Trip-Report

Trip Report by JAB What a great time at ATLARGE 2005, finally the trip paid off. My fifth ATLARGE and making it to the final table and second place was unbelieveable. It's hard to remember all the hands after playing for almost 11 hours..memorable ones I didn't play are just as important. Sitting at table 4, and next to the big blind, I folded A5os - three players stay, the flop AAT - I think it was MikeD in seat 1, goes all in and is called - he's sitting there with AT, full house on the flop. I would have lost this hand and been knocked out - Another hand I didn't play was at the final table with Sean and Chrissie. Sean goes all in, I folded and Chrissie called with a short stack - I folded pocket 3's - a pair of queens and three clubs showing on the turn - river was a 3 of clubs, giving Chrissie a flush - and my full-house not played. Oh well... Hands that paid off - at the final table, I have pocket 9's go all in and Chrissie calls with p3's - the nines take it. And Oscar, what a story - I thought that I knocked him out with K9 and he's left with 2,000 in chips out of the 600,000 on the table. He roars back winnning the next three hands. Oscar and I are siting at the final table with the short stacks and fortuntatley for us, Chrissie and Noelle went heads up a few times, with Chrissie gaining more chips. The women had lots of chips and us poor men were just hanging in there waiting for good cards to play. When the dust settled, it was Oscar and me heads ups - we decided to chop and play for the poster. On the first hand, Oscar with 4-6 to my AK - he caught one of his cards the flop and takes the poster. Other notes: Flowerman, thanks for your cheerful spirit (you should of folded those 5's with p7's showing)- your flowers carried Oscar to the win, how appropriate, For me, Budda was my lucky charm that I got for busting out ???? - I would like to know who that was?? I was too focused on the cards to recall names of so many fine players - Thanks to Pokerstars for a great event and the dealers/managers at the Taj. An idea for next year, instead of having Pokerstars pay for the banquet, use the funds to pay for the NLHE winners' entrance fee into WSOP - $65 per person and 200 people is enough for one entry into WSOP. This would eliminate chopping for 1st and 2nd. Another suggestion, I heard several comments from dealers about the tip - all dealers received a tip, even those not dealing in ATLARGE. Let's explore tipping only the dealers in ATLARGE - they are the ones who earn and deserve a generous tip. And thanks to all the 8-2ers'- nice showing. And to Michael and Joan (alwaysaware) for their support at the final table. Finally, special thanks to Goldie for organizing a fine event and getting the suite for us. Next time I'll make sure the Woodford Reserve from the fine Commonwealth of KY makes it to the suite.... Hope to see everyone next year and maybe I'll make my first trip to BARGE or MARGE with my bankroll from ATLARGE. JAB

Looking Back II: Atlarge Trip Report by John "Helix" Moser Readers know I got some challenging news to deal with last week and at the last minute needed to change some travel plans. Once completed, travel from the midwest went according to schedule with the "positive ev" exception that I got to Philly two hours early. This translated into catching earlier trains and checking into the Taj on Thursday afternoon about an hour and half early. "Wow, time for rest".(ding!) At about 6:00PM I was up and in the poker room ready for the Taj $120 NL Tourney. Last year I missed cashing by two places but thought I really played well; that is for a guy with lousy cards. This year I didn't last long enough to remember any details of play. What I do remember is a very different structure than the year before. This year, after what seemed like only three rounds, we started paying antes, "wtf!". So there was forced gambling and the field was quickly decimated. At this point, if I recall, my QQ went down easily with players looking at draws to stay alive. Note: Next year try the Borgata. "Ok, lesson learned! Now for some kibitzing." There's Suddenly (looking green around the gills, prm (always good to see), Goldie(terrific guy and a great organizer), some assorted ADBs, with, I'm sure, many more familiar people coming tomorrow. Friday morning with coffee and eggs at the Taj's Bombay Restaurant and in comes Barry K.(Mr Raise), and Russ P., the man who would become this years HOE Champ. Barry asks me to join their table and I'm glad to do so. Casual conversation ensues until we drain the extra cup of Joe and head to the poker room. Goldie's there, Russ F., many 8-2's and other familiars as well. This year's "sooper secret" surprise was really a pretty nice hooded sweatshirt with an Atlarge emblem on the front. "Well done Goldie!" Last years HOE Champ, Uncle Al, and Lew are at my HOE table. It's a fairly active table and Uncle Al is the first one busted! How can this be? Then I met Steve C.(Death Valley). This guys has an absolute knack for dragging river cards. He put me out of my misery with completed back to back straight draws against high pairs. Later, in the NL Tourney I was at his table again. He can play. Later that afternoon I played $5-$10 for an hour; plus $90! (ding!) The Pokerstars Banquet was simply superb. There was so much good food, fresh fruit, plentiful desserts, drinks, and good company. I sat with Scottro, Oscar(tomorrow's NL Champ), Nick and Matt M.(brothers and good guys), Barry K., and Russ F.(cali Russ, the accountant). (I apologize, as I may have overlooked someone.) While walking down to breakfast Saturday morning and passing the poker room, I saw some die hard argers still hanging in from the night before. "More power to 'em!" The No Limit tournament was a gas. Goldie and the Taj modified the structure to accommodate us and in the process we played a long time for the buy in. I ran for periods hot and cold and thought I was getting enough good cards to keep me in until the later rounds. That turned out to be false. I ended up on a short stack at an active table. John H., Oscar, a new arge acquaintance Mitch K.(a slightly older guy like me), at least five newbies and Steve(Death Valley were at there. Desperate at one point, I went all in with pair of nines and got two callers. I didn't improve and won the hand. "That's an active table!" When I was short stacked again, and in the small blind, I called a small raise. Pizzaman, in the big blind, re-raised and two of the three of us were all in again. This time I was dominated and went out 89th in the field. By this time John H., Death Valley, and Mitch were all busted out. "Time to find the pink chip game" What fun! The Atlarge pink chip game is just a blast. This year I was at a table that didn't get awfully "lit up". We were playing close to the vest and fairly straight forward poker. There were fairly decent sized pots, yet I don't think the entire time we played anyone was more than two stacks off. There were two locals, Marshall, Jerrod, Jeff S., Michelle, Kim and Eric H. A good time was had by all and I think most of my donation went to Kim and Eric. (Apologies again to forgotten players at the table.) By about 10:30 I'm in bed thinking about traveling home early the next morning. If I haven't mentioned it, thanks to Goldie for all his work in organizing this event, Pokerstars for sponsorship, and the Taj for all they do to make us welcome. This was an great arge event. Out.

Trip Report by LIVESOUP so - we all had a great time. i kinda sauntered in very early friday morning after missing the thursday night smoker as i promised myself that i would be there. the budget and family obligations dictated - i also do not do well in crowds - background noise and a small hearing problem. however, drinking scotch does help. as last year i made my plans late and got a great room at the sea view marriott, which is about 10 miles away. if the weather was right i would have stayed an extra night and played golf. so there i was at 8 am playing in a 2-4 holdem' with two guys from pittsburgh. yes i left my home in keyport, nj, drove to the hotel, checked in, valet parked and played my first hand by 8am. one pittsbrugh player was very drunk and uh! acting pretty stoopid and the other was minding his own business. i couldn't catch a hand, played way too loose and played stoopid cards and was stuck about $120. the HOE began. i and played tight and never had a bunch of chips in front of me the whole game. it's a hard game to enjoy - especially playing omaha - when you play a lot of holdem'. omaha is not my game and i found playing just about every hand was becoming fun. so i eventually busted out on a bad beat - (no story). i think! is there such a thing as a bad beat in omaha??? i intended to play on friday night but wound up back in the hotel room with room service and a six pack. two beers later and some buffalo wings and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. don't ever go back to your room to lay down for a while - the next day happens. so i work up early saturday - about 5 am and went to the poker room. again i got into another 2-4 game and this time broke even. i met a nice guy named chris. it was his first atlarge. we had breakfast and talked about pokerstars and fargo. he won a big time satellite on pokerstars and played in a tournament at the atlantis in the bahamas. we talked about growing up in new jersey and avoiding starting hands with 9's in omha. the n/l holdem began and i caught AA (twice) and hit a set within the first 20 minutes, quite unlike last year where no set nor AA was very had the entire weekend. again i played tight and played and played with never a large amount of chips in front of me, i met some very interesting people. mordecai schwartz, flowerman, kim and her husband, a woman from nyc, farmboy and other some very nice people. the 8-2 poker club members. heh! remember the pittsburgh drunk from the previous day. there he was sober and talking to himself. it seems everytime it was his blind - someone always pushed their chips in or went over the top of him. he was talking a lot to himself. i leaned over to my poker neighbor and said he's ripe and will make a bad call next hand. he did. buy buy! then there was this guy who had a lot of chips and was pretty lucky and constantly making large opening bets ! with out any callers. he began to amass a lot of chips. we figured this guy out and when we came over the top he folded and folded. then we had him talking to himself too. again i leaned over to my other neighbor and said he's ripe for a bad call too. i was wrong - he made a real bad call against qq and only one overcard. went tilt on the next. cya - buy buy! people were dropping out and i ducked and weaved until there were 24 left. bang, bang, bang - someone yelled - we're in the money. i was telling bad jokes everytime i changed tables. no one was listening. i made a bad play and lost half my stack late but continued and built it back up a bit. the cards went flat and i thought about just moving up in the standings and blinded away 1/2 of my chips. i had a plan. time was not on my side and i timed the button perfectly before the next rise in blinds only to get blindsided by being moved to the final 2 tables and then having to draw for the button that i worked to hard to get. poker shenanaigan!. yada yada yada! k j loses to qq and i went away in 14th. i was in my car and on my way home 20 minutes later - heading back to reality, my wife with a cold and to my daughter who was at a sweet 16 birthday party. ty goldiefish - and i hope you enjoyed the cigar i gave you. perhaps next year we can smoke one together at the smoker - yeah right! flowerman - here we were in the late stages of the game with about 30 players left. flowerman as dapper as he was had played sainly until he got pocket 5's. he was rambling about the mistical powers of the 5's. the hand was check until after the river. 5 over cards including a pair of 7's were on board. flower goes all in. the man with the king 7 from the big blinds calls and flower wilted. luckily we have spring every year and he'll be back. personal achievement - i do recall knocking out 6 players and receiving one 8-2 poker chip set in a clear plastic holder, a coin of some type wrapped in a clear celophane wrapper with the whitehouse on one side and the president of the united states seal on the other, someone's at large token and $194 bucks for 14th place and a sweatshirt. when i got knocked out i gave the player his choice of a poker chip from binnion's horsehoe or a pack of matches from "pine valley" golf course. he asked whether that also include on round of golf there also. for all of you that are not golfers - pine valley is rate the #1 golf course in the world and it sits about 35 miles due west of atlantic city next to the clementon amusement park. yes, in new jersey. the matches did not include a round of golf. he took the poker chip. please excuse the spelling - the lack of caps and any other gramatical errors as you may think i be stoopid. i are. regards LIVESOUP

Trip Report by Nat Arem Okay, so here's my (late) ATLARGE trip report. I spent the week in AC because I was traveling for work and I didn't go over to the Taj until Thursday night. Gamble and NotACmputr were playing in the $100 tourney. Apparently, Cmputr busted pretty fast and I never got the whole story, but Gamble was still alive when I got there. There were about 40 people left with 18 places paying (18th was like $160). Gamble had about 7.5K with the blinds at 500/1K, so it was pretty much all-in or fold mode at that point. I look around the room for a bit, talk to Cmputr (playing 5/10) and when I come back I see that Gamble has pushed. He turns up the only hand he could possibly have (presto) and the caller turns over AJ. The 5s hold up and Gamble has about 10K. A few hands later, a big stack raises in EP, Gamble comes over top for his whole stack from MP and the original raiser goes into the tank. Eventually, he folds showing A8s. Gamble shows 66. Next hand Gamble gets into a big pot with JJ (didn't see how it happened) and he outraced AQ to bust another player. He gets involved in a few pots and his stack is at about 18K when they break to 3 tables. Soon after, the key hand comes up. I really didn't see how it developed, but Gamble got his chips in with KTs against A-junk. No help and he was down to about 10K. Next hand he busts with ATo going up against KK and AJ - the KK took down the pot. We decide to head over to the buffet, then we realize it might be closed (it was about 10 PM at this point). Our suspicions were confirmed by a casino employee at the Bombay Cafe. Instead, we went to the Hard Rock as it was the only place open (for some reason, Gamble insisted upon calling it the Home Run Cafe). You'll have to ask him why). We had a nice dinner and headed over to the pit to lose some money to the casino. Gamble and Cmputr did just that at the craps table - DEDUCTION! - and that pretty much concluded the evening for me as I had to get up to work the next day. Friday's tournament was HOE and I didn't hear all that much about it (I couldn't play in it because of work). I did hear that Cmputr's 8s full got busted by a Royal during Stud H/L. I think he was eventually busted by Harkness's two pair during hold em. I made it over to the Taj at around 5:30 and I decided to play a couple of hours of 3/6 LHE until the PokerStars dinner. I get a seat immediately (didn't even go to the desk. Literally just went right to the floor) and I sit down at a table full of 60+ year olds with HUGE stacks. One lady must have had 1.5K+. At a 3/6 table, lol. Anyway, they're giving their money away left and right, just as I had hoped. One guy can't even read the board because his eyes aren't good enough. He's asking me every other hand what the suits are, whether that's an 8 or a 9, etc. Most of the conversations went something like this: "What's that?" "Uh, that's a 9 of hearts sir" "Is there another heart?" "Yes, the 3 of hearts is also on the board" [Looks at his cards] "Okay, good. I bet" The funny part was that he NEVER deceived people. If he said "great" or stopped asking, he had something good. If he kept asking what the next card was, he hadn't hit yet. This actually saved me some money later on when I flopped middle set with 88 and he turned a J high straight. Once he stopped asking and there was a rainbow board, I knew he'd hit. Not that I'm bragging about picking up a 3/6 tell from an 80 year old. Anyway, I hit a few hands, lose two big pots with two pair vs. a set (one rivered - granted, it was an overpair to the board, but still frustrating) and I'm up $45 after an hour and a half. Not that great, but it's limit with calling stations... not much you can do without the cards. I head up to the PokerStars dinner and find a table with Gamble, his girl, Cmputr, his girl, Harkness and another ARGer. The dinner was really good... PokerStars really went all out for the ARGers. Harkness turned out to be a great guy. We talk about everything from his day job (film critic) to his days as an alpha tester for Stars. His payment for that? An ownership stake in Stars. BEST. DEAL. EVER. He's also a poker consultant for Tilt. Not quite as good, but it's kinda cool. We go up to the ATLARGE hospitality suite and hang out a bit with the old-time ARGers and some of the newer ones, including former WPT 25K final tabler Matt Matros. Matros and a bunch of other break off into another room and play a SnG. I talked with Jeff, the head of PokerStars support, and ADB Fich, an old-time ARGer and supposedly a very good player. He finished 3rd in the HOE tournament. Gamble, Cmputr and the crew left long before I did and I didn't know where they went, so I went back to the poker room. I thought about getting into the infamous pink chip game, but I quickly decide I don't want THAT much action from the rest of the table. Just too high variance for my liking. Instead, I sit down for 5/10 (the line was a little longer this time) and the table is donkified like I'd never seen. The guys had NO CLUE how to play limit and they would do just about everything wrong. They would fold when they should call, they'd raise when they should fold, etc, etc. I managed to get a pot HU with this guy with my KK, flop is AKx, I just call the flop, we cap the turn, he CAPS the river with QQ. Really unbelievable. He later 3-bets a flop when he flops the nuts with AQ of diamonds. Surprisingly enough, everyone check-folded on the turn and he missed out on at least $40 in bets from bottom set and two black aces (that's what they said they had, but only after he showed). What an idiot. Anyway, I take down a monster when I flop a concealed straight in an unraised BB with 75. A few other people made TPTK-type hands and one made two pair on the river. Turned out to be a good 2.5 hour session and I go away up another $115. I went back to the hotel and went to sleep excited to play in the ATLARGE NLHE main event. I woke up Saturday morning, drove over to the Taj, got my seat assignment and tried to get myself mentally ready for NL tournament play. I've been playing so much limit ring online and in the casino - it's a complete different mindset. I actually think it hurt me because I reminded myself to tighten up and I think I did that a bit too much. Here's the structure of the tournament: 3K in chips, 30 minute levels, blinds go -> 5/10, 10/20, 15/25, 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, etc. A VERY good and slow structure. I was seated at table 2, seat 9. Seat 8 was Amanda, aka widowmaker jr, aka junior, aka niece of aunt joan, etc. Seat 10 was Peter Segal. Other than Peter, it was a bunch of ARG newbies. Here are a couple of hands that I was involved in - none are really that interesting except my bustout hand. I pick up AA 3rd to act with blinds at 10/20. Unfortunately, I hadn't opened any pots yet and I was unlikely to get any action. Surprisingly, I get some action on my std raise, flop is K high, all fold to my flop bet of about 2/3 of the pot. I told people that I had QQ so they would think I'd bet out regardless of overcards. I pick up 44 in the CO, make std raise, BB calls, flop is 4Ax, he checks, I bet (knowing he would be suspicious if I didn't bet with my raise and an A on board, I basically figured my action was killed by the A and I wanted him to pay for any draws if he wanted to stay with them) and he folds. I chip up with a few hands here and there and I'm at about 3400 after a few levels. Considering the structure, there's no rush. Then Amanda makes a minimum raise directly to my right UTG. I look down and see 99 and I immediately feel pain. This is a terrible hand to pick up when the tightest player at the table (this was her first hand in hours) raises UTG and you're second to act before the flop. I decide to muck. She gets couple of callers late. Flop is T9x. ARRGGGHHHHH. Sure enough, she had AA and she takes down the pot on the flop. Obviously, I probably could have busted her with that hand, but it's my fault for being a bit of a tight pussy there. On the one hand, I made a good fold by getting rid of a dominated hand, but I should have realized that her raise just didn't threaten my stack and I needed to try to hit a set. After all, I KNEW she had AA or KK and I would have been able to get away from the hand on a rags board. Llew interjects: OR, you could have flopped your set, checked to the AA who bets big, jammed, and been called, only to see an A on the turn. Talk about AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! Ok, I owe you a dollar. I make a couple of preflop raises, take the hand down on the flop and I'm at about 4500 when my bustout hand comes up. First, I should say that there's a monster stack at the table. He has 20K plus and he's been running over the table with it. I see a free flop in the BB with Q9o (not the best hand to bust with, lol) and the flop comes 789 with two spades. At this point, the pot has about 1000 in it and I check it to see what I can get in terms of a read on other players. All check to the button (big stack) and he bets 600. I immediately put him on a draw and realize that I may have the best hand with TP. I think and decide I need to go after the pot. The big stack has laid down some hands to big bets and I don't believe he wants to chunk off 4K on some silly draw missing. I know the other players behind me won't be in the hand, so I'm just worried about the big stack. I realize that, with the blinds and antes, I don't have much longer before I'll be in all-in or fold mode (this, of course, isn't correct, but I believed it at the time). That's not my style. I USUALLY play better after the flop and I don't like the push and pray type game. Anyway, with what I thought was the best hand and TP, I didn't want to go away. I then decide whether I should push, make another size raise or just call. I immediately rule out calling because I don't want the other players in the hand and I want a fold from the big stack. The problem with pushing is two fold: first, it looks like I'm on a draw and somewhat desperate, and two, I want to be able to bet on the turn and give him another chance to fold - even if he will have odds. Anyway, I decide to raise to 2K (about half of my stack). This lets him know I'm committed so he won't try to bully me with nothing and it lets me bet another 2K on the turn. My strategy backfired, BIG TIME. He says all-in almost as soon as I say raise and I realize I'm in trouble. I've just put in half my stack with a crappy hand and I'm going to be screwed if I fold. I know I'm at best 50/50, but I decide I have to go with my gut and call against the draw. I don't mind trying to dodge outs in one big hand to give me the stack to play my game. Bad call. He turns over T4 of spades, to give him an up and down, the four flush and an over. CRAP. He's like 3 to 2 to win and pretty much the whole deck is an out for him. I put him on a draw... just not three draws. He hits the flush on the turn and I'm bounced in 133 out of 200. I'd be interested in comments, but don't tell me to check fold on the flop. I know I probably should have done that and I don't need to hear it again. Anyway, that was my NLHE tourney and I decide to head home and get some sleep. I didn't play in the Stud tournament on Sunday as I had a lot of stuff to get done at home and I SUCK at Stud. All in all, it was a funny weekend and I can't wait for FARGO (don't think I'll be able to make it to BARGE). Later, ------------------------- Nat Arem aka N 82 50 24 www.PSCrew.com -------------------------

Trip Report by Ned Jazbo talked me into signing up for ATLARGE, 2005. Even though I have been playing a lot of 10/20 holdem at the Taj, it turned out that most of the folks that I recognized were fellow video poker players who also play table poker. I was in town on Thursday and Friday playin VP and holdem. I went home on Friday afternoon and I came back on Saturday with my better half. I arrived just before the 11am NLHE tournament start, which was the only one for which I registered. However, I spotted a VP progressive at a very attractive level and decided to postpone my tournament. I then noticed that Jazbo was also playing four seats away. Jazbo left to play in the NLHE tournament, but came back almost immediately. He had busted out on the second hand! Meanwhile, I lost 400 bets chasing the VP progressive for an hour before someone else hit it at a level of 1660 bets. I sat down at my tournament seat, mildly suprised at how few of my chips were blinded away by noon. I was also suprised that everyone at my table still had at least $2500. Hmmm, no gamblers here. I made two semi-bluffs with overcards and a gutshot straight draw. I ran into pairs both times and was down to $2500. Then, on the button, I picked up pocket nines. There was a raise to $60 from Tom just to my right. I raise to $200 and only Tom called. The flop came K94 rainbow. Tom checked and I checked my set. The turn was a queen and Tom bets $3000. I am thinking the most likely hand is KQ, or maybe AK slowplayed. I call all-in and Tom shows me a set of queens! The river was a blank and I was out of my first tournament ever without winning a single hand. And it was not even a bad beat that knocked me out. I returned later to watch the final four. I saw Oscar's amazing comeback from a positon of $2K vs $100K, $200K, and $300K stacks. Oscar had actually stood up after being put nearly all in. The crowd gave him the obligatory applause until the dealer counted out the chips and left him with the two $1000 chips. He ended up winning. I wish I had more time in the tournament to meet folks. Maybe I will recognize more of you the next time we meet at the Taj or Borgata. The weekend was a success for me. I lost $40 in 8 hours of 10/20 holdem and $75 in the ATLARGE NLHE event. However, I hit three top-line jackpots in four days of video poker play. One was for 1502 bets, another was for 800 bets, and the final jackpot was for 1262 bets. Over the four days, I played over 25,000 hands of VP and had a 5.6% ROI. Ciao, Ned

Trip Report by Paul McMullin As you've read elsewhere, AtLarge was a blast... Thanks Goldie and the Taj. Here are a few observations: Taj accommodations I: My wife (Edith) can walk a bit, but is very uncomfortable walking very far, so we travel with a wheelchair. She also sleeps sitting up most of the time because of her hip and back; when I made the hotel reservations with Marsha(?), I was assured that the Taj had been renovating the rooms, and that each room had a comfortable chair that should be acceptable for her use. However, at checkin, and again at "guest services", I was told that the desk-style chairs that were in the room were all that was available. Edith spent an uncomfortable Thursday night in one of them, and had pretty much decided to drive herself home on Friday... but I cornered Goldie in the poker room Friday morning before the start of the HOE event, and he allowed me to swipe one of the SIGNIFICANTLY more comfortable chairs from the hospitality suite (Thanks Dave F. for assisting me with the furniture arranging!). Edith was assuaged, and I returned the chair Sunday morning. [I don't know if they have security cameras in the elevators or not, but I'm thankful that I didn't have to explain WHY I was moving furniture between rooms when I couldn't get any of The Donald's Staff to do it for me.] Worst overall(?): As Goldie was saying his goodbyes on the way out of the card room on Sunday, someone asked about the "best overall" award, but when Goldie denied any knowledge of the tradition, there were three people within earshot claiming to have "AtLarge Best Overall" jackets to verify that it HAD been awarded in the past. Perhaps it was a computation that Crunch had been managing. In any case, I've GOT to be in the running for either the "best" or "worst" overall performance of the weekend: I finished on the bubble in Friday's HOE tournament (10th/96?), and made it to the bubble table in both Saturday's NLH (28th/200) and Sunday's Stud event (17th/67). Lots of play for no prize money. IGHN. Is this a great seat, or what? In the stud event at my starting table, Michelle was on my left. I'm pretty sure I had both her and Russ Fox on my right last summer in Barge's Stud shootout event, and turned to Edith before the dealing started and told her that I expected Michelle to be the most aggressive player at the table. That didn't stop me from shoving in a raise on about 1/3 of the hands that came to me unraised, and she never really seemed to get a chance to push back much - Edith seemed to think that I had been mistaken, but I think that the "human card rack" trick that I had going for the first two hours put Michelle a bit off her normal game - you just don't really want to mix it up with someone that is going to show you a flush or boat every time you get to the river with him. I'm certain that I would have had much more trouble had she been on my right again. (First raise wins; what a great seat!) Event structure error(?): When we sat down for the NLH event on Saturday, there were T3000 in chips at each place at the table, with the smallest chip being T25, but the tournament clocks were showing that the first round would have 5-10 blinds (or did we start at 10-20?). In any case, the directors scrambled around selling two stacks of red chips to each table, and then came back and sold a third stack. It turns out that someone had agreed to add a couple of blind levels at the beginning of the tournament as of last Wednesday - which turned out to be something of a disaster for the Taj because it extended the tournament into an 11 hour affair! At the end of the first hour only 10 or 12 people had busted out; we weren't down to 1/2 the field until about the third or fourth hour. While this was great for the participants, it was lousy for the Taj - we were NOT busting out and then playing in their ring games, and they had so many tables in use for the tournament, for a short time they were running ring games outside in their "auxiliary tournament area" because they didn't have free tables in the main playing space. Consider that there were nearly 600k tournament chips in play with four players at the final table, and the blinds were 10k and 20k without antes. Great for the players - with 100k you could wait for an orbit or two before you were in real pressure, but it meant that the final table lasted quite a while. I am mildly concerned that the fact that the tournament ran so much longer than was expected may mean that the tip pool may not have been as generous as had been planned. I KNOW that the floorman 'Brian' was annoyed about the change in the structure and how long our tournament lasted. [GOLDIE: please let us know if an after-the-fact-collection is in order to make up a shortfall to the tournament dealers.] Taj accommodations II: The tournament directors that were handling seat assignments were very accommodating, allowing me to "randomly" get a table assignment before each of the three events that was accessible enough that Edith could sit behind me (in her wheelchair) and watch me play... she spent about 15 hours between the three tournaments watching me avoid busting out, and was present at my two-hand-collapse in the stud event after watching me dominate the table for the first three-and-one-half-hours. She used to direct bridge tournaments for a living, and was quite the bridge player herself before she became so active in directing, and had a few comments about my play and "table presence" that may help improve my play in the future. In any case, thanks again to the Taj staff for making it easy for me to arrange for her to watch. The ringing in my ears has stopped now: After I busted out of the NLH tournament and visited with Edith for a bit, I managed to snag a seat at one of the TWO tables of the "pink game". Sitting between LenG and Dilligaf was a riot, but it wasn't until just this morning that my ears stopped ringing. One "local" sat down and played four hands before he got up and went over to the podium... we watched him "conversing" with the person managing the board (this conversation included several 'thumb pointing over the shoulder back at our table' motions) followed by a shrug by the staff member; the local came back to the table and stacked up his pink chips to leave without sitting back down. After he left, LenG declared it a new 3'42" record for hyper-tilting a local out of the game. Too bad he only donated a stack or so before he left. Welcome to California-in-NJ: I bought in to the pink game for 10 stacks at about 8:00PM. At 10:30PM I was down to about 3 1/2 stacks, having played several hands that I've given up playing in the online ring games, and feeling mildly annoyed at myself for having done so. No problem, this is the pink game! When I reached my pre-determined go-to-bed 11:30 cutoff time, I was selling 10 1/2 stacks back to the table and the dealer [keep the pink chips on the table if you can, to avoid 'fill' problems for the house]. Reminded me of the California games I'd visited a few times [you're not stuck if you're within 2 pots of your buy-in!]. Taj tournaments: I played in the Taj's $100+20 tournament Thursday night and their $200+25 tournament on Friday night. They start you off with T5000, which seems pretty generous, but the blinds bump every 20 minutes or so at the start: 25-50, 50-100, 100-200 + 25 ante, 200-400 + 50 ante, ... the jump from 150/orbit to 550/orbit was a bit of a shock, and then to 1050/orbit again means that the field is down to about 1/3 or 1/4 within about two hours [thanks for coming, now go gamble!]. I suspect that the "locals" have a HUGE advantage here over the "tourists" because of the adjustments that you need to make for this sort of structure [lull you the first 40 minutes, then sock you the next 40], but I *hope* that I could make the appropriate adjustments if I got to play that structure a few times myself. Final remarks: All of the AtLarge tournaments were great fun, with LOTS of play. Got a "8-2 poker club" chip as a bustout prize. Nice touch guys! It was great seeing Rev. Holtman outlast Eric in the NLH event. Also great seeing all the west coasters that traveled - I'll have to figure out how to get out to Escargo(?) next spring. Thanks again Goldie! See everyone at Barge! -prm

Trip Report by Russ Fox Brief, as in my stay in the tourneys. If you blinked you didn't see me. I was 5th out in the nlhe, getting crippled when I couldn't get away from KK (having made a preflop raise) versus Q7 (flop of 77Q). But I did well enough (actually, quite well) in ring games playing mostly $1/$2 nlhe and the pink game. I enjoyed meeting many new faces and getting reacquainted with some people I rarely see. Pizzaman, Tom Kelly, Jester, and many, many others are in this group. I hope many of you -- especially the 8-2 group -- will consider BARGE. You'll have a blast. Much kudos to Goldie for running an event that ran like clockwork. I know what's involved in organizing an ARG event so his hosting (and hosting of me) was greatly appreciated. As to the Taj, here's the good, bad and ugly: The good: They ran the games we wanted, and the tournament structures generally were outstanding. If anything, the nlhe ran too long! The bad: Some of their dealers were clueless. Reading a board? We don't need to read no boards! The ugly: The chips. Binion's never looked so good. Overall, I wish this could be on my calendar annually. Thanks again for the break from drudgery (taxes). -- Russ Fox

Trip Report by Scottro Sitting here in my home office and trying to shake off the poker hangover from last week, I decided I'd better record some of the things that I remember from ATLARGE. Oscar and I arrived Thursday around 1 P.M. As soon as we dumped our stuff and got situated in our room, we headed over to the Taj for some low-limit action before dinner. Played an uneventful $1/$2 NL session and dropped $127 by only playing a few hands and second best a few times. Not a good start, but the trip was young and I had no worries. We met up with Russ fox and Barry Kornspan and headed off to A.C. Bar and Grill. Russ and Oscar had never been there before, so Barry and I decided it was the best place to start the ATLARGE festivities. John Harkness went with us, and we all crammed into Barry's car. Dinner was great as it always is there (the Crab Pie is not to be missed). John had given me a full set of chips from the set of Tilt (he's a poker consultant for the show), and I reciprocated by covering his dinner. I still feel like I owe him more. Of course, the conversation among 5 good friends made the dinner, and I knew it was going to be a great 4 days! Got to bed fairly early after getting back to the house to watch The Apprentice and Tilt (I had been up since 1:30 A.M.) and when 6:30 A.M. rolled around, it was time to get up. Russ, Oscar and I went to the local IHOP for breakfast. It was fine when we were there, but the food haunted me for the remainder of the day. It proved to be a bad omen too. During the H.O.E. event, I played some more $1/$2 NL (I decided not to play the tournament). I folded for 2 hours and finally picked up QQ. The table maniac raised to $17 pre-flop (rather high for $1/$2 blinds, but that's how the game was playing out). I re-raised to $40 and he called. The flop came A K x. Normal people with QQ would check and fold here, but not me, no, I had to push it. I bet small, around $30, hoping it would look like a hand that I wanted raised. He just called. On the turn, a T gave me a str8 draw, and I again bet a small $50. He thought for a while and called. I didn't interpret that small pause as strength, and I think he almost folded, so I wasn't worried. The river was a rag and I shoved the rest in (about $150). He thought for a long time and finally called. He had A4o. No, the trip wasn't off to a good start. I thought I read him pretty good, and I think he made 3 horrible calls, but I'm the idiot who over-played my queens, so I deserve it. **The above play is NOT in our book. I played the hand very poorly in spite of my reads. Sometimes I do things I know instinctively are incorrect. It's a leak. About this time, Barry comes over to my table and tells me they're getting a pink game going. for those of you who don't know, the pink game is $7.50/$15.00 hold'em played with all pink $2.50 chips. It's an action game, and a whole lot of fun. I thought to myself, gee, I can make up the $450 I'm currently stuck by playing the pink game with good players! Perfect! I bought in for 2 racks, and I was NOT the big stack. Also in the game were Barry, Goldie, Oscar, Chic, Steve C. and Heather, Mitch F. and a couple clueless locals. I hate to say it, but Chic was throwing a party. I hope he made it all back later in the week, but at the time, I decided to benefit from it. One hand went like this. We cap pre-flop 4 ways. I have 88. Flop comes 8 4 4. DING! We cap the flop and go 3 bets on the turn and I get paid off in 2 spots on the river. Chic was driving the action, actually. I never saw his hand. After about 4-1/2 hours of play, I'm up $467 and decide to rack-up. It was the perfect session, and I was actually ahead for the trip. Very cool. We headed off to the excellent PokerStars dinner where we had great food and conversation. I don't recall everyone who was at our table, but I do remember talking a lot to Reilly Matthews (sorry if I spelled your name wrong). He's a really interesting guy and fun to hang out with. Got up early the next morning (Sat.). Russ and Oscar and I headed over to the Stage Deli for breakfast. It wasn't our first choice. The food was decent but WAY over-priced for breakfast. Within 30 minutes of breakfast, Russ and I got into a $1/$2 NL game. Russ woke up with QQ on the second hand of the session, and he made a nice score from the table maniac (who was sitting behind about $1,500 and raising nearly every hand). This game was an interesting highlight in my poker career. In just under 2 hours of play, I voluntarily entered the pot ONE time. ONE. I had 22 early and limped. Russ raised and I folded. That was the ONLY hand I played in 2 hours. My cards were that bad. (If I see J3o again I'm going to scream) Off to the ATLARGE No-Limit tournament. We started with T3,000 with small blinds, so we got a lot of play. Let's see, at my table was ADB Timmy, a much thinner Eric Holtman, Paul McMullin, a cool guy from Pittsburgh, a really cute girl named Michelle (no, not Jerrod's Michelle), and a few other players who I didn't know. All were very friendly as well as competitive. It was a great table. Not many hands of note in the 3 hours I lasted. I stole a bunch of pots and had a fairly decent stack for a while, but lost most of it with QQ (I'm starting to hate that hand) vs. Eric's AK when he spiked a K on the river. The one memorable hand came when my friend of Pitt. raised and I looked down to see AA. DING! I re-raised about 3 times his raise. Immediately he shoves in. I expected to see KK, so I called. He had the other two aces and we split. After Eric crippled me with my QQ hand, I got it in with AT and lost to KJ and that's all she wrote. I was off to find a good side game. I actually ended up in a great pink game with Dilli and LenG and Barry and several other wonderful people. It was another fantastic game, and I had a blast messing with LenG (my favorite target). During the game, the tournament was still going on, and I kept going back to check on Oscar and Russ. Russ busted out a few hours after I did, but Oscar was still going strong. After a while, they got down to the final table, and much to my delight, Oscar was right there with a decent (but not huge) stack. I watched as they slowly busted out one by one, and finally, it was 4-handed. Noelle had a good stack, and another woman who was playing NLHE for the first time had a big stack as well. Oscar and (Bob?) had the smaller stacks, but no one was out of it. Finally, a big hand goes down and Oscar and (Bob?) get it all in. Oscar loses the hand, and the obligatory clapping commenced. But no one realized that Oscar actually was ahead by T2,000 before the hand started, so he was left with 2 orange chips. With T600,000 in play, T2,000 is not a big stack, but nobody told Oscar. In about 9 hands, he turned the T2,000 into over T80,000, and then he was off. Noelle was the first to go after a deal was refused by the chip leader (I'm sorry I don't remember her name). Shortly after, (Bob?) busted her and heads-up play commenced with Oscar having about a 3-2 chip lead. They made an equity deal and played for the presto plaque. Oscar finished it off in short order and became the 2005 ATLARGE NLHE champ! It was very cool, and I was extremely happy for him. I was especially happy when he bought dinner that night! I didn't play the Stud tournament the next day. I got into a really good $10/$20 game where I proceeded to drop about $300 after getting 2 sets cracked by runner-runners, but that's poker. Russ has made dinner reservations for us at 7:30 at the steakhouse at the Taj, and we've got some time to kill, so Barry and I head to the Borgata with Oscar since he's never seen it. We check out the casino and the poker room and all, and then head back to the Taj to have dinner. The steakhouse at the Taj is decent, but not the best I've had. I think we would have been better off going to Old Homestead at the Borgata (which is excellent), but we had over $150 in comps to help us with the bill (nearly $300 for the 4 of us), so we got off cheap. We had a great time and all of us were too stuffed for desert. And after 4 days of constant poker, we called it a night and headed back to the house for some good conversation and relaxation. After reading Harrington's excellent book for a couple hours, I headed to bed. The trip home was 7 1/2 hours, but fairly easy going. Oscar is excellent with navigation, and we had no trouble finding our way thru Philly and back on to 80 W. heading home. Of course, we had a lot of great conversation about poker and ATLARGE and everything else. Final Thoughts Finished the trip at -$417. Not a good result, but it could have been a lot worse. A good chunk of that was my misplay of QQ in the NL game, so I'm not beating myself up about it. I thought I played pretty good during the weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the daily grind of online poker. It was fantastic seeing all of my friends again. Thanks to LenG, Dilli, Mitch, Dave Fruchter (thanks for the Tenacious D CD), Chic, Reilly, Joan (and junior), Big Boy Bruce, Eric and Kim, Steve and Heather, the 8-2 guys, John Harkness, Action Bob, all the cool people at my NLHE table, and everyone else for making this a great weekend! Special thanks to my good friends Oscar (NLHE champ!), Barry Kornspan and my co-author Russ Fox. You guys make these trips for me! And a s00per special thanks to goldie for putting on another great ATLARGE and for the use of the Goldie Nugget. You rock! See you all next year, and please, email me and stay in touch! 77 scottro http://www.livejournal.com/users/scottro/ www.scottro.com

Trip Report by Marshall "Snake" Lake Thanks to Goldie for organizing a great time at ATLARGE. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend in spite of it being a financial loss for me. I enjoyed meeting a bunch of ATLARGErs. Everyone was very nice. The sweatshirt was a great surprise. The buffet on Friday night was very good. I enjoyed Saturday afternoon (or was it Friday afternoon?) playing in the pink game with ActionBob, Goldie, and a few other ATLARGE attendees along with three locals. It was fun seeing the locals get very perturbed at ActionBob and Goldie as they were cap blind-raising through the river. It was a little disconcerting when the local sitting to my right made some loud belligerent type remarks at one point. When I asked him what he was talking about he said to me through the side of his mouth "I'm kidding" without looking at me, but I didn't believe he was. At one point during the game ActionBob asked me to blind raise (when I was sitting to his right) so then he would blind raise but being a newbie to this stuff I just couldn't bring myself to do it. On Sunday afternoon while waiting for my brother to bust out of the Stud tournament I killed a couple of hours by sitting in a $3-6 game with all locals (of course) and tested ActionBob's blind-raising method of play. And it just so happened that the player sitting to my immediate right played every hand and raised most hands. Many times the rest of the table had to put in $9 or $18 to see the next card and most everyone was getting pretty pissed with one player in particular making belligerent type remarks towards me (but he was smaller than me so I didn't much care :) . I must say my play did soften up the table even more than it already was when I first sat down. By the time I left everyone (with few exceptions) were seeing every flop when it was one or two-bet. Now if I could only learn to be as lucky as ActionBob I'd be all set. :) I'm looking forward to future ARG events. Marshall (Snake)

Trip Report by Rob "Suddenly" Catlett (Editor's note: The Author had planned a rather lengthy and literate trip report, going so far as to use a laptop and take notes. However, due to that lousy bastard's unfortunate physical condition and his typical redneck technical savvy, the notes are useless and The Author is forced back to his traditional style of just talking right out of his ass.) We got to ATLARGE a little early this year. Monday morning to be exact, trying to avoid the frozen wave of doom that swept the earth. I don't get to play live much at all outside of ARG events so I do try to push it where possible, and this time I may have pushed it too far trying to spend a solid week in the Taj... Everything was spiffy the first few days, beat up on the 5-10 and 3-6 games, managed to cash in one of the Taj tournaments. I like the structure of the Taj's tourneys... no rebuys, and the antes kick in at the third level (100-200 w/ 25 ante). Many of the players seem to be ignorant of pot odds and are fond of limping way too late in the tournament. At one point I from the button raise 3 limpers all in for my last T6800. I don't remember the structure, just that it folded back to me and I doubled through on the hand even though nobody called me... On Thursday other ATLARGERS begin to appear. Some wander into my 5-10 game, others I just see. For some awful reason at about 11PM or so a bunch of us decide we want to play 2-4 Omaha. The Taj relents and gives us a table, but then in typical Taj fashion tell us it must be a must move game for the main 2-4 O8 game. This of course, defeats the purpose and makes no sense seeing that it would really be a "must leave" game as nobody with any sense would willingly go to the main 2-4 O8 game for the same reason that people don't willingly go to prison... So someone, I think me, suggests a half HE half O8 game to avoid the must move, and the Taj people agree. So we have a little rocking 2-4 game where I show off my advanced skill at hitting two outers on the turn and overtipping dealers. Unfortunately I'm starting to feel notsohot, and this is where the whole trip starts to come apart.... Ironically, the list for the above game got long enough where a second non-ATLARGE two-way 2-4 game got started, and wound up breaking the main 2-4 O8 game... So Friday morning I'm really feeling like crap. I vaguely remember the HOE, the only concrete memory I have is busting out in the omaha round with something along the lines of AA35 with a suited ace that got beat both ways. I was short stacked and got about half of my chips in pre-flop and when the flop didn't brick me I felt committed. What I do remember is turning over my hand, and when Goldie (who had the high) started clapping the thought passed through my head that he was acting rather oddly... I guess I was dazed enough to sorta forget about the bustout applause thing... but I soon remembered where I was and what was going on and waived to the applauding throng... Then I went to take a nap. After an hour or so I felt duty bound to try a little more poker, see how it goes. I decide to try a little 3-6 as I am a bit fuzzy. Crappy game, table that time (or at least the floor) forgot, short handed and so forth. I want to leave but the banquet is in less than an hour so suck it up... I torture myself for a while over this, then get up. While walking to the banquet I begin to now REALLY feel like poopie. So I abort and return to my room. Maybe a 14 hour nap would be just the thing before the no-limit. At least that is the plan. I maybe sleep two hours total that night. My throat is driving me nuts, I have some sort of world record for a tongue ulcer (from the cough drops) in that I can see it in the mirror across the room without using my glasses, and best of all the Taj beds and pillows seem to have been designed with the "Cell of Little Ease" as a model. If my tossing and turning could have been harnessed I could have provided a small village with electrical power for the next decade... I was on autopilot for the no-limit. I remember turning a nut straight and then folding on the river when the board paired. I remember a weird hand where I flopped top pair, bet out, was told it was not my turn yet, apologized, and then when the other player bet I folded. I also remember being moved to table1 seat 10, a seat only accessible by hovercraft, and getting to it just in time for break so I could leave and try to get back to it again only to bust out on a 77 vs. AK race five hands past the break so I could force my way out again.... I'm a wreck from lack of sleep, and the first thing that goes for me is my emotional control, so the above just seems like the Worst Thing That Can Happen To Anyone Ever. Totally irrational, but I'm feeling easily put out at this point. This is when I realize that I feel like acting the same way most of the people (not ATLARGERS of course) tend to act at the Taj. Being a Good Country Boy I tend to spectate the kind of urban rudeness here with some level of amusement. Unfortunately, I'm feeling myself slipping into what I mock. Ye gads.. I maintain for the most part though... OK... At this point I'm having No Fun. I appreciate the work done on the whole deal by Goldie and others, and I do wish I could enjoy myself, but I'm a mess. I've been looking forward to this for months and I'm here and I just want someone to shoot me, or at least teleport my sick ass back home. Back to the concrete slab mattress and maybe another 2 hour hot shower. That night I hang out a little in the suite... try to keep a moderate distance in case I'm spreading the SARS virus... hate the idea of just camping out other than the tournaments... hang until about midnight, get some sleep for the Stud tournament... I get up in time for stud. My first ever live high only stud tourney, as I didn't register for it last year. I've had some good results in internet stud tournaments, but I usually just play Stud8, and the big game back home in my youth was 7stud hi/lo no qualifier. I just never really grasped regular stud for some reason. Seems like every time I play it I keep getting great hi/lo hands... Second hand in I get dealt rolled up fives. Nice. I make quads on 4th street. I can dig it. Thing is we are playing 15-30 with a stack of 3K so I'm not going to win it here... I think it would be nice to get this a little later. Unfortunately I catch 2s on 5th and 6th so even though I think my opponent has trip queens he slows down and I win a nice pot rather than a really absurdly large one... From there I muddle on until there are about 5 tables left. I have about 2400, and am waiting for a chance at a noble death so I can sit in the pink chip game for a few minutes at least. Then I make concealed trips on 4th street and manage to almost triple up, and then win the next pot I think on a scary board and a bluff. So I'm doing alright when the table breaks until I get into my saga with Golfman. He has many chips and is playing very aggressive, seemingly completing the bring-in 70% of the time. When there are I think still 3 tables we play a series of crucial hands. In the first, he brings it in and I complete with an ace showing, and a suited QJ under. He calls. He catches small on 4th and I catch a 9. I bet he calls. On 5th street I pair the nine and he pairs a small card. I bet he again calls. On 6th I catch an ace, pairing the door card. He has 3 to a wheel showing. I bet out and he goes into the tank. I think he has a low draw or two pair and is contemplating dumping it. I have maybe 3 bets left and he is pretty deep. He remarks that he can't believe he is laying this down as he made his draw and shows a 6 high straight and folds. After a rather serious limit increase we went at it again. He brought in with a five showing for the full bet (I think... he had maybe raised a bring in), and I raised with an exposed 9 and a suited QJ under with larcenous intent. He called. We both catch 9's on 4th street, and I bet to represent the trips. He calls, which concerned me a bit. I was ready to fold up the tent on 5th street until I catch the case 9. I bet with my exposed trips, and he isn't folding yet. He's just tortured, and says something about it being a close call and now I know he started with rolled up 5s. He calls me down and my trips hold. Llew interjects: O.K, it's late and I spent the whole day giving trumpet and drum lessons to 9-12 year-olds, so maybe I am missing something. How does he call down your exposed trip 9's with rolled up 5's that didn't fill up? Rob "Suddenly" Catlett replies: I was probably all in. The limits were a bit insane. He called me on 5th and 6th and then either I had no chips or I assume I check there on the river with the exposed trips anyway... I can't really remember which, but there was a showdown... I'm somewhat sure I was all in though... The final chapter came with nine left in the tournament, and he again raised someone's bring in only for me to find rolled up queens. I reraised him all in and soon the final table was underway... The final table was quite mad. The limits for most of it were 6K/12K, heavy stuff with only 190K on the table. Then they were 10K/20K. I think I only played one hand without a monster when I completed with an A up only to be reraised by a queen. For some reason I decided a checkraise bluff on 4th street was the correct play, and to my shock I took down the pot. Other than that from what I recall I busted four of the eight remaining players in my march to the title. As I recall these were the hands I started with: (JJ)J (KK)2 (AA)K (77)7 ...given the limits we were pretty much playing no-limit stud anyway... So, I won the ATLARGE stud tournament. I didn't believe it then and I'm not sure I believe it now. I'd have given it to be able to at least breathe without having a knife stuck in my lung, but we all have our little problems in life I guess... Thus ended my ATLARGE. I made it back home where the recovery continues. What did I learn? Being sick at the Taj sucks. Seriously. If the structure is fast enough not really knowing the particular game in a poker tournament is not much of a liability. You can be rolled up 3 times in an hour and not get arrested. --- Suddenly (Rob Catlett)