Trip Report
by Cactus Kev
CHAPTER ONE: "MMMMMMM, THAT IS ONE TASTY BURGER..."
8-2 Greg offered to drive this year, so he picked me up around noon on
Thursday, and we headed north to White Marsh to pick up 8-2 Chris at his place.
I had never seen his home, so he and his s.o. Maggie gave us the half-hour
tour. Then, it was off to get some lunch before we started our three hour
drive. Chris recommended a local burger joint called Five Guys Burgers and
Fries. I'm always up for a good burger, so count me in. Well, I have three
words for this restaurant: Best... Burger... Ever! And the cajun fries were
just as spectacular! Beats Fuddruckers by a mile, and that's sayin' alot.
(At this point, I must jump ahead to Saturday morning at breakfast, when I am
invited to sit down at a table full of fellow ARG'rs; some familiar, some not.
Anyway, I look across from me, and some guy is there wearing, I kid you not, a
Five Guys logo shirt! So, I immediately introduce myself, singing the praises
of the food served there, and I find out that he owns four of the franchises in
Maryland, and is planning on opening some more in the near future. In fact, one
is due in Columbia in about three months! So chalk that up in the "it's a small
world after all" category)
Okay, we manage to find our way to A.C., amusing ourselves with Greg's new GPS
dashboard device along the way. Once checked in, three 8-2'rs manage to talk me
into walking over to the neighboring Showboat casino to play in their 50+10
tourney at 7pm. So we get there, only to find that it's actually now a 60+15
tourney. Grrrrrrrrrr. Oh well, I reluctantly sign up and last an hour until I
go all-in with KQs preflop, and lose to a player holding QQ when no King
materializes. I grab a late dinner at the House of Blues (I highly recommend
the Elwood sandwich), and then call it a night.
CHAPTER TWO: WHEN IN DOUBT, CALL THE FLOOR
Friday was the H.O.E. tourney, and we started with an even hundred players each
with T1500 in chips. As before, the 8-2 Club has a "Best-In-Show" pool, where
those members wishing to participate put in twenty bucks, and the player that
does the best in all three tourneys combined gets the entire stash. This year,
eighteen of us decided to join the pool, making this year's prize a sizeable
$360. I was hoping for a repeat of last year, where I won the "Best-In-Show"
cash pool. I get the pleasure of chatting with Chris "ABP Tick" O'Connor while
we play, and upon seeing his bust-out prize of a CD of his guitar music, we
strike up a conversation about our musical endeavors. When I don't bust him
out, he promises to put some MP3's of his music on an FTP site for me to
download and give a listen. We find out that a lot of ARG'rs have musical
interests. Maybe we should entertain the thought of having an official ATLARGE
band at the dinner next year! :)
I am playing reasonably well, win a sizeable pot on the Eight-or-Better round
with (AK)2A47(8), and at the first break have increased my stack to T2375. I
eventually get moved to a new table, right next to 8-2 Greg and 8-2 Sandra. We
finally get to the 200/400 level, and then it happens. We're playing
Eight-or-Better, and I get dealt (7J)A, all hearts. I raise, and Sandra is the
only caller, and is showing a four. My next card is the Ten of Hearts for a
four-flusher on four cards. Sandra gets a King, I bet and she calls. My next up
card is another Ace, and she gets another King. I bet and she calls. My last up
card is a black Nine, and Sandra catches another Four for two pair. She bets
and I call, still hoping to either make Aces Up or a Flush on the river. We get
our final down card, and I wait to see what Sandra does before looking at it.
She bets, and I steal a glance at my last hole card, hoping to see a heart.
It's the Eight of Diamonds. Now, here's where it gets hazy. For some reason, I
think I have already said "I call." I probably think this because I have just
pushed practically all of my stack into the pot during this hand, leaving me
with a mere T500 in chips. My mind was still locked on hoping to get a heart,
or another pair for Aces Up. When I see the Diamond Eight, I start turning over
my entire hand and shaking my head in disappointment. Suddenly, as my hand is
completely revealed, I see that I actually caught a Straight on the river. I
wake up, and state "Hey, I have a Straight! That might actually be good enough
to win." At that point, practically the whole table chimes in with an accusing
"But you didn't call!!" I sit for a few stunned seconds, and then manage to
sputter out a "Yes I did!" The table in unison responds "No you didn't!". I
look at 8-2 Greg and say, "I really didn't call?", and he answers to the
affirmative, and the dealer finishes pushing the chips to Sandra. I angrily get
up and punch the nearest window. After a minute of cooling down, something
dawns on me. Although I apparently didn't say "I call", I still hadn't really
done anything yet. Well, other than expose my entire hand. All seven cards were
turned up, but I hadn't officially said "I fold", or "I call", or even "I
raise." The consensus at the table appeared to be that when I had exposed my
hand, I was automatically folding. As it turns out, that is not necessarily
true. The next day during breakfast, I asked various ARG'rs at the table what
the ruling should be in such a situation. I got mixed results. Some said my
exposed hand was dead. Some said I could still act. Some said it depended on
which casino you were playing in, as the rules varied. Since there appeared to
be no definite answer, I eventually sought out the tournament director on
Saturday (I think his name was Marvin or Melvin). After filling him in on what
transpired, he told me that my hand was indeed not dead. I could have still
called or raised if I wanted to. So that was disappointing news, to say the
least. I had been playing extremely well in the H.O.E. tourney, and probably
could have made the final table had I not lost all those chips. I guess what is
even more disappointing is that nobody came to my rescue after I exposed my
hand. All I needed was just one person to inform me that my hand wasn't dead,
or to at least call the floor for a ruling. Or instead of yelling "You didn't
call!", perhaps said "You didn't call yet!" Oh well. Mark it up to experience,
I guess. I busted out at #47, and joined other 8-2'rs for a late lunch at Hard
Rock Cafe.
While waiting for the PokerStars buffet, I passed the time by playing 2/4 limit hold'em at an extremely easy table, and wound up winning $78 by dinnertime. The food was great, and the talks were entertaining. Still sorry that Wil had to cancel, though.
CHAPTER THREE: LIVING ON THE BUBBLE
Saturday, I started the NLHE tourney on a table somewhere in Delaware. It was
pretty far from the main crowd, that's all I know. Saw a couple of familiar
faces -- zippywon, adb bfb, prm, and suddenly. Eventually got moved to a table
with 8-2 Dennis, and had T1525 at the first break. Was down to T1150 after break
two, and then had a meager T500 after losing with KTs. Doubled up on the next
hand with pocket Nines, and again when my A7s beat K9o. Have T1700 at the third
break, with the limits going to 100/200. My pocket sixes double through against
ATo when the flop hits a six, and shortly after, I jump to T6400 when my pocket
Aces crush pocket threes. Right before the next break, my KJo wins with a flop
of JJx, and I now have T8500 going into 200/400. I lose a chunk when everybody
folds to my little blind hand of ATo, I raise all-in on a semi-steal, but get
called by the big blind holding Aces. That knocks me down to T5200. By the time
we get to three tables and thirty players, I have dwindled to T4200. I get
another table change, but continue to catch dreck, and wind up with T3500 when
we hit the 400/800 level. Finally, we are down to nineteen players. They pay
the top eighteen, and I'm the shortest stack of the crew. Everybody tightens up
their play, and I pray for a decent hand before the blinds reach me. Nothing
comes, and I have T1100 when the T800 big blind hits me. I get one caller
(fellow 8-2 member Jason Abell, who wound up placing sixth in the tourney), and
look down to see J8o. Not the best hand, but not total dreck either. I raise
all-in with my remaining T300, and my opponent shows A7s. Neither of us hits,
and there is much rejoicing as I become bubble boy, busting out at #19 of 174
players.
I try to take some 8-2'rs to the House of Blues for dinner, but it's way too
crowded. We wind up back at the Hard Rock again, and then I join 8-2 Mike for
some 5/10 limit hold'em. It's a rollercoaster three hour ride, and I call it a
night down $34 for that session.
CHAPTER FOUR: THE THREE STUDS
We had a short field of 49 entrants in the Stud tourney this year, and started
with T1000. Stud's my favorite game, and I increased my stack to T1760 by break
one, T2375 at break two, and T2625 when the levels went to 300/600. Only
8-2 Chris and myself are in the running for the annual 8-2 "Best In Show" pool,
and I feel I need to beat him by at least ten or more players in order to win.
I get moved to 8-2 Cary's table, and shortly afterwards, he and I get involved
in a hand that generates a nice size pot that I wind up winning. At one point,
I was getting hit by an disproportionate number of low card bring-ins. After
something like four in a row, I went ahead and placed my bring-in out in
advance, telling the dealer and the other players that I was officially buying
the bring-in for that hand. Sure enough, the dealer gives me a Trey of Clubs
for the bring-in, and the entire table erupts with glee. Great fun.
When we get down to two tables, there are only three 8-2'rs left in the game:
Chris, Greg, and myself. Quite apropos, considering that we all drove up
together. I get moved to Chris' table when somebody busts out, and I eventually
get my chance to knock him out of the tourney. Chris is the T100 bring-in with
a Deuce, everyone folds to me, and I complete it to T300 when I get dealt
(QJ)J. Since another player had folded a Jack, Chris knows that one of my Jacks
is dead. He goes in the tank, looks at his remaining T700 chips, and decides to
raise to T600. I re-reraise him his remaining T100 to put him all-in, hoping to
knock him out and increase my chances of winning "Best In Show". He turns over
(82)2. How appropriate :) Or, should I say, how ironic, as he catches a third
Deuce to make trips, beating my eventual two pair of Jacks and Sixes. With
Chris taking a large chunk of chips from me, I don't last much longer. I go
all-in with (AK)JJ against (QT)T8, but bust out at #13 when my Jacks don't
improve, and my opponent catches another Eight. I grab a quick poker snack bar
grilled cheese and fries, and return to find that Chris has since busted out.
8-2 Greg busts out shortly thereafter, so we pack it up and head home after my
traditional single roulette wheel spin as I leave the casino. Number 3 hits,
and my friend Sarah is the lucky winner this year.
