BARGE Trip Report

(DISCLAIMER: To the best of my ability, the following post is true and correct. Keeping in mind that the BARGE Convention did take place well over 2 weeks ago and that I was drunk the entire time while I was there and it was right after the ITH Convention where I was drunk the entire time as well. Nevertheless, I have decided to go ahead and "ATTEMPT" to reconstruct this week and all that it entailed.)

Tuesday 8/15/06:

Arrived in Vegas around 4pm, the first tourney was scheduled to start at 8pm, Lazy Pineapple, which I was scheduled to play in. I vaguely recall playing it, but as the whole week went for me, there was no money in it for me, I wasn't even close to cashing, I bombed the event. However, life in Vegas during BARGE starts AFTER the tourney, so that's what happened.

Tuesday night...good lord, so long ago, who knows what the hell I did? It might have involved dancing or gambling...Definitely involved drinking, but that's a given.

Wednesday 8/16/06:

The Blackjack and Video Poker Tournaments were cancelled so there was nothing to do until 5pm which was when the (non) Smokers Dinner was to take place. I do believe I simply hung out at the Diamond Lounge this day, eating and drinking and using the internet..all for free! Gotta love being a Diamond!

The dinner was at Nine's at The Palms. Very nice restaurant, excellent meal; got to meet several ARG'rs, and I also got to re-acquaint myself with some other ARG'rs that I had already met out in Atlantic City during ATLARGE.

After dinner we all headed straight over to the Venetian where we proceeded to play Lobah. I. HATE. Lobah. Enough said. Never won a SINGLE hand, not ONE. It was disgusting and I was appalled at my playing, although it was really lack of luck that had me disgusted.

Around 9pm was when we were supposed to have the official Virgin Outing, starting with karaoke at Imperial Palace, then dancing at the Carnival Court. I get to IP and there was only one person there (so far), elg26. Then along came SuperSteamer (DPCondit) and a few others and that was it! We never did sing any songs, but sure had a great time sitting at the bar playing video poker and drinking.

We headed over to the Carnival Court around 11pm where we proceeded to dance until 3am, with one person dropping off at a time until I was the only one left and so what could I do but leave for bed myself.

Thursday 8/17/06:

The Team CHORSE event was scheduled to start at 11am, and due to the HORRIBLE parking/valet structure that they have at the Venetian, I ended up arriving right around 11:01am which caused some panic with RaidersFan (who had already paid for the entire team). Turned out I wasn't the only one late and the rest of the team showed up within that minute.

I played the Razz portion and although my first round went well, the 2nd round had me dumping off chips when SOMEONE (Quiet Lion) refused to lay down his hand, even with Q, Q on the board and proceeded to river me on a horrible beat. Sniff.

Anyways, we ended up getting $25 back of our entry, so I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been. LOL

After CHORSE the next event wasn't until that night with the Stud Shootout. I can't remember what I did in between the two events, but I believe this was the night where I busted out of the Stud event pretty quickly and so I bought into the nightly regular Venetian tournament and ended up at the final table, finally coming in 8th place. This final table was one of the weirdest ones I've ever played at. I ended up arriving as the chip leader, if not then in 2nd and TWO hours later, was out in 8th. Lasted FOR EVER. A few RGP'rs came by to watch and sweat me once I got to the final table, but even some of them had to leave as it was dragging on forever. LOL

After that, I pretty much just went to bed. I was suppose to go to a hotel room poker game, but due to the final table finish I just headed to bed instead.

Friday 8/18/06:

This day had the TOC starting at 10am, I didn't do TOO bad, which just means I lasted a little bit longer then all the other tourneys so far, LMFAO. After the TOC we had the symposium at 4pm which I thought was an absolute hoot. Fellknight and I ended up being teamed up together and we sold for a whopping $150. We then decided to team up and purchase other teams, ending the night with 5 teams (9 players) under our belts. Turned out only one of our horses won, but it was nice to get that enveloped delivered after the TOC was over!

After the symposium it was time for the Craps Crawl and the wedding!!

We (about 15-20??) started at The Main Station and I just followed along with them, knowing that I don't play craps, but was mainly there to represent the virgins (as their Virgin Queen) and to drink with all the ADB'rs. After the Main Station we headed over to Binion's where Mark (Slim1Der) was finally able to meet up with me and I just love that boy! We had a great time, but that story is coming up later. : )

(Sidenote: As the Virgin Queen I had found a hat in the RIO gift shop that was a Queen's crown, it was cool wearing it all week and I got compliment after compliment on it. Another thing that I did as the queen was to have these really cool card protectors made for the virgins. One had "I busted a Cherry" inscribed on it that the virgin was to give out as a bounty prize. The other one had a "I busted my Cherry" inscribed on it for a token to keep. Both had "BARGE 2006" on it as well. If there were any virgins that missed purchasing these, I do have about 5-6 of each left over if you want to buy! I had to prepay for them, so just email me and I'll ship them to you. $15 each.)

OK, so the craps crawl is over, we head over to Fitzgerald's for the wedding and for some karaoke. Mark (Slim1Der) was deathly afraid of doing "his" song, as it was a rap song and being that he was the only black guy present, I could understand his apprehension. LOL. NOT needed. He TORE the stage up. Everyone loved him and he was a hit. He then came up to me and said he needed my back up for "Baby got Back". Well, what could I say but "Um, SURE!!" So there we were on stage. He was the lyrics, I was simply the back up dancer with a big butt and we were a HIT. There's rumours that there is video stream out there on the internet somewhere, but I haven't been given a link yet and it I do, I promise to post it. I enjoyed myself, even if I did feel like a fool for a little bit. : ) I thought everyone would hate us but it turned out to be the performance of the night, even surpassing the Virgins singing (what else?) Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and the ADB'rs singing (what else?) "One beer, one bottle, one something or another song that I forgot the title too"

I also did my rendition of "Fever" which went quite well, even if my voice was on the way to being GONE. (It came back about a week and 1/2 later, but that will be on my WPS TR too. I mean it, when I lose my voice, it's gone, not coming back for a bit, especially if I keep talking, smoking, drinking, etc.)

The wedding itself was very cool. I loved the fact that these two people (Chris and Amy) were willing to share their moment with people they've never even MET before (the Virgins)and with the friends they've made simply from a poker forum/newsgroup/email list etc. That was awesome, IMO and I'll admit to a tear or two.

After the crowd started thinning, Mark admitted to being a little bit too drunk to stay and had to leave for bed. I lasted about another 30 mins, then I headed to bed myself.

Saturday 8/19/06:

The morning event was NLHE (Finally!) I did better in this event, but still didn't do anything worth mentioning.

Spent the day at the Diamond Lounge with a few other RGP'rs and then headed over to the Venetian for the banquet that had Phil Gordon as the guest speaker. FUNNY guy. I had met him before the banquet, at the WSOP and all, but never had the experience of hearing him talk or talking directly with him and I thought he gave a great speech.

After the Banquet it was time to play those crazy BARGE games, so I immediately put myself on the $3/$6 "Must Drink" game and was there for about an hour or two until I decided that I had drunk enough and it was time to depart as Mark wanted to make sure we hit the Carnival Court. OMG, this was the night that SOMEONE (no names, but current RGP'r) got SO drunk, he not only vomited at the Carnival Court but also in the lobby of the Wynn as I helped him get checked in. I felt slightly guilty as I was the one who promised to "get him drunk" and sure enough, I did. By this night I had gotten or gotten drunk with SuperSteamer, Elg26, Fellknight, Omaholic, Slim1Der, and several others that I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention....

Good times, good times.

Sunday 8/20/06:

BARGE was officially over, but I was still in Vegas until my plane departed on Monday for the World Poker Showdown along with Omaholic, Slim1Der and Fellknight. So we all hung out together this day, eating lunch at the Outback inside the crappy hotel right next door to Harrah's...can't remember the name of it now. Anyways, that was all on this day. We all gambled a bit on the slots, drank at the Diamond Lounge and pretty much just settled down until it was time for everyone to leave.

WAIT! I do remember meeting Rich at this casino that was WAY outside town and found a new slot machine. Triple Draw Double Double Bonus Poker. Why did I hit 4 of a kind after 4 of a kind after 4 of a kind; giving myself an $800 win on a QUARTER machine!! NICE chunk to add to the bankroll that I was taking with me to Costa Rica.

That's the end of my BARGE TR. There, of course, is a LOT that I am leaving out. However, that should really be expected. Who, in their right mind, would write a trip report that includes EVERYTHING, especially when it's a trip report that happened in Vegas???

Come on, do I REALLY need to say it?

World Poker Showdown in Costa Rica Trip Report coming soon.....

A Nice Online Win, Finally!

Although I haven't been playing much online, I had played some when home in between trips throughout the summer and I never really cashed in anything much. Looking at ThePokerDB.com, I haven't had a "nice" cash since 4/22/06 ($1908). Good grief, what the hell is going on???

It's finally nice to report SOME kind of win. I played an Omaha 8/B satty into the WCOOP Event #5, priced at $500/$30 and I WON, not only did I win one of the 6 seats given out but I totally dominated and decimated the final 2 tables. On the bubble I busted out the 7th place and the 6th place in the same hand. I think I ended with about 50K compared to the 18K that 2nd place had.

There are 18 WCOOP events, with the first one being Razz on 9/16/06. Since I am officially "home", I plan on playing as many of these as possible, making the next 18 or so days dedicated to winning qualifiers.

Day 1: 1 for 2. I busted out seriously from the HORSE satellite. I don't know why I try to play it, I can't seem to get the knack of that game. I play WAY too many hands, and I KNOW this. I MUST work on my strategy for this game. I MUST so I WILL.

Still, 1 for 2 with the 1 being a $530 event is NOT bad IMO. I'm excited and can't wait to see how many events I can qualify for vs. buying in directly.

Once the WCOOP events start, I will blog full and complete tournament reports like I used to. Last year I did pretty well in the PLHE event, but that was the only one I played...so...you can't WIN if you don't PLAY.

: )

ITH Convention Trip Report

(DISCLAIMER: To the best of my ability, the following post is true and correct. Keeping in mind that the ITH Convention did take place well over 3 1/2 weeks ago and that I was drunk the entire time while I was there. Nevertheless, I have decided to go ahead and "ATTEMPT" to reconstruct that weekend and all that it entailed.)

Wednesday 8/9/06:

I arrived in Vegas, at the Imperial Palace, in time to hear that Matthew Hilger (ITH's god) was at the final table of a $1500 NLHE WSOP event (you know, the ones they hold AFTER the main event starts). This was his first final table so it was great to be able to go down there and sweat him along with about 10 other ITH'rs (give or take)

Matthew ended up busting out in 8th place, and then I hung out with him while he was being interviewed by Bluff Radio. Matthew's "Number One Fan" did call in though and she got great compliments on her voice and the fact that she was a female calling in and that most callers are male. Don't know WHO the hell she was though. Wink. Wink. (Gave Matthew a plug, what more can a friend do??)

Afterwards, they (Matthew, Ryan, Nside, Angel, and some others) invited me to join them for a very nice meal at the steak house at The Venetian. I complied and then left around midnight in order to go dancing at the Carnival Court, my favorite dancing spot in Vegas. Barely remember getting there (Taxi!!..no wait, I walked. I think) and then crashed around 2am if memory serves.

Thursday 8/10/06:

I decided to play in the Harrah's 11am event, since nothing really happened with ITH until the cocktail reception later that night. Didn't do anything worth mentioning, just couldn't get any cards working for me and busted out after the first break.

At this point I just hung around at Harrah's in the Diamond Lounge (Can you say free food, free drinks, and free internet??) before heading over to IP for the reception.

The food was great, the people were awesome, I got to see Torch and Ammbo again (My hero's from last year's entry titled "The $1,500 Meltdown". Seriously, read it if you haven't in order to get a good laugh or a nice cringe...pick one. : ) AND I got to finally meet the infamous Bulljami in person. VERY nice guy, I loved him, Of COURSE...I knew I would. However, he was a little bit more shy in person then he is on the internet. No need to hide the true personality dear, bring it out!!! A hilarious guy for sure.

After the reception it was time to head downstairs to play some drunken double flop hold em. Man, I LOVED that game. Had a great time, it was full of ITH'rs, we're all laughing, drinking, having a great time, what more can you ask for??

Friday 8/11/06:

The LHE Event was scheduled to start after the seminar, which was scheduled to start at 10am. Seriously. Who PLANNED this shit?? I was there on time, thus winning a $5 sidebet with Torch, and was actually pleased to find quite a few other ITH'rs there as well.

I think we should move it to AFTER the first event next year. 10 am?? In Vegas?? Please.

So we had a little trivia contest, it was fun. I think we missed them all but 1. LOL, I was in a dorky group who kept telling each other, "Well, I think it's "this" but you have a good answer too, let's go with that." Such polite people!!

The LHE event had me coming in 4th place after I kept hitting suck out after suck out. Seriously, I can't even remember some hands but I was catching 2 outers, 1 outers, rivering str8s, flushes, etc. etc. It was sick.

One major cool item of the day was getting to sit and chat with Dr. Alan Schoonmaker (Matthew asked him to grace us with his presence for the event and he did!!) who I thought was a nice, gracious, and humerous guy. He told me about the Wednesday lunch group (Which I had already heard about from Felicia, but told him that Wednesdays are hard for non Vegas residents) and then he told me about another group that meets on Monday nights, at a bar. How can I NOT go to one of those? So the next Monday that I'm in Vegas, I will be there, check it out, and if I like it then I will try to attend as often as I can, making it my last stop on my Vegas weekend trips on the way home.

Had a lovely meal in a wonderful restaurant that I cannot name located in the IP, then went back upstairs for our 2nd tourney, NLHE. I didn't do too bad, but was busted out in about 9th or 10th place, IIRC, and so then decided to go downstairs and play a little drunken $2/$4 poker with the other busted ITH'rs.

I was, at one point, completely past exhaustion and of course liquored up, so I decided to take little, what I like to call "Breaks" at the poker table. This involves my placing the head upon the hands in a resting like manner, on top of the stacks of poker chips in front of me. Every so often, I raise the head, see if I have a hand, if the action is on me, etc. then lay the head back down. Many have confused this with "Sleeping at the poker table" However, let the record show they are merely poker "Breaks".

About an hour after my continuous breaks, Torch looks at me sternly and states, "Tanya, go to bed, NOW!" So I left, but not before making a $5 sidebet that I could get an In 'N Out Double Double delivered to me at the table. It took them a little bit longer then planned, but an hour and 1/2 later, and while I was on my way to my room, I ran into my delivery guys (Nside? Ammbo?? Can't remember) and had the most delicious Double Double in my life, in my pajamas, in bed.

Saturday 8/12/06:

The 1st tourney of the day was LHE and nothing memorable happened in this event. No good for me, can't really remember any hands or anything, except for the one I busted out on. I thought I was SO slick with A, 4 os. Until Suited Pair showed A, A. Then kept apologizing to me for knocking me out! What a sweety!

We had a pizza party before the Main Event. IIRC, I simply hung out in the Diamond's Lounge at Harrah's in between the 1st tourney and the pizza party, so I was pretty blitzed by the time the pizza came around and it was DE - licious!

Then we had the Main Event, it was fun, but everything's fun when you're drunk. By this time we had a little clique going called "Shooter's Unite!!" and we would do shots throughout the tournaments. I won't say who all got into it because, of course, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I will say I was surprised at a few people that did them with the "known" drunks. (You KNOW who you are!!)

I did nothing remarkable (yet again, notice a trend here?) at the Main Event but the highlight was getting to see Matthew and Albert heads up at the final table of the Main Event. I mean how RIGGED is THAT??? After the event was over, I was able to get about 11 others to go out dancing at the Carnival Court and had a BLAST. This was the night I got to know NutJob the best and that boy is one AWESOME guy. Any girl would be lucky/happy to have him. Yet another new ITH best friend!!

Sunday 8/13/06:

Sunday found me simply laying in bed ordering room service and watching movie after movie from their pay per view until it was time to meet Bad Rob and Good Rob at RIO for the Penn and Teller show that they invited me too. After the show I simply went back to the room, ordered more room service, another movie and fell asleep around 2:30am, woke up around 9am and headed home.

I actually left again for Vegas ONE day later tomorrow for BARGE (That TR is one of my next entries, followed by the WPS Costa Rica TR) and even though I had a great time and got to meet a lot of really great people, some whom I've been chatting with online for over a year, I will never FEEL the way I do about RGP'rs the way I feel about ITH'rs.

To be an ITH'r is to love ITH, and I do.

The Legal Fight

On 8/1/06, last Tuesday, I was pulled over for speeding (yes, AGAIN). Apparantly I was clocked at 34 mph in a 25 mph zone. The cop was very nice, and said he would give me a warning on the speeding, but that he would have to give me a ticket for not having proof of insurance in my car. (I had taken my insurance card out the DAY before and forgot it on my desk, no big deal, it's a "Fix It Ticket".)

He comes back to my car to say "Ma'am, did you know your license is suspended for Failure to Appear?"

OMG, NOOOO I did NOT know this and this is a mistake, I KNOW it.

So I ask him when the suspension went into effect and he states, "Just Today, 8/1/06". So, he gives me a ticket for driving with a suspended license (only) and I let him leave first, then I drive straight to one of the two court houses in town.

They tell me, "Nope, no warrants here, we did not tell the MVD to suspend your license."

So I drive to the 2nd courthouse where they tell me, "Nope, no warrants here, we did not tell the MVD to suspend your license."

Next, I drive to the MVD department where they tell me that my license was suspended due to a ticket that I received on 3/1/06. The SAME ticket that I paid on 4/20/06 after my license was suspended back in March, 2006. So, since all my paperwork was at home, and since it was almost 5pm, I had to wait until Wed, 8/2, to take my paperwork (PROOF that I had paid) back to the MVD.

On 8/2, Wed, I did just that. I took all my paperwork to the MVD and they proceeded to tell me that my license was NOT suspended due to the 3/1/06 ticket, but due to the fact that I never went to Traffic Survival School (due to the number of points on my record in the last year, WAY too many tickets in other words) So I ask her, "When was I notified by letter of the need to take the TSS class?" She responds, "The letter was sent 8/1/06".

Me: "Um, Yesterday???"
Her: "Well, um, yeah"
Me: "So, my license was suspended on the same day you sent the letter to me? Does this not sound wrong to you?"
Her: "Yeah, let me check with someone"
Her: "OK, looks like you were suspended yesterday, 8/1/06, due to your 3/1/06 ticket"
Me: "You mean the one I paid on 4/20/06 and have proof right here that I paid?"
Her: "Yes, that's the one. I can take your proof and mark it as paid but then you need to pay $35 for reinstating your license"
Me: "You mean I have to pay another $35, since I paid the $35 on 4/20/06, to reinstate my license because you guys suspended it in error on 8/1/06?"
Her: "Yes, unless you can get someone from the courthouse to call in and ask for a waiver"

Sigh.

So, after 2 days and 7 hours, I find myself at the first courthouse (AGAIN) and they called the MVD to let them know that there was no reason for the MVD to have my license as suspended when I paid my fines back in April.

So, I finally get the suspension lifted, without having to pay the $35, and everything is hunky dory.

Until I take the ticket to the 2nd courthouse:

Me: "This ticket was given to me in error, my license was never suspended, and I have proof from both the MVD and the [1st] courthouse that my license was not suspended. My court date is set for 8/28, but I will be out of the country on that date, can I take care of this now?"
Clerk: "So, are you pleading Not Guilty?"
Me: "Um, Yes, I WAS NOT Guilty, my license was suspended in error, but I have had the MVD correct it right away"
Clerk: "Let me show this to the judge, one moment please"

20 minutes later:

Clerk: "Since you're pleading Not Guilty you will need to set up an appointment with the County Prosecuter and explain it to him/her what's going on and then you'll have to set another court date"
Me: "But I gave you the proof that this ticket never should have been issued, it was a MVD error, it was not my fault, can't you just make the ticket go away?"
Clerk: "Nope, you're pleading Not Guilty which entitles you to a trial and a County Prosecuter must meet with you."

Sigh.

On my paperwork: "Since you are pleading Not Guilty you are allowing the County Prosecutor to PROVE that you are guilty. The burden will be placed on the prosecutor."

I cannot BELIEVE that they are WASTING our tax dollars like this when I have already presented PROOF that the MVD fucked up, NOT ME!!

Therefore, on 9/25/06, I will be showing up with my appointment with the County Prosecutor and will have him PROVE to the courts and to me that I am GUILTY.

I know that I am NOT. I have documented PROOF from both the MVD and the [1st] courthouse, so now, it's time for Tanya to get a little revenge and waste THEIR time since they've already wasted 10 hours of MY time, and that's not even counting the time that will be spent with the Prosecutor and in court.

Fuckers. They piss me off. I'm getting mad ALL over again, just typing this damn shit out.

Let the asshole PROVE me guilty, GOOD LUCK buddy since I already have PROOF that I'm NOT GUILTY. And I'm not going to give it to him either, I'm going to make him waste the court time, the county's tax dollars, etc. trying to FIND proof that I'm guilty.

Fuckers. I hate the legal system. I hate it and I fear it. I will let you all know what happens.

Sowwy

So I'm getting yelled at for not giving a blog update recently, but I WARNED you all in one of my last posts that I would be busy!!

Anywho, I have moved now, and am 95% unpacked in TWO days. I rock. The only thing I have left to do is unpack my books and VHS videos (We have a TON!) but I need to buy a bookshelf or two before doing that, so they will sit in my new laundry room until I've gone shopping.

One thing that some people don't know about me is that I am a big, I mean HUGE, Princess House collector. For those that don't know, Princess House is crystal and is usually bought from home parties, although you can also buy from their website. I used to be a sales rep for them and I have hundreds of crystal pieces. I've been busy washing them in the last 2 days as my new house has pot shelves EVERYWHERE, so I will finally be able to bring out ALL of my crystal and put them on display and not have to worry about earthquakes destroying them! I still have one HUGE box left to unload and wash, but I will take care of that in September.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I leave for Las Vegas for the 2nd Annual ITH (www.internettexasholdem.com) Convention, and will return home on Sunday for only a day or two before I leave back for Vegas for BARGE.

As you may have heard by now BARGE does not have an official home yet, The Plaza dumped us, then Caesar's Palace dumped us, and now the organizers are trying to get The Palms to have us. If noone wants us, then we've decided to just take over normal everyday tourneys, such as Binion's. That will be a hoot to have 150-200 EXTRA people show up for their normal tourneys. Whatever casino we hit, they won't know what HIT them. LOL

Once I leave for Vegas for BARGE, then I do not come home until 8/28/06 as I leave from BARGE on 8/21 directly for the World Poker Showdown in Costa Rica.

VERY busy month, and while I'm looking forward to going, I'm not liking the idea of being gone for so long. I will not do this again, not until I'm officially retired from my business that is. I feel so irresponsible leaving for long periods of time, even though I have my manager and employees on track and organized and they KNOW what they're doing. It's the power/control thing. I don't like it at all. Too bad it's too late to change plans...but I feel obligated to go to the 3 tourneys that I have planned, and while I KNOW I will enjoy myself while I'm there, there's still a part of me that feels "weird", stressed out, I'm not sure how to describe it.

So there you have it, sorry to say, NO BLOG UPDATES for several weeks unless I get near a computer and I'm bored enough to get online.

Thanks for your patience and try not to have Tanya withdrawals. LMFAO.