Pokerstars Cashout for US Players now available

I just logged into my Pokerstars account and confirmed. They even converted my SCOOP tickets to cash (now that is +EV... hehehehehe)

More information is here. Best is just to log in and request it direct from PS.

 

Antigua talking about suing the US for 2nd time.

Here's an interesting twist on the whole online poker thing. Antigua is talking about suing the United States through the WTO. Here are some more details on the whole process they went through from 2005-2007 and how/why the WTO ruled against the US before.

I'm curious to know why this has been a non factor in all of the legal discussions going on right now. I would suppose it has something to do with the limited power of the WTO over the US?

Storms in Saint Louis

Funny how storms work. They just drop in, do their damage and then it's gone. In a matter of 60 seconds your are defenseless as your whole world changes. And these aren't trailers in the middle of tornado alley. My prayers go out to anyone who was affected by this. Luckily, I was not. And shame on the people who were out looting these homes before the sun came up. I hope Karma comes back to bite them in the ass.

These pictures are from someone who lives 4 houses away from the tornado touching down. His house was undamaged.

Copied from HEFFMIKE

Let's all freaking play cards one time.....

"Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. "

OK, here's what I figure.

What most of you really miss after Black Friday is sitting down and playing cards with each other.

Some of us played for fun, some for side money, some for an actual living... That's the big uberpicture, and it's being well covered in many, many places...

The smaller, Blogger Tourney picture - is that with all the tourneys people hosted over the years -

the WWdN,
the Mookie/Dank,
the MATH,
the Skillz game,
Riverchasers,
PokerSlut,
AIPS,
Friday Donkaments,
WPBTs,
BBTs,
VeryJosie,
Survivor Island, yadayadayada
(and sorry if I missed something!)

People were essentially playing for pocket change and entertainment.

It wasn't really about the money. It was about the play, the competition and the win.

While you can recreate a lot about online poker by going to play live, what you can't recreate is bringing everyone together from across the country in one virtual place at the drop of a hat.

So, just because the DoJ stopped everyone in the U.S. for doing it for money - doesn't mean you have to stop playing period.

I'm setting up a Home Game for play money on PokerStars.
I assume most of Blogger Nation has a Stars account.
You can still get a .net one if you don't.

There will be a tourney on Sunday night, May 1, at 9:30ET.

There is NO LEGAL DANGER for doing this.
No money is at stake.
Come out and play, or don't.
But I think by May, people will want to push some chips around and just see what's up with everyone else.

2000 chips/10 minute levels with standard Stars setup, so it'll be a decent structure without taking all night.

Let's just play some cards and have a few hours of fun.
There might be 3 players, there might be 30.

If it works out OK, maybe there will be some occasional tourneys that are something else besides unlimited hold them on Sundays. That's probably the best time of the week to do something like this, with no football/Sunday majors/like you're really watching Brothers & Sisters anyway you momo...

If not - we'll that's OK too.

I know it's hard to sit there and play for a couple hours with nothing but pride at stake.

I just figured that it's silly to just throw in the towel when there is an avenue for everyone to get together and play. While I doubt anything about online poker will be the same whenever it's legal for Americans to play for real $$ again, this is what we have right now.

It's a small gesture of civil disobedience. Club is named BBT in Exile.

*****
- Open the main poker lobby, then click on the Home Games tab
- Click the 'Join a Poker Club' button
- Enter my Club ID number: 415619
- Enter my Invitation Code: wolverines
*****

Weeeeeeeeeeeee

Dear jamyhawk,

We were very pleased to receive the news today that allows US players to cash out their real money balances.

In response to this update, the Cashout Option in the PokerStars Cashier will be temporarily closed to allow us to prepare the technical solutions and formulate the plan and processes required to allow you to cash out your balance.

In the interim, any pending cashouts have been returned to your account in order to ensure players have the opportunity to cash out orderly. Please be assured, US player balances are safe. We will notify all US players as soon as the cashier is available again.

Providing you with the facility to cash out is our top priority right now, and hopefully all US players will be able to cash out via the PokerStars Cashier in the near future. We apologize for the temporary delay, and sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation, as we continue working towards providing you with a solution to cash out.

Regards,

PokerStars Support

Copied from TBA

DOJ paves way for US Online poker players to get their money

from TwoBlackAces Casual Poker Player by Fred aka TwoBlackAces

This is some good news.

Note DOJ made this agreement with Pokerstars and Fulltilt. UB is not mentioned, only Absolute, but has not agreement as of yet.

2BA

Just got the official announcement from Fulltilt

Dear James,

We're contacting you following the recent actions by the U.S. government last Friday 15th April.

As you may be aware, Full Tilt Poker is unable to accept "real money" play from U.S. players at the current time, and this includes any deposits or withdrawals. We are working to resolve these issues as soon as possible and will keep you updated as information becomes available to us.

We are deeply sorry for this inconvenience, but these events are beyond our control. Please be assured that your funds, and your players funds are safe, and we thank you for your patience while we do everything in our power to have money returned to those who have requested it as soon as possible.

Please note, that this action only impacts players based in the U.S. and Full Tilt Poker is still fully operational elsewhere. Your players can currently access our site at www.fulltiltpoker.co.uk and you can also find your up to date tracking links and bonus codes in your affiliate centre at https://affiliates.fulltiltpoker.co.uk which is available using your normal login details.

As always, we appreciate your continued support, and we will provide additional information to you as it becomes available. Also please be aware that due to the high volume of queries received from affiliates you may experience a slight delay in response times to emails.

Sincerely,

The Full Tilt Poker Affiliate Team

Please click this link and take a few minutes to send letters to our government officials regarding online poker. I'm not sure it will help but it definitely won't hurt.

copied from Shabazz

Still Want to Play ONLINE POKER?

You can. ClickCake Poker and enter code STILLPLAY for your matching bonus.



I'm still playing. You can too. Look for jamyhawk online. Use STILLPLAY for referral code

WTF???? Pokerstars gone

Anyone else hear about this? I played on pokerstars last night and today I can't.

Is this state specific? I'm in MO.

Forums say this is nationwide and I found this link: http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf

WWJD -What Would Jamyhawk Do?

$22 buy in. 152 players and we are down to final 3. I'm in 2nd place. Ferbs has been playing loose and I don't think he's a very good player. He has a 57 rating on sharkscope. TRUE_KASPER seems to be a decent player.

PokerStars Game #60849766430: Tournament #383444651, $20+$2 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIII (1000/2000) - 2011/04/15 1:49:53 CT [2011/04/15 2:49:53 ET]
Table '383444651 4' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 3: ferbs2 (236016 in chips)
Seat 4: TRUE_KASPER (96634 in chips)
Seat 5: jamyhawk (123350 in chips)
ferbs2: posts the ante 400
TRUE_KASPER: posts the ante 400
jamyhawk: posts the ante 400
ferbs2: posts small blind 1000
TRUE_KASPER: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jamyhawk [5c 5d]
jamyhawk: raises 4000 to 6000
ferbs2: raises 12000 to 18000

What do you do?

Please read if you play at Fulltilt

FullTilt Compromising it's Players Bank information

from TwoBlackAces Casual Poker Player by Fred aka TwoBlackAces

Fulltilt email response

from TwoBlackAces Casual Poker Player by Fred aka TwoBlackAces

PMI Update

from TwoBlackAces Casual Poker Player by Fred aka TwoBlackAces

PMI update #2

from TwoBlackAces Casual Poker Player by Fred aka TwoBlackAces

Survivor Post #7 Final

Tournament #9 Multi Entry $5

I play on a laptop and do not care for playing more than 3 tables at once. Actually, I prefer 2. But feeling intense pressure, I decided to take a stab at all 4 entries. I made the choice to play like a nit until I get down to two entries left.

It worked for awhile as I got pretty far with all 4 entries still intact. The bummer was that none of them were very large. At one point, I think I had all 4 at 12 BB’s or less. I lost a couple of entries with standard shoves and losing races: No big deal.

The other 2 entries I was able to chip up nicely and had them up to 25 BB’s each at one point. One entry went down in flames in two critical hands. First Joanne shoved for about 5 BB’s and I reshoved to isolate with about 17 BB’s. I had AQ sooted and lost a race to her 77. Then I shove an unopened pot from the SB with AQ off and get called by AK in the BB. Doh! That took me down to like 2 BB’s and I shoved with Ace high sooted, and lost another race. 3 hands and I’m done.

I had one entry left and raised a few hands and had to fold to whiffed flops and big bets. I shoved with a small pocket pair and lost. I was out. No immunity for me as Brain and Heff were still in.

My head was spinning as I knew my time on survivor was about over.

Buddy read the votes:

Very Josie <--probably my vote

Jamyhawk <--knew it

Very Josie <--probably Muhctim

Jamyhawk <--uh oh

Jamyhawk<-- here it comes

Jamyhawk

Jamyhawk

And that was it. My time on Survivor was over.

I did hop on BDR and thank everyone and told everyone how much fun I had. Let’s face it: it was a BLAST! I got to get to know a few players a little better and plot and scheme and try to fight it out each tourney.

I hopped on IM and thanked each person I could. I think Very Josie thought I would be mad at her. I’m not. She may not get my vote if she makes final 2, but I know this game is nothing personal (we know now she did get my vote).

Heff still seemed annoyed. Brain didn’t respond (I know he voted for me). Heff didn’t vote because as they read the results he realized it didn’t matter. He said he wouldn’t vote if he didn’t have to. And since it didn’t matter, he didn’t bother. Muhctim had copied me on his vote to Buddydank so I knew he voted with me.

So Brain did switch to the other side, just as I had before. I don’t blame him, then again I don’t see what he has going that could be better than fighting it out with the Donkeys. He surely can’t imagine he will be going to final 3 with anyone over on the Fish.

I guess we will see.

As I spoke with my wife about it afterward, we agreed it was good and bad to be done. I had put a lot of time and “worry” into playing survivor. And I wanted to win it bad. But there was a lot of relief in being out of it now. I can’t imagine playing the same game with little food, little sleep, tons of bug bites, and all the other discomforts they put you through on the real show. And imagine investing all that time and effort for nothing

I hear they are doing a second season. If you want in, I suggest you keep an eye out. It will be a BLAST!

I surely hope I didn't offend anyone, but then again: as I told someone that I've recently become friends with: If you put your thoughts out on a blog for everyone to read, you better have thick skin or at least be able to let shit roll off you easily. I certainly have my fair share of enthusiastic fans <--sarcasm. 

Congrats to Very Josie for winning it all. I'm jealous. Not of the money, but because she won the title. If you don't love to win, don't play. It's never ever about the money.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have something in your life to be passionate about. 

Jamyhawk

Survivor Post #6

Tournament #8 The Mookie $10 Deepstack

I played terrible. I got into several pots with Pushmonkey and after he had built up a stack I should have known it was all or nothing with him. I would raise with AK, miss the flop and he’d put the pressure on me. Or I would hit a piece of the flop, C-bet and he would come over the top of me.

There were other hands, where I just couldn’t get any traction. No big hands to speak of. I went out on this hand. Q10off in the cutoff and I limp after 2 limps in front of me. The small blind limps and the BB checks. Flop comes 2105 rainbow. It checks to me and I shove my 13 BB stack. Turtle calls from the BB with 52 ß”big blind special”. I don’t improve and I’m the first Survivor contestant out.

I sent a few more messages to VJ via IM to confirm we are good and then I BCC’d her my vote to Buddy of Kat. Kat didn’t show for the tourney so I had no worry that she would get immunity. VJ was excited. Smboatdrinks was the first fish out and got Heff’s and Brain’s votes. It was interesting to note though, that Kat didn’t even ship a vote. So her vote counted for herself. If Muhctim and I vote with the Donkeys it could have been a 4-4 tie with Kat’s vote deciding her fate against her. She would have still been out. That definitely made me glad we didn’t go the way of the Donkeys. I mean, Heff forgot to vote last round, Kat forgot this round. No offense people, but I’m playing this game to win. I need votes we can count on.

The other thing that was great now is that the power seemed to shift to VJ. So if anyone was preparing to launch a backstabbing attack, hopefully it will be directed at her, not me. I appeared loyal to her, but the power target is off of me. Now I only had to hope she won’t turn on me, but keep her word that we are going to the final 4.

Of course, this is when I sent this email to Muhctim:

So I guess Kat voted for herself. Duh! Scary if we were counting on her vote in our alliance and she forgets to vote. Not a problem now though, since she is gone.

Has Turtle contacted you anymore? Do you see a time we take Turtle and become a final 3? Or just fight it out with VJ? I definitely wouldn't want to be final 2 vs VJ.

Always have to keep your options open.

Muhctim replied:

he has  very vague-- i will see brain might be ripe  --reach out to him, again--i'll try turtle

I sent this to Brain:

You still have no interest in a final 3 deal? I think we could control the voting and guarantee final 3 with Muhctim.

Let me know.

Jamyhawk

Brain replied:

I'm on board.  We still need 2 more for voting control.  Who else can we count on this Sunday?

Brain

I replied:

Let me see if I can get Josie to agree to take out xkm. Don't say a word about our alliance. I don't want her to worry me and muhctim have another vote in our alliance. Once a fish is gone our 3 person alliance should be good to go. 

By the way, why the sudden change of mind?

He said:

After Goat and Jordan's departure, I discovered that I was on the chopping block each week but never got voted out because we were always winning immunity.  I saw the writing on the wall and realized I needed to get my butt in gear because my chances of winning immunity have been slim lately.  After all, isn't this what the best part of the game is all about?

I emailed VJ:

We good for xkm? you and boat are voting for him?

“Um, there's a problem.”

Damn! I knew that was it. I’m going home tonight. She threw out a line of bs: Things just aren't resolved.

some peep wants to vote you off and I do not/will not....but I got your back.  I'll get back to you tonight.  I think we have enough numbers to stop it.

I started to scramble to see what I could make happen. I fired off emails to the Donkey team pleading to vote together. Of course, I had gone back on them before so would be surprised if I could pull it off. Muhctim said he would vote with me, Brain did also.  Paranoia was at an all time peak for me. Maybe Muhtim was plotting against me too. I just don’t know.

Heff was not so enthusiastic.

Heff,

Ok. I know I may not have been your closest ally so far but I just spoke to muhctim and we agree the 4 donkeys need to vote together tonight.

Word I'm hearing from the fish is they are voting you out tonight. And I don't want that.

Who do you think we should vote for?

Jamyhawk

He replied:

Anyone but me? I want no part of your reindeer games.

No kidding they want to vote me out.

Since they can't vote me out unless one of you donkeys help, I'll know how who's responsible if it happens.

I think it's pretty cold all in all given recent events, but w/e. This isn't tiddly winks.

You give me a legitimate reason to vote a certain way, I'll do it.

I'm a complete free agent now. So sell me.
Even if I vote with the three of you that doesn't guarantee anything - only makes a 4-4 vote.
So you need to sell me on who else you've got.

Otherwise I guess I just need to run goot like I usually do. You want to chance that?

I made my case that we should all vote together, but Heff was standoffish. And rightfully so, I had agreed to vote with the Donkeys but never followed through. I told him I never promised my vote to him, but I will now. And I copied him on the vote to Buddydank so he knew I wasn’t going back on my word to vote with the Donkeys.

Here’s the conversation I had with VJ:

broncohawk7: so what's up?
Very Josie: i dunno dude
Very Josie: im voting heff
Very Josie: and boats voting u
Very Josie: blah
broncohawk7: you promised you are voting xkm
broncohawk7: that was our alliance
Very Josie: ya but it wont do any good
broncohawk7: so my vote wed night was worthless to you?
Very Josie: no!!!
Very Josie: i dont think we have enough votes
broncohawk7: who else is voting me?
broncohawk7: what?
broncohawk7: you don't talk to me anymore?
Very Josie: hi
Very Josie: sorry
Very Josie: alot of games going on
Very Josie: i dunno dude
Very Josie: i dunno what imma do
Very Josie: im gonna focus on the poker
Very Josie: and if you think we can get enough votes for xkm lemme know
broncohawk7: so why would you vote against smboat?
Very Josie: i think heff and boat may be a little too cozy
broncohawk7: i can't understand this. i give you exactly what you want on wednesday. you promise me xkm tonight and now you say you can't get your strongest alliance not to listen to you about voting tonight?>
broncohawk7: we were going us 4 final 4. what changed?
Very Josie: i effing tried
broncohawk7: so i pissed off boat?
Very Josie: not me. i will vote xkm tonight.
broncohawk7: i just don't understand why it all changed
broncohawk7: me and muhctim and good to go with you and boat
broncohawk7: and now boat is voting me?
broncohawk7: i'm not even a huge threat in this game
Very Josie: ya that's what i said
broncohawk7: and i know he's not voting alone
Very Josie: boat is gonna vote you i think
Very Josie: noo i dont think so
Very Josie: that's why i was trying to say vote heff
broncohawk7: so he has others and you aren't voting against boat
Very Josie: at least it aint u
Very Josie: i can get more votes for heff than xkm you know
Very Josie: that was my plan
broncohawk7: ok
Very Josie: u
Very Josie: me
Very Josie: muh hopefully
broncohawk7: i would be open to a change in the plan. but this is a change in the alliance
Very Josie: xkm
Very Josie: ya i say lets just get through tonight
broncohawk7: we agreed us 4 vote together
Very Josie: i think the boat and josie alliance is changing too
Very Josie: i hope not, but im worried
Very Josie: he doesnt seem agreeable to me anymoire
Very Josie: thats a baaaad sign
broncohawk7: just promise me you won't vote for me
Very Josie: def
Very Josie: promis
Very Josie: promise
broncohawk7: what if we vote boat out?

And to this last one, she never replied. I knew I was done. I made another attempt to contact Heff and hope for the 4-4 tie and a playoff:

Mike Heffner: fine. here's my pitch in reverse for you. you get the donks for vote for Josie and I follow. let her vote for me. we tie 4-4 and play HU tomorrow for everyone's amusement and I flip coins to stay alive.  I don't expect this to work, but I figure you all would rather try a 50-50 with me HU to get her out than anything else. and if you're hosing me, we'll, I've been done anyway.
Mike Heffner: at least that creates drama and INTRIGUE. I can deal with that.
broncohawk7: if that happens
broncohawk7: i'm with you to the end
broncohawk7: we vote 3 fish next and 4 donks fight out the final 4
Mike Heffner: fine, w/e.  I figure all of you can squash me whenever you want. At least this way I get to play my way on or off.

Then I had this conversation with Muhctim:

Mike Mitchum: you think we are out in the cold? turtle is not talking to me
broncohawk7: must be me
Mike Mitchum: which means me if you run deepest, or on wed
broncohawk7: yeah. well. i'll tell brain and heff we all vote josie?
Mike Mitchum: ok
broncohawk7: josie is all over the place
broncohawk7: promising me she will vote with us, but boat won't
broncohawk7: so we are screwed
broncohawk7: i still say we vote her

Survivor Post #5

When I got home I started firing off emails but everyone was asleep. I asked what happened and played as dumb as I could. “Was Jordan double crossing us?” I asked Goat. I shot an email to Heff “What happened?” I did find Very Josie up so I sent her an IM. It went like this:

broncohawk7: hey
Very Josie: omg jamy
Very Josie: unbelievable
Very Josie: did u know that was coming?
broncohawk7: yes
broncohawk7: but not until too late
broncohawk7: to do something
broncohawk7: not to worry
broncohawk7: you are still good
Very Josie: who replaces jordan?
Very Josie: i was poetry in motion tonight!
Very Josie:
broncohawk7: lol
broncohawk7: you did good
Very Josie: bout time
Very Josie: we needed it
Very Josie: first and second go team fish
broncohawk7: yeah
broncohawk7: i was surprised because there were a few people lobbying hard to keep jordan. i was one
broncohawk7: so thought we would
broncohawk7: until jordan went out
broncohawk7: then it was decided
Very Josie: is kat in good with goat?
broncohawk7: you hear from anyone on Team Donk yet?
broncohawk7: kat = goat
broncohawk7: yearh
Very Josie: yeah thought so
Very Josie: no haven't heard from anyone
Very Josie: sunday night should be very interesting
broncohawk7: you will hear from someone soon, trying to dupe you
Very Josie: dude im telling you now im sticking with u
Very Josie: no reason not too
Very Josie: theyd only use me for a couple weeks tops
Very Josie: theyre too tight
broncohawk7: we are good.
Very Josie: you better stik with me and boat
broncohawk7: i know what's going on
Very Josie: we can get iaatg too u know
broncohawk7: keep him warm. we will be good
broncohawk7: gotta go
broncohawk7: talk to you tomorrow
Very Josie: k
Very Josie: just writing up my post
Very Josie: trying to make it quick

I told her I knew about it because I didn’t want to seem too weak to her. I didn’t want her to know I was blindsided that bad. I also planted the seed that someone from Team Donkey would be contacting her because I knew Goat would try to smooth out some alliance with her.

The next morning I got an email from Goat:

Actually, some voting for Mucht and some Brain was Jordan's idea, not mine.

I guess the best way to describe what happened was that Jordan was playing so many angles we hadn't even thought of, it got us wondering what other angles he was playing we weren't even seeing.  He just seemed too strong of a player both on the poker side and esp. the Survivor side.  I think he's watched every season.  Paranoid to be sure, but the thinking was better safe than sorry and we enlisted Brain/Mucht.

Sorry not to bring you in on it, but as it was Jordan that brought you to our five, we couldn't be 100% that you wouldn't tell him.  Also sorry that this kind of bones the plans you were talking about. Thing is, there still not much reason you can't still do a final four with us if you are willing to throw in with us.  I understand if you would be gunshy, but honestly it still seems like the best chance for all of us.  Let me know what you think.

I emailed back:

I'm totally good with final staying with our original group. I think we should vote off the Fish and then we go from there with Team Donkey. I thought we were always doing what you wanted anyway. I didn't realize Jordan was orchestrating something different.

I played the tournament last night away from home, and was driving when it was time to vote. Jordan texted it was time to vote and told me that you said we are to vote for Muchtim instead of Brain. I thought it was weird but didn't have time to ask, so I just voted from my phone. Scary that he was setting this all up but then working a bunch of different angles.

So you have Heff, Kat, me and you final 4? And we are voting out Team Fish first right? I don't see any reason to give them an opening by voting Brain or Mucht first like Jordan was saying we should. Especially if Brain and Mucht will vote with whatever you tell them. But that's up to you.

Let me know.

Goat:

Jamy,

To be fair, Jordan may well have just been acting in our group's interests and we may have gotten paranoid.  It was his idea last night to split our vote Muchtim/Brain, so it is interesting to me that he couched it as me saying to do it, but I did say "OK" to that simply because by that point it didn't matter, so maybe that's how he meant it.  Jordan's smart, he's a competitor, and he clearly knew Survivor strategy much more than anybody else in the game.  I guess we just decided to make the percentage play and eliminate a dangerous player.  Might make our next IM conversation awkward . . ..

In any event, it doesn't matter much now, it's done.  We have Brain/Muchtim firmly in the donkey tent (which we wanted) and can just shoot Fish in their barrel if you like, then we're off to the final four.

I was trying to separate myself as quickly as possible from Jordan. The more they saw me as tight with Jordan the more they may think I’ll pull a vendetta play. I had to make a move fast. As far as I know, I am the next vote out. I could be wrong because I was trying to downplay my strengths both in the tournaments and in the game. I was also trying to always make sure someone else was making the decisions. Ideally, you get far into this game floating along as a non-threat and then pouncing when you are down to 3 or 4 players. But I did not trust Goat now.

A play had to be made. I was about to change the entire game drastically or go home.

Then Very Josie and I had this conversation:

Very Josie:

We still have an alliance but we need a new plan.  Get your thinking cap on!  Right now I have 4 fish against 6 donks - you join us, and we're 5 against 5.  Who can you bring over that we can trust to have the majority?

Jamyhawk:

Goat is running everything right now. Duh...
He wants to vote you out next.
Let me try to get someone to go with me and we can vote Goat out this Sunday.
Don't tell anyone yet what/who we are doing. Just confirm with Team Fish that you will all vote the same and that you are working with someone on Team Donkey to get a majority vote.
If Goat gets wind, he has too many people in his pocket and you or I will be out next.
This week is probably our only shot to get Goat out. After that, he will have too many votes to ever be overthrown again and will probably end up final 2 and win it.

Very Josie was obviously on board. She worked Team Fish and assured me that they will all vote for goat. She was very anxious to know what I had done yet, but I told her not to worry. I have a plan and I will get us that other vote. So I shot this off to Muhctim:

Goat is running everything right now. You know that. He has had an alliance with Heff and Kat from the start and Jordan and I agreed to vote with them since the first tournament. He promised Jordan final 3 but I guess felt Jordan was too big a threat to go through with it.

He has had you on the short list to vote out every night up until last night. He told me he didn't contact you until just recently to put the plan in motion to get rid of Jordan (may be true or may not be).

We know Goat will probably win the whole thing. It is his game, he controls the votes, and he is playing all the angles. He is the King of Donkey Island.

We have 1 shot, I believe to change everything. If we vote him out this week. We know Team Fish is desperate. They will all vote together for 1 Donkey. If I vote with them, there will be a 5-5 tie. Then we will have some kind of tiebreaker and who knows what will happen? If you vote Goat, then Goat goes home and we have 5 Donkeys vs 4 Fish. We still have the majority and can vote out the remaining Fish. I'll leave that up to you, because as far as I'm concerned you can run the show then.

I know I am not a threat to win this game at all. And I really don't think you are seen as one either. We could control the voting for the rest of the game if you agree to take out Goat this week. We could take out the rest of the Fish, then Heff and Kat, then it would be you, me and Brain final 3.

If you mention this email to Goat or anyone else, I am probably next out. But trust me, you are not far behind. The best you could finish is final 4. But you will never beat Goat. You can beat me if we are heads up for the final vote.

This week is probably our only shot to get Goat out. After that, he will have too many votes to ever be overthrown again and will probably end up final 2 and win it.

So what do you say?

He responded:

If anyone sees your email, it will not be because I sent it.  Give me a day to think.  There is some truth in what you say.

I was able to get Muhctim on IM that same night but he was having trouble with his keyboard and asked me to call him. . . OK, that was weird. I never spoke to anyone (other than on Teamspeak where everyone listening to BDR could hear me). Now I was going to speak to someone on the phone. I was nervous. But I had a great conversation with Muhctim and he was starting to see things my way. I really pushed the fact that we could never win against Goat. If we voted him off now, we have a shot to go to final 2. Think about it: Muhctim and me vote with Fish to take Goat out. Then we enlist Brain and take out the Fish one by one. Then we 3 vote out Heff and Kat, and then fight it out final 3. That was very doable, right?

But then he started offering another option. What if we vote 1 Team Fish first and then vote Goat out. Fish will be weakened and then we can still flip on Goat. And then he wanted to bring Brain in. “Why not tell Brain, he will think of it logically and we can make this work together”. Uh oh, I said. I didn’t like the way this was going. On the show survivor there is always a moment where you can blindside the King of Vote Control and if the contestants decide to wait a week, it ALWAYS backfires. The King uses his power to get different votes or wins immunity or talks someone into giving them their immunity idol. It ALWAYS ALWAYS happens. You have to strike them down when you can.

We HAD to vote off Goat now. There may never be another chance. Finally, I thought to say to Muhctim that “Goat could win immunity next tournament and then our plan fails” and I think he got it. He still didn’t want to commit so we had agreed to wait until the day of the tourney to speak again. He also informed me that the plan is to vote me off next. Great! My future was now in Muhctim’s hands. He had already cast one vote for me and then voted out my alliance behind my back. But I thought he was starting to see what was possible if we turned the tables.

I shot off an email to VJ that I like our chances and went to bed.

The next morning: Paranoia is sweeping me. Why did Goat not respond to my last email (asking him to tell me what to do about VJ)? Who is he trying to turn? Turtle? Aquaman? Is VJ against me now? This game will drive you crazy. I decide to shoot another email to VJ to set up a scenario so she isn’t swayed by Goat.

I think Goat is going to approach Team Fish with an offer to keep himself intact this Sunday.
I was thinking about this and the only thing I can figure he will offer is to vote me off this week and keep Team Fish intact. It only makes sense as that is the only offer he can make to you. Then on Sunday night he will vote out 1 Team Fish knowing that Team Donkey still has the numbers to vote out Team Fish but he still controls enough votes to vote me off if he gets suspicious.

If he convinces just one person on Team Fish to cast their vote for me, then he knows there will not be enough votes to vote him out. We have to have everyone on Team Fish, plus my vote, plus one other. Think about how much power that gives him. He is locked in for sure if he doesn't go out this week.

I'll tell you but don't tell everyone else that it's Muhctim that I think will vote with us. I had a long phone conversation with him last night and he said he likes the idea. We can vote out Goat, then Heff, then Brain, then Kat (that is if you and Boat will stay true to me and Muhctim).

I guarantee you I will not write down your name or Boats as a vote. But we are ALL screwed if we don't vote Goat out this week. How solid do you think Turtle and Aquaman are?

Jamyhawk

Maybe I was going over the top. Maybe this was all in vein as they are voting me out no matter what. How awesome would Immunity be Sunday night?

Very Josie emailed me back that I am good. And yes, Goat had contacted her.

I sent an email to Goat:

What do you want me to tell VJ? She is asking what happened. I figured she should be the first person we vote for.

Here was his reply almost 24 hours later (a long time for Goat to respond):

Oh nuts, I missed this in my inbox.

Sorry to leave you hanging.  I don't really know what angle to take on Josie, but keep cultivating the "alliance" would be my suggestion. We can get into a Donkey chat this weekend and decide which fishy we want to hook first.

Go team Donk!

Goat did not miss my email. He needed time to contact VJ and then figure how to respond to me. Unfortunately, this email confirmed to me I am the next one on the chopping block. At least from Goat’s perspective I was going out.

Now I started thinking if I should contact Brain. Desperation is starting to creep in. I feel like VJ will stick with me and get 4 votes for Goat. My vote makes 5. And I think Muhctim will come around and vote Goat out. But what if Muhctim can’t decide and Brain would have flipped. Shouldn’t I make a stab at contacting him?

Tournament #7 $1 rebuy (rebuy period shortened to only 30 minutes).

Sunday Muhctim called me and said he was in. I was thrilled. I emailed VJ and she was thrilled. But again, I had to ask her "are you sure we are good?". Even though, she said yes, I was still nervous it was going to be me going home. What if Goat promised VJ final 4. I promised final 5. I thought again about contacting BrainMC in case we needed another vote, but eventually I decided to trust the alliance I had set up.

Again with the rebuys. Yuck. I decided to play it differently this week. I tried to donk around as much as I can showing a very loose style and then tighten up later. But that didn’t work out so well. We had 26 players and I went out around 17^th. I felt good about the chips I had after the rebuy period ended. But then every raise I missed the flop or someone put too much pressure back on me so I had to fold. I got outplayed big time.

This hand was terrible: I raised with a 25 bb stack behind and for about the 15^th time someone reraised me. This time it was Bayne and I forgot that he only plays the nuts. I shoved to his raise and he insta-called with AA. My 99 left me on fumes. I was out shortly after. It was a terrible play, even Hawkette looked at the screen and asked “why did you shove there with 99?”. Who knows. And the worst part, was that I was staying up until the end no matter what to find out about the voting. So I had nothing to do but wait, wait, wait.

Finally, the votes came in:

Goat

SmBoatdrinks ßlooks like I won’t be going home

Goat

SmBoatdrinks ßsome question still, but if boat got votes I think Goat is going….

Goat

Goat

Goat

Goat

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

We pulled it off

How nerve wracking. Now, how do I keep from being the next target?

Somehow, a vote went for Numbono. I found out later that Buddy now casts any uncasted votes for Numbono. So who didn’t vote? That could really screw up a plan if you need 6 votes and 1 person just forgets to vote.

The next morning, I started emailing around to see where we were. I asked Muhctim what he wanted to do. I sent an email to BrainMC (and copied Muhctim) to let him know what happened to lead up to the vote of Goat and why I didn’t tell him.

Heff sent out this email to all of Team Donkey:

"How did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary. Tattaglia lost a son and I lost a son. We're quits. And if Tattaglia agrees, then I'm willing to let things go on the way they were before... ...I hoped that we would come here and reason together. And as a reasonable man, I'm willing to do whatever's necessary to find a peaceful solution to these problems."
     -Don Corleone, The Godfather, 1972.

OK, things got a little silly in the last week.

Somehow this whole group of donkeys managed to take what was a chokehold of control on this game -  and we all decided to let Team Fish get into our heads, split up a solid voting block, and work their way back from the brink while watching us shoot ourselves silly. Those four must be laughing at how easy it was, sigh....

It's not important how or why - that's past.
The only important issue in the present, is that there are still five Donkeys and only four Fish.
And while this is technically an individual free-for-all, team affiliation is just as good as anything else to base a working relationship around.

I propose we all pull a Voltron and work together for one last go-round, for the next four tourneys, and make sure each night a Fish is voted off.
It doesn't matter who or in what order - that can be decided night of the events once immunities are won and whatnot - so long as we vote together and maintain a majority.

And once the five of us remain, then we're free to go our separate ways and puzzle it out from there.

No illusions, pretenses, fluffy sales pitches, or begging not to be voted off here from me. I can't roll that way.

This is just a reasonable, face value business arrangement that guarantees all us remaining Donkeys a deep run.

"I'm going to take a nap. When I wake up, if the money is on the table, I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't, I'll know I don't."
    -Hyman Roth, The Godfather Part II, 1974

Heffmike

Interesting thing was BrainMC responded right away with this:

I agree, I don't know what the hell happened......I voted for Numb.  I'm down for shooting some fishies in the barrel and taking the donkeys to the final 5.

He never replied to my email. Did he not want to have to lie to me? Was he pissed that I voted off Goat? Did he just not see it? I don’t get it. I made sure to let Muhctim know. Muhctim felt he can talk to BrainMC so he said to give him a day and he will call me again. I really felt that Brain and Muhctim would be a good alliance. But if Brain is waffling, maybe he needs to go.

Muhctim said that Turtle contacted him and was trying to pry into our alliance as well so we could go that direction if we needed to. I emailed VJ to keep those lines open. She asked that we vote Heff or Kat next. I told her that won’t happen. It will be a fish but I’ll let her pick which one.

This was her reply:

Ugh.  I dunno.  Lemme think on it a bit.  Aquaman or Heff????  You don't think keeping heff around till Sunday will hurt us?

I told her we could get Heff on Sunday night, but it will be a fish this Wednesday. We agreed to talk again later.

Kat emailed me and suggested we take out Josie next. Ooooh. Girl on Girl action.

Brain never responded to my email. He did suggest in an email to the group that we simply vote out the first fish out of the Mookie. No alliances other than Team Donkey. Nothing personal. First one out goes. It was actually Heff’s idea, but Brain forwarded it out. I really did not like randomly voting out someone. We need a plan.

VJ emailed me again and asked that I take out Kat next. I didn’t want to be so blunt with her, but I just could not vote out a Donkey yet. I know that the Donkey’s are scared to vote out one of our own. It has to be a fish. I know that the fish are all scared they are down in numbers so are trying to huddle together. If I can convince VeryJosie (and smboatdrinks) to vote with me and Muhctim, we can control the vote.

VJ and I had an IM conversation that went on for quite a while. She was adamant about wanting Kat out. She even said I owe her one since she took out Goat for me. Wait a minute. Her alliance was going home, not me. She kept pushing saying that all the fish can vote for Kat and if I do too, then Kat goes home. I started thinking: what if they 4 vote for Kat, Muhc and I vote for Aquaman, and Heff, Kat and Brain vote for *anyfish*. Kat will go home and the teams will be 4 Fish vs 4 Donkey. Although, that doesn’t give all the power to the Fish, it would be mess things up. I mentioned this scenario to VeryJosie and stated it would cause our alliance to fracture and she got very defensive.

She said, “well who made you el presidente?” and “I didn’t know our alliance was so fragile”.  Maybe I was being too paranoid. If we took off Kat this Wednesday, we could vote off xkm Sunday still. I just couldn’t see letting the Fish get close to numbers of the Donkeys. I felt the Donkeys left were not conniving enough to be dangerous. VJ was making me nervous. Maybe I just vote her off and be done with it. Seems everyone else left is nowhere as dangerous as her.

This is the email she sent me the next morning:

Jamy, I was thinking all morning and although I'm not crazy about your idea, i think it's the best case for now.  Boat and I will vote XKM - I just confirmed this with him, but only because you promise Kat on Sunday.  I am hoping your a man of your word.

Final Four baby!

Boat and I are in!

So I asked Michtim if we should stick with the plan or what?

VeryJosie makes me nervous. But I don't see anyone else we could count on to go to final 4 with. Brain is a "no response". Heff will stick with Kat and probably Brain.

Here is a scenario for you: VeryJosie makes a play at you tonight. She knows that if Heff, Kat and Brain all vote for VeryJosie and you and I vote xkm, her 4 fish could vote for you, and win due to our fraction from Donkey. Scary. (or they could vote for me).

Maybe we need to make sure we vote with Donkey tonight to insure 5 intact votes. Ideally it is xkm or turtle. Then we vote Kat off Sunday (or Heff). And we stay in control. We really need a third person we can trust.

Jamyhawk

I opened up the communication for the first time with Smboatdrinks. I wanted to make sure he knows we are tight for this alliance (if we stick with it).

So you all good with the plan? I promised VJ we are good. I want to make sure you know we are too.

Jamyhawk

Yea, she says you're guaranteeing Final 4, so even though I'm still nervous after getting those votes Sunday I guess it makes the most sense.

Boat

You wont go tonight. Or anytime soon as long as I can help. I explained to VJ that with us 4 voting together, no one can overtake our votes. We can go all the way to final 4.

You only got votes Sunday because Goat knew you and VJ are in an alliance and wanted to break it up.

We are good now. Kat is guaranteed getting our votes on Sunday.

Jamyhawk

There are times when I ask “how much are we playing for again?” Maybe this isn’t worth it. Ughhhhhh. All the stress and back and forth, trying to watch out for backstabbing.

So Muhctim calls me about 4 hours before the tournament and says what if we vote Kat tonight, and then xkm Sunday? VeryJosie will trust us and we really need to build trust. Team Donkey has no interest in trusting us. We know that for a fact. But if VJ really needs assurance we can be trusted, why not Kat tonight, then xkm on Sunday. If VJ screws we are screwed anytime –now –later –makes no difference. We need to build trust. And if we make it look like she is calling the shots, then it takes heat off of us. I mean we don’t have anything with Team Donkey. They just want to vote off the Fish because they are Fish. Then Muhctim and I will be 4^th and 5^th left out.

So I fire off this email to VJ:

I've been thinking.

I want to make sure you know that Muhc and I are solid 100%. We need to get to final 4. I emailed Boat and he said he was a bit nervous.
What if I give you control tonight. You call it. Kat or xkm. Then we vote the other one out on Sunday. As long as we are in agreement that those are the next two.

This way you know I can be trusted. And if we vote Kat tonight, we all vote out a Fish Sunday so I know you can be trusted.

It's a big move but one I don't think anyone expects having 2 Fish alinged with 2 Donkeys. And like I said before, we take the vote all the way to the final 4.

What do you think?

Her response:

Jamy this is great news.  You know I wasn't comfortable with a fish vote tonight.  Kat tonight and I'll kiss you if I ever see you.  I can handle voting a fish out sunday.

So hopefully we build some trust with VJ and secure our final 4.

Survivor Post #4

Tournament #4 Mookie $10 deepstack

I played my normal game. 42 runners. A few suckouts and running good at the right times and next thing I know, I am heads up with Numbono almost tied in chips. That means that we got immunity for Team Donkey again, so Team fish would be voting out another player. I chopped with Numb and then played out for $20 more. He won. But I didn’t care. We avoided the vote again and that was all that mattered.

The vote from Team Fish came for Hoyazo. Now this one really surprised me. Why vote off your best player at this point? I know we voted off Numb and he could be argued as our best player, but we weren’t hemorrhaging at the time. They had a legitimate shot of keeping another player or two in the game vs Team Donkey if they keep Hoy. We voted the very first tournament and felt confident in the rest of the team’s abilities. As a matter of fact, it hasn’t cost us yet that we voted out Numb and he did cripple us the first game by taking out everyone on Team Donkey (except for my dumb ass).

Anyway, It’s obvious they have an alliance over there, to not only vote out Hoy, but they probably had to change their votes quickly after Dawn Summers won immunity playing in her first tournament of the series. She was surely next to go.

The next day Hoyazo opened up the possibilities on his blog that alliances exist. We all know they do but to put it in writing made it seem so much more true. And the worst part of his post is that he identified me and Jordan two strong candidates to take the whole thing down. Maybe paranoia set in too quickly from my “rice only” diet (JK), but I felt like this threw a huge target on our backs.

Jordan didn’t sweat it, but I wanted to start working other alliance possibilities right away to keep our options open. I also wondered what would keep from Goat turning on us now and voting us out next. He could keep Heff and Kat to himself, and pick up Muhc and Brain and Jordan and I would be gone. We had to start conversations going so we could cross align.

I shot this email off to Jordan:

…if we stay as we are now you have to really downplay our alliance (me and you). That way if goat ever decides that I need to go he will tell you. Then we can flip the tables. Make him believe I will vote as you say but I am just a pawn. 

I will surely hear if they start throwing your name around because no one will know we are tight. I'll keep some communication going with others even if it is non voting related. 

Jordan agreed to downplay our alliance. I’ve watched enough survivors to know that rarely do the leaders make it to final 3 or 4. Someone figures out they will get all the votes so they turn on them. Some floater emerges as a new leader and then wins it. I’m planning to be that floater.

Goat sent out this email and then we were off to tourney #5:

Presume it's the same plan that we've had the last three weeks.

1) Brain, Muchtim as secondary.

2) Be friggin' awesome, so it doesn't matter anyway.


Go Team Donkey!

Tournament #5 Multi Entry $5

I play on a laptop, so I’m not real big on multi tabling. I may play 3 tourneys on occasion but really 2 at a time is my comfort level. So to give Team Donkey every opportunity, I fired up 4 entries. I definitely donked off lots of chips. I raised in some bad spots and called in worse spots. I ended up going out 14^th leaving 4 Team Fish players still in and 4 Team Donkey players. But once again, Team Donkey came out on top as Heffmike and Goat outlasted SmBoatDrinks to get us immunity.

Dawn Summers was voted out (obvious vote since she missed most of the tournaments) and Team Fish was down to 4.

Before the tourney ended, I got an email from Muhctim as a reply to an email I sent him a couple of days earlier to see if I could feel out who he wanted to vote for but got no information at all. It went like this:

What's up muchtim? Just wanted to touch base with you about Sunday night? Who are you planning on voting for if we have to vote?

Jamyhawk

He responded:

I hope we don't have to--I may flip coins, lol--I actually don't know--what's your take?

I replied:

I just hope your coin doesn't fall on me. Who officially was out first tonight?

He simply replied: Brain.

I read from this that I may have been the next vote from him. Is he really playing this game or not? Should I be worried he is working another alliance and didn’t want to tell me much? Maybe it was nothing. But I don’t like to be uncertain.

Also, I decided to follow up on something that I saw VJ do during the tournament. She put in the chat box that she tried to email Goat but hadn’t gotten a response. I don’t remember if I was sitting at that table or not, but I knew immediately she was still trying to set up another alliance.

I chatted with Goat a bit and he told me that VJ was contacting him and he knew that I had talked to her. I was shocked Jordan had told him.. I told him I had talked to her and I think we can get her votes after the merge. I asked him to follow up with me and I would do the same if anything came of it. I was growing suspicious of Goat but Jordan rallied for my support of him. Jordan said he had a conversation with Goat solidifying our final 3 alliance. He said that Goat agreed that either Jordan or Goat would win the votes if they were up against me final 2, so it made sense to take me to final three and then the two of them could fight it out who got to take me. ßlucky me…

This was actually perfect for me. I had two people set up to want to protect me to the final 2. If there was a flip with 4 or 5 left, hopefully I would be kept with that thought that I couldn’t win the votes at the final tribal council so you want to take me to the end. Actually, I LOVE IT!

Now I had to stay calm, things were going well as far as I could tell. I wanted to start some more sub alliances, but I knew if I was doing too much, it would look bad on me. I just had to trust that Goat and Jordan would stay loyal to me and that VJ would stay open as a possible final 2 alliance still.

After hearing VJ contacted Goat, I sent her this email:

You shouldn't be offering to align with so many different people. It puts your loyalty into question.

VeryJosie:

Not THAT many people!  I'm just waiting for a confirmation in stone that I have an alliance with SOMEONE from Team Donk.

Do I have that from you?  Tell me I do, and I will stop my quest.  I really need SOMETHING.

Jamyhawk:

For us to have an alliance, we will need another Team Fish. I can get me and one other from Team Donk and then when the time comes we will have 4 strong. As I said, I can keep you in the game and then when the time is right, us 4 will turn the tables.

Who do you think you can get to come with you after the merge?

Very Josie:

You are committing to this for real?  If that's the case, I'll drop any other requests/offers made to team Donk members.

I can DEFINITELY get Boat.  We've had an ironclad alliance since before the first game of Donkey Island was played.

Who can you bring to the table?  My guess is Jordan - actually I HOPE it's Jordan.  Be honest with me and I promise AND i MEAN PROMISE I will not screw you over.  4 strong will get it done!

Jamyhawk:

Jordan it is.

She was excited. And quite frankly, so was I. Jordan and I had two others after the merge we could get votes from. If we needed to make a play to turn on Goat we had the foundation for it.

I didn’t mention our alliance to Goat with VJ so if she turns on us, Goat will hopefully hear it. And if she is campaigning to take out Goat, we will hear it from her. If things continued well with Goat, we could get VJ to vote off Brain and/or Muhc after the merge. One thing we have to watch out for would be for the 3 Fish (assuming Team Donkey wins event #6) to grab Brain and Muhc and offer to align. Their 5 votes vs our 5 would create a mess. Or worse, they may turn Heff or maybe even Goat and take out me and Jordan. You can never feel safe in this game, because that is the night you are going home.

Meanwhile, Jordan apologized for telling Goat about me initially talking to VJ, but he wanted us to stay tight with Goat and not give any impression we are going behind his back. His comments were: “I really think you, me and Goat need to work together as a 3-some for now, moreso than you and I doing our thing on the side (that will remain, but more for strategy talk for now). We need Goat to feel secure with us and we need him to be honest about how VJ acts going forward. We can even create this fake drama between you/me and Goat in VJ's eyes so either way she goes, we can use her vote (my guess is she's sticking with us).”

I then sent this email to Goat:

OK, after her email to you but before you responded, VJ asked if she could get a confirmation in stone for an alliance. She wants someone from Team Donk and she wants it to be me. I told her to get an alliance she would need to get another person on Team Fish locked into her. I didn't tell her who else we had aligned on our side but promised her we would keep her around after the merge if she committed to us now.

She said she has an IRONCLAD alliance with Boat and she will get him locked in. She wanted confirmation of who I could get so I told her Jordan. I didn't want to tell her anything about you so if she does try flipping on us, she will likely tell you. Or if she wants you voted out, she will tell us. And you hadn't told her yet about me and Jordan (that I know of).

Anyway, looks like you, Jordan and I are strong and now we have VJ after the merge if we need her. Jordan thought we could use her to vote out Brain and Muhc to insure they don't try to defect.

Have you heard back from VJ?

Jamyhawk

I spoke to Goat on IM after that and solidified our alliance. We agreed to stay with the Brain or Muhc vote post merge to prevent them from defecting. He said he had no contact with Brain yet, so didn’t see him as any threat. I forwarded the conversation to Jordan to keep him in the loop.

Tournament #6 The Mookie $10 Deepstack

The day of the tourney, I wanted to get a pulse on VJ again. We had this email chain:

You tell Boat all about our new alliance? He all good?

Who's on your radar tonight to vote out?

Very Josie:

Oh Yes.  Boat is definitely in and loves the idea.  He's down with it.  He asked if you wanted to include Xkm.  We can def get him if you want to be 5 strong.  I can't frigging wait - this is gonna be good.

We're gonna hit Turtle if we have to.

See ya tonight!

I told her to hold off on telling xkm and Jordan confirmed that with an email to her copying me. He also mentioned to warm up xkm in case we need him but not to mention who she is aligning with on Team Donkey yet.

Also, Heffmike posted this on his blog:

“Meanwhile I've finished 1st or 2nd three of the five tourneys. Luckbox, I know.

Alpha squirrel, I guess.”

Makes me think we need to keep him on radar. May need to go soon after the merge.

I couldn’t get further than 17^th in this tournament and VJ was determined to get the immunity for her team. In the end, Jordan posted strong but couldn’t beat the one two punch of VJ and Turtle. They finished first and second so Team Donkey had to vote.

Jordan texted me, time to vote. He said we need to vote Muhctim, let Goat and crew vote Brain and the mixed voting will send anyone off of our tracks that we have an alliance with Goat. And it would make us look better to VJ (we could tell her we are not following Goat’s orders). I had been playing at another location and was driving home, so everything was coming in texts which are hard to manage while driving.

All of a sudden the texts start flying in from Jordan. Quick little bursts:

First vote: Jordan

Wha?

Why me?

Muhc

Muhc

HaHa

Jordan

Uh oh

2-2

Jordan

Dude I may be out

Ha ha

Uh Oh

I’m out

Totally blindsided

I couldn’t believe it. And I felt left out in the cold suddenly. A sweeping vote with only Jordan and I in the dark and he is gone. Could have easily been me. I asked if he thought Goat did it and even in the end, he couldn’t see that he was stabbed that bad in the back. His reply: prob not. Prob kat, muc, brain and heff.

I suddenly felt super alone. The only person I trusted without abandon was now gone. I had no other really strong alliance. Well, I still had VJ. I had to contact her right away. Hold on to her tight and see what I could make happen. Goat obviously did not trust me enough to tell me what was going on so I was probably the next one going.

Survivor Post #3

Tournament #2 Mookie $10 deepstack

Prior to the second tournament, I heard from Jordan that Goat wanted to vote for BrainMC and then Muhctim 2^nd. No reason to rock the boat, although I wanted to vote for Muhctim for voting for me. But I agreed and we were off to play another tournament with a plan in place.

This tournament fell into place for Team Donkey. When there were 7 players left, 5 of us were from Team Donkey (included is Numbono even though we voted him out). We easily won immunity and the idea that Team Donkey is stacked with better poker players surfaced. After securing immunity, I donked off my chips, not caring what happened other than surviving another vote.

Team Fish voted out Riggs. An obvious choice as he had not shown up to either challenge.

Tournament #3 $1 rebuy (rebuy period shortened to only 30 minutes).

Our alliance was still a secret. We threw around a few IM’s about keeping the voting plan the same and we were off for another tournament. A few blogs were starting to speculate that an alliance is out there but no names had been mentioned yet. 

I made sure to set the auto rebuy function on and then spewed at least 15 double rebuys. I couldn’t get any traction and was out shortly after the rebuy period ended. Jordan was out before me so I didn’t feel quite as much pressure as I would have being the first of Team Donkey out two weeks in a row. Heffmike won immunity for us, so we didn’t have to vote again.

Alcanthang was the last standing of Team Fish, so they voted him out. Hmmmm. That doesn’t make much sense other than if they worried he would be a shoe in for winning the whole game. Or maybe he asked people to vote for him? I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into it.

So far the majority of my communication had been with Jordan. I was starting to feel like I needed to open up other lines of communication. Not necessarily go behind Jordan’s back but it would be harder to blindside me if several people were talking to me about the game. Either someone would let it slip or I would be able to tell if they weren’t talking to me.

How do you get a girls attention? You tell her you don’t like her. VeryJosie had a post dedicated to her determination to take down Team Donkey, so I spiced things up a bit with a post of my own dedicated to her post. You can see it here.  Now that I had her attention, I knew it would make great sense for an alliance, especially since everyone else sees us fighting.

Here are the first chain of emails:

You know what would be funny? If you and I had a secret alliance and everyone thought we hate each other but we really worked together and controlled everyone after the merge and then we made it to the end.

That would be funny

Jamyhawk

Her reply:

You're idea is not only funny, but BRILLIANT.  I know you have like a 10 man alliance with all those fish - but take me to the end!  Trust me - they'd never vote for me so you'd be a shoe in.

Josie

So we good for an after merger alliance? pinky swear? Keep it mean on the blogs? If Team Donkey keeps the numbers, then we will just pick off Team Fish, but I'll make sure we keep you around. But you gotta keep me informed of what's going on over there. Who's doing what, you know?

Jamyhawk

Hmmm and you really wont try to fuck me - guarantee me that until there are like 5 peeps left.  I promise, I pinky swear, and I'll keep it mean (the fun part!).

Josie

So the communication is at least open. I forwarded everything to Jordan so he knew that my alliance with him is tight. I tried purposely not to mention anything about Jordan and our alliance to VeryJosie and she didn’t ask, so that was good. I wasn’t sure what we could do with her yet, but I wanted her in our back pocket just in case.