... report (blow by blow, just for you, Kerry! <g>):

This was a magnificent event, far too complex and entertaining to go by the simple name "get together". Mel Jung and his lovely wife Lisa hosted an absolutely incredible weekend for chippers from all over the country.

The festivities started Friday (well, actually before that even, for some of the out of state visitors) at Mel's Brockway Springs Resorts condo on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. The honored guest for the weekend was Gene Grossblatt, who showed he still has a sense of humor by "harvesting" some of Mel's chips during his visit!

Bruce & Eileen Landau visited from their home in New York and Allen & Diane Myers travelled from Kentucky. Many other chippers (too numerous to name them all) jammed the condo Friday afternoon and evening, the highlight of which was a magnificant Chinese dinner prepared by several long-suffering chipper wives (see next post for more on this).

A small group of chippers played some low limit (25-50 -- cents, that is) Texas Hold 'Em and Omaha. Seated around the table were Gene Grossblatt, Dale Seymour, Allan Myers, Mark Rufton (with some help from Bruce Landau), Larry Hollibaugh and yours truly. In what may have been a preview of the 2000 Convention Tournament, Doc Myers was the big winner for the evening, while Dale and Mark/Bruce also came out ahead and the rest of us enjoyed playing.

Besides the game, there was a lot of trading, buying/selling and general bull-chipping until nearly midnight.

For those of us fortunate enough to stay over at the condo, Saturday morning brought gorgeous weather, beautiful views and sa steak-and-eggs breakfast made to order by Lisa!

By 10:30 or so, the early arrivals started pouring back into the condo for another trading session before the official start of the chapter get together. Then, it was over to the resort's clubhouse (right on the lake) for the get together, which was attended by approximately 55 people. Another intense trading and selling session was followed by the chapter's business meeting, featuring Chapter President Todd Dingley.

Then came the speech we'd all been waiting for -- Bruce Landau's tale of the "Sale of the Century" -- the purchase by Jerry Wall of Bruce's entire original chip collection, including all of his duplicates. After the speech, Mel presented Bruce with a placque commemorating the event, upgraded by Mel to the "Sale of the Millennium". This presentation met with the expected objections to the term "millennium", but even Larry Hollibaugh had to admit that it was unlikely anyone was going to top this sale between now and 1-1-2001. After Bruce agreed to return the placque if anyone did top the sale, Larry withdrew his objections!

The short version of the story, BTW, is that Jerry first contacted Bruce about buying his duplicates, travelled to Bruce's home in New York and ultimately agreed to pay $62,000 for the dupes (how's that for a "trader" list?!!). Sometime later, Jerry called again and asked what Bruce wanted for his entire collection. Having given it no thought, Bruce replied off the top of his head, "half a million". Jerry said, "I'll come see them". When he did, they spent an entire day going over the collection, with Jerry assigning values to each of the chips. When he was done, he asked if Bruce was firm on his price of $500,000. Bruce said yes. Jerry said, "I'll give you $450,000." And Bruce said, "Sold". And that was the story of how Bruce sold his entire collection, traders and all, for $512,000!! Anyone think they can top that in the next 9 months or so?

This story, of course, made the closing session of trades and sales seem paltry by comparison, though everyone seemed by be enjoying themselves.

And then it was back to Mel's condo for yet another FEAST, featuring lasagna, barbecue and numerous side dishes. This meal was topped off with some wonderful chocolate cake made by Lisa and an ice cream birthday cake for Steve Passalacqua, who happened to be turning (sh-h!) 50 that day.

During the evening, Howard Herz took Gene Grossblatt to Harvey's on the South Shore for a lengthy session of Texas Hold 'Em, during which Gene showed he can still play the game.

A trio of serious freeloaders stayed over at Mel's again Saturday night (that would be John Yee, Larry Hollibaugh & myself) and Sunday morning were treated to yet another of Lisa's delicious breakfasts (pancakes this time).

Several participants were taking numerous photos during the festivities, so I hope someone (John? Larry?) will post some here in the next day or two. Todd also had a sign up list which included everyone who attended the "official" get together. Besides those already mentioned, Kregg Herz (and the Herz' seven-year-old daughter Marcy), Al Moe, Marv Weaver and David Moore were active participants in the condo activities. Katie Smith also brought her special charm (but not her big ears!). I'm sure I've forgotten some people who should be mentioned. If so, someone help me out.

As chapter meetings go, this one is going to be pretty hard to top!! Please see my next post for some special words of thanks. ----- jim o\-S