(As sent to the BARGE mailing list. Subscribe now!)
The story of my twenty-second BARGE. “Where’s the dealer at?”
Tuesday, August 1st.
My wife drops me off at SJC. My WHAT? My WIFE? Kubey got Married?????
Yes, Sandi and I got hitched on 12/28/2016 and the Santa Clara County Courthouse. They have a cute little room for weddings. Just us, Kristina and my friend Dave. Whole ceremony took about seven minutes.
Why did we wait almost 20 years? You don’t want to rush into these things.
Thanks again to the ~50 people that congratulated me at BARGE this year. I will do my best to get Sandi to join us in 2018.
Land. I go to the ride share area.
Lyft driver Pete in a gray Honda CRV arrives. He calls me.
I see him talking to me on his cell inside the CRV. Wave to him.
Put my bag in the trunk. Then he says “You are Marni, right?”
Uh oh. Wrong gray CRV. Pete calls me again from two spots over.
I get in the right car and away we go.
Check into the Four Queens. Room 805. Adds up to 13, but 13 is sort of a lucky number for me. Or is it?
Oh, if you decline maid service when you check in, you get $10 per day comped at Magnolia’s and a couple other places.
Oscar in the first BARGEr sited in the Binion’s cafe. Harker 2nd.
I sit down with Big Mike, Grizz and Eileen. Have a very good cheeseburger.
BARGE 27-Game Mix tournament.
Around the table:
Mark , Jessie, Grizz, Ira, Eric R. and me.
Sheila is our new main waitress. She is very good. She says she is from South Philly. What? Southern Philippines! Ha!
Mark takes me out with a 76 badugi vs. my 8.
See JR. JR goes all the way back in rec.gambling lore. Glad to see that he was able to make it.
Later I’m walking back to the tournament area. I walk a little bit toward the waitress station to see if Rochelle is around. She isn’t, but Shelia is there with two other waitresses. I smile and nod at her from about 40 feet away.
About three minutes later, I’m watching the tournament when Sheila walks up and hands me a 7&7. Rochelle is still my favorite, but Sheila is closing ground fast.
I’m hungry. Deron is hungry. We go to some place called Nacho Daddy. Enchilada nachos and BBQ pork nachos. Some beer also. We probably talked about stuff. Deron treated. Be like Deron!
Wednesday, August 2nd.
Breakfast at the Main Street buffet.
Walking over from the Four Queens, I notice that Main Street Station in on Main Street. Nothing gets by me!
There are a bunch of old people standing around near the entrance. Holy crap. They are us.
I have my players card to get the $1 discount. JD doesn’t so he agrees to be my date for breakfast. JD pays for my breakfast. If only I hadn’t married Sandi.
We sit with Big Mike and Shari. Later I sit with Gillian, Gerry and Ron N. Only note I have is to look for whales off of Maui in February. Thanks Gillian. Oh, the food was pretty good. Had bacon, some other stuff and more bacon.
Get into the Bob O. Big-O/O8 game. We are playing Omaha high-low. Thanks to Bob Ogus for hosting the game.
Table: Stevie, Russ, me, Oscar, Bob, Chuck, Len, JR, Paul S. Chris the dealer makes a comment about the guy that likes to turn up the A/C in the new poker area. He is nicknamed “Mr. Freeze.”
Random comment dept.
Movie title: “The Silence of the Kubey.”
“I like the Big-O.” followed by “That’s what she said.”
“I like the clientele in this bathroom better.”
The game livens up as Ron G., Chris Q. and others join the table.
I get stuck about $100. See Peter walking around. Maybe a hug will turn this around. I’m looking for a 2-second hug. Peter insists on 30 seconds saying it will release endorphins. If it wasn’t Peter and I wasn’t stuck $100, this wouldn’t go.
I get back to the table, crawl back to even and then up $60 as we break for dinner. Note to self… 30 second hug before no-limit in 2018.
BBQ with the guys from the game. Discussion about BBQ ensues. Oscar: “Isn’t a lot of it up to the pig?”
$14 Ribs are pretty good. By far the most I spent on a meal all week.
Dealer’s Choice tournament.
I call the first game and we will play one round of it and then the next guy will call the next game. List of 20 approved games.
Table… Me, Mecklin, Bremer, JP, Kenny, Brandon G.
I’ve had some nasty table draws before, but this is not good at all.
I call 5-card draw. Some caveman poker. The only game I’m sure I’ve played more than the rest of these guys.
Brandon beats my two pair with trip aces on the first deal. I’m pretty sure that was the only hand he won in about an hour of play.
New table: Me, Ira, Sabyl, Samarel, Bob O., Mecklin.
Ribbon digression…
Jeanne insists that I take a “VIRGIN” ribbon. She kindly writes “NOT A” on it.
Deron gives me a “Here For The Drinks” ribbon.
Oh, I was dishing out “20 YEAR MEMBER” ribbons to many. many people.
I also got some “25 YEAR MEMBER” ribbons. Those went to Bozo, Stephen Wood, Edmund Hack and Slick (Martin V.)
New table: Low, Jepsen, me, JR, Voltaire.
Random comment dept. “Do you like hairy backs?”
I’m all-in and double through Voltaire.
All-in with A8o vs. Ira. At the turn, he’s ahead. I questioningly say “Ace?” moments before an ace on the river to keep me alive.
Ira knocks me out a bit later in Omaha with a J-high straight vs. my 9-high straight. Oh well.
I’m hanging out with a bunch of people watching the final table. Kenny, Bremer, JD, Ron, Murray, etc. We may have been drinking.
I’m rooting for Rich Strauss as play begins.
JD tells us what he just saw in the cafe. Reconstructed here with his permission.
Drunk guy walks into the cafe with a hand full of chips. Slams them down on a table occupied by some innocent family having dinner and asks: “Where’s the dealer at?”
I see Murray sitting with two beers and glass next to him. Me: “How many drinks do you have? Murray: “Not enough.”
3-handed, it gets down to Rich, Jessie Capps and Chris Mecklin.
My notes say: “Need less skill in tournaments.”
Rich busts in 3rd. We go to Magnolia’s at about 2:00 a.m. along with Grizz.
Thursday, August 3rd.
Wake up call at 8:45 a.m.
Think of my pals out on the golf course. I pussied out of the Death March this year. I’ll try to make it next year.
CHORSE. Also called C-HORSE. This is a team tournament played with chips that are actually worth money.
I’m playing the 7-Stud High/Low-8-or-better (E) round.
Table:
Maurer, Samarel, Big Mike, Kenny, Sabyl and me.
Scott and Jepsen order those crazy-pineapple drinks. Whoo! There was some other drink that started with the letter P.
Between rounds, Patrick Kirwan shows me a 4700 quarter royal pic on his phone. Nice!!
Fellow Moose Ron Nutt keeps making full houses in regular stud.
Note to self: scheduled BARGE naps. Oh sure, laugh now.
I didn’t have any remarkable hands. Played squeaky tight against this crew and wound up a small winner. Moosecocks came in 2nd place for a $13 profit. Yes!!
Took a picture with the million dollars with my moose hat on. Completely forgot to pick it up. Saddenz.
Walking through GN. See Monte, John L., Becca and Dean playing BJ and making a lot of noise.
Lunch at the Italian place by the GN pool with Murray, Kevan, Gerry and Gillian. We later pick up a lonely Dean and finally Becca.
Have some delicious sausage pizza as G&G tell us of some world travels.
See Rochelle the waitress around here. I get a hug, but no 7&7. I’ll live.
Maybe around here I talk with Un about the Cubs winning the World Series. It was good to learn that he was a superstitious fan during the last three games. Going to the same place to watch the game each day. Taking tiny sips of beer as ordering another might change things, etc. Learned that Un’s mom was mentioned in Sports Illustrated in an article about the Cubs. His recall of the last game was incredible.
PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha) tournament.
We each get four cards, must play exactly two, high only. Board is like hold’em. And you can bet up to what is in the pot. We have three rebuy lammers to use if/when we need more chips.
Table:
Regis, COC (Chris O.), Jim, Len, Tanya, me, Bremer, Byron, JRX.
JR has a 1993 Presto! deck of cards as his bust-out gift. Wow!
I have a pair of these decks somewhere. I assume I bought them
in 1994, two years before my first BARGE.
AA76 on a A-5-4 flop. This looks good. I bet, Scott Byron calls. Turn 7. Most of the chips go in. River is an ugly 8. I bet my last couple of chips. Scott says “Well, I have to call now with the nuts.” He has 9654. Oh man. I was so far ahead on this one. Rebuy!!
QJJTs all-in vs COC’s AAQ2s. Board 5-9-5-8-7. I make a straight!
COC is all in vs. JR. JR folds. I say “Good luck all-in.” Ha!
Regis says “One player to a hand!” as I consult GamboMouse. Len says something about the mouse being the one player.
KKT8 all-in vs. Tanya’s AQJ9 on a Q-J-X flop. Again I make the straight to survive.
Claudia joins the table. Regis is Claudia’s wife so I mention something about “No collusion.” Regis (ready to take her chips) says “It’s On!”
I mention to Bwana that our C-HORSE team made $13. Each. He insists on a fist bump to celebrate.
Dean is one of the first few to bust in PLO. Howler yells to the crowd “Tougher field Dean?” Much laughter. In case you missed it, Dean made a final table at the WSOP earlier this year.
Claudia calls a bet by Regis. “Oh yeah, come get me.” and then: “I know where you sleep.” The whole table is laughing.
Len jams and has a music CD as his bust-out prize. Grateful Dead, I think.
I make the call stating that I have “Implied CD odds.” KKxy vs. Len’s QQTx. Flop T, Turn T. Grrrrrr.
Try again with JJ77 vs Len’s AQT9. Action flop of Q-J-8. Len’s straight holds.
My KK knocks out Taki’s QQ.
55xy and raise. Bob G. calls. Flop K-8-5. I decide to slowplay and it goes check-check. Turn Q. All the chips go in. Bob has QJ99 and I’m looking good to double up until a river 9. Arrgghhh. To the rail I go.
Go take a much needed nap.
ADB Craps Crawl.
I wear my ADB hat and wedding ring for luck. Some of you are old enough to remember us all chanting “The Ring!” at some craps crawl a decade ago.
We start at Binion’s.
Hack asks if Gambomouse will play. I tell him that GM is in the room napping. Edmund notes that it would be hard for him to shoot the dice “with those little arms.” Too true.
I’m losing slowly. Heldar is next to me. He’s a craps beginner so I explain the rules and the number that we won’t mention.
Markowitz has a good roll. Russ Fox gets me out of the hole with a hard-8 ($45 for me.) I mention this to someone later. Russ Fox shot craps? He must have had backers.
I book a $79 loss. Hack manages a $1 win with a late surge and then tips away all of his winnings.
Off to Main Street or the California. I forget where we landed. Talk with JD and Bev. She has the prettiest hair, right?
I resist the urge to lose more money. Everyone is playing video poker. Eileen and I walk back to Binion’s.
Murray takes 4th in the PLO. His first cash in 14 years of BARGE?? Many are shocked to hear this. Then we remember it’s Murray.
Totes forget to do the D-Tour to check on the hottie dealers at the D. And what happened the Sigma Derby?
Ed Baker… I’m depending on you for 2018.
An Old Bear, a Mouse and a Lion walk into a restaurant a 1:00 a.m.
Friday, August 4th.
Wake up call for 7:30 a.m.
The BARGE Fun Run.
Seven Participants:
Joe Long, David Lawful, Campbell, Ron G., Eileen, Mickdog and me.
Someone (Eileen?) suggests that we run clockwise to avoid having the sun in our eyes. Okay. No gambling or drinking. For shame.
Ron and Eileen run the first hundred yards and then walk.
The rest of us jog at a very easy 11 minute pace. I just did a hilly 6-mile race in Santa Cruz last weekend. The Fun Run is usually a piece of cake for me. Not this year.
After a mile, I’m struggling to keep up. Finally I tell the guys to go ahead as I slow it way down. A couple of red lights keep me within 100 yards.
Apparently drinking and gambling 18 hours a day is catching up with me.
2 miles in 23:40? Yeesh.
Anyway, no one dies and we take some photos.
Do some bathtub laundry.
Breakfast with Shari. Shari treats with comps. Be like Shari!
Tournament of Champions tournament.
Table:
Me, Segal, Murray, Eric, Nolan, Mecklin, Bingo, COC and Randal.
Holy crap this is a R00LING table.
Pete makes some funny comment about the “Bored Meeting.”
Someone notes that we will be comparing PSA numbers and colonoscopy videos.
Stud. Nolan shows K7. Murray 22. Nolan mucks before Murray can bet.
Omaha. AA54 and chop vs. Murray’s AA52. Loose players.
Random comment dept.
“I’m going into teaching. It’s a great way to meet kids.” and then…
“My back up plan is to become a priest.” Much laughter.
Nolan accidentally exposes his hand in stud vs. Eric. Eric being a good sport elects to play his hand blind. Eric wins with QQ.
I flush Pete out of the tournament when his trip 7s fail. He gives me a bag that says “Game of Stones” and has these cool little dice inside.
Someone plays J8. Gregory the dealer says that the hand is called Jeffrey Dahlmer. What? “Ate Jack.” LOL. $1 toke for the dealer.
Bingo says that his bust out gift is “So offensive that no one would want it. COC says “You picked the wrong guy.”
I get moved to a knew table.
Paul C., Rick M., Howler, Bob G., Bob H., Monte, Bob O. and me.
Me: “There are too many Bobs at this table.”
Monte has a torn up envelope with about $5000 in it.
“I have gambling money. I don’t have envelope money.”
Bob O. (as he is stacking my ex-chips) “Math isn’t my strong suit.” Me: (deadpan) “No kidding.”
Hold’em round.
I raise with A2. Rick M. puts his last chips in
from the BB with T8s. I make the auto-call.
7-6-X flop gives Rick more outs, but I win with an ace on the turn.
Rick gives me a cool mug with Canadian mounties on it. Also a
Canadian refrigerator magnet.
Just before 4:00 p.m., I get the great idea to order two Heinekens to take to the symposium. Sheila won’t let me order two. We notice that David Low doesn’t have a drink so he, in a comical way, orders the 2nd beer. Like: “Yes miss, I would like a Heineken please.” I later found out that D-Low (despite being a degen gambler) doesn’t drink at all.
Well, R00LING plan by QB until I learn that the symposium is at 5:00 p.m. D’oh! Bremer helps out by drinking the 2nd beer and I think making the final table.
Paul raises UTG. I find A8 in the BB. A normal player would ask Paul how many chips he has left. I ask him if he has a bust-out gift. No? “That may save you.” Well, he could be jamming with KQ or JTs or 77-22 here. I raise to put him all-in. He has QTs. My ace holds up.
Notes say Bremer TT99. Oh yeah. 7-stud. I try to steal. Rich calls with 9s. I make a pair and commit to the hand. Out in 24th place. Maybe my best TOC finish.
Around here, we learn that Kai has won money in Mecklin’s square game. Kai is in preschool. Someone mentions that there should be a minimum age to gamble at BARGE. Russ says “There should be a maximum age.”
Around here I play the Big Six wheel. $1 on the $1 spot. Scoop!
Time for the Symposium.
Rich Strauss, Diana, Steve Sherman, Bob H. and I are in a little syndicate. We pick up only one pair minimizing our loses this year.
Oh I love Ruffles and onion dip.
As usual, I wrote the comments on the Calcutta sheet. If you want any explained, let me know. The 2018 comments file is already going.
Go to Binion’s cafe with Adam, Rich and Slick.
For some strange reason, the topic of strip clubs comes up. No, we didn’t go. We all agree that we don’t like to be aggressively hit up as soon as we come through the door of a club.
Slick: “Slow down ladies. It’s not like I’m going to leave with any money.”
The 110-year-old waiter forgets the cheese on my cheeseburger.
My bill is $8.79. $1.21 is too cheap a tip. I want to leave $1.50. I ask if anyone has four quarters. I take major crap for this and grudgingly leave a $2 tip. A 23% tip after he forgot my cheese. Jeez Louise.
Karaoke
As I walk in, Claudia, Asya, Tanya and Joe Long are up on stage dancing in-step. Randal is also dancing. Nolan jumps onstage and stuffs a $1 bill into Joe’s pants.
Lots of good singing.
Karaoke is a blast. Way better than stewing downstairs stuck $160 in a ring game.
Back down to the TOC to see Peter win a massive pot with Presto! to take over the chip lead with 5 left. Wow, wouldn’t Peter winning be cool?
Down to three. Peter has AA vs. Mickdog’s Presto!
How could anyone root against Mickdog? How could anyone root against Mickdog playing Presto!? Because I’m rooting for Peter “Foldem”’ Secor, that’s why!
Aces hold. Peter and Derek Gomez are heads-up and about even in chips.
Peter tries to represent AA with Q5s. Probably works 90% of the time, but Derek holds AA this time. Derek up about 7-1 at this point. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. No shame in 2nd place.
Hold the phone. Foldem is chipping away and chipping away. All of a sudden, he is only down about 5-4.
Jam up pot. Derek has JJ. Peter has 44. This should be it. But there’s the 4 of spades on the flop. Now Peter takes a commanding 9-1 lead.
A couple of hands later, Foldem wins it with K9 over Q9. Congratulations to Peter “Foldem” Secor for outlasting 103 of his friends and winning the TOC.
Escort Peter up to Karaoke. Everyone cheers for Peter and in a matter of moments, people are singing Queen’s “We Are The Champions” with Peter center-stage. It was awesome.
Hang out at Karaoke with Patrick Kirwan. Also Nolan and Bingo.
I see some guy I don’t know. Normally, I’m a pretty shy person, but I just have to meet everyone at BARGE. Travis is a live wire! Randal’s boyfriend. We all end up talking for close to 10 minutes.
It’s getting close to the end of the night. I think about ditching before “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The one song everyone has to go onstage to sing. Oh hell with it. I go with the rest of the crowd. I’m with Taki, Caludia and JD as we all belt out the song. So fun.
Saturday, August 5th.
Ham steak and eggs at Magnolia’s with Kyle and Shari.
The BARGE NL (No-Limit) event. 132 players. Six less than last year.
There’s an unattended bagel at the table. I suggest we “High card for the bagel.”
Around the Table:
Jan, JR, JZK, Chow, Samarel, Mecklin, Bob O., Sharon, me.
ChatFriendz JR, JZK and Mike Chow all together? Random number generator is clearly messing with us.
AQ in BB and defend. Ace flops. Zonk Sam’s AK with Q on river.
Out-of-context dept. Sharon to Mecklin: “What is your poop?”
Samarel makes a diamond royal flush! NH!
Around here, Paul Campbell gives me a belated bust-out gift. A flask made to look like a cell phone. I might just use this! Thanks Paul.
Random comments:
“Stupid, stupid antes.”
“Who had level 5 for the first jerk-off joke?”
Rodney has us do the BARGE photo in the poker room.
I’m the guy with his back to the camera.
Cats herded. Back to poker.
QQ and raise to 1500. Chow calls from blinds. Already worried. Flop A-X-3. HATE my hand. Check, check. Turn Y. Check. Oh, I’m not falling for this. I check. River 3. Mike bets 2000. I call. He has pocket aces! I toke the dealer $1 for putting the ace out there to minimize the damage to my stack.
AK and jam. JR shows 55 and folds. Such a tight player!
GamboMouse kisses Sharon on the cheek.
Sidebar: Foldem kissed and molested GM a couple of times during the week.
We come up with the idea for a BARGE dunk tank. Somehow we all agree that people would pay lots of money to dunk Dan Goldman. Sharon, Nolan and others too.
KK and rai. Samarel jams, I snap call. “You have a monster, don’t you.” He has 99. A king on the river seals the deal. Scott gives me a nice Arrogant Bastard Ale. Thanks!
JR jams JJ. JZK calls with AK.
Flop A-K-Q. JZK way ahead.
Turn J!! JR way, way ahead. I quickly say “Ten for the chop.”
River A!!! JR’s Jacks full loses to JZK’s Aces full.
Looked like a hand from a James Bond movie.
We meet Sharon’s mom. We see where she gets her good looks.
Carol busts. “There goes my massage equity.”
Scottro jams AK. Chow calls with KK. Scottro flops the ace and has Mike drawing to one out. Turn KING! Youch! River blank.
Dan comes by to tell Sharon about some goofy thing that he’s all excited about. Sharon confides with me that Dan is basically an 11-year-old boy.
Minutes later… Dan: “There’s poop available at this table?”
I’m wearing my “PRESTO 55” jersey (from Scoop) and I’m 55 years old.
I get dealt 55. Is there any question what I should do?
I jam. Jan calls. Uh oh. She has QQ. Flop A-A-K. Turn Q. Arrrgghhh. I’m drawing dead.
I giver her a signed copy of my Cartoon Trivia book. Somehow it finds its way to Peter Secor. I’m good with that.
About here I see long-lost BARGEr and nice-nice game host Brian Goetz. I haven’t seen Brian since about 2005! You’ve heard of Java, right? He’s in charge of that.
Banquet.
The table:
Bob H., Diana, Sherman, Joe, Slick, Rich and me.
Slick: “I have the body of an 18-year-old. He’s in a plastic bag in my closet.”
The food is pretty good this year. Prime rib especially.
Thomas Gallagher is our speaker this year.
At like age 13, he gets into running numbers out of a pool hall. He tells a nun (his teacher) that he wants to study math more. He crosses himself showing us her reaction. Then his mother finds him studying math at home. He crosses himself again showing us mom’s reaction. Great stuff.
He also beat Steve Mizerak at pool.
Chowaha ring game.
Tanya, Regis, Claudia, Asya, Ben, Heldar and me.
Oh… My… God. The women are just having the best time. They are feeding off of each other’s energy and are laughing like crazy. 2-4? More like 10-2-4. Most pots capped pre-flop.
I note that the blinds will go up every 16 hours.
RCDept. “I just want to be loved. Is that so wrong?”
I play Qc4c. I pick up a flush draw on the last flop, but there’s a pair of aces on that flop. Uh… there are two aces of clubs!! “TIME!”
I’ve seen this once before in 20+ years of card room play. I expect they will pull back the cards and give us our chips back.
Tanya and I quickly take photos.
Floorman: “Oh, no! Please don’t take pictures!”
Floorman looks at the back of the last Ac. It’s from a different deck. A scrap of paper. It is taken away. Dealer puts out a replacement card. Spookily, it is the ace of spades. See Tanya’s FB post if you don’t believe me.
I catch running Qs to make four queens to win the pot. “Four Queens! That’s my hotel!”
Tanya shares a tin of Lemon Rolled Wafers from Ross. Ross the store, not Poppel.
Heldar (holding a wafer as a cigarette) and imitating Bogart:
“It seems that destiny has taken a hand!”
Claudia and I split a pot. We call it a “Chowaha-Chop!” Sounds like a dance.
JP joins the game. I straddle to $4. JP re-straddles to $6. Okay, now I’ve seen everything.
New dealer. The women help him count the flops. “One… Two… Three!”
Heldar (as the Count from “Sesame Street”) “Three Wonderful Flops! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Asya folds pre-flop! I give her a 30second penalty.
We are doing time-pots to pay the rake. If you don’t understand that, don’t ask.
The dealer drops the entire pot on the flops.
Claudia bets $2 into a $0 pot. The rest of us fold.
She gets her $2 back and promptly tokes the dealer $1.
The spirit of BARGE is strong in this one.
Mike Chow (the inventor of this game) walks up to the table.
Tanya asks Mike “What’s your last name?”
Regis, Claudia and me in unison say “Chowwwwwwwwww!” to Tanya.
I leave the game stuck about $60 wanting to check on the tournament.
I think Claudia won the SNG.
NL Tournament is over?
I find our new champ, Chris Mecklin, back over by the ring games and shake his hand. Way to go Chris!
Apparently the Chowaha game died seconds after I left. Not the first time.
Sidebar: Didn’t get a 2017 BARGE lammer!
Sunday, August 6th.
I go make some $10 bets for Sandi on the Raiders and Astros.
There’s some R00LER ahead of me with like $20,000 cash just sitting on the counter. Oh, I know this guy! His name rhymes with Conti Misstrinchen. Man, I hope Mayfield wins.
Lunch with Dan, Sharon, Chris Q., Bingo and… oh dear. I took no notes on Sunday. A guy and woman. You know one or both.
Dan tells me to get a $10 comp from Jerry. Be like Dan.
Get the mandatory club sandwich and potato salad. Sandi even gave me a special container for the potato salad. As you all know, she will only pick me up in San Jose if I bring her half the sandwich.
I remember the name Bingo told me last year for his son who will be BARGE-eligible next year… “The Bingling.”
With comps, lunch is like $2.
Watch a little of the dealer tournament.
See one dealer walk by with a “I Love BARGE” shirt. I need one of those.
Get a ride to the Goldman’s from Mark Hughes. Kenny and Grizz are along. We stop for liquor and I chip in on the champagne that Grizz buys.
Goldman’s Hangover Party.
OFC poker, LRC, Cards against humanity and some hella weird game run by Scott. Players had their eyes closed. There were like werewolves and robbers and stuff. I have no idea what’s going on, but it looked pretty cool. Or maybe they were starting a cult.
Hang with Croson, Brian, Old Bear, Peter, Bozo and others by the pool. Dangling my swollen feet in the water was nice.
The discussion turns to politics. After 20 minutes, I’ve had enough. As I’m walking back inside, I tell Bozo that I’m deleting this thread. Bozo: “Just like you QB to take your ball and go home.” We were smiling at each other.
I missed the bourbon slushies? Damn it!
Lose at Cards against humanity. I had poor cards.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Brian and I figure out that we are on the same flight.
Time to go! In the car. Alarm is going off in my head.
I’m forgetting something.
The sandwich and potato salad in the Goldman’s fridge!
Whew! That was a close one.
Brian and I talk about many topics. On the plane, I watch him play Candy Crush! He gets me to play that game that starts with 1s, 2s and 3s on the 4x4 board and you combined numbers to make bigger numbers. Addictive! I made a 1024.
Sandi picks us up. Gives Brian a hug. I drive him over to his hotel and the three of us chat for a good 20 minutes outside the lobby.
And just like that, BARGE is over.
Gambling…
| craps: | lost $79 |
| big 6 wheel: | won $1. |
| blackjack: | DNP because BFB. |
| pai gow: | DNP |
| live poker: | about even |
| slots: | lost $3, but got a free pair of plastic sunglasses! |
| tournaments: | lost, lost, won (C-HORSE), lost, lost and lost. |
| last-longers: | lost. |
| roshambo: | DNP. |
Hugs: Diana, Sharon, Tina, Becca, Lori, Barbara, Claudia, Betty, Nancy, Sue,
Rachel, Shari, Kathy, Tanya, Connie, Sabyl, Dianne, Debbie, Gillian, Eileen,
Linda, Carol, Beth, Tina and Rochelle.
Manly hugs: Peter, Jeff, JD, Michael, Adam, Murray, Bingo, Dan, Goldie, Kevan.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple and/or making up a couple.
Missed all of my friends who didn’t make it this year.
A few names… Warren, Bruce, Bruce, Lynsy, Chic, Brenda, Ed, North Shore,
Jeff, Erin, Andreas, Moser, Rob, Bart, Bill, Rafn, Andy, Lee, Caryl, Tracy,
Cliff, Oz, Prock, Hammer, Susan, Grapes, O’Grady, Perry, Tom, Kuntz, Kim,
Daniel, John, Paul, Mary, Charles, Jodi, Janie, Tim, Ron, Randy, Frank,
Steve, Stephen, Dave and David. There are many, many more.
Yes, I even missed Alex!
Everyone please make an effort to come to BARGE 2018.
Paraphrasing Papa Wallenda:
“The other 51 weeks are just waiting.”
There must have been 10 times when I said “Oh no!” after hearing about someones health/financial problems. Hey, it’s been a rough year.
Anyway, make it to BARGE if you can. Bring a cane, walker, rollator or wheelchair if you need it. Come for one or two days. More if you can. You don’t have to play in the tournaments or you can get backing.
Thanks again to Binion’s, the Home of BARGE. Yes, it’s a dump, but it is OUR dump. Lord/FSM/Random chance willing, we will be back next year.
The dealers, waitresses and poker staff are awesome. Jerry did a great job as the TD. Just between you and me, I think he was the guy that made BARGE at Binion’s possible this year.
BTW, I won’t bug people at BARGE about smoking, drinking, eating. Let people have their fun.
Toking/tipping. If you want to tip incoming/outgoing and every
blind steal in the tournaments, that is cool. Go for it.
Please don’t shame people for not doing this. Tipping dealers
during a tournament is wonderful BARGE tradition, but it is completely
optional. Please remember that.
If it becomes required, I’ll need backing.
Kubey’s 2017 MVB (Most Valuable BARGEr) Award:
I’m giving it to Peter Secor. He embodies the spirit of BARGE and kicked all of our asses in the TOC too. He’s battled back the C-monster more than once.
Goldie deserves the top honorable mention.
Russ, Bremer, Jeff, Mecklin, Regis and Ron G. too.
Thanks to the board: Becca, Barry, Patti, Edmund and Bozo. Thanks to the organizers: Russ, Bremer, Deitch and Goldie. Remember to thank these people online and live.
Tech Crew: Doug G., David Low and Barry. barge.org is better than ever.1 I wait all year for BARGE and somehow it doesn’t disappoint.
Patrick Milligan with badges, pins, structure sheets, BAAG and rule book.
The BARGE Chip Committee doing double duty this year. Oh, the special chips for us to give to potential BARGErs. Great idea.
Rodney with the fantastic photos. Yes, I looked like hell this year, but that’s not his fault.
Peter and Chuck just plain R00L.
All the other folks who ran or sponsored events with their own cash. Dan G., Asya, Ben, Ron, Kluchman, Sharon, Kevan, etc.
Thanks also to all the other people who make BARGE go.
Can I sign up for BARGE 2018 now?
-
Thanks, QB! —the editors ↩︎