JMACK's overdue ME Trip Report

[JMACK007]

Wow, it’s been weeks, sorry I haven’t been able to get this up earlier, but have been under the weather with flu (thanks Crown Poker Room), plus work commitments and a certain other thread that we shall never speak of again taking up my time!! (oops, ellipses)…

The ME weekend was something that I strived really hard to be part of for a long time. Having attended all of the previous 888pl Grand Finals, I really didn’t want to miss this one, especially with all the hype that surrounded it! I played virtually all the satellites that I could, but just couldn’t crack it to win a ticket. Among them was an online tourney which I bubbled, an APL MQF finishing 3/70 odd (1st won a ticket), an APL MWF finishing 5th of 70 odd (1st won a ticket), 2 $5 re-buy frenzies for 2 x 2nd place (1st won a ticket), and 2 x $120 sit’n’Gos for a 4th and a 2nd. Plus a few more that I can’t really remember. All in all, 4 bubbles for a ticket and I was slightly peaved!!

I was all but resigned to the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be this time. I was even offered a ticket from someone whom I respect very much and declined. At that time I just didn’t feel right about buying in to this tourney after so many failed attempts to qualify.

Then, a week or so before the event, I get a message from a friend. He says “man, you need to get into this event, how about I play the Thursday last chance qualifier for you and see how we go?, if I win you can fly in on Friday morning”! He also offers to put me up at his place to save finding a hotel. Wow, that really humbled me that someone would be willing to do such a thing!

So a couple of days go by and I can’t stop thinking about the Main Event, and all that will be happening in Melbourne. Then I get one of my best mates Carmine tell me he would also play the Thurs Last Chance event for me!! Then Wabbit & BBT also tell me that they are playing that event for me!! I was blown away. For all these guys to go and make the effort to play an event, just to give me a chance to play in an Event that I had tried my utmost to be a part of was incredible. So I said to myself, “How can I sit here and let this happen?? I need to be there right alongside of them and win the seat myself!!”, so I booked the flights just a couple days before (not recommended unless you like getting ripped off) and I was off to Melbourne!

Thurs 23rd Feb arrives and Carmine picks me up on the way to the airport. His plane departs about 40 mins after mine, but he graciously offers to get there early and wait around. We have a beer and chat before I depart and are really looking forward to whatever the weekend might bring.

I arrive and after a pleasant skybus ride and short walk, am back in one of my favourite places on Earth, the Crown Poker Room!! After saying hello to Garth, Tim, Andre and the gang, I immediately go over to try and register for the last chance event. Saw Wabbit and an APL player, Paul and chat with them for a bit, Paul says he is also playing the last chance for me!!! Then Pat Dillon (my friend from earlier) arrives and says not only is he playing the last chance for me, but Chris Whitmee and Kayle Burns are as well!!!! WOW!, I got half the field in this thing, how can I lose????

To Be Continued…..

[Swanky]

Can't wait to hear more, get typing mate!

[666HARPS666]

old man Swanky, you only like it because of this line "All in all, 4 bubbles for a ticket and I was slightly peaved!!"



Swankys' holiday home

[krunchie]

how much was this last chance satty, could have just about bought a ticket with all the entry fees ( i know i know you couldnt do that )

pretty stunning effort though

[Swanky]

Yeah I feel Jo's pain, while I didn't bubble quite as many, I bubbled a couple and one where I spent over $300 bucks trying and went from Chip leader to bubble boy in 2 hands thanks to one dumb ass/heart breaking call, by a well known and until then respected player.

Anyway, come on Jo, I'm hanging for part duex!

[JMACK007]

how much was this last chance satty, could have just about bought a ticket with all the entry fees ( i know i know you couldnt do that )

pretty stunning effort though

The Sat was $150. I really didn't want to buy a ticket though, I really wanted to win one.

And to clarify, none of these guys asked me to pay their entry, they all put up their own cash to try and win another ticket.....

[JMACK007]

Continued…..

Ok, so half the field might have been a little ambitious, but even with a field of over 100 888pl/APL players, I still thought the quality of the players playing for me would at least generate 1 ticket. NOPE!! Unfortunately, 1 by 1 we fell by the wayside, with Chris Whitmee being my last horse in the race finishing 19th (11 tickets on offer I think). So we proved that my ME satellite hoodoo could in fact spread!!! So I was resigned to the fact that it just wasn’t going to happen, and sat down to play a little blackjack with Nathan Butler, and old man Swanky even made a brief appearance. Of course this blackjack was a little weird with the dealer granted a stand-off when hitting 22, possibly the worst BJ rule ever!!! So I donated a little and headed to the bar. One good thing was hearing that a fellow SA player had managed to ship a ticket in the last chance event. Was really happy for him because I know he tried really hard to win one as well, playing many satellites and just missing out.

I spent the remainder of Thursday night drowning my sorrows at the Vegas bar, mostly because I had to wait for Pat, who decided to run good for a change and FT the regular Thursday tourney. Once he was out, Pat, Chris, Kayle and I piled into Kayles car to head home for the night (Pat had also invited Kayle to stay at his place instead of driving all the way from Geelong in the morning). After dropping Chris at his house, we arrived at Pat’s place and briefly chatted about how things were gonna go tomorrow, and Pat suggested that all was not lost, maybe there might be a ticket about tomorrow!

Now onto the part of the story that will give you an idea as to the kind of guy Pat Dillon is. He lives in a great place, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms large kitchen, dining and lounge. The only problem is he also has 2 roommates that use the 2 other bedrooms. So here we are, 3 blokes, 1 bed, 1 lounge suite. Under different circumstances, the word awkward could come to mind!! So Pat says, “Don’t worry guys, I’ll go and stay with my friend down the road”!! Man, are you serious!!! Not only does he open up his house to his mates, but kicks himself out to do so!!!!! Look up the word gentleman in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Pat smiling back at you. Of course we still have the problem of who takes the bed and who takes the lounge, so we flip a coin and Kayle wins (man that guy runs good!!!), so I settle in on the extremely comfortable lounge thinking how much I am gonna hate being there tomorrow without being able to sit down and compete.

I get up early on Friday and decide to send Garth a message asking if there is anyone who has a ticket and can’t play. The night before whilst having a beer with the SA player who won the last chance ticket, he mentioned that maybe he hasn’t played the obligatory 10 events and might not be able to play, even after all that effort to get his ticket! Garth comes back to me and says, yes, there might be a possibility. Now it’s time to get excited again!! He confirms that the SA player hasn’t played enough games and says he will be in touch with me directly. He does indeed get in touch, but says he wants to keep the ticket for next time. Another dead end…...........

or is it??!

To be continued…..

[bennymacca]

Good stuff, moar....

[Swanky]

Oh man I know how this ends and I still wanna hear it.... keep typing mofo!

[JMACK007]