The story of my twenty-sixth BARGE.
“Mask up!”
Pre-BARGE crap.
We are in a pandemic.
I got my 2nd shot of the Modena vaccine back in April.
As I write, I believe the worst of it is over, but many people are
still not vaccinated. Over 95% of the people in hospitals for COVID-19
are unvaccinated. Well over 99% of those dying are unvaccinated.
I usually have some minor health problem the week before BARGE.
Nothing this time. Why does that worry me?
Thursday, July 29th.
Sandi drops me off at SJC. I like to get to the airport way early
as few things get me more panicked than cutting it close at an airport.
I get to the gate 45 minutes before my flight. Perfect.
Steve Watanabe shows up about 15 minutes later. I’ve been holding a
1993 BARGE chip for Steve for over a year. I give it to him and
he is very pleased.
Steve is an aisle person. I’m a window person. We are hoping to keep
the seat between us empty, but some late-arriving young techie guy
foils our plan.
Bob Herlien picks us up and I use Waze to get us to the Westgate.
Thanks again Bob! BTW, Bob Jones also offered to pick us up
earlier in the week. Yay Bobs.
No Death March (BARGE Golf outing) this year. 2022 for sure!
I also missed C-HORSE this year. My bad.
Check-in line is long, but moves fast. Dump my bags in the room
and head down to the poker room to get my badge.
Run into Chuck Weinstock. He asks “Have you been vaccinated?”
“Yes.” Now Chuck gives me a hug.
Dan Goldman overhears this and asks “Have you been vaccinated?”
“Yes.” Hug #2 goes to Dan. Nancy gets the first hug by a female.
PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha) tournament. 50 players.
We are all wearing masks. Players, dealers, waitresses.
The waitresses were wearing gloves also.
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 two rebuy lammers to use if/when we need more chips.
Table:
JRX, me, Sander, Lawful, Tim S., James E., Woodstock, Haroldson and Bex.
Ed. note: I put “me” second as I am in seat two at the table, not because
I don’t know how to write.
GamboMouse is sealed in a clear baggie.
Sandi thought of this because she didn’t want all of you infected
slobs touching him. I thought it was just plain funny.
Gambo takes a selfie with Keith Troell.
I ask Sander, the young guy next to me, who he knows at BARGE.
“What’s BARGE?”
Uh oh. I rat him out to Russ and Rich. He’s a good sport and pays
the registration fee. Sander is now a 2021 BARGE virgin.
I tried to get a read on how old Sander is by asking how old
he was when he started playing poker. He replies “Four.” Nice!
I started at five.
AAxy and raise. Tim calls. Flop A-K-X with two of a suit.
All the money goes in. Tim of course has KKxy. I double up.
Bex is dressed as a Love Bear. Awfully cute.
Mark the dealer says he has a wife and a girlfriend.
I toss him a dollar saying “If you have a wife and girlfriend, you
need this.”
Bex says “I’m a wife and girlfriend.”
I ask “So you’re married to Mark?” mild laughter.
Sandi texts that the Giants have beaten the Dodgers 5-0. Yay.
JRX says that he’ll be retiring soon. Wait for it. For the 3rd time.
Around here, JZK admits that he was the one that kidnapped
GamboMouse many years ago at Binion’s. He said we were talking,
he picked up GM and I didn’t notice! Wow.
New table:
Ryan, Larry, Ronald, me, Patrick, Haroldson, Sabyl, James, Bob G.
Add Bwana and Hack.
Larry: “It started out so nicely.”
Dean (walking by): “Nobody cares.”
Patrick asks “Is there no senior discount?”
Me: “If there is, we all get it.”
Around here, Patrick gets AAxy about every 5 hands.
He doubles up, loses 3/4 of his stack, doubles up, etc.
Javier is at the table now with a massive stack.
Patrick puts a dent in it.
I’m running low on toke chips and send Lawful off with $100
to get me more blue chips. I try to tip him $1, but he laughs
and walks away.
TTQJds and jam it up against Larry’s AKXYds.
Flop J-x-x. Turn Ah. River Xh. I make a flush to double up
and cripple Larry. Sorry, man.
AA98 vs Javier’s AKXYds. I double up.
J874 in 1K BB. Hack all-in for 300 more. Javier and I call.
Flop comes 9-6-5 with two of a suit. Javier bets, I raise, he calls.
Turn brings a 2nd flush draw. All the money goes in.
Javier has both flush draws. I dodge the 18 outs and bust
Hack and Javier. Javier re-gifts a fan and astronaut ice cream to me.
Final Table:
Ben Imsdahl, Paul S., Bwana, Patrick, me, Prock, Corey Imsdahl,
Haroldson and Bremer.
Karaoke is going on near the sports bar. Singers are up on one
of the huge screens. I remember seeing Asya, Bex, Randal and Scrottro
for sure.
Sidebar… I knew the Westgate used to be the Hilton, but today learn it
was formerly the International before that and also the “Whyte House”
in the James Bond film “Diamonds are Forever.” Cool.
Bex does “Ice Ice Baby!” Awesome.
We are 9-handed. I’m the chip leader by a small margin.
Tournament pays 7 places. I propose taking $50 off the top 6 spots
so 8th and 9th get $150 each. I get shot down.
Now we go about an hour with no one busting. Ben, Rich and Mark
are all-in more than once and survive. Haroldson seems to be like
a cat as he must have 9 all-in lives.
Patrick goes out in 9th to a straight with… you guessed it… AA.
Bwana goes out in 8th to Prock’s 2 pair.
In the money! Yay!
Corey and Ben are both in the money. Father and son. Is this a first?
Haroldson loses a huge pot. Tips the dealer ans says in the most sarcastic
tone ever: “Thanks dealer.”
Paul barely survives and says approx.: “Very close, but I didn’t want
to make all these people happy.”
Ben all-in. I’m in the BB with AA73ds and call. Duh.
I flop the nut flush draw. Ben flops a pair.
River gives Ben two pair to take a chunk of my stack.
Random Comment Department or RCD
“You have my insincere condolences.”
Ben all-in. Haroldson flops quad kings! Ben out in 7th.
Paul takes 6th when Prock makes two pair.
“Cocktails! Stat!”
I’m all-in. Rich calls with QQxy. Flop Q-x-y and I’m out in 5th for $500.
I am pretty happy with this cash, but I was hoping for even better.
Prock won it for $1400. Bremer 2nd, Haroldson 3rd, Corey 4th.
Pretty exhausted. Go over the the snack bar. Closed?
Go to the even smaller snack bar called Fortuna. Terrific Reuben for $15.
Friday, July 30th
Can’t sleep. Maybe got 50 minutes of actual sleep.
Cell phone alarm goes off at 6:40 a.m.
The BARGE Fun Run.
Eight Participants:
Runners: Lawful, Deadhead, Mickdog, Kenny Shei and me.
Eileen, Keith and Doug G. walked. Doug has done some sort of exercise
for over 200 days in a row. He’s looking good!
Deadhead gives us these cool BARGE bottle openers.
He also has plotted out a nice 3.1 mile course for us.
The weather is pretty good. I think the coolest for a fun run ever.
A little muggy too.
During the run, we figure out that all five of us have run at least
one marathon. Not bad for a bunch of poker players.
We finish in about 45 minutes. Nice easy pace if you are considering
joining us in 2022.
Take a great shower. Discover the overhead shower spout too. Like!
Martin directs be to Sid’s.
BARGE BOD/Organizers breakfast at Sid’s in a private room.
I say something like “I’ve finally made it to the inner circle.”
only to be told I still have not. Awwww.
Table:
Ron, Rich B., Chuck, Patti, Russ, Lawful and me. Peter shows
up a little late and takes the “dad” chair.
We talked about some stuff and had a free breakfast. Thanks BARGE!
Tournament of Champions (TOC) tournament.
Playing hold’em, 7-stud and Omaha-8.
Table:
McVay, Bob J., me, Rich S., Joe (not that Joe) and Timmer.
Dave McVay is back after 11 years and beating the big C. WTG!
Nolan makes an announcement reminding all of us the the TOC was
Mike Sexton’s baby. Mike passed away recently.
One of the biggest ovations of the week for Mike Sexton.
Later we add Roland and Ben I. This is a very quiet table.
Tim S. gives me a BARGE deck of cards. Russ gives me a Coke Zero Sugar.
Thanks guys. If you drink actual Coke, give this stuff a try if
you’d like to lose weight.
Dealer Tom: “Good lord, let me break even. I need the money!”
Bob and I toke him for that.
I’m just treading water when I realize I forgot to bring out
Patti’s cool 20-year Best BARGE Ever card protector.
We switch to hold’em and I say “How am I supposed to make a hand with
two cards?” Look down at AA, raise and win. Ha.
GamboMouse somehow gets under Jeanne’s shirt.
Later Jeanne makes a custom mask for Gambo. The tiny mask was a big hit.
“He’s out of quarantine!”
Stud 55-22 and jam it up with Joe who has XK-KJTK.
Any card 9 or higher kills me. He gets an 8. Whew.
Table update:
McVay, Bob, me, Bex, Joe, Ellis, Red, Eileen.
Stud and survive as Ellis misses diamonds.
RCD: “I’m learning to be Crunch.”
A247 in O8 and bust Paul when I make a straight.
Remember I busted Edmund Hack yesterday? He comes buy to give
me a pair of socks as his bust-out gift. They have tiny white
mice on them. Too cool.
Ron: “That socks.” Groan.
Tournament is halted for a couple of hours.
Normally we would have the Symposium and you’d get to read my super
clever touts for each player in the NL tournament as we make silly bids.
I hope all will be back in 2022.
Celebration of Steve Sherman’s Life.
Diana Mercer lost her dear husband Steve recently.
She hosted a lovely dinner in his honor and memory at the Italian
restaurant.
Steve was one of the rare quiet BARGErs. No, quieter than that.
A little more quiet. Keep going. There ya go.
One year his Calcutta Comment was “Paul the Octopus’ Pick.”
Steve took 4th in the NL that year and made “Paul the Octopus”
his nickname for a year or two after.
My other strong memory of Steve is his volunteering to ride
in the bed of a pickup truck on the way from Binions’s to the Goldman’s.
His nice guyness was not needed as Rich S. decided to take an Uber.
Anyway, he was a very nice guy with a good sense of humor.
We will miss him.
A huge group showed up. Great food, a couple of free drinks
and plenty of friends.
Sharon did her best to herd all of us cats.
Bob Herlein got us going with a simple toast… “To Steve!”
Dan Goldman gave a wonderful talk about Steve.
Diana somehow topped Dan with another great speech.
Needed some kleenex. My allergies were acting up or something. ;-)
Later Kevin Un gave perhaps an even better talk about Steve.
More Kleenex needed.
In Olympic scoring, give Dan a 9.6, Diana and 9.7 and Un a 9.9.
All three were really top notch.
I’m sure Steve would have loved it all.
Text from Sandi “Call me. 911.”
Oh crap. I’m very worried for 30 seconds. Only a flat tire. Whew.
Nice talk with Adam around here.
TOC restart.
Newish Table:
Mike, Bob, me, Jan, Joe, Ellis, PRM, Ron with a mohawk.
He looks like someone. Oh yeah! Rober DeNiro from “Taxi Driver.”
8pm. We are down to 3 tables. I win the ADB last longer. What?
This usually goes down the final table. I’m the last ADB standing
with like 20 players left. Amazing.
Down to two tables. New table:
Mike, Caryl, me, Randy Hudson (there’s an old RGP name), WORLD CHAMPION
Linda Johnson, Ellis and Ron.
Down to 12. Pays 10. I’m down to 3.5 blinds. Hold’em round and find 22.
This looks like gold. Jam it up with Ron. He flops a pair
and I’m out. Arrgghhhh.
Linda Johnson won it. Cliff in 2nd. Gillian to show.
Around here I decide to play craps.
Michel, a guy from work, wanted me to bet $10 for him.
$15 craps table. Okay.
Come out eight. 623 rolls later… Eight! Winner!
Sandra T. and Dan N. are hungry. They want to walk to a noodle place.
Okay, let’s go. We are headed to Resort World/Hilton.
BTW Sandra is pronounced like “Saundra.”
I think she said it is her “one pretension.” Ha.
The walk is a little longer than expected, but not bad. 1.5 miles maybe?
Bathroom break is much needed.
I learn that Sandra learned about BARGE in the Boston home game.
She is Dan’s BARGE wife or Dan is her BARGE husband.
Something like that.
A group of about eight stunning women walk by us. Man, weird to
be really out of the house for the first time in 18 months.
Dan and I get noodle dishes for about $17 each.
Thank goodness he could figure out how to order and pay as I had
no clue whatsoever.
I find a Westgate water in my bag and the Coke Zero from Russ.
Dan asks if he can have the Coke. Of course. Thanks Russ.
Saved Dan $5.
We hoof it back to the Westgate.
Saturday, August 3rd.
Finally get to sleep around 1:00 a.m. or so. Thank goodness.
Panic when I can’t find my PLO notes page. It reappears on the 3rd
search of my bag.
Head down to Sid’s for breakfast. Find Eric S. in line.
Kyle joins us also. We save a little money with Eric’s timeshare discount.
We talked about DIY house repairs and other topics.
To the poker room.
Lori comes by with homemade marshmallows. They taste great. Thanks.
The BARGE NL (No-Limit) event. 88 players. Not bad considering.
Russ “Sorry, I’m almost perfect.” Laughter.
Around the Table:
Eric S., Nolan, Sandra, DLow, me, Harker and Bingo.
RCD from someone in the bathroom “I took a badeucy.”
New table:
Deadhead, Woodstock, Ben G., James, Chuck, Javier, Arash, Jodi and me.
Arash gets a little ticked at the dealer as says:
“Every time you push me a pot, I’m going to tip him.”
FLop 2-4-6.
RCD: “And I folded 53. Fuck me.” Okay, it was Chuck!
Jodi takes most of Javier’s chips.
I bust him from the BB on the next hand.
BARGE and ADB photos around here. Thanks Rodney.
I was inappropriately touched during the ADB photo.
Andrew Cuomo has a rock-solid alibi.
RCD: “Close your eyes. When they clap, it’s over.”
Me: “Ignore me.”
Chuck: “We try to.”
Blofeld has a light up facemask with changing faces.
I hope someone got pictures.
Edmund Hack is the first to 30 BARGEs! WTG!
Prock hits the paper towel progressive in the men’s room.
Jodi: “Pardon my French, but how the fuck did that happen?
and then: “I’m so pure and innocent.”
Moved to a new table. Before I can get settled, I’m dealt AJo UTG.
With the horrific big-blind ante coming on the next hand, I shove.
Samarel rerasies with AK and hits a king on the flop to kill all
the suspense. Sigh. I’ll try again next year.
Everyone complains about dry spells and crap cards.
My best pair was 55. I had AJ twice. Kind of amazing I stayed
in the game for four hours.
Russ and I are hungry. We go to the snack bar area near the sports book.
I get another Reuben. This one is even better than the first one.
Also it is free because Russ picks up the tab. Thanks!
We talked about work and BARGE and people. Usual stuff.
Have a beer with Chuck. I owed him this from a really dumb baseball
bet we made. Frickin’ Pirates beat the Giants.
We settled on Shock Top. This is a knock-off of Blue Moon.
Yeah, yeah. I don’t want to hear from you IPA IBU snobs.
We talk about family and BARGE and baseball.
Chuck takes a selfie of us. It got a ton of likes on Facebook.
Bremer pays off my “Masked Singer” cash. WTG Chameleon!
Have a nice chat with Bex around here. She had a couple of killer outfits.
Saturday’s with the skirt was my favorite. No, I didn’t take a picture.
Sorry.
Nolan is in the money. He talks about how his friends and backers root
for him much harder than most because him going deep in the tournament
is their best (maybe only) chance to get paid.
I’m not doing it justice, but the way Nolan said it made it really funny.
Honestly the hardest I’ve laughed in 18 months.
Around here three of us do shots of Scottro’s Tears. Yum.
4-8 HORSE cash game.
Table:
Miles, Jan, Steve W., me, Dan N., Samarel, Tom B., Steve P.
Later Hack, Diana, Deron and Lawful.
Someone makes a call. “Not a smooth-call, a rough-call.”
RCD: “Nice handish.”
Randal writes on my note paper: “Fold pat 6 preflop?” Randall.”
Wait, he spelled his own name wrong?
Cheering comes from the NL final table.
Sabyl wins it all! Just fantastic!
In my book, she is the sweetest and nicest person in the BARGE group.
Way to go!
Andrew Prock in 2nd. He won the PLO on Thursday too.
Nolan Dalla in 3rd. The line of people he owes money to started forming
almost immediately.
Back to the cash game…
Tom has a cool Morgan silver dollar as his card protector.
I mention that I’m a bit of a coin collector.
Diana overhears and then hands me a $1 bill. Not just any $1 bill.
A very nice series 1935 B silver certificate.
So old, it doesn’t even say “In God We Trust.” Not kidding.
Thanks Diana!
Sunday, August 1st.
12:06 a.m. Me: “It’s been BARGE for six minutes.”
It was BJRGE before that. Groans.
Steve: “I’ve got a really good hand.”
Lawful: “Left or right?” Ha.
I switch to a Dealer’s Choice game with Randal, Samarel, Miles,
Hudson and Kyle.
RCD: “He was the Grizziest player here.”
Someone (Timmy?) brings in about eight pizzas. Bless you sir.
I’m losing pretty bad in this game. I get a quarter of a couple
of pots. Maybe half of a small one. No scoops.
We play Super Stud-8 Pitch and Roll. 4 cards, toss one/roll one.
I start with 88-5. I’m only continuing if I get an 8 or lower.
My 4th card is an 8! Awesome! I raise.
I bet 5th and 6th. Big pot brewing. Randy Hudson looks to be
on a club draw and low draw. Scott looks to have two high pair.
Last card. I finally make a full house. 8’s full of 10s.
Randy bets into me. I smooth call. Scott dumps his hand.
I’m all set for Randy to declare his A-high club flush.
He says: “I’ve got the high.” and then shows FOUR NINES!
Arrgghhh.
I make some angry comment about how unlucky I am tonight. And rack up
my chips.
Grab a slice of pizza. Come back to the table to apologize for
storming off. The guys say not to worry about it. They’ve all
been in the same spot before.
Randal went on to say some very encouraging words to me.
I instantly felt about 80% better. Thanks Randal, you’re a good guy.
Sleep.
Check my bag at the bell desk around 11:30 a.m.
Sandra just happens to be walking by. She asks if I want to
take the monorail up to the strip. I’ve got a couple of hours
to kill before my 4:05 p.m. flight. Sure.
Monorail is $5. Kind of fun. We stop at Bally’s.
I get a Nathan’s hot dog. She gets some shrimp dish that looks really good.
We decide to walk over to The Bellagio to check out the arboretum.
You know, the big area off the lobby with the flowers and sculptures.
Suddenly it’s like 1:15 p.m. and we split up there.
I’m feeling a little rushed to get to the airport already.
Text that my flight is delayed a littel to 4:30 p.m. Cool.
Play some video poker and win.
Get in an Uber around 2:15. Moments later I get another text
from Southwest Airlines that my flight is now departing at 6:25.
Arrrggh.
I ask the older lady Uber driver if she can take me to the Goldman’s
instead of the airport. She agrees! Cool. $5 tip.
Arrive at the Goldman’s
Good to see Bree for the first time in ages.
Also got to meet Morgan and Lana. Morgan reminds me of our dog, Taylor.
Get a bourbon slushie and sit down to watch the Olympics.
Another SWA text. Flight delayed to 8:48. Really?
Around 6pm, I order an Uber to the airport.
Not 10 seconds later, I get another SWA text. 9:27 p.m. departure.
Are you kidding me? Oliver witnessed. this.
I can’t figure out how to cancel the Uber. Oliver finally finds it.
Cancel. They charge me $15. Arrgghh.
Ed. note: They did refund the $15 the next day.
Dan asks if he can get me something.
“A bourbon slushie and make it a double.”
6:28 p.m. Another text.
Your flight… now departs at 7:22 p.m. W.T.F!
I loudly ask if anyone can take me to the airport right now.
Kevin Un volunteers.
We get into Dean’s beater truck and away we go.
The truck is low on gas, but we should make it.
I ask Un if I can give him $20 for helping me out.
He kindly flips me off.
About 5 miles from the airport, the truck starts hesitating
like it is running out of gas. Nah. Un was just messing with me
by pumping the brakes.
Fist bump.
Get boarding pass.
Bag checked.
RUN to security. Medium long line.
Carry on held up. I put my laptop in a bin by itself, but not the iPad.
Others with me tell horror stories about the texts. Went to dinner,
had to leave in the middle, etc.
Get my carry on. Start running for the gate.
Did I mention I’m wearing flip flops?
It’s gotta be 7:30 p.m.
I can see my gate. People are lined up to board! I’ve made it!
Maybe 5 minutes to spare.
Text Sandi that I will text her when I land. Don’t leave the house
until I text and don’t bring the dog.
Thanks again to Kevin Un. My 2021 BARGE hero.
Land. Text Sandi to wait a few minutes before she leaves the house.
She texts back that she is already parked outside baggage claim.
Sandi has been early twice in her life. Both times picking me
up at airports. Go figure.
My bag takes a while. Find her outside. Yeah, she brought Taylor too!
Get a text from Steve Watanabe that it was great seeing me and that he
was giddy with excitement when he showed the 1993 BARGE chip to his wife.
And with that bringing it all full circle, BARGE 2021 is done.
Gambling…
| craps: | won $5 |
| big | 6 wheel: DNP |
| blackjack: | DNP |
| live | poker: lost too much |
| slots: | won $1.25 |
| tournaments: | won, lost, lost |
| last-longers: | won |
| roshambo: | DNP. |
Hugs: Nancy, Sabyl, Diana, Sharon, Bex, Betty, Jodi, Gillian, Eileen,
Caryl and Rachel.
Manly hugs: Rich S., Bob H., Steve W., Mickdog, Adam, Bingo,
Nolan, Dan, Larry B.
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 time.
Many big names this year…
Howler, Kevan, Goldie, Bozo, Bruce, Lynsy, Murray, JP, Regis, Claudia,
Grizz, Bob O., Markowitz, Barbara, Siegal, Tanya, Chic, Connie, Mike, Llew,
Carol, Barry, Mecklin, Joe, Ed, Tina, North Shore, MPH, Brabecs, JD, Scoop,
Shari, Erin, Moser, Rob, Bart, Bill, Rafn, Andy, John L., Lee, Tracy, Len,
Pickels, Oz, Hammer, Susan, Grapes, O’Grady, Perry, Tom, Andreas,
Patrick, John, Paul, Mary, Charles, Janie, Mark, Steve, Stephen,
Dave and David.
There are many, many more.
Everyone please make an effort to come to BARGE 2022.
It is the best week of the year.
Thanks to the Westgate for keeping the BARGE flame burning.
The dealers, waitresses and poker staff all did commendable jobs
under the tough and extraordinary circumstances.
This was definately BARGE, but maybe only 75% as much fun as normal.
Missing people, missing events. I hope things will be more back
to normal next year.
Kubey’s 2021 MVB (Most Valuable BARGEr) Award:
Sabyl Landrum. Other than Chuck, Peter and me, I can’t think
of anyone I’d be happier to see with the NL tournament.
Thanks to the board: Bozo, Lawful, Howler, Ron G. and me!
Thanks to the organizers: Russ, Bremer, Deitch, Sharon and Goldie.
Tech Crew: Doug G., David Low and Barry.
Diana and Patrick with the pins.
The BARGE Chip Committee. Uh… some work to do.
Rodney with the fantastic photos as usual. Well done!
Peter and Chuck just plain r00l.
All the other folks who ran or sponsored events with their own cash.
Diana, Dan G., Asya, Ben, Sharon, Cliff, etc.
Thanks also to all the other people who make BARGE go.
Can I sign up for BARGE 2022 now?