My BARGE Experience

So, what is BARGE? It's equivalent to a summer camp for adults who play poker. Some of these people see each other only once a year for three days of poker and fun. When I first arrived at Binion's Horseshoe, I had breakfast with my friend Scott Byron, who quickly explained the rules of lowball, because I was going to play in the history of poker tournament (half five-card draw and half lowball). In my opinion, Scott is one of the best no-limit hold'em players around, but his lowball play could use some help. His method of teaching me the game involved handing me a two-page printout from the Internet. As you can imagine, I was wasting my time playing in that event. However, I did learn a thing or two about BARGE tournaments in that event. Some people bring a gift and give it to the player who knocks them out. This is much better than a player leaving a tournament angry. I received a hand towel and a CD that day. Another BARGE tradition is that everyone applauds after each person is knocked out – which was pretty funny until it happened to me.

There was a C.H.O.R.S.E. tag-team event with 18 teams of six players. My team included Paul Phillips (crazy pineapple), Melissa Hayden (hold'em), me (Omaha eight-or-better), Charles Emerling (razz), Corey Imsdahl (stud), and Scott Byron (eight-or-better stud). Unlike most tournaments, this event was a timed event instead of an elimination event. At the end of five rounds, we stopped play and counted our chips. Each team received cash in the amount of its chip count. This meant that it was like playing live without the opportunity to rebuy. Our team ended up with the most chips, and we won a trophy that we'll get to keep for a year. The trophy and bragging rights are far more impressive than the $65 that we each won. The trophy is being displayed in Paul's living room at his new pad in Vegas. He said that any poker player in the world is welcome to see it.

My highlight at BARGE was participating in the Roshambo World Championship that was won by Perry Friedman. It is such a good story that I am saving it for a future column.

Congratulations to Russ Fox, the winner of the no-limit hold'em event.

There will not be a TOC story in this issue because we were asked not to run it. Sorry!