Patrick's BARGE 2k6 Trip Report

I haven't done one of these in a while. I did a long one for my virgin BARGE 2000 experience[1], but have fallen out of the habit. Since I didn't plan on writing one this time, I don't have any notes, so this is from memory. Don't expect a lot of poker details... If you see some errors in my narrative, please let me know so I can correct them.

Since I tend to be long winded, I'll get my "Thank You's" out of the way up front. First, thanks to Chuck and Foldem for pulling a rabbit out of the hat to make BARGE happen this year. Thanks to Nolan Dalla, Dan Goldman, and everyone else who beat the bushes to find an alternative venue. Thanks to Kathy Raymond and the poker room staff at the Venetian for making us all feel at home. Thanks to Ploink and Amy for sharing their wedding with us, and to NUT-Z for setting up the Karaoke/Wedding venue.

I'd also like to thank my fellow members of the BARGE chip committee, for the help that they have provided throughout the year to keep the BARGE chip tradition alive. Special thanks to Sue "Howlerwife" McBride and Timmer Stine for manning the chip and pin distribution table this year.

I'm probably forgetting a few other "thank you's" here, so I'll end with a blanket "Thank You" to all of you who have made BARGE 2k6 the great success that it is.

This year, my Peg Eileen and daughter Erin came to Las Vegas for the first part of BARGE week. Eileen has been a graveyard shift poker dealer at Bay 101 for some time now, and did not feel that she could afford to take too much time off, so she and Erin stayed through Wednesday morning.

We had hoped to get an early start, but left Cupertino, CA at 12:30 PM (rather than the 9 or 10 AM that we had hoped for). I had been up late the night before preparing BARGE badges, printing BAAGs, and trying to get everything done prior to our Saturday morning departure. As expected, I forgot a few things on our way out the door.

The drive to Las Vegas was a long one, but uneventful. Erin helped with the driving this time, which was a help. With Eileen's usual sleep schedule, she had been up for over 20 hours when we stop in Baker, CA for a change of driver. I take over for the last leg of the journey, getting to the Plaza at around 10:45 PM or so. We all are tired and crash as soon as possible.

We have an 8 AM wake up call for Sunday, since we are planning on attending the gathering of the BARGE Chip Committee (BCC) for the "chip fondle" at Timmer Stine's house at 10 AM. We make it to Timmers shortly before the arrival of Scottro, Russ Fox, and Sean McGuiness. We quickly sort out the BARGE chips in prep for distribution. Usually, we would stay for the annual BCC No Limit Hold'em tournament that Timmer runs, but the Stines have two new cats in residence, and my allergies are kicking in after only a few minutes. When I start to do my "Darth Vader" impressions (due to my asthma attack), we know it is time to leave.

We head back to the Plaza, with a drug store side trip so I can pick up some Claritin and other items to help with the allergies and asthma.

We stop at the Gamblers General Store on the way to the hotel. One of the things that I forgot to bring were my Bob Dancer Video Poker strategy cards. I'm still a relative newbie at Video Poker, so I play with the card in front of me. Not great for speed, but at least I don't make as many bonehead plays when I have the cards for reference. The store is sold out of the Full Pay Deuces Wild card, but they have a new card for the "Not So Ugly" negative EV Deuces Wild which I pick up. Eileen gets a Roshabo dice for her bounty for the Lazy Pineapple tournament while we are there.

I'm feeling better by around 1:30 PM, and we try to find out what tournament my fellow BCC members are playing in. We find out that some are playing in the 2 PM NLHE at Binions. By the time I find out, the tournament has already started, but I walk down to Binions to say hello to Randy Collack, Sean McGuiness, and Grizz who are in the tournament.

One of the things that I wanted to do while Eileen and Erin are still in town is to have dinner at Rosemary's. Their Sunday night half-off wine deals sounded like a good one. I had printed some of the $25 off coupons, and looked into the Costco discounted gift certificates. The Costco deal is two $50 certificates for $79.99. The catch is that you can only use one of the certificates per visit, so you are only getting $10 off. The $25 coupon also has a catch: It is only valid for reservations prior to 6 PM or after 9 PM. We opt for an early dinner.

Eileen, Erin, and I had a great time, great food, and great service at Rosemary's. I ordered their five-course chef's special which was paired with five different wines matched to the food. This could also be paired with five different beers, or you could just order the meal without the paired wine or beer and order from their extensive wine menu. Since their special Sunday-only half-off wine deal only applied to bottles and half-bottles of wine, I ended up not taking advantage of this deal since Eileen wasn't interested in helping me consuming a bottle or two of wine.

For BARGE 2k7, I hope to organize a group visit to Rosemary's for the Sunday night after BARGE. They have a private room that can accommodate up to 50 people. With enough folks interested, we can take full advantage of their wine deal. I would suggest that you foodies consider a Monday return from Las Vegas next year...

After returning from Rosemary's, I head back to Binions to see if there are any more of the "usual suspects" in town. I give a BARGE pin to Carol, their floor person, and say hello to Bob Ogus and Rick Mombourquette, who are playing in the $1/$2 No Limit game. I stick around to see Bob crack Rick's pocket aces with his pocket threes. The #10 seat is open[2], but I'm too tired to play, so I head back to the Plaza for bed.

We don't have much on the agenda for Monday. We stop at the Gamblers Book Store and I pick up a replacement Full Pay Deuces Wild Video Poker card. Eileen gets a book on Pineapple Poker, in prep for the Lazy Pineapple tournament on Tuesday.

We head over to the Bellagio. Whenever I'm in town, I drop in to say hello to the tournament staff there. They are happy customers of my Timer software, so I can usually get some "thank you" food comps there when I visit. My timing is off this time, since the folks I deal with aren't around. This is not too surprising since the previous week, they had been busy with their "Bellagio Cup II" tournaments.

The next stop is the Venetian. We grab a quick bite to eat at the upstairs food court and then head to the poker room. I try to connect with Kathy Raymond while Eileen and Erin go off "window shopping". I have the BARGE chips with me, and want to find a place to both distribute them and store them. I also have the BARGE badges, and some BARGE pins for the poker room staff. After touching base with Kathy, I get a seat in their $1/$2 No Limit game. I manage to make a bonehead play and lose most of my buyin, but I'm able to make a comeback by the time Eileen and Erin return.

We head back downtown and have dinner at Tony Romas. Eileen and Erin head back to the Plaza, and I head to Binions to play in their 8 PM tournament. I manage to make it to the second break, but can't nurse my short stack much further. I see Bob Ogus playing in a Limit Hold'em game. After I bust out, I wander around downtown, ending up at the Main Street Station for some Video Poker. I notice that there is a Free WiFi hotspot near their "players club" and think about using it as a "Plan B" if I can't get another way on to the net. [I never make it back to the Main Street Station with my laptop to check this out, so I don't know the details on the WiFi service there].

Back at the Plaza, Eileen has been trying to get a dial up Internet connection, with no luck. I keep a minimum cost AOL account for my rare trips out of town, and it worked fine for me last year at BARGE. But Eileen can't get connected.

After Breakfast, I try to get the Internet connection working. I get further than Eileen, connecting to the AOL interface, but I can't get a web browser to work. We give up after trying both laptops (a PC and a Mac).

We have a busy day today. First, we drive up to North Las Vegas to pick up some chip frames from "Tiny Treasures". They make the frames that we use to display the BARGE chip sets.

The next stop is Brunch at Mandalay Bay. We meet with Dave Harber, his wife Debbie, and young daughter Alexi. Dave runs HomePokerChips.com where I do freelance poker chip design. The last time we were in town, we treated the Harbers to Sunday Brunch at the Bellagio Buffet, and this time, they are returning the favor. We enjoy the food and company, but need to hustle to get back downtown to pick up my laptop to run the tournament Timer software.

We get to Venetian and get set up to distribute chips. They have placed a table and chairs *outside* the poker room, near the tournament registration desk. This turns out to be somewhat off the beaten track, and some folks don't figure out where we are. Kathy Raymond is OK with us handing out the prepaid chip sets, but less happy with the sales of chips, pins, and coins. At her request, we remove our pricing displays. Timmer Stine is a big help in getting set up and in running the "store" during this first tournament.

My next task is to set up the Timer for the Lazy Pineapple tournament. I meet with Venetian staff Tim Mix (related to cowboy actor Tom Mix), and Anthony ???. I'm having trouble getting sound out of their flat panel TV, and we end up having to use the tiny speakers built into my laptop. These prove to be too faint to hear.

I don't remember much about my play in the Lazy Pineapple event. I remember busting somewhat early, after not getting many playable hands. I get in a $6/$12 Hold'em game with Tim Showalter on my left. I manage to drop a rack while waiting for the tournament to end. Eileen manages to make it to the final table of this event, and makes it into the money (after Jerrod bubbles) by folding her big and small blind hands, leaving her with a single chip. She told me after that neither blind hand was playable, even though she was getting good odds to play.

Eileen catches a ride back downtown and I stick around to see the heads up match between Keith Troell and Warren Sander. Since I hadn't made any arrangements to store my laptop, I needed to stick around until the end of the tournament so I could pack up my system. This got me back to the Plaza at around 3 AM...

We try to get going early so we can make it to the "Egg & I" for breakfast. Eileen and Erin are flying back home today, so they need to get packed. We get a late start and are among the last to arrive. "Bart" Simpson joins us. The food was great and more than ample. I know that I won't need to eat again for many hours. While I'm off to the restroom, most of the gang has finished and left. Eileen tells me that someone (Ice?) has picked up the tab for all the meals. Dingz! Thanks!

On the way to the airport, I pick up a set of inexpensive speakers so we can have sound for the Timer. After dropping Eileen and Erin, I go looking for a AAA location to get some new maps for the return trip. (That was another thing that we didn't get done before leaving town). My old maps showed an office in Henderson, so I try to locate it, only to discover it is no longer there. Oh well...

I head back downtown and attend the Wednesday Poker Group at Binions' Coffee shop. I've been to this gathering in the past, but never was able to stay through the end of the discussion due to other BARGE activities. This time, I do stay through the 4:30 PM stopping time, and then head back to the V with Keith Troell along for the ride.

From this point on, my recall of the exact events is fuzzy. I don't remember much of the Lowball tournament, except that I had a tough starting table. (It is probably redundant to say that: Are there any "easy" tables as a BARGE event?) No memorable hands, but I seem to remember lasting a little longer than in the Lazy Pineapple.

Again, I'm sticking around until the tournament is over so I can pack up. This time, I drop a rack in the $3/$6 Mixed Game. I do remember that I suck at Baduqu (sp?). By this time, I'm starving, so I order from the table side food service. There isn't much on the menu that is of interest, so I end up ordering their quesadilla, which turns out to be somewhat messy. I guess I'm spoiled with the better food offerings available at Bay Area cardrooms such as the Garden City, the Oaks, and Bay 101. I find that you can also get food from the nearby Noodle house, but you have to go get it yourself.

By the time I pack up and head back, it's a 3:30 AM bedtime for me.[3]

Parking at the Venetian was a real pain on Thursday morning. I drove around and around their parking garage, finally ending up on the 14th level which is the topmost floor of the garage, in uncovered parking. I make to the poker room in time to get set up and connect up with my "High Variance" team mates. This is also the day of the "Significant Others" Stud event, so I have a second Timer laptop to set up.

Our team doesn't completely suck: we end up losing money, finishing 12th place. In all of my Crazy Pineapple rounds, I recall having only a few playable hands preflop, and only one time that I split a pot. No scoop hands. Our "flop" table players seem to either break even or lose a little. Our "stud" table players bleed early and never get much of a chance to offset their losses with wins in the later rounds.

After CHORSE, I offer a ride to "I Love Sushi" to Chuck Weinstock and some of his team mates. It takes a long time to retrieve my van, and even longer to get to Henderson. We took Paradise road to the tunnel under the airport rather than getting on I-15. For the second year in a row, I'm among the last to arrive.

The food is great, and I also enjoy the saki tasting. Even with our late arrival, there is plenty of food and a wide variety of dishes. I take the "over" again, and lose again. But since the line was at $46, I end up paying $45, which I consider to be a win. ;-)

We are back to the Venetian for the Stud Shootout event. I have hopes that I can improve on my performance at BARGE 2005, when I won my first table but didn't make the final table. I still have fond memories of my heads up stud match with Kevin Un, and his bust out gift (a large glass fish) is a prized possession.

Another tough table. I'm seated in the #1 seat, which is among my least favorite. I remember only a few hands. I have split queens. Before the action gets to me, Jane Loncaric completes the bet with a Queen showing, and Joe Long raises with an Ace showing. I put him on aces, and with one of my queens out, I muck. Jane ends up winning the hand with *her* pair of queens. Later, I'm getting short stacked, and go up against Murray. He has a few less chips than I do. I have split sevens, and on fourth street, Murray raises showing two cards under my sevens. I put him all in and discover that he has 3456 for an open ended straight draw, but he's drawing a little dead. I get trip sevens on the river, and Murray catches a deuce for the straight.

I get all my money in against Patti. I turn over AKJ and she turns over AKJ. I pair my King on the river and she pairs her Ace. IGHN.

Not wanting to stick around to see the thrilling conclusion of the Stud event, I talk Foldem into packing up my laptop after the tournament is over and keeping it in his room at the V. This allows me to get a good night's sleep in before the TOC on Friday.

I get an early start, arriving at the V at around 8 AM. The parking nightmare of Wednesday isn't repeated, and I get a nice breakfast at the Grand Luxe and head to the poker room.

Again, nothing too memorable at my TOC tables. Shorly before my departure, I remember getting moved to a table with Sabyl on my right. I misread my hand and raise her, thinking I've flopped a straight with the nut straight redraw. It turns out that she has the straight and all I have is the redraw. This error makes me critically short stacked, and I get all my chips in a few hands later. I have a both a flush draw and straight draw, but neither gets there. Connie Kellers takes the high half and Claudia Mastroianni take the low half. I give Connie one of my special BCC Bounty chips and come back later with one for Claudia.

To decompress, I leave the poker room and wander around the casino, playing some -EV video poker. I eventually end up checking out the Asian Noodle place for a late lunch. I had their shrimp fried rice which was tasty, and I noted that they also had dim sum choices. I plan to return here for take out food the next time I need some food at the poker table.

At some point, the Audio/Video guys from the V drop by, wanting their flat panel TV back. I tell them that we need it until late Saturday night. I ask about the speakers, and they tell me that the set doesn't have any!

I head over to the Symposium, buy an expensive ($7) glass of wine[4], and stay long enough to see who buys me. I buy back my share and leave...

Back in the poker room, I get in another $1/$2 no limit game. There is a local "wild man" on my left who is fond of splashing a random stack of chips for his raises. He tells me that "it scares the tourists." After he get called down a few times with this angle (losing each of the pots), he slows down his antics.

When I check on the status of the TOC, I find that Leslie Walker, wife of James Kittock, has made it to the final table. James and Leslie both play in my home game at the "Milligan Cardroom", and James is a member of Team High Variance. Leslie finishes 6th place for a nice $910 prize, plus she busted Gavin Smith for another $150 bounty. WTG, Leslie!

I arrange things with Anthony, the TD, to turn off the laptop and wheel the cart with the TV to a "secure location" so I can attend the wedding and Karaoke downtown. I wish I had made this arrangement earlier in the week! I look for folks needing a ride, and get Connie Kellers and Michael Patterson to join me. I ask about Michael Mauer, but Connie tells me that he's in a game that he doesn't want to leave...

We are off to downtown. I park at the Plaza and we try to connect with the craps tour. But first, a quick stop at the Golden Gate for their 99¢ shrimp cocktail. Connie buys mine as a thank you for the ride. Thanks, Connie!

We finally find the crowd at the craps and blackjack tables in Fitzgeralds. Michael Mauer is there after all, so he must have left shortly after us. We get directions to the Karaoke room upstairs and head on up. The karaoke and wedding are a blast! I'm sorry I missed the karaoke last year, and I plan to make it a "must do" event next year. NUT-Z was impressive with his blues harmonica, and I was pleased and surprised to find that many BARGEr can hold a tune! Those who can't, make up in enthusiasm what they lack in skill... ;-)

The wedding was very special. The Milligans wish Chris and Amy a long and happy life together. Eileen and I have been married for 28 years and counting, so we know it is possible, if rare.

I stick around for the karaoke, hanging out with James, Leslie, and Tim Showalter. I start with a glass of wine, but quickly switch to Gavin's favorite, rum and diet coke. When the 2nd rum & coke drink tastes like there is no rum in it, I shift gears to ordering cognac. Somewhere along the way, I get up to sing Louie Armstrong's "Wonderful World." (I'm a little disappointed that the karaoke listings don't include any Tom Lehrer or P.D.Q. Bach songs... I do a good job at singing "Irish Ballad", for example.)

James is having a great time. I mention to Leslie: "James is pretty cute when he's drunk." At some point, Leslie asks me to help her get James back to the Gold Nugget. He doesn't want to leave, but we manage to herd him back to their room. I head back to Plaza, wondering when I'll get enough sleep to play well in the NLHE on Saturday.

Somewhat sleep deprived and a little hung over, I repeat my early arrival at the V, and check out the breakfast buffet at the Grand Lux. Except for the omelet station, it has half the variety at twice the price, when compared to the Plaza buffet. However, since I'm running a little later on Friday, I appreciate being able to save time.

I don't remember many details of my play in the No Limit event. I'm in the #7 seat, with David Aronson and Jan Pierce on my right and Dave McVay, Chuck Weinstock and Kevan Garrett on my left. Jan (the "little old lady" mentioned in David's report) takes an early lead by playing aggressively. I give her too much credit for her bets and raises, as it later becomes clear that she is playing a wide variety of hands. After a couple of showdowns when we get to see her cards, David and I exchange a "look", and I'm sure he's also thinking "you are raising with *that*?".

Chuck busts out and is replaced with Paul McMullin. It doesn't take him long to figure out what Jan is up to, and he finds a place to get some of his chips back with an all-in check raise when he is clearly ahead.

The only big hand I remember is when I manage to limp in with Qc Xc and get a flop of all clubs: Ac Kc Yc. It is bet into me and I smooth call, getting heads up with James Wall. The board pairs on the turn, which is a concern, so I check behind James check. On the river, I bet out and get raised all-in. I have James covered by a little, but I'm worried that the turn card helped him. I make the call, saying: "All I've got is the nut flush..." James hand flies into the muck, and he exits, stage right.

A little later, I'm getting somewhat short compared to the blinds. David Aronson is also short, and when he raises in the Small blind, I (foolishly) put him all-in from the Big blind with K9o. He turns over A9 s00ted in diamonds, flops 2 diamonds, and turns the nut flush.

At this point, I am *really* short stacked. I jam on the button with KXo and get no callers. My next playable hand is pocket tens, which I also jam. Oliver Juang calls with AKs and wins the coin toss. IGHN.

I'll probably be kicking myself for my mistake against David until next year. But if I had received pocket tens with more chips, I think the outcome would have been the same. Oh well...

I get a seat in the $1/$2 No Limit game. Nothing particularly memorable happens there. When I get hungry, I wait until my blind and then go over to the Asian Noodle place and order some dim sum take out. While waiting for my food, I wander around the casino, stretching my legs. After picking up my lunch, I head back to the table and discover that several other players have also taking a walk. Hmmm... what does this mean? Eventually, everyone returns and I manage a "break even" session for my few hours of play there.

When it is time for the banquet, I connect up with some of my team mates from our "High Variance" CHORSE team. I stake out a table with Doug Lemaire who used to play in the same home game as Tim Showalter and David Low before moving to the Seattle area. We are joined by several of the usual suspects in my weekly home game, including Zbiginew, Stubing, Tim S, James & Leslie, and Bob Thompson. (Pardon me if I've forgotten a few other names--I should have taken notes, or drank less wine).

During the banquet, Bob Herlien comes by and tells me he has signed me up for the Lowball game. I'm OK with that although I would have also been interested in the baby $1/$2 blind pot limit game.

Phil Gordon's talk is entertaining, especially when he brings up Bob Ogus. Bob is pretty fast on his feet when asked what he was thinking with his r00ling play in the No Limit that took out Phil. I get to ask at question: "Since part of your talk is an extended bad beat story, where do we all collect our $1?" Phil's reply suggests that Bob sell his new watch on eBay to pay for the bad beat. I don't think it works that way, Phil... ;-)

We head back to the poker room and watch the final table action for a while while they get the other games started. Eventually, a table and dealer are allocated for Lowball, and I join the group. While we are playing, Mordecai Schwartz wins the No Limit tournament. I want to congratulate him and make my services as BARGE chip designer available to him, but by the time I have paid my blinds (Big, Small, and Button), Mordecai has "left the building."

The Lowball game is fun, with many of the usual suspects (Betty T, Bob H, Schmengie, David A., Fich) as well as some new faces. After losing some chips to Bob (killing on any two spokes), I tighten up a little and manage to get close to even when I finally call it a night. Since I'm driving back home on Sunday, I don't want to stay up too late (especially since I had another late night on Friday for the wedding and karaoke. I remember cashing out around 1:30 or 2:00 AM and heading back to the Plaza.

Since I want to spend most of my driving time during daylight hours, I hope I can get an early start. But after packing up (with multiple trips to load the van) and grabbing breakfast, I barely make it through the Noon check out. I do say my goodbyes to Bob Ogus who is also on his way out. I make a quick stop at the Gamblers General store before hitting the freeway, since I wanted to buy a set of Rock/Paper/Scissors dice to send to Chris and Amy as a belated wedding present. I finally get on the freeway at 12:30 PM.

I had planned on driving back with Tim Showalter, but his plans changed, so I'm driving back alone. For long solo drives like this, I've found that playing "books on tape" is a great way to make the time fly. I listen to a suspense novel by Peter Abrahams called "Crying Wolf", and it does the trick.

After 10 hours on the road, I'm finally back home in Cupertino.

Next year, I plan on returning on Monday, so I can stay for all of the Saturday night madness and fit in another Sunday night visit to Rosemary's.

Another great BARGE is over (my 7th). Now that I've recharged my batteries, I'm ready for BARGE 2007. When can we sign up? ;-)

--Patrick "JazzLover" Milligan

[1] My BARGE 2000 virgin report is still online here.

[2] I really don't like the seats on either side of the dealer. Whenever I'm initially seated in #1 or #10 in a cash game, I make an immediate request for a seat change.

[3] I can't imagine staying on the strip (unless I win the lottery), but commuting back and forth from downtown to the V was starting to wear a little thin by Wednesday.

[4] I mention to the bartender that I can usually buy a whole bottle of a "reasonable" wine for $7 at Trader Joes. He shrugs, and says: "I'm not the owner, I just work here..."