Most of the BARGE chips went out last week. I had to ask a few of you for addresses; those will probably go out on Monday. And now the trip report:
I flew from San Jose to Las Vegas after work on Friday with Kevan Garrett. We got held up briefly by airport security — apparently 500 BARGE chips looks a little suspicious when viewed through the luggage x-ray machine. I had sent another 400 chips out with Lee Jones a day earlier, and he told me they demanded to search his bag as well. Dave, did they catch you?
Our flight was marred only by the pilot locking up the brakes after nearly overshooting the runway. We met up with Jeff Sue and his friend Gary who were on the same flight and I shared a taxi with them to the Luxor.
At the Luxor, I cruised past the old poker room (still empty) over to the much smaller, much louder poker area. Mike Zimmers was there and told me the Calcutta earlier that evening was a raging success. Mike deserves a lot of credit for putting this thing together. I was flattered to hear that I was the most expensive player…but more than a little surprised to hear there was that much action. In my opinion, that’s really gambling.
I made an early night of it since the poker tournament was practically at the crack of dawn. Lee and I met up with the Boston Poker Society for breakfast - familiar faces Frank Irwin, Steve Blackstock, and Bill Turner from last year, plus Andy Bloch and John Murphy. This gang filled me in on the rec.gambling success at the Desert Inn no-limit tournament on Friday.
The pre-tournament scene was a wash of new faces and names. I saw a lot of familiar people from last year, but the increased turnout this year was overwhelming. I drew my seat (#10, definitely not one of my favorites), and tried to get rid of BARGE chips. At least three different people asked me if I was Yui-Bin!
The tournament gets underway and I swear I’ve never seen so many rocks in one place. After all the action I’d seen on IRC, I figured the BARGE tournament would be bloodbath. There were some significant hands, but I don’t think anyone was eliminated from my table before the break.
Connie is sitting behind me in the #1 seat, and she’s giving me fits. She takes the play away from me a couple of times to win good sized pots. I’m holding my own in the other battles, though, and have the best hand when I really need it. I survive the cut to five tables, then four, then three. At two, we get broken up and I get sent to sit behind the inaugural BARGE tournament champion Steve Jacobs.
I’m not in terribly comfortable chip position at this point, but I’m managing to keep a playable stack until I pick up pocket sevens in the small blind. Dave Ellingson makes a small raise in late position and I move all-in on him. His hesitation tells me I have the better hand, but I don’t really want a call. He eventually calls and I toss out my sevens and say, “I have a pair,” just as the board comes down 732. Dave shrugs and turns over AK. The turn is a 5, which gives him an out. The river is a 4.
That turns out to be the last hand before the final table merge. I unfortunately draw the #1 seat and the small blind. I have less than the small blind left, so I am immediately all-in. Dave’s big blind is enough to cover Kris Munn’s and my all-ins, and he takes us out when his 97 flops two pair.
Just like that I was suddenly just another railbird, one of the also-rans. There were so many people packed around the final table I couldn’t get close enough to see a thing, so I wandered around the room meeting people, trying to gauge the progress of the tournament by crowd reaction. Eventually I get the word that it’s heads-up between Dave Hughes and Cliff Matthews. Cliff dodges a few bullets but can’t overcome Dave’s huge chip lead, and Dave is the new BARGE champion.
Dave was at my initial table, looking very sinister in his wrap-arounds. From what I could tell, rec.gambling is very ably represented by its new top dog. Congratulations to Dave and to the other money winners and finalists. Thanks to Frank Irwin and Lee Jones for organizing great tournament, I think the highlight of BARGE.
Afterwards, Spiney Norman was kind enough to chauffeur a bunch of us over to the Desert Inn for the afternoon no-limit tournament. We had just enough time not to be able to eat lunch, so after registering I sat and played pai gow poker for fresh squeezed orange juice.
Thirty-three entrants start the tournament, including lots of rec.gamblers. I start sitting across from Spiney, who fascinates me with his change of eyeware. First it’s contacts, then dark glasses, then regular glasses. I’m prepared for him to pull out a monocle when I ask him if this is some sort of strategy. I’m somewhat disappointed to hear it’s just the dry air giving him trouble.
Connie almost proves to be my nemesis again when she survives all-in with QJ against my AQ in the scramble for the final table, but I get a little rush of straights to stay in contention, including a river gut shot when all-in myself. John Murphy appears to be on a mission to win this thing, giving himself a constant pep talk. Spiney looks certain to be eliminated, then quadruples or quintuples through. Jeff Sue and Connie seem to have a private battle going, which Jeff wins.
At the final table Jeff and Spiney go out at #7 and #8. I’m the next short stack, but I triple through before the blinds get me and we decide to whack it up six ways. Lee and John share in the win, but none of us wins the high card for the trophy.
At this point we run over to catch the blackjack tournament in progress. Martin Veneroso graciously comes down to escort us up to the suite where we find loud but organized chaos. I can’t say I fully understood what was going on, but it looked like fun. Thanks to Michael for organizing it all and his staff for making it happen.
After a quick dinner, Lee and I went back to the Luxor poker room where I killed some time dabbling in stud. Since the pot limit game was just under critical mass, I sat in to help them get the game started, but I ducked out once it was going. I’m much more comfortable with tournament chips. Looked like an exciting game, though, with a lot of action later in the evening.
I sat in a $1-4-8-8 hold’em game for the rest of the night, with Mike Zimmers, Mike Maurer, Jeff Sue, and Spiney Norman at various times. This was a pretty tough game for low limit at the Luxor, not helped any by the high density of rec.gamblers. Oh, and for all those people who claim I’m a rock, Mike Zimmers and I had a contest to see who would see the fewest flops in half an hour. I lost.
Sundays I always play the no-limit tournament at the Gold Coast, and there was an invasion of rec.gamblers there as well. I lost my first buy on a good slow play by Lee, compounded by two mistakes on my part. I was eliminated when pocket nines outran my aces, a bad beat but wouldn’t have been fatal if I hadn’t misplayed the earlier hand. So I didn’t even make it to the break.
I walked around and saw Frank and Bozo with huge stacks, almost definitely the tournament leaders at that point. Bill Turner and I point out to Bozo that Bill Smith, former World Series champion, is sitting right across from him. He seems unimpressed from behind his mountain of chips. But he bought the add-on anyway.
I slink away to try to kill some time and pass by Jonathan Rosenberg at the craps table. I’m afraid JR is going to make me put money on the hard five, so I keep going to the pai gow poker table where he joins me later. We run into some dealers on a hot streak, so the highlight of the session was seeing one player dump a full glass of cranberry juice on another player.
Back to the tournament, and Lee, Bozo, Chuck Weinstock, and JP Massar are still in the thick of things with two tables left. Bozo hangs on just long enough to make the money, and JP gets to the heads-up and eventually finishes second. We all retire to the Stardust for dinner and dessert.
Chuck kindly gives us a ride to the airport afterwards and BARGE is over for me. I had a great time. There is no way I’ll be able to put all the names with the new faces next year, but I’m looking forward to seeing you there.
Roy Hashimoto
[email redacted]