory and not a legitimate changing of the facts. But before we begin, I would like to publicly thank Tiger and Pete for the fantastic job that they did in organizing the event and making sure that things ran smoothly. They had some very big shoes to fill following the last four years with Jazbo. And while I hope that Jazbo returns to us next year, I know that at least there are some of us out there who can take over the reigns and pull off what must be an administrative nightmare. Second, I want to thank Patrice, Kate, Marie, TK, and the staff at the Tropicana for another fabulous event. Each went out of their way to welcome us, and while organizing an event like this - along with their normal duties must have been a hassle, they never showed anything but extreme pleasure in hosting us. I am going to put my writing skills to use after this note in one to the Tropicana management expressing my experiences. Smoker I arrived on Thursday afternoon with the intentions of making the smoker. I missed it last year because of a scheduling conflict, but it is a great event in its own. For those out there who have not joined us before, I urge you to consider it for next year. I can count on my fingers how many cigars I smoke during the year. In fact, seeing what Bruce Kramer keeps in his traveling humidor is more that I have probably smoked in my lifetime. But the real purpose of the evening is not the dinner or the cigars; it is the socialization outside of the poker room. I see a few of you during the year, whether it is to play a round of golf, or during a quick weekend trip to Trop. But there are some of the people that I would otherwise only see at one of the RGP events and only during the poker-related events. This is a chance to socialize about things outside of that realm. One of the highlights of the evening was listening to Bill Alan relate stories about old baseball/basketball/football players. I am a fan of most of these games and (at least in baseball) its history and Bill recounts some great stuff. I didn't have much to add to the conversation although I count(ed) Richie Ashburn, Chuck Bedenarik, and Robin Roberts as family friends. It was great listening to this stuff. BTW - If anyone wants to meet Uncle Chick, just stop by http://www.totalbaseball.com/player/h/hafec101/hafec101.html or http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/hafe... The second highlight of the evening is Kevin, our waiter. Having been a waiter/bartender during my many years in college, I know it can be difficult to deal with people. During this event, Kevin gets a chance to join in on the fun, tell us what he REALLY thinks, and make a few bucks for himself. I was playing a little 5-10 stud prior to the event and had to leave at 6:30 for the smoker. I was down $20 at the time - but I figured that I could easily make that up with Nolan's over-under. Unfortunately Nolan couldn't join us this year - bad beat for me. Speaking of bad beats, Tiger dropped by to give us a bad beat story - with the obligatory $1 going to the Kevin the waiter who had to endure the story as well. There was about 12 or so people there who chipped in $5 for the "closest to the bill without going over" contest. I was in pretty good position with my $785 guess. Someone had a $780 guess so his span with basically $4. The next highest was like $900 giving me about a $115 range. Unfortunately, I overestimated by over a hundred dollars - where was Warren and his bananas Foster when I needed him most. Dinner (with tax and tip) came in at about $65 a person - a great deal for this event, and for Bruce who banked 660 frequent flier miles on his Visa. Golf There was a group of about 12-15 people who showed up on Friday morning at Brigantine Golf Links for a round of golf. The weather was near perfect but a little too much water on the course for my tastes. This is both the standing water (which means that it rained like a bitch and that the puddles are still there) and there was designed water (lakes, creeks) on many of the holes as well. To begin with, I am a 24 handicap. This means that if a course is rated for "par" at 72, if I am playing my normal game, I would reasonably expect to break 100 - barely (if you want a more technical explanation visit www.usga.org). However this was the first time I had played this year (although I did go to the driving range last weekend to see if I remember how to swing) and I was playing with new fairway woods. Now, the TV advertisement said they would knock three strokes off my game and I bought three of them so I should be at a 15 handicap, plus the brand new putter (3-6 strokes according to Carbite). Basically with all my clubs, I should be AUTOMATICALLY getting my PGA tour card in the mail any day now. Of course I can't compete with Greg (?) who had the Purespin diamond-faced, Kevlar-shafted driver. Mine is only titanium with composite graphite - negative EV for me. We got in to our foursomes and mine consisted of Nolan Dalla (my partner), against Bruce Kramer and Dave Trinidad. I've played with Bruce before; he is learning the game but can surprise you with some excellent shots. Both Nolan and Dave were using rental clubs, although a decent set, they're just not yours. So we played a team-best ball, $2 per hole match, skins match. This basically means that everyone hits a ball and then the team chooses the best one. Both players hit from this spot. At the end, whichever team has less shots gets $2 from the other team. To cut this short, Nolan and I were up by 5 holes on the front nine, and Dave/Bruce, after much negotiation, got to pick 5 holes where they would get an extra half stroke (so if we tied on one of these holes - then they would win). Well you guessed it, Nolan and I had a worse back nine and Bruce choose their holes well and we were only one-up standing on the 18th tee. I won't bore you with the final hole. Needless to say zero dollars changed hands. One interesting thing, we talked about a lot of stuff over the 3-4 hour round, but for four guys who were there to play poker, the subject didn't even come up until the 17th hole. Back to poker (**Actual Poker Content**) I decided to take a little break from thinking with a few hours of $1-5 stud. Much like $2-4 HE, people will play any three starting cards (2Q8x - no problem, I can fill in my boat on the river). Well anyway, I sit down at the time and buy-in for $49. The table is full and there is one other ATLARGEr there (although I don't know his name). To my right is a guy who works at Taj in the IS department. He does the development/maintenance of the rating system. We had a long talk about how to get around the system. I am not much of a Taj fan (the word "zoo" comes to mind) but I may try one or two of the ideas. Since I was just there for a little enjoyment, I decided I would practice my patience for the next few days' events. Sometimes you will play an 89Tx and sometimes you won't, depends a lot on the order of the cards, your position, what else is already out, and your other players. I will leave it to Sklansky/Malmuth/Caro, and others to give you better advice, but I decided I would only play very high quality starting hands. Long story short - I went on a run with some very high-quality cards and very loose players and cashed out with $205 (plus 1.5 racks in about three hours). I have won and lost more than that on a single hand at other games/limits but it was still fun. One interesting note - back during ATLARGE I, I took first place in the stud event. Part (OK, most) of this was that I got every card I needed exactly when I needed it, but a lot of it was that the people who came to ATLARGE for the most part did not play stud. There were a few of you who were very good at both games (Bruce and JP comes to mind) and a few who were good at one or the other (Tiger for example being a very good, patient stud player). One thing that I noticed over the years is that many of you have started to broaden your skills. I have seen Sippy sit down at a stud table and look like he actually enjoyed it. Good for RGP, good for the game, bad for me. Holdem Tourney After golf, we rushed back to make it in time for the Tropicana HE tourney. One hand of note, as we come back from the break I notice that Russell was severely short stacked. He's a good guy and I thought I would have a little fun. I asked him how much he had. The answer was $225. I made a smart-ass remark about getting it from him the next hand. The dealer (Eileen - more about her later) dealt the hand and I (first position) looked at my cards immediately raised $225. Folded around to Russell (BB) who smiled and folded. I showed AA. My final play wasn't all that terrible. I was short-stacked (I know - chip and a chair) with AQx (can't remember). Jerry Gerner had been eating away at my stack all day and I either called or raised (again, not important). Flopped 7Q3 rainbow. I go all in, Jerry calls, other players fold. After a trash, trash on turn and river we turn over the cards. Of course we all know what Jerry had. Without an expression on his face he turns over 77. IGHN. BTW - this was the first NL tourney I have played with what I'll call the "chips in hand" rule. My understanding is that if you make a forward motion with chips in your hand, that's what's in the pot. There are some guys (I won't mention any names) who take a pile of chips and "peel off" the amount they want by stacking them on the table. So you cannot if you pick up a stack of 20 reds and then put $50 in reds (2 piles of 5) and return the chips to your hand. I like the rule, other players were grumbling. ATLARGE Holdem Tourney It started innocently enough. My expectations for this year were to make it through the break and hopefully in the top half of the field. I haven't seen the final tallies from Tiger, but at least the first part was true. I tried to play as patient as I could. I waited for the cards and bet (for the most part) appropriately when I got them. This was a good field, and I had a good table. I stole one or two here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. As people started to drop and players rotated into our game I found myself sitting to the left of Tom Godwin. For those of you who don't remember, there was a $25 bounty on him. And thinking this was my chance to get some money out of this tourney, I took a chance here. I might not get this exactly right, but close enough. He was the small blind with me as BB. Folded around to Tom who raised (either all-in or I re-raised him all-in, probably the former). He asked if I had a pair and I said no. Flop comes AAx. Turn J, river 3. He turns over a middle pair (77, 88, or 99) while I turn over my J3s. I am not sure whether he left the table thinking I would play it or what. Long story short I was gunning for him plain and simple. Linda (Llew) also rotated into our table. She had a $50 bill taped to her nose and I wanted to gun for that as well. For a $60 tourney, I could walk away with $75. Unfortunately the 6 hands or so that we saw before I busted were all folded pre-flop by Llew. Time passes... I get moved to another table to find myself to the left (fortunately) of Will Espin. Not much to report. Final hand. I was doing fine until I went on tilt and all-in with KK against another all-in (AJ) and Timmy (AQ). Guess what flopped. Bad all around play, and bad betting - but I never said I was a HE player. And now I don't have to. (** End Poker content**) Nickel Heaven So after my ignominious exit (thanks TheKiller for the new word) I headed back to my room in the South Tower. These are elevators from hell, but on the second floor is the slot area called "Nickel Heaven". Since I had about 3 hours before the banquet, I decided to see how much heaven it was and took a $20 into one of the machines. Now I remember when slot machines were easy. Basically you pulled the handle, then BAR-BAR-BLANK would come up and you knew you lost. These days, you have little chickens and dynamite, and KQJTA, and pirates and everything. And, you seem to need a PhD to figure out combinations that win coins. So I slip twenty bucks (400 credits) into a machine that look like playing cards. Press 9 way, 2 coins (18 credits) and immediately get a straight. Apparently that is worthless, as is most everything except trips (in a row). I move to another machine that looks more interesting. And fortunately the woman sitting next to me is apparently a PhD. So these little chicken things come up and the machine starts ringing and beeping and then she says - OK press this button, then the chickens literally try to cross the road without getting run over. Long story short I win 2000 nickels (>1600 is hand pay). I promptly give back 500 nickels and cash out to another machine. Long story short, I carry 2200 nickels to the cage for a +$90 slot win. I would call this +EV except that I think I have a $100 orthopedic bill for putting my arms back in shape. 2000 nickels are HEAVY. Banquet Not too much of note went on at the banquet. Ice quickly discovered the hidden gift in each of the pouches, so I found me a clock (after 3 tries), although the frame had a nice picture of a family as part of the package. And this family looked much happier and much more photogenic than my family. George Wattman pulled a good one when he switched the clock for a frame and when I got to Patrice I was dismayed to find the paper that said "frame". He 'fessed up and I got my clock sitting in my home office (batteries were included). MATS (**Actual Poker Content**) Hang on to your hats for this one. Last year I wanted to join the MATS tourney. Jerry organized it but didn't play. It was held in Dave Trinidad's room on a closet door covered blanket. I was the 12th player so I did not play but stuck around to be a sub dealer and official timekeeper. Well after a single hand of dealing, Llew promptly took over the reigns. I can type over 100 words a minute but cannot deal HE to save my life. This year, I signed up as early as I could with a "golden promise" to Jerry. Not wanted to break my promise I joined the tourney (which I had all intentions of doing anyway). So I am 1-0 on my golden promises in case I make one to someone again. I wanted to make sure I got a chance to see Jerry and give him the money. So I saw Paul McMullin and tried to hand him money. Now I know Paul, I have played against Paul, and I still have the 1994 BARGE chip he used as a bounty in ATLARGE IV stud. However, I still Paul and Jerry do have the same look-n-feel. So when I saw Paul sitting in a ring game I try to hand him money. He doesn't have a clue. And apparently neither do I. Anyway, we start the MATS event in Jerry's room (741 - just like a telephone keypad - thanks Llew) and Jerry has the bed taken apart and the chairs brought in. Foldem shows up with the new cards, big-ass dealer button, and we are off. Jerry wants to finish this quickly so they are shortish rounds. With two decks and a shuffle-master (Dave Fructer/Joan Hadley) we move along at a good pace. This is good for me. I can keep my concentration for only so long before I start to loosen-up. To my left is Tom Godwin on the SB with me in the BB. Folded around the Dave Fructer who promptly announces that he will go all-in. I ask Dave if he is serious. Tom looks at his cards and folds. I look at my cards and see JJ. CRAP! I call time and think for a second - then fold. Dave shows a AKo. A sidebar discussion ensues about hand and probabilities, but long-story short, I live to see another day. I am playing very patiently, only playing quality hands. At one point I fold 16 in a row (IRL I would have folded less). But when I do play Llew is dealing me EVERY card I need. I win a lot, Jerry, Tom McHugh and I get people all-in and win and I have a good lead with three left. Tom is short-stacked, and I have SOOO many chips they wont stay on the bed. He goes all-in with AQs I call with K5o. Damned if Llew doesn't flop 246 turn a 3 and just for the hell of it, river an ace. Jerry and I trade blinds for a little while. Then he calls a hand and I look down to see 92 spade. Flop is xxJ (Js), Jerry goes all-in and I call. Llew again provided - spade/spade. Jerry turns over two pair and I show him the 92 spade. Jerry gets a book and I am off to Vegas. So I am off to TARGET. I am working on a way to get Llew her dealer's license and figure out how she can fit in my suitcase. Stud Tourney There were a total of nine tables to start with. At the ninth table (which was a HE-sized table) we had Ice, Jester, Doug, Bill Alan, Arty, , and myself -plus two dead stacks. They played the ante button as required and were folded when the action got to them. But we had an amazing statistical anomaly. For all the hands we played until our table broke, the two dead stacks got a very low percentage of the forced-bets. Statistically they should have gotten the low card 1 in every four hands or so. However it seemed that Doug (sitting between the stacks) got an inordinately high number of bring-ins. And when he wasn't getting them, Arty was getting a 2 (of diamonds). Eileen the dealer (see above) would get toked $3 (Ross, Doug, Jester) for every deuce that Arty got. She probably made $15 or so in tokes. I feel much more comfortable playing stud than I do HE. I am working on my HE skills and hopefully will vastly improve by the next RGP event, but I said that before. However I played very aggressively for the first two tables and ran over most of my other players (building a nice stack). Eileen (the dealer) provided me with EVERY card I needed WHENEVER I needed it to win. But on the third table I met up with Tiger who promptly took some of them away from me (Eileen was on break). I had to build them back up. The second to final table, Eileen was back from break to again CONSISTENTLY give me every card I needed when I needed it. And like all players - when I am on this kind of streak I am nearly unbeatable (and pretty cocky about the cards I play against short stacks). When we moved down to two tables, Eileen had completed her tournament duties and I met up with the anti-dealer - Cyndi. Final hand was pretty straightforward. Cyndi, the dealer, had been eating away at my stack for about a half hour. We were at $25 ante with $100 forced bet. I know that the dealer does not control the cards (except to the extent of the shuffle) but Cyndi (who is very attractive and personable - IMHO) nearly consistently provided me with the low card and nothing else. At least she was enjoying my "aw, your killin' me" comments (as I watch my stack dwindle to nothingness). I know how statistics will even out over time, but I would expect my 50-50 chances to be somewhat evenly distributed, not "heads" for a straight hour and then "tails" for the second hour. Final hand was Player was table/tourney chip leader and called my raise. I catch aces up (showing A6 on board) and raise all-in. Damned if the anti-dealer didn't roll him onto to a flush and blank me on the river. IGHN. At least I finished 12th and not 9th. I did learn a new rule. We had an empty stack (who was low-carded from another table) brought to my table. During one ante, the dead stack was all-in. I was middle position and called the forced bet. I raised out the other players for the side pot and we turned over the dead hand who beat me (Kings up, or trips - can't remember). Mine was lower. He wins the main pot (small pot). When relating this story to Tiger (who joined our table) he said that the dead hand cannot be turned over. Live and learn. An hour after the tourney, Eileen (back off break) approached me and told me that the group were the nicest bunch of guys she had the pleasure to deal to. Kudos all of you. Saddenz There were a few people that I didn't see this year (Jazbo did stop by, Kman was missing, and others as well), ATLARGE 2001 is just a scant year away. I also missed getting a Will Espin chip, AND missed getting him to sign it. Oh well. On a brighter note, I did get to meet/play against some new people such as Carenbon, Ice, etc.

Due to popular demand (well, anyway, Nanette said I should) I am filing my semi-mandatory trip report on my virgin Atlarge appearance last weekend. Why so late, you ask? Sadly, the fantasy world known as work pulled me away from the reality of live, casino poker. No paycheck, no poker - one of life's nasty surprises. This minnow, who is a denizen of the Trop Poker Club, no-smoking small stakes room, had noticed a few crazy people in March of '99 wearning Atlarge tags and became curious. As mostly a lurker at this newsgroup, it ultimately became apparent that something potentially interesting was up. After reading all 4,867 chapters of Tiger Tours the Tables, I was hooked. Here was a chance to swim out of the shallow waters of 1-3 and 1-5 stud into the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean in a real, live tournament instead of a free-roll or a $20 Tuesday night extravaganza. Of course, my late posting of this report is symptomatic of my prognastication and I signed up somewhat late for Atlarge, making it difficult to get a Trop room, even though a regular. This complicated matters as it was our 33rd wedding anniversary weekend (the dreaded event actually taking place on Monday, the 27th). It was this fortituous coincidence which persuaded wifey to agree to go, although she stayed a railbird for the tournaments. After hounding the charming Patrice for over a month, she fulfilled her promise and coughed up a room at the last minute. It was she, not spouse, who received the flowers. One of the best things about the Trop is the quality of personnel, all around. Since I find myself paying about $5 in rake for every dollar I get to keep, this is indeed an attribute all poker players should expect, but do not find in all AC poker parlours. I digress. Sadly, despite taking Friday off from work, the ring games fared poorly. We went to LaPalais at Resorts for our "official" anniversary dinner. Much to our dismay, Baked Alaska, which had been on the menu last year, had melted away. Does anyone know where to get a good Alaska, or, for that matter, Chateaubriand in AC these days? Saturday morning I was poised for my first ever no-limit hold'em tournament. As I have only played hold'em once for money and only a few times in free tournaments my expectations were nil for this event. I just don't care for the game as it seems to be too much a game of money, not cards. I drew Table 4, seat 7, and, much to my chagrin, seated to my immediate left was one of the Gods of Poker, Art Santella. He was charming to a rookie, and calmly answered my question as to why the East Coast seems to be lacking in noted tournament players. Maybe in 50 years the East Coast will catch up. I vowed to play only premium hands, whatever they might be, and watched the action. Oh, precious moment, when I saw I was not the first one out! But, it didn't take long. Imagine my pleasure to find pocket rockets dealt to me. The flop came up with a Q,J.T and I needed only a K for a straight. My flop bet was raised by Art and called by seat one. At the end of the hand, to my dismay, Seat one's QJ were paired with the original flop. Art was betting on one Ace in his hand. The end was near, and I knew it. I politely asked Art if there was a bounty for taking him down with me. Can you believe I outlasted him? My sole triumph of the weekend. After being blinded to death, I won an all-in hand. Six or seven more of these in a row, and I win! Alas, it was not to be. My pocket Jacks went down to ignomious defeat and I was 77 out of 86. Back to the ring, where again it wasn't so hot. The banquet was a pure pleasure. Good food, good company, and a relaxing time. My gift slip in the Trop baggie said "2 week Hawaiian Vacation", but was recognized as a clever forgery. Had to try! Why, Marie even remembered beating me up last year for suggesting she was married to Chickenman. Back to the ring and a slight recovery. I watched in amazement from another table as the White Chip Mountain game got underway. I din't mind the noise (though others did and had the players bounced out of the no-smoking room). My concern was the frequent call of "incoming" which threatened to set off a major case of post traumatic stress syndrome acquired 30 years ago in an Asian paradise which is the homeland of many a poker dealer. Had I only known how the world would turn, I would have kept up my Vietnamese language skills. Sunday morning came, and here, thought I, the small minnow can go for glory. Having placed several times in the final table at the Tuesday events, I was falsely encouraged, it seems. I drew seat 8, my personal nemisis as it seems all the cards are used up by the time they hit that spot. One encouragement - only 72 players were in the stud tournament, so I HAD to finish higher that the day before. Before the game started, I had a pleasant chat with Nolan Dala about his political column in Card Player, which I had read just that morning. Remember, Nolan, the Web site is "govote" and will give you a survey to determine your personal political philosophy As for me, "Anarchist bombthrower" comes to mind.. Wil Espin was at my table, fidding away the time until one of the soon to be built Marina casinos hires him on. Best wishes Wil, and build it right. By the way, I never found one of your commemorative chips, but even if I had, would it have been worth five bucks at the cashier's window? I'm sentimental, but five bucks is five bucks ... Again, the sharks circled and the guy to my right had won the stud event last year. Again, a quality hand left me hopelessly crippled. Trip fours in four cards were hammered by a pair of kings which turned out to be kings full. Maybe everyone else at the table knew what he had, but head to head in four cards, I had no better chance than then. So, there I was, gone at 65 out of 72. Almost all of the people I met were gracious to the minnow, and I wasn't the only small-timer present. Hey, you should be nice to us. Our $50 is what feeds your big-time habit. A few of the "hot-shots" displayed a bit of ego attitude, but that's to be expected. I'll just keep on learning, reading, gaining experience and a bigger bankroll. And, if Atlarge is held again in 2001 at the Trop, I'll definitely be back for more punishment. For now, back to the shallow waters. PUBINFOGUY - Glenn R. Nickerson

It was less than a year ago that I started to play poker and read this newsgroup. Though I have enjoyed or learned something from most posts or posters, some things were beyond me and I knew it, while other things were beyond me and I didn't even realize it.... what unaware?.... how can that be when I am "alwaysaware"? (grin) oh yeah, I wasn't "alwaysaware" back then, I used my real name..... anyway..... Three months ago I went back and re-read Patri's WSOP trip report. When I first read it last May, I thought he was a good writer and a great story teller.... I loved how he called KQ that this guy was playing a trash hand... what a sense of humor I thought he had... cuz, I thought he was kidding (KQ sounded good to me limit/NL, KQ who wouldn't play it?) Wow, what an enlightened understanding I got of how far I had come since May of last year. Then a few days ago, I was re-reading a hand by hand played trip report from.....never mind (do your own research :) When I first read it a few months ago, there were certain "plays" that the writer opened for debate that I didn't fully understand even after reading the responses... BINGO.. the recent reading was crystal clear.... again, a reflection on how far my poker knowledge is coming along... Today, I re-read a posting of mine on playing AJs in a NL tournament, and even I could now answer my own pondering... maybe not as well as some (or most) of you... but still.... I now better understand what I didn't then....POSITION...... And the point of this post? heres, a clue....title, or ATLARGE Trip Report Part II.... With ATLRAGE coming up, I have been thinking about my play in the NL tournament at FARGO I came in 17th(?) out of 70-80(?) players, by playing super tight and getting lucky Back then I didn't know AK "was a hand, you could call a raise with" and in the first level alone folded it three times when Jeff Calkins put in a small raise, (on my left he was) but I now recognize that as an attempt to steal (and quite successful he was I might add - grin) If I knew then what I know now.... I could have been a chip leader early on and done so much better (or busted out much earlier...but we will address that issue any other day) So anyway,,,, the point of this post?..... ATLARGER's WATCH OUT, ALWAYSAWARE IS COMING TO PLAY! Yup, that's right...Not only will I be playing the pocket rockets (AA) and the cowboys (KK), I've added nutnopair (AK) to my playable hands (smile) joan who will now only be playing tight, instead of super tight - smile The Widow Sees A Ghost... or, ATLARGE Report Part III *** WARNING: This Post Contains Poker Content (a rarity for me :) *** Due to even MORE problems with my vehicle, this time a dislodged vacuum hose, rendering it undrivable (at least to AC) I finally give up and drive "the land boat" i.e. the suburban. I miss the smoker ;-( Even though "the boat" has a kick ass stereo system I drive in silence, thinking about how to outplay Scott (and others), thinking about various NL tourney situations. Since this is a parkway there are no 16 wheelers and I am the biggest thing out there... it is nice to rule the road... (well, nice until I stop to fill the gas tank....ouch!) but it gets me in a "ruling the table" fame of mind. After three hours I give in and turn on the kick ass sound system. An hour later I arrive at the trop, find an excellent spot to park "the boat" and proceed to the poker room. I am immediately paged and look over at the podium and see Llew, my roommate for the weekend. She gives me a key to the room, I go eat dinner, then get my stuff and head to the room. I have promised myself not to play any limit ring games until the no limit tournaments are over. I want to stay focused... I want to win... I do not want to be distracted in trying to make the necessary adjustments from/to limit/no limit. I go to bed. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I wanted to go to the smoker, cuz I wanted to meet people, to know faces, to be able to hang out and say hi to someone.... but alas, it was not to be. I take this as a sign to continue with my focusing plan. I avoid everyone on Friday. I walk the boardwalk, I review my plan, I continue to think about NL tourney scenarios. At 2PM I sign up for the Trop monthly NL holdem tournament, and disappear yet again... absolutely NO DISTRACTIONS (grin). At 4PM I wander to my table and who do I find? Raydon - oh no (smile) one of my favorites but starting at the same table will either be good news, as he is very aggressive and tries to rule the table early and often busts because of it. Or, it will be not so good, as he will become a chip leader early. Also at my table is Jason Viriyayuthakorn, he came in 3rd at the final event of the USPC this last December, (Daniel N. had mentioned him in an article in Card Player magazine). I am actually excited about this. I want to see how he plays, I want to play him. I realize that this may mean an early exit for me, but still I am glad for the challenge. It is also now clear to me that these two must exit this tourney early, or they will be too dangerous later. I approach Jason, introduce myself and congratulate him on his win at the Taj. I want him to know that I know who he is. I want him to wonder if I can play. I kid him that I do not like that he is on my left (2 to my left). He kids back, that is a good thing, I could now trap him...hmmm., thanks for the idea Jason :) I don't have any playable cards. I wait. I look down and see the KQ of clubs. I want to play it...damn Patri for educating me (smile).. I muck... turns out it would be the winning hand on a huge pot (never mind that I would have had to chase it to the river) I secretly curse Patri (just kidding:). I start to get cards, I am raking pots. Jason has been crippled. Raydon is hurting. I am the big blind, Jason fingers his chips and I think, oh great, can't play my Q3 now. But, he just limps as do some others. The flop is Q high. Can't bet it with a 3 kicker, it is checked around.. The turn is another Q, which I check (what was that about a trap Jason?:-) Jason bets out 120 a little more than 1/3 of his stack. It is folded around to me. I raise it. He immediately releases his hand saying if you waited that long to act you must have something. He probably also saw my hand shaking. I certainly did, and it surprised and annoyed the hell out of me. I thought about smooth calling but if he had a middle pair that hit on the river, I could be in a world of hurt. A few hands later, Jason pushes all in with a short stack, 205 I believe. Raydon makes some comment about what kind of hand is needed to take him out or get the job done some such....but I am not paying attention to Raydon (I learned long ago to ignore him :-)... I have the J10d. I am only thinking that I like the odds on this hand, it is folded around to me and up to me to "fight" him. With no help I rethink my hand. If I call and lose it will not hurt me, I am chip leader and after all I did just take 135 (120 bet plus limp call of 15) from Jason. My only concern, my biggest concern is if I lose - what Jason can do with those chips... he is dangerous....very very dangerous... I hesitate. I then think it is only me and him. If he wins he only gets my chips no one elses. I finally decide that my goal upon arriving at the table was to take the players out and this may be my best shot at Mr. Danger. I call. I don't remember what happened as Jason didn't turn his cards, so neither did I... but I believe a ten hit the river. Jason asked if I got any of it and when I turned my cards he mucked his. He probably had A high (or 72 off and trying to steal). Someone later told me that Jason was moaning in the pot limit game that "she played J10, Can you believe it?" (Smile) Well, it was suited....(Bigger Smile) Later, Jason thanked me for taking him out early as he made a killing in the pot limit game. I asked for a percentage.... haven't seen any check yet.... but I'm an optimist (grin).. In the event you are reading this Jason, my address is: I then get pocket K's which I decide to slow play. I know the danger, but I am learning how to read the players. The flop has a K and I get action, I check raise and I am called. It is now heads up. He checks. I bet. He calls. He checks the river card and I say no way... I put the number of chips he has left in the middle. He hesitates and says he has to call. He has top and middle pair and a seat on the rail. (Slow playing here definitely got me all his chips. First it got him to play a trash hand, and secondly it gave him no indication I had a hand until the check raise, at which point I think he had fallen in love with his two pair flop) At this point someone nicknames me the widow. A player unknown to me is now all in (a short stack), I have a decent hand though I remember not what is was. I decide not to call him down and comment that I will probably regret it later in the tournament. I do. Turns out he is one of the eventual winners that chops four ways, Stevan G. Congratulations! Play well at TOC. Now, had I known at the time it was him I would have called, just cuz.... but that is a long story. He and I then traveled many tables together but alas, never another opportunity to take him out, looking forward to "widowing him" next year :) The Tournament progresses, Greg Pappas makes a comment that if he had my chips he'd have the table cornered by now. Greg is short stacked, but not for long. My chips fluctuate, by the second break I am down to 1800 (from 4000). I look at the structure sheet and see that the blinds are 500/1000 with 100 antes. I panic, well not panic, if you knew me you would know not much phases me,... not muggings, not being at home during a break in, not even street lamps that sail through my car window as I am driving. I seek Raydon, as I am the big blind and have no time, he tells me how he would play it. I return to my table and discover that the blinds are 100/200 and the antes are 25, whew!...but it is a wake up call. I need to do something soon or I will be in real trouble. I have a great image, I have only shown down premium hands, I don't play a lot of hands. It is time to take advantage. Of the next five hands I play three. I now have about 4700 (of the total chip count of 47,500), there are 13 players left. I am about even with Greg Pappas, and the guy to my right is not too far behind us. There is a player at the other table that has a mountain of chips....many many players are short stacked. I have gotten healthy, I have had healing hands. The guy on my right makes the comment that he always makes it this far, but never in the money I also look at my watch and realize that I have been playing my A game for 4:41 minutes, wow really impressive for me. This should have triggered a bell in my head (warning you are looking at your watch), but if there was a ding, I clearly did not hear it. I get AQs utg, I decide I will finally try a steal, I raise it to 600. Greg clearly thinks it's a steal, and is probably thinking a utg steal(?),as he hesitates and then mucks his cards. Everyone folds to the big blind, the guy that "never makes it in the money" he calls, hmmmm....and then says "I check the flop", before the flop is ever flopped...now this really throws me off, is he trapping me? (mistake #1, giving him too much credit, he is not a player) The flop comes Q 3 x, I have top pair with top kicker, guess what I do?...... .... Nope....that would have been the correct move. I now make mistake #2, I check behind him, d'oh....... a 3 on the turn, and he bets out 1000. I ask how many chips he has left, 2700. I then call. River is a K, he bets 1000. I hesitate, then push all in.....powerful move (egad) What was I "hoping" for?, that he would fold, of course, believing that I had trip K's. Well, the hesitation before pushing all in was pretty clear evidence that I don't have trip K's. Greg Pappas then whispers to his neighbor, I don't know if this is good or bad... I have played well and If I have a hand, 7000 chips in my hands would be damaging... If I have bungled this hand the chips in his hand are not a threat, he can't hold them for long. He waits for me to turn my cards, it was my action, I am forced to muck or show. I can't bring myself to muck in the event that by some miracle I have beat him. I show AQs.....he then shows 36 off, and he wins with trip 3's. I could not have misplayed this hand any worse than I did, I lost the maximum I possibly could on this hand. Had I bet or pushed all in on the flop, I probably would have won this hand (36 he's gonna fold, if he doesn't he is a donkey for playing bottom pair, and if I then lose, no shame in pushing all in with the best hand) My next hand is KJ, I am the big blind, I don't have enough chips to wait for a better hand, I call all in and lose. So close, I was playing well, I should have placed, perhaps won. I have experienced first hand, why they call me the widow :) The interesting part is I feel no different from when I took Jason or the other 12 out...it is a feeling of "oh, well" no emotion... only one regret.... I go to the room to get a FARGO hat for someone, I am gone about 8 minutes. I look at the guy who had my former chips....they are gone - he is now under 3000 and only minutes later busts out in 9th place. I wander over to the pot limit game and Tiger says I heard you took a bad beat, I smile and say you heard wrong, it was suicide. I played that hand in such a way that it was impossible to survive. I could have stopped at ANY point including just calling the river and still had more chips than I had 9 minutes earlier. Why? any thoughts... anyone been there?..... No longer able to sustain an A game?.... greed?, thinking only of getting ALL his chips?.... Fear of success? Inability to think? inability to recover after being rattled by "I check the flop," before the flop was flopped? So, close yet so impossible. Or did I just need to chant I will not see ghosts... I will not see ghosts.... If I get trapped so be it, but I will not see ghosts.... ********************************* Actually between the time I wrote this and posted, I have found my own answers, recognized my own demons. In a nano second I have gone from my A game to my BJ&E (bad judgment and ego) game. Any of you that played on funcom.com this summer have witness my BJ&E game first hand. This is where I make a betting mistake and instead of releasing the hand, ego steps in and I say "I had the best hand before misbetting, and it WILL improve. If It doesn't I will just bulldog my way through and YOU WILL FOLD!" Never worked there either :) I had one regret immediately after crashing and burning, Greg Pappas who will be at the upcoming NEPC, witnessed this train wreck. I felt it gave him too much information about my bungled steal attempt... now that I understand my own warped logic in playing this hand, I am not worried that he will be able to "use It against me", in fact it may even help me to "trap" him at some point (he never reads rpg - so not worried about posting this....sssshhhhh, no one tell him, ok?:) I now have no regrets. Better to have happened now than in a big important tournament, gives me important information with which to patch the holes in my game.... Joan btw: the way to outplay Scott is to avoid him in the ring games and pray he is not at your table during the tournaments :) It worked well, God answers prayer!

This will be short & sweet, after reading the wonderful trip reports others have already posted. I certainly wish I could write as well as you folks do! The Stud Tourney got off at 9AM on Sunday, so yours truly wasn't around to see it get off, but Rachel Croson was kind enough to track the bustouts which started with Bill Alan's new protege, David Baugh. Tough luck David, but you'll do better next year. The tourney ran long enough that I begged cajoled and arm-twisted Robert Jacobs into handling the finish so I could play in the Trop Stud/8 tourney. Thanks Robert! Here's the run-down, based on Robert's notes. You final table guys can chime in with your thoughts... Final Table: seat/name 1/ Eric "Jaeger" Holtman 2/ Ralph Ballario 3/Greg Pappas 4/Bill Lewis 5/Tiger "The Organizer" 123 6/ David "Davles" Fruchter 7/Ernst-Dieter "Jupiler" Martin 8/ Peter "TrayRacer" Segal Some thoughts on the final table... Eric Holtman had locked up the Overall when Mitch Kramer went out with two tables left... Peter Segal must have the best final table appearance record of all time at *ARG events, with about 50%... Greg Pappas is certainly the gabbiest player I have ever heard, a constant stream of jokes, abuse and laughter... Segal is out in 8th place, followed in 7th by Bill Lewis when Pappas rivers a third 5 to beat Lewis' trip 4s. E-D Martin is Pappas' next victim with 30 miles against Jupiler's K high. Tiger falls next in 5th place when he and Fruchter both have aces up, but Davles has KK to beat Tiger's 33. Tiger adds: -------------------------- well, there was a little bit more to the hand than that. ;) we were down to five players, with an ante of T100, bring-in of T200, and limits of 500/1000. i had just under T3000. david had the second biggest stack. earlier at the final table, when i had raised the bring-in, david (to my immediate left) re-raised me on two occasions and i released my hand each time. in this hand, i had split aces with a trey. ralphie brought it in, greg folded, and i raised. david, showing an eight, re-raised. eric folded, as did ralphie. david was *not* happy when i made it three bets. he hesitated and called. as it turned out, david had split eights with an ace kicker. if he were to assume that i really did have split aces, there were only three cards in the deck that could help him: the other two eights and the case ace. of course, it was possible that i had pocket kings or *maybe* pocket queens, since i would have played these hands exactly the same way. on fourth street, i got a medium card, and david caught an ace. he was high with the eight, and checked. i bet and he check-raised. i didn't even believe that he had caught a case card, so i re-raised all-in. yup. he did buy the case ace and i was *way* behind. even though i paired my three on fifth street, david caught two running kings on sixth and seventh to make aces and kings. my only win was one of the two remaining treys....but i found one more cowboy on the river, and i had to leave. ------- End Tiger's comments Now it's Ralph all the way home as Pappas finally falls when Ballario shows a six high straight. Next Fruchter's busted draw puts him in 3rd vs Ralph's Kings up. Finally Ralph Ballario shows TT77 to defeat Overall Champ Eric Holtman's wired 88 to take the Championship. That's my report. I don't think Mike Paulle has anything to worry about :) Thanks again to Kate, Patrice, TK and the great staff and dealers of the Tropicana for showing us a great time. And a special thanks to the 100 or so RGP'rs who once again have shown the poker world that you can be a winner and have fun at the same time! See you at BARGE, Peter "The mouth of a happy man is filled with beer"      - Egyptian Proverb (as told at Hollywood Park)

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of attending ATLARGE V at the Trop in Atlantic City. Before I give MY version of my experience at the tables, I would like to thank 4 people for making this past weekend a memorable one for me, a GREAT poker weekend. First and foremost, Tiger and Foldem for picking up the reins of a run away horse initially tamed by Jazbo, and making ATLARGE V possible. Secondly, Kate and Patrice, (I hope I am not horribly mis-spelling your name Patrice). These two ladies, with the help of their outstanding staff in the Trop Poker Club, treated ALL of the ATLARGE crowd like high rollers (even those of us that seldom see the 10-20 table). Now, for the real time play by play of my ATLARGE Holdem tourney action. I start the tourney in seat 4 table 1. Hand 1 - 83o - fold Hand 2 - AcAh - UTG folds, I make it 100 to go, 2 seats to my left, Jaeger, (Eric) makes it 200, and the table folds to me. I thinking, "Ive got you now!" go all in to the tune of 500, which Jaeger eagerly calls. I roll over my rockets to watch him roll over, you guessed it, his rockets. At this point I'm thinking, well that got the blood going, now I will be awake for the rest of the tourney, figuring there is this small matter of flopping 5 cards, and the dealer pushing back our chips and splitting the 15 blinds. About this time I here someone say "hey, one of these two may have a free roll!" and watch the dealer flop Heart    Spade    Spade Turn - Spade River - (WAIT FOR IT!) SPADE IGHN The good news is Jaeger used his skill and my chips to make it to the final table. Oh, I went outside to the boardwalk to watch the Swedish Bikini Team do a photo shoot on the beach....much better use of time. Any way, even though I spent all of 10 minutes in the tourney I had a great time and am already looking forward to next year. /Loboc

ATLARGE 2K was my second ARG event, and it was great! I have nothing but good things to say about all the fine people I met at ATLARGE. Still, not knowing who does or doesn't want their name appearing on the net, I'll stick to using people's nicknames or first names only. You know who you are. I scratched a few notes, but this is 99% from memory. I'll apologize in advance for any errors, exclusions, etc. I also chose to get this report out the door unpolished, before memories fade, so it's a little rough around the edges. Sorry about that. First, many thanks to: Rob "Action Bob" H - Scored me a room in the Trop so I didn't have to shuttle 6 miles to the Sheraton West. With my parents along, this was a double help. Can't thank you enough Rob! And, as promised, I managed to prevent my mom from trashing the room rock-star style, so your good name and credit rating are safe! Tiger and Foldem - Made ATLARGE happen in short order and did all the work so we could do all the play. Danke schoen! I only got to talk to Tiger for a minute or so. I don't think I got to express my thanks for all he has done for ATLARGE and RGP, so I'll do it now. Patrice, TK and Kate - Hosted our group again, and treated us fantastically! So nice to everyone, and nothing was ever a problem. Thanks! PRM - who I once again played many hands with, who once again confused me to high heaven, and who once again proved what a great guy he is through several nice gestures. Once I locate a suitable white chip, it will be on its way to you! RGP note: I didn't realize how many people read the group consistently, and remember what they have read! At least five people who I met for the first time said something like, "Oh, you're the trip-report-template guy," referring to a trip report spoof post I posted 7 months ago. Be careful what you write, people do read this stuff! Pretrip: I know you want to know this stuff so here goes. I'm planning to head to ATLARGE early Saturday morning. I work 4x10, so Friday afternoon - as I am anticipating ATLARGE - confirms Einstein's theory that time is indeed relative. Friday afternoon lasts, by my watch, a little longer than grad school. From work I zing out to Toys R Us, because I wouldn't come *back* from a trip without something for my little girls, ages 5 and 2, and I don't think a felt roulette surface will go over well. Now I head straight to some volunteer work - by which I mean work I have been volunteered for :-). No, actually it is for a school library, so it is a good cause. 2.5 hours there. Home, family, pack. Put the girls to bed. They don't want Daddy to go tomorrow, because they will miss him. They're breaking my heart here! We negotiate a settlement. It is now very late. I jam in 15 minutes of exercise anyway, because I know Saturday and Sunday will have none. Shower. Quick review of Cloutier's excellent Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold Em. A few concepts stick: AQ is trouble up front. If you have KK and an Ace flops no more money goes in, etc. BTW, I love TJ's road stories. They are too few and too brief. I'd like to see a book from him just about what it's like to live a life fading the white line. Sleep. Four short hours later the alarm goes off. Tired? No way! It's time for ATLARGE! We're on the road by 6 and make excellent time, even through Philadelphia (1.7 million people, 2 lanes). I'm very happy to be bringing my parents. My dad had bypass surgery less than a month ago. The morning after the operation I go in for the 11am visit. He is sitting up, reading the paper, looking for all the world like he is ready to go home. "You've got 4 weeks," I tell him, "To get well enough to go to play some poker with me." He smiles and says, "I know. I'm looking forward to it. I'll be ready." There was never any doubt. Got there just past 8am. Put my name down on some lists. Any games 5/10 or below open? Just 2/4. OK, what else am I going to do at this hour? Take a 2/4 seat and immediately see why it was vacant. The persons on either side of me are having an ongoing verbal dispute, including threats of physical interaction. I play my usual properly tight starting requirements. When I finally enter a pot with a raise and win with an overpair, the guy on my right informs me that "even a blind squirrel finds a walnut once in a while." "Acorn," I tell him, "even a blind squirrel\u2026you know what, never mind, walnut." He keeps taunting the guy on my left, suggesting he is cheating with his "cousin" down the table. The guy keeps saying "those Greeks are cheating\u2026." To which the guy on my left yells "WE'RE NOT GREEK! I KEEP TELLING YOU!" Colorful words are exchanged, floor is called, etc. I know if I stick around these guys will produce some golden trip report material, but I can't handle sitting right between them, so I retire to the bar to slam a few cups of coffee. Big crowd around one table, so I drift over. It is the 2/5 PL game. I had expressed interest in the baby PL game (1/2/5 to go). I don't think it went anytime Saturday, although I got on a list. Let's take a peek at 2/5/20 to go. The first player I see is Jedi, a young guy whose real name I remember from the USPC results in Poker Digest. Oh, and he's got something like 15K in wrapped bundles of hundreds in front of him. I guess this is not the learner game :-). I watch a hand. Decent pot building. Flop is Q high, No ace or K appear on the board. On the river, one player raises the pot, another calls all in after a long, long hesitation. Pot is about 2K. First guy has KK. Other guy shows AQ. AQ no goot, Cloutier correct. Somewhere in here I met two nice guys I've traded some Email with, BPK and Jim "Yellow Fin" K. I eventually played a little with Yellow Fin, but I don't think I sat with BPK. NL Tourney time. Allow me if you will to complain about my table assignment. The lineup included Mordecai, whom I knew to be a good ring game player, and who I started the NL tourney with last year (he made the final table) and I knew he was aggressive; Tom, who was new to me; Tray Racer who has probably made more RGE final tables than anyone else; George W, a good guy who I had not played NL against yet; a guy who sits on my left who looks like a muscular Gary Sinise (the guy from "The Stand," among other features) who turns out to be Pain - who I understand is a good player; ADB Bigboy who sits down with a rack of Oreos (funny!); Mitch BFB who would go on to eliminate me; Nolan two to my right which is horrible because I know he will is aggressive; myself, and\u2026.and\u2026..and\u2026.I must be forgetting someone. Doh! Before we start playing I get to meet Nolan. If poker ever needs an ambassador, here is my nomination. What a congenial person. He makes sure everyone at the table gets included in the conversation. It was a pleasure playing at the same table. This is the guy who should be pumping out books. I remain hopeful. NL Tourney: Or, "You Should Have At Least Played a Few IRC Tournies" This is my second lifetime NL game. It shows. I mentioned I have Nolan two to my right. That's bad, m'k? From reading his stuff, I know Nolan is aggressive. I also know is capable of betting at a flop with nothing. I'm also sure he is observant. So, he steals some blinds from me. I have absolutely nothing, however, and muck my hands (which include 72o and other such gems) face up. Anyway, I think we both know he is going to put pressure on me. So I decide my only hope is to wait for a good hand, and then slowplay it. Eventually, I get AKo in one of the blinds. Nolan makes about a pot sized raise, right on schedule. I smooth call. Good flop, please! I like the flop: KXX two suits. I check, Nolan makes a pot sized bet. I might have smooth called, but I didn't want to give up a chance to make three of a suit on board, because I know Nolan will represent that, and I don't know what I will do then. I'm all excited that my plan has come together, so I put together a pot sized reraise. Well, my excitement and 10 cups of coffee (no exaggeration, maybe more) show as I make a shaky bet. Doh! Even I know about that tell! Argh! Nolan definitely sees it, because he mucks immediately and says "Nice hand," as in I don't mean nice bet I mean nice hand, as in that ace-king you had there, as in they might as well deal your cards face up if you're going to play like that. Oh well, that's why I am here, for experience, so that these things don't happen when I'm at the final table at the WSOP, which I plan to be one day. Pain departs when his AA is cracked by Jerry's 74 which flopped a straight. What would you do: A little later, I get AKo and raise. Nolan calls. Flop QcTcX - I have no club. Check, Nolan bets the pot. I think, think, think, fold. What would you have done? I do nothing for a while, and soon I am shortstacked relative to the blinds. I get AKs. Someone makes a pot sized bet. Mitch who has chips to spare calls, I call all in. The flop is low rags. I show my hand to my neighbors and they like my chances when it gets checked around. Turn brings a J, which Mitch bets. That's not a good sign. His AJ sends me to the rail, just about in the dead center of the pack. AJ would prove to be my NL tournament nemesis. I realize, a little too late, that with this sort of structure one has to play a little faster than the style CLoutier writes about. On to some 5/10 HE where I booked a nice little profit while waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get called for the pink game. The pink game was cool. I decided I wanted to try it, even though I generally play 5/10. I got in (eventually) on Saturday afternoon. Met Tom H here, a young guy, very nice, and a tough player. I showed my inexperience on this hand, which I played terribly, but at least I managed to confuse Nolan (-: I limped in with 66. Nolan raised behind me, possibly on the button. I called. Flop came none too threatening with a 6. Something like 962. I check raised Nolan and he called. On the turn the board was 962K. Now, again showing my inexperience my immediate thought was, "what if he was on KK?" I should have bet it anyway, of course. I _absolutely_ know this, all I can say is that my brain froze. I checked. Nolan bet, giving me a chance to put in another check raise, which would have been a very nice play, but I called. The river hits something like 962KT. By the river card my brain has thawed, so I bet out. Nolan pauses, wonders out loud what hand could possibly justify my betting pattern (heh, your logic cannot help you!). He calls. 666 goot, and of course draws remarks from ADB Satan, who was chatting it up and making the table a lot of fun to be at. I'd like to get in a -EV game run with him someday, I bet it is a blast. The dealer gets double toked for the hand of the beast and we carry on. Another botched hand from the pink game: Mordecai, a very friendly guy and tough player who I got to play against for a few hours, raised from early position. He had been playing solidly, so I put him on AKo, minimum, and more likely a big pair. There were 2 callers to me on the BB. I had 4c2c and decided to call, figuring if the flop didn't slam into me I would fold. Flop: 8x4h2h. I check raise. Mordecai reraises. I call. I still put him on a big pair. AhKh is possible. A set of 8s is pretty unlikely, but not impossible. Turn is a blank non-heart. In my worst play of the day I check and then call, deciding I will try to check raise on the river if it is not a heart. I know that was a very bad idea for several reasons. No excuse other than stupidity. The river pairs the 8, which I don't like at all. I check to Mordecai. He pauses, I know he's wondering if I could have an 8. He puts me on a heart draw and bets. I half ask, half state "Overpair ?/." as I call. Yep, KK. My dumb move saved me a bet, as it happens. Mordecai was playing great, and killing the pink game both days. Despite these and other boneheaded plays, my overall game was reasonable and I took about 400 out of the pink game Saturday. Banquet: I sat with Joan, Rebuy, Tray Racer, Yellow Fin, PRM, Davles, and ADB Iceman. Great time. Nice meeting Joan who I had exchanged some Email with. She's not only a fun person, but is very committed to improving her game. Watch out for her down the road! We discuss the influence of a woman at the poker table, which got pretty interesting. Davles has some funny comments about on-line poker and why he doesn't play it :-). Tiger, Nolan, and Arti each said a few words and awarded some awards. All very nice, and yes, Tiger did limit his talk to less than 38 pages (-:. Dinner itself was excellent. I had neglected to eat up until then, so I was starved. The Trop put on a very nice banquet for us, many thanks! Everyone got a prize for attending - whatever was written on a slip of paper in a little bag at each seat. I scooped one of the top items, a Trop jacket, making this a +EV event. Woohoo! I go to the office to get the jacket; I thank Patrice for the banquet and she remarks how much she enjoys ATLARGE weekend. Also, this merits pointing out: She gave me a size L jacket, which I tried on. It fit well, I thought. Patrice thought it could have been a teensy bit bigger. There was no XL on hand in the office. I was perfectly happy with it as was, and said so. The easy thing to do would be to say 'OK.' But Patrice went out of her way and insisted on running upstairs to get an XL to try. The XL turned out to be a better fit. That's *really* going the extra distance. Thanks Patrice! MATS. The lineup was myself, Jerry, Jester, Rebuy, Ross, Russell, Joan, Tom, Davles, and Kevin. After my NL tourney debacle, I resolve to play better here. I feel like I did play a little better here, but did not get a lot by way of cards. Thanks to Llew for dealing! First hand Davles pushes all in from middle position. The hand opens up a discussion: If you were in the WSOP with KK and someone jammed the first pot, what would you do? The consensus said fold. I lose a few chips early when I try to steal with ATo and someone, Joan I think, puts in a big raise. Joan played a very good game, and repeatedly showed she was not afraid to commit all her chips. My best hand came pretty early. I was second to act and raised 2X pot with KK. All fold to Jester who jams. I call all-in (he has a few more chips). Board comes JxTTx. He has AJs, so I double through. That left Jester crippled. I didn't play any big hands against Rebuy, but I was impressed with his aggressiveness and poker face. A few times he slid all in. I watched him. Eyes down to the pot, not even a blink. I think he sort of slips into a state of suspended animation or something. I get a long run of unplayable cards. People start to drop. We're down to four players but I start to get relatively short stacked as the limits rise. Soon I need a hand to make a stand with. I almost go all in when Llew deals me the 3c and Rules for Draw Poker, because it's the best hand I've held in 20 minutes, but I lay it down. People are raising my blinds, but I have things like 63o, and cannot pull the trigger. Finally I catch AQo, which looks like gold at this point. I slide all-in. Ross, with the big stack, has already told me that when I make my move he will have to call blind. He calls. He has AJ. So does the final board, and that's all for me. I leave Ross, Jerry and Tom to duel it out. A great time with some very friendly people. Congrats to Ross who played outstanding poker and went on to win. Back to the poker room. I bounce through a few games, pick up a few chips. Watch the white game a bit. You have to see this game to appreciate it. The table looks just like an architectural model of a city! Even the jaded locals were coming by to see what was going on. I wish I had gotten in on that, maybe next year. I get back into the pink game fairly late. Briefly meet Jaeger, whose posts I never skip, and who kicked butt all weekend. Foldem dropped in, primarily for a massage but to play a little as well. Finally met him in person (Actually, I met him for 2 seconds last year, just enough to say 'hi.'). All the good things people say about him are true and yes, he does embody the ARG spirit. He is another person who is a pleasure to have at the table. Best wishes to him as he takes his good spirits westward. Bill (ADB VC61) took the seat to my left. We had never met. We talk a bit about sports betting scandals. Interesting stories, I could listen to this all night. Bill played basketball against Bob Cousy in college. Somewhere around 2-2:30am Foldem, Carl, Pete C, Yellow Fin, Bill, Jester, and a few others were pulling up to head to the dice tables. I asked if I might tag along, having never played before. I received a gracious invite and off we went. I have to thank Bill, who was above-and-beyond kind. He treated me like a nephew, and I really mean that. Bill stood next to me at the craps table and helped me out, telling me about the good bets and placing odds, and which bets were lousy. What a fine gentleman and class act. We started off pretty cold. Foldem lacked the faith, and bailed out to go defy all known laws of probability at the Let It Ride tables. I dropped 160 pretty fast at a 10 dollar table, but I kept the faith. It took about an hour, but we started to dig out. Still down some, we were ready to pull up but decided to wait out one more ATLARGE Shooter, Pete C. Good choice! He made 4 or 5 points which, combined with odds, "made me well," as we craps shooters like to say :-). By 3:30 I felt OK but I knew I had better get a little sleep. I'm the first of the ATLARGErs to wuss out. I wandered toward the North tower elevators and noticed a young lady loitering there. Asian, and very pretty. She was wearing knee high boots and not a lot else. Like a dope, I make eye contact. She starts talking to me. Seemingly an hour later, the elevator arrives. She gets in with me. I push he button for floor 7. "What floor?" I ask. She glances at the lighted display. "Seven is good." I smile and say "What a co-inky dink." (I really said this) She smiles and says, "Yes, isn't it?" Aiyah. "What's in there?" she asks - gesturing toward the fanny pack around my waist. Not too worried that she's going to overpower me, I say "Chips!" and open it up. It's stuffed with mostly pink chips. "Wow," she says, "You must be really lucky!" "Uh, yes." "You want another chip?" she asks me. I search for meaning in that statement and say something like, "Duh?" "Here," she says, and hands me a red $5 chip. Not knowing what to do, I take it. "Thanks." I'll leave out the rest of the conversation and just state, unequivocally, that no further business transactions took place. Thus, I am career +EV in dealings of that nature, a claim I suspect few can match! I get to the room and sneak in. Last year, I hit the hay around 4am. I had snuck into the room all quiet, only to find it empty! My parents came in later than me! This year, at least, my parents called it quits around 2, which was good. I hate it when my mom calls me a lightweight ;-). Just about 4am I'm tired but my head is spinning from the cigar I had shooting dice. I eventually doze off, but don't sleep very well. 7:30 my mom wakes me. They are both all showered, dressed, and eager to go. Geez, I can barely hang with my parents! I shower and shave quickly, and we go to breakfast. It's not quite 8am yet and I'm wondering if I am the only ATLARGER awake at this hour (except maybe for those who never went to sleep). Nope, I spot Bill and Arti going for breakfast too. How do they do it? When I left the craps table Bill was still there. I think maybe the ADBs have learned how to function without sleep. Stud tournament. My table, from the 1 seat: Bwana (doh!), Jim "JT" T, Bruce "ADB Bigboy", Nolan, someone I did not know or meet, Robert J, Me, PRM. At least I got to meet Bwana briefly, which is appropriate since I have often used his name in posts as the prototypical tough tournament player. He assures me that he is not so good at stud. Sure. He also confirms for me, firsthand, the reputation he has for leaving tournament tables for prolonged periods while still doing well! I didn't last too long. I had been hovering about at the buyin stack size (T300). I'd played only a few hands, and none of them very big, winning one or two and losing one or two. We had just gone to T5 ante (all players), T25/50 bets, forced bring in of T15. I had a little less than the initial T300. I was dealt (QdXd)Ad and raised the bring in, which was a 2 sitting in front of ADB Bigboy. JT called behind me with a low card, and Bigboy called too. I thought maybe JT had a big pair in the hole, and I wasn't sure about Bigboy. I caught a K, but not the Kd on fourth street. JT got another small card and Bigboy caught a Q to have Q2 showing. I bet out again. JT called, and Bigboy raised. We both called. Fifth street brought a diamond, I check-called Bigboys bet and JT folded. Sixth street I caught the Kd, making my flush and a pair of Kings showing. The boards were: Me: (Qd Xd) Ad Kx Xd Kd Bigboy: ( ) 2x Qx Xx Xx I bet out all in (T40). Bigboy called. The river cards were dealt. Bigboy said "I need a Q or a 2." He got it, making Qs full of 2s or 2s full of Qs. I forget, but either was more than enough. I was happy enough with my play of the hand. Some nice words were said and it was back to the ring action for me. I played a little in a 5/10 stud game with Llew and Mordecai (I played a lot with Mordecai - either a coincidence, or more likely he liked my action :-). No hands here. The only decent cards I catch are a pair of Queens, but the other two queens are already showing. They call down the pink game again and I depart. Funny story: Jazbo raises in the pink game from early position. Folded to Nolan in the BB. Nolan says "I know I'm behind so I'm going to lay this down," flipping down AJo. Jazbo incites tilt by rolling over JTs! Nolan carries on at length. So funny! Funny remark: At the pink game, well known tournament player Greg P is walking by. Someone asks how he is doing in the stud tournament. "Well, there's this guy at my table," he says, "who has a huge pile of chips, and he's a real a.h." Pause as everyone at the pink game looks up for the answer. "It's me!" Midafternoon I call it a wrap. No cash from the tournies but the ring games were good to me, despite all my errors. Monday my coworkers ask me about my weekend. I explain I was in Atlantic City. The following true dialog represents the difference between RGPers and normal people: Coworker: "Atlantic City? How is the ocean there?" Me: "Ocean? Oh, yeah! I, uh, I didn't get to the ocean this time." :-) It was a pleasure gang, hope to see you all again soon! Bob "BobbyD" Dainauski Allentown, PA

One of my top three RGP pals, Arti Santella, and I left Arti's house in Norwalk, CT, at 9 AM on Thursday, March 23 bound for ATLARGE '00 and four days of fun & poker. In that precise order. If you've never been in a car with Arti for several hours you will have missed one of life's great treats. He can speak to just about any subject and the time flies. Of course, what also flies is the "f" word, which, to Arti, is essentially verbal punctuation. By the time we crossed the Hudson I had counted at least 19 permutations of this ubiquitous word . . . 18 of which are either physically impossible or linguistically inappropriate. My kind of guy! We arrived at The Trop in due course and, as is our custom, went directly to the Poker Room while our room was being made up. Bad mojo from the start, as I got involved in a $10-$20 holdem game which did not provide me with one playable hand for an hour and a half. (- $230, all but one hand in blinds) The usual early crowd (Foldem, Robert Hwang, etc.) were there when we got there and we shook welcome hands all around. Sad (for us) news from Foldem . . . he has retired from F.I.T. and is relocating to the Bay Area. Our major loss; their major gain. Peter is hoping to set himself up as the owner of a small card room. (To be called . . . what else? . . . "Foldem's".) I was quite surprised to learn from Peter that a very small card room (even just one table) can make a profit. But, of course, "small" means very hard work and long hours for the proprietor. If anyone I know can make it work Peter can. For my money he is the most universally liked person in RGP and his card room will be a "bees to honey" one, especially with all his close poker friends in the area. I don't think he aspires to a giant Gardena-like operation, but I can easily envision an eventual 20-or-so-table room where Peter's splendid personality can be felt in every part of the operation. If I were a betting man I would seek to be an early investor. (Hey . . . what the hell? I am. So perhaps I will.) After my slow start in $10-$20 I decided to back off to a lower stakes game. No point in blowing too much too soon. So I played a little $5-$10 for a small profit and finally got up to our room about 4 PM. But not B4 I made my first of many swings by the dice table, where I had a decent score and got back all of my holdem losses and then some. The poker-rated room ($49 on week days, more on Friday & Saturday nights) was only "adequate". I am not a frequent AC visitor ever since Foxwoods opened up so I don't have any basis for comparisons, but you can get a lot more for your money at Foxwoods (during tournament week and FARGO). Room service absolutely sucks. I paid nearly $30 for a modest breakfast on Friday and the eggs were cold. However, the location in the South tower made up for it . . . down in the elevator and you are right at the back entrance to the poker room. The first major event of the weekend was the Smoker at The Old Waterway Inn. With many people yet to arrive in town and a continually growing reluctance to poison one's lungs we had only 12 people in attendance. But, needless to say, those present were the usual suspects . . . all major fun seekers . . . and the evening was a great success. I pigged out with a decent Pouilly Fuisse to accompany my baked clams appetizer and incredibly good Chesapeake Bay crab entre and the tab came to only a little more than $50 apiece for the 12 of us. Far cry from the $100+ I spent at Fiore during BARGE '98. Without Nolan there to assume the risk of setting the over/under on the bill, Foldem handed it with his usual good sense: We all put $5 and a number on slip of paper and the $60 went half to the winner and half to Kevin, our waiter (who had already been generously toked on the total bill). I forget who won. Back to the Trop where, because of heavy drinking earlier, I played only low stakes holdem. In a $5-$10 game late at night I was getting nothing but rags but they weren't hurting me too much. At 3 AM, stuck for about $300, my body required sleep. So I made a promise to myself to play around to my blinds and leave. All of a sudden the table turned toward me and I had an incredible run. I was playing anything just to see the flop. Among other hands of note I held a pair of 3's and flopped the other two. Then I held a pair of ducks and flopped a full house. No skill here . . . just the poker gods smiling. I finally did go to bed at 7 AM up $800. That's a swing of $1100 in just 4 hours. That, as we all know, is NOT supposed to happen. Arti, who I had not seen since 2 PM yesterday, quietly left the room and let me sleep until about 3 PM B4 he called me to come down for the Trop's $100 + $15 no limit holdem tournament. (That's when I had my room service $30 eggs-over-easy. Sheesh.) I had a pretty good run in the tournament but ended up finishing in the middle of the pack. Not surprising since I was wedged in between two of the best players in the game . . . Greg Pappas to my right and Jimmy Boyd to my left. Jim was there just for the day since he was headed out for the big one at Tunica. He and I go way back together to the early days at Foxwoods annual tournaments and I was sorry to hear that he wouldn't favor us with his company for the entire weekend. I will get no dispute when I say that Jim Boyd is arguably the best liked guy in professional poker. I played heavily in the pink game for awhile where, as Arti pointed out to me, "It is alright to lay down a hand now and then." But then grave misfortune visited me. I bought into the baby pot limit game ($1 - $2 - $5 to go, aka "Jazbo's Game"). There was a lot of talent in the game, mainly Sippy. I had not seen him since ATLARGE '97 at Resorts, where I voted him the best holdem player in the group. One would think that a kind gesture such as that on my part might cause Sippy to go a little easy on me . . . but it was not to happen. On my last hand I was well ahead and I came up with 10's full of my hole card Aces on the turn . . . the nut full house. The pot at that point was about $500 and I was first to bet. Naturally I bet it all. Everyone folded except Sippy who came over the top of me, putting me all in. Needless to say he held the only card that could beat me . . . a 52-to-1-shot case 10. I was so miserable that I didn't even check to see if he did a river suckout on me. But knowing Sippy I doubt that he did, since the turn card was a 10. Sippy thinks it was less than this (and I respect his superior RAM-based intellect) but I think I had about $1500 in that pot. Double sheesh! Then to the crap pit with the regular ARG junkies . . . Foldem, Jester, et al. I'm not sure if it was at this session, but we had a bunch of people with us who were (a) intent upon learning the game or (b) on our growing list, mainly female, of craps groupies who were only there to be able to brag the next day that they "played with the stars". Memory fails me, but I believe the "a" group included Bob Dainauski (Polski, yadje masjh) who was my pupil. I hope he came away from the session winners, but more importantly I hope he learned the very simple basic rules of winning craps . . . Make ONLY line (or come) bets and take maximum odds. NEVER play any bet in front of the stickman (the "proposition" bets). NEVER place a number except 6 or 8, if one of them becomes the point. (And the latter is only marginally OK) If you MUST place any other number (NOT recommended) you should "buy" it. Among the "b" group was Alan Richman's charming S/O, the lovely Nanette (aka "No No") who was destined for finer things on Saturday night at the banquet. If I were 30 years younger I would kill for Nanette. Saturday Morning. Since writing Part I of this endless trip report I have read a couple of others written by people who wondered how some of us get up bright & early after a late night/early morning's carousing. The answer is disarmingly simplistic. We just don't go to bed. It's hardly the best preparation for a major tournament, but a worse mistake would be to go to bed about 5 AM with a wake-up call for 8. Warm engines start up much more quickly than dead ones do. So I played through the wee hours and woke Arti up at 8 AM because I was not about to spring for another $30 breakfast and you can trust Arti to know where the good values are. He led me to the boardwalk and a 3-minute walk to starboard took us to the coffee shop at the neighboring Holiday Inn. We enjoyed a splendid full breakfast which cost about $12 for both of us. Back in time for the no-limit holdem event . . . my best game. I had an agreement with T.K. that he would nudge me if I began to slump over on my hole cards but it turned out to be unnecessary since I tapped out rather early. Bad cards, not bad living, were my downfall. (That's my story . . . and I'm sticking to it!) Then, because I had earned it, I was finally off to bed for a 3-hour snooze, waking up in time for a long hot soak (bummer: no Jaccuzzi) and a cold shower and then off to the banquet. Many of you know me as a Wild Turkey guy but when I want to fire for effect it is always a Martini. There's something about a Martini, A tingle remarkably pleasant. A yellow, a mellow Martini, I wish that I had one at present. There's something about a Martini, Ere the dining & dancing begin. And to tell you the truth, it's not the Vermouth; I think, perhaps, it's the Gin. - Ogden Nash Arti, who I swear was not sucking up to get my vote for the ADBs, was plying me with Stoli Martinis . . . since I was sticking to my vow to give up gin for Lent. We had a swell table, mostly ADBs plus a couple of hopefully surprised new inductees. Apart from subs/grinders/hoagies/po boys etc. I am not big on Italian food. And, to me, chicken is more of an adjective than a noun. So, after a polite bite or two, I passed my plate over to Arti . . . who commenced to eat two dinners, his & mine. He farted a lot that night and bored everyone at breakfast with his endless stories about the damage he had done to his gastrointestinal system. You have to pay the fiddler Arti! The highlight of the evening, as at all ATLARGE banquets, was the recognition given to all those who helped make it happen: The very lovely Kate Dumas, the cute & charming Patrice Munafo, Tiger, Foldem, and of course T.K. A word here about T.K. I've been at this game longer than most of you have been alive and I have never known a finer floorperson than our Tommy. Apart from keeping everything running smoothly & fairly, he makes you feel like you are his most important player. I had met him only once B4, but he remembered my poker name, my legal name (William Alan Hafey), my home address (right down to the street number) and the fact that I was a holdem player. What a guy! Attention Trop Management: Take notice of this fine employee. There were enough ADBs present to form a minyan and we met briefly to name three new ADBs . . . the most ever, I am told, to be inducted at one ARG event. All of them have demonstrated the necessary qualities and we welcome . . . Nanette Merkelis . . . . . . ADB "No No" John Luckini . . . . . . . . . ADB "Luke" Arthur Santella . . . . . . . ADB "Arti" Kate & her staff handed out nice gifts to all present and a fine time was had by all. Back, then, to the tables. I don't take good notes and, for some odd reason, I am not quite sure what I did on Saturday night. Suffice it to say that it was either poker or craps. Somewhere in there a bunch of the more durable fun seekers (all, as I recall, ADBs) repaired across Atlantic Avenue to a seriously dumpy watering hole where we commenced to solve most of the present day problems of the planet and beyond. Dave Trinidad (ADB "Iceman") made us all turn green with envy as he described how he traveled to ATLARGE . . . in his own airplane. I beat Nolan out of three bucks on an easy movie trivia question. Bruce Kramer, to our delight, explained (albeit unsuccessfully) the meaning of life. The lady bartender was in possession of the largest pair of tits I have ever seen, causing several of us to have impure thoughts. Arti had not yet begun to fart all night long. All in all, a fine time was had by everyone in attendance. Eventually Foldem, Jester, and I made our way back to the dice tables where, at one point, I got myself totally tapped out. I went looking for an ATM until I realized that I had left my debit card in the room. But Jester was kind enough to take my marker for $500 and I was able to begin my long crawl back to a decent playing stack for our final day. Sunday Morning Coming Down. Well I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head it didn't hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast tasted good So I had one more for desert. I reached into my closet for my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I brushed my teeth and combed my hair And stumbled down the stairs to greet the day. - Kris Kristofferson Prior to an early 9 AM start of the stud poker tournament many of us gathered in the lounge just outside the poker room to have coffee, juice, and what they laughingly presented as croissants. BS and bad beat stories prevailed. A quiet young man name of Bob Baugh asked Arti and me if we would mind him sitting with us. Mind? Hell, we were glad to see him. We had already "sang up every song we ever knew" (KK again.) Bob told us this was his first ARG event so Arti & I pointed out some of the poker luminaries in the room . . . Herbie Allen, Greg Pappas, Steve DelBorell, Bud Frampton, Tom McHugh, etc . . . and introduced him all around. Bob may go back home proud to have met some of these people, but a few years from now he might very well be one of them himself. The Bob Baughs of year 00 are going to be the future of poker folks. On to the stud tournament. I played well, but stud just isn't my game. So I finished in the middle of the pack again and wandered off to where the smoking lamp was lit. Congratulations are due to the organizers for making the tournaments non-smoking. It is the correct thing to do and those of us who have the foul habit seemed not to mind it at all. We will observe the same rule at FARGO in October just as we did last year. Since it is still morning another nap was in order. But I had some personal business to discuss with Nolan and that led to an invitation to join him, Bruce, and Dave Trinidad for lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant. Nolan ordered a garlicky white pizza with broccoli and insisted I have a taste. Since my system rejects all leafy vegetables, I brushed them off (Nolan asked if I would brush them ON to the remaining pie!) and tasted the best pizza I have had in years. Then to my nap. I got about 4 hours in . . . my longest single sleep break of the weekend . . . then back to the tables. Nothing spectacular to report as I was not going to attempt to get well again at poker. However I managed a small win (about $400) which helped a little. At dinnertime many of the punters had left and there were only a few of us left for our last night at The Trop. I had business to discuss with Jester so I invited him to dinner at Pier 7, the better seafood restaurant right next door. I eat little else but seafood during Lent, but the Tournedos sounded tempting and proved to be the best I can remember having in recent years. Prices were a tad lower than the A.C. Steakhouse and we greatly enjoyed a bottle of "off campus" Bordeaux (i.e. NOT LaFitte or Mouton) from the vineyards of Baron Rothschild. I highly recommend everything about this small restaurant. Then, finally, our last visit to the dice tables. Jester, Foldem, and Y.O.S. We were not making much of a score after the first hour or so and Foldem left to try his luck elsewhere. Suddenly the table turned golden. In a half-hour I had made enough to pay back my $500 marker to Jester and we just kept rolling and winning. Both of us were playing $10 line bets backed up with $50 odds, plus one or two similar come bets, on every hand. I ended up plus > $1000, and Jester must have done about the same. Back to the poker room for one last effort. I played $10-$20 holdem until about 3 AM and closed out my gambooling weekend with a net loss of only ~ $500, much of which was actually eaten up by cash outlays and tokes. Considering that I was stuck by > $3K at one point I thought I had done quite well for the weekend. To bed early, then a quick room service continental breakfast of O.J., croissants, & lots of coffee. $12 plus tip. I am in the wrong business. The trip home was uneventful. With gas prices being at an all-time high, I thought it fair that I should spring for a decent dinner so I suggested the "21" Club in NYC. Arti, however, opted for his favorite . . . the last Burger King on the GSP. I must say that the Double Cheese Whopper was perhaps the best I have ever tasted . . . done medium rare, as ordered. Good choice Arti! We hit no traffic to speak of and were back to Arti's seaside home in Norwalk by suppertime. Arti showed me his "communications center" in the basement, which complimented his massive antenna array on the roof. (Arti must have serious juice with the local zoning board in this ultra rich Gold Coast town.) I felt as if I was in command central. Posted around the room were call signals and memorabilia from people all over the world that Arti talks with regularly. Among them was a handsomely framed 8x10 glossy inscribed to Arti by the late King Hussein of Jordan, a prominent ham radio guy is his time. Then 70 miles more to my home in Avon, CT, and the end of the best ATLARGE weekend ever. Bill Alan Organizer Emeritus, FARGO Addenda: It was good to see Jazbo at the holdem tournament. We mustn't forget that he is the originator of "off Broadway" BARGE-like events. His pioneering of ATLARGE in 1996 has led to FARGO, ESCARGOT, MARGE, SARGE, and now CARGO . . . a poker cruise to the Western Caribbean in September. I confidently expect that these regional events will be expanded to many more, giving all of us many opportunities to enjoy the camaraderie started by Mike Zimmers et al at BARGE. Also Will Espin, for whom The Trop created a special commemorative $5 chip. We all wish you good health, Will, and hope we will see you on a regular basis in the future.