I will add my Trip Report here too, to give a little Canadian flavour to the Meet-up.
FRIDAY
Coming into Chicago I learned how appropriate the 'Windy City' name is as my flight was delayed a couple hours due to high winds. Despite this delay, which I was unable to call ahead to warn my ride, when I arrived at O'Hare I was promptly greeted by ddollovoet at the baggage claim area. I guess I was easy to spot with my deer in the headlights look (first time to Chicago) and my Who's Who picture may have helped.
At the airport I got to meet bolgenmod, VAR, Speak, and Philly as well and right away I found everyone easy to talk to and felt more comfortable than I expected--bare in mind these were not strangers in my mind, I had chatted with these people in the CT games for several months. It was so cool to put a face to the names I had come to know on the board as well, and after the introductions we headed to the hotel.
At the hotel I got to meet more of the group; FSU, Strange, w16227, Big Kyle, Jojo, Tomb, chaude, just to name a few off the top of my head. A few of the Hammers opted to catch a quick bite after an unsuccessful journey in search of some alcohol (Philly was thirsty) and settle in the hotel for some cards. But before we got the cards out, Philly showed us the cool Team Hammer shirts that were going to be revealed to the unsuspecting crowd at the ME.
$20 mixed game where we played a ton of games that I had no clue about; badonkey, Crazy Pineapple, as well as different versions of Stud, Omaha, and of course Holdem. I was the lonely fish at the table and proceeded to build everyone's stack over the next few hours--I think it was an hour or two in before I won my first pot in a game other than Holdem, and it was only a half pot in O8 H/L. Then I ran into the nuts a couple times before losing the remainder of my stack at 2 am to jojo in the proverbial KK vs AA matchup.
SATURDAY
Morning came around quickly and we headed out to RTBrandy's to get set up for the HU tournament. RTBrandy's place looked small from the outside, but it was freaking huge as soon as you get in the front door! The place was awesome, and the poker room was perfect but I will not go on about the host any more as myself and many others have already gone off about how great it was. After meeting the rest of the CT group that I did not see the night before, the HU tournament was under way.
Heads Up
I played Big Kyle in the first round and he was a tough match; aggressive and solid, we were still playing with roughly even chip stacks when all the other matches were completed. This was a battle and it was anyone's game to the very end but I got a couple nice hands and survived. In the next round I was up against Jamby and this one, in stark contrast to my first match, was over very quickly. Jamby was more aggressive than me and she put me to the test early by pushing all-in on the river after I had called her flop and turn bets, and since she had me covered I came very close to folding top pair with a super weak kicker but in the end I came to the correct conclusion.
The third round was another grueling battle with mrticsay; this game lasted even longer than my first match with Big Kyle, and again it was very close. We changed leads several times and at times had the other on a small stack but neither of us could get finish it off. This became a battle of wits and the better player won with mrticsay finally taking me down. w16227 and I chopped 3rd and 4th spot rather than playing it out, giving him a chance to get in on the cash games and I wanted to have a break before the ME since I was not used to such long stretches of poker.
Main Event
The ME event began an hour after the HU tourney finished, and I was excited to begin play at table 2 with: blondwidow, QTsooted, jojo, spaceman spiff, geewhiz, ddollevoet, mrticsay, and VAR. The whole deepstack concept was new to me and I proceeded to donk off half my starting stack just before the dinner break as I kept hitting flops when I would play a hand--not the nuts but hands that figured to be the best in the end. Unfortunately they were not, as I had straights fall to boats, or smaller two pair, and I lost a big hand to spaceman spiff when I was out kicked (both had top pair and boad had paired, but my Q was no match for his K). A better player would have folded that one I think.
After the dinner break I decided to tighten up and just play smarter, but this revelation came at a time when the blinds and antes made finer play difficult as my stack was on the low side. When I picked up AKs I knew this was a hand I would be willing to go all the way with, and I got some luck and out raced spaceman spiffs JJ when I rivered a flush. Around this time a couple more people started to get knocked out and I was moved to another table where I sat and folded for about an hour.
We were then down to two tables and I found myself playing with sandy creek, mrticsay, RTBrandy, jojo, chicagosox, tomb, and geewhiz. I won a couple pots and even doubled up through sandy creek when my pocket pair held up, putting me in the average stack range. I remained an average stack as the field dwindled and as the bubble approached I found myself all-in with a medium pair which was outraced by chicagosox's overs, and this dropped me down some but the very next hand I picked up a nice pot and arrived at the final table with just under the average stack.
At the final table the blinds and ante's were quite high relative to my smallish stack, so I was looking for a chance to double up or steal the blinds but my position was not very favorable with jojo on my right and mrticsay and ddollevoet on left. As a result I played very few hands, and when I did play I opted to push rather than raise as raising would force me to commit half my stack. For the next hour and a half chips were flying all over the place, but no one was getting knocked out and the blinds and antes grew every 15 minutes. Only a few stacks were big enough to survive this so many players were looking to make moves and talk began for a 9 way chop that never materialized so play continued.
Players started dropping quickly at about the hour and 45 minute mark of FT play, and when it was down to 5 I found myself as the short stack of the table. I was in the BB with A9o and after posting the BB I only had 3X the BB left. So when Jamby and the SB (sandy creek) called, I pushed all-in figuring both would call and I had a chance to triple up. I caught an A on the flop and tripled up, then began playing aggressive by pusing all-in several times in a row with any A, any two paint cards, or any pocket pair. I was able to take down the blinds and antes and soon found myself the chip leader. When it was down to 4 I had over 200k in chips and given the current rate of play I figured it was still anyone's game and when the last break came up I brought up a 4 way even chop which everyone agreed to.
When play resumed, tomb went out and I followed suit shortly after when my aggression worked against me--jamby had eliminated tomb so she had a decent stack and when sandy creek folded on the button and I had A2o I pushed and jamby called with AQ...ouch.
That did a number on me, and when the BB came around to me and sandy creek (in the SB) raised I blindly put the rest of my stack in the pot since I could only post 2 more BB's. I thought my T3o was good when I flopped a T but sandy's K3s caught a runner runner flush and sent me to the rail where I watched jamby and sandy duel it out for the title. As you all know, jamby was victorious and both players were well deserving of their respective finishes.
SUNDAY
Because my flight was Sunday afternoon I only had time to play in a $20 Sit N Go with w16227, tomb, space, ddollevoet, chaude, rebecca, mrticsay, and bolgenmod. I went out very quickly on this one when chaude schooled me with a play that everyone at the table but me recognized. She limped in early position, and then w16227 raised and I called with AJ. When it came around to chaude she min raised, and after w16227 folded I called and saw a flop. The flop came A rag rag, and so I checked with the intent of check raising so when chaude bet and I came over the top all-in she quickly called to show me top set.
It was a great play and she reeled in her sucker (me) like a pro, but at least I learned a little something from that poker lesson.
On the short stack I was just looking for a hand or position and thought I was in great shape to double up with my KK against bolgenmod's A4 but lady luck was against me on this one (probably as punishment for my earlier donkey play against chaude) and I was consoling myself on the rail with RTBrandy's perfectly cooked brats.
With my poker playing done I reflected on what was an awesome time. I bought a sample set of Big Kyle's wicked ME chips, as well as the plaque that I started the ME with (from Harlequinn) so that I can frame them as a momento for a great weekend. It was awesome to finally meet face to face most of the Hammers that I have been playing with for so many months, and in talking with everyone at the Meet-up it will definitely change the Thursday night game for me. Now I have a face and a personality to attach to the names I see on P* and I am looking forward to wearing my Hammer shirt and socializing during the CT games even more.
