Well only week 2 and we're already breaking the rules. Going with a combination of three threads for this week's entry.
Thread titles (and links to said threads):
November 7th! New England Fall BBQ Classic...;
MARCH 19th - MMMM - OFFICIALLY OVER AND A SUCCCESS!;
Bounty Battle at the Border - Saturday August 14th
OPs:
@guinness and
@bergs
Dates of OPs: October 1, 2009; December 2, 2009; June 24, 2010
Notable for: Igniting meetup madness (also notable for being the first and last time I've folded a flopped flush to Tim).
These events happening in such quick succession started the trend of dozens of degens flying around the country multiple times to play low stakes (um...sort of) home poker with people far better than the average casino reg (trust me, it makes sense if you don't try to rationalize it at all). What is now the default culture of chipping meetups would likely not have developed as fully as it has to this day without this chain of tourneys. To that end, we all have to thank (and our wives can blame)
@guinness and
@bergs for kicking off an amazing tradition.
Certainly we have to concede from the outset that there had been several meetups prior to November 7, 2009. There had been a couple of Lone Star Roundups, a couple of Windy City Blowouts, and a Sin City Showdown, but no one had done anything like the BBQ Classic as evidenced by Tim's reference in the OP to the northeast's
previous meetup, which, big for its time, brought in 26 players.
This was clearly different. As the Fall Classic approached, reservations ballooned until we ended up with a field of 58 players. It was the first Chiptalk game for a ton of current regs and the first time many had made it to the northeast. It was the first time I met
@krafticus,
@Chicken Rob,
@Josh, and a bunch more Chiptalk folks I'm sure in addition to the surprise visit (to me at least) of Jim Blanchard and Jamie from ASM. They drove down from Portland and brought the (amazing) commemorative chips as well as the 300-piece FDL (then a newly available mold) set Tim got for winning the damn thing (
Pow! He did it!). It had it all: amazing BBQ, a guy in a dress (first elimination prize), anonymous explosive diarrhea all over Tim's guest bathroom, and the first in what is now a tradition of being at the last table standing at the end of the night playing short-handed.
@bergs had found Chiptalk in October of 2008, but somehow didn't make the Fall Classic. But he did make a couple games at
@dolomite128's place and decided, in his always measured judgment, to have not one, but two giant events within six months of one another in his modest condo. His wife was thrilled, I'm sure. So next up was the MMMM. I confess I've completely forgotten what MMMM was supposed to stand for. Massachusetts March Madness...Moker Tournament? Does it matter? Thus began the trademark alliterative meetups. It became clear that hitting capacity was no longer a problem. And attendance it wasn't an issue either for the following Bounty Battle at the Border inaugural event less than five months later.
Needless to say, these forums and poker life generally wouldn't be the same had these events not gone down as they did - with such smashing success and in such quick succession. Now we have the pleasure of jumping on a plan in almost any month to throw our money at each other. Other events have established themselves as the cornerstones of the chipping calendar alongside the annual Bounty Battle and certainly deserve that designation, but these - the Fall BBQ Classic, MMMM, and Bounty Battle No. 1 - were the originators of the genre.
