Poker Blog Round-Up: 22 December

A sordid affair

Over at the 2 2 forums (yes, ok, that isn’t a blog, but this is all too interesting to miss) in the News, Views and Gossip section there has been a great thread started by Brandi Hawbaker that is 427 pages long at the time of writing. One poster stated that it took him over three hours to read it all. Essentially, after doing well in the Festa Al Largo at the Bellagio Brandi (an ex-stripper) started receiving a lot of attention from various faces on the scene all wanting to tutor her and put her straight on the finer points of tournament poker. Having decided on Captain Tom Franklin as a mentor Brandi was horrified to discover that he had stolen a load of money from her and also requested sexual favours (according to her).

Her story has sparked off a ton of replies and loads of second and third hand accounts of her behaviour and personality. Another can of worms had been opened by an account from young pro Mark Newhouse who claims that she managed to lose around $30k of his from one his online accounts and then tried to hide this fact from him. Later on she locked herself in his bathroom at his hotel room in Foxwoods and indulged in a bout of self-harming. He also writes that she has talked to him about other men offering her buy-ins to big tournaments in exchange for sex and then offered herself to him. The whole saga is a fairly sorry and sordid affair, but also makes for a fascinating read – never has the word “huggles” taken on such sinister overtones. For this and loads of other good stuff on poker strategy check out the forums at http://www.twoplustwo.com/

Hanging out with Mike The Mouth

Michael Craig, author of the excellent The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King has an entertaining blog over at www.pokerworks.com (this is the same site that hosts Tony G’s blog). His most recent entry talks about books he has enjoyed that are mostly non-poker related, although he does give a shout-out to The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman, set to become the poker book du jour. Michael is friends with many of the top pros in America including Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. In the entry dated 17 December Michael gives us an amusing account of a day around at Mike The Mouth’s house. It involves Michael lending the well-known degenerate loads of money (if you have spent even ten minutes on the poker scene you know this is something you don’t really want to do), it involves loads of online poker and loads of betting on the NFL too.

Whatever you do don't go Dutch

Over at Shaniac's blog there is a rather disturbing account of Dutch Boyd’s recent mental breakdown at the WPT event at the Bellagio. Shaniac aka online star Shane Schleger writes from experience having undergone similar problems a few years ago. One wonders if being a professional poker player is the best thing to do if you are afflicted with a bipolar disorder. I guess it doesn’t matter what job you do when you are a manic depressive, but the highs and lows of poker can be so extreme sometimes it makes you wonder how anybody who plays the game for a living isn’t completely doolally. Dutch Boyd has had many knockers (perhaps rightly so after the whole pokerspot fiasco) and it’s interesting to see another take on him.

The last word on weirdness

After all that it only seems fair to check out Dutch's own website. His most recent entry (20/12/06) features no writing at all, but a weird painting of a young boy in a school uniform staring at a rose. WTF??!!?? Whether the painting is Dutch’s own creation is not clear, but there’s definitely something strange going on in his head.

Rob's runnin' good

For some actual poker content why not try Rob Sherwood's blog. He has been in Vegas playing at the Bellagio where he managed to chop up a $1,000 tournament for a nice touch. After a few standard bad beat stories from another tourney at Binions he goes on to tell how he made it to the final at the Bellagio. He also writes about winning his Poker Dome heat which will be shown on TV in America – sounds like Rob had a very profitable trip to the States and it’s nice to read about one of these bloggers having a win for a change!

Thew in a stew

Having been a bit rough on Julian Thew in my last Blog Round-Up I shall make amends by pointing you to his most recent entry on yoyopoker. He gives an amusing account of an awkward breakfast with big shot poker pro Jeff Lissandro. It just shows you how this new concept of “poker fame” can go to some of these players’ heads (Lissandro's, not Thewy's) – either that or Lissandro has an abysmal memory.

Hugo 'Chimney Sweep' Martin

22 December 2006

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