ATLARGE Trip Report (LONG!)

First of all, allow me to apologize for not blogging a farewell message last week before leaving for Atlantic City, I was busy getting ready for the trip and I forgot. NOW, onto the TR!!

WEDNESDAY:

I left my house around 7pm, stopping first at the gas station to buy some Kingman, Arizona shot glasses as my bounty prizes. I was paying for them when I saw some little pug dog keychains with a "Push Me" sticker on their stomachs, so I picked one up, pushed it's stomach and was serenaded by Kenny Roger's "The Gambler", how perfect was that?? I added 3 of those to my bounty prize and bill and headed out.

I was hoping to arrive in Vegas 30-45 mins late for the 8:00pm Binion's tourney. However, the Arizona Highway Patrol had different plans for me and decided to pull me over PLUS two other cars (we had a caravan thingy going) at the same time and ticketed me for going 96 mph in a 65 mph zone, apparently if you go over 20 mph, it's considered a felony and therefore I shall be going to court in April. : )

I arrived at Binion's with 420T left (I called ahead and the TD bought in for me so that I could play) and just enough to go all in with AJ, I doubled up and then moved all in with A8 and lost to AK, so 2 hands and I'm gone. I then head over to Golden Nugget to play a little 4 Card Poker, then head to Plaza for the midnight event.

The event was short handed with only 12 players and I was at a table with 4 others and a few dead stacks. My labels for my opponents: Seat 2: Newbie; Seat 4: Gambler; Seat 5: Drunk guy; Seat 7: BRILLIANT Player, BEAUTIFUL as well; Seat 8: Tight-Passive young WPT'r.

So, adapting to the short handedness, I'm raising and stealing all the dead stacks blinds and no one is really fighting back at all. I thought if anyone was to fight back, it would be Seat 8, he was the only one who seemed to know what he was doing, but he was so passive. He should have been raising as soon as I folded the few hands that I did.

Anyway, the Gambler (Seat 4) started making it a habit of raising UTG, blind. The first time, I let it go and folded. The 2nd time, I moved all in over the top with K,9; he folds. The third time, he warns the dealer that I'll be going all in and I do with K, Q (da Miss T!) I got the Gambler and the Drunk to call me for all their chips with 4, 8 s and 10, Q os respectively. I busted both of them out and we're at the final table now with 9 players left. I have about 2,467,000 chips and the 2nd largest stack has 750.

I proceed to knock out the next 4 players, and when we get to 3 people left, I was awarded 1st ($415 woo hoo!) and the other two chopped 2nd and 3rd. Totally feeling like the female version of Johnny Chan, I go over to Binions and play the 2am. Well looky here, turns out not only is VeeRob in the 8 seat (I'm in the 10 seat) but good old Leet, is in Seat #1. Nice to have met you Leet, even if you do hate me now.

So, I'm on the button, and I raise the normal 3X the blind, I'm-on-the-button-steal. Leet decides to bump it another 1000, and I feel like calling, so I do. My cards? 2c 3c. The flop? Ac, 4c, x. So not only do I have a flush draw, a straight flush draw, I also have a straight draw. I have 13 outs. Leet checks the flop, I move all in, he calls and shows AQ. My club comes on the river and I "suck out" with my 13 outs on his beautiful hand.

2 hands later I call his all in with 10,Q; He has A,K and I proceed to bust him out when the 10 flops. Like it was MY fault the 10 came. Needless to say, both VeeRob and Leet were astounded by my play and I'm surprised they didn't ask for an autograph, but they must have just been shy. Either that, or they were too busy cursing me and calling me a bad player behind my back...oh no wait, that was in front of my back. Anyways, the tension was getting a little thick so I had to hurry and bust out so that I could leave the negative vibes (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I head to the airport and proceed to drink my breakfast and board my 8:40am flight to Philadelphia.

THURSDAY:

I arrive at the Philly airport right on time, even after circling the airport for 20 mins. I've never circled before and I must admit, I got dizzy, so I slept the last 15 mins. I headed down to baggage claim area and waited for Lisa, my friend from WPC, who was going to be my roomie for the weekend.

Her plane ended up late, so Douglas Dunn (or whatever he feels like calling himself TODAY) arrived before she did with his girlfriend/fiancee/wife (WTF was she??) Heather in tow. Heather was gorgeous and reminded me immediently of Julianne Moore (although it took us all about 45 mins to remember her name). So once Lisa arrived, we headed off for Atlantic City, along with the GPS Lady.

Now, at first, I must admit, I thought the GPS thingy was pretty damn cool. She's this lady that lives in Doug's dashboard and proceeds to tell him where to go. (No, Hell was not mentioned.) I first realized that GPS Lady might be out to sabotage Doug when he proceeded to exit the freeway because she told him too, but I could clearly see a very large green sign that said "Atlantic City/New Jersey Exit 2 Miles". Turns out with the GPS lady in the computer, Doug does not read nor see signs. We traveled through a quaint little town called Who-Knows-Who-Cares and then got back on the freeway where the off ramp sign was still standing and waiting for us to drive underneath.

Doug's account of the gas station was dead on and I found it amusing. What I didn't find amusing was the actual gas prices. $2.15 a gallon...WTF? I'm here in Arizona paying $2.65 and New Jersans get to pay $2.15? I'm so jealous.

We arrive at the Taj and after checking in and changing clothes, we head for the Smoker's Dinner. As we entered, I recognized no one but was approached by Steven Phillips aka FlowerMan and then proceeded to make my socializing rounds, after making sure that Lisa, Heather and Doug (and myself, DUH) all had drinks in hand. Turns out there is only one check and everyone splits the total cost of the dinner with drinks, but since we were all newbies, we had no idea, so I took care of the $60 bar bill when I won Roshambo vs. Doug.

Dinner was very entertaining, I was able to chat it up with quite a few people. I met the BARGE organizer, not Peter but the other one, crap, I'm so bad with names, it's ridiculous. Anywho, it was announced there that I had been announced as the BARGE Virgin Queen and we drank a toast to that, or maybe I drank one to myself, who knows. I will say that when we left, I had NO CLUE that Doug was tipsy so his driving was excellent despite the Showroom parking lot mishap.

After getting back to the Taj, I had agreed to meet Steven at the poker room and we were going to go dancing. Turns out no one likes to dance in AC on a Thursday, so he headed to bed and I headed to the pit. I ended up getting caught up with a group of guys that had been to the dinner, and all 10-13 (?) of us headed to play craps with my role being the "Blower" as I do NOT play craps. Taj wouldn't open a table for us, so we walked over to the Showboat where we found an empty table. I blew on a couple of dice, watched them 7 out and left them to play some Texas Bonus Hold Em. They started dropping like flies and we headed up to the poker room, only about 6 of us now, and proceeded to alienate the entire poker room with rounds of shots, loud voices, and in the dark cap raising on every street play. Good times, good times. I left them around 4:00am when I decided I was hungry, drunk, and tired. Went back to Taj, had some spaghetti and meatballs, and crashed into bed around 5am.

FRIDAY:

I woke up and headed downstairs in time to register for ATLARGE, get my awesome name tag and free Polo Shirt, then sat down and waited for HOE to start. Started getting tired and grumpy when no waitress came until the 2nd hour, so I started double fisting my drinks to get me in a better mood and to get rid of the dark circles under the eyes. Nothing much to report about HOE, although I did end up in about 87th place, if memory serves.

I then played the 3:15pm NLHE event that the Taj holds and was awarded a Polo Shirt by the 8-2 gang and was announced an honorary member. I was so moved and touched that I proceeded to change my shirt right there in the poker room. Apparently, when a female changes her shirt in a poker room, she's suppose to announce it because if she doesn't, then no one sees it as they are all concentrating on their cards and then they will proceed to ask for an encore all weekend long since they missed it the first time.

It was getting close to the 6:15 NLHE event, so I bought in for $200 and then went to get something to eat before it started, since I busted out around 5pm in the 3:15 event. I ate some more spaghetti and meatballs and then started to feel a little sick from the all day drinking with spaghetti on top of it and went upstairs to my room to try and throw up so that I would feel better. I ended up laying down for a quick moment and woke up around 8:30pm. Oops. I rush to the poker room where I am told that I just busted out 2 minutes earlier. My bad.

I run into Steven Phillips and he escorts me over to the Casbah, the Taj's version of a night club. I must say I was impressed, it was very colorful, very loud, and good music was playing, what more could I ask for?. Steven was a great dance partner for being an "older" man (Mental image: The man looks JUST like Albert Einstein) and was asked a few times by these HOT, YOUNG, ladies if they could have a picture with "My Man". Turns out I had a sugar daddy for the night, and didn't even know it, but everyone else knew it, interesting. Steven called it quits after a few hours, I stayed with a few new friends I made and then left when the capacity got to around 2,000 people. WAY too crowded.

I head to the pit, play some house carnival games and end up ahead $900 and the proud owner of a purple chip. Not TOO proud though as I proceeded to lose the chip, and I don't mean gamble or spend or cash in the purple chip. I mean LOSE. I, Tanya, being an idiot, dropped a $500 chip somewhere on the floors of the Taj Mahal. Congratulations to the new owner of my chip! I played a little bit in the Pink Game, as how could I NOT being at ATLARGE and then headed to bed around 5am, after stopping for some more spaghetti and meatballs first.

SATURDAY:

I head downstairs to the NLHE ATLARGE event, and after whining about my purple chip loss to everyone within earshot, I head over to the video poker machine where Karma paid me back my purple chip plus $275 more when I hit 4 aces with no kicker. Whew! I start to feel better and walk around the poker room bragging about how much Karma loves me. I also go around showing off my bounties to all that were interested in hearing the dog sing "You got to know when to hold em....."

I, again, bust out early, something like 160th place (?? who knows??) and play the 3:15 tourney and the 6:15 tourney with no positive reports from these events at all. Can't really remember much of what I did that night, but I know it involved the pit and drinking, and I know it involved my owning (for a few hours at least) my first pumpkin chip ever, that was pretty cool.

At this point I've been continuously drinking since Wednesday night and I was starting to burn out, so after eating some spaghetti and meatballs (anyone noticing a trend here?) I headed to bed.

SUNDAY:

I wake up to go play some Stud, find out it's not 8/better and am bummed. HOW can a player get rolled up TWICE in the first two levels, get Quads in the 2nd level and STILL be the 2nd player out?? That was me, I guess I play too many hands, eh? I wandered around the casino and poker room a bit, played in the 6:15pm tourney where I was determined to cash or win as it was my last chance.

I was seated at a table with 4 other females, how odd was that? I make a bluff with 4,4 and have to lay down to an all in. Then this hand: I have J,8s and limp along with 6 other players in late position. The flop comes 3d, Jc, 8d and after everyone checks to me, I bet pretty big, 600, and get called by the blinds. The turn is 7c and the SB checks, but the BB flings in her chips like OMG, I HAVE THE NUTS. I go in the tank for about 1 min and there is NO way I can NOT put her on a bluff. If she had the J, she would have bet the flop, I've been watching her play. So, I bite the bullet and I call. The SB folds and she tosses her cards up saying "You got me" I see Kc, 9c and know that I now have to dodge a club and a K. I get comments from a few players on my hand about what a good call I made but lose it anyway when that damn K comes on the river. She then tells me that she did that because she wanted to go to dinner with her husband. RIIIIIGHT. Sigh, GG me as I'm out 2 hands later with K,9 no good against A,J.

I head back to my video poker and get lucky when I hit 4 aces with a kicker and win back almost all the money I've lost so far for the weekend, I'm feeling pretty good now as at least I can say I'm leaving even and just finish the night playing in the pit, gambling, etc. I didn't drink on Sunday at all until after the jackpot win, then decided to start drinking and have some last minute fun as we were leaving on Monday.

One thing I noticed about Atlantic City/New Jersey men. What PERVERTS. OMG, the men from that area (for the MOST part guys, and you KNOW who you are!!) are SO crass and BOLD, and the OLDER they are, the MORE sexually obnoxious they are. Men will flirt with me, I will flirt back, and it's all in good fun, however, I have never, ever had so many offers to "go back to my room" then in AC. 1 was 23, but the others were, oh I'd say about 60, 65. I laugh it off and tell them, "I'm married!" and one guy had the audacity to say, "Well, do you think oral sex (OK, ok, he said something other then "oral sex" but you get the point) is cheating?" Um, YEAH??? Good grief, the men out there (again, for the most part) are PIGS. I don't know HOW the women out there put up with it, but different strokes for different areas, I guess. It was totally disgusting to me, and there is no way that that kind of talk would actually get me to hook up with someone even if I was single.

MONDAY:

Lisa and I sleep in and check out around noon, then head over to eat some breakfast/lunch. We gamble for a few hours, then head out on the boardwalk to get some salt water taffy and AC sweatshirt for me, and fudge for Cherissa and Bill.

We headed back to the lobby to wait for our driver as we hired a Town Car to take us to the airport instead of trying to mess with the trains. (Another 60+ year old pervert by the way) My flight was scheduled to leave at 7:40pm and after having a few drinks in the airport and on the flight, I laid across my row (only 21 passengers on the flight, how cool is that?) and slept for most of the 5 hour flight. I arrived in Vegas around midnight and got home around 2am. Didn't get much sleep though, due to my coughing fits, and here I am back at work, back to the grind and trying to get through yet another months end reports and meetings.

So that's my trip in a nutshell, I cannot stress enough how good the ATLARGE people were and how much I thank Goldie for setting it up. I can see myself in Atlantic City ONE time a year, and it would be for ATLARGE. GREAT people. If you've never gone to an ARGE event, you must, you simply must.

Some special, but few, shout outs.

Omaholic: As most RGP'rs may know, there are actually two of these guys running around. One that posts on RGP and plays with us on Full Tilt and one who plays on PokerStars but is not an RGP'r. I met the non-RGP'r this weekend by chance in a Taj tourney, that was kind of cool.

AlwaysAware: It was an honor to meet her in person, only because I view her as a legend of RGP and I told her as much, but I don't think she thinks I meant it. We didn't talk for too long and I could sense that we wouldn't be hanging out or doing anything crazy together, but it was still very cool meeting her.

Douglas Dunn: Very cool cat, has a cool car that has a lady in the dashboard but don't let his posts fool you, he seemed shy to me. Maybe it's just because anyone who isn't as loud and obnoxious as me just seems shy. Great guy with a hot girlfriend/fiance/wife.

Steven Phillips: Any guy over 45 who will go dancing with me is cool in my book. Plus with his hair, his style, and his personality, I knew instantly when I saw him that we would be buds.

Aardvark: It was cool to put a face to the name. Didn't really seem to interested in having fun though, a very serious player in my opinion.

8-2 Gang: If I live in Maryland, there is NO WAY I would NOT be a part of this group, what a great bunch of people!!

Big Syd: Even if I did only see you for a few hours, at least I got to meet you, I knew you would be cool, but where the hell did you disappear too? I couldn't find you after I paid you the last longer bet. It's like you left, next time, you better hang a little bit longer.

John Harkness: Awesome to finally meet him in person and I never knew he was an art lover. Quite a traveler as well, great game on Sunday John!!

Lisa: Not a regular RGP'r, but a good friend and I could NOT have had a better roomie.

SOOOO many people I'm leaving out, but these were the ones that stuck out in my mind first as I was typing this. Don't feel left out if I didn't mention you, just remember I was drunk almost the entire weekend. : )