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ATLARGE III
More Trip Reports
Lightly edited by Jazbo - 4/27/98
Jazbo's Note: Quite a few good trip reports about ATLARGE III have now
been posted to rec.gambling.poker/atlarge@plainsboro.com. I'm collecting
them here (with permission from the authors). If you haven't been to one
of the "RGE" events, these will certainly give you an idea of how much
fun it is!
--jazbo
Scott Byron
My first ever trip report. I had a very good trip.
I had to get there late, after the first Seder on Friday. I left about
9:30 from Dix Hills (my aunt's house), and didn't get to AC until 1:00
AM. After checking in, I headed up to the poker room to say my hellos,
fully intending to go right to bed to be fully rested for the No-Limit
Tournament at 10:00 AM. Of course finding a 10-20 7-stud/8-or-better game
was a nice surprise, so I played some poker with the guys, and didn't get
to bed until 5:30 or so, having managed to win a couple of hundred. Tournament
was at 10:00 AM (prompt), so you do the sleep math.
My first table was incredibly dull. The tourney had lost about 15 players
before we even lost one, and that was a high-card to another table, and
then they broke our table, before we'd even busted one man. I was short-stacked
through the whole first half of the tournament. Then went on a short rush,
highlighted by going all-in on a gut-shot straight draw/four-flush (six-high!),
getting called in two places, making the flush, and it being good. I lost
a good portion of my chips raising Presto! in late position, getting a
call from the big blind, flopping AA4 (could be worse), pushing all-in
when the BB checked, and he called (oops!) with AQ.
Then went cold for an hour, and finally limped into the final table
as the short stack. Sat quietly for the first two orbits, then took 88
against Matt Treasure's AJ, and won; QQ vs. Al's 66; flopped a set of 7s
to win a medium pot; stole some blinds, etc., and ten minutes later was
the chip leader. Key hand: guy on my right had raised three consecutive
buttons, won them all, and hardly played another hand. He raises button
again, I look down to find AK, so come over the top. He looks at his hand
again, and calls. I turn over my hand, he turns over AA. Flop comes ten-high
rags, I ignore the board and start counting down his chips to pay him.
Suddenly the whole table/gallery erupts -- it came a Q and a J, for the
nut straight. I wasn't even looking. After that, it was fairly easy going
-- I picked up a few hands and they held up. After eight BARGE/ATLARGE/FARGO
events, I not only got into the money for the first time, but took it all.
What a thrill!
Short lunch break, then, as part of the prize for winning, a $500 freeroll
heads-up against Will Espin, head of the Trop poker room. Will played very
well, but he doesn't have much no-limit experience, and after I won one
key pot (I call-reraised him with AQ and flopped a queen, he wisely dumped
the hand on the flop) I had 2/3 of the chips, and could use my chip advantage
to both gamble a bit and push him around a little; once I had 3/4 of the
chips, I picked up TT. He called my raise, flop was AA3 with two hearts,
he went all-in with K9 of hearts, I made the call and two pair held up.
Then a nap, then dinner/banquet. Will, Patrice and the rest were wonderful
hosts, and the event was quite enjoyable. My thanks to everyone at the
Trop.
Killed a half-hour at the Let-It-Ride table, managing a $50 win.
Then EAST, our version of TARGET, held in Jeff Woods' room, around a
bed. Played well (making a few good laydowns) and got a little lucky there,
too, after being patient (key hand: QQ holding up in a three-way pot),
holding on to get heads-up with Jeopardy-Jim, who I know from NYC/Mayfair.
He's got a 2-1 chip advantage (maybe closer to 3-1), but he offers me a
sweetheart deal since he's not sure he can go to LV anyway. He asks for
double his $175 buy-in, and second place was already guaranteed $200+.
I actually thought about it for a minute, as I got so crushed at the WSOP
last year that I was looking for a total freeroll... But of course I took
the deal. I hope I do everyone proud. I learned a lot losing in those five
Super-Satellites I played last year; I'm looking forward to another shot
at qualifying for the Championship event.
Spent an hour or two playing low-stakes in the poker room, losing $100
at 5-10 Omaha/8, and winning it back in the 1-2 Pot-Limit Hold-em game.
Squeaked into tenth in the next morning's ATLARGE Stud tournament. (Paid
8.) Missed the Best All-Around jacket by a couple of tenths of points,
but Al played well, and I congratulate him on his two final tables.
Took fourth in Trop's small buy-in Stud/8-or-better tournament that
afternoon. Had a lot of chips with two tables left, but went on a long
negative rush, and had very few chips from about 12 players on. They only
paid five in this tournament, so I had to hang on by my fingernails to
get into the money. I was all-in three times with just the money to cover
the forced bet, and got all or part of the pot each time. My final hand,
four-handed, I called with KQJ heads-up with the eventual winner, and overly
aggressive player who I'd seen continue to bet a lot of hands with no hand,
and get there on the end. I bought a nine and an ace, and correctly read
that my opponent had only a low draw on sixth street, when we both bricked.
I went all-in with the best hand (Ace/King/Queen/Jack high), but he made
a pair of sevens on the end, and I didn't improve. 4th paid $150 or so.
I wound down by putting $20 into a 25-cent Wheel of Fortune slot, hit
three red 7s for $100, and cashed out.
A pretty good weekend. The drive home was one of the toughest I've ever
had from AC, as I was flat-out exhausted after five tournaments in two
days, but I made it, with frequent rest stops.
Thanks to Jazbo for organizing again. I look forward to seeing many
of you at BARGE!
Scott Byron bwana@echonyc.com
Tom Goodwin
The following is my first attempt at a trip report. It is divided into
three parts. I would like to offer it to Jazbo or anyone else to include
in their web page. Since this is coming from my work account, I do not
have a good way to post this to RGP. Jazbo, would you be so kind as to
forward this to RGP for others to enjoy, criticize , mock, flame, etc.
Thanks, Tom
It's Wednesday evening after work, I just mailed my taxes, and it seems
like a good time to take a stab at a trip report from a most amazing ATLARGE
weekend. This is actually the first time that I could even consider writing
this as I have spent the last two days recovering from a horrible case
of sleep deprivation. For the record, during the ATLARGE weekend I was
within Atlantic City limits for approximately 80 hours. During that time
I slept a total of 8 hours (5 and 3). And those 80 hours do not include
the 12+ hours that I was awake before and after leaving AC. When I got
home from work on Monday evening I slept for 15 hours!! That being said,
some of the details of this report may be a little sketchy so please excuse
me if I make a mistake or seven!
Thursday
I was really looking forward to ATLARGE after meeting all of the great
people at MATS! This was my first big RGP event and I planned to make the
most of it! I arrived at the TROP at about 9:30 Thursday evening. I don?t
immediately see any RGPers that I recognize and get seated at a 3-6 HE
game. I'm basically waiting for the festivities to begin when the Smoker
crowd returns. After a while I run into Jim K. Nothing new here as I have
seen him regularly over the last couple of months since I have been playing
poker more often at the TROP during the weekends. Jim is one of the better
"regular" players at the lower limits at the TROP and I make it a practice
to stay to his left. We had several confrontations over the weekend I was
fortunate to get the better of him (but more on that later).
Sometime around 11:00 the "Smokers" return and we start a new 5-10 HE
game. I say hello to Nolan, and meet Ross, the Peters (S. and S.), and
ClarkO for the first time. My first impression was "nice negative EV game"
perhaps the money wheel would be a more effective way to make some money.
But the camaraderie factor was giving me a big overlay so stayed put and
enjoyed the friendly competition. The game broke around 2:00am when most
people headed for the pit. I was close to even and went to another 5-10
HE game, where I spent most of the night (OK, ALL of the night). Actually
that night is really fuzzy and at least 6 hours have disappeared from my
memory!
Friday
I play HE most of the day and start greeting ATLARGErs as they arrive.
I see Jeff and hear about his horrible travel woes. I see Tony G., who
I met several weeks ago and enjoyed a very nice conversation with (great
to see you again Tony and hope to meet you on a volleyball court someday).
I meet Dave T. in a 5-10 game that he is just rOOling over! ( I actually
spent quite a bit of time with Dave over the weekend and really enjoyed
his company and poker conversations). Since nothing is happening for me
at this game I move to the 10-20 game and sit to Nolan's left. Nolan proceeds
to CRUSH this game. He is building stacks faster than I ever thought possible!
I meet my roommate for the weekend, Sam P., for the first time and give
him a key to our room. While we didn't spend much time in the room together,
I know that I could not have asked for a better roommate. I was a little
nervous about sharing a room with a total stranger but since other RGPers
have expressed good experiences with sharing rooms, I decided to give it
a try. Things worked out great! (thanks for sharing the room Sam, I look
forward to seeing you again). I say hi to Llew (the first RGPer that I
had met, several years ago). I get few playable hands during this session
and leave down some $.
It's now about 3:00 and I decide to shower up, get a snack, and take
a little break before the 4:15 HE tourney. Again my mind is a little fuzzy
hear and all I can remember thinking is that this is the toughest field
that I have ever seen at a TROP tournament! I don't remember too much about
the tournament except this one particular hand (that did not even involve
me). We were over an hour into the tournament and Nolan was sitting to
my left, I think he recently moved there from another table. He was relatively
short stacked and about ready to take a stand. On the hand that he decided
to play, he had one caller. The board had some high cards but was pretty
ragged. On the river, Nolan bet the last of his chips and was called. He
flipped over a pair of 4s which could not even beat bottom pair from the
board and WON!!! I have no idea what the other guy had (AK I assume). At
that point I said to Nolan that that was one of those hands that can turn
the whole tournament around for you. Well, guess who finished in the money.
Great job Nolan!! I busted shortly after that hand, on what, I don't remember.
I played a little more 5-10 HE and then took a seat at the Pot limit
game shortly before the Reception started. Another tough field: Jim Boyd,
Lou, and several local high limit players. The blind structure for this
game is $2 and $5 and then first raise to $20. I buy in for $100, steal
one set of blinds and loose about $50 in a hand that I did not play to
showdown. I quickly realized that this was not a game for my current bankroll,
I headed up to the Top of the TROP for the reception and see Rob H., Satan,
Pain, Tony G., Tom H., and finally meet Jazbo for the first time!! Jester
introduces me to Luke who works for the same company as I do, but at a
different plant. I hope to look him up sometime as we live in the same
town. With the chants of GAMBOL we head downstairs for some HOSE that was
arranged by Peter S (the one without the ADB hat).
HOSE
The TROP staff is once again very accommodating in setting us up on
the far side of the poker room, in the simulcast/tournament section, with
a private table for the game of 5-10 HOSE. I get the 1 seat and have the
job of changing the game description cards during the dealer change. Lets
see if I can get this table lineup correct. In the following seats are
2: Zorak, 3: Satan, 4: APack, 5: Jim? , 6: Pain, 7: ? , 8: Peter S, 9:
John W. Very first hand, Satan (dead) straddles. I immediately start heckling
him about how I will be sure to raise his ass! It gets folded around to
me in the small blind. Feeling very good about my 34o, I raise. I think
the big blind called, as did Satan (but Satan was the one I was after ;-)).
Flop come 33x, the turn bring a 4, and I don't remember the river but I
think Satan even raised me once during the course of the hand. Unfortunately
it was too early in the game for even him to tilt. Speaking of TILT, I
think during the HOSE game is when the best tilt inducing line of the weekend
was originated. It goes like this, at showdown your opponent flips over
his (losing) cards first, you say "nice hand" ...pause... then say "FOR
ME!". Great line! Through the course of the game Satan (dead) straddled
3 or 4 times and I raised him every time and won all but one. Fortunately
for me that was the most positive EV portion of the game. This was the
first time I had played HOSE or any derivative thereof, and quickly discovered
how bad of an Omaha player I am. I consistently won on the HE round, lost
on the Omaha round, and stayed close to even on the Stud and Stud/8 rounds.
After about 3 rounds of each game, I left feeling good about being up about
$200. I played a little 5-10 HE and turned in about 3:00am. All in all
Friday was a bad day at the tables for me and my bankroll was down considerably.
Saturday
I wake at 9:00am feeling a little hazy but excited for a full day of
tournament action! I get to the poker room about 10 minutes before the
NL tournament. My table includes Eric H., Russ, Lou, and Jim Boyd, I think
(I'm still a little hazy :-)). I steal a hand or two and get snapped on
a hand. Eric H. is piling up the chips as he plays hand after hand "trying
to lose so he can go to sleep". Then, at the 10 and 20 blind level, I am
on the button Eric H. calls under the gun, it's folded around to Lou (on
my right) who calls, and I try for a steal with JdQ and raise about $50
of my ~$450 stack. Eric and Lou call. Flop came 9d10dJ. Its checked to
me and I bet ~$100, both called. A third diamond came on the turn and it
is again checked to me. I jam, Eric calls and Lou folds. Eric flips over
KdJ and my straight does not get their on the river. IGHN. I think I made
this play against the wrong person as Eric had over $2000 and could easily
call me down. I am disappointed to be the third person to bust out, but
it is now time to think about the "rebuy" tournament. The TROP scheduled
a 12:00 NL tournament to appease there regulars. I believe this field will
be a little easier.
NL Tournament #2
I was correct, this field was much easier as at least 2 people at each
table had never played NL before! I got decent cards throughout the tournament,
played a solid game, and found myself at the final table with about $8000.
The final table included Llew, Nolan, Zorak, Jim Boyd, and Ray D. (who
will now be named my nemesis) was two seats to my right. My nemesis started
the final table with $300, went all in and ~quadrupled through. He won
another pot shortly after that and had about $3000. I got QQ on the button,
had 2-3 callers (my nemesis was one of them) before me and I went all in
with ~$8000. It was folded around to my nemesis who called all in for $3000
with AKo. An A came on the flop and I did not improve. When the big blind
came around to me I found AQo, It was folded around to my nemesis who went
all-in on the button. I put him on a steal and called. He flipped over
a pair of 10s. I got an A on the flop but my jubilance was short lived
when a 10 came on the turn. IGHN!! I finished 10th and 6 places got played.
I don't believe that I made any mistakes on those hands. I was just unfortunate
to get out drawn, twice!! Ray played a great tournament and made a deal
as one of the top three finishers. I talked with him after the tournament
and we joked about the hands. Ray is a genuinely nice guy and I was happy
make his acquaintance. Actually I met him two years ago at the Taj where
he helped me find someone to buy my satellite winnings from one of the
tournaments there. Feeling a little better about my NL performance now,
I was ready for EAST! I played a little 10-20 before the banquet and won
a couple $100.
The Banquet
I was so happy that I was able to attend the banquet (at first I did
not register due to other plans). I sat between Dave T. and Tom ? from
CT and had a great conversation about guess what....POKER! At the table
was also the Kramer family, Nolan, and Matt T. We got into a funny discussion
about a dead pool and picking the famous people who would die in a given
year. Someone asked if Card Player authors counted and wanted a parlay
of Dalla and Cappelletti. Much laughter ensued!! Someone already mentioned
that the food served at the banquet was excellent and I have to concur.
Patrice was kind enough to give out free tee-shirts or jackets to all of
the attendees! Back to the poker room.
I stopped in the poker room with about 20 minutes before the start of
EAST and was quickly seated at the 10-20 HE game. My first hand was 97o
in the big blind. There was 3-4 callers, with no raise and I flopped a
straight that won the hand. I forget what I had in the small blind but
it was unraised with several callers, I called and flopped two pair, another
winner. I like this game. I play until the blinds get back to me and leave
up about $150. Hey I almost paid for my EAST entry.
EAST
We meet at the front desk and head up to the EAST room (which shall
remain anonymous). We are short on chairs and borrow some from the lower
floors. When we put the chips on the bed and discovered how difficult it
was to keep them together. We discussed borrowing racks from the poker
room. We didn't think one person could just walk away with 10 racks and
decided against pressing or luck with the people who have been so nice
to us already. Anyway, I drew a marvelous ;-( seat with Bwana on my left
and my nemesis on my right (actually Jester was on my right but he was
only there for two hands). I did not get many playable hands and managed
a few steals to stay in contention. On one particular steal, I get KJ on
the button, I look at it for a couple seconds and make a large bet. Everyone
folds and Bwana looks at me and says "even KJ looks like AA if you stare
at it long enough" Great read!! I busted out with 5 or 6 player left (I
don't remember if Clarko went out before or after me) including Bwana,
Jeopardy Jim, Al F, and Nick. I was starting to get short stacked and needed
to make a move soon. Blinds were $75 $150, I get J8s on the button, Nick
calls the blinds and I go all in with ~$700. Bwana calls and so does Nick.
This next sequence is perfect (but not for me). Bwana flips QQ and Nick
flips 88, I quickly say "guess I need 2 jacks". Well guess what flops,
yes, JJx I breath a sigh of relief but unfortunately this is a 7 card game
and a Q came on the river. This is getting monotonous!! IGHN! Again! Bwana
won a well played tournament after a gracious deal by Jim on the end.
One product of the tournament was the beginning of some new names for
hands, all based on presto of course. They include the following:
pair of 4s = presto minor
pair of 6s = presto major
pair of 10s = presto first harmonic
and others that I do not recall
Back to the poker room for some more action. There was quite a wait
for a table so I had a great discussion with Bwana and Russ about NL play.
I really appreciated their insight and learned quite a bit from them. I
got a seat at a 3-6 game with Russ on my right and watched him pull this
great play. Afterward he explained it to me (thanks again Russ for letting
me in on that play, I look forward to using it when the opportunity presents
itself). I decide to try Jazbo's milder version of pot limit with $1 and
$2 blinds and $5 to go, first raise to $20, $100 minimum and $200 maximum
buy-in. I buy in for $100 and double through when I get A7h and try to
steal after the flop when there was little action. I end up all in against
Nolan who has a big pair (Ks or Qs). I get lucky and catch an A on the
turn. I win another small pot or two and double through again when I flop
a straight and put Sippy all in. I think he flopped a nut flush draw that
did not get there. I won a few more small hands with no major confrontations.
The game got short handed between Jim K, Al F., someone I did not know,
and myself. Finally Al and the other guy left and Jim K. and I played heads
up. When we decided to play heads up Jim had about $60 and said that was
all he would pull out for this game, I was fine with that and just wanted
to play. I caught some good cards and pretty soon had Jim all in. He pulled
out another $100 and we player another half hour and I won that also. I
was fortunate to get quite a few good hands in this match-up because Jim
truly is a solid player. He is a pretty damn nice guy also! I have had
a number of conversations with him over the past several months and have
enjoyed and learned from every one of them. He has impressed me with his
character in the way that he handles himself after a bad beat, definitely
a class act! It's now almost 5:00 and I head to the room for a couple of
hours sleep before Sundays tournaments. I did very well today winning back
all of yesterdays losses with a couple extra hundred to boot!
Sunday Sunday Sunday!!
I take my seat at the Stud tournament to the right of my good friend
Jim K. Also at the table were Jazbo, Ray D., Siona, JT, Steve ?. Another
easy field :-(. Jim started asking about $25 for a first out pool. I offered
to take the action and he said something about after last night, not wanting
to flip a coin against me even if I gave him 8-1 odds! I proceed to do
poorly and bust out at the 25-50 level. Time to think about the Stud/8
tournament.
I have my best showing yet in the Stud/8 tournament and bust out one
before the final table. When the tables combined from three to two someone
sat down at our table with about $4000, nearly 1/3 of all of the tournament
chips. I knew things would get ugly very soon. Dave T. was at my table
and playing very well! Especially for his first attempt at Stud/8. Unfortunately
he busted out 7th, 2 out of the money ;-(. After that, I went to lunch
with Dave and Keith M.
Back in the poker room I sat down at 10-20 HE Omaha combo. Big mistake,
remember how bad I said I was at Omaha. I didn't get hurt too badly but
quickly learned to REALLY tighten down on the Omaha round. I did well during
the HE round as the other players were mainly there for Omaha and not good
HE players. I took a break during an Omaha round and headed into the pit
with Keith for some craps. I went dark side, and he did not. I won, he
did not. On the way out I played roulette, he did not. I lost, he did not
:-(. Back in the Poker room for more 10-20 combo that broke and became
10-20 HE heads up between me and this other guy Paul, but this is a story
for another time.
Epilogue
I had an excellent time at ATLARGE and finished up about $100 for the
weekend. I can't wait for BARGE, and next years ATLARGE IV. This was by
far the toughest group of people that I have EVER played poker against.
I know that my game has improved through the course of this competition.
I would like to thank Jazbo for all of the time and effort that he put
into planning and organizing this event. I would also like to thank Patrice
Munafo, Will Espin and all of the Tropicana Poker Room dealers and staff
for accommodating our requests, putting up with our silliness, and doing
all that they could to insure that we had a great time during ATLARGE.
Finally, I would like to thank all of the ATLARGE attendees for your camaraderie
and friendship, and I look forward to seeing you again soon, preferably
on my right.
Best Regards,
Tom Goodwin
Jim Tolliver
This was my second Atlarge, having made the first one two years ago and
it was again a wonderful time. Much thanks again to Jazbo the kind of person
the world needs more of.
Will Espin and the Tropicana staff were wonderful hosts. The new poker
room is outstanding, large well designed with a seperate non smoking area.
I played some 5-10 non-smoking stud to warm up when I arrived on Friday
around 6:30PM. I played some 10-20 and 15-30 as well and finally entered
the Rec gamblers private HOSE game around midnight. Went to bed minus 300
around 2AM. The Trop now has lots of high limit action which was a welcome
surprise. I play mostly in Connecticut and Vegas and havent been to AC
in almost a year.
Saturday I busted out of the Atlarge No Limit holdem tournament just
in time to sign up for more abuse in the regular trop tournament. All of
my tournaments were uneventful middle of the pack finishes. After a quick
lunch it was back to 10-20 holdem and stud. I was up +500 for the day before
going to a wonderful banquet with the Atlarge crowd, including Will and
two attractive ladies from the Tropicana.
After dinner we got into a pot limit holdem game where the buy-in was
capped at $200. Like most, I was pretty tired from two hours sleep the
night before, so many of the details are missing. I was playing fairly
tight since I was tired. I won three memorable hands in this game, a Jack
on the flop to help my pocket jacks, a 4-5H made playable by the small
blind structure and good position hit for a straight, and pocket tens with
a board of 5-5-A-5 and a magical river card. I was behind from the flop
on this hand against Nolan Dalla, but rivered a 10 and pushed all my money
in. Nolan had Ax and was in for $250 on the river. I went to bed about
2AM +1300.
Sunday was another tournament stud at 9AM, I was again so tired I played
very poorly. Got into a 10-20 half Omaha half Holdem game with some other
rec gamblers Rob Hwang, Warren Sanders, and Sippy. Played until 4PM and
drove home -300 for Sunday but up about 700 for the trip. Looking forward
to the next trip, certainly enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting new people.
Jim Tolliver (JT)
Jim Hill
Howdy folks,
It was great meeting you all over the long weekend. This was my first
*ARG* event (though I was a near miss at two previous ones) and I had a
blast. The company couldn't have been better!
To set the scene up, I should mention that these days, I'm normally
a 10-20 poker player (occasional 20-40) and a 50-100 blackjack player (occasionally
higher if I'm significantly up). This trip however, I was on a shorter
than normal bankroll due to unplanned expenses just prior the trip.
I've developed the habit of limiting my access to liquid funds on gambling
trips (I only take my initial bankroll(cash/Travelers Checks), one credit
card and one ATM card which acts as a daily buffer if I hit tap-city (as
happened this time)). This is a holdover from a lesson learned when I was
a new gambler about 9 years ago... I flew into Vegas for a 5-day stay and
tapped out the first night.
Vegas with no money = no fun! Luckily a friend was able to throw me
$10 or $20 every now and then (since then, we've both been back in town
at the same time with the situation reversed and I've been known to throw
him $50 or $100 now and then - I remember my friends).
Thursday - Apr 9 - The flight - The Smoker - Meeting new friends
The direct flight from Tampa to Atlantic City would arrive after 9:00
p.m. so when I set up my tickets, I had three options:
- Miss the Smoker
- Fly in Wednesday night
- Fly in to Philadelphia at 3:00 p.m. Thursday
In retrospect, it is obvious that I should have flown in Wednesday,
but with my shortened bankroll, I chose not to tack another day on to the
trip. BIG MISTAKE!
Anyway, I decided to fly to Philadelphia and get to AC from there. As
I was leaving Tampa, it was starting to rain ('Great, I'm leaving just
in time' ... 'This is the Captain speaking, the weather in Philadelphia
is hurricane force winds and rains not seen since Biblical times' ... D'OH!!!).
OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. Yes, a bit.
I was going to take the transit system, but not knowing how exposed
that would leave me to the elements, I decided to get a car (which spent
99.9% of the four days with the Trop Valet). Already down $150 of my available
funds... bummer.
All-in-all with the rain delays and the traffic on the ground, I didn't
make it to the Tropicana until 6:30 p.m.
After checking in, I stopped by the poker room to page my roommate-to-be
Nolan. No response... Oh well, I'll give him his key at the Smoker. (Later
it turned out that he had heard the page, but was in the middle of a hand
and couldn't respond).
After looking around to see if anyone was obviously an RGP'er, I made
my way back and met our Host, the goddess that we mortals call Patrice.
I can't possibly say enough nice things about Patrice. She is the Cat's
Meow, etc. I was ready to spend the rest of my life with her after having
known her for two minutes. What a sweetheart! She made up my Poker Club
card and made me feel incredibly welcome. She had three possibilities for
the ATLARGE badges and asked my opinion as to which one was best. Great
minds thinking alike, donchaknow, I picked the one she was leaning towards
and I found that in fact turned out to be the one she used when I got my
badge at the reception Friday night.
I had gone through the problems with my flight because I really wanted
to make the Smoker. I knew it would give me a chance to meet and socialize
with a smaller bunch of the folks I'd be meeting over the weekend before
the big rush of action started distracting everyone. Pre-immersion therapy
or something like that.
After glancing around to see if anyone was obviously an ATLARGER looking
for a ride to the Old Waterway Inn, I made my way to the Smoker. There
I met Bruce (and his wife), Al, Tom(s), Pete(s), Siona, Nolan (successfully
handed off the room key), Eric, Dave, and others. What a great bunch of
folks! Nolan way under-estimated when he set the over/under for the total
bill (I think he didn't take after-dinner drinks and dessert into consideration).
Fifteen of us made it a $920 bill (approx). Depending on what folks drank,
that came to $50 to $75 per person. I think Nolan could have slipped them
$100 on the side and brought the bill under his call, but he was too much
of a gentleman. Also, the decision to go with a 20% tip instead of a 15%
tip was the nail in his coffin. He had to pay all the overs (I don't think
anyone went for under). He was a good sport about it, though he was clearly
disgusted with himself. He was throwing money at the bettors as soon as
the "N..." of "Nine hundred..." was out of the waiter's mouth.
After the Smoker, a bunch of us got into a 5-10 hold'em game where I
got absolutely no memorable hands in an hour of play. I decided to hit
the Blackjack tables for about an hour and then got to bed around 2:00
(needing to get up for the 10:00 public hold'em tournament Friday morning).
Friday - Apr 10
I don't remember much about Friday Morning/Afternoon. I think there
was a public tournament which I entered, but I only lasted about an hour
before busting out. At 7:30, folks started gathering at the Top of the
Trop (a lounge) at the top of the North Tower. Jazbo showed up a bit before
8:00 and badges were handed out as the drinking began. Somehow I missed
the notice that a bunch of folks were heading out to the Baltimore Grill
for Pizza (I woulda gone!).
Anyhoo, Friday night was a melange of Omaha and Hold'em games with a
few hours of BlackJack, Craps, and Let it Ride (only because other ATLARGErs
were already at the table).
About 2:00 a.m., I was briefly up for the trip, and finally stumbled
off to bed around 4:00 a.m.
Saturday - Apr 11
With the ATLARGE hold'em tournament at 10:00 a.m., I actually responded
to my wake up call at 9:15 (surprising if you know me). A quick shower,
and a shout at Nolan and we found our way down to the poker room.
Let me take a moment here to emphasize the kudos that others have posted
regarding the Trop's handling of our tournaments and the overall organization
of the event. They did us right!
I've played a bit of pot-limit successfully, but this was my first exposure
to no-limit (tournament or not). I believe I played well for a round or
two, when I decided I could bully Jaeger (Eric) out of a pot when I had
Ax suited and the flop came 8 3 3 (none my suit). In retrospect, I should
have checked it down. When the turn came an 8, I convinced myself that
he would surely release his hand now and went all in. When he turned a
10 10 over-pair and my Ace did not come on the river, I busted out first
in the tournament with a lesson on when not to be so aggressive. I'm not
sure I agree that he should have called me down, but I'm even more sure
that I should have checked it down and folded to the winner. Hindsight
donchaknow.
Luckily?? I busted out soon enough to get into the public no-limit tournament
that started at 12:15. The theory being floated was that this tournament
was being offered to address the complaints of some of the locals about
our private tournament. Whatever... I'd have to say the field was much
easier. I lasted much longer this time around, and saw eight of the original
ten at my table busted out before I went. I was still aggressive, but not
as much so on marginal hands like Ax. I honestly believe I was playing
well, and was chip leader at the table after the aforementioned eight folks
busted out (and were replaced by must-move players).
There was one guy who kept winning his all-in hands though, and he was
the one who eventually started my rapid decline to also-ran. On his 9th
or 10th all-in, I had AA and he had A4 off. He got one 4 on the flop, and
another on the turn. The case Ace failed to come on the river, and I was
depleted to about 3rd in chips (from 1st) at the table. The very next hand,
I had AK suited and pressed pre-flop and bet out after a flop of 9 6 2
rainbow (expecting to take it outright). The #*?#* guy to my right raised
me all in. At this point, I had 1000+ in chips and to call would take 900
leaving me with 100 if I lost. In retrospect, I think I should have let
it go, but I called his all in, and the turn and river were rags and he
took the pot with his pocket 8's. This left me with 100 with one hand left
till the break (which I would have to blind in right after the break).
I decided to go all in rather than have to come back after the break to
be immediately all-in blind. My cards were unremarkable, and I was out.
I was the first at the table applauded out, so I guess the table thought
my play was decent (though I suppose it may have been sympathy for the
AA and AK being snapped back-to-back).
Considering that this was my first experience with no-limit tournament,
I'm relatively happy with my performance, but I definitely learned some
things to avoid (particularly needing to be more willing to throw away
AK in certain situations). [In No-Limit circles, the nick-name of
AK is "Walking back to Houston". --jazbo]
After stretching my legs, I played an unremarkable Omaha-8 session,
and a couple of hours of BJ. After one shoe from heaven, I had four sessions
from hell. Time to hit the ATM.
Around 7:00p.m., I went to the room to stretch out a bit.....zzzz.....before
the banquet.... BANQUET!!!....waking up at 8:30, I run around, gather my
thoughts (such as they are) and rush to the banquet... luckily they are
just starting to serve the salads, so I haven't missed much yet. For some
reason, there is an empty seat next to Jazbo, so I took it and found myself
in a great conversation with him, Will Espin, and Marie McHugh(sp?). The
food was very good, and Will, Marie, and Patrice (see my earlier post about
what a doll Patrice is) were all excellent hosts and made believe that
they appreciated our being there (they sounded sincere). Patrice went around
the room with a hat with cards which had 'tee-shirt' or 'jacket' on the
back, and I won an absolutely wonderful dark green satin Trop Poker Club
jacket (1 of 4 given away - most of the other slobs... I mean ATLARGERs
only won tee-shirts).
After the banquet, I had another disastrous session at BJ, and decided
to try to get a decent night's sleep before the Stud Tournament Sunday
morning.
Sunday - Apr 12 (Easter)
Stud Tournament (300 start??? Aces full on 2nd hand)
I had my wake-up call set for 7:45 and had reservations for a 50 minute
full-body Massage in the gym. I actually got down there on time, and sat
in the jacuzzi for A few minutes loosening up before I went in for my massage.
If you've never Had a professional full-body massage before, I cannot recommend
it too highly (especially if you're tense and/or stressed). I was like
a new man heading up to the stud tournament.
Finding my seat at the stud tournament, I was perturbed to find that
we started with only T300... this seemed a small starting stack to me and
others. Oh well. I hit Aces-full on the 2nd hand (a hand you wish you could
hit about an hour or so later in the tournament).
After playing the first few rounds well (IMHO), I had a few bad beats
in a row. On the Hand I busted on, I think I made a strategically suspect
move. I had (A 10) A 10 showing And was bet into. I raised and made the
comment 'another quarter will put me all in'. In retrospect, the bettor
might well have folded to the raise without the smart remark. As it turned
out, he though about it, put the additional quarter in and proceded to
hit runner- runner-runner for a flush and I didn't improve my Aces-Up.
I Go Home Now.
Around this time, I was wandering around doing non-gambling things waiting
for my bank to recycle on its 24-hour ATM limit (as you may remember, I
was on a shorter than usual bankroll this trip and had had a disastrous
four plus sessions at the BJ tables). I actually stepped outside the hotel
(shock!) and took a walk along the boardwalk. I went swimming for a short
while, and sweated in the mentholated steam room in the gym (boy is that
an experience).
Around 2:00 p.m., I wandered toward the Seaside Café (or whatever
it is they call their coffee-shop restaurant). Warren was heading that
way at the same time, so we shared a decent lunch and interesting conversation.
After lunch, I succeeded in getting some cashola from the ATM, and I
was back in business! I quickly got about $400 up for the day at BJ, and
then played about an hour or so Omaha-8. For the first time ever, I hit
a Royal Flush (Diamonds) in casino play. This feat won me a Trop Poker
Club tee-shirt to go along with nifty jacket I'd won at the banquet the
night before (see my Saturday report). Cool.
I duly trumpeted my score to the few ATLARGErs who were still around.
I think I actually got to sleep early Sunday night, but I don't really
remember.
Monday - Apr 13
I finally had a killer session at BJ, and actually got up to $1200 up
for the day before Sliding to $800 up. At that time, I decided to call
it a trip, and retrieved the car from the Valet and headed back to the
Philadelphia Airport. Sadly, I foolishly believed that the 'Express Lanes'
would be faster than the other lanes (big mistake). I ended up missing
my flight and had to hang around the airport for 3 hours to catch the next
one. (Hey, that was 3 hours I could have been gambling!)
All-in-all, I had a blast, and met some great folks, had many great
conversations (gambling- related, and non-gambling-related (mostly movies)).
Regards,
Jim Hill jimwhill@gte.net
Tim McGarvey
"In retrospect, perhaps it was a mistake to put the tray full of beer right
next to my seat" I thought as I downed another shot of Wild Turkey and
tipped somebody else's waittress a dollar as she walked by ....
But I get ahead of myself I think. Beginnings are the most delicate
times as the book once started, and so let's back up to the beginning of
our saga, namely ...
Thursday, April 9
Despite repeated attempts to learn the details of the smoker after learning
at the last minute that I can take Friday off, I get no help from my fellow
drunken bastards (turns out I wasn't getting my e-mail, and many people
did mail me the details, I just didn't get them) and decide to postpone
the trip till the following day, when I can hitch a ride with Pain and
Satan. To make up for not being in AC though I go out with some friends
and drink myself into a stupor. Good training for the weekend :)
Friday, April 10
Leave Baltimore at 2:00 pm, and after several stops we arrive in AC
at 6:00. Check in, down to the poker room and up to the Top of the Trop
for the reception. Meet some people I haven't seen in a long time (since
last BARGE for many of em, which is far too long) and some new faces as
well. Shortly afterwards, dinner at the Baltimore Grill is in order, with
10 of us attending.
Waitress: What can I get for you?
Us: What do you have on tap?
Waitress: Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Light, and Killian's.
Us: 20 Killians, please.
Waitress: (Shocked) 20???
Us: Well there's 10 of us ... oh Nolan doesn't want Killian's,
and Pete doesn't drink beer ... so 16 Killian's and whatever they want.
(Five floormen from the Trop wander in for dinner.}
Us: And a round for those guys who just walked in too.
As a bit of foreshadowing, the group of us ordering some astronomical
number of beers at a time is going to be repeated many times this weekend.
As we finish up dinner, of course someone has to set an over/under on
the check. Since Nolan was off by about $200 at the smoker, he wouldn't
volunteer, and Jeff Woods took the duty and set the line at (I think) $130.
Everyone takes the under, and Peter Secor offerns a line of $110. A few
people seeing a free middle took the over on that one, myself included.
Final tally was about $125 or so, pay the middle, take the don't. DING!
Back to the Trop where a -EV evening has been planned. I think there
were some dice involved, I am sure there was beer involved, and there was
lots and lots of pai-gow involved. There was also a $400,080 fill at our
table, we gave that much action. =)
Finally I stagger up to bed sometime in the morning, and get a few hours
sleep before the holdem tournament.
Saturday, April 11
RRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
RRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
RRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
RRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
RRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
G*ddamnit what the hell is that infernal telephone ringing for? Ugh.
At least it stopped. Wait ... must be ringing for a reason. Better open
my eyes and find out what's going on. Hey that clock thingy says 10:15.
Wasn't the tournament supposed to start a while ago? Aiyah! Jump out of
bed and take a quick shower (trust me, it was necessary even if I didn't
have the time *grin*) get beavis out of bed (he's also still asleep, didn't
notice before the shower) and head down to the tournament.
I've been blinded down by about T50, no big deal. Only problem is that
there's this little fire alarm going off inside my skull that makes it
very difficult to concentrate. Luckily, I think this actually improved
my play for the tournament, since I was simply too miserable already to
do anything stupid. Shortly after I sit down, I get AA in some position
or other, and wind up allin on a flop of KQT against JJ. Luckily the turn
and river were blanks and I double through. That, however, is the last
good hand I saw in the tournament. I survive another two hours or so, busting
out in 13th place, but I never saw another legitimate hand. Luckily, I
played so few hands most of my steals got respect. Still, eventually one
must have some form of good cards to do well in a tournament, and I didn't.
Still misplayed my last few hands, but they were so hideous looking I doubt
it mattered.
Anyway, after the tourney I make an aspirin run and then Pete Secor
kindly offers to stake me into a holdem game, as I am in a temporary cashflow
shortage. Unfortunately for Peter, I still get no cards, and get sucked
out on my few legitimate hands, so I don't do well in that game. Saddenz.
Somewhere in the middle of this game though, Pete and I manage to convince
our waittress that we really do want to drink Wild Turkey straight up,
and we have a drink in honor of Bill Alan, noted ADB'er and sadly absent
from our weekend. You were missed, Bill.
After busting out, I catch up on some news with Bruce while we pollute
the smoking lounge in the poker room with cigar smoke :) and then head
up to the banquet. I hadn't planned on going to this event, but having
no other plans for the evening I decided to buy in. That proves to not
be a problem and I head up to the Carousel Room, for what turned out to
be the nicest banquet-type dinner I've been to in recent memory. So often
one finds these things to be overpriced and have terrible food, but I was
pleasantly surprised by this one. The food was excellent, the Beck's tasted
particularly good, and of course the company could not be better.
Will and Patrice were present, and I think another of the Poker Room
staff as well, whose name I never caught. They could not have been more
gracious about hosting us, nor can I think of any better people to run
a poker room. Will, your room is truly the class of Atlantic City, and
although numerous suggestions were made, I, and I'm sure most of us would
agree, am truly grateful for the efforts you've made. Patrice does deserve
a raise though ;)
Shortly after the banquet ends I find myself in Jester's room observing
EAST. It was quite exciting to watch, and I was very impressed with all
the players. Have to remember to bring drinks next time though :)
After a lengthy crawl through the pit and several more repetitions of
the now familiar "Cocktails! 20 beers please. I can't bring you 20 beers.
Okay 10 beers." exchange, we decide that the time has come for, you guessed
it, Rocks-n-Beers. Must've been quite a picture as the lot of us traipsed
through the pit with beers in hand, Peter and I singing an eclectice mix
of spirituals and Irish folk songs in two-part harmony between mouthfuls
of beer ...
And so we arrived at the poker room, and found someone reasonably sober
to explain to the floor that we wanted a private 2-4 holdem game organized,
and more or less explained to them what would be going on, and that we'd
cleared it already. Amazingly enough, that part was actually true, over
dinner we had mentioned it to Patrice, and she said it wouldn't be a problem
at all. Yet another reason why the Trop is such a nice room to play at.
Soon enough we'd found a dealer, opened a table in the simulcast area
where our noise wouldn't be a terrible burden to anyone, and opened the
game. I believe that we had enough chips on the table to make a respectable
pot-limit or 20-40 game, and the whites were just flying off the table.
At one point the floor got a fill of about 600 in white, and got to put
none of it in the rack. After that they didn't bother asking for fills,
it would have been pointless.
Anyway, the M.O. of the Rocks-n-Beer holdem game is this: one can voluntarily
play only two hands - AA and 55. Everything else must be folded to the
dealer, who attacks the blinds. They fold, generally showing trash like
AKs and saying "How can I play? He might have a pair!" In between all this,
try to put the table on tilt by going to the felt for $1500 in a 2-4 game.
Or Tilting the would-be tiltees by actually having AA and spoiling their
plan. Or tilting the dealer by playing half a round and then going into
rock mode. Or tilting the guy next to you by knocking over his carefully
constructed chip castle and then stealing his beer while he's picking up
his chips. All during this you have to drink heavily, beer if you like
it, your drink of choice if not (we ordered so much beer that eventually
she brought over a food table and just kept filling it up with beers, right
next to me would you believe), and tip more heavily then you previously
thought imaginable. Each new dealer was greeted with a shower of whites
as he sat down. For that matter, most everyone working the room was greeted
with a shower of whites, as we tipped, I think, every dealer, most waitresses
(not just ours mind you, they just had to walk by to get a tip) the cleaning
people, the security guards, the cashiers and the occasional passer-by.
N.B. If you ever plan on getting so drunk at a casino you could be in
danger of losing every penny you have on you simply by forgetting to cash
the chips out or throwing green chips in a toilet or something, it's a
good idea to find a pleasant security guard and tip him or her in advance
of this drunken binge. I tell you, that security guard we were throwing
chips at was the biggest help to me later on in the evening. Maybe would
have been anyway, but he offered to walk me up to my room to make sure
I got there okay more than once, and would have done so if Keith Miyake
hadn't been sober enough to handle that particular duty himself. And this
after the floor helped me (okay did it himself, I couldn't even have seen
my chips at this point in the evening, prolly should have stopped drinking
sometime before I had the collection of beer at my side and was ordering
a shot of anything I could remeber drinking before) rack up my chips and
the security guy got me to the cage and made sure the cash was safely tucked
away. Never have I felt more comfortable and welcome as a drunken bastard.
:)
And oh yeah, thanks for the walk to my room Keith.
Sunday, April 12
As for the next morning, I woke up too late to see most people leave,
and contented myself to playing some video poker in the afternoon before
the trip home. I stalked a few old ladies playing The Max in on mode, but
I was only one of several interested stalkers, and although both old ladies
did get up without hitting the jackpot, other players got to em before
I did. So after a short while, Stephen, Beavis and I went back to the poker
room to say goodbye to those few remaining ATLARGErs and then began the
drive home. On the way home though, I did R00L them playing Chinese Pocker
for 48 points. Ding!
In the end, it was a great time. I had been out of the AC poker circuit
for a while, and it was wonderful to see so many old friends and make some
new ones. Kudos to Jazbo, for a wonderfully organized event, and to Will
and company for making this I think the best AC event I've been to yet.
And also to all the dealers, floorpeople, support staff, and especially
waitresses ;) who make the Trop such a great place to play.
3.5 months to BARGE, and I can't wait.
Timmy
Steven Berkowitz
First, I must thank Will, Patrice and the rest of the Trop staff for making
AtlargeIII an excellent weekend. In addition, Jazbo did a fantastic job,
as usual, in organizing everything. But I want to especially thank Jazbo
for being so kind to be the "Bring-in" about 70% of the time during the
stud tournament. That was very generous of you, Jazbo.
Anyways, on to my report. When I find out Atlarge is changed to the
holiday weekend, I do cartwheels in my livingroom. My wife, Suzanne, has
tickets to take my new son, Andrew, down to Florida to spend Easter with
her folks. The holiday weekend is actually the only weekend out of the
year that I'd be able to attend. GOOD BEAT!
I drop off Sue and Andrew at the airport Tuesday afternoon. I head to
Manhattan's jewelry district, where I shop for Sue's birthday present.
If you're not familiar with the area, there's a block full of booth after
booth of jewelry vendors, competitors upon competitors. Somehow I end up
buying her gift at booth call "Jack of Diamonds." I guess it was sending
me a subliminal message or something.
I head over to the Mayfair Club to play 1-5 hilo stud. I hate that game.
The best starting hands are drawing hands, and I always seem to brick after
waiting for good hands. Today, I seem to see more bricks than ancient Egyptian
contractors. But I play solid poker against a mostly geriatric crew, and
after 4 hours I quit with $181.50 in front of me, $1.50 more than the $180
in chips you get to play with for your $200 buy-in.
Here's a puzzling hand: Jack, hi card on board, raises the bring-in
to $6. Good player with 7 showing makes it $11. I've got a 2-3/6 (rainbow).
What should I have done? (FYI: I folded. Good player later told me she
had three low clubs, with an Ace).
One amusing incident: Grumpy Old Man (GOM), who lost his hearing aid,
complains that I'm talking too much. Anyone who knows me will get a kick
out of that. GOM later does his best imitation of Howard Stern's Fartman.
I then start the $5-10 Forced Rotation Game (HOE). It's made up of mostly
tight, solid players. No Loose Lucies,no maniacs. In fact, the only fish
I saw all night was the excellent piece of grilled salmon I had from the
Mayfair's kitchen. I play for 6 hours, and book a $60 win.
I really wanted to play the $10 holdem game, but they've only got 1
game, and it's chock full of some of the best holdem players I know. Apparently
the Diamond Club has taken some of their business, since they always used
to have 2 holdem games.
Wednesday: Go to the Diamond Club. I've been playing a lot more at the
DC than at the Mayfair recently for 1 main reason: EV. There's a lot more
loose action there than at the Mayfair. Tonight, I jump back and forth
between the $4 holdem and the $4 forced rotation. I lose $80 in 5 hours
at holdem and win $20 in 3+ hours in rotation. Highlight of the night:
I scoop an Omaha pot with a Royal flush.
Thursday: I've got a company dinner which I can't get out of (because
it's my company). I head over to the DC pretty late, and the only seat
open in $5 Stud. Meet RGP'er Tim Blank from Lancaster. Yes, he does have
Amish blood. I lose $70 in 2 hours. How's this for a wild hand: I stepped
away for a minute, so did not see the betting which led up to this. But
on 7th street, a player with three 3's showing on board bets. He gets raised
by a woman with no pair showing. 3's reraise. Woman reraises. If you were
the 3's, and had only a full house, what would you do? Well, he reraised.
She called, and mucked after he showed his 3's full. ????
I move into $4 Holdem. It's one of the juiciest games ever. Five out
of ten players are Gypsies. In case you didn't know, they're the biggest
fish ever known to a cardroom. They have no clue whatsoever. I'm keenly
aware of collusive possibilities, but they're too clueless to cheat. They
do pass chips back and forth, but the way I look at it, all of their chips
are headed to the better players.
Unfortunately, I just can't get any cards. Nut flush draws are just
not hitting. If they would, the pots are huge. (A sign on one of the urinals
reads "Do Not Flush." I start to take that note personally.) I actually
am glad that I only lose $145 in 4 hours. Also meet IRC'er Larry L.
Friday: Finally, Atlarge day. But familial obligations requires me to
stay around for a Seder at my cousin's house. It's very nice seeing everybody,
but my mind is elsewhere. As my sweet 8 year old cousin is reading the
"4 Questions," I'm thinking of things like "why is tonight different than
last night? Will I actually hit a flop?"
Getting to Atlarge (with apologies to Michael Mantel): I head out of
the seder in Queens a little before 9. I already filled the car with fuel
and body fuel (2 cans of iced coffee) before dinner, so I hit the highways
immediately. I'm making great time, thinking I'm being very careful, when
I fly by a trooper in the bushes. Aiyah!
He comes around and is totally disinterested in my PBA cards (which
have previously either saved me completely, or gotten me off with a seatbelt
violation). He keeps flashing his tremendous flashlight around the inside
of my car, apparently looking for contraband. I've never been stopped at
night before, so I don't know if this is typical, or if he saw my Jerry
Garcia stickers on my car, and figured I was transporting major doses.
But he then starts concentrating his hi beam on two things-- the jar of
gefilte fish on the floor, which my cousin gave me, and my lap. His focus
again narrows to just my lap, whereupon he asks (I swear), "What is that
large bulge?" Excuse me, Smokey. Is this a casting call for the sequel
to Boogie Nights?
Actually, what he saw was my pockets overstuffed with my casino gear:
my Jewish bankroll (lots of small bills), asthma inhaler, various card
protectors, Taj keys, aspirin (this cheap Jew refuses to pay gift shop
prices for medications, etc. (Let's not start some politically correct
Jewish thread, guys. I'm Jewish, so let me make whatever disparaging remarks
I'd like, ok?)
I end up with a $107 ticket for going 83 in a 55 zone. Hey, all you
NJ lawyers out there: Do I have a defense? On the summons, Smokey cited
the section of the law which I alllegedly (:>) violated, but did not cite
the actual law. Can I get this dismissed automatically?
Atlarge arrival: Finally. I don't let the ticket bother me (none of
that type of thing bothers me ever since Andrew's long awaited arrival).
I sign up for lists, check-in, check bags. Let's Play Poker!
I sit in on a $5 holdem game for a couple of minutes and am called for
the pot limit game. It's half filled with Atlargers (Alan, Nolan, Russell,Llew,
&?) and a couple of unfamiliar faces, one of whom only later find out
is world class player Jim Boyd. I play good, tight poker, until I run into
a hand which I get a different opinion from everyone I ask. Blinds are
1-2-5, 5 is dead. I've got pocket 8's in mid-late position. UTG makes it
$15 to go, one cold caller (Llew?), and I raise to $60. 2 callers. Flop
is 8-x-x. With memories of slowplaying KK and getting crushed a year ago
at Atlarge Pot Limit, I bet after it's checked to me. Both fold. Comments?
The game starts getting shorthanded, and I'm not prepared to play Pot
limit to begin with, let alone play it shorthanded, so I leave for the
$10 holdem game, up $130 after 1 hour.
This game is pretty good, but again I can't seem to catch cards. I'm
playing pretty solid though, and I'm only down about a hundred, when I
have a hand where I make a multitude of errors. I'm on the button with
7-8hearts, and decide if a lot of players call, I will raise. But only
1 caller, 1 raiser, a guy who has been raising on virtually any 2 cards
higher than a 7. I call (mistake #1). Flop is Q-8-x, all clubs. Raiser
bets, i raise him (mistake #2). He calls. He check-raises me on the ragged
turn, and I call (#3). I call his bet on the uneventful river (#4), and
he shows down Q-8. Aiyah. Lose $335 in 2.5 hours.
Saturday: Book a $15 win in $3 Omaha hi-lo while waiting for the holdem
tourney to start. Sit down at my tourney table and see trouble right away:
at my table is Scott Byron, who always seems to be making the final table
of any tournament I see him in, and Gregg Pappas, featured in this month's
Cardplayer. Plus, I'm pretty sure the 2 of them shared a tournament win
at Foxwoods last year (please don't anyone interpret that as any implication
of impropriety here). Actually, I end up finding it quite enjoyable playing
with Gregg. He's got a very friendly, charming personality, hitting on
the pretty dealers, coffeehousing, showing that he's playing ragged cards,
etc. Our table was quite tight-- people were busting out of other tables
left and right, and we were the only unblemished table. He seemed confused
about all of the applauding going on elsewhere, and when someone finally
left our table by being highcarded off, he started a big round of applause.
Satan beats Presto: Nothing too eventful for me in the tourney. I seem
to hold on with the shortest stack at my table for quite a while. Finally,
make my move. I go all-in on the button with Presto. Both Blinds call.
Alan, who has 6-x in big blind, hits a 6 on the flop and the river. Damien,
come out and play!
Sit down in $10 Stud while waiting for holdem. Win &70 in 1/2 hour.
Get into the $10 holdem game. I finally get the rush I've been waiting
a long time for. I start hitting everything and anything. I start to play
a bit too loose, so my stack starts declining. Then after my pocket 3's
flop quads, I look around the table, realize that I'm just getting lucky
and that they're mostly good, solid holdem players here, so I move on to
the $5 game, booking a $485 win in 3 hours. Am glad I had a chance to chat
with RGp'er, non-Atlarger Tom McCugh, who still makes fun of me for putting
a lot of notes in a memopad the first time we met.
The $5 holdem game is everything you could possibly want in a poker
game. I win a side bet with Eric Holtman, betting the " over" after he
sets the Over-Under for pre-flop callers at 5. Rocky from Las Vegas called
to adjust the line to 6 1/2.
Soup Nazi: Eric tells me about the "free" Chinese soup which the ADB's
got the previous night at the Asian casino. Being a Chinese noodle soup
fanatic, I take a break from this great game to check it out. I sit down
at a hand dealt Pai Gow Table, and cash in for $1,400 (no, it doesn't have
the same impact as at a $2 holdem game, but I wanted the Pit Bull to notice).
I put $50 down, and pushed the first hand. My goal was to ask for a free
soup coupon as soon as possible without losing anything. My previous experience
with this game was that most hands were pushes. Since each hand seemed
to take a while, I thought I was well on my way. Wrongo! I lose the next
2 hands, and get my "free" soup coupon which cost me $100. Aiyah! And all
I kept thinking was that the Pit Bull was gonna say, in the voice of the
Soup Nazi, "No Soup For You."
"It Moved:" I get a massage from one of those Asian guys in the poker
room. In the words of George Castanza, "It Moved."
Back to the $5 holdem. I cash out +$480 after 9 hours after the table
breaks, move into the other $5 game, and proceed to lose $170 in 1 hour.
Why didn't I go to bed earlier?
Master of My Domain?: I head up for bed. Just as I arrive at 3am, my
roomate, Dave, a dealer from the Diamond Club, has just woken up and is
headed out to play. I never realized what different lives some people live.
I turn on the TV, and the remote stops on some scantily clad lasses on
the USA channel. No, I was not Master or My Domain.
Sunday: I seem to be only one of the few who has woken up in time for
the 9am Stud tourney. It's a bad beat that it didn't start on time, since
us punctual ones could have stolen a lot of antes. That's probably the
only way I'm gonna get anywhere in a tourney these days.
I find Ray D has the seat to my right. Remembering his superagressive,
Bonetti style play from a satellite in Foxwoods, I'm prepared to be 3-betting
whenever necessary.
First hand of the tourney, I get AQ/Q, with the Queen being the highest
card on boards. One for one! I seem to be involved in a lot of hands early
on, but then go dry. I then see I'm rolled up with 10's, and Ray raises
with a Q showing. I smooth call, and call with the intention on banging
him on 6th street, whereupon he gets another Queen. Aiiyah! I can only
call on 6th street, and he checks the river, of course, after I catch my
quads.
Cards dry up, and I go out with K6/K, Llew reraises with a Q, and lose
to her 2's and 3's.
Sit down in a mostly RGP $5 holdem game, whereupon Bruce Kramer kindly
renames pocket 6's as a "Berkowitz" after I inadvertently exposed my 6's
after 3 overcards flopped. Lose $25 in 1 1/2 hours.
Enter the hi-lo stud tourney (do you remember when I said I hate this
game?)open to the public. I immediately get involved in a lot of hands
when I get split aces 3 times in the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I
win 2 small pots and lose 1 large one, when i couldn't put a guy on a set
of 8's after he paired his door card after having cold called my initial
raise.
Also lose a big pot to one of the Trop tourney regulars (you know the
guy who looks like he's got roadkill on his bald head?). On 6th street
I've got three 7's and 4 to a low and lose the whole thing to deuces full.
Am out soon thereafter.
Proceed to lose $25 in $5 stud in an hour, and $140 in $5 holdem in
3 hours. Enjoy chatting with Peter (Tray Racer) and a few others.
Overall, my week poker spree was great, but I am thrilled to have my
baby back, and, I guess, my wife, too.
Steven Berkowitz Berkowitz@mindspring.com
Spencer Sun
Seeing as I'm originally from the east coast, and I still have friends
there and one of our common interests is gambling, I decided to combine
a visit with a trip to AC for ATLARGE.
Conceitfully surmising that this will be of interest to some of you,
I offer my belated trip report (sorry for the length; those of you who've
read other stuff I've posted know that I tend to ramble)...
Thursday 4/9/98
After work I had some time to kill before my red-eye flight to the east
coast, so I decided to check out Artichoke Joe's since I've never been
there and it's pretty close to the San Francisco airport. I got seated
in a $3-$6 hold'em game which was fairly tame and readable except for one
maniac. I got him to check-raise me twice when I had middle pair and he
had bottom pair, and also made a nut flush, so I was up about $50 when
I got called for a $15-$30 seat about 30 minutes later.
AJ's takes $7/HH for $15-$30, $1 more than the Oaks. I'd have to play
some more in this game before I decided if it's worth it though. It happened
to be good on this night because one or two seemingly decent players were
on tilt. I made about $600 in 2.5 hours, mostly on one hand. I ended up
playing pocket 6's in a 6-way capped pot -- I limped after a few callers,
it got raised behind and it kept going until the pot was capped. The flop
was a beautiful 762 rainbow. Capped again on the flop, losing one player.
Turn was a Q, I put in the only raise (1 person drops, 2 go all-in for
different amounts). River was a 9. I bet and get called by the remaining
non-all-in player. "Anyone else got a set?" Pocket 6's are good.
I left at 9:30 for my 11:30 flight because I was unsure exactly how
far it was to SFO, or how difficult it would be to find a space in long-term
parking, and to have some time to unwind (and because I'm neurotic). I
scored a spot right near the entrance -- cha-ching! -- hopefully a good
omen for the weekend. The shuttle bus to the terminals has an overhead
sign welcoming people to SFO, etc., but the time hadn't been adjusted for
DST. I helpfully pointed this out to the driver.
United is now charging $5 for the in-flight movie, which was Good Will
Hunting. I've heard good things about it, but I can't imagine ever paying
$4 or $5 to watch a movie on a tiny screen in bad position on an airplane
when I can pay the same amount to rent it or a little more to watch it
on the big screen.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful. O'Hare was mildly annoying because
all the shops were just in the process of opening so I had to wait a bit
to get breakfast (finally opting for a donut and an iced mocha). Short
layover followed by an equally uneventful flight to DC National -- excuse
me, "Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport."
Friday 4/10/98
My friend Mike picks me up outside and amusedly reports that there seem
to be a large number of employees whose sole function it is to wave people
along when they atempt to stop for more than 5 seconds in the passenger
pick-up area. "You know, I'm just going to do circles around the airport,
so you're creating a traffic hazard." "That depends on how well you drive."
Also there is a second group of employees whose sole function it is
to hold up traffic in the taxi/bus lanes so that pedestrians can cross
from the terminals to the passenger pick-up island. Wouldn't you think
the same person could perform *both* functions? I'm glad we're dealing
with the unemployment problem in such creative ways.
Mike has to finish some schoolwork (he's in his last year at Georgetown
law) so I sack out for a few hours in his apartment (I can sleep on planes,
but when you subtract takeoff/landing announcements and the layover, I
probably got about 3 hours of useful sleep). On our way up we stopped in
Baltimore for lunch with a mutual friend, then it was off to AC.
We arrived around 7:15 PM and found our friend Mark at a blackjack table
at the Trump Plaza, where Mark has a comp room for us on Friday night.
I dropped my bags off and headed down the boardwalk to the Trop for the
ATLARGE reception at the Top of the Trop. I'd never met any of the east
coasters before and knew Jazbo only from the picture on his web page, but
the group was fairly easy to spot since the Top of the Trop isn't that
big. Jazbo showed up shortly thereafter and handed out name badges, and
after some drinks, a group of us headed down to the poker room for some
$5-$10 HOSE, with the game changing when the dealer changed (the house
dealer, not the dealer button).
I think I stayed for 2 complete cycles and left about $100 up, mostly
from the flop games, though I did have a nice stud hand of (QQ)JQ6J(3).
Someone else (sorry, folks, I'm better with faces than names, and the name
tags actually make it worse because I can use them as crutches) took 8's
and 4's and the straight flush gutshot into 7th street and caught one of
their worst cards, a 4, and went 3 bets with me. The first hold'em round
was interesting also because Satan (I think) was straddling whenever he
was UTG, which made it my small blind. During one of the first stud rounds
I changed seats to be 2 to his left, and when it got back around to hold'em
again, I tried without success to entice the person in between us to make
it $15 blind so I could cap it blind.
Random note: there were frequent side bets involving roshambo and red/black
on the flop.
After I left, I went back to the Plaza and stopped by a blackjack table,
mainly to pick up a chip for my friend Schwa's chip collection.
How to piss off an entire blackjack table really fast: cut the shoe
and be the only one winning. It was uncanny. I caught some crap for a soft
double which made 20 (winning vs. dealer's 19 while other people lost with
18's), although strangely no one complained on the next round when I made
the identical play and the dealer subsequently busted. I made $250 and
left after the one shoe to avoid further antagonism. One player was philosophical
about it, saying "At least somebody's winning."
Saturday 4/11/98
After about 5 hours of sleep, I got up for the ATLARGE no-limit hold'em
tournament (having charged Mike and Mark with the duty of moving our stuff
from the Plaza to the Trop, where we were staying Saturday night). My memory
on most of the tournament is hazy, but I think I busted out somewhere in
the middle. I open-raised all-in with AK on the button, got called by a
large stack in the blind, and was out when he paired one of his garbage
cards on the river.
[I forgot to mention that it took a *long* time for the valet to bring
Mike's car back, apparently because of some Asian-oriented concert (that
was letting out at 3:30 AM? Whatever...) which had throngs of young Asians
running around. As one horde of people came rushing along the hallway past
the poker room to the exit doors, I remarked "Godzilla must be in there."
(I can take these racial potshots since I'm Chinese myself :-)]
Random notes:
- My best hand reading of the weekend was from two tables away. At some
point a huge collective groan went up from two tables away, and I said
"That sounds like a two-outer." We soon find out that I was right -- Jester's
KK lost to JJ which rivered a set.
- Big stack jams; someone else says "re-raise all-in," then counts his
stack and exclaims with dismay "oh no, I'm just calling!" Don't remember
the outcome of this hand though.
Many of us took advantage of what was dubbed the "first annual ATLARGE
rebuy tournament" as the Trop spread a tourney with basically identical
structure at 12:15 (at least one ATLARGEr who survived late into the ATLARGE
tournament also bought into the rebuy tournament and made it back before
being blinded out). I did much better here, making it to the final table
before busting out with 33 vs. AQ which flopped an A and rivered trips
for good measure. IGHN.
At this point I was pretty tired so I went back up to the room for a
long soak in the tub, followed by a shower. Feeling much rejuvenated, I
went back downstairs for some more blackjack before the ATLARGE banquet.
Sadly things went the opposite way from the night before and I dumped $300
in two shoes. I have to say that I vastly prefer the single-deck and double-deck
conditions in Nevada than what passes for blackjack in AC :-)
The banquet was quite nice. A huge plate of penne with chicken and some
sort of cream sauce, followed by an equally large Caesar salad, followed
by the main course of a chicken breast with shrimp and potatoes and veggies.
Oh, and a gigantic slice of chocolate cake which I don't think anyone finished.
More poker after dinner, this time a newly-started $10-$20 game with
a couple ATLARGErs. The game was fairly tight, and I attempted to loosen
things up or at least provide entertainment by declaring that I was going
to play California-style. Unfortunately I didn't make any of my draws so
I lost something like $150 or $200 before being called for the ATLARGE
baby pot-limit game, which had blinds of $1 and $2, $5 to go, first raise
to $20, *max* buy-in of $200. I think this was a great friendly way to
learn pot-limit without risking too much.
Someone later racked up with $201; under much peer pressure, he toked
the $1 to the dealer. As he left, he was advised to "tell 'em where you
got it!" I eventually left up $21.
Before today, my only experience with big-bet poker was in WRGPT so
I was fairly satisfied with how I did in the two tourneys and the PL game.
However it was obvious that I'd be more in my milieu in a limit hold'em
game, and the Trop was only spreading up to $10-$20, so after consultation
with Mike we decided to drive up to the Taj. Someone, I think Russell,
had talked to me earlier in the $10-$20 game about maybe sharing a cab
to the Taj -- Russell, I went back to the PL game to try and find you to
see if you wanted a ride up but you'd left the PL game and I couldn't find
you. Sorry!
We got to the Taj around 12:30 and there was immediate seating in the
$25-$50 must-move game, which seemed to be a fairly juicy game. Fairly
early on I got involved in a hand where an old guy that I had pegged as
a rock raised UTG, loose Asian re-raised 2UTG, all fold to me on the button
and I capped it with AcKc. The flop was I think K72 with two diamonds.
I bet and got check-raised by the rock, middle guy dropped out. With visions
of AA, KK, and AK with some sort of diamond free-roll running through my
head, I just called. Turn was another diamond, he bet, I called. River
was a 4th diamond. He checked, I checked, said "ace-king" and showed. He
said "ace-king is good" and flashes Ks4s. I muttered under my breath "Huh!?"
and my neighbor (with whom I'd struck up a friendly conversation so he
knew I was from out of town) said "Welcome to Atlantic City." He later
explained that the old guy was normally a high-limit stud player apparently
waiting for a stud seat.
A while later I open-raised with AQs and got cold-called by a loose
player in late position. The flop was 9-high with two of my suit. I bet
and got raised, and checked and called after missing on the turn. The river
was an off-suit king, I bluffed at it, he raised, I made a show of thinking
and mucked. He flashed pocket 9's. Dammit, I hate it when you hit your
bluff card and they turn out to have flopped a set. (But I guess it's better
than choosing a bluff card which *makes* their set.)
I got up after about 2 hours because I was getting tired and wanted
to get even a little bit of sleep before the ATLARGE stud tournament. I
found Mike at a 3-6 hold'em table, we cashed out, and went to the 24-hour
cafe there for a snack. At 3 AM, they were only serving breakfast items.
OK, whatever. (Actually this was my second time to AC and we had a late
meal at the same place the last time also.) We drove back to the Trop to
discover that Mark *still* hadn't been up to the room yet, and he was supposed
to have our bags brought up from the bell folks. I went back downstairs
and found him in pretty much the same BJ seat where we left him and retrieved
the claim check. Mike and I debated whether Mark would end up sleeping
at all (he didn't -- he left us a note that he was driving directly to
a family function in Long Island).
Sunday 4/12/98
So, after 3 hours of sleep this time, I dragged my body to the poker
room again for the stud tournament. I got an amazing rush to start off:
I don't think the first shuffle was very good, because I picked up (AsKs)Js,
raised and was re-raised, caught the Ts on 4th street and made my flush
on 6th, at which point I raised and was called down by pocket aces. The
very next hand I picked up split aces, which I showed when I bought the
pot on 5th street (I think). On the 3rd hand I had (KK)2. My bring-in was
folded all the way back around to me! I showed and said "Dammit, how come
no one wanted to steal?" We agreed, however, that it's much better to go
on a rush later on in the tourney. This proved to be true as I eventually
drew to a flush that missed, leaving me rather short-stacked.
I then survived 3 amazing all-in situations nearly in a row. I went
all-in for less than the ante, so I didn't look at my cards until the end.
I was up against two pair. I turned up my first two hole cards which were
a pocket pair (6's I think -- my recollection of the details is a bit sketchy
as it as more than a week ago), and turned up my 7th card which gave me
trips!
On the next hand I had enough to cover the ante of course, but I got
the bring-in and had exactly enough so again I didn't look. I forget what
hand I was up against but I had something like 4678 showing. I turned up
cards one by one -- a 7, then an 8, then another 7! I win again.
A hand or two later I'm again all-in with the ante, but I do get an
ace up. As the dealer is giving us our cards I show my hole cards to my
neighbor without looking myself, asking "do I have a chance?" He says "Oh
no, you're going to do it again." Turns out I had split aces. Unfortunately
my opponent makes two pair on the river. IGHN. Mike wanted to get back
because he still had work to do, so I said my goodbyes and tracked down
Patrice to get my Trop Poker T-shirt (she ran a drawing at the banquet
the night before) and we left shortly thereafter.
All in all, I had a great time - the hospitality from the Trop was wonderful,
and the ATLARGErs were a fun, friendly bunch. I'm eagerly looking forward
to BARGE.
Spencer Sun zorak@netcom.com
