In March I started thinking about this midsummer MTT and after meeting Niko I knew I had a location. Move ahead to late June and one late night conversation with Marco, we picked a date: July 29th.
Marco decided that it would be for my birthday and he would run it and not play. This sounded great, obviously I wanted to play very badly. We secured the location and off we went. We heavily debated the amount of people we could get and as most heavy debates with my poker friends it ended up in a prop bet. Over/under at 120 with me taking the over. For the first few weeks we were stuck around 50 people. I was fine with a 50 person tournament, whatever we did would be fun. About 2 weeks before the event, it went crazy and we filled about 100 spots in 5 days. The event became close to full just like that. We slowed down the advertising and basically called it full about 6 days before the event.
In those 6 days I would say we easily moved around 40-50 players who dropped in and out. Marco spent countless hours going through the structure making sure it would work. When we realized it would be full we knew it would take an incredible amount of planning and so many things came up like chip ups, seating, dinner break, and table breaks.
Marco and I spent so many hours clarifying and re-clarifying rules to the point where went over almost every possible scenario. We had Shawn re-read and proof read every rule and we simulated the blind structure over and over again.
On the day of the event even though we had no kids at home, I was awake at 6:30am. Ange asked me if I was nervous, and I said no, I wasn't nervous at all but I kept trying to think of stuff we missed and really there was nothing. Marco had thought of everything and really he missed nothing.
We headed to the event at 10am and picked up Marco a full 5 hours earlier than he normally wakes up. After arrived at Lone Star at 1030, we set up feverishly.
Kevin Crozier from Renfrew was there already and another gentleman who wasn't even on our player list helped us with several tables/chairs etc.
Right around 11am everything was running smoothly when "it" happened. Out of all the events I have ever planned "it" always happens. Some horrible thing that seems like it will wreck the day. Basically the chips for the tournament were in 3 cases so 60 stacks per case when one entire stack fell to the ground one third of our chips were all over the floor. Again Crozier came to the rescue and helped us pick everything up along with Burr, Cody, and Mrs Burr. It still took about 15-20 mins and threw us off schedule.
We started registering people and we were 2/3 done before we got fast at it. Again Shawn helped us keep things on track. Amazing that we filled almost every seat. Our planned start time (despite what we published) was 12:45 and we started at exactly 12:45.
I sat down at my table (table 18) and got ready to play. I have a really bad track record for running around organizing tourneys and misplaying my 1st hand. My very first hand, I am dealt JJ, UTG. I started laughing and I raised 4 x bb and begged everyone to fold.
I really did not have to do a thing while I played. Marco was in complete control the whole time. Also Carlos who could not play as he had something in the evening showed up and helped Marco keep the table breaks moving along. That was amazing of him to do this for the poker community.
About 2 hours into the tourney I was moved to table 2 in the main tourney area. I played there for about 2 hours and really went the most card dead I have ever been in my life, before the hand I busted on, I saw no Ace better than A6 and had 1 pocket pair (66) which I folded to an allin in front of me. I finally got dealt 77 and felt like I had AA when I pushed in from the cutoff only to have the button reshove in front of me and show 88. GG me.
After I busted I really wanted to help Marco make sure things ran smoothly. The tables were really busting quick and I got very worried the tourney would be done in 6 hours and people would feel ripped off. Marco made the call to move to 30 minute blinds and it was the best call ever. The play looked great and I really think the last 40 players played some amazing poker.
I got to deal when we were down to the final 3 tables and I realized how much I like dealing even though I have not in the past. I dealt for 4 straight hours right to the end with no break and it was great. I really felt part of it and part of the action.
I also wanted to mention Robbie and Darknoj who stayed to help with the end. At 1:00 am we pulled out of lone star. It was a very long day.
There are so many people who helped make this happen. I mentioned to Marco privately that I am the worst at thanking people. Not because I don't appreciate it but just because its a bad habit.
Marco really sacrificed a lot for this. He missed out on playing the biggest tournament ever to help plan something for me and he got nothing in return which to me says a lot about him. Thank you Marco.
A few people who need to be mentioned:
Niko, Burr, Perry, James and Lauryn
Thanks for all your help.
I also wanted to thank Ange (zachjackmom) for everything she did for this. I don't think many people realize the stuff she puts up with but its a lot. I always say she is the greatest woman in the world and she proves it everyday. Thanks Ange for everything.
I am not sure if we will ever do this again it was literally that much work. It was like calling for runner runner and yelling "one time" and hitting. Marco hit his runner runner and put on an amazing show.
Lastly I wanted to thank the jackseven community for just being there and supporting. Literally you would never think that a website would have that much impact but it does every day.
Until next time...
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