Hey Bart,
First off, a shot of agave nectar to you, Sam
and of course Chicago Jim for putting a great party together.
I saw your post on poker fest and wanted to throw
my impressions in as well.
So saturday morning I'm making my way to the city
from the west burbs and spot a convertible with a
Kerry, Edwards Sticker,(yes the new one).
I sped up to ride next to the occupants and show them my approval.
I shot this smart looking couple the universal
dump bush sign (three fingers up to represent a W and then flipping
them downward abruptly). We all had
a laugh and exchanged thumbs up before losing each other in traffic.
Signs were telling me it was going to be a great
day.
So I arrive at the Days Inn "Gold Coast" on Clark,
not to be confused with the Days Inn "Lincoln Park" ALSO ON CLARK,
just 9 blocks away. So I walk in ready
to meet the fellow tree house members not knowing what to expect.
There is a crowd
of 10 or so people milling around the lobby,
just kind of hanging out. I'm looking for an opportunity to introduce
myself and
spot a button on a cubs shirt that reads "re-defeat
Bush". I remark "great button". and the man wearing the message turns
around and sits down next to me. For the
next ten minutes or so he is firing off a litany of reasons he HATES MIMS
and
how he doesn't even want to think about him stealing
another four years. This was a world class rant by any measure.
The only thing that stopped this patriot for the
briefest of moments, was when another lady walked by and commented "great
button".
As he's winding down, I am about to introduce
myself as a "Bartisan" and ask if he is ready to play. Just then
the bell hop calls out,
telling "bush basher" his ride is here.
Turns out he was headed to the Cubs game and knows nothing of poker fest.
Much to my
dismay neither does the front desk clerk when
I ask her where the "meeting room" is. See, poker fest is now underway
nine blocks to the north.
Back behind the wheel I make my way ever so slowly
up Clark street now packed with fans headed to the cubs game.
Eventually I make my way to correct Days Inn
and into the "meeting room" which by the way is one hell of a nice venue
for a small gathering. Round one of Poker
Fest Chicago is already underway at one table but our host makes his way
over to welcome me. At this point Bart
is busier than smirk at an all you can snort coke buffet. Before
I can get out
how much I appreciate what he is doing with the
web page and bc radio, he's thanking me for supporting the effort.
(What a class act) Bart then introduces
me to Chicago Jim who deserves kudos for setting us up with beverages
and much more. As I make my way to the
bar, Snabby from the forum stops mid hand to introduce himself.
Snabby who is a veteran of juliefest and a regular
in the forum for years, it's too cool to put another face to a name.
I am feeling pretty welcome now.
I help my self to a beer and bart tells me it's
time for us to play so I make my way to the second table where I sit
between a couple of locals, Ryan who lives just
a couple of blocks away informs me that he plays in quite a few
tournaments and Trevor who is an avid poker player
as well. Small world side bar:( I didn't know Trevor until we
met saturday, turns out he lives in my neighborhood!)
Seated between Chicago's version of Farha and Moneymaker,
(two famous pokerfplayers) I start to wonder
what the hell I am doing there. I have never played in a face to
face tournament.
That's when Bart lowers the boom. "We have
no dealer for this table so we will just pass the deal", he says.
Having never dealt a poker hand in my life, I
start sweating like smirk waiting to take an Tx air National guard piss
test.
I don't know how the hell I'm going to save face
on this one. So two hands later the cards come my way and I proceed
to shuffle them After spending the next
few minutes picking half the deck up off the floor, Trevor leans over and
says
don't worry man no one is watching you.
Needless to say, his words don't calm me in the least. Now I'm shaking
like
MIMS bunny-hopping cross country on Sept 11th.
I can't even get the flop right for crying out loud.
That's when Trevor volunteers to be designated
dealer. Big thanks to Trevor for that by the way. Despite being
let off
the hook, I was still a little more than self
conscious about the situation. No one said a word about it.
I was among like
minded liberals and everyone was as cool as they
could be about everything. I had no reason to be concerned, I was
among friends. We settled in to the first
game and coming from the brink of elimination, I had a few intense hands.
I lost going all in on three of a kind and was
beaten with a full house. I lost but I had a blast. Between
hands Jim is w
alking around with a Cheney mask to which everyone
promptly tells him to go fu@k himself. ha
ha
Side bar: Jim has a very pretty wife but a macabre
collection of toys, Cheney mask,
Anthrax Coulter talking doll, and Pants on Fire
inflatable Shrub.
As we start the final round Chinaco makes an appearance.
After nearly four years of Bart preaching the virtues of this
fine elixir I have to take part. Not only
is it the only tequila i've kept down over the last ten years or so, it's
damn good!
I'm now breaking three personal rules, never
play poker for big money, never ever drink tequila again and never play
poker for big money while drinking tequila.
Needless to say I am the first person eliminated from the final game.
I didn't' walk away empty handed though.
I won a screeching monkey statue that will split it's time gracing the
desks
of three ditto heads I work with.
A big shout to Snabby, Trevor, Ryan, Sam, Zomar,
Flagstaff, Buck and poker queen, Tom and Allison, Ray,
Larry, and everyone I know I'm leaving out.
It was a blast meeting you all.
Finally to Mrs... Bart, it was a pleasure meeting
you ever so briefly. What I wanted to tell you in the bar but you
would not have been able to hear is this.
Thank you for helping Bart be who he is. He has pissed me off (with
good reason),
made me laugh, and got me active in shaking things
up. He is one of a kind and a damned fine person.
Bart, it was all I expected and more! Count me in on the next fest, I have a few scores to "Seattle"!
Matt 2Wall