Trip-Report

Trip Report by Kim Scheinberg 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

Trip Report by Eric J. Holtman On the drive down to ATLARGE, it was snowing. And it's almost April.    -1 weather unit I get to Resorts around 9am. There's absolutely no one I recognize in the poker room, so I ditch my bag and head over to the Taj. Their On the drive down to ATLARGE, it was snowing. And it's almost April.    -1 weather unit I get to Resorts around 9am. There's absolutely no one I recognize in the poker room, so I ditch my bag and head over to the Taj. Their poker room as just as dead, so I decide to get started early on the negative expectation games. A half hour of mellow multi-action blackjack brings a quick $40 profit    +40 BJ units. The Taj actually has $5 craps on dead weekday mornings, so I plunk down some cash. Now, I'm pretty much a dark sider, but I decide to try some $5 line/$10 odds right betting. Of course, the next two shooters are 3 numbers and out. DOH!!!. However, I stay with the dice, and cash out $120 to the good.    +120 dice units. Over at Resorts, I hook up with Loboc and Jeremy Miller, and after watching Jeremy get brutalized in 1-5 stud, we decide to play some negative expectation games. We were thinking "PaiGow". We played "roulette". Yup. Roulette.    -80 roulette units. Jeremy's all pissed off at pissing away $100 on the roulette table, so he sits down at a $25 BJ table, buys in for $100, and says: "I gotta win my fucking money back". 6 hands later, he's up $100. It's now time for the buffet. As I walk up to the cashier, I see Chuck Weinstock, Sippy, and a few others (all with their backs to me). I yell out "FISH!". They all turn around. Yuk yuk. After the buffet, I hung around Resorts for awhile, checked in, and then hit the Taj. Around 6pm, they finally get a Pink Game fired up. I'm in seat three. Action boy in seat 5 blind raises (which isn't even live at the Taj), jams the pot the whole way, shows down Aces for a winner. Fasten the seat belt, kids. About two hands later, Action Boy is small blind, but he's busy raking in chips from another pot, and until the raised action gets to him, he doesn't notice he's got three cards. Floor is called over. We were all willing to give him back his small blind (he's Action Boy, don't want to piss him off), but Kimmy (a.k.a "Pocket Pair Girl, a.k.a Table Captian (very annoying Oriental woman who plays 15-30)) insists on keeping the $5 in the pot, which she wins. Action Boy goes ballistic. Says "OK, that's gonna cost you. I'm gonna raise *EVERY* pot you're in, Kimmy". Kimmy comes back with "you don't have enough money for that". Action Boy says "I could play this game for 20 years straight and not go bankrupt". Kimmy reaches into her purse and pulls out a choking 7000-10000 bankroll. "Oh Yeah?!?!?!". O.K., fasten the seat belt, and couldya hand me that crash helmet? Action Boy does indeed raise *every* pot Kimmy is in, for the next 2 hours. Sitting after Kimmy but before Action boy, I had great position, never had to even bother raising my good hands, and for mediocre hands, I could count on Action Boy three betting it for me, to drive out the competition. 6 hours later, thouroughly drunk, and flush with $450 win, I quit to Jeremy, Peter Secor, Bruce, and Russell Rosenblum appear like demons. They want to play some low limit table games. I'm thinking "blackjack". We played "Red Dog". Yup. Red Dog. I have no idea how we did, but we did manage a short heater after convincing the dealer to turn the dog so it faced away from us. Yeah, that's the ticket. We also played some blackjack, I think, and then, thankfully, landed back on the PaiGow table. By now, I'm so grilled I'm in serious danger of fouling my hand. Somehow, we manage to escape the table, I suffered only minor damage to the bankroll, and with a fistful of comps, we (at this point Jeremy, Peter, and Timmy), head over to the Bombay Cafe for breakfast. During breakfast, we played Keno (bad), but also exchanged 5% of our action in the next days tourney with each other (good). After leaving the Cafe, Timmy insists on Rumpleminze. So we stop and the Princess Lounge and indulge. The gods get even with Timmy, though, as on the way back to Resorts, he walks full speed right into a wall. The rest of the group had wisely chosen the door option. Back at Resorts, the four of us must have been a casino's wet dream. I believe (but am not certain) that we played Blackjack for a short I wander down, and Peter stays for one roll and abandons me. Sigh. I'm playing the dark side. I start cheering as sevens start coming. Woman next to me says "Do that again, and I'm gonna slap you silly". guy, so I say "O.K., go for it. I'm sure security would just love that". Which I'm sure sounded more like "OK... ga f'it.... sh ss-s-s-s-ecurity w juz l'that". Yup, I was hurting. As the dice continue to "not pass". woman gets more and more irritated, and moves to the other side of the table. Timmy comes up, and I believe places one dark side bet. Woman says "Oh great, another asshole". Woman sevens out. I color up, a nice hit, and as I pass by her, wave, and say "have a great morning". Urk.... it's 6:00am.... I crawl into bed, bother Ramesh for a while raving about how great the Pink Game was, and then suddenly, it's 9:00am. After a quick shower, a quick aspirin, and a quick $80 score at the dice table, the tournament starts. Seat #2 at my table is empty, and we start to blind him off. On one hand, guy in seat 10 can't see past the dealer to notice he's heads up against the playerless stack, and the playerless stack takes down the pit with 6-4 offsuit. Yup, that was Peter Secor's (eventual champion's) stack. After busting out, I head up for a nap, and return around 4:30. After a short wait, I get seated in the pot limit game. Nothing exciting happens for about an hour (as one might expect with 10 tightassed rec.gamblers playing PL for real dough), but finally I flop a set of queens, and Mr. Secor is kind enough to pay $100 on the turn for a straight draw which misses. I cash out. Head over to the Taj, where Timmy, Spiney and I play in a 2nd Pink Game which only lasts a half hour or so. After dinner, we snag Jeff Woods and head back to Resorts to shoot dice. Timmy, Jeff and myself all start playing the dark side. Things are not going well, and after an hour or so, Timmy busts out and disappears. Jeff and I both rebuy, and continue on. Funniest moments of this game:    (1) a couple shows up and is standing behind us. Guy has played before, and is attempting to explain game to his wife. Normal stuff, 7 and 11 good, points, etc, etc. Except that all she can she from where she's standing is Jeff and my action. She's very confused    (2) at one of the low points in our play, we've just gotten all but one point covered. Jeff turns to my and says: "I feel like Chekov in Star Trek IV, where he's to beam off the aircraft carrier". Now, I love the Trek films, but I drew a blank. Jeff says, in the Chekov accent "Now would be a good time, Scotty". I burst out laughing, and the **next** roll is a beautiful seven. Ka-ching    (3) three drunk college boys step up next to us. One has played before, the other two haven't. They buy in, and (like Jeff and myself) drop $10 on the Don't Pass line. Point is established, and the guy is telling his buddies how now they need that point again to win. I lean over and say "You do know you all bet AGAINST the dice, right". They look don't, say "shit", and wait. Shooter sevens out, their mistaken bets win. Ka-ching. To make a long story short (TOO LATE), Jeff and I both manage to dig out, I pocketed a big fat $20, Jeff took off about $100. The next day, while the stud tournament is going on, I decide to complete my tour of the negative expectation games. First, I play short handed pot limit with Karen and Jesse, two local semi-pros who are married. You make the call. -300. Then, to complete the tour, I play Let It Ride. Yup. Let It Ride. After about 1 and a half hours, I cahs out -10 bucks. While I was playing, there was a woman there betting, I kid you not, $200 a spot, or $600 a hand. Now, not only is she taking the worst of it in a major house game to start, she's crippling herself by betting so much, since the max payout on any bet is $50,000, so hitting the 1000:1 royal or 200:1 straight flush isn't going to be full pay. Some people definitely have more money than brains. Of course, she won about $4,000. After a quick stint in a Sunday afternoon Pink Game matinee, I decide to drive home. ATLARGE..... it r00lz.

Trip Report by foldem Disclaimer: There won't be too many hands in here. Tournament hands are in the post by TIGER123 who graciously agreed to take notes for the Hold'Em Tourney. Most or all of the Alt.Drunken.Bastard stuff took place away from the host casino (Resorts - give then a hand and some of your business: great crew in the poker room) as we did not want to put a "bad beat" on ourselves. Certain events have been recalled through an alcoholic haze, but I DID keep extensive notes, so if it sounds like an exaggeration, well, Naaaah, it's what really happened. The Week Before: Jeremy Miller(Beavisbot/Satan) and I have agreed to be roomies at ATLARGE. We've never met, but this week we're both on IRC a lot after work practicing up. He's hilarious online. I can't wait to meet him. Win a 21 person IRC tourney Wednesday (Good omen) to bring me to -7 buy-ins after 185 or so tourneys. Heh. Am ranking #3,218/+0.0034 small bets per hand after over 8,200 hands, mostly H1. Am disappointed to hear there will be no Calcutta due to fear of CCC busting us up with guns blazing and taking all of ATLARGE with us. I already had planned to print out the rankings of the top 5000 or so IRC Hold'Em players to help handicap...shucks. By the night before I'm really psyched up. Jeremy tells me he might go down at 2:00AM, he's so fired up. My wife thought I was going to do that too. I might have, but we had ballet tickets for Thursday night. Sounded too crazed (heh). FRIDAY: Excited, I wake up early to get off in the bad weather. It's snowing big beautiful flakes, the last of a record winter's white. Go only 70 on the turnpike, due to weather (this is NEW JERSEY) and have a fine trip down. Give my car to valet. Oops, no check-in till 4PM. Check bags (including backgammon set, as I'm hoping to recoup my casino losses by getting Beavisbot drunk and playing high stakes BG ). Off to Buffet, where the first official event is held: lunch. Run into Jazbo on the way in & we chat. I play at the Mayfair in NY, and he came up one week to play baby ($1,$2 blinds, $300 buy-in) no-limit Hold'Em at the club, so he was one of the two RGP folks I already knew. Scott Byron also plays in that game at the Mayfair, and lets me sweat him and whisper questions while he plays. Buffet was great, putting names with faces even better. Find myself confusing Eric with Doug all week-end (Sorry guys). Sit across from Nolan Dalla, who writes for Card Player. Hey maybe we'll get some press. We chat pleasantly and agree to throw the bones later (a premonition). This is where I see how the whole thing is going to be run. Jazbo has name badges for everyone all made up ahead of time, has everyone registered for their events, gotten star cards for everyone and generally done a completely terrific job of organizing. Even more impressive is his calm demeanor. R000ling!! [1] ***** [1] Please note "R000ling" is spelled R-three-zero-l-i-n-g but ***** the three is silent. After buffet it's off to the TAJ to cash a marker and use one of the Match Plays I get in the mail. OK, $10 pass, $10 match. Roll 10. $50 odds. Roll 9. 10. Yes! Up $120 on my first action. Play one more roll (just in case ) lose and quit up $90. Unfortunately, on the way back to Resorts... -$20 I decide not to play in the $100+$15 Resorts Hold'Em tourney after all. I enjoy meeting and sweating Sneezix, LOBOC, Jester, Filaman, DTM at $5/10 HE. Watched them beat up on 2 non-RGP'rs in the game. Get in the game finally. 1st hand, I'm BB with K8s flop comes 87x Kx I win! Later I start to get a read on the table, a rush that would last the whole weekend at the Hold'Em tables. Called with J9s in late position, flop came Q9x. I read bettor for AK or AJ overcards and called all the way. Dragged the pot when two rags fell (It was AK). Later hold TT in middle and raise, reraised late, call by button, I call. Winner had KQs. The overcaller had 93o! Took tons of notes on theory it would either 1) help my cards or 2) give accurate record of the shit I was holding. On later reflection, not many interesting hands. Only played 2 blinds in 3 rotations. I have a good viewing seat next to the final table at the Tourney with 2 of our guys still in, loads of RGP sweaters rooting them on. Congrats to Jay "Sippy" Sipelstein (2nd) and Dave "DTM" Meeks (4th). Jerry Gerner has arranged a TARGET entry tourney for 9 of us. He says we'll play in his room, using a bed for a table. ("Who would ask you to use a bed for a table?" Answer: Jerry Gerner). Only problem was we had to bring the chairs from our room. Now Jerry is staying on the floor with the parking garage entrance, so they have security in the hall and an extra lock on the hallway entrance to the rooms. Beavisbot and I come rolling out of the elevators with the chairs and call Jerry's room to come let us in the hall. Security: Where you guys going? Beavisbot: Heh,heh,heh. Me: We're having a Prayer Meeting (tm) [2] Security: Oh, OK. Jerry opens the door and in we go. I suspect the others were not questioned . ***** [2] Prayer Meeting (tm). All rights reserved for ATLARGE ***** Tournament. No use without permission. Violators will be ***** laughed at and forced to play $1-$2 Omaha/8 with the Mad ***** Russian. Now here I am with 9 of the finest. I only know Jeremy (barely), Scott, and a couple of others whose names I recognize from the 'net. What the hell, this should be a blast. (David Fruchter has posted a report on this event.) I was third and Jeremy second, as Jerry won his own tourney. These guys are tough, so I am pleased with my finish. I would see most of them at the final table tomorrow. Stay up late carousing with the Alt.Drunken.Bastards contingent. We (Beavisbot, Timmy, Bruce, Russell, Jester, and I) go over to TAJ to attempt a mass barring or some other outrageous behavior. Catch up with Eric Holtman playing Pai Gow. Find empty (almost, soon will be) Red Dog table.[3] Aha! Just the kind of depravity I had in mind. ***** [3] A certain party suggested playing the Big Wheel, but there ***** are levels I will not sink to. We fill all seats but one and have sweaters behind cheering. Dealer killing our minimum bet, Waitress bring drinks! action. We need something to change our luck. It comes to me. Eureka! Dealer, please turn the little dog around so we can kick his ass! Yes! Major Red Dog recovery. Eric talks us into returning to Pai Gow, where I proceed to get get loaded to the (yes) gills and unloaded in the (yuch) pocketbook banking Pai Gow. Didn't I give this game up a couple of years ago? Sure I did. Blackjack, breakfast. Finally knock off. Unfortunately, the path to our room is right past the Resorts Crap tables. Cha Ching! Let the don't shooters influence my thinking. Donald and Merv will sleep well tonight. Agree to swap 5% with each of Beavisbot, Jaeger and Timmy. How bad could that be? This is all pretty hazy, but I'm pretty sure I got some Rumplemintz units in here somewhere. Get to the room about 6AM -$800. Jeremy is still out carousing somewhere. Fall into bed and fall into restless sleep. FORGET TO LEAVE WAKE UP CALL! Saturday: Awaken to phone ringing. "Hullo?" "This is TIGER123. Are you playing in the Tourney?" OH SHIT! Throw on my clothes and race down...(Nothing like starting on Vacation). I'm told I won in the blinds with 64 off. Great. Good start. Kman quotes me as I try to get my bearings "Yes, dealer, I'm still not paying attention." Sleep still clogging my brains. I get 55 UTG - make it T50 to go - win! Presto! Wakes me up. Floor comes by and threatens dealer with Poker Jail for some infraction. Am playing well, getting good reads, stealing often, very aggressive with the big drawing hands. Kman and Sippy go all-in against each other. Whew. Kman KK, Sippy QQ. We're down to two tables. This was my goal when I came. Finish respectably. Cool. Get KQ w/ KQx flop. Go all-in with Alan Aida. Split it up, as he shows the same. Richard Sooy, the TAJ dealer and frequent RGP contributor is at our table. He is bullying the table. Just killing everyone but me. Somehow I have his number. He runs up the chips, then I take a bunch from him. He's playing everything in sight and is drawing out on most hands. I have a good stack, about 2/3 of Richard's. I pick up AQs. Richard calls good size raise. Flop comes Kxx. I read him for another bluff and move all-in. When he called I figured I was dog meat. Turn: blank River: K. I show and he mucks! Tiger tells me I am the chip leader. An interesting hand. Chuck "Conjelco" Weinstock has TT in the T200 Big Blind. He has T600. There are 12 left, 10 get paid. The big stack raises all-in from the SB. Do you call? He decides to fold and try to survive. (I had 22). My notes end as we move to the final table. My hands are sweaty and shaking a little with nervousness. I am far to nervous to take notes [4]. Jeez, I'm in the money and chip leader by at least 2x anyone else. ***** [4] Tiger123 has already posted as I write this. ***** You can get the final hands from his 4/1/96 Resorts ATLARGE ***** Report. I must say that I don't believe I've ever met a jollier ***** person than Tiger. He sure did a great job with keeping the ***** hands and all. I've seen these faces before! Half these guys were at the Prayer Meeting (tm)! I am in trouble. Richard had made me too many gifts and was first out. We have already agreed to try rocks & beers later at the TAJ with him dealing. What a great guy! Mostly I'm just being bled away, without taking much part in the action. I don't want to have the middle stacks double through me, so I try to get involved only with the smaller ones, as best I can. I'm especially worried about Jerry and JP. Jerry won last night and I know he's on his game. JP is scary. He is incredibly intense at the table. It's like an aura. Everyone else I'm comfortable with. When we're down to 4 or 5, Jazbo brings out the plaques for 1st, 2nd & 3rd and they leave them on the table. Ooh, those look great. I want one. Jerry takes out everyone else and builds up to about 2-1 chip lead. Now we're heads up. Shit. Why didn't I read all those recent posts & articles on Tourney pot splitting? Whoda thunk it? I ask Jerry if he wants to deal. I am secretly hoping he'll take it. I figure it should go about 60-40 for the cash & play for the Plaque. I really don't care about the cash that much [5], but, man, would I love that Trophy. He smiles coyly and says "Let's play a little". Frankly I would do the same in his shoes. ***** [5] The ATLARGE Hold'Em tourney had 54 Entries. First Place paid ***** $1,026. After 5% to the dealers and 15% to my ***** Alt.Drunken.Bastard buddies, less about 1/3 in taxes, I net $500. ***** Second Place paid $400something with no taxes. I decide to play one-connectors and suited stuff for my junk hands and throw away most of the rest, more or less maintaining discipline, unless I get really short-stacked. We trade blinds quite a bit. I suck out with a straight all-in with T9 vs K7s, and again when T4s makes 4s and they hold up. We trade blinds back and forth for a while. I pick up 62o in BB, and Jerry just calls, trying to get action. I was surprised because I don't remember seeing a free card at this table. Flop comes 229 and I push all-in and Jerry calls with KQo. He doesn't help and a 9 rivers me a full house [6]. ***** [6] Does this mean 62off can be called a "foldem"? You know like ***** when you have 55 and call "PRESTO!" and the other guy says ***** "Irwin?" You would call "FOLDEM" and the other guy would mutter ***** "shit". Now I'm leading and feeling confident. A few hands later I go all-in with 88 and suck-out a runner-runner flush to take an all but insurmountable lead. I try to win on T2off (doyle brunson) thinking it would be neat, but Jerry held on. A few hands later I finally beat an extremely difficult and gracious opponent to become the Hold'Em champ of ATLARGE! I would like to take a minute to congratulate and thank the staff and dealers at Resorts. They don't usually deal no-limit, nor work at that hour, nor for so little in tips (I'm pretty sure everyone kicked in 5%). They were courteous, efficient, and, sensibly, let us help them if they needed it. The tourney came off without a hitch (as did 7-card the next day) and the right guy won ! PART 2: The Dark Side. Coming soon to a newsgroup near you! Part 2 will include the TOP 10 REASONS FOR ATTENDING BARGE! foldem

Trip Report by Jazbo Burns First of all, let me thank everyone that came to ATLARGE -- what a great group of people! A special thanks goes to Kman (for running the mailing list, keeping up web pages, taking pictures of the winners, etc.), to Tiger for keeping notes on the Hold'em event, and for Foldem/Sneezix who kept track of the Stud tourney. I also want to express my appreciation to everyone that participated in the pot limit game. The game was so good (and so rare for me) that I played straight through the night (4PM to 9AM), broke for the stud tournament, and then jumped back in around noon, finally being pried up with an offer of a (partially) comped meal courtesy of Peter Secor and the dice shooting crew (thanks foldem!). Anyway, back to the game. In the first session, I danced around carefully with my $200 buy-in, never getting fully involved while I got the feel of the game (and waited for the nuts :-). I do remember getting QQ twice real early, losing with both (but not a lot since I was able to dump them when overcards hit). I did win a $50 pot with AA when I was bet into on the flop and reraised. I was basically oscillating between $100 and $300 for several hours, never doubling up or busting out. Eventually, I got Aida (Alan Richter) to swap seats with me so I could play with the second group of the pot limit afficiandos. (We had two full tables going for more than eight hours.) At table two, I got several lessons in pot limit from JR (James Rankin) and watched in awe as Darkside Dalla sliced and diced the table. I *know* he was bluffing often, but I just didn't have the stones to get involved with him without a quality hand. I guessed he picked up on this -- *every* time I reraised him he dumped it, and he was right. Example 1: Nolan raises the pot with AJ, I reraise the pot with AK, Nolan folds. Example 2: Nolan raises the pot with 88, I reraise with JJ, Nolan folds. Some day Nolan we're gonna pick up AA & KK in the same hand ... At some point when Darkside was off earning his new nick, I picked up A3s and got to see a flop of (approximately) T45. The betting was light, and I managed to see the turn of 6 and the river of 7. I took down a nice pot with the ignorant end of the flush from Warren Sander who had this misfortune to hold 67 for the nut straight draw all the way, making two pair. This was the first time I had been up more than $200, and I said "That's a going to bed pot." However, it's rude to leave just after winning a big one, ain't it? Anyway, I had AsK? on the next hand and got to see a flop of Jxx, all spades for $5. (Actually, I don't remember my second card, except that it wasn't important). I called a pot sized bet from JR with my nut straight draw. The turn was another J. JR checked & I checked. The river completed my flush and JR checked. Here is where I had a real mental lapse. Unaccountably, I bet $100, and then called JR's $100 raise. I wouldn't be surprised to see a full house, but his Quad Jacks did wake me up. Thanks for the lesson, JR, I won't be making *that* mistake again. Sometime after midnight, the list of ATLARGE'rs on the pot limit list was exhausted and some of the local semi- or would-be-pros got in. Two of these are a husband and wife couple, Jesse and Karen that I know well from the Taj. They had never played pot limit before, but it didn't take Karen (a better player than her husband) long to figure it out. Here's one interesting hand involving Aida, Jesse, and a local I didn't know that I'll call WS (for white sweatshirt). There was $85 in the pot preflop (four way I think). The flop came JT9 with two diamonds. WS bet out $80 and Jesse raised $245. Aida showed me his hand QQ with the diamond queen. Aida had only about $75 left and dumped the hand(!?). WS called. I don't remember the remainder of the betting, but WS bet big and was all-in by the river. I was sure we would see both players show down KQ, but WS had KK and Jesse had AA (that he had not raised with preflop)!!! After this, Jesse essentially (and almost literally) went to sleep and hardly played a hand, holding on to his big win. I do remember that he got chopped in half before the game broke, but I don't recall the circumstances. I think (hope) that JR or Bozo got to him. After the stud tournament, I bought back in the game for $200. I quickly picked up JsTs and caught an amazing flop: 9s8sx. I stood a pot-sized bet ($25?) by Darkside Dalla. The turn was another 9, and I dumped it for the expected $100 bet. This was probably a mistake, but I didn't like the possibility of drawing almost dead. I picked up exactly the same hand right away, and again had to dump it. In just a few hands, the Master of Disaster (aka Darkside Dalla), had cut me down to $60, probably with pure bluffs. At this point, I just started paying my $3 per round in blinds waiting for a good hand. When if finally came, I was down to $40 (no doubt a mistake to get so short, but I had decided I wouldn't lose more than my $200 buy-in in the game and guarantee a profit for the weekend). Anyway, I picked JTs again (clubs this time), managed to make the nuts and quadruple up. Within the next ten hands I had AA *three* times, managed to double up once, win a nice pot once, and get away from a loser cheap once. In one round I went from $40 to $350 -- ya gotta love that game! There is one other local player I have to talk about. Sergei, the "Mad Russian", joined our table and proceeded to be continously annoying with his complaints about not getting cards, criticizing everyone else's play, and generally making an ass of himself. He was especially obnoxious to me for some reason, perhaps because I didn't mind his act a bit and gave him back what he was serving (but with a smile :-). He especially like needling me about my mistake against JR's four jacks. When he found out that I (appeared to) hold the key to getting in the stud tourney he suddenly started making nice. I let him in, after telling him it was a "no complaining" tournament (I hear he didn't respect this warning -- I'm glad he was busted out early). Anyway, after the game reformed when the tourney was over, I finally got in a hand with Sergei. (He played *very* few hands and got out of my way when I raised.) On the hand in question, I held KTs. The unraised flop came down J9x with two of my suit. I can't recall the betting exactly -- I think there was $25 in the pot, I bet, he called and we were heads up. The turn was an 8. I bet a testing $50, and Sergei raised $80 (well below the pot). Given his history, the only hands I could put him on were JJ or QT. I knew I was behind, but with 12 cards to make the near-nuts, I decided it was worth taking a card off (he could have bought the pot for a full bet). The river was a lovely deuce of my suit. It was really sweet when Sergei called my $100 river bet. After bragging that he would drive me to the felt, it was good to cut him in half and send him scampering off to $10+20 stud. Later I learned from Beavisbot that Sergei flashed QT when he folded, so he made a real mistake when he let me draw cheap. Well, I up over 100 lines, which means this will probably never get off my server, so I'll sign off here. Besides, I still need to catch up on sleep! --jazbo

Trip Report by Jeff Goldberg I'll apologize in advance for the length of this report (220+ lines). I had such a great time, that I wanted to re-live the weekend. ******************************** Jazbo great job in organizing a road trip for some 60 people dispersed over the eastern seaboard. I am sure that you have a future in organizing spring break trips if your day job and/or poker playing goes south!! There is a big market in this at Universities. ******************************** Thursday PM: Its snowing in West Point and I am getting ticked off. One of the things I don't like about New York is that you cannot plan more than 3 days in advance in the winter. I start watching the weather channel and rooting against the radar. After 3 cycles (about 1.5 hours) it is clear that the storm will be over by noon and I'll have no trouble driving down the coast to AC. Might not make the 4:00 Friday tournament, but at least I'll be there +1 weather unit Friday AM: Spent my usual 5 minutes packing and I forgot my lucky hat (that is why jerry Gerner beat me out of a pot on Saturday AM). Good start. Arrive at work and find out I have to make corrections to a presentation that is for Tuesday 4/2 in DC. I may not get out of here until 3 and I am on tilt. The weather is still bad and I am getting more tilted. Did a guest lecture for a friend and had a great hour. Now I'm just a little on tilt. Finish the presentation and edit the report. Leave at 12:30, only 2 hours behind schedule. At least the snow has stopped. I had a less exciting drive than Nolan. After I was 35 cents'ed to death on th e Parkway, I pulled into Resorts at 3:45 (being careful to note that the garage door was higher than my truck (thanks Arti)). Forget checkin, I want to be in that tournament!! Ran to the sign-in podium and got right in (what luck) with the help of the desk person (she was super helpful as were all of the staff at resorts, I would definately go back to this hotel!). Friday Tournament: Got lucky to survive the 4th limit when I hit a gut shot on the river when all of my chips were in the center. Called down a bluff with middle pair to keep my head above water. Then the deck hit me for about 5 hands and I ran T400 to T1200 to sit pretty. Finally we are down to 2 tables and I was with all of the big stacks. I mentally said to slow down and wait for the other table to bust out. That lasted all of 3 hands after the break. Picked up AK in the small blind, late raiser, so I made it 3 bets, middle limper called also so I have 3 way. The flop is ATx rainbow and I am counting how I will spend the tournament winnings since I have tripled up to around T2400. OOPs, bit early there. Pre-flop raiser was on AT suited. I couldn't lay my hand down so I was all in and drawing to 3 outs at the turn. This is not a profitable situation. Great playing Sippy in the endgame!!! You really played well against the short stacks to keep in the game. At the start of the final table you were a big dog, but you played super. Played 10-20 at Taj and won $140 to get back my tournament money. Met the world famous (Poker World famous that is) Don Smolen. Made a mental note to buy his CP book from Conjelco now that I know he has a LOT of ability. Day totals: -2work pressure units -935 cent tolls (these guys need a more effective way to collect those quarters. One at a time doesn't work well with me ) -115tournament +14010-20 live action +15 new friendships (big winner for the day) Saturday: Got a bagel for breakfast (Jewish brain food) and decided on how I would play early in the no-limit tournament. Since my no-limit experience is about 20 minutes at the end of a small limit tournament at the Excalibur, I thought it would be best to go in with a plan. My goal was to win at least one pot other than a blind steal. Bad start, Scott Byron and Jazbo to my left. Last time I tried to get cute in a pot with Scott, I lost half of my stack in the 4 Queens limit holdem tournament (with only 80 players out of 290 left!! Scott put my chips to good use by going on to get in the money). I was glad when someone won the bustout hat at hand 3 so I wouldn't feel as stupid if I made a terrible mistake. First hand played JJ - raise blinds to 30, called by the button. Flop is beautiful, 9 high rainbow. I bet 40 and got called (I learned over the course of the day that the button player called a lot). The turn was a Q, not too good, so I lost my nerve and checked. This is why I am not a good no-limit player. Button checked (thank god or I wouldn't have a clue on what to do next). T on river, I checked and button bet 100. At this point if I were no-limit holdem world beater Doyle Brunson, I would have "put this boy in for all of his chips (said with a Texas drawl and remembering the Post-Oak bluff line in Super-System (What the hell is a Post-Oak))" Instead since I am variance minimizer jeff goldberg, I crying called the 100 and beat ATx with my JJ. I became the table chip leader and won a pot in a no-limit game. Mission accomplished. Over the course of the morning, I had AA twice, KK once, and QQ once. All won the blinds, including one of the AA where I put in a 100 chip without saying raise. So my intended raise became a call. Excellent deception on my part. I am sure they were confused. On many of the other hands, I leaked away my stack 20 and 40 at a time by making small raises and then releasing my hand under pressure. It seems that an extreme point strategy would have had better performance. It also seems that I should know that from multiple degrees in operations research. Basically I was a non-player except for 2 or 3 hands. Scott Byron played a great game. He took one of the worst beats I have ever seen in a tournament and didn't even wince. Scott 99 Jerry G 66. Scott puts jerry all in (now this is after the MATS tournament beating from the night before). Flop 96x. Jerry is all in for 1 out (but 2 draws at it!!). He needed the 2nd one when the 6 hit the river. Great omen for Jerry, but bad break for 1/2 of Scotts stack. I would have been in tears at this point and would have quickly lost the rest of my chips. Scott remained patient and re-built and eventually busted out after I did. Actually, our table busted out very few players and it took something like 3 or 4 limit increases before we had our first empty seat. I busted out when the guy I should have killed with JJ on the early hand caught a gut shot 10 on the river for a straight. He had made a lot of draws all day and this was just one more in a long line. 19th was OK and a lot better than I expected. For those keeping score, thats 2 tournaments and 2 times I busted out when a 10 hit my opponent. Saturday PM - Sunday AM: Played about 10 hours of 15-30 and 3 hours of 10-20. Started in a tough 15-30 game. Player to my left was a solid professional and I thought that I would take advantage of that. After about 2 hours of my standard tight play, I raised the blinds with JT suited. He re-raised to 45. I know I am beat at this point and we are head on. Now twice previously I had made it 45 post flop after being check raised to 30, only to have to throw my hand away when I missed and a solid opponent bet 30 at the turn. I knew that this opponent remembered those plays. This time the flop hit ATx rainbow. Bet 15, he raised and now I just called to set up the play. Turn was a blank. I checked, he bet 30 and I hit it to 60. If he calls I know I am dead, however after about 2 minutes that seemed like 20, he put his hand in the muck with the saying "I lose even if I make aces up." Hey, that Sklansky and Malmouth multi-level thought stuff really works!! Couldn't have done this move if the guy didn't remember those other folds and hadn't developed an opinion of how I was playing. I got a bit more aggressive after that play and finished the afternoon with a nice profit to cover this AC trip and my trip to BARGE in August. After giving away $100 betting a couple of harness races, I got into the softest 10-20 game I have been in for months (just ask Sippy and Russell). There was a calling station that had a mountain of chips and was on a huge run. I moved seats to get this boy on my right and was all set to transfer a portion of his stack to mine. Unfortunately, the cards were not cooperative. I had a set beat when a flush hit the turn and the river didn't pair. My cards iced up and like a genius, I got impatient and tried to run a bluff on this calling station. Bad idea. $300 later, I moved into the 15-30 even though the 10-20 was still good. I guess that it doesn't matter how good the game is if you are playing awful. Next, I saw a player actually thrown out of the casino. First time for this event. Player is stuck about $1500 (which is a lot of $30 bets). He has KQ, and raises. Triple raised to $45 by AK. Eventually about 600 in the pot and board is like K Q 9 4 4. AK says "2 pair" and tables his AK. KQ looks at cards, holds them out in front of his chest, and then says "you win" while throwing them face down into the bottom of the muck. OOPS $600 mistake (Q hit the river I think so the guy must have spaced out when he saw the 2nd 4). Now KQ Player wants pot since "Dealer" saw his hand (dealer actually did see it as did player in 9 seat, however both cards were still in the player's hands). Floorman called over, and there is more yelling. Shift boss called over and there is more yelling. I walk away to avoid getting hit in the mouth for laughing and calling the guy a fool. Final result is the guy tries to tear up his Taj comp credit card when they won't give him the pot. I think this is physically impossible since they make those things out of the toughest plastic on earth.) Player is told to leave and threatened with security. He leaves mumbling. The whole show cost me about $4 since it took some 20 minutes and we were paying $6 per half hour. I think it was worth it. The game stayed good after the guy left and I got back the $300 and made a good piece of another trip to BARGE. All in all, a good day in the cash games. I was tired so I left, however this game would certainly have been one to play in. I didn't think that the games at the Taj were that tough. The best players in the 10-20 game were the rec gamblers. There is probably a large weekend factor and I got lucky with the line-up in the short run. I really like the way they had the lists televised so that you could easily see where you were. Many of the players were betting horses as well as playing and they got distracted. I was able to pick out the better players pretty easily and had no trouble avoiding them or manipulating them to get the pots head-on with the weakies. I probably played a bit too tight, especially on getting extra bets on the end. I simply called or showed down many hands that I think in hind-sight, I should have bet. This is one of my common mistakes especially when playing with players that I am not familiar with. Day totals -65tournament -100horses -30010-20 holdem +1.5BARGE trips, +1 AC trip, +300 15-30 holdem Sunday: Left for West Point around 11:30 and got home in time to prepare for Monday's class. Its important that the nations future military leaders are not disappointed. All in all a great weekend. Glad I got to see some of the faces associated with the names. Sippy, get rolling and good luck on that dissertation. Chuck, I'll try to get to Pittsburgh on my way back to Arizona this summer. By the way Chuck, your game is good enough to compete in the 10-20 that is usually in casinos. You might want to give it a try using low variance strategies. I don't know if I can come east next year since I won't be on sabbatical, but I am sure that I will be at BARGE in August. If anyone is going to be in Tucson, be sure to stop in. The indian games are really good (and have been for the past 1.75 years); the rake is small and the players are lively. jeff goldberg

Trip Report by Jim Rankin I had planned to take the train up Friday, to get some medium limit holdem in before the tournament, but was held up at a conference. So, drove up Saturday morning. I had an unusual room sharing arrangement - Robert Jacobs had Friday night and I had Saturday. Got in about 9 AM (left DC at 5:30), and when I tried to check in, the clerk was a little dubious, since she knew Mr. Jacobs was in the room. She asked me if I knew him, and I had to confess not personally, but after explaining the tournament situation all was ok. Left my bags in the room and headed down to the tournament area. The only person in the ATLARGE group I had previously met is Eric Holtman. Saw him there and met several others, including Jazbo. My immediate impression of the group was positive, at least partially because I wasn't the oldest fart in the group (probably close though). Tournament was fairly uneventful - I stole a few blinds, but never did really play a big pot, due to lack of appropriate cards. Finally with about T300 I had the big blind, with the blinds at 50 and 100 and R. Sooey had SB. As someone else has already noted, Richard was playing some fairly creative hands, and when he hesitated before calling my BB, I read him for a fairly weak hand. I had an A x unsuited, and decided to try to push him off, with the thought that I probably had the best hand if he called. He did call with Q 6 off, but unfortunately a Q came on the turn and I was out in (I think) 25th place. Not really a very solid play on my part, but what the hell - I really came up for the ring games anyway (or so I told myself). In spite of what Nolan (Darkside) Dalla thinks, I had never been to AC to play poker (and hadn't been there at all in ten years). Several of my poker compadres from DC/Maryland rave about the action at Taj Mahal, so I hied on over there (must have been about 1PM). Pretty dead - no 30-60, one 20-40 (full with a ton of folks waiting), one 15-30 (ditto), and not much else that looked interesting. Turns out I hit the room while a game I would have played in was on hiatus (more about it later). I saw a couple of acquaintances at the 15-30 table, and shot the shit briefly, ate lunch, and went back to Resorts for pot limit. Game kicked off about 4pm. I played straight through until 7AM Sunday, hitting a few hands and making a reasonable profit. Unfortunately two of the good hands I hit came against Jazbo - I almost hated to take his money because (A) he seems like a good guy and (B) he did such a super job of organizing the event, the tournaments and the pot limit games. But, you take the acorns where you find them, and I think Jazbo ended up doing ok in spite of these two beats. Even though I never really did get on any rushes, I truly enjoyed the game. Pot limit is my favorite game, and this was a good one, albeit a comparatively small game due to the blinds (1 and 2) and mandatory $5 bringin. Some very good players (Nolan and Bozo stand out in my mind as strong pot limit players, and there were several others). The dealers did a real good job, particularly seeing they had no experience with PL. Perhaps the best thing was the atmosphere provided by the ATLARGE group- no whining, no yelling at the dealer or throwing cards, and a generally convivial scene. The only (relatively minor) irritant was a local known as the Mad Russian (Sergei, I think) who complained about the format and his hands constantly while chain smoking without pause. He no doubt considers himself a good player, but he had very little shot in this game, since it was clear he planned to play nothing but the nuts, and it was easy for everyone to push him out of hands. Given the generally positive vibes at the table, he was really more of a source of amusement than a real downer. About 7 in the morning I finally decided I had better get some sleep when I had KK and called two reasonable bets (total of about $200) when I was sure Warren had AA. Sure enough, and the K didn't come (what a surprise). I figured that was a bad enough play that my judgement was getting questionable, and a break was in order. We were getting shorthanded at that point (about 5 players left) so I walked over to Taj to see if I could see any likely replacements for me. Found two folks who would have been welcomed, but who were uneasy about pot limit. Also found a couple of my regular opponents in DC playing 75-150 half holdem half omaha. This is a game I would liked to have known about earlier, because there were a couple of real contributors in the game, which had been running since Friday almost continously (they had all gone to lunch when I had come over Saturday afternoon). Both of my friends did real well (though one was stuck about seven thousand at one point, he made a nice comeback and got some cheese). They all looked so burned out I thought about getting in, but I remembered my KK misplay, and decided I wasn't in much better shape. Then I watched a short handed 400-800 stud game for a while. Five players while I was there, three real good and two that looked a little marginal. I might have been tempted if I had brought 20 or 30 thousand (and had had some sleep). I later heard one of the good players scored over 100 thousand in the game. Finally did get about two hours sleep, and came back down to watch a little of the ATLARGE 7 stud tourney (and maybe play some more PL). Unfortunately (or fortunately) the PL was full, and stayed full until I needed to leave (about 2PM). Nolan needed a ride back to DC, so he and I headed on back; I was very glad to have the company, and had a great time talking poker with a strong pot limit player (and a good poker writer). All in all a most satisfying weekend - the ATLARGE crowd impressed me as boon companions all, and Jazbo (to reiterate) did a superb job of organizing everything and keeping the games moving smoothly. The Resorts poker room staff were great, and the hotel was fine (and a good bargain at the poker rate Jazbo negotiated). All I can say is, let's do it again soon. Jim Rankin

Trip Report by Mitch Firestone ATLARGE Kudos, Komments Thanks Jazbo & K-man for your (@)LARGE efforts. The tourneys, the drinks, the poker, the laughs, did I mention the drinks?...it was a great, great time. Thanks again, Jazbo, for making it all possible. I've mainly lurked on the group for the past year & have been shy about posting, since I'm currently only a $1-5 player [as my forceful play in the 7-stud tourney may have demonstrated :-) ], but now that I've met you all, I think this will change. This just in...The clearance of the men's room door near the Resorts poker room is 6'10". If learning this causes anyone to have an apoplexy or the need to go off like Tony Montana (Scarface), please lighten up, get a life (or some Prozac) & consult the Bill of Rights. Thank you. As you all have heard, many people at Resorts last weekend thought very highly of the RGP clan. I personally heard this from a number of players, 2 or 3 dealers (including a dealer named Betty, for whom, if you know her, this represents the highest of praise), & 2 different floorpersons. An older woman at my stud table commented to me that "you computer people are such nice boys." [with all due respect to Siona]. This woman then actually asked me if I was married or had a girlfriend, since she has a lovely niece who is "looking for someone." She then showed me her niece's picture, & she was in fact quite lovely. Although, I didn't tell her that if she was searching for Mr. Right for her niece, she probably could do better than someone in the $1-5 game. Anyway, a few hands later, Aunt Lonelyhearts & I ended up going head-to-head in a pot. At the end, I didn't buy into her possible flush when she had 4 exposed clubs (w/4 others already dead & 2 underneath in my hand), & I called her w/my pair of aces & won. Pulling in the pot, I looked up and said, "So, tell me about your niece." At that point, she mysteriously withdrew her generous offer (if looks could kill). Was it something I said? It's probably just as well. That's one souvenir from Atlantic City my girlfriend wouldn't have appreciated. A quick note for those of you who were discussing w/me the silly limited edition chips put out by the Taj. Below is a clip from the "Vegas Collectible Casino Chips" site, which had a link on the group earlier this week **** Trump Taj Mahal ( Atlantic City New Jersey ) Chips> Trump Taj Mahal 1993 Marriage Chip Donald and Marla Marrage (sic) Chip December 20, 1993. Very hard to obtain. Only $35.00. ***** (!!!!! --- Who needs mutual funds?) Maybe the Donald should issue a Donald/Ivana chip for split pot games. Anyway, for those I met @ ATLARGE, it was a distinct pleasure, and I look forward to seeing you again. See you at the third to last table, (hey, I'm new at this!!), Mitch Firestone

Trip Report by Mookie Well, everyone who has posted since the conclusion of ATLARGE has pretty much expressed my sentiments regarding the event, so I figured I should add a little entertainment value of my own. If I can't place in the money, I might as well enjoy some of the "intangibles" produced by the NL Holdem tourney. Soooooo, I strung together a few rhyming couplets based on my experience at Saturday's No-Limit Holdem Tourney. I haven't figured out a title, although I was thinking of calling it simply "No Balls", since that's pretty much what cost me a finish in the money. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be interested in hearing them. But first, the obligatories: Jazbo-helluva job. I hope you'll do it again next year. EVERYONE: Great group of guys. I'm proud (sniff) to be part of r.g.p. Our presence projected a force (+++ positive +++) throughout the poker room at Resorts that probably hasn't been felt since it opened three years ago. This was *by far* the most fun I've had in AC, despite being hampered by a relentlessly nagging chest cold all weekend. I wish that we could do this several times a year, although I suppose if we restrict it to twice a year each event will seem more special. BRAVO, r.g.p'ers. OK, here's the tale of Mookie at Merv's: I trudge into Merv's poker room in a stupor With a chest full of phlegm and a head full of 'Buca Been coughin' and wheezin' and blowin' my nose I'm a sleep-deprived wreck! Better stay on my toes It's ten a.m. and time for the tourney If I feel any worse I'll send for a gurney No-limit Holdem! Not exactly my game But what the hell--it's still cards, just the same I find my table and order a coffee Perhaps I'll be surrounded by softies But hell no! It's Jazbo, Dalla, Gerner and Bwana Sit down at this table? I really don't wanna. Yet I pull out my Buddha to rest on the felt With hopes that my stack won't immediately melt I start somewhat slowly, nothing playable to be seen Then in late position, I'm dealt Ace-Queen The flop is a monster! An Ace with two Ladies For Jerry Gerner, this board came straight from Hades Jerry checks, I check ("Better let him catch up") Then the turn brings a dream card for Mookie - Yup! It's a five: Jerry's turned a Presto full boat He bets half his stack. I call, my head afloat The river's a King, not exactly a blank But Jerry puts me all-in, and his stack takes a spank And lo and behold! Table chip leader--how's that? A mere minnow among sharks, and in need of a nap Consolidation occurs; I look up with great disdain As I see Woods, Rosenblum, and some huge dude named "Pain" Bigger stacks on my left, but I'm still not complaining 'Cause at the break I'm eighth, with seventeen remaining Up to my room I find myself madly rushin' I snarf down a Chunky and gulp Robitussin Anxiety reigns! My thoughts are random and crude As I climb toward the pinnacle of gambling geekitude Back to the table; I've got to play tight No problem--Gerner's raising relentlessly from the right A few more bustouts, then what do I find? Mr. Big Slick: Ace-King, on my next big blind Jeff raises on the button-he's about twice my stack So I contemplate a counterattack I consider all-in, but that seems half-crazed Instead, I foolishly toss a minimum re-raise Jeff calls, here's the flop, and it ain't what I was wishin': It's a Ten and two Threes, and I'm out of position I check, and Jeff bets more than half of my pile Gotta fold. Now I'm crippled, but I might last a while Round and round go the blinds, and I feel uncertain My confidence is gone, and my stack is hurtin' I fold pocket sixes, I fold King-Jack My weak-tight play ain't gonna get it back Finally, the big blind takes me all-in And Woods raises--seems like deja vu all over again We expose: I'm King-Six versus Jeff's Ace-Eight This is probably the hand that will seal my fate The flop brings an Ace, but the turn is a King I've still got some outs; what will the turn bring? Not a miracle card--it's a blank, it's a stone It's a dud, it's a rock--it's a dog-do snowcone Gazing toward the middle at an unfriendly board I lament to Tiger, who nods and records "Twelfth place doesn't pay", I weakly grumbled And that's the way that Mookie crumbled If I had had the stones to jam Jeff with AK, I'd have gotten my stack up over $2K instead of going down under $1K, and I'd have placed. Or busted out immediately, since Jeff had KTs and a ten flopped. (I'd better stop now, since Kyle and Tiger have heard this more than once already). Trip comments: Excellent dealers at Merv's, especially Aimee, the black guy who laughs like a bird (name?), and the Madonna-looking woman (the one who along with Tiger and myself was at the table and observed Jim Strydio's Cherry Tomato Ejaculation--all over the felt, seeds in a straight line, basically an impressive display of consumption at the card table). Worst bad beat: 5/10/15 stud, deuces full on fifth w/trips *ON BOARD*, finish third and lose three big bets on the river (absolutely had to call, no respect for re-raiser). Worst tourney hand: Busted out of Stud tourney when Ross (Flush Machine) Poppel runs FOUR SPADES to fiver my two pair. Ross: why did you call fifth street? ;-( Ring Game Action: STUD:+ 485 HOLDEM:+ 115 STEAK SOUP:+ 2 UNITS SAMBUCA:+ 3 UNITS I hope that y'all enjoyed my tale; I also hope that this text wraps ok. Looking forward to the next ATLARGE!! John Walsh (Mookie)

Trip Report by Nolan Dalla (a.k.a. Darkside) Title:"My Guardian Angel" Thurs. 28th: Preliminaries -- Worked full day at the Embassy. Afternoon was hectic due to Prime Minister's arrival the previous day and his scheduled meeting with President Klinton in the afternoon. The pressue builds. Please! Get me out of here! 5:30 finally comes. I'm off! Free at last! Atlantic City --- here I come! The journey -- Road conditions....rainy, slippery, foggy, cold....all the makings of a good accident, which is JUST WHAT HAPPENED at 8:00 pm on I-95, the Deleware Turnpike. I'm coasting along, got Van Morrson in the cassette player....WHAM! I hear my self scream an expletive which shall not be repeated here (can't recall if it was the "F" or the "S" one). A 92 year old man is sitting in his car in the middle of the highway, no lights, no blinkers -- just sitting there. He was driving from -- you guessed it -- Florida, back to NJ. He just "thought something was wrong," so he stopped. Stopped cold. Stopped smack in the middle of one of the busiest highways in the United States. Parts of our cars a strawn all over the pavement. My '90 Caddy SDV (just spent a grand getting the 70K servicing done) is demolished. Frame bent. I feel like that Kerrigan skater after she got clubbed in the legs, "Why me? Why me," I ask. No real reason to complain though. I (and the old man, too) walk away without a scratch -- and I wasn't even wearing my seat belt. I look for a guardian angel on my shoulder. A fleeting image seems to appear. I feel a glow. I must be blessed, maybe today is my day, that certain moment in time that comes just once in a lifetime. Ah destiny. I rumble through the legal paperwork and jump on the train in Wilmington. One way ticket to A.C. Nothing's gonna stop me now. Arrival -- Destiny? I buy a 2 rolls of quarters and head for the progressive slots. God please, I hope nobody sees me here. What credibility I do have would be shot.. Cling, cling cling. Silence. Cling cling, cling. Silience. In 3 and a half minutes the twenty dollars is gone. I guess I wasn't "destined" after all. Stupid superstions, I should know better. $10-20 at the Taj: Everyone at the table is a semi-pro or above. Depart an hour later down a C-note. $5-10-15 at Resorts: Much friendlier game. Not being a regular stud player, I don't know much who the pros are or are not. It takes me two hours to recognize I AM NOT. Down another $200. Are we having fun yet? $20-40 at the Taj: Against my better instincts (tired, still shaken up a bit), I decide to play a few rounds -- maybe win one pot and I'm back to even. Nothing comes my way but J-6, 6-3, 7-2....oh I did get a pair of tens once but folded when the board came A-A-Q. Stay to catch the middle buster in a 20/40 game. Noooooooo way Jackson. Fold. What a day. What happened to the angel? She must have went to sleep long before me. Bedtime for Bonzo (me). Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Fri. 29th Three hours of shut eye. Dreams of twisted metal and broken glass. Phone rings, "Wake up call." Awaken. AT-LARGE begins! All old nighmares forgotten. Patch up a few wounds with Eric. Say hello to Brucie. Tiger Alan arrives. Luncheon -- See some old friends and meet plenty of new ones. Good conversation. See Peter Secor for the first time, which will become something of an omen. Hi Don "Chinese Poker" Smolen. Arti mysteriously arrives late. 4:00 Tourney begins -- $115 buy-ins with 72 entrants. Nothing dramatic. Just poor starting hands. Chips begin to dwindle. I must commit somewhere. At the $50-100 level, I go all in with J-10 suited. No help comes. Busted out. I look over in the corner. I think I see the angel laughing. 9:00 -- I haven't had a drink in two months. Such was the power of Nick Cage's fine performance. I join Art Santella at the Bengal Club which turns out to be an incredibly enlightening experience. The man permeates gambling theory (and vodka). Not neccesarily in that order. I look into Arti's eyes and see myself. A scary thought. My soul brother (to be played in movie version by Al Pacino). 10:00 -- At Resorts. I play poorly. Try to run to many mediocre hands to victory, that in the end crash in defeat. There's a monster $10-20 game at the other table. A preminition. When I sit down, I know I'm going to make $1,000 in this game. Every bet -- and I mean EVERY FRIGGIN BET is capped pre-flop by two maniacs (one is crazy Charlie, the other a rich tourist). Four hours later, I'm up a grand. Four hours beyong that, I've lost $800 of it back. Such is the roller coaster of poker life. I thought I heard the Angel whisper into my ear, "it's time to leave, Nolan," when I was way ahead. The ear wax buildup must have distorted her message. I did have Peter Secor approach me and tell me about his Red Dog experience. I love the guy. His bourbon breath made Arti's seem like sweet perfume. My God, this guy's drinking and stammering around without sleep whatsoever. I thought I was bad. And he's got to play in a tournament in a couple of hours. Poor fool doesn't stand a chance (the next day he wins the tournament, naturally -- see future Card Player article on this subject). For me, it's three more hours of sleep. No nighmares tonight, just the thoughts of flushes and full houses (getting delusional now). I'm dead even ($) for the trip. Saturday 10:00 am -- No limit tourney begins. Bam. Bluff. Win $40. Bam. Bluff. Win $70. Bam...stone-cold bluff called all the way down. Busted out in 38th place. Crash and burn. I guess I can now put the portrait of the poker-playing dogs back up on my living room wall, where I had intended the "Best All Around" poker trophy to go. Surely my wife will be more upset about this than me. 1:00 -- Pink chip hold'em. In 10 minutes I win one good pot and lose half of it back with a stupid bluff. Still, a win is a win. Lunch with Arti and Old Al, who's on tilt at the Bengal Club. 4:00 -- Pot limit Texas hold 'em commences. I'd prepared myself for this for nearly three weeks. Watched 5 WSP events on tape (again). Re-read Bobby Baldwin's book. Still, my skills were rusty. A little history -- I'd played pot limit almost exclusively back in Texas after I graduated from college (no jobs, so gambling became a way of life). Really, that's pretty much all I did from 85-89. Carsinigen-filled backrooms, I discovered however, were not the places to engratiate one's social skills. The move to DC took me away from pot limit entirely. So going in, I had a mixed level of confidence. Sitting down, I didn't like Don Smolen at my table, so I vowed to stay out of his way. "Crazy hat" Jonathon sat on my immediate left, who I had/have great respect for. Others in the game (you know who you are) also looked like a challenge. 10 munites into Pot limit, with $300 in front of me, the drama unfolded. Late Position -- I'm dealt K - Q Not a great hand, but with no raises yet, certainly a good value bet and raise here. Jonathon on my left calls. Flop comes K- Q - 10. Almost perfect for me, unless someone's got trips or the straight. A mandatory pot bet. I bet the max. Jonathon gets this "sh*t eating grin on his face. He pushes his entire stack ($300) into the pot. Now, I've got a really tough decision. Jon and I do go back a little and are somewhat familiar with each other's tendancies. He knows I bluff frequently. Is he simply chopping of my presumed bluff? Does he have trip Kings or trip Jacks (unlikely, as he didn't re-raise pre-flop). I narrowed it to four possible hands: A-K (Jon, with top pair best kicker might re-raise in this situation) K-Q (we have a matching hand, also a re-raise would be called for perhaps) K-10 (very unlikely, but possible) A-J (my worst possible nightmare. Jon's already flopped the straight). Unless you're playing for grocery money, this is a mandatory call. So, I call. We're both all-in. "You there already, Jon?" I ask. Jon's sh*t eating grin grows even bigger. He doesn't need to answer. I already know. He's caught the perfect flop -- a straight. Now, I'm a 20-1 dog. The turn.......A QUEEN. A beautiful sweet Queen. My angel has returned. Jon shows his true class and departs with a handshake. Chuck "Congelco Publishing" Weinstock joins the poker party. Gee, the competition sure isn't getting any easier. Later I cash out with a nice profit. Forgot to write down the amount. My buddy Peter Secor is hammering a low-limit game at the Taj. We hit the Bengal together and shoot the breeze. Another very intriguing gentleman with alot of b*lls and street smarts. We hit the crap table. Buy-in for $200 each. A preminition comes over me (I swear). I tell Peter he's going to hold the friggin' dice for 10 minutes. He says, NO, TWENTY. Now I'm usually a wrong (Dont Pass) better. But I join with Peter, who is on a massive roll after winning the tourney that morning. 17 minutes later, he's still got the cubes. That man threw more tens and fours than you would believe. Man, I wish I'd been betting quarters. Finally after 20 min (Peter was right), he sevened-out to table applause. Now it's my turn. Like I said, I'm a DONT better. I lay $20 against myself. Bam. Eleven. $20 more. Bam. Seven. Peter lays $5 on YO....Wham. There it is "ELEVEN" I'm getting buried. I lay $100 on the Don't. Point comes NINE. $150 odds. Twenty rolls later (everyone else may big money off the COME), there it is, NINE. I pass the dice voluntarily. I buy-in again for another $100. Lay it all on DONT COME. Point for me becomes SIX. I take $120 odds against. Stickman yells "six the hard way." Super. $500 gone in 5 minutes. And Peter's getting rich. I laugh it off while my stomach acid churns inside. Time to go. Peter stays. Meanwhile I paying $75 a night solo for a room at the Taj. I stayed exactly 3 hours in the last two days. I consider calling it a night. AM I CRAZY? WHILE THERE'S A POT LIMIT GAME IN PROGRESS???? NO "F***ing WAY MAN!!! I run across from the Taj and nearly bowl over five grandma's playing quarter slots (they must have preminitions, too). I pass by the dice table again and Peter's still there --- and the same guy on my left STILL HAS THE DICE !!! Good night, I've missed the chance of a lifetime. Grind it out again. Buy-in the pot limit game for $300. Early in, I catch bullets in the hole. Max bet. One caller. Flop comes 9-blank-blank. I max bet. An all-in raise. Maybe he's got Kings or Queens in the pocket. Worse, he's got trips. Now I'm trapped, but it's only going to cost me my last $100 to see what happens. Another mandatory call. Trip nines. Now only an ace saves me. The ace comes, on the river. How sweat it is. YES! YES! I do my best Marv Albert impression. Sunday 5:00 in the morning. Eyes start to close themselves. Decision time. Break for some sleep? The tourney's gonna' start in 5 hours. It's now or never. I decide to sleep between hands. "Wake me when it's my turn to raise," I say -- as I slide my head on the rail. Zzzzzzzzzzz. A couple of hard asses come over from the Taj (good middle limit players), which doesn't give me a chance to play to casually. Still, I feel refreshed when 10:00 comes and the tournament begins. I leave my stake on the table. 1:00 -- Break time in the middle of the tournament, and I'm still avive in middle position. Got $1,000 which won't last long at the $100-200 level. During break, I go back to play pot limit. A little bluff here and there takes the money. Time to go back again to tourney. 20 minutes later, I'm busted out in 11th place. Damn. I really wanted this one in the money. I guess the second potrait of poker playing dogs has to be put up again, too. Back at pot limit. On my final hand of the trip I get pocket Aces. Bet the max. One caller. A scary board comes....K-J-blank. I've got to check. Bet is $100. Trip Kings? No...he didn't bet the max pre-flop, unless he's now trying to reel me in. It's a must call. At the showdown I look across and see pocket Queens. The aces hold up. A good time to leave with New Mexico James (the $30-60 master). The Caddy's gone, so it's James Rankin or Amtrak for the ride home. Easy choice. On the trip we speak for 3 hours about our experiences. I learn more and more from each player I meet, especially someone like James, who has been around and played almost everywhere. Arrive back in DC just in time for "60 minutes" and a loving hug from my wife. Ain't life grand? "How did you do honey," she asked. "Sit down dear, have I got a story for you." ("Oh, and by the way, did you remember to mail-in that auto insurance bill last month?") -- Nolan Dalla (Thank you to everyone I met. I wanted to use even more stories and names, but space doesn't allow, as we don't want "War and Peace" length postings)