JG's BARGE 99 Trip Report

Date: 08/09/1999
From: Jim Geary
Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker
Subject: Subject JG's BARGE Trip Report

arrival

The Orleans reg staff was really great. ChuckE and I had separate reservations but decided to combine them after we both had already checked in, and they did so with zero penalty. Just about every employee of the Orleans was great to me. I never had a complaint with the poker room. I'd say let's spread pot-limit and they did. The team HORSE was a little crowded but what are you gonna do? The jackpot was 40k; of course they were packed. I had only one marginally unpleasant encounter with Orleans' employees, detailed anon.

nerd report(marginal poker content)

Playing the pot-limit Thursday night at the Mirage, I think I recognize player in ten seat. It's Dmitri Gurevich, one of the top chessplayers in the United States, and in fact the only grandmaster I've ever beaten in a tournament (it was a fast time-control tourney). He was very nice and told me all about the World Chess Championship that was going on at Caesars. I spent the next day there. They had computerized projection images of all the games behind the players. For $5, you could rent earphones with a radio connection to a room where leading grandmasters were doing commentary. I saw the future of poker here. (Scrabble is already doing this at the WSC.) There may be some difficulties given the difference between complete and incomplete information games(I'm not sure I'm enamored with the idea of broadcasting hidden cards in realtime), but the technology exists to make an entertaining production of the game.

calcutta

The highlight of the Calcutta was picking up Maverick for the low, low price of $20. He didn't finish in the money, but I sleep well knowing I got +EV on that one. Part of the reason I was able to score was idiots letting their prejudices influence their bankrolls, the other was that I was able to create a huge diversion while simultaneously walking up to the bank. Amid all the hubbub, the auctioneer never even got a chance to say $25 before I shouted "sold!" John Finn woulda been proud. Later that evening, while playing pot-limit with Mav, he inquired who got him in the calcutta, as he wanted to buy half of himself back. I said I didn't know, but I'd happily book half his action for $20. He was willing to do it, but JG is just too nice a guy, and fessed up. John Finn woulda been disappointed. And of course, as everyone deeply suspects in their hearts, Maverick is a cool guy.

team horse

Cha-ching!

Mike Paulle's report made it sound like one hand decided the tournament, but we were r00ling waaay before that. I hear some bellyaching about Melissa catching that boat, but we may well have won anyway. In any event, the thing is we played 5 hands for every 8 of those at the other table. It's very difficult to push yourself to the extreme endpoint of a distribution when the majority of the field is getting 60%(!) more opportunities to do so than you. Seen in that light, The Clones of Dr. Pokerstein completely rule. The trophy is currently sitting on top of my entertainment center and will have some modifications done before my next trip to Vegas. Any idea of a permanent home besides GregW's garage? Perhaps we should settle on a permanent home for BARGE first. I'll put a picture of it on my web site as soon as I can figure out how to fit the scanner cover over the trophy.

I recall a lot of trash-talking a priori the team event. And if you all recall, all of the teams wimped out of Tom Weideman's offer to crossbook action. Well, all but one. The rest of you pussies trash-talked til you were blue in the face, but then no one had the balls to put up the money. Well, we kept the trash-talking to a minimum, but put up the money. And we got it. That's the way the big boys(and girls) do it. The only downside was the friendly $1500 cap cost us a few thousand dollars. Consider it a present for your upcoming nuptials, Tom. :)

I was pleased later to overhear a conversation between two people whom I didn't know at a 6-12 table behind me:

"Who won the team tourney?"
"The ringers."

go back to your room, young man

My only bad encounter was Saturday morning going to the gift shop to buy some OJ before the tourney. I'm twenty feet away and the guards (there were two of 'em, must be a union shop), say 
 "Stop!"  
 "?"
 "You can't walk around without shoes."
 "I just gotta get my OJ, I'm dying here."
 "No."
 My room is waaaay at the end of the hall on the 12th floor.
 I don't wanna walk all the way back and forth again.
 So I turn to junior guard who is not behind the podium:
 "Here's $5, go get me the OJ."
 "No."
 "You can keep the change."
 "No."
 "Please, I'm dying of thirst, hungover and can barely walk." 
 "I could get fired if I leave my post."
 "So, do you really wanna wear polyester your whole life?"

At that point, he reached for his gun and I shuttled back to the elevator.

the tourney

I started out well, tripling my stack in the first hour with maybe one showdown along the way. The sizes were such that it was possible to outplay my opponents after the flop. But after no more than an hour this was not so. I was the big cheese and still had what I would consider an anemic stack for the blinds in a NL tourney. Once a tournament gets to the stage where all the money is going in before the flop, the ability of the better players to outplay their opponents is greatly reduced. This is not to disparage the eventual winners, but over half the field being busted by the first break is usually not a good sign. You really have to recalculate the blind/stack ratio for NL as opposed to L. NL may be the "cadillac of poker," but in tournaments at least, it is my opinion that limit offers much greater correlation with skill.

Also, on limits going up fast. Apparently, the acceleration of limits was curtailed at/around the final table. I heard the director say, "we're giving you a break." Well in a zero-sum game, the aggregate isn't really getting a break, but let's say they are doing a favor for the "integrity of the tournament." It would've been much better to give the break early in the tournament and have the mad escalation late. Why? The "madness" would've only affected 10-30 people instead of 180.

my new hero

I met Scott Byron last year at BARGE and had the pleasure of spending more time with him this year. We had our Clones of Dr. Pokerstein team lunch Friday afternoon. After sitting around bs'ing and laughing it up after lunch, Scott throws down some dough and says, "I gotta jet, I'm in the tournament." He had just taken an hour+ break to come have lunch with us. He cashes in that tournament. We're at the calcutta, he hangs out at my table for a bit and announces, "I gotta get back down to the tournament." Later, while playing team HORSE, he's playing three-handed at the final table of same tournament and comes over for ten minutes at a time to play our stud-8 downs. He wins this tournament. After the two-hour(!) banquet, he excuses himself and says, "I gotta get back to the tournament." He finishes only 4th this time.

My impression of Bwana's first child being born: 

  
 "breath, breath, breath, PUSH!"
 "UUUUUUNNNNNHHHH"
 "doc, how long apart are the contractions?"
 "3 minutes."
 "okay, be right back, it's almost my big blind."

etceteras

Speaking of children, it was wonderful meeting Max Scheinberg. He's a fun, happy, little baby not unlike someone else I know about his size(no, not Patri). I think next year, the kid(s) are coming. Look forward to meeting Maverick Jr. at BARGE2K or at the JG Dead Pool New Year's Eve party.

After the banquet, I go up to Mike Sexton to mention the high-tech production of the WCC they have at Caesars. I say "Hi, I'm .." -- "..Jim Geary, I played potlimit with you the other night.." Uhoh. That's prolly why he has a few more bracelets than I. Thankfully, he didn't enumerate all my mistakes as well for the assembled throng.

Saturday night Paul Phillips twisted my arm into visiting Club Utopia with himself, Patri, and MelissaH, and I'm really glad he did, as I wouldn't have gone otherwise. Was a little out of place being the only member of my party without dyed hair(well even hair for that matter), and my dress was straight out of a Family Ties rerun. Unfortunately, the FAA wouldn't allow me to enjoy the experience to the maximum degree, but I still had a great time. I left at about 2:30 and the valet says, "Where you going? The party's gonna start soon." I guess I'm getting old...

It was greating meeeting so many of you. I won't make the mistake I did last year of trying to name all the names and leaving some out, so I won't name anyone.

I basically left out of this report any descriptions of real-live poker playing. I did plenty. I made some money. It was fun. On the drive back to Phoenix I replayed every significant potlimit hand I played in my head many times. I'm generally happy with my play. The only hand I'm not sure about goes like this:

Thursday night PL at Mirage.
I'm in big blind. Nice local player Todd limps in UTG, folded to me. I raise the pot. He calls. I have AA. Flop comes 433. I bet pot. He calls. Turn blank. I bet pot he raises a little putting me all in. River blank. He has 44. After my 4th confrontation in a row(over about 2 hours) going broke, I go home now. Are you supposed to just throw your aces away if you don't hit one headsup? I doubt it. Anyway, I recovered.

I agree with Abdul that mass dispersion is a bad thing, but Binion's air makes Bhopal seem like the Biosphere. I think Mirage/TI is a great idea, but I understand the M is downsizing their room sometime in the future, and of course TI already has. If not, I vote for this with two feet. Anyway, I'll be there just about anywhere it is.

Last Modified 2/9/00

Back to Poker Letters Page.

Back to Jim's Poker Page

Back to Jim's Main Page