[FSU88]

I’ll post my trip report of the 1^st Chiptalk Meet up and The Windy City Blowout

I may cross post to the original thread and the thread with the pics. So if you see this twice, I did it on purpose, or if I can figure it out, I’ll just post a link. I was trying to figure the best place to put this. Move if necessary.



I must first thank everyone involved in making this go off without a hitch.



I arrived at the hotel right around 4:30 local time, after sitting in Chicago's horrible traffic for what seemed like forever but was probably about 30 minutes. I was unwinding at the Marriott’s bar, watching the Tigers hand the A's yet another loss when I saw Dave W(Strange) approaching. I knew him from the Who's Who picture. We struck up a conversation immediately.

Slowly, more of the group began to assemble, and introductions were almost not necessary. Phil( TheThrill) and Dave W had made up lanyard style name badges, and they served as the entry to poker at Rob's(RTBrandy) House.
More about his graciousness later.

Lisa(Bolgenmod) took on the formidable task of driving some of us downtown to the Erie Cafe. Again, more traffic, but she navigated through it like a NY Taxi driver. That's where we met some more of the group, including Rob and his wife.

The restaurant Rob chose was simply great. We had an upstairs private dining room with it's own bar. Some other attendees stayed back at the hotel, and IMHO, they missed out on something special. Wine flowed and everyone had a tremendous time. Lisa and a few others ordered the last few prime rib dinners that were available, it was by far the largest cut I have ever seen, and it looked like it should have been at the carving station of a buffet and not a stand-alone dinner. Pictures were taken, before and after, but Lisa will have to share those. After letting all that dinner settle in, we set out to play some poker back at the hotel.

We were detoured by a request to 'bring more beer' back to the hotel, and Rob led us through his neighborhood looking for a package store. After twist and turns and a visit to a store that was already closed, we were able to find a grocery and the required beverages were bought.

We met the die-hard poker players back at the Hotel, already trying to lighten each other’s wallets. A couple games broke out and I was able to put a few extra 20's in my own wallet before calling it a night around 2:30. Others stayed up a bit past that.

We met for breakfast in the AM and refueled for another long day of poker. Getting to Rob's was actually very easy, unfortunately, we ran into some more traffic, this time caused by a small construction zone. It was amazing how 100 yards of one lane being closed can back up traffic for 2 miles.

Rob's place was fantastic, an absolutely beautiful home. He does nothing half way. The simple fact that Rob offered up his home for us to invade for the weekend would have been enough, but the food and beverage spread was outstanding. If you wanted something, it was there. Jessica, his wife, was also an absolutely gracious host. I will definitely be sending them some sort of gift for all of the hospitality.

Now let’s get in to some poker details. I signed up for the heads up tournament. We had 16 players. I drew Tom(tomb1) for my first opponent. We battled back and forth, but I was able to grab the win somehow . No real memorable hands that stand out. Second round I played Tom (geewhiz41) and had to make a comeback after getting beat by his pocket Aces. Every round we started with 3500 chips, and Tom had gotten me down to around 1000 after his aces. I slowly chipped my way back and took the game. In the semi final round I got to play Dave Z(W16227) and made my donkey move of the night and hit the two outer to just about stack him. We were trading back and forth for a while when I caught AQ. Standard PF stuff, raise and call. Flop comes 88Q. I have a bad poker memory, so while the fine details may be off, the results are the same. It ends up that I have to decide to call his all-in bet on the flop. He has me by about 300 chips at this point. I'm trying to put him on a hand, and while I'm thinking he has the 8, it's W16227, so I can't be sure. I make the crying call and tell him to show me his 8, and he obliges, showing me A8. I can't really remember if this happened after the flop or turn, but with just the river to go, I needed one of the last 2 queens. An A would just fill his boat 888AA. I need a Q to get 881st Out

So now a wrap up on some cash games. I was sitting with Brian and Alexi and others playing limit Hold'em. Was doing OK, up a few $, when Brian and Alexi talked Dave W and I into some side action and some prop bets. Brian - thank you for talking me into this, it netted me just over 100.00, basically on Jacks, specifically the Jack of clubs. We picked some flop hands, anything you liked, like 678, or 579, or whatever you wanted. If that hand hit on the flop you got 3 points. We each picked 4 hands like that, and one was picked as the ‘Big Boy’ If that hand hit on the flop, you received double points. We also each picked one card to watch, and also one suit. I had clubs and picked the Jack as my card. So we are all intently looking at each flop, to see if any of our picks hit. If you miss one of your picks and the turn is dealt, you miss your points, as Alexi happily told me after I missed one of my picks. At the end of the night, all the points were totaled, and the point difference between each player was the payout in Big Bets, which was 2$ for this game. My power card that night was the J, every time it hit the flop, I got a point. If it was the Jack of clubs, I got another point. At the end, I was about 15 to 20 points ahead of Alexi, Brian, and Dave. Each point was worth $2.00. It made the game very interesting, as you needed to pay attention to every flop. We wrapped up the night around 2:30 and headed back to the hotel. Up around 150.00 in the cash game.

Unfortunately, some had to leave early on Sunday, so they were not able to meet at Rob’s for football and more poker. A cash game broke out along with a couple of SNG’s. I did not get to a SNG, but they were played with the Zen Matsui’s that Lisa bought in the group buy. They were fantastic looking chips. We played some HORSE and we tried out luck at BAGDUI, or whatever the heck it’s called. Somehow I managed another small profit before I had to drive back to Toledo. More traffic, but I was able to get home in about exactly 4 hours.


Without Rob’s unending hospitality, this whole weekend may not have been possible, at least not in this form. It was a laid back party the whole time.

To Dan and Lisa, thanks for organizing this event. When everything goes off without a hitch that means the legwork behind the scenes was outstanding. GREAT JOB.
To the makers of the chips and plaques – BigKyle, Jayson and Theresa – jaw dropping work.
Everyone brought something to contribute, and I’ve left no one out on purpose, but I would have to name every single person to be accurate and my fingers are tired.

Anyway - it was great to meet everyone. It will have to be done again.




Jeff