A milestone night it was.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
A decade in the making, after 99 (or so) matches, the official MDPL century event finally happened. Ideas, dates and preparations began months in advance by select (eager) individuals, and with a never-before-enacted cover charge, the MDPL was able to host a larger-than-ever evening starting with a hearty buffet dinner and drinks for 38 strong, all hosted in the spacious basement of one MDPL vet Dr. Vincent Fung, along with five tables in tow. Tight, yet comfy, with poster boards, photo slideshows, lots of banter and some local neighbours and friends joined in the evening with 29 other MDPL regulars, all vying for the coveted century event title (and an instant top ranking for this season too).
However, just before those cards were in the air, some prominent MDPL members were recognized with a few words and also dubbed white-hat-hitmen of the evening... as their knock-out victims would be eligible for special prizing on this special night. The ten nominees all held a unique place in MDPL lore, comprised of: Dharmesh Dass, Mark Yu, Norman Chan, Frank Riccardi, Jason Lau, Stan Quan, Vincent Fung, Ian Chang, Berny Leung, and Jason Lai.
After the PSAs were complete, the 6+ hour marathon was on and your co-TDs of the evening (Ian, Vince and J-Lai) also managed to participate, thanks in large part to our lovely special facilitator, Ms. Sara Hoogland, graciously offering to manage the evening logistics and made life so much easier for everyone involved (especially those TDs).
The first designated break in the action led to a surprise presentation of custom logo-adorned black hoodies, a gift pack, signed card and framed photo collage, all for your humble founder, thanks to generous contributing MDPL members and presented by veterans: Dharmesh, Norm and Mark. It was truly a sentimental and memorable occasion for J-Lai on this night no doubt!
Back to the hot and heavy card action, as the night whittled away, some victims of the white-hat hitmen had consolation to draw mystery envelopes, either yielding a lottery ticket (for untold millions?) or else $20 of cold hard cash and an easy path to pad their ITM stats on the career leaderboard too. After the dust settled, the locals (and the rest of us) had to part ways for the top six position sweep of MDPL regulars into the wee hours of the night, due to an uber pile of total tournament chips (thanks to the swanky set provided by Berny Leung on this particular evening). Your heads-up couple battled it out until finally Mark Yu prevailed over Warren Cheng to emerge the victor and will forever become a trivia marker for this unique occasion (and taking home $580 helps too!). Additionally, our champ Mark was generous enough to top-up the modest proceeds from the night to round out a tidy $100 total donation to Autism BC on behalf of the entire group.
So the long (but fun) evening finally concluded for those that went the distance. Enjoy the photos and the memories and a huge thank you to the gift contributors, TDs Vince and Ian, chip supplier Berny, and of course our lovely facilitator Sara... all of whom made it an uber special evening for everyone. See you all at #200? ;-)
(click photo above to enlarge)
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