Trip Report
by PubInfoGuy
Due to popular demand (well, anyway, Nanette said I should) I am filing my
semi-mandatory trip report on my virgin Atlarge appearance last weekend.
Why so late, you ask? Sadly, the fantasy world known as work pulled me away
from the reality of live, casino poker. No paycheck, no poker - one of life's
nasty surprises.
This minnow, who is a denizen of the Trop Poker Club, no-smoking small stakes
room, had noticed a few crazy people in March of '99 wearning Atlarge tags and
became curious. As mostly a lurker at this newsgroup, it ultimately became
apparent that something potentially interesting was up.
After reading all 4,867 chapters of Tiger Tours the Tables, I was hooked.
Here was a chance to swim out of the shallow waters of 1-3 and 1-5 stud into
the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean in a real, live tournament instead of a
free-roll or a $20 Tuesday night extravaganza.
Of course, my late posting of this report is symptomatic of my
prognastication and I signed up somewhat late for Atlarge, making it difficult
to get a Trop room, even though a regular. This complicated matters as it was
our 33rd wedding anniversary weekend (the dreaded event actually taking place
on Monday, the 27th). It was this fortituous coincidence which persuaded wifey
to agree to go, although she stayed a railbird for the tournaments.
After hounding the charming Patrice for over a month, she fulfilled her
promise and coughed up a room at the last minute. It was she, not spouse, who
received the flowers. One of the best things about the Trop is the quality of
personnel, all around.
Since I find myself paying about $5 in rake for every dollar I get to keep,
this is indeed an attribute all poker players should expect, but do not find in
all AC poker parlours.
I digress.
Sadly, despite taking Friday off from work, the ring games fared poorly. We
went to LaPalais at Resorts for our "official" anniversary dinner. Much to our
dismay, Baked Alaska, which had been on the menu last year, had melted away.
Does anyone know where to get a good Alaska, or, for that matter, Chateaubriand
in AC these days?
Saturday morning I was poised for my first ever no-limit hold'em tournament.
As I have only played hold'em once for money and only a few times in free
tournaments my expectations were nil for this event. I just don't care for the
game as it seems to be too much a game of money, not cards.
I drew Table 4, seat 7, and, much to my chagrin, seated to my immediate left
was one of the Gods of Poker, Art Santella. He was charming to a rookie, and
calmly answered my question as to why the East Coast seems to be lacking in
noted tournament players. Maybe in 50 years the East Coast will catch up.
I vowed to play only premium hands, whatever they might be, and watched the
action.
Oh, precious moment, when I saw I was not the first one out!
But, it didn't take long. Imagine my pleasure to find pocket rockets dealt to
me. The flop came up with a Q,J.T and I needed only a K for a straight. My flop
bet was raised by Art and called by seat one.
At the end of the hand, to my dismay, Seat one's QJ were paired with the
original flop. Art was betting on one Ace in his hand.
The end was near, and I knew it. I politely asked Art if there was a bounty
for taking him down with me. Can you believe I outlasted him? My sole triumph
of the weekend.
After being blinded to death, I won an all-in hand. Six or seven more of
these in a row, and I win! Alas, it was not to be. My pocket Jacks went down to
ignomious defeat and I was 77 out of 86.
Back to the ring, where again it wasn't so hot.
The banquet was a pure pleasure. Good food, good company, and a relaxing
time. My gift slip in the Trop baggie said "2 week Hawaiian Vacation", but was
recognized as a clever forgery. Had to try! Why, Marie even remembered beating
me up last year for suggesting she was married to Chickenman.
Back to the ring and a slight recovery. I watched in amazement from another
table as the White Chip Mountain game got underway. I din't mind the noise
(though others did and had the players bounced out of the no-smoking room). My
concern was the frequent call of "incoming" which threatened to set off a major
case of post traumatic stress syndrome acquired 30 years ago in an Asian
paradise which is the homeland of many a poker dealer. Had I only known how the
world would turn, I would have kept up my Vietnamese language skills.
Sunday morning came, and here, thought I, the small minnow can go for glory.
Having placed several times in the final table at the Tuesday events, I was
falsely encouraged, it seems.
I drew seat 8, my personal nemisis as it seems all the cards are used up by
the time they hit that spot. One encouragement - only 72 players were in the
stud tournament, so I HAD to finish higher that the day before.
Before the game started, I had a pleasant chat with Nolan Dala about his
political column in Card Player, which I had read just that morning. Remember,
Nolan, the Web site is "govote" and will give you a survey to determine your
personal political philosophy As for me, "Anarchist bombthrower" comes to
mind..
Wil Espin was at my table, fidding away the time until one of the soon to be
built Marina casinos hires him on. Best wishes Wil, and build it right. By the
way, I never found one of your commemorative chips, but even if I had, would it
have been worth five bucks at the cashier's window? I'm sentimental, but five
bucks is five bucks ...
Again, the sharks circled and the guy to my right had won the stud event last
year.
Again, a quality hand left me hopelessly crippled. Trip fours in four cards
were hammered by a pair of kings which turned out to be kings full. Maybe
everyone else at the table knew what he had, but head to head in four cards, I
had no better chance than then. So, there I was, gone at 65 out of 72.
Almost all of the people I met were gracious to the minnow, and I wasn't the
only small-timer present.
Hey, you should be nice to us. Our $50 is what feeds your big-time habit.
A few of the "hot-shots" displayed a bit of ego attitude, but that's to be
expected.
I'll just keep on learning, reading, gaining experience and a bigger
bankroll.
And, if Atlarge is held again in 2001 at the Trop, I'll definitely be back
for more punishment.
For now, back to the shallow waters.
PUBINFOGUY - Glenn R. Nickerson
