A Very Long Post: Mental snapshots from the convention

[janeg]

I had such a good time and enjoyed meeting everyone so much I'm not sure I can give a comprehensive summary so this is a list of moments that have stuck in my mind.

Thursday

The Meet and Greet - I was a little apprehensive going into this but my apprehensions were totally unfounded. It was just like walking into a room full of old friends: Osmosis (from whom I got a big hug), Wynton (I'm still a little disconcerted from discovering his his real name is not, in fact, Wynton), Picsivirous (a big softie), Piemaster (not in the least bit cranky, contrary to his mafia alter-ego), Torch and his new bride (Torch lucked out big time here, Michelle is a sweetheart), Ammbo and his lovely wife Christine, Ciairan, Sami (who was grinning from ear to ear at his good luck at winning the trip), Steve Griff, RocketPlayer and last, but not least, our fearless leader, Matthew. (I know I've left out a number of people, forgive me, the memory ain't what it used to be).

It was great to finally meet everyone in person and Sandstorm was the consummate bartender, making sure everyone's glass remained full The only disappointment was discovering KT would not be in until Friday afternoon due to that #$%## hurricane Umberto

Around 9 a bunch of us headed to the poker room for a donkfest and hung around to play the Midnight Madness tourney. I was lucky enough to be seated at a table with Ammbo, RocketPlayer and Steve Griff. Watching Ammbo at a live table is a treat in itself. Ciaran calls him 'Chatty Cathy' and that he is He talks to everyone, always congratulating them on their play and keeping the table mood friendly and cheery.

I was in the 9 seat with a Rock in the 10 seat, a Rock in the 8 seat and Ammbo in the 7 seat. These were both Rocks in the true sense of the word. The Rock in the 10 seat proudly proclaimed he only raised Aces PF (and he wasn't lying ) while the Rock in the 8 seat never raised and only played the top 5%.

Ammbo's last hand was funny,

Edited to include Ammbo's correct description of the hand. (Sorry Ammbo ) <snip> I was bluffing into a set of tens that he almost folded to the 4 straight on the board. <snip> I had hit a pair of nines on the river, having missed my gutshot straight flush draw.

Ammbo graciously congratulated him on his play at which point Rock 8 proudly proclaimed " He didn't know much but he knew he was a good poker player". Ammbo agreed with him; with absolutely no change in his demeanor ... that he did it without falling off his chair with laughter is, for me, a sign he is a true master of the game

Friday

Miller Time
The day started with a Q&A session with Ed Miller; a real treat, he also, with good humor, fielded a number of questions about his stint on the Queer Eye reality show. And he got to experience, first hand, the true power of 53o.

LDorey and I were down to our last chips in one of the Limit tourney's when Ed raised 1st in, LDorey went all-in from the button and I threw in my last 1.5BB from the SB (I was soootttted). We all roared when the cards were flipped over: LDorey - KTo, me - Q9s, Ed - 53s! The roar turned into a mighty roar when the flop hit: 2-6-4!

OK, his 53 was suited but he is, afterall a, novice, so we didn't razz him too much for not knowing that only 53o is a true monster

The Incident of the Broken Toe

Cries of "My toe hurts" rang through the room. Tanya was in pain! Who had dared harm her?
"Piemaster." she cried, "Pie broke my toe!" And she raised her foot to an empty chair to display the evidence. Yes, her small toe was red, swollen and looking painfully sore.
"It wasn't me," chimed in Pie "She must have done it dancing"
"It was you" Tanya cried "You broke my toe"

To date, no conclusive evidence of Pie's guilt has been produced. No real toe's were broken in this re-enactment of the crime.

Suited's Wild Ride or The Donkfest
Friday night, joy of joys, Bugs showed up and we all played a 2-4 donkfest. Most of this has been reported elsewhere, all I will add is that, at one point, Bugs got up and Primitive sat down to play a few hands with Bugs chips. Unfortunately for Prim, Suited was still on her tear and managed to hit a gushot on the river, busting Prim's set. Woe of woes, Prim looked down to see Bug's stack was considerably smaller than it had been. Prim, showing an infinite amount of courage, promptly stood up and offered Bull Bug's seat!

Poor Bugs returned to find his stack lighter, and even worse, the ungrateful bugger's had failed to retrieve the drink he'd had on order! It took him approx 10 minutes to flag down the cocktail waitress and order another one

My Highlights of the Day

Meeting KT, finally, on Friday afternoon. Hugs and smiles all around, a truly lovely lady.

Meeting MX and Wade (who really is a muppet).

Meeting Bull, a gentle bear parading as an online grizzly

Saturday

Osmosis was on a tear! Next door to the Taj is a retirement home so naturally the poker room is full of grouchy old men who prefer a quiet, sedate game of cards. Enter Os! After two days of having their tables run over by him, the older gentleman frequenting the $10-$20 tables were so terrorized they were auto-folding to his UTG limps! Now that, my friends, is power LOL.

The Main Event

I went into this with the full knowledge that the majority of players can run rings around me at NL but had given myself a thorough talking to and decided I needed to step up my play if I was to survive the day (and prayed I would not be first out!). After 3 tourneys I had come to fear Osmosis, Tanya and Primitive (wow, is he good!) so imagine my chagrin to find myself in the 5 seat with Osmosis and Tanya in the 2nd and 3rd seats on my right! I was sure I wouldn't get to play a single hand! Then a very odd thing happened. The two of them kept limping! Not only did the rest of the table get to play hands, we actually got to limp behind them! By the time the blinds hit 150/300 it was becoming obvious that Os and Tanya, out of respect for each other's dangerousness, were toning down their play; Tanya, dare I say it, was actually playing somewhat conservatively (for her)

My suckout
I decided to try and take advantage of the situation and play on my (I'm sure) tight/weak image. Bull had just been moved to the 4 seat and was in the SB, I was UTG and picked up 53o. Raise! I threw out 900t, everyone folded over to LDorey who was in the 1 seat, then, horror of horrors, LDorey, Osmosis and Tanya called! This was not supposed to happen, they nearly always folded when I raised UTG as obviously I have AA/KK/AK!

The flop came down A-3-Q(J?). I bet 1/2 the pot. LDorey and Os folded and NO! Tanya called.

The Turn was another face card. Ok I thought, if I don't bet here Tanya will know I don't have the Ace and push so I had to bet something. I threw out another bundle of chips, between 1/3 and 1/2 the pot. Tanya said "Jane, you're killing me" and called me. Oops, I'm sunk now She definitely had a hand and I was down to a few thousand in chips. No way I could push her off the river if a rag fell Then, to my delight, a second 3 hit the river!

I pushed, 90% sure that Tanya would not put me on a three. She called and turned over A6. She'd had the better hand the whole way and I'd pulled off a major suckout. The god of fool's was protecting their own and I doubled up, crippling Tanya's stack.

To Tanya's credit she did not once berate me, taking the beat in good stride, and graciously congratulating me on the hand. The moment was bittersweet, on the one hand, I was quite happy with myself for my bravery and on the other I felt awful because I know Tanya really wanted to win the trophy (sorry sweetie : ).

And that is how I had enough chips to make FT and last until 2nd place.

In Summary

Will I go to another one; IN A HEART BEAT! The only real disappointments were not getting to meet Nut, Loyo, BD, Fatty, Cyb, TP, Taz, MC, San, et al and especially Pizza. Next year guys, I hope!

[nsidestrate]

When you win a hand with 53o, it is never a suckout!

It was sooooo good to see the domination of my limit-playing brethren at the Main Event and a joy to meet you.

[janeg]

[Wynton]

[taz115]

Nice report janeg... it would have been great to meet you, but I'll be around for future ITH events.

I was wondering if my old hat would make an appearance.... sounds like it did!

[PauliF]

sounds coooool
i hope to make to the convention one year even if i didnt make your list

[ciaran]

[janeg]

[sami]

It was great to meet you Jane. You come across as a very sweet person in your posts, even more so in real life.

[jeffnc]

[poker_Elmo]

I was happy to finally get to meet you (and many others) at the convention Jane.

A related moment from Jane's post:

At the Friday night tourney table when Tanya was talking about her toe, she took a break to claim women were the "better half" since "any woman could sleep with any guy, but any guy could not sleep with any woman." I remember Primitive's reaction was skeptical. He wanted proof.

No idea whether proof was offered.

[janeg]

[loyo1]

Sounds like a good time was had by all!

However, my brain is still tripping over this sentence:

[badboywes]

Thanks Jane for the trip report now I want to go next year even more. Gotta go got 53o in my trny and big stack is pushing me. All In opps I busted lol

Wes

[ammbo]