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