Trip Report

Extremely slow day at work here, so I thought id regurgitate some of the more memorable experiences from my ATLARGE weekend...Before i do though, let me echo the many who have already thanked Goldie for puttin on such a fine shin dig. Thanks, Stevan. So It's Friday morning in Albany, NY. I had planned on Leaving around 5:00 am to allow for plenty of time to make the HOE trny without having to rush, but somehow managed to oversleep (woke up, alarm was off and it was already 5:00. D'oh!) and didnt get on the road till 5:30. Thank you biological clock. Do you think on any other day I'd manage to only oversleep by 30 minutes? Hells no... My drive was uneventful till i got close to the city - i was scanning the radio stations and found myself stopping momentarily on a christian rock station - listening bemusedly as the DJ ran down the songs recently played..i dont remember the exact name but they were titles like "In you lord", and "all for him", "My life for yours", "divinely severe", etc... anyway, as it turns out, i received a little divine intervention when the DJ suddenly announced there was a major Traffic accident on the garden state around exit 140 - They reported some kind of car explosion on the guard rail/median, closing 2 lanes in one direction and one lane in another. Traffic backed up for 15 miles in both directions---woah! The DJ actually said to use the NJ tpke! Now Im really worred about getting there on time, so on impulse i take the exit for 287 south, not even knowing if this will get me close to where i need to go. Well wouldnt you kn! ow it, but praise the lord, 287 was the way to go---hooked me back up onto the GSP about 20 exits past the accident where im sure i would have sat for hours lamenting my never ending string of bad beats...nevermind that someone else probably took a much worse beat in that traffic snafu than I. Anyway, its just kind of cool that i happened to be listening to the radio - i dont usually do that. Ok so I get to the Taj with about 40 minutes to spare before HOE. HOE itself was so uneventful for me I dont even recall how i busted out. I just remember being somewhat glad it was over in plenty of time to make it to the Borgata's 100 R+A NL. I run into Uncle Al in the poker snack shop, and we decide to head off together. You'll find references this trny in Pizzamans 2004 ATLARGE report where we ran into eachother. Last year, I managed to build a stack of 20K without rebuying or adding on - i was looking forward to the same this year with the intent of playing much better in the later stages. Last year i pissed most of my stack away by jammin with AKs preflop and losing to QQ - a rookie mistake i think, given i had no need to gamble at that stage of the game. Oh well, this year will be different - this year I will nurture and love my stack, not treat it with disdain....And so, this year that is precisely what i did. Once again, no rebuy necess! ary, but i did take the addon. by the break i had a modest stack of 9K. If i hadnt played a single hand for the first hour, and just took a rebuy and an addon (double) id have 8k with which to work - so im happy with where im at. After the break I see how Al is doing and he is still on the same patch of ice since that morning when we shared the same table for HOE. Al has 1 hand left to play... and we're already talking about whether or not he should wait around for me or if i should just grab a cab when im done. Anyway, at the table, me and the big stack to my right take turns pushing the table around - im getting hands, not stealing, and build my stack to a nice comfortable 30K when the following hand comes down (for those who have already heard this story, i owe you another buck): With 30+ players left and blinds of 800/1600 (9 get paid) i look down at AQ off in early position. I know I know, AQ isnt all that from early position - moot point - i make it 4800 to go and all fold around to the sb who smooth calls. I dont take this player to be a very savvy player. He was calling a lot and showing down some pretty mediocre stuff so im not too terribly concerned. As a matter of fact, Im almost positive i have the best hand at this point as he probably would have rerraised if he had anything better than AQ. BB folds. so the flop comes down 9J2 offsuit and the SB picks up his cards and looks at them again, then moves all in for a little over 15K. there is now north of 25K in the pot and i am contemplating a call. i am 90% sure he is just on a draw - with what hands would you raise all in with in this spot? i could only come up with 1 legitimate hand - AJ. i figure an overpair would have been reraised b4 the flop, and a! set would most certainly be slowplayed in this spot... so im counting down my chips, considering all this while i count the 1k chips, when suddenly the dealer says, "thats a call". "wha? huh?" - "Yes sir. here at the Borgata any chips placed in front of your cards is considered a call." Great. Well that made the decision easier i guess, but no less painful. As it turns out, the guy had QT and flopped an open ended draw. Despite being ahead, I was pissed. pissed that this guy took a stand with QT, pissed that i was forced to call a hand that i could easily have passed on - so what if i have the best hand. on that flop, take my 4800 - nice bet sir - lets move on...long story short the little sonofabitch hits a K on the river and Im back to being a small stack. I never recovered from this. I get moved to another table right in front of the blinds. In the sb i see 77 and move in against the BB who woke up to JJ. ighn. Taxi!!! So I finish right around 8:00 and take a cab back to the Taj to join everyone at the banquet where countless peeps heard a less robust version of the aforementioned. Sorry guys. "Im gonna call just cause.... what the fuck..." So Friday night im still sort of licking my wounds from borgata, not really feeling in the right mindset for cash games. If there has been any evolution at all in my game in the last 2 years its been to recognize when i shouldnt be playing it. So as opposed to dropping 400 playing 10 20 i ambled up to the hospitality suite where i found a sit n go about to take off in one of the side rooms. 20 dollar buy in, 100 in chips to start. attendees were harkness, Oscar, Zippywon, action bob, Matros, Pizzaman, Golfman?, Joans Neice (amanda?), and i apologize but i think im forgetting one person. I suck. Joan "AlwaysAware" Hadley interjects: Barry is your missing man. Amanda? nah, "junior" This was fun and a lot more unorthodox. Before it starts I ask if I can coach Amanda instead of playing, it allows someone else to play and Amanda can learn to play bad poker :-) They was no rebuy rule until ActionBob busted then he immediately inquires if he can rebuy for $40 for a stack of $100. A bit of discussion, then sure, why not. ActionBob tells Matt that he will be rebuying and Matt assures him it is so negative EV that he will not. Well, Matt busts and sure enough he rebuys. At this point it's a bit clear that Amanda, er I mean junior is getting a bit frustrated because I am telling her to fold every damn hand. So, Matt asks if I want to play his chips. I play Matt chips and he becomes junior's mentor. ActionBob continues to be ActionBob and goes all in on almost every hand and a lot of them blind. It is jammed to Amanda and Matt asks what she wants to do. They decide to call down Mr. Action with KJ of clubs and Action produces a real hand, I forget what it was..... Whatever it was, Action wins and Amanda is busted I then inquire if Amanda can take over Matt's stack, and instead of moving her we move Matt's stack to where Amanda is sitting (because we can sit/stand behind her whereas Matt's former seat, then my former seat you can't) Amanda makes a standard raise with pocket 3's (or maybe she called a small raise?) and there is 4 way (five way?) action. The flop brings a 3 and I tell her to check (thinking that other will think she missed, make a play at the pot and she can break them) Everyone folds and Matt is dismayed saying she should have bet it out since so many were interested preflop. Junior also seems a bit frustrated with me, Matt asks her what she wants to do, I tell her what to do (go figure) So, I decide to leave the coaching to Matt. Chris/Tick leaves to get Kem cards and I play his stack. He has a huge stack and pocket 9's when it comes all in to him (but short) and I suddenly wish I hadn't begged to play his stack while he was gone. So, I pull out the "red card" and ask for the pro. Matt blurts out "you kidding? you're all in" Everyone else folds and the opponent (who was short) shows AK or QQ forget whatever it was, it was good or hits the flop or something. It gets three handed and those that rebought (total of 4 I think) have to make third (3 spots paid) to break even. Amanda makes second and Matt graciously lets me take my 20 back, he takes his 60 back and gives Amanda $20 for playing, leaving $20. Matt and I look at each other, it should really be his, but since there's a 10 and two fives I give him the ten, a five to amanda and five to mayself. So I made $5 and Matt $10 in our backing of Amanda. But she made $25.... hmmmm, lol. But she had a great time, but decided to go to bed when we switched to live play and triple draw 2-7 lowball. this was perfect for me - even if i blow up in classic tick style, most im gonna lose is 20. And Who better to lose it to than this fine bunch.... Everyone was having fun. Harkness dealt and we used a bar of bathroom soap as a button ('Soap moves'... 'who's got the soap'...). Anyway, Action Bob was busy doing his action bob thing - raising blind, going all in dark and ut! g, etc... as a result of his play, he occasionally lost a hand, so they adopted a 40 dollar rebuy policy that was allowed until there were no more chips to dole out. A couple of times in my BB, Bob had gone in and I'd look down to see a medium pair, so id call and It'd actually hold up. Once all the chips were doled out, things seemed to wind down pretty quickly. I had chips the entire time- no rebuy - maybe pissed away half my stack on a bad call but no memorable hands to speak of. Made it to 3 handed and we had Golfman?, myself, and Amanda?, who eventually took 2nd place. Amanda had joan advising early on and Matros Advising for the later rounds - but towards the end there she was cognizant of a lot of the correct moves before confirming with one of said advisors. So if youre reading this, well done, and im sorry for being unsure now of your name. Short story shorter, i sucked out on both Golfman? and amanda? in classic tick style to win the thing. 180 for first. woot! I think after that i pissed away 130 playing 3 card poker with some argers. Good times. time for bed. Like so many others, I had a tough time sleeping that night. I can usually rely on modern science to assist in a good nights sleep when not in my own bed, but was s.o.l. that night. Woke up with a headache and still more than a little sleepy. I really wasnt in the right mindset for the NLH trny. We hadnt even started yet and i was already bummin about how long it was going to take. I ran upstairs to starbucks and slammed a double espresso to try and charge myself up a bit. Bought one cold espresso can to go. i think it might have worked for about 5 minutes tops. I dont think i made it farther than level 3 - we started with 3k and i was down 1k after playing 2 hands in not the smartest fashion. I walked away from the table for a few minutes. Shortly upon my return i play my final hand . The guy to my right makes it 700 to go - a sizeable raise for the level - and I look down to see QQ. Im a little worried im up against a bigger pair, and i have no clue who this player is or how he plays so I smooth call intending to let it go if an ace or king hits the flop and he comes out firing. (So Its already been brought to my attention that ive been playing in a manner that maximizes my chances of folding - live and learn). Jerrod Ankenman interjects: This isn't the same situation. If you think the other guy is usually going to be on AA, KK, or AK, which I think is wrong, but is consistent with your play, then for some stack sizes it's right to play it the way you did. If your opponent has AK, he'll be forced to fold and miss out on his opportunity to see the turn and river which could be AK. Also, you get away from QQ vs AA/KK when an A or K hits, which is nice. Now, in real life you should probably just jam because raisers aren't that tight. QQ, more than any other strong hand in NL, benefits from seeing the flop against another strong distribution. I'm not trying to browbeat you or anything...:) Flop comes Jack high with 2 spades and he checks. there was 1400+ in the pot and he checks. Ill blame it on fatigue, but i only bet 500. He check raises me all in. and i call. him: AK spades. The dealer has already dealt the turn card giving him the flush before i even see him flip his 2 cards over. nh.! I dont see him folding if i go all in preflop, or on the flop when he checked to me, so this was to be my fate. Pink Chip games... Never had so much fun losing in my life - ok, well - i lost on Saturdays game but managed to eek out a win on Sunday - which was in and of itself a major achievement for reasons ill get into later on. Let me first mention that as i was waiting for the pink game to start up, I got a seat in a 10 20 game that was just opening. As i was waiting for that game to begin, i chatted with a gentleman who remarked as he surveyed the ATLARGE tourney that he lacked the patience to play in those types of events. I immediately took him for a live one, and sure enough, when the game began my very first hand dealt was AA. I lost to our friend who held QT of clubs and jammed and rejammed with 2 clubs on the flop. He got there on the turn and i paid him off for 2 more bets. First hand of the cash games for me that weekend. yay. Within minutes of the 10 20 opening, the pink chip got started and i immediately decided if i was gonna lose money, I would have fun doing it. And so within minutes of the pink chip game beginning i picked up AA again only to get roasted by dilli when she hit a set of 6's. In sympathy, she tosses me 6 chips. thanks for that. Dilli would be owning me for pretty much the entire time that day - didnt matter what i had she would end up turning it into the 2nd best hand. Others can attest to her prowess that day. SO i wasnt doing well - was down 150 or 200 and had taken a break, when i returned i sat out the remainder of the round while waiting for it to be my BB. I was one hand from posting when Action Bob, who had been sitting at the 2nd game with endless rows of pink and was now standing behind me and says to me, "Aww you gotta straddle that!" He says "dont even look at em" as he puts up 6 chips out of my stack. At the other end of the table was Len who i believe 3 bet it. I forget the exact action, maybe there was a caller around the button or bb, but anyway bobs like "lets see what we have to work with" and we look down at 56 spades... "Aww... we gotta cap THAT!" We actually ended up taking the pot down when our 5 paired the river card. but the flop and turn gave us a ton of outs as well. Thanks Bob... So Im actually up for the first time that day, but i slowly bled it off and eventually picked up the last few chips and bills an hour or 4 later down 250. Sorry Bob... Sundays game followed a disappointing finish in the Tajs's 100+20 Nl - I made it down to 3 tables when i woke up to KK in the BB and it couldnt hold up against AT. I echo other comments that the structure of these taj trnys leave you desperately short stacked in the blink of an eye...nuff said here's the incredible thing about Sundays Pink game: In 3 separate instances I would make a raise in early position with AK, only to be 3 bet by Zippywon across the table when it came around to her. On the first hand, The flop came A high, followed with a lot of betting. She had AA. Case Ace on the flop. 2nd time, The flop came AKX, lots of betting, and she ultimately flips over KK. Case King. 3rd time, A high on the flop, lots of betting - AA again. Case Ace. This was within a ten minute span. Even the 2 locals at the end of the table actually came out of their comas to comment. Anyway i managed to take down a huge pot against a local with 7's full and had one or 2 other good pots so despite my crushing losses to Zippywon, i managed to walk away up a couple hundred. After a short time at the game it was time to head for home. Not counting the atlarge trnys, I blew a little over 400 for the weekend on tournaments and cash games. Not a very good weekend for me poker wise, but one of the richest times in all other aspects. Thanks everyone for helping to make atlarge a blast Chris

Random Thoughts by 8-2 Mike Random ATLARGE 2K5 Thoughts I'm hesitant to call this a trip report. This is more of a collection of random thoughts, as well as a few items I jotted down on my notepad since I'm utterly incapable of remembering anything on my own. I enjoyed meeting new players; every year I meet more and more of the "regulars" that I hadn't previously. A couple notable hands I had written down: Somewhere in the first round of the NLHE tourney, the blinds were $5 and $10. I was in the big blind and looked down to find the ultimate powerhouse: 2h 4s. So you can imagine my angst when it was folded all the way around to the small blind (8-2 James) who simply called the $5. I decided to just check, in order to conceal the power, with the intent of trapping later on. The flop came down 3 5 9 rainbow. Wow, I'd flopped an open-ended straight draw. 8-2 James bet the minimum ($20) so I called. The turn was the miracle Ace, giving me the wheel. Again 8-2 James bet $20 into me, so I raised to $100. As is his style, James immediately raised me back (to $500). So I pushed all-in. To my astonishment, he called! So I turned over my nut straight and he turned over a hand that looked very familiar: 2 4 offsuit. The river was a 6, giving us both the higher straight and we chopped it up. If only I hadn't slowplayed the monster preflop! Heh. :-) Get get moved to a new table with Lauri, Noelle, Lori, 8-2 Cowboy, Action Bob, and others. This time I'm in the small blind, and look down and find the magical, mystical hand of 8 2 offsuit. 5 or 6 people limped in, so I paid the half-bet. The big blind checked, and the flop was 6 5 A. No help. Where's the 8-2 magic??? I checked, and so did everyone else. The turn is an offsuit 7, giving me an open-ended straight draw. I checked again, and so did everyone else, again. (What the heck did they all have???) The river was the 9, so I got my straight. I bet, everyone folded, and I got to show my 8-2 monster. Other than those hands, I was pretty much cold-decked the rest of the tournament, and I busted out 98th. I sucked in HOE and Stud, too. :-/ The side games were pretty juicy, but I didn't have the stamina to play very much after the touraments and huge dinners. I pulled in $359 in 4 hours on Thursday playing 5/10 at the Taj. Then I ended up -$48 after 2 hours i $1/$2 NLHE at the Borgata. Then another 3 hours at 5/10 at the Taj netted me another $308. Saturday I was pretty much flat with +$12. So in the end I netted +$631 in 12 hours ($51/hr) which is certainly way more than I deserved, considering that I suck. But speaking of sucking, there was one particularly horrible dealer at the Taj. His name was "DAI" and he made so many mistakes that I ended up writing them down. Here's what I was able to record: I had AJ in middle position. It was folded to me so I raised. Everyone folded. I held my cards under my fingers until the dealer pushed me the pot, and then I released them. The dealer then picked up my cards and turned them over for everyone to see! What the....? I looked at the dealer and said, "Why did you expose my cards?" He just looked at me and shrugged. Wow. Welcome to the Taj! I was in the small blind with trash, and someone in middle position raised, so I folded. I had put up a $5 chip for the $2 blind since I didn't have any white chips. The dealer took my cards and my red chip and continued to take the discards from players on my left who'd folded. I'm in the 6 seat, so I'm sitting directly across from the dealer, I said to the him, "I need my change." He nodded to me, and continued to deal out the flop, turn, and river. Then he makes change, taking a red chip from the pot and replacing it with white chips, but he used the change to pull out $4 for the rake. I again reminded him I need my $3 change. This time he doesn't even acknowledge me. He stacks up the pot and proceeds to award it to the winner, at which point I'm forced to slap my hands down on the table and yell "WAIT A MINUTE!" I again explained that I was the small blind and never got my change from the red chip he took from me. So then he had to make change again since there was only one white chip in the pot. But he got all confused, because after he gave me the change, the size of the pot changed he had to recalculate the rake. It ended up costing the winner $1 less in rake. The ordeal took several minutes to straighten out. Welcome to the Taj! The dealer misread two hands: The board was 5d Ks 6d Td 2d, and he announced "three sixes!" and pushed the pot to the guy holding pocket sixes, and everyone yelled "FLUSH" because another player held Ad Ah for the flush. The dealer pushed the pot to the player holding AA with a board of 249JK when the player raising the whole time turned over 99. After several dealers had been begging floormen for a fill of white chips, they finally brought over several racks. This dealer turned the racks sideways to remove the chips, and the stacks spilled out all over the table, even mixing with my stack across the table. And he was *VERY* slow at organizing the white stacks into the tray in front of him. Every other dealer I'd watched manage a fill performed it smoothly and efficiently, but this guy was awkward, clumsy, and obviously unsure as to how he wanted to organize the stacks, since he changed things around multiple times after he's placed them. I think the entire process took 4 minutes, which is a long time when we're all just sitting there watching him. The guy sitting next to me who also witnessed all the other mistakes snickered and said aloud "Welcome to the Taj". A few hands later a few players limped in preflop, another guy raised, a few folded, and the action was up to the guy in the cutoff position. While everyone was looking at the cutoff, waiting for his decision, the dealer proceeded to scoop up the bets and deal out the flop. *sigh* Welcome to the Taj! The guy sitting to my right (in the 5 seat) turned around to chat with a buddy that came up behind him. The dealer and other players had to remind the guy twice to act. On the turn the guy was again turned around, chatting, so the dealer took his cards as if he'd folded and the hand continued. Nobody said anything. Finally the guy turned around screamed "hey, where are my cards???" and the dealer told him that he folded. The guy said, "oh, what was the river, I was going for a flush, I didn't realize I folded". He was fooled. I'm not sure if the dealer's actions were correct or not, but we sure all appreciated it since the guy was consistently more interested in his conversation than in the game... Well, that's all I can remember. I did have a great time, as did all the other 8-2 Club members. Only 358 days until ATLARGE 2K6! -- 8-2 Mike

First, let me add my thanks and Kudos to Goldie for an excellent event. I had an excellent time, and will be back next year. I didn't get the full experience, mostly because I booked too late to get a room at the Taj and ended up camping at the Borgata for the weekend. I was mostly limited to some ring game action on Friday night (couldn't get in the Pink game, and that's probably good ... bankroll is ill-suited to variance like that right now) and the NLHE on Saturday (I'm too lousy at Omaha and stud to consider donating my money, even to you nice folks). Friday night, I got the pleasure of watching TBird flop a straight flush (holding 65C) and manage not to fall out of his chair until *after* he had raked a too-small pot. I had folded pre-flop, so none of my money went away that hand. Saturday morning found me at a starting table with one of the 8-2'ers (can't remember which one started there ...by the time I busted there had been like 4 of them), and among others, Llew, TBird, JazzyJay (I think I'm remembering the nickname correctly), Zippywon, Mordecai Schwartz, Kim Holtzman, and Flowerman. I confess I put a horrendous, rnner-runner bad beat on Jazzy to bust him out, and he took the news with class and grace. Though I promised to do my best to use his chips well, I wasn't able to cash (or even get close). Zippywon observed (correctly) that she just seemed to have my number that day, and took a fair chunk of my money. Kim didn't actually take many of my chips, but seemed to spend a fair amount of time stacking everyone else's. Mordecai took a big chunk out of me with a large re-raise over my pot-sized raise. In retrospect, I probably should have been willing to at least see the flop, hope that he didn't have an overpair, and take my shot at a coinflip, but I wimped out and folded. From there, it was a valiant struggle to an unpleasant end. I finally fell victim to Flowerman (I s'pose that means I got flowered, and I finally know what the antonym to deflowered is). I'm telling people I busted out with a full house that lost to quads. That's true, of course, but like any good lawyer I'm spinning the story a little (ok, a lot). Short-stacked at 200-400, I move in with 66. Flowerman calls with TT. While the dealer burns a card, I realize that I've already used one runner-runner suck out, and silently promise the poker gods that if I win this pot, I will play the rest of the tournament with a bag on my head. Suddenly, I have a small part in a Monty Python movie: Flop: 2 5 T rainbow. Movie-in-head: "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" (a villager enters, carrying a feeble old man over his shoulder). Turn: 6. Movie-in-head: "I'm not dead yet! I'm feeling better!" River: T. Movie-in-head: "No you're not!" (a soldier clubs the old man with an enormous cudgel. A THWACK is heard. The old man grunts as if he's just been hit with an enormous cudgel, then dies.) Much better to tell people I busted out with a full house when a guy hit quads on the river. I had an excellent time and am already looking forward to next year (BARGE is uncertain right now because of a wedding shortly thereafter, and I have no information on any of the other ARG gatherings). Special thanks to Llew for the info on where to find playable Jacks machines at Borgata. Hope to see you all soon (and the 8-2 crew perhaps at a home game near you). Aloha Mike

My apologies to everyone I busted out on Sunday. I have no idea how I did anywhere near that well -- this was my first Stud tourney, and ended up being my first real-life final table (I've cashed at a couple of the weekly tourneys at Foxwoods, but never made it to the final table). Especially since I got whacked three times by rolled-up trips at the final table (including on the last hand, where my illustrious opponent picked up JJ(J) and neither my straight nor flush draws came through after I went all-in on fifth street). Rob "Suddenly" Catlett interjects: "Illustrious?" I'd think "sick card catching prick" to be more accurate. I do recall that I "only" had rolled up sevens, not jacks in the last hand though. I earlier had rolled up jacks to bust Harkness, which I think he appreciated greatly considering the invaluable trinket he gifted me. I "only" rolled up twice at the final table, but since I rolled up on the hand that led to the final table, and busted two others at the final table by getting all in on 3rd street with concealed kings and aces... well... it got a bit out of control. Then again 10K/20K stud with only like 190K total chips on the table isn't exactly a recipe for order and decorum.... I was less successful in the other tournaments -- 7Stud/8 was killer for me in the HOE event (that, and not catching many good hands in the Holdem and Omaha segments), and I got knocked out of it by Nick Matros making a full house on 7th street to beat my flush (he also KOed Russ Fox in the same hand). NLHE was even worse -- I administered a nasty self-beat (there's a moral here, so I feel like I can tell the story). With 500/1000 blinds, and about 25ish players left, I'm third to act preflop with a stack of about $24K. UTG and the next player folded, I made it $4000 to go with JTos. The next player moves all-in and it's folded back to me. I somehow end up thinking I have more chips than I really do, or that his bet is smaller than it really is, or something (I thought I'd still have about $15K afterwards, but I really only had him covered by $8K - a big difference!). QQ versus JT, outcome not so good. The blinds go up to 1000/2000 a couple minutes later, and I get knocked out shortly in 24th when I go all-in with 88 and the SB turns up JJ. Learned an invaluable lesson: double-check the size of your stack *and* the bet when you're going to make a big call! Hey, at least I got to knock out Joan (and a few other folks, but the pocket bass was just priceless). I had a great time this weekend, as did my dad ("Doomster"), who enjoyed himself despite not playing a hand of poker all weekend! He's just learning, and felt a little intimidated... I'll try to get him to Foxwoods for some practice. I met a lot of fun people, came out WAY ahead between the tournament and ring game action (despite never getting into the pink chip game, sadly), and just generally had a good time. I don't know if I'll be able to make it to BARGE, but I should be at FARGO this fall if at all possible, and I can't wait. Thanks a million, --"Big" Matt (Ivester) 'Matthias99' on PP, PS, and Paradise (mostly on Paradise). PS: for struggling through my story, you get a shot at a bad beat (story) jackpot! When I got home, I found $15 in Taj slot machine payout tickets in my pocket, which are only good for 90 days according to the fine print on the back. I probably won't be back in AC before then, so they're no good to me. The most entertaining (and/or pitiful) bad beat story from this weekend wins them.

Thanks once again to Goldie for working to hard to put this weekend together. You make it seem easy and I am sure it is not very easy. The Taj once again was a excellent host site and I think they do a good job of handling the group. Poker Stars also has been a great support to our group and I thank them. Additionally they sent Jeff, and it is always great to see Jeff. I also need to thank all of you who played in the tournaments for making sure I did not have to waste too much time in those events. Gosh knows getting back to the lively games at the Taj was much better than having to hang around a tournament until the bubble. I stayed until just after the break in NLHE outlasting about 25 people, but it was in stud where I managed to outlast only a single sole. After winning two years ago I had to work hard to get out that fast. On the other hand I did not have a losing session in live action over the weekend except for playing triple draw lowball in the suite. I lost $21 at the triple draw game, but easily made more back at 3 card poker later in the night. I had a great moment in the Pink game with ATM Chick on Fri when he whined about not being able to win and said he should just give us his money. Chick then proceeded to throw his wallet out on the table and without missing a beat I said " I will cash that in for you sir" and tossed him 5 pink chips while snatching his noticeably lighter wallet. I proceeded to have some good 10/20 sessions over the weekend. I managed to get home up about $800 after absorbing about $500 in dinning costs over the weekend. I guess that is the price one pays for dinning with Timmy, but it was good company. The Hospitality suite was a wonderful place to have a cigar and I enjoyed catching up with friends there. I thought the smoker was great this year. It seemed like just the right number of people with a pleasant combo of new and old friends. It is also a huge plus to be able to actually smoke at the smoker. I look forward to next year. ADB Bigboy Bruce

I would like to say THANKS to Goldie and Poker Stars for a wonderful experience and to the Taj for a taking care of all of us. Everyone in ATLARGE Thanks for giving me the opportunity to play in your tournament and join a group of great fun and excitement. I have been to Atlantic City plenty of times but was never involved in Poker at all. Never even walked into the poker room for that matter, didn't interest me. Then about a year ago got invited to play in a home game, enjoyed it and started playing in local games all the time and never experienced the huge tournaments like this weekend. I was so excited to take 13th in the NL Texas Hold'em tournament at the Borgata on Friday which was an experience in itself $100+20 buy in and then all the rebuys an add ons, that was pretty scary for me but enjoyed and learned that I don't like the rebuy at all. I saw a guy buy in 9 times and still didn't make it to the final table, YIKES.....Not for me. I would like to say though I really enjoy poker and am very pleased with my 3rd place finish in the NLHE on Saturday, I just cant believe I even made it that far. Uncle Al great thanks to you also for the coaching and pointers that you gave me, I couldn't have done it without you...I came into this thing thinking I have no chance I know very little about poker and I don't know the rules, odds and all the percentages, literally nothing but to play and have fun as long as I was having fun it was money well spent. Uncle Al you really helped me examine the hands and play the best possible plays that I could. THANKS AGAIN. "Now we have to get her into shape for the WSOP double shoot out...." What is this? Welp thanks for the wonderful experience and look forward to seeing all of you again next year. V/R Chrissie

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

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

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 -------------------------

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