ATLARGE 2002 - Trip Report - Cactus Kev

This was a great ATLARGE trip this year. I was very excited when more and more people from the 8-2 Club said they were coming, and we wound up having TEN of us there this year. Next year, we gotta get Ron out there for sure. I'll sign him up for the Pink Game :)

Greg volunteered to drive, so Dennis, Doug and I joined up at the Sun offices to hitch a ride and listen to the most wonderful country and western music you'd ever want to hear. Doug and I were in the back, so while we're chatting and dozing, I glance up every now and then to check out where we are. What to my surprise, then, when I look up and discover we're halfway to New York, and missed the exit about a hour ago. But we will not dwell on the faults of Dennis' navigation skills, because he did indeed save us all from certain doom on the return trip, when a 125-year old driver would have nearly ran us off the road, were it not for Dennis' sharp eye. Anyway, we finally got back on track, and arrived in A.C. with enough time to check into our hotel, and grab a quick bite, before signing up for the Thursday-nite Trop el-cheapo $25 Hold'em tourney. Since the tourney started at 7:15 or so, I played some low-limit Stud and Hold'Em, and made a grand profit of $10. There were only eight of us from the 8-2 Club entered in this tourney, since Dave and KevinJ would not be arriving until Friday. Out of 106 entrants, Dennis, Cary and myself busted out early enough to not have a shot at the final table. Doug and Greg busted out nearly simutaneously at spots 35 and 34, leaving Mike, Chris, and Graham with final table possibilities. All three nearly made it, but Mike got knocked out at #14, and Chris shortly followed at #11. However, Graham did indeed make it to the final table, and placed #8 and in-the-money. Thursday night at the hotel was funny, as I kept waking up in the middle of the night to turn the heat down, but didn't realize I was turning it UP instead. Poor Dennis was right next to the vents, and since I was still a little sick, he thought I must be having cold-flashes, so he suffered through the sauna. Sorry Dennis!

Friday was an off day for me (no tourneys), so I played alot of ring games. I decided that I was going to play mostly Hold'Em this year, instead of Stud, and was glad I did. I got some good cards at the 2-4 Hold'Em table, and left the table +$131 after two sessions. I took a quick nap in Chris's Trop room, which also was a nice balmy 96 degrees when I arrived. All the gang had decided to meet at Hooters at 6pm for a joint dinner, now that Dave and KevinJ had arrived. They serve food there, don't they? Anyway, we all passed on buying the Hooters memorabilia the girls were trying to foist upon us. Our waitress was a good choice, had great hair and smelled nice too. Now that most of the 8-2 Club was satiated and a little plastered, what to do? Ah-ha! We walk into the casino and demand our own table of 4-8 Hold'Em! Even tho I lost a hunk during the next three hours, I had an absolute blast. We had to warn every dealer that arrived that this was not your ordinary table. Halfway thru the session, Chris and Dennis start taking everybody's money, but altrustically return it by buying everyone massages. I've never had a $129 massage before, but boy did I feel it the next day. I had the bruises to prove it too. That would have been a great picture for the website -- our table, with four of us all getting massages at the same time. I knew it was time to leave when Dennis started pulling runner-runner flushes out his butt, so I left to get some sleep for the morning Saturday tourney.

Saturday's ATLARGE No-Limit Hold'Em tourney started at around 10:30am, and wouldn't you know it, Dennis and I are both seated at the same table, along with our "buddy", "Buckshot" Steve. You may recall that last year, I personally busted out Steve with my pocket Kings against his pocket Tens. I'm sure he was out for my blood. I also had Herbie, Big Mike, ADB BFB, and Mordecai at my table, all who are excellent card players. I was holding my own, when later on, Dennis goes all-in against Steve. Steve folds, and loses some of his stack. Then, Steve loses more when his AA loses to a player's JJ (a Jack flops). Later, with a board of Ad 10d As, Dennis and Steve are betting. An diamond hits on the river, giving Dennis a flush and taking more chips from Steve. Dennis had played 8d2d (how apropos!). Although neither Dennis nor I finally knocked out Steve, he left the table shortly after that. I was forced all-in holding Presto (55), which held up against my opponent's A9s. Some of the guys at my end of the table seemed surprised that I had called with Presto. By 11:45, 23 people had been knocked out, including half of the 8-2 Club. There were about 60 players left, and here were the remaining 8-2 Club chip counts:

Graham 200
Cactus 400
Chris 575
Mike 825
Dennis 1225

We started up again after the break, and I got dealt pocket Nines. Pocket Nines were my bread-and-butter during the tournament, as I got dealt Nines at least four times, and won every time with them. I won 375 against ATs with my Nines, but lost it again when my KTs lost to JJ. Then, I got dealt AJs and doubled up when I went all-in and won. Later, I doubled up again when my KTs made broadway. Somebody else won with my Nines on a very interesting hand. I was ready to knock out ADB BFB. He was forced to go all in on his blinds, so I cold-called without looking, hoping to knock him out. He turned over 99, and I turned over 67s. The flop shows three hearts, which hit my hand and give me a Flush. The turn is a brick, but the river brings ANOTHER heart! No big deal, EXCEPT that one of ADB BFB's Nines is a heart! So now HE has a Flush, and it's higher than mine! Grrrrrrrr. I really wanted to knock him out, and that one cost me some money. Shortly after, I get dealt the dream hand. I'm the big blind, so I'm not looking at my cards. Somebody raises a hunk, and they all fold to me. I look down and see two lovely Cowboys. I'm all-in! My opponent shows ATs, but my Kings hold up and I double through, winning another 3200. We finally are down to two tables, and I have 4800 in chips. Graham, Chris, and Dennis have already busted out, so it's down to me and Mike. We both have good shots at getting to the final table. At the break, one player has busted out, and the chip count is:

Cactus: 4200
Mike: 3200

The game picks up again at the 100/200 level, with a 25 ante from everyone. We're down to 15 players. I see Mike's Ad3d beat 5d6d when the Flush hits. He doubles through. Now were at 200/400 with a 50 ante. Mike doubles again when his AQs beats AQ, with yet another Flush. Sadly, when I turn around again upon hearing that Mike is all-in again, he busts out before reaching the final table. I have only 3900 left, and the blinds are 300/600 with a 75 ante. I hang on with my meager chips, and somehow survive to the final table of nine players! One nice thing was that when I knocked an Asian guy named Steve out of the tourney, he gave me his card holder: a nice glass totem with a dragon etched in it. Very nice, and I used it for the rest of the tourney.

I show up with 2650 in chips, and although I'm not the person with the least amount at the table, there are some mighty big stacks that I see. Somebody hands me a payout sheet, and I see that I actually am guaranteed to win $105 for a 9th place finish. At this point, I am not even remotely thinking I got a shot at a higher prize position. I have a cheering section behind me, as many of the 8-2 Club are sweating it out with me. Thanx for the support, guys! It was encouraging having you there, and I think it made me play better (as I didn't want to embarrass myself :) I actually had started showing my cards to the gang, but they waved me off, as they were afraid they might give my hand away or something. I told them they should just give a shocked look on every hand, and mumble something like "I can't believe he got pocket Aces again!". :D Anyhow, I'm holding on, and my strategy is to let the big stacks take out the other guys, and never get into a hand unless I have a premium one. Because I know that the big stacks will probably play against me, even if they have "crap" cards, since they can afford it and I can't. One by one, I move up the ranks, as players get knocked out. I'm in 8th place. Then 7th. Then 6th. Then there are five of us! Now I'm sure to get at least $231. Not too shabby! Finally, my dream happens, and two short stacks go all-in, and a big stack calls. The big stack (Big Mike) wins, and suddenly there are only three of us, and I've got a guarantee $462 for 3rd place! A big cheer is heard from my groupies, who are still hanging in there with me. I play my best, but the blinds are killing me at 500/1500. I force myself to play only premium hands, and double up just when I'm about to run out of chips. Finally, I'm low on chips and go all-in with A3s. My opponent calls with KQ, but I lose when he flops a King, and no Ace materializes. The marathon poker session is over. It's been about seven and a half hours of straight poker, and I'm exhausted and hungry. We head over to Outback for a victory dinner, and I get some much needed sleep. Not much could top this, but now my goal is to place as high as I can in the Stud tourney. I have a very good chance to win the 8-2 Club Best-In-Show pool, and also a good chance to win the ATLARGE Best All-Around player award (a plaque and Trop jacket).

Sunday comes, and there are 66 Stud entrants, nine of which are 8-2 Club members (Dave left early for work). Greg, Graham, and Chris bust out early. Dennis has a brain cramp and thinks some schmo at the other table is Scott "Bwana" Byron, who won First Place in last year's Stud tourney. He's wrong. I've got a tough table. Art Santella, Herbie, Tom "Rebuy" Goodwin, and Paul "PRM" all are good stud players. I do very well early on, and get a decent sized stack. I'm hitting flushes, and doing some nice bluffs. Later, I see Dennis standing up, and we're down to five. I'm trying to outlast Mike to lock up the 8-2 pool. Finally, I have pocket tens and four Hearts on five cards, and both ADB BFB and KevinJ are hanging in there with me. Sadly, my Tens don't improve and my flush doesn't hit. ADB BFB is knocked out, I'm left with a very small stack, and KevinJ just won a boatload of chips. Well, if I'm gonna lose, I'd just as soon lose to another 8-2 Club member! We had another break, and then something curious happened. When everyone anted, Herbie was left with just T100, but he hadn't yet returned to the table. The bring-in was to my immediate right, and I raised on a semi-decent hand. Some of the players realized that if they all folded to Herbie, he would be forced to fold (since he wasn't present), would lose his ante, and probably be busted out on the next hand. So his wife happened to be nearby, and Raydon and others asked if anyone at the table had a problem with Herbie's wife playing his hand. I was sort of taken off-guard, so I said sure. Besides, what did Herbie's wife know about playing cards, anyway? So she sits down and goes all-in on my raise, leaving it between just me and her. Well, she pulls a Full House!!! So Herbie stays in the game, and I lose a chunk, and am down to T200. Herbie arrives right after that, and everybody tells him that he should give me an "attaboy" and take me out to dinner since I was a "nice guy" and let his wife play his (winning) hand. Both Raydon and others took me aside later and told me in private that I was an all- around gentlemen and a scholar for not making a fuss by forcing Herbie to fold his hand since he wasn't present. Oh well, good intentions and poker favors do not a tournament win, and I busted out very shortly after that. Now it was down to how long Mike would last to determine who won the 8-2 Prize Pool. Mike got knocked out three players after me, which was close enough to me to give me a lock on the Prize pool. Cary, KevinJ, and Doug were still in the running, but sadly, they didn't make it to the final table, although Doug was *this* close.

All in all, I'd say the 8-2 Club did us proud at this year's ATLARGE. We placed well in all of the tourneys, and I had many people ask what "8-2" meant on our nametags. I played roulette twice, and hit my friend's number on the second spin, so that was nice. And I heard Graham won $500 on his fourth spin on a slot machine as he was heading out of the casino for home. My only regret is not getting to see Chris beat the chicken at Tic-Tac-Toe.

PROPS
* our own 4-8 table with massages
* Cary/Chris discussing Let-It-Ride strategies
* Dennis' "No-Checkie-Here" run during Omaha
* getting home on time due to my excellent navigational skills
* my 3rd place tourney win, to go with Dennis' 3rd place last year
* buying a "free" beanie-bear for Kelli with my comps
* hearing Chris' lament to play the chicken

SLOPS
* staying at the Comfort Inn instead of the Trop
* waiting forever to cash in chips, or leave the parking garage
* walking in the cold to Burger King, only to find it closed
* the cocktail waitresses at the Trop
* smoke anywhere outside the poker room
* waiting forever at Outback to get our food

--Cactus Kev