Bartcop Poker & Tequilafest In Vegas
Posted in on September 19th, 2006 4:32 pm by HL
Ok I finally have some time to write about my trip to Vegas last weekend for the fabulous Bartcop Poker & Tequilafest. Ol’ Bart sure knows how to throw a party and this was perhaps the best yet. It was at The Palms which is probably the most happening hotel in Vegas for the party crowd. Of course we had all heard about the $3000 a night suite that was booked for the occasion, but when I got inside and saw it I was truly impressed. The place was huge and plush.
Before long there were close to 30 people drinking, getting to know one another and of course talking politics. Bart had some Garbage Live playing on the video and the place was getting going. Along with the main party room, the suite had 2 separate bedrooms which were the size of hotel suites themselves. One of the side rooms became the smoking room (whatever) with lots of people wandering in and out all evening. I got to see some old friends like Chicago Jim, and Mrs. Chicago Jim, and my good friend Tom from Pontiac Michigan, whom I battled with at the last Pokerfest in the final two. I also got to meet some other great people like Marc Perkel, and Roo from Texas Who told me that the company he works for Lawndale Petrochemical had banned my website. The H.L. banned in Texas, I must be doing something right. There was also Rohn from Humboldt, and another guy who gave me his half finished bottle of 12 Year old single malt. I think his name was Jimmy, but it was a long night with lots of drinking and can’t quite remember everyone’s name, but everyone was of course very cool. (Jimmy, If I’m wrong and your name is not Jimmy please let me know.)
After a couple of hours of partying it was time for the poker to begin. There was only 1 game to be played with a $50 buy in, and not many chips so it looked like the game would move pretty quickly. There were 2 tables going with 9 players at each. On the very first hand at our table someone goes all in, Tom moves all in as well, and is the first one out. The game was very wild with someone going all in almost every hand. This was far different then last time I played in Chicago when almost no one went all in until the very end. A few hands later I get a 6, 7 suited, on the deal and as I had yet to play any hands decided to call the blind and stay in. The flop comes and it’s a 6,7.8. All right I though I got two pair, this is my hand. The betting goes around the table, then someone (again) goes all in, then another guy goes all in. Damn I’m thinking, one of them must have the straight. I would also have to go all in to stay in the game. I figure I can try for the full house but if I don’t get it I’m done. I decide to throw away the cards. Then the players who stayed in turn their cards up and neither player has anything. The hand was won with a pair of Kings that came on the river. As you can imagine I was pretty upset about that. The rest of the game I was getting terrible cards, I knew I had about 7 hands until the blinds got to me and I would be out of chips. I was hoping for one decent deal to go all in and hope for the best but I kept getting great deals like 7, 2 and Jack, 5. Finally I got down to the end and even though I had nothing had to go in, and got beat. I was done.
Now it was time to start drinking. I hadn’t had anything at this point because I thought it would be better to wait until after the Poker. (Guess I should have gotten drunk first, it couldn’t have hurt.)
The game went on a while longer while I was enjoying a cocktail and hitting the side room. I don’t even know the guys name who won. He had started off at the other table.
After the game was over it was time for the main event, The Tequila tasting. Bart had brought in 7 bottles of fine Anejo, 3 of which were the really good stuff that go for close to or over $100 a bottle. We started with the least expensive and worked our way up.
First came the Herradura, which I really liked, then Bart’s all time favorite Chinaco. (I kind of liked the Herradura better sorry dude) Bart was having a great time behind the bar pouring out shots, and telling everyone to roll a little of that around your tongue, telling us to just take a little sip at a time and savor the unique taste of each. We were going back and forth from one kind to another and judging each by taste and smoothness. Bart would ask “Did you ever think tequila could taste that good?†and he was right.
Finally came the big 3, the last of the best. The first one called Don Julio 1942, took the tasting to a whole new level. It was so much better then the others, and did not even taste like alcohol. While we were marveling at how fine it was Bart told a story about how this stuff is so good that you don’t get any hangover the next day because there are no impurities in Tequila of this quality. He said last time he drank The Don Julio, he woke up the next morning wondering why he felt so good. Next came the number 2 Don Julio Real, and finally the coup de grace, the one Bart had been waiting for, Chinaco 30th Anniversary. This was aged 7 years and had been put away in anticipation of the big 30.
When you get to this level of tequila, one is not really any better then another just different and they were all beyond excellent.
Of course by the time we finished the tasting everyone was feeling pretty good. Earlier in the evening we had started a contest where each person would put in $10 and pick any number on a roulette wheel, 1 to 36, plus 0, and 00. There was a big roulette wheel in the casino and we went down to watch a spin and whoever had the number with the winning ball taking the cash. I had number 14, and when we got there I noticed that the spin before the one we were going by had come up 14. Now what are the odds of a number on a roulette wheel coming up the same on 2 consecutive spins? not very good because I didn’t win. Marc Perkel had the lucky winning number and walked off with $380.00
After a little more partying in the Casino I finally passed out around 3 AM, I had to get an early start to beat the Sunday traffic back to L.A., I woke up at 8:00, and I felt raring to go. Bart was right. I wasn’t even tired. I went down to the valet, got my car, and within minutes was on the 15 Freeway heading home.
