Attempt at my BARGE Trip Report
I survived my first BARGE and will now attempt to write about it. I will definitely forget some names and details, but if I wait any longer, I'll end up not writing anything, so here it goes:
Thursday:
I land at McCarren after an uneventful 1-hour flight and meet up with rcfox and scottro. Russ was nice enough to pick up someone he's never met in real life - thanks again! The original plan was to head over to Bellagio, but I remind Scott that the Sushi outing is only a couple of hours away, so we just head straight to Binions. The CHORSE is in full swing so I watch for a bit. I also meet gunga_galunga and ronrants for the first time, and get a room key from Ron so I can drop off my bags.
I end up killing a couple of hours playing 1-2NL with Russ and Scott, and quickly turn my $200 into about $500 when I hit a set of 2's and get paid the whole way from a local with top pair. I love BARGE already.
Scott, schmengie, oscarmc, and I head off to the Sushi outing, which was amazing. I haven't had good sushi in a while, and the food was outstanding. I have never eaten so much sushi in my life, and it was kind of fun having no idea what I was actually eating.
When we got back, I watched some of the Stud shootout (there was no way I was playing this one - I'd get slaughtered), and got to talk with Deron (another BARGE virgin) for a while. I also handed out fortune cookies for whipartist, which let me get to meet some more people, including mickdog, Gavin (who got cookies that said "Rebuy" ironically enough), and others.
The rest of the night I played some more 1-2NL, making another $100 or so, which I decide to use as a TOC buyin. I close out the night my grabbing some food with Scott at around 1AM and catching up on things from the past year. All in all, a great start to my first BARGE.
Friday:
Start the day by getting breakfast with Russ, Scott, Chuck H, Oscar, and Mickdog around 8:45 (killed some time waiting for them playing $5 BJ with Marlin). After breakfast, it was off to the TOC. Now I've never played tournament Stud or O8 before, so this was going to be interesting. I felt comfortable with the Omaha, but man I suck at Stud. And on top of that, I was the bring in easily 30+% of the time (this is not an exageration - it was a running joke at the table). My table was quite entertaining, with Chick singing a combination of "Spiderpig", "Hawaii 5-0", and "Rubber Ducky", each time with new lyrics.
I hung around through two breaks, working my way up as high as 5K, but mostly treading between 3 and 4K. I was down to 1900 when I doubled up with AK in a holdem round just as we hit the second break.
After the break, I got moved to a table with mrraise and some guy named Bill who's supposed to be really good at math. I eventually get dealt AA27 and decide to make a stand. I get it capped pre-flop and heads up with Barry, but by the end, no low was possible, and he cracked by Aces with a rivered straight. I made it through a little over 50% of the field, so I'm not too dissappointed. It was a fun experience.
After this, I made my way to the Symposium, where I threw a few bucks into the syndicate and just sat back and watched Bill, Un, and Scott run the show. My pair didn't go for much (since no one knows me), and bought back a piece of me. Nothing particularly eventful there.
Then I made my way back downstairs to play some more 1-2NL and ended up at a table with Bree (Dan's daughter). I had a good time chatting with her, as Sharon, Wil, and others kept bringing her cheesy Las Vegas t-shirts. Turns out she's going to Karaokee and can give me a ride. So I drive over with her, Wil, Orlando, and ?? (I keep forgetting his name). We finally get there after a few directions issues and u-turns.
We have the room to ourselves as long as we can generate a bar tab of over $500 (like that was going to be a problem). I got to sing a few things (Friends in Low Places with Sharon, Livin on a Prayer with Bree, Boulevard of Broken Dreams with Bree, Wil, etc, and a few others). I got to witness Gavin giving Nolan a lapdance, and Amy pretended to beat the crap out of me (I'm apparently her's and Sharon's favorite virgin this year!). We finally leave around 1, with Bree and ?? completely plastered on Sake, and listing to/singing Cake the whole way back.
I closed out Friday by getting another late-night snack with Scott before heading to bed.
Saturday:
This trip report is getting pretty long, so I'll avoid a lot of the tourney details:
Got lucky in a huge hand early against Richard Brodie, where he turned a flush and I rivered a full house.
I got up to around 7K at my peak, but hung around a while!
Eliminated two people, and have a bowtie and old BARGE chip to show for it
Eventually got eliminated in 33rd place when I couldn't catch with A9 against 33.
I also bubbled the Virgin last-longer, which would have won me back the $120 the tourney cost
I was really happy with how I played. I could have been more aggressive trying to build my stack, but in this type of tourney, I though my more natural, tight style would serve me best. I think I can build on this performance next year!
Other Saturday details:
The banquet was great! The food was excellent, the drinks were free, and Gavin and company were very entertaining (even if I didn't get all of the BARGE-specific jokes)
Got to play some Chowaha, which was a fun game. Actually made $50 with a couple of sets and a flush. I'm lucky I was playing in it early before the game got too crazy.
Played a $25 NLH SNG with Scott and Russ (busted in 5th) - Scott eventually won.
Closed out the night playing some more 1-2, and then going to sleep for a whopping 3 hours before my flight.
I know I am missing details, names of people I met, etc, but this is as much as I can remember right now. The important thing is that I got to meet a bunch of great people (including everyone I had only known through LJ-land), I had a great time, and I really hope I can do it again next year. Thanks to everyone involved in organizing it (Peter, Chuck, and Mickdog) - you all did a great job!
Thursday:
I land at McCarren after an uneventful 1-hour flight and meet up with rcfox and scottro. Russ was nice enough to pick up someone he's never met in real life - thanks again! The original plan was to head over to Bellagio, but I remind Scott that the Sushi outing is only a couple of hours away, so we just head straight to Binions. The CHORSE is in full swing so I watch for a bit. I also meet gunga_galunga and ronrants for the first time, and get a room key from Ron so I can drop off my bags.
I end up killing a couple of hours playing 1-2NL with Russ and Scott, and quickly turn my $200 into about $500 when I hit a set of 2's and get paid the whole way from a local with top pair. I love BARGE already.
Scott, schmengie, oscarmc, and I head off to the Sushi outing, which was amazing. I haven't had good sushi in a while, and the food was outstanding. I have never eaten so much sushi in my life, and it was kind of fun having no idea what I was actually eating.
When we got back, I watched some of the Stud shootout (there was no way I was playing this one - I'd get slaughtered), and got to talk with Deron (another BARGE virgin) for a while. I also handed out fortune cookies for whipartist, which let me get to meet some more people, including mickdog, Gavin (who got cookies that said "Rebuy" ironically enough), and others.
The rest of the night I played some more 1-2NL, making another $100 or so, which I decide to use as a TOC buyin. I close out the night my grabbing some food with Scott at around 1AM and catching up on things from the past year. All in all, a great start to my first BARGE.
Friday:
Start the day by getting breakfast with Russ, Scott, Chuck H, Oscar, and Mickdog around 8:45 (killed some time waiting for them playing $5 BJ with Marlin). After breakfast, it was off to the TOC. Now I've never played tournament Stud or O8 before, so this was going to be interesting. I felt comfortable with the Omaha, but man I suck at Stud. And on top of that, I was the bring in easily 30+% of the time (this is not an exageration - it was a running joke at the table). My table was quite entertaining, with Chick singing a combination of "Spiderpig", "Hawaii 5-0", and "Rubber Ducky", each time with new lyrics.
I hung around through two breaks, working my way up as high as 5K, but mostly treading between 3 and 4K. I was down to 1900 when I doubled up with AK in a holdem round just as we hit the second break.
After the break, I got moved to a table with mrraise and some guy named Bill who's supposed to be really good at math. I eventually get dealt AA27 and decide to make a stand. I get it capped pre-flop and heads up with Barry, but by the end, no low was possible, and he cracked by Aces with a rivered straight. I made it through a little over 50% of the field, so I'm not too dissappointed. It was a fun experience.
After this, I made my way to the Symposium, where I threw a few bucks into the syndicate and just sat back and watched Bill, Un, and Scott run the show. My pair didn't go for much (since no one knows me), and bought back a piece of me. Nothing particularly eventful there.
Then I made my way back downstairs to play some more 1-2NL and ended up at a table with Bree (Dan's daughter). I had a good time chatting with her, as Sharon, Wil, and others kept bringing her cheesy Las Vegas t-shirts. Turns out she's going to Karaokee and can give me a ride. So I drive over with her, Wil, Orlando, and ?? (I keep forgetting his name). We finally get there after a few directions issues and u-turns.
We have the room to ourselves as long as we can generate a bar tab of over $500 (like that was going to be a problem). I got to sing a few things (Friends in Low Places with Sharon, Livin on a Prayer with Bree, Boulevard of Broken Dreams with Bree, Wil, etc, and a few others). I got to witness Gavin giving Nolan a lapdance, and Amy pretended to beat the crap out of me (I'm apparently her's and Sharon's favorite virgin this year!). We finally leave around 1, with Bree and ?? completely plastered on Sake, and listing to/singing Cake the whole way back.
I closed out Friday by getting another late-night snack with Scott before heading to bed.
Saturday:
This trip report is getting pretty long, so I'll avoid a lot of the tourney details:
I was really happy with how I played. I could have been more aggressive trying to build my stack, but in this type of tourney, I though my more natural, tight style would serve me best. I think I can build on this performance next year!
Other Saturday details:
I know I am missing details, names of people I met, etc, but this is as much as I can remember right now. The important thing is that I got to meet a bunch of great people (including everyone I had only known through LJ-land), I had a great time, and I really hope I can do it again next year. Thanks to everyone involved in organizing it (Peter, Chuck, and Mickdog) - you all did a great job!