Part 1 (HOE) Okay, I started writing a trip/tourney report, and realized that it was just way too long. In fact, this section alone is probably too long. So, I am dividing my trip report up into three sections: The HOE Tourney Report, The NLHE Tourney Report, and Overall trip report, which will include my Stud Tourney report (As everyone knows, Stud is just a game of luck, anyway ;)) Before I get started, let me say thanks to Steve Goldman for setting this event up, to Tom Gitto for making treating us like royalty, and to PokerStars and Rich Korbin for their support. Even without the tourney victories, it was one of the most fun weekends I've ever had. I look forward to next year, and am already trying to convince the wife that we should postpone our next trip to Vegas to coincide with BARGE... Dave L's ATLARGE 2004 HOE Tourney Report: My first-ever -ARG tourney, and I have the pleasure of sitting down at an extremely tough first table. The starting table included Tiger to my left, JacksUp, a few ADB ringers, and god only knows who else I am leaving out. The fish had arrived as promised, and I could see these sharks licking their chops. Key hands: HU in stud 8b portion ADB bigboy misreading his hand in stud, not putting me all in, thinking we were splitting high low. Turns out he had an ace high flush he overlooked, and just checked instead of putting me all in, leaving me with $200 in chips. (pot size around 2k) Took those 200 chips and 200 prayers and hoped for a bit of luck, which thankfully came. After a few more double ups, I was able to breathe a little and wait for better opportunities. I was able to double up with KJ (which became my unsung hand in the 2 tournaments) when I went all in UTG for 1800 and blinds at 300-600 (or possibly 400-800 I really don't remember.there were about 20 players remaining at the time). No caller till the BB, who had a big stack and, after going into the tank, made the call with what I believe was t-8 to "due his duty as a big stack" and take try to take me out. The KJ held up, and I again had some breathing room. 6 players left, I was shortsacked. Dealt AA on button. I have T9200. raise from utg. I re-raise. 3 bet by BB (Raydon) and capped by utg, who is now all in. I call. Raydon (still with about T4500) calls. Flop comes JxK rainbow. I check, turn and river are both blank, I check down, never putting in my last T1200. Scoop the 24,000+ pot to get me back in the tournament. Got a little shit from the railbirds at first for not going all in, but it turns out that most thought I had enough chips to put the BB all in, which I did not. In fact, the way I saw it, best I could do was win T1200 more chips, and worst case is lose the tourney. While I am surprised he didn't put me all in, I don't think me voluntarily going all in here is a bad decision, as winning an extra 1200 chips to me is not worth the risk of being knocked out should a suckout occur. (It turns out later that because I had $100 chips, and Raydon had $500 and 1k chips, they thought I had HIM covered and could have put him in) Thoughts on my play here? I personally have no regrets, and would play it the same way just about every time. During most of the Final Table, uncle Al and I were chip Co-leaders. While it's rare to see the two chip leaders engaging very often at a final table, Al and I tangled at least 10 times, often chopping Hi and Low. The remaining players were just sitting back and waiting for once of us to miss a key draw, and knock the other out. There were some great battles, and try as hard as we could, we just couldn't knock each other out. (Thankfully, we eventually were able to knock the remaining players out ;)). When Uncle Al and I got to Heads up (and we were HU for more than 90 minutes!!), I was admittedly and obviously fatigued (As Uncle Al told me later, he could tell I was off my game). Very rare for me in a tournament. I do not want to make excuses, but I hadn't eaten all day and was on 2 hours sleep. Also just started the Atkins diet that week, which can mess with your mind if you don't eat. (Al was also going on no food/sleep, and he handled it much better than I did.) Anyway, Al later told me I had him out chipped about 5-1 at one point. I honestly don't remember this at all..in fact I NEVER realized I had more than a slight chip lead. This has never happened to me in a tournament before and I can promise will never happen again. Key Hand: with what was apparently a big chip lead for me at the time, I get AT diamonds in the BB. I raise, Al calls. Flop comes 5QJ, 2 diamonds. I have a killer draw. Al checks, I bet, Al calls. Turn blank. Al checks, I bet, Al calls. River is a blank. Al checks. I'm about to check, when I see Al picking up his cards as if to muck them, so I bet. (In case he had a small pp) He calls. He flips K5os (no diamonds) to take the pot. This, for me, was the turning point of the match. Later that night. I had dinner with Al. I asked him HOW he could call me down with bottom pair. He said he had a read on me that I had nothing. I don't know how accurate this is or if I was giving off the vibes, because with all my draws I felt as tho my bets were more value bets than even really bluffs. I liked my hand after the flop. I wasn't bluffing when I bet. And, as to him getting ready to muck his cards, he claimed I must have been hallucinating, which is definitely a possibility ;). I did my best to end the tournament during the 15 minute hold'em phase, because I was dreading the 25 minute Omaha HL portion that was about to follow. Not only is Omaha HL my worst overall game, but HU Omaha is far and away my single worst game (ask Wayno). Anyway, the Omaha section began. I must have looked like crap because both the TD and Al asked me if I wanted to take a break...I said no (big mistake). I was even having trouble stacking my chips. They kept falling all over the table. I started to become more concerned about my chips than the cards. I was so out of it I didn't even know I was out of it. Al, however, noticed it and jumped all over me. He outplayed me every step of the way on Omaha, and by the time the 25 minutes was up, he had 90% of the chips. I had enough to cover a few Big Bets in the stud 8/b portion, and that was about it. After my first 2 hands fell apart on 4th and 5th street, I was forced to go all in on the third hand (I had barely enough chips to make one big bet), and went all in with T48 rainbow as the bring in, closed my eyes and prayed. Well, I did actually hit a pair of Aces on 6th, but Al made 2 pair on 7th and it was adios to me. Because of the length of the tournament (Almost 10 hours) we did discuss switching to NL Hold'em to close it out (rather than switching to Omaha), and foregoing the format, but Al and I decided at the last minute that we would stick with the structure of the event. HOE is about all around skills, and to switch to NL Hold'em out of nowhere we both felt would undermine the integrity of the event. Even though I lost, I am glad we stuck to the format. Even if I had managed to win by switching to NL Hold'em, the win wouldn't have meant as much as if we did it "honestly." Congrats to Uncle Al for playing one hell of a tournament. He read me like a book at the final table, knew I wasn't focused in on what was happening, waited for the Omaha portion (which is his strength) and ate me alive. It was his first tournament win (after finishing 2nd and Third in past years in -ARG events) and he wanted 1st place badly. He sure as hell earned it. I had the pleasure of having dinner with him (and Ken Lovering and Mike ???) that evening, and while I may have lost the tournament, I gained a friend. Of course, once I found out that he would receive a Leather and Wool personally-embroidered Pokerstars Jacket for finishing first, (and I would receive the more "standard" Pokerstars jacket), I knew I had to win the NLHE "big one" the next day. We made a pact over dinner to once again finish 1st and second, but with the outcome of courser being reversed this time. One of us lived up to his end of the bargain, and the other didn't.. Part 2 Dave L's ATLARGE NLHE Tournament Report Having learned my lesson about fatigue and hunger from the HOE tournament, I decided to play it smart. Rather than play poker Friday evening, I went straight to bed after dinner (around midnight-1 AM). I agreed to meet some friends for breakfast, and buy for ADB Bigboy (for forgetting to put me all in when he had the nuts ;)). The plan was to meet at the Brush at 10:00, and fill up for the tournament. Well, after the alarm fails to go off, Ken Lovering (who I shared a room with) wakes me up at 10:30!!! Shit! I scamper downstairs in the nick of time, and apologize to everyone I can find for standing them up. So much for a proper breakfast. (Tho Ken was nice enough to get me a nutra-grain bar from the newsstand). The NLHE tourney started with a field of 158 tournament players. Tournament players include Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, Chip Reese, Daniel Negreanu, and Dave Ulliott. Thankfully, none of them were at this tournament. However, facing a group of poker aficionados in a multi-table NLHE event is hardly a walk in the park. I kept looking for the fish at my table, but saw only my own reflection. I knew it was gonna be a fun trip when I go to take my seat, and just to my right is "Uncle Al" Stuart, who I had just yesterday lost to in the HOE event (and stood up this morning for breakfast). I started off playing very tight, and don't even recall playing a hand during the first level or two. During the third level, I go for a smoke, come back and see that Al had busted out in the 2 minutes I was gone, officially breaking his promise to meet me once again at the final table. Knowing how hard busting out of one of these things can be, I waited the obligatory mourning period of 10 seconds before demanding he fork over the cash for our last-longer bet. Once Al was gone, I opened my game up a bit, and went on a nice run. I amassed a nice number of chips, when I suffered a horrendous bad beat when I was able to get the short stack all in with my 99 vs her TT, and a 9 never hit to board. After the table broke, I found myself at a new table where it appeared every damn chip in the tournament had ended up (except, of course, for the massive stack JacksUp had been accumulating behind my back) Key Hand: A short stack UTG goes all in, and is quickly isolated all in by a big stack one to his left. I look down and see QQ, and go into the tank. I decide to muck, and cringe when I see 99 vs JJ. The Queen on the flop was just the icing. Still, I have no regrets, and would likely make the same play 8 times out of 10 (with an average stack). Soon, I find myself moved yet again, to the table commandeered by Jacksup (Matt Matros). From a quick glance at his stack, it appears he has 30% of the chips in play, and there are still 40+ people remaining in the tournament. In fact, it appears as tho his stack of bounty chips is larger than my stack of tournament chips. I bring my enormous stack of 1400 with me. With the blinds at 300/600, things don't look too good. On my second hand, I find myself utg, and look down to see QT s00ted. I go all in, and pray. Folded around to Riley, who goes into the tanke for about 3 minutes. Finally he says "I know you play tight.you aren't going all in with garbage." And folds. Now, it's on the BB, David K (who I would later knock out at the final table). He thinks for awhile. He has me more than covered, tells me he has an ace but thinks he's out-kicked, and mucks it, letting me scoop those sweet, sweet blinds. He leans over and asks me what I had, and promise to tell him after the tourney. Well, Dave, now ya know. Sorry ;). A little while later I am again short stacked (what else is new?). I have around T2800, and the blinds are 400/800 and fast approaching. In EMP, I look down and see KJd, and decide to take a stab at the blinds, and hope I am not called. I don't like the fact that Jacksup has the SB, and my all in would barely make a dent in his stack, but I am hoping that he doesn't have anything he can call with. I go all in, and, of course, he calls. I announce he has me before the cards are flipped, and he turns over A8d.killing my flush outs. A sweet Jack hits the flop (and I believe even a K on the turn), and I double up. After a few more orbits where I pretty much blind off a few more chips, I look up at the TD and ask for a table change, and the TD is happy to oblige! (OK, so maybe it had something to do with it now being down to two tables.) By the grace of god, I am moved to table 2. I would guess that 80% of the chips in play ended up on table 1, allowing a bit of breathing room for my very, very short stack. (See a theme here?). I get a few lucky breaks, and actually manage to double up on the first hand. Next hand I semi-bluff steal the blinds with KQ all in UTG, get my BB back uncontested, and steal the BB from the SB. Now I look down on the button and see AA. Folded to me and I go all in. The BB calls with AT, and I double up. I have a workable stack now! I am even able to get the blinds 2 more times this orbit, and in the span of about 10 hands my I went from felt to back in contention. Soon, 2 becomes 1, and we have our final table set. My stack is pretty small, but workable. Key Hand: With a smallish stack, I make my standard 3x the BB raise with KQ from mp. The button, with a significantly larger stack, puts me all in. I call. He says "you got me" and flips over Q9. The flop comes Qx9. My stomach sinks. Turn brings a T, leaving me with 7 outs. And whaddya know, a King comes on the river. For the first time ever in a tournament, I jump up, shout, pump my fist, and high five whoever the hell was standing behind me. I was now among the chip leaders (probably #2 or 3 at this point) and the game was on. Now 5 handed, folded to me I look down and see AQs in the SB. I think for about 20 seconds, hopefully making it seem like I am deciding whether to muck or call, and raise the minimum. Dave K, the BB, announces all in, and I call. I have him covered, but if he wins I'll be pretty well crippled. He flips JJ, I flip my AQ, and the race is on. The flop is rags, but the turn brings my ace. I win the coinflip, the Wonder BallT, and now have a big chip lead. Key Hand: with about a 2-1 chip lead over #2 (Greg, to my right) All fold to him in the sb. He raises the minimum (standard for him). I look down and see AQ. I eye his stack, and ask for a countdown. I decide to raise half slightly more than half his stack, forcing him to either go all in or fold. (I wanted the call, and didn't want to force him out of the pot). He goes all in. I call. I flip over AQ, he flips KQ. Flop comes 9TJ, giving him the nuts (the turn, not that it mattered, was an 8, making the official result a K-high straight beating a Q-high). We are now about even in chips, and the co-leaders. Down to 3 handed, and the blinds at 3000/6000, The button, Greg, calls. I look down and see 78s and complete, and the short stacked BB (Desmond) goes all in for about 21K more. Button folds, and at first I am ready to fold, but I start thinking. I am almost positive the BB is bluffing here, but I still am losing to a bluff. There's 18k of dead money in the pot, plus his 21k. He is a very tough player, and I want him out, but also don't want to double him up. I figure if he has one overcard, I am probably a 45% dog, and with 2 overs I am 2-1. The pot is paying me about 2-1 to call. So, knowing I am behind, I call. He claims "you got me" and I say "I wouldn't be so sure." He flips his K2os and the railbirds start chirping when they see me CALLING with 78s. The board does neither of us any good, and he doubles up. We are now all virtually even in chips. Visions of Matt's KK losing to KQ flash before my eyes, and I decide to make a deal. We chop it up using 1500 as the base, and decide on 1500, 2000, 29XX (rather than 900, 2100, 36XX). Eventually, we are down to 2, when Greg's PP takes down Desmond's Ace high (Desmond was actually survived the battle I think, but don't recall the hand that finally knocked him out, but for all intents and purposes, that was the hand that did him in). I settle into Heads up mode. For those that don't know me, HU and shorthanded are my bread and butter. After about 10 minutes, I had taken control of the match, applying constant pressure. Few hands made it past the flop/turn, and I was winning most of them. I look down and see KTs in the BB. Greg raises the minimum for the SB, and I put in my My standard raise of 18k. He goes all in, and I go DEEP in the tank. If I call, I'll be left with about 15k in chips. The tournament will virtually be over. I figure I am probably a coin flip, but could also be beat. If I let him take the pot, then we are about even in chips. I decide I DON'T want a coin flip at this point, and muck, (after about 3-5 minutes, maybe even longer). I go back to grinding out small wins, but change my raise from 3x the BB to 1 or 2x the BB. Not once do I check when first to act, or complete from the SB. After grinding it out for a good 45 minutes or so (give or take 15 minutes), the TD announces a break after this hand (if we want one, and I do). Joan (Always Aware), the lone railbird seated at the final table (the perks of being the birthday girl) jokes with the TD that "Don't worry, Dave is going to end it right here." (I had about a 2-1 or 3-2 chip lead) In the SB, Greg doubles the BB. I look down and see pocket fours, and for a second, think of what Joanie just said and consider pushing all in. But then I remember my promise to myself NOT to get involved in a coin flip unless I absolutely had to. Besides, I smelled something funny on this hand, and put Greg on either a PP or big hand (ala AK). I decide to just call. The flop comes J 4 K (2 diamonds). I think for about 20 seconds. If he has AK or AJ, he will push in here. If I bet, I may scare him off. I think back and realize that I had been applying CONSTANT pressure to this kid, never once letting him have first action when he had the button. I decide to see what happens if I gave him the green light to bully me, and check to him for the first time since it became heads up. He goes all in, I quickly call. He flips Pocket sixes, I flip my set of 4s, and Joan becomes a prophet. The Jacket is mine, the plaque is mine, and I am able to wrap up the best all-around for ATLARGE 2004. Coincidentally enough, this was technically my first weekend ever as a poker pro, as my consulting gig had ended the day before ATLARGE began. I want to congratulate Greg on a well played tournament. As Joan has mentioned, this was his first-ever tournament, and he had only been playing for 4 months!!! Not a bad way to start a poker career... Part 3 Ken Lovering (Tainted Rogue) picked me up at around 7 or 8pm on Friday and we drove off for AC. Got there without incident, and checked into the Taj (or as I like to refer to it, as "The Pit"). About 7 years ago, I made a vow NEVER to return to the Trump Taj Mahal (Hence one of the reasons for my online nickname), but for ATLARGE, I figured I would make an exception. I am glad I did. The people at the Taj Poker room treated us like gods. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the casino staff changed. Ken and I checked out the Poker Room, but ultimately decided to just go to bed and prepare for the next day. Finally fell asleep around 4 or 5 am (part insomnia on my part, and part because I was afraid of Ken trying to play "grabby ass" when I fell asleep.). Went down to sign in for the HOE event, and right away I spot Joan. She acts like she doesn't know me, and has security escort me out of the casino. (Thankfully, security at the Taj leaves a bit to be desired, and I was able to just walk right back in.) Since Joan wanted nothing to do with me, I began talking to others. I was amazed by how friendly everyone was, and while I can't remember any specific names or people, I knew right away this was going to be a good trip. Grabbed my R00ling ATLARGE vest and other goodies, and went to find my seat. Ran into Matt Matros (jacksup) right before the HOE tournament was about to begin. Based on his posts to RGP, I was really looking forward to meeting him. For some reason, I pictured him as a mid-30's, sunglass-wearing Chip-Jett looking guy who could intimidate you with a glare. I couldn't have been more wrong. Simply one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. During the first break of the HOE tournament, I ask Joan if we had a last longer bet (I couldn't remember). She responds, "No," kicks me in the shin, and walks away. I head back to my table, heartbroken. Around 3:00 I find out that Joan, Matt, and a few others are off to the Borgata to sign up for the $100+ rebuy tournament. I want to go over with them, but a small and unexpected snafu arises.I'm still alive in the HOE tourney, but barely. I vow to meet them over there and buy Joan dinner (for her birthday) once I bust out. Of course, Joan decides that I am not worth waiting for, and eats dinner without me. So, after the dinner Al, the winner of the HOE event, gets 4 of us passes (Ken, me, Mike, and Al) to the high roller buffet at the Taj (forget the name of it). The food is so/so, but the company is great. After dinner, Ken and Mike head up to bed, and Al and I decide to go to the poker room and "just look." It's about 11 Pm, and I have no intention of playing. So, at 11:05 Al and I are sitting at a 3/6 table. I am playing very tight, using the game to hone my HE skills for the big NLHE event the next day, when I realize..WTF am I doing? I am here for ARGE, dammit. I quickly slip into a game of "no peeky" with Al (but never announce it). Riley G is also at our table, and appears to be racking in the chips. At exactly midnight, Al and I get up and go to bed. I count my chips.down about 15 BBs. For me, that's a good session. We make a last longer pact and a vow to finish 1-2 once again in the tournament the next day. The bastard broke his promise. In the beginning of the NLHE tournament, I mention to Steve Goldman that it's Joan's Bday, and perhaps we should all sing to her (Al planted the seed in my head). A very off key rendition of "Happy Birthday to you" erupts from the tournament group, and Joan comes over and once again kicks me in my shins. Had a good time in the NLHE tournament, and won my last longer bet with Joan. I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't kick me in the shins when paying me, but rather simply spit in my face. I could see we were getting closer. After the NLHE tournament, the only thing left to conquer was the Stud game on Sunday. I expected absolutely nothing from the stud tournament. I freely admit that not only do I suck at straight stud, but being a stud 8b player, my starting hand standards are severely screwed up. Knowing this ahead of time, I stayed up the previous night till around 4 talking poker with some friends (Tainted Rogue, Always Aware, Golfman316 (or whatever damn number his is), "Uncle Al" Stuart, and Mike Klein) and touring the casinos. We had dinner at Borgata, and planned on playing some HE there. Ran into some friends (Jacksup, Russ Rosenbloom, and others) on the way to the poker room and never ended up playing. It sounds cheesy, but I can play poker any time.the time spent with the other ATLARGERs when NOT playing was just as satisfying, if not more so, than anything that happened at the tables. Unlike prior to the hold'em tournament, getting a goods night rest came second to having a good night. I arrived at the Stud tournament about 20 minutes late, and was never really a factor. Had some fun, and won yet another last longer against Joan (as if there was any doubt). Her attempts to bribe the rest of the table and double my bounty (and god knows what other "favors" she promised them) did her no good, as he table ganged up against her villany and teamed up to bust her out. (ok, so maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic). Had great 8b hands.A24s, 345, A23, etc..but unfortunately it was stud hi only. I reprimanded the dealer for dealing me cards for the wrong game, and things quickly turned around. I finally had a few nice starting hands that never seemed to develop to their full potential. In fact, one of the few times I saw 7th street was on my last hand of the tournament. My final hand.all in with QAQ (2 spades) against the big stack (Scott Hermes, who finished third), who called because he had more chips than god. He flipped over 55x (yes, I said 55, there is no presto in stud!). I made a broadway str8 on 6th street, but 7th street unfortunately brought my opponent a baby flush. IGHN. I lasted to level 5 or 6, and finished somewhere in the 30s. Had lunch with ADB Big Boy, and decided I BETTER play some ring games before leaving. Eventually, I got in the juiciest 10/20 game I ever saw. 6-9 average players on average seeing a flop, which was always AT LEAST 2 bet, often capped. Average pot size was around $400. Needless to say, the variance was high. I was quickly up about $250, then almost as quickly down $250. For the next 2 hours or so, I fluctuated between 200 down and 200 up. Had GREAT cards, but they just weren't holding up. (Bluffing in this game was not an option, and don't even bother thinking about slowplaying). It got to the point where people were capping inside straight draws on the TURN for value. :P. Needless to say, I was down around $500 by the time Ken Lovering told me to get my ass up because we had to go. Kicking and screaming, I left the table. Down a bit for the day, but up a lot of memories for the weekend. -Dave L
