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I really want to make it to Barge for the entire week one time, but this year that was not possible. I plan on a Wed afternoon to Sunday afternoon trip.
I arrive on the SEA->LAS flight with no issues. Our flight is about 30m delayed getting to LAS. I had planned to make a quick trip downtown to get there for the 3:00 craps tournament. I have a ride downtown from my Mom who is picking up my oldest son for vacation for the week. They drop me off at the 4 Queens. I notice in the car that Rich has sent me a FB IM that I am already late for the tourney as I am checking in. I tell him I will be there ASAP and head over. Rich has just played my spot in the first group and I will play his spot in the 2nd flight. This tourney is taking for ever to complete 25 bets. I decide to bet my entire 2000 in chips on my first roll. When our turn is up I get to roll first. Being a dark-side only bettor/player I put the chips on the DP and quickly roll a 7. I am out in about 3s of action. First and probably last dice tournament for me.
I head over to the poker room and play some 3-6 horse game. I play about every hand that I see and lose some chips. I see that the 8-16 O8 game now has open seats so I move over there. I order a few beers and a tequilla shot. No patron here so I just get Cuervo. Taste is pretty harsh. I win a few big pots. I have a great hand on a big pot that I end up with nothing on the river which Redbird takes down with what she calls a “birthday” hand of 6-3. I know she wasn’t born in 1963 but maybe June 3rd or March 6th? After a few more beers people are leaving to go to the smoker. I decide to head over to the GN to play some BJ. I have found that the games are pretty good here and some dealers deal almost 80% of the cards out. Rules are not as good but heat is pretty low and they have lots of tables. I avoid playing in the HL room as this is usually quite empty and has 4-5 people just watching you play. I take out a $1k marker and I lose that in about 10m. The time is around 8:00 and I take out $2k more and sort of tread water for some time. John Loyd is flying in tonight and will come meet me when he is here. I decide to switch from beer to Manhattans. There are not too many people playing BJ tonight at the GN. I am generally trying to stick with a spread of 50-400/500. I end up losing the next $2k also. John shows up around 9:00 or so if I remember. I have had quite a few drinks and keep ordering on every 10-15m. I am almost out of chips again so I bet $1050 on a hand which was “all-in”. I figure looking like a steam bettor is good cover and the KO count was +12. I get a BJ on this hand. I get a few more drinks. I think around 11:45 or 12:00 I bet $1600 on one hand. At this point I have been drinking all day and haven’t ate any food other than a protein shake at 7:00 in Seattle. I lose the 1600 bet. John is not feeling well so he leaves, except I realize he has left 300 in chips on the table. Actually this is OK as nobody will play there and I like to play with less players for a faster game. I get back up to $5875 around 2:15 am. I notice the Casino manager has been standing in the pit the last 15m watching closely. I make sure to order a drink and patron shot when he is there for effect. I cash out my markers and leave up 850.
I take a cab to the SLS and play BJ. They have one $25 DD in the whole casino that is not 6:5. Place is really empty on 2:30 am on Thursday. I sit down and take out $500 in cash. Pit boss comes right over and asks if I have a card. I tell him no. He asks where I am from? I tell him I am from Seattle and need a double drink right away. He asks what I do for a living in Seattle. I mention I am a Jockey but my horses are having some ligament problems right now so I am off work for a few weeks. He laughs pretty hard at that joke. The cards are a real disaster. Every high count I bet 400 or so and get a 17 or 18 and dealer seems to have 20 or makes 21. Buyins are coming about as fast as the drinks. I order a double manhattan. They bring out a drink in a pint glass with some ice in it. This is a very large drink. Between 2:30-4:00 I have 4 of these I think after all of the other drinks. Many high counts come and go and pretty soon I am in $5k and losing about every hand. There is one round where I have a $250 bet out and I double down on 65 and get a 10 dealer makes a 4 card 21 to tie me and I realize I can’t remember the count. It has to be higher so I bet $500 and agree this has to be the last shoe. I get a BJ on this hand. First big bet I have won in a while. I leave the SLS around 5:45 am and cab back downtown. Lost $4800 here.
I break all of my Las Vegas gambling rules. 1st rule is to always have some food before playing at night. 2nd rule is to keep betting in a range around $500 and maybe $600-700 on a $100 double deck game. Last rule is to drink at least 10 glasses of water before bed. I just fall asleep on top of the bed. I wake up around 9:45 am. My head is pounding and my mouth is pretty dry. I go drink those 10 glasses of water. I also realize I have lost my iPhone. I have no idea where it is. I txt John. He is feeling better. I tell him about leaving his chips. John shows me the “find you iPhone” app and it shows my personal phone is right next door and my work phone is right here. John is able to get his money back from the pit. I tell john a story of one night at the Bellagio that I left $1800 on the table and went to bed at the IP. I literally forgot I had any chips. Since I had a card they know who I am and put my chips in the cage. Funny part of that story is that I buyin to the $100 game for $2k and the pit boos has to mention that I have chips at the cage. After some breakfast I feel a little better. I told john he let me down as last night he was suppose to be the voice of reason and wasn’t. I mention how betting $1600 with a low bet of 50 is really crazy. John tells me that one hand I bet the table max of $2500. I can’t remember this stuff.
John and I head over to the GN for some more BJ. I am able to lose another $1700 before the PLO tournament starts, though I plan on getting there 1h late give how many chips are in play. PLO is probably my favorite cash game to play right now. I was really looking forward to this tournament. I think the 3rd hand that I get dealt I make quad 4s and Chris Kluchman has Queens over 4s so I double up. I win a few other pots with broadway cards. Once every starts cashing in the lammers I fail to win any more pots and I cash mine fairly quickly and give those chips to Cliff Matthews and others. I think I ended up around 55th or so. My friend Steve W. is coming in from San Jose tonight. I txt them and they are at the Mirage playing poker. I get some food (Good call today) and meet them there. The game is pretty tame and boring except some tourist who stacks off with A-4 against my A-Q and then pays of a flush with 10-4. When she leaves this dreaded 1-2 game is really boring. As I walk by the BJ games I see the casino manager who last year yelled at me about playing BJ when he showed up for his shift and I had been there for 8h camping out.
We catch an uber back from the venetian. Cost is $11.25 vs $25 cab ride. We get Steve checked in and head to the GN. The same table as the night before. It is about 11:00 I think. I take out another $2k in markers and play. We drink manhattans pretty fast, like every 15m. The GN seems to care less about us. In fact I play at the same table/seat all weekend. I see a few big counts and put out some bigger bets. I am up to almost $4k pretty fast. We keep drinking and playing. Steve usually play $10-75 or so. Tonight on a winning streak he bets 3 hands of $131 each on a count when I jack up my bet to 2x$250. Steve doesn’t count but he waits for me to bet and then adjusts. I realize Steve has had too much to drink when he his on 10-2 vs a 6 on this hand. Dealer busts and we win the other spots. I quickly go on a losing streak and turn $4k into 0 in a matter of 2 shoes. I get another marker and keep playing. John leaves around 2:00. The pit boss comes over and turns the sign off saying this game is closed. We keep playing. One dealer shows up and she is really funny telling off color jokes and swearing with us. Floorman comes over around 2:45 and asks if we would play in other pit so they can close this one. We say, “NO”, we are playing here and want to get our money back. They don’t say anything. Around 3:30 he mentions that employees are staying late due to us. We continue to play. We finally leave around 4:30am and they immediately close the pit. I have played 25-600 tonight which is a massive spread in a 80% dealt game and still manage to lose $3k. Sometimes BJ sucks!
Friday I get up around 9:45. I decide I am going running today no matter how bad that I feel. I jog from the 4Q down to about the Circus. I think of Nolan as I jog as we are both older, weigh too much, drink too much, joggers with a 12 pack chasing us. I see some homeless drunk guy stumbling around by the stratosphere and realize I only have 1st world problems for the most part. I get to the TOC tourney about 45m late after I shower. I do fairly well most of the day in this tournament. I win a lot of stud hands as the pots seem much larger than other games with the antes so I decide I will play many more hands. I actually bust Nolan in this tournament. I had 99k and he had 1010-8 and I catch a 9 on 4th street after he is all-in. I offer to buy him a lite beer (which I know he hates and laugh). When Bingo busted earlier at our table we agree so sing out loud the BINGO song. I have a bunch of beers during the tournament. Towards the end I have one of the biggest stacks.
As we get down to 3 tables I switch to drinking manhattans. I mean I have lost every table with them at BJ so maybe this is a lucky TOC drink. I then hardly win a pot from there on out. My big stack is getting smaller and smaller. I do flop 3 54s in O8 but Mary (the eventual winner) hits AA and I am lower on chips. I give a chuck of my stack to Scott Byron. I end up 4th after having such a big stack and busting 5 people. It is around 12:00 or so and I head back over to the GN to play some more. Steve is too tired to pull a late night shift. We play at the same table yet again. I don’t remember much tonight though I am feeling pretty hammered after all of those drinks during poker. The same waitress is there tonight. She just brings a manhattan every time she comes by. I give her a $5 tip for good service. I do manage to win $1200 today for what I think is my first winning BJ session of the trip. I play until about 4:00 and then head to bed. Tonight I had to pay Steve a steak dinner for a NHL bet. I was able to get a comp so I technically pay off the bet. LOL.
I don’t run on Saturday which I should have. I show up about 30m late after trying to sleep in. I run amazingly good early in this tournament. I win 2-3 big pots with JJ in the first 2h and later I bust several people, one on a 99 vs 33 suckout where I get a 3 on the flop. My favorite waitress from Binions has a cold beer ready every 20m or so. I gave her a bunch of tips. I am pretty sure after about 4h I have one of the biggest stacks. I am then moved to another table by the door and sit next to “quite” Kevin Un. I have my eyes on his horse racing game. Then the big pot of the day so far I would guess happens. I have QQ in the big blind. The 9 seat raises, Kevin 3x raises his bet, and I am all-in for 8x more. I have about 3x Kevin’s stack at that point. He calls with AK. Of course he catches a K on the river and we are about even in chips. I then lose 4 races in a row with a poket pair each time on the flop. Dinner was OK though I lose a drink bet with Steve W. The food was the worst but the company and speech were great. I go downto play with 29 left. I get a couple of small pots and then pickup 33 to lose against 99 and I am out around 27th. I notice I have just received an email from the GN casino marketing director. “Mr. Christensen we noticed you have recently visited us and would like to invite you back for future special events, please call or email me”. This is the first time I have played rated here in years. The literal translation is you really took a beating here, you have some of your credit line left, you drink like a fish, and we would like you to come back and finish you off, and we know you will never go golfing or attend a show". LOL
We decide to play some poker last night in LV at the GN. John and Steve don’t want to play BJ. I lose a big pot to John with AK against his A when he smooth calls my raise and another player re-raises and I re-re-raise to $164 and john is all-in for 243. I know I am in trouble when is calls $10 and then is all in for a 1-2 game. John as AA and the other player has AJ. John scoops us. John is tired and heads to bed. I should go to bed now at 1:30 but I go play BJ. I head back to the same table. I repeat what has happened every other night and lose another $2.5k and have a few more drinks. I am really tired though and head to bed around 3:00. Wiped out from over-indulgence for the week. I saw that redbird won the main event for the Seattle contingent. With doug making the final table and Dean getting 2nd the Seattle contingent (maybe 5 of us) did pretty well!
I get up around 9:00 and talk to Steve before he leaves for the airport. We have been coming to Barge together since 1995 almost every year. Lots of good times. I head over to the casino and cash out my VP tickets. I then play BJ for a while before I need to leave by 1. I see the arnoson’s as they are leaving the GN. I seem to see them every day I play here. I turn $1k into $4.5k with only 30m left before the plane. Given that this the last day I play more wild now. I jack up my bets to 2x750 on one hand and lose 3 bets on a DD and 20 when dealer makes 21. Bosses don’t seem to care much. I end up $300 on last day and go catch ride to airport.
I took quit a beating at BJ. Did pretty good at live poker and cashed out up $1k in barge tournaments. Glad to meet everyone again and anyone new. Thanks to the organizers for a great time. I can’t wait to come back for Embargo.
Monte