(As sent to the BARGE mailing list. Subscribe now!)
Tuesday, July 31st.
Sandi and Kris drop me off at SJC.
Kris and Taylor the Dog are visiting from Oregon.
I will do my best to get Sandi to join us in 2019.
I think we are drawing live.
If I were a cell phone, I’d be at about 18% charge after this very rough trip around the Sun between BARGE 2017 and BARGE 2018.
Land. First BARGEr spotted is Barry Kornspan. We meet up with David Croson. Barry gives us a ride downtown. David gave us blue “Make America Think Again” hats. Nice!
Wednesday, August 1st.
Check into the Four Queens. Room 615. I notice there is no room 613. Glad I’m not the only superstitious person around.
Oh, if you decline maid service when you check in, you get $10 per day comped at Magnolia’s and a couple other places.
I’m tired, but I want to get my badge and say “hi” to people.
Walk over to Binion’s.
First hug goes to Diana!
I get into a dealer’s choice game. I’ll sleep some other time.
Dan to Scottro: “Do you have cards?”
Scottro: “At home.”
Much laughter.
We are playing Inception. Kyle (non-Barge guy) asks if we can use wild cards. Guy next to his says: “Sure, how about 7s, 5s, and deuces are wild?”
We are really laughing about this. Especially me.
I actually start to feel faint and have to put my head down to
keep from blacking out.
Grizz makes quad 5s in some game. On the next hand, Grizz says “I didn’t fill.” and then rolls over quad queens!
I book an $89 win in this game.
I go over to the deli for a roast beef sandwich. Scottro joins me. We talk about politics and how ridiculous people have gotten with their hard-line thinking. I agree with some of Scottro’s posts on Facebook. Certainly more often than most BARGErs. Yes, this worries me.
No big organized Wed. morning group breakfast this year?
Magnolia’s ham steak and eggs.
Lowball/London Lowball tournament
Table…
Grizz, Voltaire, Crunch, Bob H., Capps, me, Caryl, Stevie.
Caryl wins my 300 blind.
Next hand, she posts the 300 and says “That’s your money I’m putting
out there.” Wow, ripped on my Caryl Aronson!! LOL.
I’m doing okay. I raise, Kent B. re-raises. I think he only has a little more so I say “I’ll put you all-in.” Just then I notice a 5000 chip (in plain sight) at the bottom of his stack. Oh hell. Now it is a big pot. I’m ahead going to the last card, but I lose.
Next hand I say “I’m on tilt.” as I raise a nice draw hand. Of course lose that too. I actually tilt off my last chips. I think to Kent or Caryl.
Hot pastrami sandwich with Mickdog and then we go play video poker slots near the old sunken poker room. We both win!
Dramaha tournament.
Combo of Omaha High and 5-card Draw. Triple draw!
Table:
Me, Gillian, Mickdog and Dan. 4-handed? Who knew?
Makes sense with all the draws.
Around here I see Sabyl and jump by one of the brick pillars to give her a hug. I know I’ve scratched my calf on the thing. Look down. There’s blood! Not a lot, but enough that I run to the bathroom to wash it. I always carry at least one Band-aid with me and it comes in handy here. I tell Mickdog and others what happened.
I have a pat club flush and a pair. Gillian destroys me with a royal flush in hand and quad kings (ace kicker) on board.
Michael Brennan replaces Dan. He has a monster hand. KKKJJ in hand, JJJ44 on the board. Board is about J-9-4-4-4. Mickdog zonks him with 33334 in hand and quad 4s on the board. So, so sick.
I’m drinking rum and Coke with cherries. Somehow one of my drinks
gets delivered to Rich Bremer and then Katie has one too.
Katie suggests naming the the drink a “QB.” Something about
rum and Coke and QB rings a bell. I ask her if we can call
it a “QB Libre.” She of course agrees immediately.
About here I bust Gillian. Notes say AAJ7 JJ7. She gives me a milk chocolate bar.
Final Table:
Me, Jaydon, Mark Haroldson, Bryan and Capps.
Again, I put “Me” first because I’m in seat one, not because
I don’t know anything about grammar.
Jesse is one of the short stacks and agrees to a $40 save for 5th.
Bryan goes out in 5th. Jaydon (my Virgin buddy) goes out in 4th.
Mark and I are now short stacks and Jesse has all the chips.
$190 for 3rd, $275 for 2nd. I go into folding mode hoping Jesse
will bust Mark. One one hand, Jesse has jacks full and two pair.
I have the $85 spent! Until Mark rolls over queens full and trips.
Arrgghhhh.
This silliness goes on for a while until I finally bust in 3rd. Mark takes 2nd, Jesse first. Oh, I also win $30 in the ADB last-longer.
I’m always happy with any tournament cash at BARGE.
I go to bed early. 11:00 p.m. Rest, toss and turn. AC/DC’s “Thunder Struck” is playing on a loop in my head. Play Chicago’s Greatest Hits on iPod to clear that. Still can’t sleep.
Thursday, August 2nd.
Head back over to Binion’s around 12:30 a.m.
Yak with Frank and Sheri for a while. I tell them I’m hungry as
I walk back over to Magnolia’s. I get a booth. A couple of
BARGErs walk by me. It’s Frank and Sheri! They join me for an
early breakfast.
Sheri tells the story from 2006 about her being quite wasted Wed. night but still hauling her golf clubs down Fremont Street to the Plaza for the Death March at 5:30 a.m. and having North Shore say “Pay up, I told you she’d make it.” to one of the other guys.
I head back to bed. Still can’t sleep. I think I finally nodded off about 3:00 a.m.
Alarm goes off nine seconds later at 4:45 a.m. F*ck a duck!
Why did I sign up for golf? Why? I could have faked an injury or something. So dumb.
Grab my sunscreen, moose, balls, tees, etc. and head over to the GN. Kevan gives me a ride over to the Las Vegas Golf Club.
The sleepy seven: Kevan, Gerry, Ross, David Aronson, Mark Hughes, Nolan and me. Rich B. pussied out. Some lame excuse about staying up all night and not having played in 20 years or something.
Nolan and I share a cart. I haven’t hit a golf ball in two years. Kevan and Gerry round out the foursome.
I hit a decent, straight drive off the first tee. Whew!
11 shots later, the ball is in the hole.
I take a nine on the 2nd hole. Yeesh. If this continues, I’m planning to bail after 4 or 5 holes.
Holes 3, 4, and 5 are better as I go 7, 6, 6.
Nolan sinks a beautiful 20 footer early on. But no money on the line. We offer each other $20 to $50 on several other putts during the round. I did sink a 5-footer for $1.
About a miss-hit shot that went on the green, Nolan says: “It’s a Teamster shot. Just don’t ask any questions and it will get the job done.”
From there on, if one of us hit a worm-burner that rolled onto the green, we’d just say “Teamster.”
Nolan and Kevan buy bloody Marys and beers after the 9th hole.
We switch things up a bit as Mark Hughes and this super since 80-year-old local guy named Gary joining Nolan and me. Gary hardly hit a bad shot all day. 44 on the front 9!
On the closest-to-the-pin hole (par 3), all four of us hit our tee shots onto the green. Mark’s is easily the best as he takes down $30. I don’t remember who won the longest drive hole. Probably David. It sure wasn’t me.
One one hole, I’m about 180 out. The green is guarded by two traps with about a 10 foot gap of grass between them. Nolan offers me $50 if I can hit onto the green. I smack my best shot of the day. Right at the green. It lands short and rolls between the traps. From where we are, we can’t tell if it is on the green or not. We may have to call the floor. Turns out it stopped about two feet short of the green. At least I made Nolan sweat it. That’s the important part.
Gary takes a group pic of us. Nolan is about to post it to Facebook. I come up with “Magnificent Seven.” Nolan adds “Fry Again.” So perfect.
Gary makes a joke about how to keep my head down during the swing. As this is a family report, I cannot repeat it here.
We all had a good time. I tell Kevan to tell 2019 Kubey that 2018 Kubey says he should join the golf group again.
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:
Kluchman, Aronson, Samarel, me, Nancy, Bremer, Sabyl and Gail.
Random comment dept. “Your card is under your moose.”
Marianne the dealer: “What do we say in Vegas? 3-way action.”
Chris, David’s wife come up to our table. What is the plural of Kluchman? “Klutchmen” is the answer. Chris says she has been called “Kluchma’am.”
Scott and Jepsen order seven of those crazy-pineapple drinks and seven beers. Samarel makes some joke about 7&7.
Around here I talk with David Sousson. I like his “I got your back” t-shirt and another one involving math/curves the next day. We also talk about him naming his hands. See calcutta comments.
Notes say: Christian Jones $1080. Did I mention what a great Virgin class we had this year?
Virgin Mixer around here at Chicago Brewing at the Four Queens. Thanks to Ron for organizing this as I was starving! Good pizza and chicken wings.
Only note is about Jaydon sitting with Teri Hatcher or was that Evy?
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:
Jim A., Kluch, Paul Stine, Kent D., Dean, Oscar, Murray, Bob O. and me.
Frank Brabec stands up at the next table after the first hand. Tons of applause as he is the first to bust out. No, it’s a fake. Frank says “It never gets old!”
We come up for an idea for a Dealer’s Choice tournament where the actual dealers pick the game.
Jaydon is dealing and asks if he can borrow a pair of sunglasses. Why? “That shirt is hurting my eyes.” Talking about Dean’s shirt.
Tanya can be heard from four tables away screaming “Oh! Oh! Oh!” Someone at another table: “I’ll have what she’s having.”
I heard about the hand later. I think Crunch had top full, Tanya had quads and Kyle had a straight flush! Rigged!
Paul has TT on a T-9-9 flop vs. Chic’s A9. Chic does his thing by Chic’ing Paul with a 9 on the turn.
I get the last of my chips in with a mediocre hand in a 4-way pot. Jim Anderson busts Chic and me. Sigh.
Ron Nutt relays a stud hand against Ron G. where Nutt is showing four clubs and is betting away. Ron G. is calling and then after calling asks “What is he showing?”
Tournament of Champions (TOC) tournament. Playing hold’em, stud and Omaha-8.
Table: Bozo, me, Jodi, Sabyl, Haroldson, Kirwan, Samarel, Bob O. and Nancy.
Stupid me… I didn’t pay the extra $5 to play the TOC on Friday. I have a total conflict with the ADB Craps Crawl.
Of course I need action, so I hand Goldie a $5 chip and ask him to bet the pass line for me with Stephen Markowitz shooting.
I hear about the game Keep’em. Hold’em, but the winner of the hand keeps his cards for the next deal. Hear Joe Long R00LED this game with JJ on 4 or 5 straight hands.
Randal is in near hysterics telling us about being on the lowest floor of Binion’s and waiting for the down elevator.
Bob O. tells us about walking into Binion’s after a tour of duty in Vietnam and being taken to lunch and given a job by Benny Binion!
Notes say “Jodi: Smoketh the pot.” These kids and their crazy slang.
Random Comment Dept. “Don’t fuck with the Teamsters!”
Haroldson says he only knows one Jack. “Jack Daniels.”
Goldie returns from the craps crawl, sad look on his face. I’m just sure he’s going to break into a big smile and hand me $10. No!??!?? Markowitz rolled a 4, then a 7. Oh well. Stephen has saved many a craps crawl for me. A $5 setback is no big deal.
New Table:
Doug, Alex, me, Mickdog, Jepsen, Nancy and Rich.
Doug calls me down with one small pair in Omaha. Yeah, I was bluffing.
I river him on the next hand and get paid off. Yay.
Mickdog is asking me for Band-aids. What? Jepsen has scraped himself just as I did. We get him patched up.
7-stud hand.
I start with AA-X and I’m pretty much committed to this hand
and Jepsen is betting his scary board of Q-J-T-A.
I hit a 3rd A on the river and I’m about to raise when Jepsen says he has the king (for the straight.) He sounds so sincere like he’s trying to give me a break.
For about 5 seconds, the idea of folding is rolling around my head. This must be the same thing that happened to John Cynn at the WSOP. If I’m never folding, then why am I wasting time? I call. AAA good.
Note to self: Never trust Chris Jepsen during a hand.
For some random reason, I tell Rich Strauss to quiet down. Others join in saying that Binion’s Security is watching Rich carefully. Rich is more mild-mannered than Clark Kent, so this is pretty funny.
We bag up our chips to finish the TOC the next day. Mickdog mentions that we are the first BARGErs to ever bag up chips.
I Uber over to Rebel Republic with Kenny and Mecklin.
The whole group:
Katie, Deitch, Ryan, Low, Bremer, Mickdog, Mecklin, Doug, Bryan and me.
We order food from the overworked guy at the bar.
Apparently, he is also the cashier, cook and waiter!
Like 40 minutes later, we get our food. I have a great club sandwich. Oh, the bacon!
Of course these guys want to play credit card roulette.
We each put in a card. Last card pays.
A twist! There’s a $5 last-longer side bet. Next to last card gets the pot.
At first, I skip the last-longer, but then hear it is up to $50.
My $5 will make it $55. You know me. I’m in.
About 3 cards in, Katie says she is going to lose (pay.)
David Low is running the action and does a nice job.
My card is picked with about 5 left. Whew!
I think it came down to Doug and Katie. No save.
Doug wins, Katie pays! She said for the 3rd time in a row!
Friday, August 3rd.
Wake up call for 7:15 a.m.
The BARGE Fun Run.
Six Participants:
Joe Long, Ron G., Eileen, Deadhead, Mickdog and me.
83 degrees at the start. It feels almost cool.
Ron and Eileen walk.
The rest of us jog at a very easy 11 minute pace in the opposite direction.
The red lights help.
I’m doing much better than last year.
We do some detour to avoid some trucks which adds some distance.
We come though lap two (2.4 miles.) These guys want to keep going. Oh hell, okay.
Thankfully, we slow the pace even more and hit several red lights where I can rest.
Final totals were something like 3.6 miles in 46 minutes.
No fatalities, drinking or gambling. Anyway, thanks Ron!
Do some bathtub laundry.
Breakfast with Dean at Magnolia’s. Learn a bit about the ups and downs of running a cardroom.
Time to play the big wheel. I have $7 in Binion’s chips with me. I bet $1 on the $1 spot. Other lady has $5 to $7 on the $5, $10, $20 and $40 spots.
Wheel lands on the $40 spot! $280 for the lady.
Any guess on how much she tips the pretty cowgirl spinning the wheel?
$100. Wow.
Next spin lands on the $2 spot. We both lose.
I’m all-in for $4. The wheel slows and ticks into a $1 slot. It has a little momentum left and nudges up the the $40 slot, but holds in the $1 slot. QB wins!
Tournament of Champions (TOC) tournament restart.
Table:
Me, Deron, Nancy, Lynsy, Bob H., Nussbaum, Bwana and Prock.
Mark Hughes rivers a 2 to 3/4 me.
JT83o in BB. Board is T-8-3-4-J. “I have a shoe store.” (4 pair.) and win the high.
The tournament timer says “Next Break in 268 minutes.” I blame Russia.
Stud and start with 88-99. Gillian takes the last of my chips with AA22.
North Shore comes up to Corey and me a few minutes later.
“You guys running good?”
Corey: “We’re standing up.”
Time for the Symposium.
Rich Strauss, Diana, Steve Sherman, Bob H., Patrick, Jeff S. and I have out little syndicate. Maybe also Nutt, Slick, PRM?
Oh I love Ruffles and onion dip.
Random Comment Dept. “80 from Katie.”
David Aronson is tripping on how the grapes are all the same size and is laughing way too hard.
As usual, I wrote the comments on the Calcutta sheet.
If you want any explained, let me know.
The 2019 comments file is already going strong.
I walk over near Kent Davenport. He waves to me and accidentally bids $60 on some pair. We are relieved when someone else bids $70.
Board Meeting.
We get the expected news that this (BARGE 2018) is quite likely the last BARGE at Binion’s.
I walk to the back of the room as I’m near tears. No kidding.
Someone hugs me from behind. Sharon? Sharon.
Go to Binion’s BBQ place with Jeff Siegal, Kenny, Bob H., Adam, Slick and Rich. Jeff and I share a rack of ribs. So good.
Adam tells a story about a player who was drinking Budweiser for hours. Bet a straight on the river only to discover he only had a 4-card straight. Otherwise known as a “Budweiser straight.”
I lead the guys on a D-tour. Paging Ed Baker. We admire the dancing dealers and then go upstairs to check out the Sigma Derby. There’s a new horse racing game with much more realistic horses. No one playing. Everyone playing the old Sigma Derby machine.
Back to Binion’s and through the secret passage with Bob to go to Karaoke. Hear Eileen on violin and later Samarel on sax! Some serious talent. Usual suspects: Sharon, Asya, Ben, Randal, Croson, Dan, Un, Claudia, Howlers. Also Stephen Wood, Brabecs and Jesse.
Brennan and I wave our phones like lighters as Becca is singing.
Somehow I’m back downstairs. Carol says she won’t charge for massages, but will accept $2 to receive a one minute massage. Before she can finish the sentence, I put two $1 chips on the rail and give her a quick massage. It may have run slightly over one minute.
Back upstairs. Kent Beck does “Rainbow Connection” as Kermit and just nails it. Best song I heard.
Note about Woodford Reserve. Claudia and I have a nice talk.
Tanya, Amber, Ben, Joe, Frank “Take a Load off Annie.” Croson: “Sweet Caroline.” Asya: “Come on Eileen.”
Becca is wearing a killer dress. Dang!
Karaoke is a blast. Way better than stewing downstairs stuck $160 in a ring game.
Back down to the TOC. Peter Secor has won it again!?!? Holy crap. Get a good pic of Peter with all the chips.
Saturday, August 4th.
Grab an empty spot with Goldie, Chow, Chuck, JZK and Bill Turner at Magnolia’s.
Chuck with a minor rip on JZK!
Discussion flows to IRC P0CKER and R00LBOT saying “ATM That Way —>”
Oh, we do CCR and Chow pays. Thanks Mike.
The BARGE NL (No-Limit) event. About the same number of players as last year.
Around the Table:
Josh, North Shore, Ice, Steve W., BigBoy, Me, Nussbaum, Marc and Chic.
Chic seems pretty sick, but assures us he’s doing way better that last night.
Lori mentions that she wants to roofie Peter before the TOC next year.
Ice to North Shore: “You were doing math?”
North Shore: “Canadian math.”
Win a pot with pocket 8s. “That’s two holes of golf.”
Josh, Ice and North Shore start singing Monty Python songs.
Notes say Genet, the cocktail waitress, is on tilt. Something about the cherries.
Break for the group photo on Fremont Street. Rodney is up on a ladder to take the picture. Vegas cops start to hassle him. We all start chanting “Free Rodney! Free Rodney!”
Table redraw and we might play 11 or 12-handed! Mecklin says he wants to be at the table with skinny BARGErs. “All two of them.”
Yes, this was a mess. Please let it go. A one time fiasco. Certainly worth it to have BARGE at Binion’s one more time.
New Table:
Stine, me, Larry S., Bozo, Kevan, Hack, Kramer, Rich S. and Foldem.
Paul Stine folds his BB to a raise and shows 3d2d. Five people in chat speak all say “But they were S00TED!”
I raise Rich Strauss’ BB and he calls. Rich and I have been playing the NL tournament at BARGE for 23 years. We think this may be the first flop we’ve taken. My AJ wins when a J hits the turn to beat his 77.
Kevan raises, I find JJ and jam. I can tell Kevan wants to fold, but he is pretty much priced in with all the dead money out there. He calls. With Q7o. Okay… looking good for me to…
Flop Q-X-Y. No!!!!!!!!!!!!! Turn blank, River blank.
Kevan (as we shake hands) “I’ve enjoyed our friendship all these years…” Both of us almost in unison (and joking): “…but now it’s over.”
I head to the restroom to compose myself and hear thunderous applause. Of course, Goldie busts out about a 45 seconds after I do costing me a bet. $5 down the tubes. Martingale!
As I’m walking over to the Four Queens, I hear people clapping at the craps table and I actually wonder who has busted out.
BARGE Nap.
Heard that Maggie Brabec won the S.O. tournament and is coming after us old people next year.
Banquet.
The table:
Slick, Connie, Mike, Patrick, Steve S., Diana, Rich, me.
Random Comment Dept. “Crunchie ballots should be sent to Florida for a recount.”
The food is pretty good. At least at our table. Great dessert.
JP Massar is (in his words) our “Emergency Speaker” this year.
JP tells us about the origins and adventures on the MIT blackjack team. Really interesting stuff. Dan Nussbaum helps out.
Something about a strip search. Barbary Coast and the mass barring.
JP is very entertaining and downright buoyant.
Lots of laughs even during the Q&A session.
This is my 23rd BARGE. I’d put JP’s talk in the top 6 or 7.
He got a standing-O.
As things wind down, Martin tells me that he has failed. Failed? That I didn’t write down a funny quip of his all during dinner. There’s always next year.
On the way out, I hear David Croson, Connie and Mike talking about and trivia contests. Really interesting stuff, but it causes me to not get downstairs in time to get my seat in the Omaha game.
Patrick Kirwan took the spot and, being a nice guy, he offers to give up the seat. I say no, but later hand him a $1 chip and ask him to order a drink for me.
Some note about a nice Jewish girl sitting on the lap of a lowball player.
Our syndicate still has three horses in the Main Event.
Down to 15. All three in the money. Jepsen, Bob Herlien an Bingo.
I’m having fun wandering around and giving reports to Rich, Carol
and Becca.
With 13 or 14 left, Larry Stone and I are the only ones really watching the tournament. I pull up a photo on my phone from 1999 with Larry and me standing next to each other watching the final table. Remind me to do this again at BARGE in 2037. If there’s any betting on this, get your money down on the over.
Random Comment Dept. “BARGE is the way you wanted High School to be.”
Final Table. What a good group. Jared is the only player who has been to BARGE less than 10 times.
I see a wild hand at the 15-3-6-6 Dramamha table. All hands capped pre-flop. Jeff Deitch has QQ33 in hand and top boat with queens full. Board is about Q-9-6-5-6.
Alex has JJJKK in hand. Dan has 66 in hand for quads.
Jeff is shocked to lose both ways and shows his hand. He has six cards! Someone: “You cheated and you still lost.” Much laughter.
Chris Jepson busts in 8th. Amazing result as he was short-stacked forever.
Bob takes some beats and goes out in 7th. Darn it.
Regis, Bruce and Sean have huge stacks.
Sidebar: Good to see some of our quieter BARGErs do so well in the tournament. Chuck Weinstock in 11th. Oscar and John Lloyd in the top six.
Also good to see long-lost BARGErs Sheri Brabec and David Trinidad in the money.
Down to four! Bruce Kramer takes two or three tough beats in a matter of minutes. All of a sudden, he is out in 4th.
Jared goes out in 3rd.
Regis and Bingo. Two great BARGErs. Regis might have the best sense of humor in the whole group. Bingo is not far behind. I’d be extremely happy with Regis winning, but I have to root for “my hero” Bingo here. See my 1996 trip report for details.
The heads-up battle goes on for a while.
Bingo wins a big pot and takes the chip lead.
I start thinking about taking pictures with my iPhone like I did two years ago when Becca won. Then I start planning to take a video instead.
Regis pushes with K8, Bingo calls with AK. I roll film. No 8 comes and it is all over.
Bingo and Regis hug. Bingo raises his arms in jubilation.
Then the crowd sings “B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o.” Just wonderful. I give Regis and hug and then shake Bingo’s hand and give him a hug too.
This in Bingo’s dream. And to win it at Binion’s makes it perfect.
Sunday, August 5th.
Breakfast at Magnolia’s with Rich.
I go make some $5 bets for Sandi on the 49ers and A’s and about six other teams. If we make money, it will be a miracle.
Watch a little of the dealer tournament. I’m the only BARGEr there?
Dianne goes out in 4th. Greg, Chris and Klaus want to chop up the money. Everyone turns to me for a decision. Me? I say they can chop it up, but have to play it out for the trophy.
These guys are having a great time and rag on each other at every chance.
Chris: “It’s hard to recognize greatness.”
Klaus takes 3rd, Greg 2nd, Chris wins it!
The Binion’s dealers love us.
Meet up with Kevan and Beth. Kevan and I decide to play craps and bet the Yo because we are both 56. We lose less than $20 each.
I bet $3 at a blackjack table and win!
I watch later as the dealer makes a 7-card 17.
Get a ride to the Goldman’s with Diana. There’s some confusion and Steve offers to ride in the bed of the pickup so we can all fit. Wait, we have to go on the freeway. We recall Steve and Rich first decides to take and Uber, but then bails. This was all sort of my fault. Apologies to all.
Goldman’s Hangover Party.
Rocking LCR dice game. I think I won $9.
Bourbon slushies!
Bingo buys pizza.
Sharon mentions “The laundry machine.” The what?
Hear a story about No-Limit drinking.
Hang out with Steve by the pool. Nice to dangle our feet in the water.
Bingo is leaving at about 5:00 p.m. See Derek Gomez for like 5 seconds.
Random Comment Dept. “He popped my Takis cherry.”
Amber is Kent’s girlfriend. She’s probably like 25 and quite pretty.
Amber to me: “You’re my boyfriend without the ‘T’.”
I pretty much melt on the spot.
Talk with Tony about TV shows and other important matters.
Croson makes a comment about BARGE being the only place where the dealers have to color-up.
Bingo is still there much later. “Why would I want to leave all my friends.” Something like that. He’s still there at 9:00 p.m. when I bail.
Rodney gives me a ride to the airport. He wants to do some recon on where to park when he has to leave his car there for a day.
On the plane, there’s a huge football-player type guy in the aisle seat. I grab the window figuring no one will want to sit next to him. It works!
Sandi picks me up at SJC.
And in the wink of an eye, BARGE is over.
From my editorial staff:
Kubey did not eat at McDonald’s during BARGE 2018. Wow!
Gambling…
| craps: | lost $21 |
| big 6 wheel: | won $1. |
| blackjack: | won $3. |
| live poker: | won $89. |
| slots: | won $3 |
| tournaments: | lost, won, DNP, lost (C-HORSE), lost, lost and lost. |
| last-longers: | won |
| roshambo: | DNP. |
Hugs: Diana, Sharon, Lori, Nancy, Becca, Claudia, Claudia (the other one)
Betty, Barbara, Kathy, Tanya, Connie, Sabyl, Debbie, Gillian, Eileen,
Sheri, Llew, Courtney, Carol, Caryl, Chris, Lynsy, Beth, Diane (dealer),
Marianne (dealer) and Rochelle (waitress.)
Manly hugs: Bozo, Frank, Mickdog, Peter, Adam, Jaydon, Murray, Bingo, Dan,
Nussbaum, Nolan, Howler, Scoop Evans and Rodney.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple and/or making up a couple.
Bingo edged out Sharon four to three.
Missed all of my friends who didn’t make it this year.
A few names… Ed, Tina, Pete Segal, Bree, JD, Veach, Shari, Jeanne, Aaron,
Erin, Andreas, Moser, Rob, Bart, Bill, Rafn, Andy, John, Lee, Tracy,
Pickels, Oz, Hammer, Susan, Grapes, O’Grady, Perry, Tom, Kuntz, Kim, Ron,
Daniel, John, Paul, Mary, Charles, Janie, Tim, Masa, Sean, Melissa,
Steve, Stephen, Dave and David. There are many, many more.
Everyone please make an effort to come to BARGE 2019.
Repeat:
Paraphrasing Papa Wallenda:
“The other 51 weeks are just waiting.”
Thanks again to Binion’s, the Home of BARGE. We had a helluva run.
I don’t know where we will be next year, but it will be the most fun you have all year.
The Binion’s dealers, waitresses and poker staff are wonderful.
Over a dozen people asked me how things are going. I usually say “fine.” Not this year. It was a really rough year. A BARGE trip report is not the place for such stuff, but my standard reply was “I’m hanging in there.”
Sometimes that’s the best a person can do. Hang in there.
Keep battling. Take a shower. Keep fighting. Keep being nice to people.
Drag yourself out of bed. Keep being a good person as much as you can.
Drag yourself to work. Never give up, never surrender!
Repeat from last year:
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 2018 MVB (Most Valuable BARGEr) Award:
Easiest choice ever this year: Don “Bingo” Rieck.
He embodies the spirit of BARGE.
And after many NL final tables, he finally won our Main Event.
I don’t think anyone wanted to win it more than Bingo.
Russ, JP and Peter deserve the top honorable mentions.
Goldie, Bremer, Jeff, Regis and the Goldmans 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.
Thanks to Un, Goldie and anyone else that supports BUTTKISS to back players. Three TARGET players (Rob, Nancy and Grizz) donated their shares.
Tech Crew: Doug G., David Low and Barry.
Patrick Milligan with badges, pins, structure sheets, BAAG and rule book.
The BARGE Chip Committee. Well done!
Rodney with the fantastic photos and risking jail time to take the group photo.
Peter and Chuck just plain R00L.
All the other folks who ran or sponsored events with their own cash.
Dan G., Barry, Bob O., Asya, Ben, Ron, Kluchman, Sharon, Kevan, etc.
Thanks also to all the other people who make BARGE go.
I’m back at 95% charge and will hang in there as best I can.
I hope you do to.
Can I sign up for BARGE 2019 now?