I'm told that Tiger is going to post a trip summary from ATLARGE II, and I look forward to it, but I felt that I had to express my thanks to Jazbo for putting on a super weekend myself [THANKS JAZBO!]... and to report a few hands from the two poker tournaments that I really liked that I'm pretty sure won't be in Tiger's report: In the T500 no-limit holdem on Saturday, when the blinds were about T25 and T50, the guy under the gun had about T1500 and made it T300; I had about T2200 in late position and found pocket kings - I raised back T600, and he considered and pushed all-in... I felt pretty confident calling (and turning up my Kings) until he turned up his Aces... no help; back to being a below average stack! They consolidated to 3 tables shortly after that, and I decided it was time to double up or get up - the blinds went by and then I stole them back with trash, I survived an all-in to double up with a hand I don't remember (pocket Ts? against AQ?) and then the blinds were raised T400 or so by the second under the gun; I looked at AQo and pushed T1075 all-in... folded back to the raiser who considered for a few seconds (FOLD FOLD FOLD - it seemed like forever), counted that he'd have about T400 or so left if he called and missed, and folded; as we were waiting for pictures to be taken he said he had AKo; that it was the hardest lay-down he made the whole day. I was in 3rd place (T5300?) when they consolidated to the final table (all 10 places paid), but had the blinds by go twice without anything resembling matching cards and ditched after a steal attempt got re-raised to come back down to T4100... three had busted out, and ERB (Ed Baker?) was down to a single chip and waiting for the blinds to come by when I got pocket 8s in late position (about three more hands before ERB would be blinded in) when BUD (name?, position T5000?) raised the T200-T400 (I think) blinds to T1600 in fairly early position... if I folded I'd be sure of being 6th or better (with ERB out), but if I pushed in and survived I could probably coast to 2nd without calling another hand. The prizes were $160 for 7th and $190 for 6th; I decided to take my shot; all folded to BUD who called and turned up AT (suited?); I turned up my 88, someone called out "11-10 favorite" (what are the REAL odds here - don't I kill some of the straights for the T with my eights out of the deck and make boats on others?) - the board helped neither thru the turn, but the river was an Ace and I was standing... It probably wasn't my best move, and I'm wondering what the West Coast half with more frequent tournament experience have to say about my reasoning? Sunday morning, Ed Baker saw me before the tourney and mentioned that he was impressed with the level of aggression that I had shown in the holdem event (we had also played in a 5-10 holdem ring game on Friday evening, and I was raising about twice as often as any one else at the table - he was sitting at the other end of the table, frequently muttering about "what could prm have down there to be doing all of that raising???"). Thanks, Ed, your comment really helped my confidence going into the Stud event! I was entered into the Stud tourney (T300) strictly for grins - I've probably played 100 or so hands of 7-stud (mostly with Tiger, drinking scotch at the 1-3 table at the Trop in December)... I've read McEnvoy's and Bjutner's (?) books on tournaments, and have played in 20-30 tournaments (which is probably about 15 or so more than most of the rest of the ATLARGE contingent), but never anything other than Holdem, so I decided to finally follow their advice and mostly ignore my cards and play my stack and my position... I attempted to steal the blinds whenever two or three of the upcards were duplicated on my left (regardless of my cards) and whenever I had paint showing. I called about 2/3 of the re-steals hoping to get a scare card, and got checked into a scare card just often enough to about triple up before they started consolidating tables... When I had built to about T1300 I had split Queens with a suited Ace when (Arti?, T900) on my right raised the bring in with a Q up... I re-raised and called his re-re-raise... I got a T and he got a brick (5?), I checked, he bet, and I raised... he hesitated and called, and we were committed. He caught the case queen on 5th street but I bet to put him all-in anyway... I didn't improve, declared Queens with an Ace after the river, he turned up a four-flush pair of Queens with a King that didn't improve when he rolled his river card! Several people asked how I could be playing that hand that strongly, and I explained that I knew where the queens were and was nervous enough about my stud ability to know that if I didn't get a big stack QUICKLY I'd just as likely be out-played easily, so my strategy had been to double up or get out... after that I went on an absolute binge of stealing the blinds and attempting to put shorter stacks all-in... I was actually HOPING to get the bring-in card and brought it in for a raise whenever I had *any* paint underneath or any of the other upcards were duplicated. I don't think that I flat-called the bring-in or checked any street more than 5 times on the hands I was in from there to the final table... When we got to the final table, there was only one player there in the running for the over-all jacket - he had finished ahead of me on Saturday... Jazbo came by and worked out that I had to finish THREE places ahead of him to win the jacket... fortunately I was the largest stack and he was the third smallest. He finished in the money (6th), so I had to make it to third - but when he stood up I still had the largest stack... I wouldn't feel like an honorable Rec.gambler without claiming some sort of an angle - so here's mine: when we got down to three handed, someone offered to deal: the stacks were about JimS (?) on my left with T4800, Nolan (I should get out a card player and check the spelling) on my right with T5700, and I had T6700. The prizes left were $280, $700, and $1400. As the leader I didn't want to flat split it, so I offered to take $150 over and let the third place take $150 under a split - there was some hesitation, so I offered $650, 1/3, and the rest for me, and Jim agreed if Nolan would... He did, and my extra came to $136. I was trying for something "close" to the actual chip position; at this point I don't know if I got the math right or not, but Jazbo pointed out that the small stack's chips are each more valuable than the biggest stack's, so a pro-rated split isn't really fair... The "angle" comes in when you consider that I had about tripled my seven-stud experience in the tournament - that most of the day I had been playing "get someone's chips all-in, turn up your cards, and see if the dealer pushes you the pot at the river". If they had been paying attention to how unreal my play had been to that point, they probably would have wanted to play a few more hands before agreeing to any offer that gave me almost 40% of the money left. I think that I had someone all-in almost 20 times during the day, and only 5 of them survived... [Nolan had been one of them when we were at about 3 tables - my Ace high hand rivered a pair of sixes - his unpaired open-ended king-high four-striaght completed with a nine on the river to survive - he was probably favored at the river, but I was ahead when I put his three-paint King high all-in on third street with my Ace high...) My favorite hand (which turns out to be inconsequential, but still gets my vote) was when we were down to three and had negotiated the split - I got 2 9 down, and an 8 up; the other two both showed aces. The ante was T100, the bring in was T150, and the first raise was to T500. Without a flinch I shoved T500 in (I was risking T350 - the completion of the bring-in - to win T450 if they both folded; I knew that Jim would be sweating a raise from Nolan if his ace was unpaired - and that Nolan would be looking at a dead Ace and someone who had raised into TWO Aces). Sure enough Jim sweated 20 seconds and folded... and then Nolan sweated another 20 seconds and folded too! Peter ("foldem"'s brother) had been watching over my shoulder for about 20 hands, and that was the only time I heard him flinch after the hand had been settled... I finished third... I caught absolutely no paint, no pairs for a stretch of 10 or 15 hands, and my stack dwindled to slightly smaller than 1/3 while they chopped all of my forced bring-ins to both be slightly higher than me... my last hand was a split pair of 8s against Nolan's Ace up - again I had the bring-in and made it a full-bet to go; Jim folded a queen or jack, Nolan raised with his Ace and I re-raised... it only took another pair of raises and I was all-in; Nolan turned up a no-pair Ace with side paint... on fifth street I was two-paired (8s and 6s) and he had paired his Ace; I got no more help - his 6th street was a brick, but he caught a third Ace to send me home with the third place plaque. If the money and over-all jacket hadn't both been settled, I surely would have folded right out on that hand. Nolan wound up winning; I'm sure we'll read about it, but just the same, Congrats! I had a hooting-super-good weekend; when they were writing out my ticket to take to the booth after both of my bustouts they asked me for my birthday (it was Saturday) and were delighted that I had done so well for the weekend. Again, thanks to all; I'm looking forward to the next one. -prm

prelude - "dealer's choice" on wednesday night, peter and stephanie secor, their friend jim lane, michael mantel, scott byron, mitch firestone, and myself attended an off-broadway play by patrick marber entitled "dealer's choice." the action takes place in a small restaurant in london, where every sunday night after closing, the owner hosts a poker game in the basement. the play is about what happens one night when a professional poker player joins the game. some good lines from the dialogue: 1 "i can't play poker tonight. my doctor told me i have a heart condition!" 2 "you expect *justice* at the poker table?" 3 "ah....a game for men of vision: omaha!" 4 "you're on tilt, mugsey!" "no, i'm not! i raise!!" one waiter in the restaurant wants to move to las vegas to become a professional poker player. he has visions of being comped to a "five star suite in caesar's palace!" too bad this guy doesn't realize that poker players don't get comped to rooms (much less a suite), and that the poker room at caesar's closed in the early 90s!! ;) one player wears an obnoxious orange-printed shirt, with a bilious green tie. when he donned this "lucky" attire, peter leaned forward, and muttered loud enough for our group to hear, "if that guy puts on a white "qb1" hat, i'm leaving!" in any event, the author is certainly a poker player!! and i'd bet that the director is, too! together, they work marvelously, and the play and the performances were superb!! if you ever get a chance to see this, don't miss it! ------------------- thursday mitch and i meet in the port authority bus terminal for the 3:00 pm bus to resorts. peter secor is a no-show. we're about 45 minutes out of atlantic city when i hear an advertisement on my walkman radio for a bar in tom's river, new jersey ("the sportsman"), which actually features the "qb1" online interactive game!! as many of you know, i usually wear a white baseball cap with a red "qb1" on it. i won the hat playing trivia online from a group in california (ntn - national trivia network) that pipes live interactive trivia games into bars and hotels throughout the country. when there is a live football game (such as monday night football), ntn runs the qb1 interactive game instead of the trivia games! this is the first time i have ever heard a bar advertise the game! :) we arrive at resorts at about 5:30 pm, and check into our room. the thursday night smoker isn't until 8:00 pm, so what are we going to do until then? duh.....play some poker, perhaps? mitch and i are seated at two different 5/10 stud games at the taj mahal, and we both book a win at our first poker session of the weekend! yay! :) all right!! the safari steakhouse is located on the convention floor of the taj mahal (one floor above the casino). when we arrive at the bar in the lounge adjacent to the restaurant, jazbo burns is distributing our individually-customized weekend packages - name tags, schedules, entrance tickets, etc. we're all seated in a corner of the restaurant at three tables. 22 people actually show up for the dinner (out of 24 who swore they would attend). it doesn't take very long for the boys to fire up their claros, panatellas and magnificos! and it doesn't take very long for some other patrons of the restaurant to complain, either! the restaurant manager quietly asks us to tone things down a bit, and the boys nod their acceptance. but nothing is going to stop messrs. fruchter, kramer, et al., from enjoying their stogies at a smoker dinner.... };) so the request is otherwise ignored! peter secor favors some very special people with hats emblazoned with their nicknames below the acronym "a.d.b".....i kept on trying to figure out what "a.d.b." meant, but i was just too drunk..... virtually everyone (with one or two exceptions) really enjoys dinner! and just as we're finishing dinner, some surprise guests show up! tom gitto (taj mahal poker room manager), tony marino (poker casino host), and ron garvey (shift supervisor), enter the restaurant carring bags of promotional gifts for all of us!! the bags contain taj mahal hats, taj mahal t-shirts, a copy of mike caro's "fundamental secrets of poker", two souveneir decks of cards, and some promotional literature! wtg tommy, tony and ron! nolan dalla calculates the over/under for the dinner tab at $1225, but doesn't get anyone to play. the actual tab was #1300. hehehehehe...and although "atlarge" was actually held at resorts, i spotted an awful lot of atlarge name tags in the taj mahal poker room..... after dinner, mitch and i play some more poker, but we retire to our room to crack open the new bottle of macallan's single malt scotch which i've carefully tucked into my bag.... ------------- friday "through the looking glass", or "mitch and tiger's adventures in slotland" trump castle and harrah's (both located in the marina district) have been running a guaranteed no-lose slot promotion for the last several months. at harrah's, you are guaranteed reimbursement up to $100 if you play slots for 60 minutes. at the castle, you are guaranteed reimbursement up to $100 if you play slots for 30 minutes. friday morning, we take the jitney bus to the marina, and get out at the castle. first thing to do is get breakfast! :) during breakfast, we solemnly pledge to be lifelong equal partners in this slot promotion (which should last a few hours, anyway). after getting our trump castle cards, we each buy $80 of $1 slot tokens, and $20 of quarters (which we'll use to complete the 30 minutes if we run out of tokens). now, the hard part. what machines shall we play? we've been advised that, for the purpose of this promotion, we should avoid the progressive slots, and those machines that offer large back-end payoffs, in favor of those machines that offer more and larger payoffs for small wins on the front-end. i feel like one of those decrepit old ladies, as we wander up and down the rows of slot machines. which machine has the prettiest front? which machine has the nicest-sounding "dings"? we finally sit down at two adjacent "double diamond" machines, which each take a maximum of two tokens. i'd reproduce the payoff schedule for you, but how compulsive a note-taker do you think i am, anyhow? we dump our $80 in tokens into plastic buckets. we'll play from the buckets, and leave any winnings in the hoppers. mitch carefully writes down the time in five-minute increments - if we can't do anything at these machines within ten minutes, it's "goodbye, double diamond!" we're almost ready! we synchronize our watches (okokok...mitch synchronizes his watch - i don't wear one!) and at exactly 12:55 pm, we each drop two one-dollar tokens into the slot. the wheels spin, but nothing happens. we're determined to learn the best way to drop tokens into the slot. i try give each token a half-flip, and mitch is experimenting dropping the tokens from different heights, which range from .01 inch to all the way up to 3/4 inch. i've played about eight or ten pulls, when something happens! i've won $20! yay!! of course, i do my best to duplicate the exact half-flip i just used, and sure enough! two pulls later, i win another $10!! yay!! unfortunately, mitch is still on the schneid. and three minutes later (i've perfected the half-flip by now), i hit a winner! bells start to ring, and tokens start to drop into the hopper!! i've just won a $320 payoff!! as the tokens continue to drop, mitch tells me that i better get another bucket! we don't want the damned machine to jam as it is paying!! i walk away for a moment, and spot another bucket in a nearby row. and as i'm walking back, bells start to ring and i hear the lovely clink of tokens dropping into mitch's hopper!! yay!!! he's hit the very same $320 payoff!!! and if his wheel had taken an additional 1/32 of a turn, his payoff would have been $1600!! mitch needs another bucket, too!! but before we can get one, his machine jams!! lol!!!! eventually, i find a slot attendant, who opens his machine, clears the chute, and the rest of mitch's money comes pouring down into the hopper!! rofl!! we've played for exactly 8 minutes! and we cash out for a net total win of $611!! mr jitney is waiting for us at the front door, and we decide to bag the side trip to harrah's!! we check out the scene at the blackjack and craps tournament in a private room on the dining floor of resorts. there's lots of folks there, and we greet some old friends, and meet some new ones! :) but it's time for some poker. not much doing in the resorts room, so it's across the street to the taj mahal for a couple hours, and then we play some more poker at resorts! and then it's time for the reception! this isn't anything special, but i manage to drink a couple beers, so it couldn't have been all that bad.... we're asked to fill out some psychological survey for a grad student. i didn't see the point of the survey, which was all about current risk, future risk and lotteries. back to the poker room. i watch jim karlinski play a hand of 1-5 7-stud. he's made a diamond flush on 6th street and raises an obvious straight. but jim is re-raised by another guy who's also showing three diamonds (including the ace). jim calls. jim checks blind, the ace of diamonds bets, and jim calls blind. the ace shows a diamond flush to the ace. jim faces his hole cards, and says, "yeah, i got a diamond flush, too...." but jim doesn't notice that his rivercard has made a gutshot straightflush! i lean over the table and say "seven, eight, nine, ten, jack of diamonds! that's a straight- flush!" just as the dealer turns over jim's hand and mucks it. but the guy with the ace flush saw the hand, and conceded the pot to jim. well, jim was prolly thinking about his overdue term paper..... ;) mitch and i meet up with a friend of ours from home, who was in town for a trivia convention at another hotel. we head off to the tropicana, where i meet with poker room manager doug dillon. i tell him with regret that, although i really do love the management, staff and players at the tropicana, and although i really do think that the tropicana poker room is the nicest in town, my records show that i make an awful lot more money playing at the taj mahal.... :::sigh::: after dinner, mitch and i play at the taj mahal for a couple hours, and manage to consume *many* scotches before we decide to cash in for the night! well....mebbe we might have had one or two more nips from the single malt bottle before we turned off the lights.... ---------------- saturday saturday 10:00 was the scheduled time for the start of the no-limit hold 'em tournament. since (as we all know) "i don't play hold 'em!", i've agreed to track the bust-outs for the purpose of calculating the overall champion. i'll post a separate report about the tourney, and the important hands at the final table, later in the week. after the tournament, i walk across the street to play some 5/10 stud at the taj mahal. i'm seated almost immediately, and proceed to get hit with the deck unlike any other time in my life. within 45 minutes, i make kings full, aces full, 3 jacks, kings up, aces up, 3 sevens (which was my only losing hand), rolled 9s and kings up. i cash out for a $376 win. lol...later that night, a friend tells me that the woman who took my seat won more than $600 in less than three hours.... the saturday banquet was held in a private room upstairs at resorts. the food was okay, but this event (alone of all the atlarge events) wasn't worth it. nevertheless, spending time with the rest of the atlarge crowd was fun!! jazbo was given a free ticket to "target" later this year, in recognition of all the many hours of hard work he did in organizing the event. and this writer was honored with a bottle of dewar's scotch for organizing the smoker. (thanks so much, gang!!) bill alan was awarded an honorary "a.d.b" hat, by virtue of the fact that, when last spotted at 4 am on friday night at the craps table, bill announced that it was time to *really* start drinking! :) mitch and i play some poker at the taj mahal. after a while, i wander through the room, and tell every single rgp'er i see that i'm going to be pouring scotch in my room starting immediately, and that everyone is invited! and i wander over to resorts and make the same announcement!! but peter secor, richard sooy, and a bunch of the boys have got a "rocks and beers" game going at resorts, and there's no way i'm gonna pull any of those characters off the table! :) but nolan dalla, russell rosenblum and mark horowitz show up to join mitch and i for some scotch, some stories, some discussions of poker ethics, and some good conversation! mark wants to tell a "bad beat" story, and i tell him, "the scotch is free...but i charge one dollar to listen to a bad beat story!" lol...he actually stands up, and reaches into his pocket for a buck!! ok! here it is! he's playing hold 'em and plays a 10-9. the flop comes 7 8 j rainbow, giving him the nut straight! the jack pairs on the turn, and a third jack hits on the river. some fool wins the pot with a pair of kings in the pocket for jacks full of kings! ::::sigh:::: later, russell says that the ultimate act of poker deception is to tell your opponents exactly what cards you have! i laugh out loud, and promise to send russell a copy of my "i think i have three aces!" post from last december! mitch and i kick our guests out at 3 am, because tomorrow is the 7-stud tournament...and i intend to win it! :) ---------- sunday the tournament is to start at 10 am and mitch and i leave the room at 9. i need a breakfast before i start playing poker. we get to the resorts poker room at about 9:50, and i wander around, wishing everyone good luck! i'm seated at a pretty tough table! tom mchugh, jerry gerner, jazbo burns, palmer chappell, andy bloch and ray didonato are all staring at me when i walk over to the table. thank goodness the guy sitting in seat #6 isn't there - otherwise i'd have seven players gunning for me. in fact, #6 doesn't show up at all, and we happily take his ante and bring-in each time! :) as a member of "a.d.b.", i'm automatically entered in pool between a.d.b. and wednesday night poker. each group has six (i think) horses in the tournament, and whichever group has the last man standing wins. as an additional side bet, dave fruchter and i agree that first man out will buy the scotch next time we meet! :) i don't remember too many hands from the tournament. i win one or two hands and lose one or two hands. by the time we get to 15/30, i'm not in very good shape chipwise. and by the time we get to 25/50, i'm short-stacked. :( but then a key hand develops. ray (on my immediate right) is the bring-in. jerry raises. jazbo re-raises. i see pocket rockets, and make it three bets. jerry and jazbo call. i bet the hand on 4th street, and i'm all-in on fifth. i make a second pair on sixth street, and take down the money with two pair, to restore my stack to respectable size. my table is broken down, and i manage to hold on for another round or two. i make a bad play, and let david meeks take a pot from me - but two or three hands later, i outplay him and steal a pot with about five big bets in it. ray didonato makes a play at me, and i don't bet my small pair on fifth street. he makes a pair of kings on sixth to win the hand. ::::sigh:::: nevertheless, i'm in ok shape (about t900) at the break. and a.d.b. has nolan dalla, bruce kramer, bill alan and myself alive, but wednesday night poker ohly has palmer chappell! some time after the break, at 150/300, i only have about t500 left. i'm the bring-in with the four of hearts up. fold, fold, fold, but palmer chappell raises with a nine. i see an ace of hearts and a jack of hearts in my hole, and re-raise. palmer makes it three bets, and i re-raise all-in. yeah. he's got a pair of nines. i'm told that i'm a small dog in this situation. palmer makes nines and tens on fourth street, but i get a deuce. i get a five on fifth street, and an ace on sixth! a trey gives me a wheel, and any other pair is aces up! my rivercard is another four!! all right!!! but palmer gets another nine to make nines full and i'm outta there! bruce kramer and bill alan go down soon thereafter, and it's nolan against palmer on the side bet! when palmer busts out, adb rooooooooools! and the ten bucks i win in this side bet just might pay for the scotch i have to buy david fruchter! ;) after the tournament, i play some 5/10/15 stud at resorts with john walsh, and finish the weekend with another winning session! i had a great time!! mitch had a great time!! i think everybody had a great time!! once again, many thanks to jazbo for making it happen!! let's do it again next year!! :) and i'm looking forward to meeting the nevadans and west coasters at this year's barge!! tiger

This was a great weekend and fantastic job was done by jazbo and tiger to put this event together, CONGRATES. The poker was great and I even managed to plus out for the weekend and finish in the money in the NL holdem tour. (10). One memorable hand in the N.L.H. a player I'll give him a fictitious name "Eric" ( he, he) has been stealing the blinds with $100 bets at less 7to10 times I look down AcKh I got him now, over the top $300 , Eric push his stacks in I call ( had enough to call and still be in the game) Eric lays down AA oh S--- in deep dodo flop xcc-cc club flush Eric's face goes white Iam amazed the poker God smiled on me .Eric set me up perfect I just escaped. A news flash they discover a new illness amoung the players attending ATLARGE 2 P.B.I. poker brainitis. I know at lest 10 who have it. Last but not less the "Resorts" poker room staff Jerry Bear and Ed Cooper and the dealers did a great job. I had a wonderful time and met a whole bunch of great people hope to see you all soon. Tom M (quie)

hiya, folks! here it is! the long-awaited report on the "atlarge2 no-limit texas hold 'em tourney", by your intrepid atlantic city reporter, tiger123! :) i would have posted this earlier...but i did post my own atlarge trip report, and (as i am sometimes loathe to admit) i really do have one or two other things to do in life besides write trip reports! but, it's here! it's got frills...it's got bells and whistles...and even alliterative allusions to allegory a la nolan dalla! just a typical report! enjoy! :) tiger ------------- my notes don't show the total number of participants in this tourney - i seem to recall that there were 63 entries. last year's winner, peter secor, managed to show up on time for the start this year! :::ding, ding! collusion alert!!::: earlier, peter and i had agreed to swap 5% of our tournament action! i had 5% of him in the no-limit hold 'em, and he had 5% of me in the stud tournament. lol! neither of us came close to cashing in! but i don't play hold 'em and he doesn't play stud! :) :::ding, ding! end of alert! false alarm!::: however, k-man lemke and matt treasur (who was my nominee for honorary a.d.b.) both tried to "pull a secor", and slept through the start of the tourney. but they were awoken by our host, jerry bear. they showed up about 15-20 minutes after we started. jerry doesn't have my touch in waking up tournament players; neither k-man nor matt made it to the final table! jazbo had prepared a very special prize for the first player to win a hand with a "presto"!! sure enough! on the very first hand, andy bloch calls a raise from david fruchter, who holds A-10 offsuit. the cards on the board are Q 2 3 - 6 - 9, and it's checked down. andy's superb play in calling a raise with lousy pair of fives is rewarded by noisy acclamations of "presto!!!", and jazbo's secret prize is revealed to be a copy of "casino poker" by that well-known and highly-respected poker expert (:::koff! koff!:::), john patrick! };) and on the same first hand, steve "bozo" blackstock is the first player knocked out of the tournament. he is rewarded by an autographed copy of lee jones' "winning low limit hold 'em", generously provided by chuck weinstock of conjelco. let's skip to the final table! here is the lineup and the chip count: 1jay sipelstein2200 2jim strydio4300 3tom mchugh500 4paul mcmullin5500 5peter segal5900 6andy bloch2100 7ray didonato900 8bruce kramer1900 9ed baker1000 10al frampton7900 the blinds are 300/500. on the very first hand at the final table, ray goes all-in with 10 9 offsuit. jim, holding K Q suited, calls. tom puts in all his chips with J 7 suited (different suit). the flop is A 2 3 rainbow; the turn is an offsuit 5; and a 9 on the river keeps ray alive. tom collects $65! wtg tom! on the very next hand, jim (having done so well with a K Q suited in the previous hand) puts it all in with a Q J suited! paul, who holds A 10 offsuit, calls. jim flops a pair and stays alive. pretty soon, the most infamous hand of the tournament was played. andy has been busily studying and absorbing john patrick's advice. andy's a harvard law student! he knows what to do with 5 5 ! he puts it all in!! and al calls him!!! naturally, the flop comes A A A. the turn is a 4. and of course, the river is the fourth A. al turns over a pair of 10s, and andy stands up with $97.50. wtg andy! mitch (bfb) firestone notes that "he who lives by the presto, dies by the presto!" later in that round, ed is all-in in the big blind for T200. he's got a 9 4 offsuit. jim and ray call. the flop is Qd Jh 3s. ray goes all-in, and jim mucks. ray turns over J 10. the turn of Kc gives ed a gut-shot, but the river 6h ends his chances. ed wins $130. wtg ed! on the very next hand, paul goes all-in for T1000. peter calls. bruce goes all-in for T1100, and peter tosses in another black chip. paul's got a pair of tens, and both peter and bruce turn over A Q. the flop is K 10 8, giving them a gut-shot, but the turn 4 and river 2 lets paul... :::ding, ding! alliteration alert!::: triple through with trips! :) :::end of alert!::: the blinds go up to 400/800. al raises T1600 with A 10 offsuit. paul raises all-in T2500 with a pair of eights, and al calls. the flop is a rainbow J 9 2; the turn is a 4; but the river brings an ace, and paul has to say goodbye to cash in a ticket worth $162.50. wtg paul! bruce is short-stacked, and puts in his last black chip with Q 3. ray calls with K 10. the flop helps ray with J J 10, but the rest of the cards are A - 6, and bruce wins sixth place and $195! wtg bruce! on the next hand, al raises T2000 and jim calls. the flop is a J 7 6 rainbow. jim checks, al bets another T2000, and jim mucks. pretty soon, peter is the small blind, and ray is the big blind. sippy calls all-in with a pair of deuces. peter calls. ray raises T2000, and peter mucks. ray shows A 6 offsuit. the flop is J 10 8; the turn is a bullet and the river is a king. sippy's tournament is over, and he wins fifth place and $227.50. wtg sippy! several hands later, peter raises T1600. al calls in the big blind. the flop is 10 10 3 with two clubs. it's check and check. the turn is an offsuit ace. al bets T1000 and peter calls. the river is the eight of clubs, and peter bets the rest of his chips (T800). al mucks. peter shows K 9 of clubs. later in that round, al raises T3000 with A K suited in spades. peter calls in the small blind with A J suited in hearts. the flop is Jc 8h 3h. peter bets T2000 and al calls. the turn is the club ace. peter checks, and al makes a big bet; peter calls all-in. al's only wins are the three remaining kings, and the deuce of hearts on the river completes peter's flush. pretty soon, ray raises T1900 on the button with J 9 offsuit. jim calls all-in with a pair of sevens. the flop is Q 8 7, giving jim trips and giving ray a gut-shot. the turn is a 9 and the river is a jack. ray has made two running pair, but that doesn't beat trips. jim is still alive! the blinds go up to 500/1000. on the very first hand of this round, jim goes all-in with a pair of jacks. ray calls all-in with A Q. the cards on the board are K 9 7 - 8 - 4. ray wins fourth place and $260! wtg ray! several hands later, peter raises T2000 on the button. al calls. the flop is Jc 7d 5d. al makes a big bet and peter mucks. next hand, peter makes a big raise on the button, but mucks when jim re-raises all-in. at this point, the stacks are about even. somebody says something about a split, and your humble reporter hastily computes that a three-way chop would yield each player $704. it takes about five seconds for the three remaining players to smile at each other and shake hands. whew! suddenly, all the pressure is off, and the game is fun, again! :) pretty soon, peter raises T2000, and both al and jim call. the flop is Kh 10d 6c. peter bets another T2000, and four cards hit the muck. peter grins and shows K 10. at this point, tournament director eddie cooper announces that the blinds would go up to 1000/2000. he laughingly tells the players that he would have been much softer on them (less of an increase) if they hadn't agreed to chop! :) jim, on the button, mucks. small blind peter calls T2000 and al checks. flop is Kc Qh 8c. check and check. turn is 2h; peter checks; al bets; peter mucks. the boys trade some blinds. al then goes all-in with A 3 offsuit. peter calls all-in with Q J offsuit. flop is 7 5 3. turn is a 6. the river is a king, and peter wins third place and (officially) $325. wtg peter! down to head-to-head. the hands are fast and furious, and i don't have anyone helping me record the cards. al raises and jim calls all-in. he's got K J offsuit. al shows 7 6. flop is 4 3 2; but the other two cards are queens. jim doubles through and takes the lead. al has about T5000 in the big blind and puts it in. jim calls. i didn't get the cards, but al doubles through. al raises all-in with Q 2 suited in spades. jim calls with A 5 offsuit. cards on the board are 10s 4s 3c - 4c - 3s, and al's flush doubles his stack again! next hand, jim goes all-in, and doubles through with a pair of eights on the turn. jim had 10 8, and al had an ace. on the final hand, jim has Q 10 offsuit. al has 7 5. the cards on the board are J 5 2 - 10 - 6. jim's pair of tens beats al's pair of fives! al takes second place and (officially) $552.50. wtg al!! and congrats to the winner of the no-limit hold 'em tournament and (officially) $1235, jim strydio!! wtg jim!! -------------- once again, i had an awful lot of fun tracking the bust-outs in this tournament, and even more fun sitting at the final table taking notes on the hands. and i had an awful lot of fun (and drank an awful lot of scotch) throughout the entire weekend!! oh yeah. i won some money, too! by the way, i stopped by resorts cardroom this last weekend. the cardroom management and staff all had very nice things to say about us. (hehehehe...well, supervisor mark marino was still mumbling about two wet tables from something called "rocks and beers", but......) ;) let's do it again, same time, next year!! :) tiger

The story of my first BARGE.

Who busted out, in order.

Timmy's Tournament Trip Report: Alliteration by the sea The plan: blow off work on Friday and head up to AC for ATLARGE. ETA 12:30 p.m. What actually happened: woke up at 2:45 p.m. because Steve was screaming "Get out of bed, you stupid IDIOT!!" at the top of his lungs. Okay, not really. But he should have been. At this point, I'm thinking that we might not make it to AC in time for the 1:00 buffet. We do eventually make it into town at about 6:00 p.m., and check into Resorts. We go up to the room to drop off our luggage, and then head back downstairs to check up on the ATLARGE folks still in the holdem tourney. Turns out we still had 5 or 6 at the last two tables, but every one of them was at the same table. Bad beat there. I sit down to a 5-10-15 stud game with a few rec.gamblers playing (frank fish, I mean irwin, was one, but there were others ... can't remember everyone's name though.) A few hands of note played against fellow ATLARGE attendees... First hand I play is a four flush and a small pair on fifth street, heads up against Irwin. He sucks out on me by making aces up on fourth street, or some such thing. Said later he was ahead all the way, until I mentioned that my adjusted odds made me a 3 to 2 favorite to win the pot, and I can't believe he was playing such trash hands. You know, I was playing the Dalai Lama in a heads-up karmic freezeout once .... Anyway a few hands later I make queens up against Frank's AKJ suited board, and check and call the hand down to beat his Jacks up. A few dollars ahead now. 10 minutes after this I get rolled-up sixes (SATAN!!?!) and put in a raise on third street. A woman who had just called with an ace up now reraises, apparently very happy about being able to put in two bets on third street with aces. My subsequent raise on fifth street may have briefly annoyed her. Up $180 now. It's about time for MATS to get underway, so I cash out, having played my last limit stud for the weekend. It's about this time that I go on permanent tilt from hell for the rest of the weekend. I'm not at all sure what put me on tilt, but something did. As MATS got underway, I decided to forget everything I ever knew about nolimit tournaments, and play like a complete fish. First hand I get involved in I cold call a sizable raise with AKs. I'm not sure what made me decided to cold call with that hand, when I really should have reraised. Anyway, the flop come QTx with one of my suit and I call a T100 bet from Jeremy. My stack was only T500 at this point, so calling here was pretty much a bad decision. The turn brings a rag, and I call another T100 bet from Jeremy. Where's my brain? River is crap, he checks it, and I consider pushing all in. But my read is that he's on AQ, and he would call that bet. So I check and subsequently fire my hand in the muck when he did in fact turn out to have AQ. One hand horribly misplayed. Don't remember what I busted out on, but I made sure to wait until someone else busted out first. Then I took a shot with a pocket pair I think, and had to ditch after the flop when two overcards and a big bet fell. All in on my big blind (turns out I had 92 off) and Timmy is busted, Timmy has quit. After the tourney is over, Jester is trying to get up a floating craps game, and some people seem interested. I take my chair back to my room and head down to the casino floor to find some ATLARGErs shooting dice. Nobody around but Jeff, and his table is pretty busy. I wander around looking for an empty table to hold the game, and eventually do find one. Settle in playing the dark side, and I'm eventually joined by Jeff. Some other folks are around shooting dice, but they never do come over. I win a few dollars, and seeing that the dice game isn't really going to come off, Jeff and I color up and hunt up Jeremy and Peter for some serious drinking. This is where things start to get a little hazy. I know we played red dog for a while, and some blackjack, and some pai gow. The pai gow sucked a lot. We've gained a few people and lost a couple of folks, and at this point Jeremy, Peter, Eric, and I head over to the coffee shop for a comped breakfast. At breakfast there was a Keno syndicate formed, and we all trade 5% of our action in the morning tournament. And then there was some rumpleminze, and they tell me something about a wall and a ramp, and a very few hours of sleep. In the morning I get to the tournament on time (just barely) and settle in to play. Poorly. I only made one good hand, and I foolishly jammed the nut flush when it hit on the turn. Great. Made about T75 on that one. Where's my brain? I don't catch many cards after that and finally bust out in about 30th place or so. Steve, who basically never gets his stack above T1000 hangs on for fourth place. I dub him zitboy (from our days playing partners pinochle, in which he often "rides along like a zit on your ass" cashing in on the strength of his partners hand.) While this is going on I play in a 5-10 holdem game with 8 rec.gamblers and two locals (not happy locals either) in which I break even. Highlights include Loboc sucking out a set of sevens on the turn to crack my queens which flopped an overpair. Also dtm capped the betting preflop with sixes against loboc's aces. The sixes flopped a set. Not a good session for big pairs. Soon the pot-limit game starts up. I'll just say that I didn't play particularly well, but I still would have wound up even if peter hadn't sucked out on me for a $300 pot. I drop $200 in the potlimit game before calling it quits. There's talk about a rocks-n-beer game over at the Taj, so I head over to check out the action. I find about 3 or 4 people each playing at separate 1-3 stud tables. Not a good showing for rocks-n-beer. Jaeger, Spiney, and I help start up a new pink holdem game, which breaks after about 45 minutes. I lose a little bit, but Spiney was on one heck of a heater. Ah well. Head back to Resorts to play some 5-10 holdem. I'm playing at a table with 5 or 6 of the local semipros (what are they all doing here?) who want to make the game 10-20 or better. No thanks. I win a few dollars (got aces twice in five hands, and grab a seat in the potlimit game when one opens up. I am not playing real well now, and lose my buyin pretty quickly. I think about rebuying, but just then another seat opens and Jesse (a local semipro) sits down. His wife Karen is also at the table. No thank you. I'll just say this about them: I have been involved in filing former complaints with both the Taj poker room and the casino control commission about these two. Nothing, to my knowledge, has ever been done about them. But the two times I've played with both of them they are so obviously wired it's pitiful. They're not even particularly good at it. Anyway, I'm certainly not going to play potlimit against a wire. Good night folks, see you at the tournament tomorrow. The stud tournament was, well, interesting. I'd never played in a stud tournament before, and didn't do particularly well. I've been trying to teach myself stud for the past 6 months though, and have found the 5-10 games in AC remarkably easy to beat (3.4 SB/hr over 94.5 hours, very short sample size I know) so I figured I wouldn't be a complete fish. But on 3 hours of sleep and no shower, I didn't figure to be playing well either. I never really won a good pot, and busted out in the 25-50 round playing something stupid. Ah well. Head over to the Taj to play some pink holdem before I have to head home. Finally get in the game, only to have Davles raise 53s from under the gun, call two bets cold with a gutshot draw on the flop, and then make a wheel on the turn. Warning, warning, Danger Will Robinson Danger! Timmy is tilted, Timmy is playing like a fish. $400 later, Timmy is busted. Not my finest hour. Anyway, I get up, find Steve, and begin the long drive home. Somehow it never seems that long when I'm not stuck over a grand. Anyway, ATLARGE was loads of fun, very well run, and a great experience. Kudos to all who were involved in organizing the event. I'll see everyone again at BARGE hopefully! Timmy now known as ADBTimmy -- Timothy J. McGarvey tmcg...@gl.umbc.edu

Mostly poker, but not about ATLARGE itself.

Well, by now we must all be back to our normal lives, which means lots of avoiding work and even more IRC :) I'm sure the net will soon be flooded with many a story, anecdote, or card story to tell from the wonderful event known as ATLARGE. So, why should I be any different, right? Here goes my version of the tale... Wake up bright and early Friday morning after going to bed very late. Palmer 'Filaman' picks me up and we are off to meet up with Bozo and Irwin. As usual with those two, we arrive 15 minutes early, they arrive 15 minutes late. But, Frank brings food so he's quickly forgiven and Bozo's driven, so I ain't saying squat. We took what I like to refer to as 'The Postman's Route' down to AC. You know, we went through Rain, Sleet, and Snow to get to our appointed rounds. Some of the biggest mutant snowflakes I've ever seen in my life (it was New Jersey afterall...) were the highlight of the trip down. Even with the conditions being less than ideal, we make excellent time. We arrive in AC and it's time to GAMBOOOOOL!!!!! We try to check in, but the lady says no way.. bummer. Palmer and I store our gear in Frank/Bozos room. It would be tomorrow before we would see it again. We head down to the poker room and notice how small and QUIET!!! it was. What a change from the noisy maelstrom most poker rooms seem to be. A number of games running, but we all gather to sign up for the 4pm tourney and head over for the buffett. Wow... what a surprise this was. I finally got to put the faces behind the names and see people for what they truly are... and a motley crew we were too :) Got to meet Chuck W. right off, along with Doug Anderson, Bruce Kramer, Jarman, and many others. Awesome. Already this trip was worth it... Lunch was good, but I was itching to go lose some money, so I inhaled my food and got ready to bolt. Finally, it was ... The Time... Time to GAMBOOOL!!!! Upstairs we head, getting onto whatever lists were running. A bunch of us get seated right away at the 5-10 Holdem. Hmmm.. this should be interesting, as I know most of the people there... Frank, Bozo, Palmer, Loboc, and some others, as well as a couple of unknown quantities. From the very get-go, the cards were coming off pretty well for me. Took a couple of bad beats as the #1 seat (Oh god.. that wonderful #1 seat) was quickly identified as the Call Station Who Happened To Be a Bigger Fish Than Me.... in other words... Money!!! I quickly got into a nice little groove, playing within myself and generally playing good poker. But, they were about to toss the cards in the air for the Limit Holdem tourney, and I had to leave the table. I was up +320, and feeling real good. Then came the Resorts Limit tourney. I'd never played in a Limit tourney before, but I figured it was worth a shot. Spent most of the first hour or so trying to remember that this was in fact a limit tourney, and not a NL one. Dug myself a hole, but finally managed to get out of it. I was protecting my initial stack like it was my life savings, not showing much variance at all. But, like inflation does, that stack started to look smaller and smaller. But wait!!! The Miracle Occurs... I finally get deal QQ on the button. I get some callers and I raise. I end up all in against someone when the Q comes on the flop.. All Hail The Queen.. Savior of the Good and Worthless!. I nurse that win a little while and get a few more to build my stack into one that wasn't easy to bully when IT happened. Yes, IT... I came to the rescue of a fellow ATLARGER and backed him up... Oh what a mistake this would be... Sippy got involved into a hand with guy inbetween the two of us, and the hand saw Sippy nearly go to the felt. Well, the turn comes and obviously didn't help him any. He's down to his last chip. The other guy goes to bet and is starting to count/stack his chips. We tell him Sippy's only got T100 left, and we finally got him to understand so he only pushed in the T100 he needed to get Sippy allin. Then, the dealer, for some unknown reason, reaches over and grabs Sippy's last chip. The dealer then tosses over the river card and the other guy turns over his hand. Sippy looks up, confused, and announces 'Wait, I didn't call the bet'? The floor was brought over, and after some confusion, it was agreed that Sippy did not call the bet and could indeed have folded (which he did). Sippy survives, just barely. After that, tables broke down rapidly. I found myself on the final two tables. Wow... 8 ATLARGERS left out of the final 18!!! Way to go guys... Many of the locals were teasing us, but I think some left with a little more respect. I started to roll at that point, winning some big hands. I soon became BigStack at our table and busted out Nolan with Quad Ks. Tables quickly dissolved, we broke down into the final table... YES!!! I'm in the money!!! And, I think I was #3 stack at that point. Hands go by in a blur, until we are down to 4 players.. Sippy and I make it to the final 4!!!! Awesome baby... As Dickie Vitale would say... Sippy was a true PTPPer (Prime Time Poker Player) and I was the Diaper Dandy!!! Guy in the seat to my right has huge stack, Sippy's almost done. Then, it all went down hill from there. I get dealt a couple of very nice hands.. AQs, AJoff, AKoff. All three I raise on, all three I lose to the guy on the right, who was calling with anything. I seem to remember losing to 46s, 87off, and Q3 or something. Blech. Now I'm hurting. I end up all in with the guy when I'm dealt AQs again. He calls me down, and wins with something like 83. Double Blech... Oh well, 4th place... I'm psyched. Cash out $596. Moment of the Day though, was when Sippy has folded and the two other stacks battle it out. Guy to Sippy's left gets all in with top pair, guy with BigStack wins when the river brings a 5 and he turns over PRESTO!!! THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! PRESTO IS PROCLAIMED FOR ALL TO SEE AND HEAR!!!! It was awesome, the normally quiet Poker Room erupted with a exclamation of PRESTO, and Frank makes a mad dash for the table. Sippy ends up in 2nd thankx to the Magic of Presto.. A very auspicious start for this ATLARGE weekend indeed... After the tourney, we went to dinner and eventually made our way back. Played 5/10/15 Stud with many ATLARGERs. Did well, ended up about +200 or so. Played some 5-10 holdem and 10-20 holdem/omaha split after that. Saturday came in with a bang. Got down to the tables at about 9am. Signed up for the tourney and sat down at the 3-6 omaha/holdem split table. Went on a remarkable streak in the omaha portion that put me way up. Beat up on Loboc on great hand. I have 66 in middle position, so I play the rush and raise. Loboc grins back and reraises. Being very stupid, I reraise him right back. His capping the preflop betting let me know he had AA and I was a toastpuppy. But wait!!! Our hero spies a 6 on the flop. Hee Hee.. BadPlayBoy turns into KRUSHBoy!!! I think 66 was about the last hand Doug expected to see me turn over. After only about 1 hour, I found myself cashing out up $380. At 3-6... wow... Tourney comes and goes. I get busted early when my AKs loses to Jeremy Millers QK, when the flop brought a Q and two of my suit. That's ok.. I go back to the tables... Over the next 10 hours or so, I managed to bring in another +$500 on various tables. I did very well at the 5/10/15 Stud table again, and got sucked into trying my hand at the PotLimit table. Blech... Got to sit next to Nolan and watch him and Bozo roll over people. I quickly lost about $200. I got lucky when Steve, who had been straddling and winning alot, straddled with KQs, but I had AK. Flop brought the K and he raised the pot, which I also returned back. That win put me back up. I saw myself at +$50 at the PotLimit table and decided that was more than I'd ever expect to make at that game, so I quit. Decided to head over to the Taj. Quickly got myself into a nice 5-10 Holdem table, with Richard Sooy dealing. But, guy in 8 seat was a CallStation OnaRoll... I went into two or three hands with best hand only to see him RunnerRunner me... Booo.. -$200. I FINALLY got over to the 5-10 Omaha 8/better table. This was why I came over here. Started very poorly, the dealers sucked, and it seemed like a very unfriendly table. David S. came over and we both went on a roll. I eventually got up +200 there, which put me even for the Taj, so I decided to go home. Dave and I ended up blowing about $100 at the 3-6 Omaha/Holdem split tables. We convinced ourselves to never play that silly game at 5am. 7stud in the morning!!! I get on a good table, with Jazbo, Keith Miyake, Tiger, Peter Secor, and others. I'm playing very well, stealing/playing it hard and tight. I build my stack up to excellent proportions when disaster struck. First hand, I split As and end up heads up with Tiger. I get him to push all in and I'm well ahead. He's showing a KQJT and I'm showing the split As and a 3 card str8. He hit's his 9 on 6th street, I don't improve. Tiger survives :( :( Then, about 2 hands later, I get those silly split As again. I raise and end up isolated against Keith Miyake, who's showing a middle club. I improve to two pair and a 4flush by 6th street, and I'm betting it the whole way. But, on 6th street, Keith raises me back... DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMN... He ran me down and hit his ragged flush draw. Well, I call hoping for a flush (actually had a str8 flush draw) or a boat. The PokerGods give me a str8 instead. That's no good, I fold, but that hand took a great deal out of me. A few hands later, after folding my antes away, I end up with AKJs, the A up. I get heads up with Jeff Woods when I hit a T of my suit, to give me the str8 flush draw. However, it was not to be on this day, as my flush/str8 never showed and Jeff's split As turned into trips... DTM is dead... Oh well, Palmer and I head over to the Taj and play some 5-10 holdem then 5-10 Omaha. I ended up in holdem and down in omaha, basically even for the day. Time to head home... It's been a great trip though. I ended up finishing 4th in one tourney, and taking home almost +2000 for the weekend. And, I met a bunch of excellent people. One person who probably won't get mentioned, but I have to is Leslie S, the wonderful wife of David. Her and I ended up on a number of tables together and had (IMHO) a great time playing togeter, joking it up, etc.. If you are reading this, it was a pleasure.. Oh, and before I go... just one word to the MuscleMan on my right... Pain... You are a GirlyBoy... Part 2 Here is my unofficial list of the Top Ten things that happened at ATLARGE, at least for me... 10) Watching Doug Anderson's face when I flopped a set a 6s to beat his rockets, and realizing that with the capped pre-flop betting, he didn't have a clue why I played like I did (ok, 'fish' comes to mind) 9) Having a very profitable weekend (though my wife has already spent it :( ) 8) Meeting the whole crew 7) Actually WINNING money in PotLimit (ok.. but $50 is $50...) 6) Busting Jazbo out for the 2nd time in a NL Holdem contest :) 5) Seeing the Mutant Snowflakes From Hell on the drive down 4) Playing at the same table with Leslie Schenkel (David's wife) over and over again, and having a lot of fun beating up on the other players (A9 r00lz!!). We had a lot of laughs at others expense :) 3) Hearing the crowd erupt 'PRESTO' and seeing Sippy take 2nd because of it 2) Coming in 4th in the Resorts tourney and finally, 1) Sitting next to 'Pain', who is a rather well built young man, pull out a nice little flowered purse when he wins his first hand, and begins to pull out $.50 in pennies, nickels, and dimes for the dealer tip. And then calling him a GirlyBoy and living to tell the tale... -- David T. Meeks

Having recently returned from ATLARGE this weekend I will now endeavour to sort out my notes and piece together some highlights of the TARGET satelite that was held on Friday night in Jerry s room. Before that, however, some random ruminations on what was an entirely enjoyable weekend for me (David) and my wife (Leslie). #1. Sleep is over-rated. #2. I will stick to ring games as I am clearly one of the worst tournement players in the English speaking world (Mad Russians included). #3. Raise 3,5 suited under the gun. Flop A(s)4(s)Q(x). Sweat the spades. Catch a gut shot wheel on the turn after calling two cold bets. Check-raise to make it three bets on the turn. Survive a pair on the river and take down a monster pot before shocked and appalled comrades. Smile to myself as no one can put me on a hand for the rest of the day. #4. Jazbo Burns, aka Buck Rogers of the 21st Century (Nice shirt!), is the hardest working man in pokerdom. Great job, we all owe you one! #5. I m surprised someone had the guts risk their own camera on this motley group. As a species we rgp.ers may not be pretty, but we sure are ugly. Now, on to the Target satelite. This was a private affair held in Jerry s room at Resorts. My understanding is that the winner would get airfare to Las Vegas and an entry into the actual Target satelite. The winner of that would then be entered into the Super satelite for an entry into the WSOP no limit event. I m sure that I will get some of the following wrong and I invite both corrections and comments on the events as I recorded them. To begin, the game was played using one of the double beds as a makeshift poker table. Ten players (Jester, Jeff, Gerry, Russel, Bruce, beavisbot,Bwana,Timmy,Sippy, Foldem) arranged themselves in sardine formation with your s truely perched on the airconditioner (that kinda feels nice!) taking notes. The first hand was dealt at 9:45 with the blinds at T5 &T10. I believe the starting bankroll was T500 each. The structure is no limit. Blinds go up every 20 minutes or just before Russel s big blind, which ever comes first. The first few hands are uneventful as everyone feels each other out. Most hands don t see the flop let alone the river. The first hand of any note is won by beavisbot after raising pre-flop T100 and being called by Timmy on turn and river for T50 each. beavisbot won holding AQ with a board of Q,6,10,3,9. Timmy didn t show his cards. At about this time Bruce demonstrated his superior level of perception by figuring out that in the four color deck that was being used, Green were the clubs. The following is a list of the hands that were either interesting or had any consequence. Blinds 5-10 Pre-flop: Bruce bets T50, Seven callers. Flop: 5(x)K(c)5(c) Jeff bets T100, Russel & beavisbot call Turn: 5(x)K(c)5(c)J(x) beavisbot bets T625, Jeff calls all in, Russel folds. River is a rag. beavisbot wins with JK, Jeff first out of tourney with 77. Blinds 10-20 Pre-flop: Jerry bets T100, Jester calls all in. Jerry holds A9, Jester KJ. Flop comes a Jack. River and turn no help. Jester wins. Stays alive to participate in the next hand which also happens to be the nailbiter of the night. Blinds 10-20 Pre-flop: Jester bets 100. Bwana raises 240. Jester all in. Jester shows A(h)K(c) Bwana shows QQ. Flop comes: J(h)7(h)3(x) Bwana happy but Jester still very much alive. Turn: J(h)7(h)3(x)Q(h) Bwana very happy but wait, Jester goes from 6 outs to 8. River: J(h)7(h)3(x)Q(h)9(h) Bwana not so happy now. Jester exhales. Blinds 10-20 Pre-flop: Bet T70 three way action. Flop: Q77 Bwana bets T70 all in. First player folds, Bruce ruminates........................... finally folds. Bwana flipps over 55. Rabit hunt shows turn card to be another five. Don t fuck with presto! Blinds 25-50. note: at this point there is some karping that the blind structure is going up too quickly but no change is made. Pre-flop: Timmy is all in for big blind. Foldem bets T50. beavisbot raises T125. Jester calls. Flop: A(d)4(c)10(c) all check Turn: A(d)4(c)10(c)J(d)4(d) all check River: A(d)4(c)10(c)J(d)4(d) beavisbot bets T150 Foldem raises all in. Jester folds. beavisbot folds a Jack. Foldem steals with KQ(x) Timmy out with 92(x) Blinds 25-50 Pre-flop: Bruce raises 200 Sippy raises 115 all in. Sippy shows AA Bruce shows AK drawing mighty thin. Five rags on board. Sippy lives on. Blinds 25-50 Pre-flop: Sippy raises T150 Bruce calls Board is four rags and checked till river. River is Ace. Sippy bets T50. Bruce calls all in. Bruce shows AQ to beat Sippy s A(c)2(c). Bruce lives on. Blinds 25-50 Pre-flop: Russel raises T100 all in with JQ(x) Jerry calls with 66 Jerry flops a 6 to remove Russel. Blinds 50-100 Pre-flop: Jerry raises T200 Sippy calls all in with 86(x) Board comes 7,10,Q,6,10. Jerry wins with AA. Bye, Bye Sippy. I m sure you ll have better luck tomorrow! Also at this level Bruce exited on a nondescript hand losing to Aces full of kings held by Bwana. Five players left. Jerry has a small chip lead over beavisbot. Foldem and Bwana are a distant third and fourth and Jester is sniffing the felt (or in this case the sheet). Blinds 50-100 Pre-flop: Jester all in T150 with A(c)6(c) Beavus calls Foldem calls Board is King with four rags. beavisbot wins with KJ. Jester out. Blinds 50-100 Pre-flop Foldem raises T150 Bwana raises all in for T525 Jerry Calls Foldem calls Final board is 3(s)J(s)Q(s)K(x)9(h) Bwana shows AK(x) Jerry shows Q(c)10(c) to win with a straight. See ya tomorra Bwana. Blinds 50-100 Pre-flop: beavisbot raises A5 suited, T1325 all in. Jerry calls with JJ Foldem Q,10 off all in. Final board: KA6A4. And then there were two. Jerry T1400, beavisbot T2600. AND NOW THE BIG HUH?????? Blinds 50-100 Pre-flop: beavisbot raises T1400 to put Jerry all in. Board comes K,3,7,10,9. beavisbot shows down J(s)2(s)??? Jerry shows down AQ. All even now. After a few more hands Beavisbot manages to gain about a T1000 chip lead over Jerry again. Blinds 50 -100 Pre-flop Beavisbot raises AJ(x) to put Jerry all in. Jerry shows A(s)10. Jerry looks grim. Board comes: Q(s)8(s)5(c)7(s)9(s) Beavisbot looks grim. All even now. Last hand. Jerry raises T2000 with JJ Beavisbot calls all in with J(c)Q(c) Board is K,3,7,3,6 rainbow. See ya in Vegas Jerry! And now I will leave the commentary to all of you........... David