Trip Report
by George Wattman
This was my fourth RGE event, two BARGE's, one FARGO, and this my first
ATLARGE. Although short, it was probably my best. As BOBBY D put it in his
trip report, everyone is so welcoming and fun to talk to that you are
comfortable as soon as you arrive. All hail Jazbo for excellent coordination
and event planning!
At dinner Saturday night, Nolan and I talked about why these are so much fun.
I told him that I thought each one was an investment in the next event as the
more people you know, the better each event becomes. It is great to sit down
at a table and be familiar with several of the folks there. Although your EV
may drop due to the skills of this group, the fun factor increases!
I arrived Friday about noon and went to the Taj to build up the bankroll. Noon
on Friday is nothing but the local rocks that continually trade dollars and
know each other. I, the ever-present rookie, picked up a couple hundred for
ATLARGE. One guy had such a classic reverse tell it should have been in CARO's
book (if he had only been wearing 1960's clothes). He would get excited when
missing and feign disappointment when hitting. Thanks for the donation.
About 3pm, I went over to the Trop to sign up for the limit holdem tourney.
Checked in and put my stuff in the room. Went down to sign up for 5-10 and
10-20 before the tourney. I got into the 5-10 game at 4pm thinking I wouldn't
play due to the tourney beginning immediately. Got seated by PRM and found out
that the tourney wouldn't start until 4:15. Won the first two or three hands
and cashed out late for the tourney up $65!. Sat down and found that I missed
the first several hands, didn't have to pay blinds yet and had Bwana, Jaeger,
and Peter Segal at my table. OK, I also found out the hard way that it was no
limit when the guy in #1 went all in against me about the fifth hand. I called
and my QQ held against his JJ, and set me up for the day. I got broken out to
another table soon there after and didn't have to play these tough guys for
long. Did pretty well in the games, finishing tenth, to much in the way of
sympathy of others. You can't imagine the fun of knowing half the tourney and
doing fairly well, it's like being famous! Thanks Tom Mc Hugh for giving me
the hang tough speech! The downside is that I played until about 9:45 and
totally missed the smoker. Damn, I was looking forward to that!
Went pretty much on tilt in the side games after that, pissing away a couple
hundred and going to bed at 3am. Played with some great guys, gave away a
cigar to Bobby D, talked with PRM again, and met some RGE newbes that were
surprised that the group wasn't a bunch of geeks. Far from it.
I got at a tough table in the ATLARGE tourney, LLEW, ADB BK among others. Did
fairly poorly, got no cards and watched LLEW put on a tourney winning demo.
Hey LLEW my chips gave you the edge at both FARGO and ATLARGE, I need a
percentage for BARGE this year! Tilted around after that and played some
negative EV table games to pass some time. Considered just going the hell
home, but got into a 10-20 game about 1pm. After a while, Tom McHugh, Bruce
Kramer, Scott "Bwana" and Russell Rosenbloom came and left. In the last hour
or two, Russell, Bruce and I went on a total combined rush and tilted the local
rocks to the tune of cashing out at banquet time up a combined $2300. Bruce,
way to go for reaching one of your poker goals with a big win! I guess we
exceeded the one big bet an hour rate!
The more poker I play, the less interest I have in table games. I guess this
is all part of my continuing gambling education. I tell you, I learn more at
an RGE event than a year of books and self-analysis at the tables. I wish I
had a strong local home game to learn from, but a quarterly visit to the AC
rocks doesn't help much. Thanks again to all of those who discussed strategy,
playing conditions, places to play and how to attack situations. I especially
want to publicly again thank Nolan for answering my emails about where to play,
how to approach others in the RGE community, and hopefully reassembling the
TEXAS team at this year's BARGE. Lets raise the stakes and make it winner take
all!
I had a great ATLAGE dinner, not so much the food, but the company. Sat by
Muriel and Nolan, Bruce, Mitch, Foldem (Peter, thanks again for the drink), and
Peter, among others. What a great group to discuss the finer points of keeping
track of wins, where to play, when and all that other stuff no one else in your
life understands. I got home and started telling my wife about flopping the
nuts in the big blind with a flush draw and no full houses possible and her
eyes glazed over immediately.
There are about exactly a hundred other people I talked to, played against, and
helped me over the one and one half days that were all fun, accessible and a
better group that you usually see in AC. I feel like my continuing poker
education was improved this trip. I can't wait for BARGE, looking forward to
seeing all these guys (and obviously gals) and more there. Who cares the
location, it will be great!
George