BARGE
Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion

"There are no strangers here, just friends you haven't met yet"
- Peter "Foldem" Secor

Glossary

BARGE Glossary

This document contains terms and definitions common to the BARGE (Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion) event. If you attend BARGE or join one of the BARGE mailing lists, you might hear some of these words and phrases. If you consult this guide, you might actually find out what they mean. You might also be confused since some of these definitions contain something we like to call irony. Please provide suggestions for additions to this document.

ADB

alt.drunken.bastards, a USENET newsgroup that epitomizes the philosophy of a subset of BARGE attendees. Note, these days it would appear that none of the three components of the group title are actually required to be granted membership.

aiyah!

An expression of dismay over one's circumstances.
BAAG

BARGE-At-A-Glance schedule of events (printed and electronic)

BARGE

 Big August rec.gambling Excursion

BARGEr

Someone in the BARGE group

BCC

BARGE Chip Committee. They help make the chip sets

Binglaha

An Omaha poker variant popular at BARGE. It is played exactly as pot-limit Omaha, except that after the flop betting a single die is rolled (typically by the player on the button.) If the result of the roll is a 1, 2, or 3, the game is played high-low split eight-or-better. If the roll is 4, 5, or 6, the game is played high-only. The person originally responsible for this monstrosity is Don "ADB Bingo" Rieck.

Bounty

Prize given to the player that busts a player out

Bubble

Bust out one spot before the money

Bustout gift

Prize (cheap?) given by a busted player to the buster

But Shhhh!

But don't let anyone else know
CAH

Cards Against Humanity

calcutta

Calcutta? You must be mistaken. That would be wrong. In other contexts a Calcutta refers to a wagering pool on the outcome of some other event, something especially common in the backgammon world. At BARGE, something like this would be unsanctioned wagering, and we wouldn't want any of that, now would we? You might be looking for the symposium.
C-HORSE

6-game rotation team tournament. C is Crazy Pineapple.

Canadian Presto

If Presto is pocket fives, then given the current exchange rate, Canadian presto would be pocket fours. Similar to the old joke about pocket queens being called Canadian rockets. Canadian exchange rate jokes are always funny.
CCR

Credit Card Roulette

chat friend (abbreviated as CF)

1. Friend from the Internet. Originally referred to IRC, but these days is likely to be mistaken to refer to a more modern real-time messaging protocol. 
2. More often than not, this term would be used ironically by someone who is imitating an Internet newbie from a point in history where there was such a thing. An example would be saying quite loudly, "Will you be my chat friend?!"
3.  Another BARGEr who you knew well through IRC poker ("JK?  Yeah, he's a chat friend from way back in the day.")

Chic'd

The act of being drawn out on in a game of chance by a player who is believed to be of inferior skill but wins despite taking unwarranted risks. Some don't consider it being chic'd unless the winner also displays an inappropriate amount of glee over the victory.  This term is named for Charles "Chic" Natkins.  Usage: "He chic'd me when he called and won the hand with king deuce after I first moved in on him and then showed him my pocket kings."

chip castle

Like a sand castle, except more valuable because it's made out of casino chips that can typically be redeemed for currency. Some poker players make fairly elaborate constructions out of their chip stacks. Most of the people who think they do this but have never been to BARGE are pikers.
Chop (or Chop it up)

Split a pot, prize, expense, etc.

Chop-Chop

Split the pot between two players, usually heard in split-pot games such as Omaha/8 or Stud/8.

Chowaha

A poker game frequently dealt at BARGE. "Casino chowaha" differs from "real" chowaha, a game invented by BARGEr Mike Chow. We can't imagine how it got its name. In casino chowaha, everyone gets two cards, followed by a round of betting. Then there are three flops (forming a square of nine cards), followed by two turn cards (placed to the right of the flops, in between rows 1 & 2, and rows 2 & 3, respectively), followed by one river card (placed to the right of and between the two turn cards.) Each player makes the best five card hand out of both of their two down cards and three out of each possible five board cards. Note: If one is playing the top row of the flop, then one cannot play the bottom turn card. Similarly, if one is playing the bottom flop, then one must play the bottom turn card. In Casino chowaha, the pot is awarded to the high hand. Real chowaha is often played high/low split, and is typically played with more than two cards per hand.

Craps Crawl

Annual tradition at BARGE whereby a group of inebriated BARGErs start at one end of Fremont street playing craps wildly and drinking wildly working their way through a variety of casinos. Betting the "dark side" is allowed, and betting the dark side and spiking the ball when the dice show "7" is grudgingly tolerated.

dark side

1. Betting the "don't pass" and "don't come" in craps. This is as opposed to a right side bet. 2. Nolan Dalla's ADB nickname.
DC

Dealer's Choice

Death March

Annual BARGE golf outing, traditionally held very early in the morning (6:00AM) by badly hung-over participants.

ding

The sound that occurs in one's head when a fortune smiles on such a person allowing them to win in a situation where victory had previously seemed unlikely.

Dork March

A play on the death march event, except it's miniature golf and traditionally not held in the very early morning.  Participants may or may not be hung-over.
EV

Expected Value

Egg & I

Awesome breakfast place, 4533 W. Sahara Ave

Fun Run

2 to 3 mile group run/walk during BARGE

gamb000l!

A battle cry for someone who plans to engage (enthusiastically) in some contest of chance. Can be used as a verb, as in the grammatically problematic, "I gamb00l you!" The number of "0"s is variable, but at least two is required and more suggests greater emphasis. Can be abbreviated "gambo".

Golden R00ler

A virtual trophy (and on occasion, an actual trophy) given as an award to the person who least exemplifies the spirit of BARGE for the year prior to a given BARGE event. The inaugural recipient was Ernie E in 1998. See also r00ler.

"Go For Goldie" (or just Goldie) bets

An offer of a last longer bet by Stevan "Goldie" Goldman against the field in the BARGE NL hold'em tournament. This is the reincarnation of the infamous "Quick bet".
Good
(adj.) a poker hand that wins

Goot
(adj.) a poker hand that wins (chat speak)

gumbo

The Texas hold'em starting hand of 85, properly called "Nacogdoches gumbo". Nacogdoches gumbo does not have to but may be suited. The hand was one of many named by Tyler Wong, but this is pretty much the only one anybody remembers.
HORSE

Rotation of Hold'em/Omaha 8 or Better/Razz/Stud/Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better

Horse
A player you have a piece of in a tournament

IFSATG

I F***ing Suck at this Game! (also: nick of Steven Carbonara)

IGHN

Abbreviation for, "I go home now." A phrase one utters when one has just been forced out of a gambling situation due to lack of money or chips.

IRC
Abbr. for "Internet Relay Chat".  IRC had a channel which was an online poker server.  The IRC poker server, with many homes over the years, dealt 23-handed NL.  A popular graphical interface to the IRC poker server was written by Greg "FeltShark" Reynolds.  The players set the parameters (blinds, minutes per level) for each tournament, with the winner of the previous tournament doing the setting. Cliff "Deadhead" Matthews was known for "quitting" a tournament if he got heads up to avoid setting the parameters.  Many ARGrs first met in cyber-space on this server, including Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Irwin?

If someone announces "Presto!" at a gambling table, this is what you ask them to determine if they're really BARGErs. The correct BARGE counter-counter-sign is, "Actually, no."

jerj

Jerk, as in a person whose behavior is unsocial. The origin is a post made to rec.gambling.poker, where the writer in referring to Phil Hellmuth, mispelled the work "jerk".  It has been added to the Urban Dictionary with a similar definition.

jopke

A misspelling by Phil Hellmuth of the word "joke".  Generally credited to Phil Hellmuth, when he was posting from a mobile device very quickly.
Last Longer

A bet between two players or groups on who will bust out last

mass barring

Some casinos have been truly paranoid about blackjack card counters, some to the point of being so aggressive that players without an advantage of any sort have been frequently barred. Starting in 1993 [ I think ], and running through 1996 [ maybe ] an unofficial BARGE event was for a bunch of card counters would descend on one of these casinos, and get backed off. Hijinks ensued. One of these trips is chronicled in the book Knock-Out Blackjack, by Vancura and Fuchs.

Mixed game
Table where many different poker games will be played

must drink

A poker game in which sober players are not welcome. The "must" terminology comes from the familiar "must move" type of poker game. Often at BARGE a "must drink, must straddle, must toke, must not move HORSEL (HORSE + California lowball)" game will break out.

Nick

Nickname

No Good

(adj.) a poker hand that loses

No Goot

(adj.) a poker hand that loses (chat speak)

non-smoking smoker

A smoker is a dinner where one is encouraged to celebrate the end of a fine meal with a cigar, a tradition at early BARGEs and ATLARGEs. Some who might have liked to participate in such an event are non-smokers, so they created their own "rival" event. As of December 8, 2006, restaurants in Nevada do not permit smoking, so the original "smoker" no longer exists.

North Shore

The verb form of pussy, as in, "I heard Scottro was coming to BARGE this year." "Naw, he north shored at the last minute, again." Named for Mike "ADB North Shore" McManus.

OFC

Open-face Chinese Poker

On Tilt

Upset, angry, steamed (usually from poker)

Over/Under

Usually a bet proposed where a person sets a line, and takes opinions as to whether the result will be over or under that line. A popular type of a bet at dinner gatherings of BARGErs, where the amount of the dinner check is bet on.  An even more popular version of this bet is when Nolan offers to set the line and serve as the house, then has everyone bet the over and he gets crushed.

pocker

A gambling game of skill played with cards. Some would spell it "poker". Those people aren't true r00lerz.

presto

A two-card hold'em hand consisting of pocket fives. The ultimate hand of magical significance among BARGErs. Loosely, it can also refer to any hand that includes two fives. The first telling of the story has been chronicled on rec.gambling.

Quick bet

Dave "Quick" Horwitz would offer a last-longer bet against the entire tournament field of the NL hold'em event, called a "Quick bet".  Dave was the first person to bust out of the NL tournament one year at BARGE. Lately, this challenge has been taken up by Stevan "Goldie" Goldman with his Go for Goldie bets.

rai

An abbreviation of the commonly used poker term "raise". Must be said emphatically. A proper response to a player who says, "Rai!" can either be "Re-rai!" or "Re-re-rai!"  Another proper response to "Rai!" is "You rai??  I re-rai!!".
Rec.Gambler

Pronounced: rec dot gambler - someone in our group

Reindeer Games

Wild poker games Saturday Night at BARGE

RGP

An abbreviation for the USENET newsgroup rec.gambling.poker.

right side

A bet with the shooter at a craps table, as opposed to the dark side.

rocks n' beer

This term comes from a BARGE in the 1990's, where the Luxor ran a daily tournament.  When a large group of BARGErs went there to play, and were subsequently refused entry due to the locals complaining because we didn't keep the noise level down, a strategy was devised to punish the Luxor for their evil behavior. 

At one point in Las Vegas history, it was possible to find poker games, usually 7 card stud, where there were no antes and the bring-in was provided by the winner of the previous pot.  This means that if you never play a hand, there's no way the game can cost you any money.  You can sit there all day, never play a hand (playing like a rock), and accumulate complementary cocktails (or beer).  In fact, a group of people could sit at a table, never play hands, and drink a lot. If these people took care of the dealers and the cocktail servers, it's possible that no one would ever complain - and the casino would make absolutely NO money (and in fact, lose money on the free beverages).  

r00ler

Someone who "rules" at gambling. On occasion, this can be used ironically. Can also be used as a gerundive (r00ling) or a verb (to r00l). The proper plural is "r00lerz".  One who has been beaten badly in poker is said to have been "r00led".  Similarly, one who has beaten someone badly has also "r00led".

saddenz

What one says when something unfortunate happens. If "saddenz" just doesn't cut it, one could always invoke "mega saddenz", as in, "I can't go to BARGE this year. Mega saddenz."
Save (also see Scottro save)

Deal to give the person who finishes one away from the money a prize (usually their initial buyin or slightly  more or less)
Scoop

Win the whole pot in a split pot game

Scottro

The namesake Texas hold'em hand consisting of pocket sevens.

Scottro save

In a poker tournament, there is always someone who is the last person to bust out who receives no money. This phenomenon is commonly called busting out "on the bubble". As the bubble position approaches, the game often slows down, going hand for hand on all tables until someone busts out, leaving all remaining players "in the money".

In some tournaments the players agree to set aside some money for the bubble player both to ease the pain of the bubble and also to remove the necessity of going hand for hand and slowing down play. The name is ironic, as Scottro is famous for categorically rejecting all tournament poker deals of any sort.

second best hold'em

This game is played like regular limit Texas hold'em, except that if there is a showdown, the second best hand is awarded the pot.
Secret Passage

Ask someone. It's a secret!

Sigma Derby

25c Horse racing game upstairs at The D

Smoker

Party/dinner involving cigars

Snowman

Eight

Snowman Dance

Dance golfer does after shooting 8 on one hole
S00TED (pronounced sooooooted)

Suited - Same suit (both hearts for example)

stoloff

To make a bet and then refuse to honor the terms of it. This is tantamount to a capital crime among gamb00lers. Named for (if memory serves) someone named Neil Stoloff who got involved in a bet with Bill Chen.

symposium

BARGE event whereby BARGErs sit around and ostensibly debate matters of great importance to society rather than perform any unsanctioned gambling, such as bidding on players to win the annual no-limit hold'em tournament in a format commonly called a "Calcutta" in other settings. If you go, you might want to bring a pile of money, though, just in case some sort of opportunity comes up.

Team CHORSE

A tournament-like competition between teams of six players each playing one of the games that comprise CHORSE in rotation. (These days,  teams/games are split so that multiple members from each team are in action at the same time). CHORSE consists of limit Crazy pineapple, Hold'em, Omaha high/low split, Razz, 7-card Stud, 7-card stud high/low Eight-or-better. 
Table Captain

Rules expert at the table

throw down the pink hat

A BARGE way of challenging someone in some manner.

Tiltboys

A group of gamb00lers who used to attend BARGE. They have a web site. Many BARGErs consider them to be a bunch of pussies.
TOC

Tournament of Champions-style tournament, Limit Holdem, Limit Omaha8 and Limit Stud played in rotation

Toke

Tip

virgin

1. A first-time attendee to BARGE. 
2. As "craps virgin", someone who has never played craps before. Craps virgins are thought to be lucky by "right side" bettors.

WABOR

Abbreviation for "what a bunch of r00lerz".

WAR

Abbreviation for "what a r00ler".
Woodchipper

Pocket nines (99)

World Roshambo Championships

A "rock, scissors, paper" tournament typically held after the banquet each year. Since no casino is involved, it would be improper to gamble for money, so the tournament is just for fun. The cost to enter traditionally is 100 units of fun.

YGHN

Abbreviation for, "You go home now." Said to an opponent you have just decisively r00led.

"(insert first name), you're not going to like this..."

Originally said at an ATLARGE in the Nineties where ADB Jaeger (Eric Holtman) hit his one-outer against Nolan Dalla.  It has become a sentence that you might especially say to Nolan, or some other player when something is about to happen that he won't like, such as getting beat by a brutal suck-out on the river, again. Can also be applied to another r00ler by substituting their name for Nolan's, although statistically it's much more likely that something will happen that Nolan won't like than that such an event will happen to another person.

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