BARGE is the Big Annual Rec.Gambling Excursion (to Las Vegas). This is our
annual venture out of cyberspace into the Real World in which we get together
to meet each other face-to-face, participate in several BARGE-private events,
and generally blow off steam (not hard to do in Las Vegas in July/August).
In order to participate in BARGE: you must register via the Internet.
Registrations are available to anyone who wishes to join our community.
The organizers reserve the right to deny participation in any or all BARGE
events to anyone, at their discretion. Registrations must be performed
online and by the registrant personally (no third-party registrations).
An exception is made for Significant Others.
Upon payment of the appropriate event fee you may register guests
for any of the non-tournament events (banquet, symposium). No additional
registration fee applies.
A registration is to be considered an exclusive agreement between the
registrant and the BARGE Organizers, and may not be assigned to
another party without their prior agreement.
Should any event (or all events) associated with BARGE be canceled,
BARGE’s limitation of liability is the amount of the fee paid for the
canceled event. In no case will the registration fee be refunded as
it covers costs we incur at the time of registration.
All fees mentioned are used to cover expenses or are placed into the BARGE
fund.
All registrations are final. Cancellations and additions to your BARGE
registration will be done through the close of registration and are
subject to the non-refundable membership fee. Refunds for cancellations
after the close of registration are at the sole discretion of the BARGE
organizers. In no case will the membership fee be refunded. No refunds
will be issued until September 2025.
Please bring all charge disputes to the attention of the organizers
prior to contacting your bank. Anyone who files a dispute with a bank
prior to trying to resolve the problem with the organizers will be
barred from attending this or any future BARGE.
BARGE 2025 is being organized by
Russ Fox,
Rich Bremer,
Jeff Deitch,
Stevan Goldman,
and
Sharon Goldman
with more than occasional advice and
emergency help from Chuck Weinstock and Peter Secor, BARGE
Organizers Emeritus. We also wish to give a “shout out” to BARGE elder
statesman and former organizer, Mike Zimmers.
I have a question, complaint, or gripe? Who should I contact?#
If you have a complaint, gripe, or other issue with anything you see above
about BARGE (the event), remember that it is organized by the organizers under
the direction of the BARGE, Inc. directors — the directors are
probably who you want to work with. A list of directors can be found
here.
We have a little bit of history split up by year. (If you have any memories to
share, please contact us!) Start from the most recent, 2024 or the beginning,
1991.
BARGE Results
BARGE results by year.
BARGE 2025
BARGE 2025 will be held at The Orleans Hotel & Casino from July 28 through August 2. More information will follow soon. Hope to see you there!
BARGE 2024
BARGE 2024 was held at the Westgate.
99 players played the main event, won by Tim Showalter.
Cover image: Chowaha at BARGE 2024. Picture from Rodney Chen.
BARGE 2023
This year’s BARGE was at Westgate.
Rich Bremer became the second repeat winner of the Main Event.
The Saturday night PL Binglaha ran until about 8AM on Sunday.
Cover image: Private craps game at the Westgate. Picture from Steve Watanabe.
BARGE 2022
BARGE returned to the Westgate again for 2022.
Jesse Capps won the Main Event.
Cover image: Two out of three tables resuming play in NL event after dinner. Picture from Asya Kamsky.
BARGE 2021
This year’s BARGE was at Westgate. COVID was still quite present, and a lot of Las Vegas was still closed. COVID’s Delta variant hit just before BARGE and Nevada required staff to mask up. Then, on Thursday, the players had to mask up, too. We still played a lot of poker.
Cover image: Gambomouse, out of quarantine. Cool custom mask by Jeanne. Picture by Ken Kubey.
BARGE 2020
In 2020, the COVID pandemic kept BARGE out of Las Vegas for the first and only time to date. BARGE returned to its roots, the Internet, and our tournaments were held on Cliff Matthews’ poker site, now known as Craft Poker.
Russ Fox became the first two-time winner of the BARGE Main Event. Historians will argue if a zero-dollar virtual tournament win counts (it does).
Cover image: BARGE 2020 pin produced by Diana Mercer and designed by Patrick Milligan. Picture from Bruce Iwamoto.
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BARGE 2019
This year’s BARGE was held at Green Valley Ranch, in Henderson. Scott Harker won the Main Event. True to his word, he did not make a deal.
BARGE 2018
This year’s BARGE was the last one held at Binion’s Casino.
BARGE 2017
This year’s expanded BARGE was held at Binion’s Casino.
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BARGE 2016
This year’s expanded BARGE was held at Binion’s Casino.
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BARGE 2015
This year’s expanded BARGE was held at Binion’s Casino.
BARGE 2014
This year’s expanded BARGE was held at Binion’s Casino.
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BARGE 2013
This year’s expanded BARGE was held at Binion’s Casino. This year’s speaker was Stanford Wong, who gave his talk at the Symposium on Friday night. The lowball tournament moved again, this time to Monday night where it was won by Andy Hughes. Chris "Rev. Tom Bayz" Mecklin finished second, and Rich "Omaholic" Bremer finished third. The Tuesday tournament this year was Chinese poker. It was won by Caryl Aronson with Patti Beadles in second and Paul Gibbony in third. The blackjack and video poker events saw a resurgance this year due to their inclusion into the new triathlon of gambling. Barbara Garrett won the blackjack tournament and Derek Gomez finished first in video poker. The winner of the triathlon of gambling was Michael Patterson. The limit 6-game event moved to Wednesday this year. David Lawful won with David Aronson in second and Paul McMullin in third. Ten teams competed in the CHORSE event this year. The winning team was the Arrogant Bastards. Thursday saw a new event, pot-limit Omaha. The winner was Rich Strauss, followed by Tom White and Paul Fischman. Gillian Groves won this year’s TOC style event. Derek Gomez and Don Rieck finished second and third. Maria Caldes won the significant others' hold’em tournament. In the no-limit hold’em championship, David Lawful was victorious, followed by Bob Lauria in second and Gerland Peterson in third. This year at BARGE we held a Binion’s dealer appreciation tournament. George Kouselas won.
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BARGE 2012
2012 BARGE returned to its most frequent venue, Binion’s Casino. The banquet speaker was Karina Jett. The lowball tournament moved to Tuesday this year and was won by Keith Fichtemaier with Ryan Troll in second and Rich Strauss in 3rd. The Tuesday tournament moved to Wednesday. This year it was pot-limit Binglaha. Caryl Aronson won. Keith Troell finished second. Bree Goldman was third. Rich "Omahalic" Bremer won the blackjack event and Michael Patterson was victorious in video poker. The Deadheads won the team CHORSE event. Thursday evening Andrew Prock won the 6-game tournament with Rich "Omahalic" Bremer finishing second and Arthur Reber coming in third. In the Tournament of Champions-style event it was Steve Lewin-Berlin winning it for a second year in a row, the first time that has happened in a BARGE event. John Pickels came in second, and Rick Mombourquette was third. Finally, the no-limit hold’em main event was won by Paul McMullin with Nick Christenson finishing second and Randall Hennemuth finished third. This was the first BARGE as organizer for Bree Goldman.
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BARGE 2011
Once again, the entirety of BARGE 2011 occurred at Binion’s Casino in beautiful downtown Las Vegas.
The Tuesday tournament this year was one of the rarer games spread in tournament form these days: limit hold’em. It was won by a late-arriving David Kluchman followed by Len Greenberg and Sharon Goldman. On Wednesday David Heller won the blackjack tournament with Michael Maurer emerging victorious in the video poker event. That evening in the draw lowball tournament the finishing order was Chris Mecklin, Scott Byron, and Joe Long. On Thursday "Team I Don’t Give a Damn" won the team CHORSE event, and that evening it was Spencer Sun winning the 6-game event with David Low and Arthur Goltz winding up in second and third, respectively. On Friday it was Steve Lewin-Berlin winning the Tournament of Champions-style tournament, followed by John "JRX" Reed and "Timmer" Stine.
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BARGE 2010
Not only were the gambling events at BARGE 2010 held at Binion’s, but they hosted the banquet and symposium as well. At the banquet long time BARGEr Barry Tanenbaum was the speaker. The Tuesday event was badugi, and it was won by Andrew Prock with Chris Mecklin and Rich Bremer coming in second and third. On Wednesday, Gillian Groves won the blackjack tournament, and Peter Secor won the video poker event. Rich "Omahalic" Bremer won the lowball event with Mark Trombley and Rick "Zbigniew" Bevan finishing second and third. On Thursday the Inglorious Donkeys won the Team CHORSE event, and then that evening Mark Trombley cashed again, winning the inaugural 6-game event. In second place was Chris "ADB Ploink" Straghalis, and in third was Sabyl Landrum. David Kluchman won the Tournament of Champions-style event with David Aronson finishing second and Randy Collack coming in third. The no-limit hold’em event ended with Chuck Humphrey victorious, followed by Stephen Winter and Len Greenberg.
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BARGE 2009
BARGErs enjoyed the hospitality of Binion’s for the third straight year. This year’s banquet was held at the Golden Nugget where Doyle Brunson spoke. The Tuesday event was pot-limit Courchevel, played for high-only with five cards. The winner was Rick Mombourquette, followed by Rodney Chen and Guy "Grizz" Berenstein. On Wednesday the traditional blackjack and video poker tournaments were held for the second year in a row, first and second place in blackjack were taken down by Matt "Grapes" Grapenthien and "Chic" Natkins, respectively. Rich "Omahalic" Bremer won the video poker event, with last year’s winner "Chic" Natkins finishing second. Gillian Groves won the Wednesday night California lowball event with Rick "Zbigniew" Bevan and Steve Bortnyck finishing second and third. On Thursday the team CHORSE event was won by "The Math Is Hard 5 Sans That Talentless Commie Bastard". David Kluchman won the stud shootout with Cliff "Deadhead" Matthews and Michael "pygmyhipo" Maurer finishing second and third. This was the last year for that event. Michael Maurer also won the Tournament of Champions-style event followed in the standings by Doug Grismore and Stephanie Wasserman. The no-limit hold’em event was won by David "Heldar" Heller with Brenda Mowrey coming in second and Bruce "ADB Bigboy" Kramer finishing third.
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BARGE 2008
Once again, BARGE enjoyed the hospitality of our good friends at Binion’s. And, again, the banquet was held at the Golden Nugget where Tom Schneider spoke. While the team CHORSE even took place at the Nugget, the other tournament events took place at Binion’s. The NL hold’em tournament was won by Dan Chevrie. Mark "Dagon" Rafn came in second, and Steve "Lunchbox" Forcash finished third. The Tuesday event was the sadistic no-limit hold’em shootout transitioning to limit HORSE. This event was won by Guy "Grizz" Berentsen. In second was Chris "Jepstonian" Jepsen. Bob Ogus finished in third place. Matt "Grapes" Grapenthein won the blackjack event and Chic Natkins won the video poker tournament. In the Zimmers Memorial Lowball event, Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie took first place. He was followed by Chris "Tom Bayes" Mecklin in second and Ken "ADB QB" Kubey in third. Through means nobody quite understands, Team Moosecock won the Team CHORSE event (even though there where, what, only two real Canadians on the team?). Steve "BIA" Nissman won the stud shootout followed by Stephen "Marlin" Cohen and Greg Pappas. Barry Tanenbaum emerged victorious in the ToC-style event. Marc "The Occupant" Gilutin came in second and Chuck Weinstock was third. This was Chuck Weinstock’s last BARGE as organizer, although he continues as honored organizer emeritus. This was also Nick Christenson’s first BARGE as an organizer.
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BARGE 2007
2007 In 2007, BARGE was hosted again by its usual home, Binion’s. The banquet was back at the Golden Nugget where Gavin Smith gave the keynote. John Pickels won the NL hold’em tournament. Don "ADB Bingo" Rieck came in second, followed by Dave "ADB Iceman" Trinidad in third. The Tuesday event was 7-card stud 8-or-better, won by Andy Bloch, Tim "ts4z" Showalter placed, and Chris "ADB Ploink" Straghalis showed. Nolan Hee won the blackjack event, Michael "Mickdog" Patterson won the video poker event. Patti Beadles won the Zimmers Memorial lowball tournament, with Warren Sander in second and Nolan "ADB Darkside" Dalla in third. Team Chinese Pocker [sic] won the Team CHORSE event. Chic Natkins won the stud shootout with John Harkness coming in second and Chieu "Choo Choo" Tran in third. The ToC-style event was won by Kenny Shei. Second place went to Stevan "Goldiefish" Goldman, and coming in third was Dave "BronzeDodger" O’Grady. This was Michael Patterson’s first BARGE as an organizer.
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BARGE 2006
BARGE had some last minute problems finding a home in 2006. due to licensing issues surrounding some online poker companies who sponsored BARGE.
Originally, the event was going to be held at the Plaza again, but they pulled out at the 11th hour. Caesars and The Palms were discussed as possible hosts.1
In the end the Venetian stepped up and did a fabulous job hosting BARGE.
This year’s event was written up in CardPlayer.
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BARGE 2005
In 2005, downtown Las Vegas was again host to BARGE. This time, though, the host casino was the Plaza.
Guy "Grizz" Berentsen won the charity pot-limit Omaha high tournament. Sarah Boston came in second and Matthew Kursar finished third. Steven Markowitz won the blackjack tournament, and Connie Kellers won the video poker tournament. Alex Ziselman won the Lowball event. Mark Trombley finished second, and Barry Tanenbaum came in third. "Luck Factor Zero" won the Team CHORSE event. Sabyl Cohen won the stud shootout. Ross Poppel came in second, followed by Don "ADB Bingo" Rieck in third. Mike "Oz" Osborne won the ToC-style event. David Kuznick finished second, and Sabyl Cohen was third.
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BARGE 2004
Binion’s again played host to BARGE in 2004. Newly crowned WSOP main event champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer spoke at the banquet, which was held at the Four Queens. The winner of the NL hold’em tournament was Gavin Smith. Frank "ADB Nut-Z" was second, and Dan Nussbaum was third. Dave Orr won the charity triple draw deuce-to-seven tournament. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer finished second, and Sabyl Cohen finished third. Barry Tanenbaum won the blackjack tournament and Dave McVay won the video poker tournament. The "Math Is Hard 5" won the Team CHORSE event. Dave Fruchter won the ToC-style event. Jim "Bullbert" Bullard finished second, Chris "ADB Ploink" Straghalis finished third. Peter "Taki" Caldes won the stud shootout. In second place was Sabyl Cohen. Perry "The Baiter" Friedman finished in third.
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BARGE 2003
This is the last year our most frequent host casino would bear the "Horseshoe" name, and be run by a Binion.
Keith Fichtemaier won the limit hold’em event. Tiger came in second and Mike "ADB Howler" McBride finished third. Team Chinese Poker won the Team CHORSE event. This was the last year for the History of Poker event. It was won by Michael Maurer with Perry "The Baiter" Friedman and Jerrod Ankenman finishing second and third. In the ToC-style event, Gavin Smith was victorious over Gillian Groves followed by David Huberman. Howard Lederer spoke at the banquet which was held upstairs at Binion’s. The NL hold’em tournament winner was Paul Person. Patti Beadles finished second and John Davis came in third. Mike Zimmers helped organize this year’s BARGE event, but he chose not to attend, marking the end of his illustrious career as BARGE organizer.
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BARGE 2002
As usual, BARGE was hosted at the Horseshoe again this year. The banquet took place at the Golden Nugget. At the banquet, Linda Johnson and Steve Lipscomb gave us a sneak preview of a television show with which they were involved that would hit the airwaves a year later, the World Poker Tour. Andy Hughes won the History of Poker tournament with Rich Strauss and Bob Herlien finishing second and third. In the ToC-style tournament Chris Straghalis was victorious over Steve Jacobs and Mike M. (Maurer?). ADV Vanguard won the Team CHORSE event. This was the first year for the 7-card stud shootout. The winner of this event was Don "trythat" Perry. John Miller came in second and Lenny Augustine finished third. Mike McBride won the NL hold’em tournament outlasting Andrew Prock and Gavin Smith. This was Peter Secor’s first BARGE as an organizer.
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BARGE 2001
In 2001, BARGE was again at Binion’s Horseshoe. Events included the NL tournament, ToC-style tournament, and History of Poker tournament. The History of Poker tournament was won by Andy Bloch. Sean "oscar" McGuinness finished second, and Spencer Sun was third. At the ToC-style event, Frank Jerome emerged victorious over David Croson and Connie Kellers. The banquet was held at the Golden Nugget, the speaker was Phil Hellmuth. The NL winner was Russ Fox who outlasted John Fleming and Don "ADB Bingo" Rieck. The BARGE Chip Committee was formed and created this year’s set. Eventual organizer Michael Patterson’s first BARGE.
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BARGE 2000
The year 2000 marked BARGE’s return to the Horseshoe. Jeff Bartoszewicz won the NL hold’em tournament, John "JRX" Reed finished second, and Stephen "Bozo" Blackstock finished 3rd. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was the banquet speaker and winner of the chip castle building contest. No video poker or blackjack tournament was held this year. This was the first year for the Tournament of Champions-style event, in honor of BARGEr and ToC winner, Spencer "Zorak" Sun. The winner of this event was Tony "Karma" Goldstein. Peter "Fold’em" Secor finished second, and Jeff Siegel finished third. I believe the History of Poker event was first played at this BARGE, featuring alternating rounds of 5-card stud, 5-card draw high, and 5-card draw lowball. After the early rounds, 5-card stud was removed and the other games were played no-limit. In the final rounds, only lowball was played. Michael Hunter, Stephen Landrum, and Bill Chen chopped the prize pool when it got to 3-handed.
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BARGE 1999
BARGE was held at the Orleans this year for the first and only time (although this will change in 2025) likely due to the change in ownership.
The NL hold’em tournament saw 177 people enter. John Harkness won, Russ Rosenblum finished second, and Doug Langdon finished third. Rick Mombourquette won the blackjack tournament.
Mike Sexton was the banquet speaker.
1999 marked the first year in which the "virgin" class was specifically called out, led by "virgin queen" Beth Evan.
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BARGE 1998
Once again, at Binion’s Horseshoe, 184 players competed in the NL hold’em tournament. Lee "I do so have a sense of humor" Jones won. Steve "Crunch" Daniel finished second, and Peter "Taki" Caldes finished third. Andy Latto won the blackjack tournament and Steve Jacobs finished second. This reversed their positions from the same event in 1996. Mike Caro was, again, the banquet speaker, this time at the Golden Nugget. Caro holds the distinction of being the only repeat banquet speaker in the history of BARGE. The first BARGE wedding (Kfish and Ratly) was held at BARGE 1997. It was officiated by Arnold "The Bishop" Snyder, reverend of the First Church of Blackjack and the previous year’s banquet speaker. A second Sklansky Charity Freeze Out was held in which Russ Rosenblum beat David Skalansky in just a few hands.
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BARGE 1997
The 1997 BARGE was also held at the Horseshoe. Steve Brecher won the NL tournament, which had 166 entries. John Reeves finished second, and Steve Russel finished third. 18 places were paid. Barry Tanenbaum won the blackjack event. Arnold "The Bishop" Snyder was the speaker at the banquet, held for the first time at the Golden Nugget. This year was also the first year that Chowaha was played in a licensed casino. 1997 was also the year of the David Sklansky BARGE Charity Freeze Out where Barry Tanenbaum, uh, "came in second".
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BARGE 1996
BARGE 1996 was held at the Horseshoe. The NL tournament was won by organizer Mike "KidZee" Zimmers. Steve Jacobs won the blackjack tournament, Andy Latto finished second, and Frank Irwin finished third.
This is the first year in which a video poker tournament was held, although we have no record of who won the event.
The banquet was held at Yollie’s, a Brazilian steakhouse on Paradise Blvd.. The speaker was poker author Mike Caro. Because he couldn’t be heard in the dining room, the restaurant kindly allowed us to hold our seminar on the roof of the restaurant. Caro gave his talk while quite literally pacing back and forth along the ledge of the roof. This was the first BARGE banquet.
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BARGE 1995
In 1995 Tom Sims beat out 112 other people to win the NL hold’em tournament. Michael Buck took second, Doug Gifford finished 3rd. Gillian Groves won the blackjack tournament, Rudy Tatay finished second.
This was BARGE’s first year at Binion’s Horseshoe, as it was called at the time. BARGE would go on to spend most of the next 25 years almost exclusively at this same venue.
At the Symposium, held at the Plaza1, poker author Mason Malmuth spoke. This was the first invited speaker at any BARGE event. Chuck Weinstock notes: “I believe the catch phrase from Mason’s talk was “wrong” whenever he asked a question and it was answered.”
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BARGE 1994
BARGE 1994 was organized by a committee that may or may not have included Lee Jones, and was held at the Luxor. Sixty players entered the poker tournament which was won by Dave Hughes. In second place was Cliff "Deadhead" Matthews. It is unknown who finished third.
For the first time, a second "official" event was added, a blackjack tournament. We have no record of who won this event.
As this was the first almost organized BARGE, attendance really took off here. Much of what BARGE has become can be traced to this event.
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BARGE 1993
Following the 1992 event, A second meet-up was planned at the Rio, and 18 people played in a two-table poker tournament at that venue. Roy Hashimoto was the eventual winner. He flew into town the day of the tournament, and flew out after winning. He took home the inaugural BARGE chip set. It isn’t known who finished second, but Stephen "Bozo" Blackstock finished 3rd. Also at the event was BARGE organizer and current BARGE organizer emeritus, Chuck Weinstock. Frank Irwin organized the tournament at the Rio.
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BARGE 1992
In early August of 1992 ten intrepid rec.gamblers got together in a hotel room at the Mirage and held a private poker tournament. The participants were Edmond Hack, Steve Jacobs, Alan Mintz, John Tais, Martin Veneroso, Tyler Wong, and Mike Zimmers. Believed to be in attendance were Blair Houghton, Mike McClain, and Jonathan Rosenberg. In the tournament, Steve Jacobs won, Edmund Hack came in second, and John Tais finished third. Also at the second BARGE, an impromptu blackjack tournament was held. Note, that at this BARGE was Mike Zimmers, eventual BARGE organizer and current BARGE organizer emeritus. Also hanging around and perhaps participating in the blackjack tournament were Abdul Jalib M’Hall, Jeff Jennings, and Doug Shy.
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BARGE 1991
The SIGGRAPH conference (on high-end computer graphics) was held in Las Vegas at about the first weekend in August, 1991. Several regular participants of the rec.gambling USENET newsgroup decided to meet up at this conference, and thus BARGE was born. It was during this time frame that the "presto" story occurred, as well as the Frank Irwin green chip fishing expedition. Despite the lack of planned activities and despite the fact that the "BARGE" label wasn’t applied until next year [I think], we count this as the first BARGE.
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