IPC March 2010 – Day 1

The previous night left us a little worse for wear and we barely got enough sleep as the phone was ringing from morning itself with many players calling to enquire about the evening’s event. By the time we took care of that and some other last minute things, it was time for a late lunch at the local pizzeria. Appetites satiated we headed to our hotel to get ready and then head for the venue.

It seems like sometimes nothing seems to go right no matter how much you try and prepare for it. Our driver got lost and landed up at a completely different hotel so we were late getting to the venue. We finally got in about 20 minutes late but Craig and his team had quite efficiently sorted out the players who had come to play for the freeroll satellite for a free seat into the IPC 5k Freezeout tournament later in the evening. There were 27 players who would battle in a superturbo satellite to try and win a free seat into the 5k tourney later this evening.

Once the satellite got done, we mingled with the players and got to know some of them a little more. There was a good amount of excitement from them regarding the tournament and several players displayed a keenness and enthusiasm about the game which we found quite heartening. A short while later, a few words were spoken by one of the IPC directors and then we were off!
There were a total of 60 players who finally registered at the venue. About 1/3rd of these were locals who had heard of the game happening in the weeks before and decided to come and play in our tournament. A total of 7 positions would be paid out for this field of players. The game finally ended a little over 5 hours after it started and we were left with our winner Nikhil Jain from Gurgaon who bested the other 59 contestants and emerged victorious. Besides a healthy cash prize, the winner also received an IPC Winner's Medallion and a bottle of French champagne. Our 2nd place finisher was Jasper Noronha from Mumbai who played aggressively right till the end. Our 3rd place finisher was Deepak Raina from Delhi whose solid play impressed us as much as his stonecold poker face! Besides the prizepool, each of the top 3 finishers received a certificate and a bag of goodies containing an IPC mug and a DVD of Rounders.

Once the game got done a bunch of us sat around and had a long and interesting chat about the game itself and some of the key hands that went down in the tournament. It was a very chilled out time and as organizers we had a good time interacting with our players and understanding their background. Many of the players were really appreciative of the way the tournament was run and a large part of that lies squarely with Craig and his wonderfully efficient team.

I am now back in the hotel room after another long night and the clock has just struck 5 am. Two nights in a row where we’ve stayed up till really late. We are extremely tired but there is a sense of happiness and even pride at the way things got done and it is this feeling this will help us sleep like babies tonight.

Tomorrow being the start of the weekend, we expect our numbers to go up and hopefully we will run another solid event which will be enjoyed and appreciated by our players.
Till tomorrow…