Trip Report

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

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

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

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

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

Trip Report by 8-2 Cactus Kev CHAPTER ONE: A LATE ARRIVAL I had planned to leave around noon Thursday for the drive to A.C., but events out of my control had me finally getting on I-95 around 6pm. I was also bummed that a Saturday night Basia concert (at the Borgata) that I had tix for was suddenly cancelled on Thursday morning. (I later found out that it was due to visa problems). Anyway, I got to the Taj around 9:30, and didn't feel like playing that much "serious" poker; so I jumped in a 2-4 hold'em game, and instantly thought I had somehow driven to California instead and was playing at the Commerce. Seven to eight players on every flop, even with a raise. One of the funnier hands I won was when a two-Heart flop board caught runner-runner Hearts, and the table suddenly came alive. Thankfully, I had the Ace, but the three other players had the King, the Jack, and the Nine. I hung around for about two hours, won five bucks, and crashed for the night. CHAPTER TWO: A GOOD START Of the three tourneys, I enjoy the H.O.E. event the best. I get bored playing the same game for hours upon end, so anything to cycle the games is a good thing in my book. I wound up winning most of my early hands in hold'em. AQ vs A4 with a board of Qx4KK. AQ vs AK with a board of QxxJx. Pocket Aces actually held up once, bringing my total to T5400. I scored a monster pot in Omaha, when I raised pre-flop with Ad2d2h3c, the flop came 4d5dJd for the nut flush, and a 7h hit the turn for a low. Just the night before, 8-2 Mike had reminded me that scooping pots is how you make money in Omaha. That win, combined with a Hi/Lo Stud win of trip Aces beating trip Kings, put me at T10700 at the second break. One thing I noticed in this (and the other two tourneys) is that I tended to get crappy cards early on in the event, but later picked up some premium hands that paid off big in the later, more expensive rounds. So even though I was silently cursing all the lousy hands I'd have to fold over and over again, it worked out to my advantage later on when I started catching the good ones in the middle rounds. So I'll never whine about a slow start again. One other cool item of note. I happened to be at Goldiefish's table, and he taught me an insane game called "Chowaha". I can't wait to give it a try at the next dealer's choice night at the 8-2 Club. I held my own as the tourney continued, was very happy with my play, and found myself at the final two tables. The levels were 1000-2000 at this stage, so any hand I committed to would basically put me all-in. By now, it was around 4:30, and 8-2 Chris volunteered to grab me a sandwich, as I was the only 8-2'r left in the tourney. As with last year, it was an Omaha hand that did me in. In late position, I raised pre-flop with KcQcQdJc, and got at least one caller. The flop was Tc5d8c, so I had both a Straight and a Flush draw. I called the bet, and the turn brought a club Trey. I had the Flush, but it also gave someone a low. I threw in my remaining T2000, hoping to split, but my opponent turned over the Ace-Deuce of Clubs, busting me out at #16. I was sad to miss the final table, but I played well, and I did manage to last longer than my fellow 8-2'rs. Thirteen of us had contributed twenty bucks for a "Best in Show" pool. Whoever placed the best in all three tourneys combined ("best" being determined by arcane formulas courtesy of 8-2 Dave, involving advanced hypermath, logorithms, and the golden ratio) won the $260 prize, so I was at least ahead for that award. CHAPTER THREE: 8-2 COSTS ME A BENJAMIN I take a quick snooze before heading back down for ring games. 8-2 Mike cons me into joining him at a 5-10 hold'em table, and after an hour or two of play, I'm up about fifty. Then, I'm dealt the infamous 82o hand. I smoothly call the bet, and flash my cards to Mike, who has already folded. He whispers back, "You should have raised." I'm thinking he's right when the flop comes 8Q2 rainbow. Me and "Big Matt" Ivestor get into a raising war, and finally put in four bets. The turn is beautiful 8, and I keep raising until I realize that Matt isn't going to stop raising either. Hmmmmmm. Could he have pocket Queens? Nah, he would have raised preflop with Queens. He must be betting his trip Eights, so I raise again. He re-raises. Okay, now I'm scratching my head and just call. The light bulb goes off above my head, and it suddenly dawns on me that he might have Q8. The river is a brick 7, he bets, and I sheepishly call to see his Q8. Oh, that cruel fickle 8-2 hand. Now I'm down fifty, and I lose another fifty before calling it a night. CHAPTER FOUR: TIME PASSES Although I wasn't relishing an entire day of playing Hold'em, I sat down vowing to do better than last year's abysmal outing. We started with T3000, and for the first three rounds, I got nothing but dreck. I had T2875 at the first break, and the exact same amount by the second break. By break three, I had been blinded down to T2400. If I didn't catch a hand soon, it didn't look promising. I finally went all-in with QJs, and got one caller with pocket Tens. A Queen flopped, and the Tens got no help, so that got me to T7600. With over 200 players, it was hard to see who busted out when the clapping was heard. I would try to see if any 8-2'r was standing with the applause, but sometimes I couldn't tell. I think by the third break, three club members had been eliminated. Because of the large number of entrants, a good finish in this tourney would weight extremely heavily in the "Best in Show" prize pool. So I needed to hang on as long as possible. My table is the first to break, and I think I get moved two times. I'm finally seated at table number one. CHAPTER FIVE: A DRAMATIC ENDING I'm the big blind, and look down to see JT suited in Clubs. UTG calls, and the little blind calls. The flop comes a lovely Ad Kc Qh, giving me Broadway. I decide to slowplay my monster, and bet T2000. UTG goes all-in! Yes!!! LB folds, I call, and turn over my Straight. UTG turns over my worst nightmare -- pocket Aces. Holy crap! I start screaming "No Pair! No Pair!" to the dealer, and he flips over my second worst nightmare -- the case Ace!! Quad Aces. IGHN. But WAIT!!! Matt Matros, who is sitting in seat 8, notices that the turn was the Ace of Clubs. Believe it or not, I actually have ONE out card. If the Queen of Clubs falls on the river, I have a Royal, and news of this suck-resuck hand will be echoing through the ARG distros for years to come! The dealer burns and turns. Alas! No Club Queen. IRGHN. I bust out just about at the halfway point, at position #103. I later compute the odds of my opponent beating my Straight after the flop. Turns out I am a 2-1 favorite to win, so I am happy with my all-in bet, and would have done the same thing even if I had known he had Aces. CHAPTER SIX: HOW TO LOSE $300 IN ONE HOUR Later that evening, after eating a comped meal at the buffet with 8-2 Chris, I ventured back into my final ring game play of the weekend. As the day before, I was playing well, was catching cards, and found myself up a hundred after two hours. Then, it started. I'd call with A7s, and make a set with a flop of 779. Queen turn. Bet and numerous callers. Trey river, bet and one caller, who shows QQ. Well, I suppose I should be glad he wasn't raising. Later, I get the pocket ladies and raise. Flop is 862 rainbow. Bet, numerous callers. Turn 4. Bet, and still some callers. River Jack. Bet, and numerous callers. Lose to 84o. Huh? Did I sit down at the 2-4 table by mistake?? Shortly thereafter, I have KJs and raise. Bet a hunk when the flop show K7J. Turn Deuce and bet. River Nine and bet, with it raised back to me. Hmmmm. "He must have QT for the Straight," thinks I. I call to see. He turns over 43 suited in clubs. Double huh?? Oh, I see. He caught runner-runner clubs for his Flush, with absolutely nothing until the river. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. This type of crazy play continued for the rest of the hour, and in that short time, my hundred profit had transmorgrified into a two-hundred loss. I played my final hand in the dark just out of frustration, since looking at my cards obviously wasn't helping my play one iota. I turn in after reading up on some Stud strategy for Sunday's event. CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LAST HUZZAH Well, we were down to the last tourney, and so far, the 8-2 Club was a no-show at any final table. The streak was in serious jeopardy, as there has always been at least one 8-2 member making the final table in at least one of the three tourneys. I like Stud, because of the additional information you get from other player's up cards. I also wanted to place high enough in this tourney to assure my lock for the annual "8-2 Best in Show" pool. The first round was a bizarre one, where Aces and Kings would get beaten by rivered trips, and trips would lose to runner-runner flushes. It got to the point where I really didn't want to get starting cards of a high pair, as the chances of them holding up were apparently extremely slim. 8-2 Dave took some substantial hits from major suckouts, as 8-2 Cary and myself just shook our heads in disbelief, silently glad it wasn't happening to us. By the end of Round One, I had increased my starting stack of T3000 to an "impressive" T3200. Shortly after the break, I got moved to another table -- this time, against two other 8-2 members: Graham and Ron. I won the first hand, but then hit an incredible dry spell. Things were looking bleak chipwise, when I looked down and saw (98)7. Not seeing any Sixes or Tens, I decided to call 8-2 Graham, who had completed the bring-in bet with a Jack showing. I catch a Five, and Graham fires off a bet. I decide to pay for one more card, and lo! it is the magical Six, completing my straight. However, Graham has caught another Jack. He bets, and I raise, expecting him to just call; but he raises! Now I figure he must either have Jacks-Up, or worse yet, trip Jacks. Either way, I've got him beat at present, so I raise it again. Now he's thinking. And thinking. And thinking some more. Finally he calls. I catch an Ace, and he catches a spot card. Since I don't know what card he needs to make his boat, I have no way of telling if sixth street helped him or not. He checks, I bet, and he simply calls. Now I'm sure that sixth street didn't help him. I don't even bother looking at my down card, and bet when he checks to me. Mister Cool, that's me. Sort of like Bond, James Bond. I'm not just Cool, I'm Suffe-cool! When he pauses, I know he didn't make his hand. He thinks for a while longer, and finally calls, revealing his trip Jacks. I turn over my cards, showing my Straight on the first five cards, and then seeing that a river Ten gave me an even higher Straight for added effect. Shazam. More tourney chips for me, and I took them from a possible contender for the "Best in Show" pool. Afterwards, I computed the percentage chance Graham had to make either a boat or quads. Assuming his other two non-Jack cards were all "live", he had a 311/861 = 36.1% chance of beating me. I actually thought his odds of making his hand would be higher. Thrilled with my victory, I take a huge hunk of chips from 8-2 Ron on the very next hand, when he makes an A-J Flush on fifth street, but I make an A-Q Flush on sixth street. I'm on fire, and wind up with T7900 by the end of Round Two. I really liked playing at that table, and not just because I won a hunk of chips from both Graham and Ron. We had the funnest (is funnest a word?) table in the room. Poor TrayRacer was getting hit with a huge disproportionate number of bring-in cards. It got so bad, he started actually putting out his bring-in money before the cards were even dealt. And sure enough, he'd be the bring-in! Then, other players started announcing that THEY would be the bring-in player by advance posting their chips, and shazam! they would be right! We were actually having more fun calling out the bring-in's than with the actual playing of the hands. It was one of the highlights of my week. At Round Three, I get moved to yet another table. This one has 8-2 Mike at it, and not only does he have a goodly amount of chips, he is also an excellent Stud player who has placed in the money upon numerous occasions. Plus, if he finishes high enough compared to me, he could sneak in a "Best in Show" win himself. So I really don't want to go head-to-head with him unless absolutely necessary. At this level, we're playing 300-600, and I start with three Hearts and call. When a player pairs her Nine and bets, I call as I caught a fourth Heart. Again, I like Stud because I have seen that Hearts are very live, so I am willing to draw out on her. I brick on Fifth Street, but catch my Flush on Sixth Street and raise her back. She just calls, so I figure her for two pair. I bet the river without looking, she calls, and mucks when I show the Flush. Another sizeable pot won, and angry scowls from 8-2 Mike as my chip lead increases. Shortly after, I'm dealt (AA)K, but another Ace is showing. I raise, and get one caller. I catch the case Ace for trips, followed by a Queen and then another King. With me showing KAQK, my opponent finally tosses away her hand in disgust, and I show my Aces Full of Kings for dramatic effect. My trough is overflowing. CHAPTER EIGHT: A COSTLY ERROR 8-2 Mike finally busts out when his pocket Tens don't improve, and with 8-2 Graham also out, I'm now a lock for the "Best in Show" pool. $260 bonus for Cactus Kev, baby!! Okay, play continues and we're finally down to two tables. I'm doing extremely well, and then I make the one major mistake of my entire tourney play that week. It probably cost me my shot at winning in the top three places. I'm dealt (J9)J and raise when an Eight completes the bring-in. Fourth street doesn't seem to help either of us, so I bet and he calls. My opponent pairs his Eight, and I catch another brick. This time he bets, and I call. I brick again on Sixth Street, but he checks this time, so I do as well. That should have been my clue that all he had was Eights, but alas, my brain must have taken a bathroom break. Well, I catch a Nine on the river, giving me Jacks Up. My opponent bets. Great. What could he have, I wonder? All his up cards are lower than an Eight. Could he have started with Queen or higher in the hole, and paired up on the river like me? If so, his two pair would beat mine, and it would cost me another T3000. Well, I think and think and think some more. I really don't know what to do. I should have looked at all the money in the pot and just called, but I was also trying to play smart poker, which says to fold if you think you're beat. "Save yourself that 3000," I kept hearing my brain say. "He's got Queens-Up or Kings-Up, so fold already!" Reluctantly, I toss my hand into the muck. Half my stack is now gone. I later ask him if my Jacks-Up would have won, and he says yes. He made two smaller pair on the river. Oh well, live and learn. Shake it off and move on. CHAPTER NINE: A CHIP AND A CHAIR We're down to two tables of five each, and playing hand to hand. The antes are now huge, and I'm quickly running out of chips. Finally, two players bust out ahead of me, and I find myself at the final table, in the money! The 8-2 Club final table streak continues!!! The other 8-2'rs decide to hang around to see me through to the bitter end. I appreciated it, guys! I am the shortest stack at the table, but want to do the best I can. I move up in rank when Mordacai gets knocked out, but am still the short stack. I'm waiting to commit my chips on a worthy hand, but I'm catching hands like (83)6 and (T3)7. The antes are T500, and I'm down to my final T1000. I have two hands left in me. But no!! The timer goes off, and the antes bump up to T1000. Great. I'm forced to go all-in on my blind. I announce I'm all-in, put my bust-out 8-2 poker chip token in the pot, and don't even look at my down cards as I stand up, ready to exit. My up card is a 7 of Spades, but my neighbor also has a 7 showing, so that doesn't bode well. An Ace gives the obligatory "complete" steal attempt, but TrayRacer raises with a King showing. The Ace decides to fold, and I get to see what type of hand I'm up against. Well, I find out where the three Wise Men went after delivering their gifts to the baby Jesus, because Peter turns over trip Kings. Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi. Talk about putting the dagger into my chest. Well, I turn over my mystery hole cards, and find a Three and a Ten -- but they are both Spades. Hmmmmmmmm. Three Spades is good. I vainly try to remember how many Spades have been mucked, but I haven't a clue. Fourth street is brick for Pete, brick for me. Fifth street is brick for Pete, Spade for me! Hmmmmmmmm!! This is interesting. Of course, if Pete pairs up, it's over. Sixth street is bricks for both. The down cards come. Pete turns his over first. Brick. All he has is trip Kings. I pause for dramatic effect. I put the voodoo monkey dust on my final down card, and turn it over quickly. Two of Spades!!! Boo-ya!!!! Still alive, baby! Chip and a chair!! My T1000 just turned into T7000. Riding the rush, I ante my T1000 and look down to see pocket Nines. Again, Peter raises with a Five, and I go all-in. Nines for me, (5J)5 for him. Hey, Presto is no g00t for Stud hands, Pete! Let's deal the rest of 'em. Queen for me, brick for him. Brick for me, Jack for him, giving him Jacks-Up. I need help. Lo! another Queen for me, and brick for him! The river helps neither of us, and I nearly triple up to T19000! Cheers from the home team sweating me out! High fives around the table! That's why I like playing with ARG'rs. They are competitive, but friendly, even at the final table. You would never see this in a non-ARG tourney. With ARG events, everyone is there to have a fun time, and if you wind up winning, that's just iceing on the cake. And it's looking like I might pull an "Oscar", just like in yesterday's NLHE tourney. Well, the rush is doomed to not last, and I get all excited when I see (QJ)T. A King completes, I raise, he re-raises, and I'm forced to go all-in. As expected, I'm up against a pair of Kings. At least it's not three of 'em this time! The top end of my Straight is in trouble, with him holding two of my Kings. We both brick on fourth and fifth street, but I catch a Nine on sixth street. An Eight or King on the river will make me another "comeback kid" story. Can the magic possibly continue?? I turn my down card over. It's a Six. Game over, man. Game over. What a wild, wild ride. I get my $158.40 prize money, and head over to the Bombay for some road-food with my last food comp. Lastly, my tradition has always been that upon leaving the Taj, I take twenty bucks and place single one dollar bets for my close friends' numbers at the roulette table. Unlucky 13 turns out to be lucky this time, and my guitar-playin' buddy Scott winds up $35 richer this year. CHAPTER TEN: A JOB WELL DONE So all in all, I had another great ATLARGE weekend, and may have to try to catch my first BARGE this year. TrayRacer told me that SIGGRAPH is either right before (or right after) BARGE this year, so the timing certainly works out. We'll see if it all pans out. Props again to Goldie for another smashing ATLARGE. Love the commemorative poker chip, dude! We're gonna try for at least eighteen 8-2 attendees next year, so watch out. Rumor has it the club shirt color will be forest green in 2006, but maybe we'll make it pink in honor of the Pink Game :) -- "Cactus Kev" Suffecool

Let me add my thanks to the others to Goldie who did an exceptional job in organizing and then running a smooth event. At Atlarge I was humbled by the poker gods. The prior weekend at the Bellagio I won about $5,200 in 6 hours of table play (see trip report which follows). In addition to the very weak play, the gods hit me in the face with winners consistently. Alas, the defending champ of the Atlarge HOE tourney was the second to bust with dead cold cards. That was also the case the night before at the Borgata and would repeat again at the NLHE tourney. I went home -$800, but I will take the juxtaposition of those two weekends anytime. When Matt Matros sat to my left in the NLHE about 4+ hours in and I, as usual, was short stacked, I knew I would be heading for the garage shortly. When I saw he only had about T400 more than I, I thought I might get that copy of his new book. Alas, it was the former, about 2 hands after Matt sat down I made a pre-flop all-in raise in middle position with about T2! 400 with KQo and of course Matt wakes up to his first real hand QQ and IGHN. Matt won my piggie but I did get to take a look at his book.... However, there was an incredible bright spot to the weekend as a result of my being placed to the right of Chrissie, a NLHE and Atlarge newbie. While her play was erratic, she was dominating the table and we would chat about each hand (after the play) and I would point out other ways to think about the play of the hand. It sounds like the coaching paid off since I heard that she came in third. Now we have to get her into shape for the WSOP double shoot out..... It was nice seeing and playing badly against many familiar faces, and missing the ones that were not there. It seems more like a family reunion when we get together rather than a bunch of poker players. There is something very special about that. My job takes me all over the world, I am Hannover Germany right now and I get to play almost everywhere I go. When I do travel I will use an 'arg' chip or spinner to cover my cards, and it always starts a conversation. Many times the folks have heard about BARGE and held it with some respect, and then go on to beat my brains out :) Looking forward to seeing all of you soon uncle al

The story of my ninth BARGE. “…where everybody knows your name.”

First of all, thanks to Goldie for preparing and planning another great ARG event. In the immortal words of North Shore Mike, I don’t actually claim that everything contained herein is true, but it sure seems to be the way I SAW it. My trip from Virginia started on Friday morning at 10:15. Driving up with StefSeahawk, we somehow manage to get on the road 15 minutes early. Somewhere in Maryland, we stop for a quick bite to eat. Stef buys lunch, and I’m *UP* for the trip. Don’t worry, this didn’t last long. The radar detection gods are kind, and we arrive in the City of Stale Urine shortly before 2 pm. $4 to park in the Taj garage, I might still be *UP* for the trip, but it’s close. Check in to the Taj, get upgraded to slightly nicer room with fridge. Number 3232, not a *horrible* hand if you’re an Omaha player (which I’m not). So far, good omens. I’ve made the decision to play in the Borgata $100 + $20 rebuy event, so we head over. This being my first time in the Borgata, I walk in like it was my first time in Vegas, staring, ooo-ing and ahh-ing like the tourist-a I am. Make way to poker room, see Russell Rosenblum in a NL ring game (max $300 buy-in), make my way to the registration table, and I get seat 1, table 10. Looks like it’ll be a nice sized field. What’s this? I hear someone whispering there are only 9 tables. I find a floorman and ask if we’re going 11 handed. His reply, “Oh, at least.” Twelve handed is a possibility. “Yes.” OK, 12 handed it is. It’s a bit snug, but it’ll do just fine. Sufficient grinding keeps me above the initial buy-in until the add-on period, at which I take my double add-on. Some more grinding, and then my Kings get cracked by Jacks. I cry a bit, and quickly get moved to another table, sitting beside the Tick. Chris has a decent mountain of chips. Not Mount Vesuvius, or Everest, but definitely a good rendition of the Appalachians. He begrudgingly gives me some on blatant steal attempts, but I’m still fairly short-stacked. As we head into the break, half my table is getting up for a much needed run to the men’s room. I look down at K9suited, and decide since 4 or 5 players are getting up, I can justify this as a middle to late-position steal. Soooo, I raise from seat 8, making it 1800 on 300/600 blinds. Now I’ll just sit back and wait for my pot. But wait, the conservative guy in seat 2 with 6000 in chips throws out 1800. OK, time to rethink. Wait???? The guy in seat 4 that hasn’t played a hand since I moved to the table makes it 6000, moving all-in. And then the chip leader at our table immediately to his left just calls him, with well over 10K behind. WTF? I read the re-raiser as very strong based on his manner and the fact that he hasn’t played any hands since I’ve been there. I fold my K9 meekly and start to rise from the table. The guy in seat two openly folds two tens, and the reraiser turns over KJ, while the big stack shows JJ. Great, I made the right decision! The flop comes K59, and I can’t help feel a pit in my stomach. I know, results oriented thinking is the best way to go! After the break, I have trouble building my stack. Soon after I find myself on the rail in time enough to see Russell’s KK get cracked by A4. The flop comes down blank-blank-5, with a 3 on the turn. I mumble, “Well, he only has aces and deuces as outs.” It’s then that the dealer turns over the black 2. Russell tries to rebuild his stack again, but we are soon on our way to dinner at Ombra, the wine bar in the basement of Borgata. When we get to the hostess stand, both a male and female manager are looking down at the book. The male manager nudges the female manager, who looks up at us. “2 please”. “Do you have a reservation?” “Well, we can seat you in about an hour and a half.” Suffering another bad beat, we decide to walk over and sit at the wine bar and dine. Food and wine are both very good, and about an hour later, the hostess bounds over to ask if we’d like a table for dinner now. My, she’s being quite flirtatious. We ask for a table the following night at 8. She makes the reservation for 4 people. Time to head back to the Taj, where I alternately watch the pot-limit game and one of the newbies from my home game play the tightest 2-4 game I’ve ever seen. Fast forward to Saturday morning, and I come down to find out who’s at my table for NL. But first, the s00per-sekrit gift! Goldie breaks out gray fleece vests with the ATLARGE logo on them for all of the attendees. Way cool! Props to Goldie again. I look at my table assignment, figuring with so many newbies, I have a good chance of getting a good draw. Uh, no. Mitch, Tiger, Joan, Jerrod. Is there anybody at my table that I don’t know? Sigh. Goldie asks me if I can run to the slot cage and get $1500 in slot tokens. Chic and I take the walk down. As it turns out, $1500 in slot tokens weighs more than me. I feel a wincing pain, and then something drops and rolls around on the floor. I don’t think it was a slot token. As I hand out bounty coins to each table, my sharply honed math skills allow me to give some players 2 coins while I give others none, and the math still adds up. No, really. I’m more of a feel player. I’m running back and forth to my table trying to make sure I don’t miss a hand. I’ve decided to try wearing sunglasses for the first time. This works out nicely, except for the fact that since they aren’t prescription sunglasses, I can’t really see the rest of the poker room. Even Jerrod looks fuzzy ALLL the way down the other end of the table. That’s okay, because shortly thereafter, Jerrod takes his AK against Mitch’s KK, and now I can’t see him at all. **Quick note, Goldie has placed a $100 bounty on my head for the NL tournament, as I am the 100th person to register for ATLARGE this year. Need to be really early or late next year. Fairly early on, seat ten flat calls preflop, and I look down to 78s. I call, and Tiger checks his BB. The flop comes 784, all clubs. It’s checked around, and an offsuit J falls on the turn. I bet, Tiger doubles my bet quickly, and we lose seat ten. A fourth club on the end gets both of us to check, and tiger turns over AJ. MY 78 holds up! I’m now the chip leader at the table, and I point out that I can’t be busted for my $100 bounty in one hand by anyone. This is said mostly for Joan’s sake, as she has been greedily eyeing my bounty. Shortly thereafter, Mitch dispatches Jerrod, and I am no longer the big stack at the table. But wait, is this pocket Kings I find? The pot is unraised, so I make a decent raise, and Joan decides to go all-in from three seats to my left. I started the hand with T1200, and calling Joan’s bet brings me down to roughly 800. She turns over AKs00ted, and I’m on my way to a big stack again. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure everyone at the table hears me gulp when the ace hits on the turn, and I’ve now done my part to put Joan back in the game. As it turns out, today is Joan’s birthday. No, really. It’s her birthday. Happy freakin’ birthday! My present to her is the expression on my face watching Kings get cracked for the second time in less than 24 hours. She is WAAAY too happy. I never really recover from this hand, but the blinds seem to keep going up. I’m nearing my death, when I pick up K8off in the cutoff, which means it’s Joan’s big blind. Well, of course I can steal Joan’s big blind. I make it 3 times the big blind, and Joan quickly calls. The flop comes K59 of hearts. Joan thinks for a minute, and asks me for a chip count. I have 475 left. She makes it 300 instead of pushing me all-in. I push my remaining chips in valiantly along with my bounty, and watch Joan turn over KQ offsuit. I stand up and sigh, knowing Joan has beaten me and taken all of my chips. I decide to cheer for an 8 just for giggles, and then realize neither of us has any hearts in our hand. I then proceed to achieve the most monumental suckout in my recent memory. The turn is the 3 of hearts. I start screaming at the top of my lungs for an 8 or a heart, and the gods smile kindly on me, revealing a fifth heart. Chop! I’ve never felt so gloriously good about a chop. It’s not as good as an eight, but it sure tilts Joan. J She starts ranting about making sure I describe this hand in my trip report. And so, just for you Joan, here it is. Hugs and kisses, sweetie! Happy Birthday. For three hours, Jerrod is the only player to bust out on our table, so we essentially trade chips while the rest of the tournament builds up mountain ranges. In short order, we bust three players from our table, including both of the people to my right and left. Incoming! Matt Matros and a guy named Reggie take the seats to my right and left, respectfully. Both of them bring their chips in racks, as if to scorn our puny stacks. I have enough to post the blinds at $100-$200 just about twice, and then my dance is over. Very shortly, I’m posting the big blind with a puny stack behind. The guy to my left flat calls from under the gun. We get no more callers until Matt throws in another 100 from the small blind, and awaaaay we go. But wait, is that AK I see in the big blind??? In a flurry, I push my mountain in the center, declaring myself all-in for another 325. I add my $5 and $100 bounty to the pot. The guy to my left calls quickly, and then Matt looks at the pot like there’s a worm crawling through the chips. “What’s that?”, he asks. “Uh, that’s my $100 bounty.” “Oh, F***. I forgot about your bounty. I’m all-in”. The guy to my left folds. In fairness to Matt, he says he would have called anyway without the bounty, which is true. He turns over A3 of hearts. Whew, I can finally get back to a real stack and triple through. The flop is all black, eliminating his flush draw. WHAAAATTTT?? What the F*** is a 3 doing out there. I vividly remember slamming my fist against the wall while Matt pounds the table, screaming, “Yeah, baby. I’m up $100.” I’ve had three premium hands in 24 hours, all of which have been busted. After donating money to the 5-10 game at the Taj, it’s time for dinner at Ombra with Russell and Matt. We get there a bit early and see our hostess friend. Russell greases her palm, and she is honestly surprised we are tipping her. This seems odd for an establishment as nice as Borgata. She tells us to let her know when we’re ready to sit down. A few minutes later, we decide to sit down. “Well, it’s going to be about 30 minutes for your table.” So much for having a reservation. Or maybe it was the size of our tip that surprised her? 30 minutes pass, and a mere 15 minutes after that, we’re sitting down to enjoy a good dinner. The trip went by way too fast. Looking forward to seeing most of you at NEPC or Barge. Regards, Edward Pizzarello

For the third year in a row, I went to Atlantic City during ATLARGE. For the first year in a row, I'm registered and just not in town by coincidence. This trip started, as did the last two, with a bad omen. Two years ago I left my office under blue skies and warm temperatures. Within the first hour it rained. Then it started to snow. Then I found out I was out of windshield wiper fluid. When I stopped at a gas station I had to kick the door open, as the rain and following cold formed a shell of ice around my car. I got frozen cards that trip and lost my ass. Last year, just before leaving I reached into one of my bags for something or another, I can't remember. What I do remember is finding a razor blade in a less than graceful manner. If I look closely I still can see the scar where I chopped the top of my index finger off... I got carved up pretty good on that trip. This year, while sitting at the first traffic light of my trip to ATLARGE, I saw a tire roll by my car. I found this odd, to say the least, and for a second I wondered where it came from. That's when I saw the second tire go by. Then I saw the truck with no tires, and putting my West Virginia Public School education to work deduced that the tires most likely came from the truck. The driver made an effort to continue, and managed to make it all the way to where he completely blocked my path out of town. Then he gave up, got out of the truck, and shrugged. I found a way around the carnage and left that little jackpot behind. At this point I was a little worried about the impending obvious metaphor. I did make it to Atlantic City on Wednesday, and to the best of my hazy recollection the following transpired. I didn't do anything silly like take notes or write anything down, so I trust if I miss details or get names wrong I will receive the abuse I deserve... Wednesday: Into town in the morning ... Check into Taj and pass the time playing a little 3-6 ... Good game .. Get AA ... Capped 8 ways. Flop top set on rainbow board... turn quads, get called 4 ways on the river... no straights or flushes possible. Leave to see Borgata as planned around 4PM. Borgata is nice, but oddly hard to get to if you don't use the tunnel... Just like the Taj, the Borgata's chips stick together, although because of magnets, not dead human skin... playing 6-12 with the WPT crowd... lotta sunglasses and odd raises... Rebuy tournament starts soon, why not try it? $40+10, rebuys to the break... holy crap you never saw so many rebuys... like over 26 at my table no kidding... local vocabulary limited to "All In" and "Double Rebuy..." I manage to tread water until 5 minutes before break... On button, 6 limpers and I see QQ, so I join the "All In" choir... Get called by KJo... K hits turn, consider rebuy... next smallest stack is T3500, double rebuy is T2000... nevermind. Back to the Taj. Wow these chips are dirty... play a little 5-10 and end day up about a hundred... Thursday: Playing more 3-6. Sitting to the right of a young WPT sunglasses type. He's obviously an expert and does not approve of someone's winning with 57o. It offends him. Next hand I raise early position with 45s... first hand I play in 45 mins... 5 callers and he reraises... I cap it... flop the flush draw, we cap the flop 5 ways and then I catch running fours to crack his AA like a walnut. He is a little peeved and explains in detail how much smarter he is than me. I guess image plays and betting draws for value are not worthy of expert consideration. Funny how these plays only look normal to most people if they are the ones making them... I lost a friend today... boo hoo... he claims I couldn't get away with that if it were no limit... I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work if we were playing ping-pong either, but I doubt he'd grasp what I was saying... Later, tired of poker I try some 2-4 Omaha, played here with a half-kill after a $30 scoop. Very odd table, average age of 35 or so rather than the usual 135... when did we get to California?? 8 ways raised pots the norm... sitting to the right of 8-2 Mathman... he's not having luck on the river... 10s full kebonged by a Q on the river... yikes.... like a $150 pot... it only takes one scoop in this game ... good lord that same guy that caught the queen just raised and re-raised when he spiked a 4 on the river to make 4's full on a board of AKK64... and it's good!!! 7 way preflop action for 3 bets, flop comes 222... what do these people have... Mathman wins a pot... only like $40, but ends the drought... he gets up and announces his triumph to the room... standing ovation from the faithful... later hits gutshot straight flush to tick off a local with ace high flush... ten hands later I do the same... then a really weird hand... three ways on the turn in a big kill hand, I have nut low and ace-king high... me and a guy that can't read his hand get the guy to my right in the middle for 4 bets on the turn... river pairs board, I bet out moron raises, poor guy in the middle lays it down... moron has the other A2 but my AK is good for 3 quarters of a $160 pot... guy in the middle laid down a flush... last train to tiltsville... Finish day down about $100... took some sick beats, but that's what I deserve for playing these stakes... Friday: HOE tourney... so that's Raydon... and that's Raydon's foot up my ass... out pretty quick after first break, but not after busting out one of the 8-2's, so I have that going for me, which is nice... 5$ bounty means I lose only $70 on the tourney. Pink chip game anyone? Buckshot raising blind every hand, catching cards making local rock to my left a bit unhinged. I try it once, wind up rivering broadway with QTo... snowshovel-sized pot... my hands start shaking... I'm a f*ck*ng spaz... the cool kids are mocking me... raising war with Buckshot... we are both looking this time... I've got KK... he wants to go all in... I think about it for a second... I don't... I'm also a wuss sometimes... we pound on each other to a board of 9JQ4A... I call the river... not much he has that I can beat, especially after that ace... he has TT... good thing I didn't river the set... game gets tight... time to r00l again... steal blinds from MP with Q5s... get reraised 5 way pot 3 bets.... flop flush draw w/ bottom pair... lets gamble boys... cap the flop... turn might as well be the cut card... lets see the river cheap boys.... flush hits on the river... I raise 8-2 cardshark when he bets out... he pays off... flush g00t... he's critical of my play... I exclaim "whaddya mean!? I flopped bottom pair!!!" He's not pleased. Game gets tighter... I pick up, up about $200. After lunch seat is open in main pink game. Sit between AllKnight and ADB Fich... Tiger123, Goldifish and ADB The Sock are in the game, as are many other ARGers... Set down chips, want to use the facilities... get razzed for not posting... promise I'll raise blind when I get back... get back in big blind... look just for kicks... see 45o, reraise Tiger... many callers... Tiger sneers at me (he may have been drinking) "did you look?" I ask "Me?" and the whole table goes all De Niro for about 15 seconds... I admit I looked... Tiger folds... flop comes A2Q... I have faith so I help cap the flop... turn is a 3... bad card... I prefer to hit those on the river so no one can re-suckout on me... heavy betting... river a blank... I flop over my 45 for the winner... eyes are rolling... no biggie... I tighten up until I hear 8Ts calling for action... why not... RAISE... flop is 9J6 for the much feared straight draw... who am I going to drill this time? turn is some loser card who cares... river a queen... wooHoo!! except it is the 3rd heart... plus whoops the guy in the 4 seat hadn't acted yet... he checks... reshuffle.. new river is a 7 no heart... I just pulled the double suckout... turns out the first river made someone a flush... holy suckout batman... game breaks shortly after... end up $300... Fox IQ test in the hospitality suite... we get all questions right... I manage to offend AlwaysAware with a poorly worded statement about not being in Mensa because I hate hanging around smart people... meant that I don't like hanging with people who primarily identify themselves as smart, not smart people per se... I actually prefer smart people, just not those that think being smart is some kind of celestial honor of extreme importance... no Atlargers I'm aware of fall into that category... oh well... off to the poker room... play in 2-4 holdem.... decide to drink it up a little... cards very unkind... Mathman suggests my putting my last $14 of my $100 buyin on roulette... sounds like a plan... use 00... he says wait until after this hand he will go too... we arrive just in time to see 00 come up... put it on my age next spin... miss by two... blame my parents... Saturday: NLHE tourney... uneventful... fail to get lucky... guy to my right is Alvin... he calls alot... trouble stealing blinds... go out when AKs gets no help against Alvin's 44... he goes deep into the tourney... I go to the hospitality suite... got a bounty though, so I get another $5... few beers... chatting with AlwaysAware... then talking politics with Steve Goldman... he's not a fan of the current administration... I can dig it.. Repeated jestful barbs at PokerStars rep over all the suckouts in the NLHE tourney... Tainted Rouge asks ADB Big Boy about a 10-20 hand... his analysis gets me thinking... going to rattle around in my head for the next 24 hours... will eventually be the thing that gets me out of my mental slump w/r/t poker... reports from the cardroom... unreal suckouts in the NLHE and forget about live games as lists are unreal... Mathman in the money in the NLHE... good to hear, and pretty clutch considering his Omaha results the last few days... hanging with Raydon and others... start talking about blackjack... interesting... I deal a few hands... next thing I know the PL game breaks out... I'm feeling like an ATLARGE pledge or something so I deal the thing... start getting toked... I give them back.. Don Perry finds out I'm a lawyer... tokes stop... they find out I'm a public defender... tokes start up again... Raydon and Treasure driving Perry nuts by raising every hand... others splash around... Don Perry apparently orders 24 cases of beer... they want cash.. order canceled... mmmm.. pizza... go to bed having played no live games... up $40 from the tokes...only way that game was +EV for me... Sunday: No stud for me... try a little 10-20 now that I am thinking... TaintedRogue (Ken Lovering) and ADB Big Boy are in the game... catch a no brainer... AA makes a set get called in 2 places on the river... first time playing 10-20 in several years... been low-rolling lately...little nervy, but much different than my usual 3-6, need to remember these guys have a clue... 3 hours of being on edge... have lunch with Ken... analyize some of the hands... I'm now out of what I now recognize was an extrended poker doldrum... may actually make the leap to 10-20 this time... wonder if this new purpose will survive until my next live poker trip... take a break after lunch... call the wife... play a little more 10-20... I'm not good at this... yet... I guess the first step is to recognize my weakness, I'm just not thinking as well as I should, lack of experience... I win $100 in 2 hours... start to get the fear... need to take my 10-20 in small doses for a while... move back to 3-6 for a relaxing evening of no-foldem... I'm playing much better than I was even 2 days ago... something has clicked and I feel a lot better about the game and my approach to it... Monday: The 121234384 hour drive back to West Virginia. Back to the real world... Final Thoughts: It was a great trip. While I didn't name a whole lot of people I met I do remember the people if not all the names. Everyone seemed very likable, and I find myself doing quick geographical and vacation-time calculations to see what other ARG-events I can make. I've been in a bit of a funk with poker lately, and for good or ill I'm out of that now. Future full of promise and all that. The wheels never did come off... my omen streak has ended... Rob Catlett ([FunBot] Suddenly)