Aruba!

STRIP #22
Always good to have Violet in a bikini! The idea of having different suits on swimsuits was suggested to me by Kristen of RakeDrop.com. It's not done yet, but Monday's strip might end up being my favorite. It's another crazy one like the Negreanu shoots Matusow comic. (The crazy strip was moved back to Wednesday.)

Ultimate Bet has a big annual tournament in Aruba every year and it's going on right now. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy of PokerXFactor.com is 4th in chips with 27 left, and another one of my favorite players, Annette_15, finished 36th for $12,415. I sure wish I was there! Next year for sure.

Speaking of PokerXFactor, they just released the training videos that feature the final table of the September PXF subscribers only tournament, which I finished 4th in. The players who made the final table sent in their hand histories and PXF's resident pros, JohnnyBax and Sheets, recorded an audio commentary while watching a replay of the final table with all hole cards visible. It's really educational to hear them talk about what each player should do in each situation, especially since the players very often do something else! I made a couple mistakes at this final table, mostly from playing too tight, but JohnnyBax literally applauded one play I made, the only time he clapped during the whole video! My name is Snagglefood on PokerStars, and when I busted out (my A7 lost to KT), Bax said, "Good game, Snaggle. Snaggle played good." And Sheets said, "He played well, he played well." They're pretty harsh on some players, labeling them as donkeys even, so it was really nice to hear that, although I think I could have played better.

Don't forget to play in the first weekly +EV tournament on Sunday afternoon! All details are in this thread in the forums.

+EV Private Tournament - Sunday, 2:15 PM ET

Want to make a quick $20? It's simple! Just bust me out of the first weekly +EV tournament!

Click the image above to see the full tournament lobby.

WHEN: Sunday, October 1st, 2:15 PM ET

WHERE: PokerStars

BUY-IN: $10+1

PASSWORD: plusev

BOUNTY: $20 cash transferred to your PokerStars account immediately after you bust me out of the tournament.

FIRST PRIZE: On top of the money you'll win for first from the prize pool, I'll also give the winner an extra special treat. Not sure what yet, but at the very least you could have your name mentioned in a future +EV comic, possibly as an online opponent of Corbin's.

If you're new to private tournaments on PokerStars and are having trouble finding it, please view this image. If you're new to PokerStars in general, please download it through this link. If you have any questions or if you'd like to talk about the tournament, please post in this thread on the forums.

Stinky Mountain Dew

STRIP #21
The main idea for this strip (gotta pee on the bubble, use empty bottle) was suggested by a PokerXFactor forum member who goes by the name ATM_Stalker on PokerStars. Be sure to come back for Friday's strip, which will start a brief storyline where Corbin and Violet are in Aruba for Ultimate Bet's big annual tournament! I hope they didn't leave Scarlett with Mrs. Jones.

I haven't watched ESPN's Main Event final table coverage yet, but I will in the next 24 hours. If you want to hear my thoughts on Jamie Gold and the final table after watching it live on pay-per-view last month, please read the last paragraph of this post and the last half of this post. I just hope ESPN used Gold's quotes about blueberries.

Missing Gabe Kaplan

STRIP #20
Today's strip might not make sense to some of you, since almost 40 percent of +EV readers are from Europe. First off, Vinnie Barbarino was a character John Travolta played on the show "Welcome Back Kotter." Travolta later became good friends with Oprah Winfrey. Gabe Kaplan starred in "Welcome Back Kotter" and he's the lead commentator on "High Stakes Poker," which had its season finale last Monday. It's a great show and I can't wait for next season.

A lot of people from Sweden have been reading +EV lately and I want to thank them for their support. Be sure to come back for a new comic every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

You may have noticed the ad for RakeDrop.com at the top of the site. It's a great resource for rakeback info and much more. If you play poker online you should really take advantage of their deals.

License Plate Poker

STRIP #19
I like this one. Maybe I should re-title the strip Crazy Guy Loves Poker. Might be more fitting than +EV.

In other news, I'm going to launch a new comic in the next couple months. It's actually a graphic novel based on the low budget horror film that I hope to direct next summer. I plan to release the pages one by one on a new site, probably on a M/W/F schedule, then publish them as comic books in a six-part mini-series. The comic and the film is called Last Blood. It's about vampires protecting the last surviving humans from zombies so they can drink their blood to stay alive after zombies take over the Earth. I'm currently in the process of getting it copyrighted and registered with the WGA.

UPDATE (9/25/06): WGAw Registration Number: #1157434

Hopefully the mini-series/graphic novel (and the screenplay!) will be completed by around March, and then I plan to use the comics as a helpful tool to raise money for the film, which I'd like to shoot in late May. I might be moving to Los Angeles soon, where I'm originally from, and that could certainly also help in terms of getting a cast and crew together. The movie will mostly be shot in Cresbard, a very small town in South Dakota. My family bought the town's school building after it closed down in 2004 (long story) and that's where I currently live. In Last Blood, the last surviving humans are all holed up together in the school.

I've been wanting to work in the film industry all my life, so it would be amazing if all of this works out and I can actually make this movie. The comic will probably start running online by the end of October, so I hope you all read it and make it a big success!

ANNOUNCEMENT: The first +EV private tournament on PokerStars will take place on the afternoon of Sunday, October 1st! Or at least it will if I hear enough interest from people who want to play in it! Please reply to this thread in the forums if you think you might want to play in a private tourney with me and other +EV readers. Let's get a little community going. It'll be fun. Oh, and there will definitely be a bounty on my head of some real money -- probably twice the buy-in. Post suggestions for the buy-in amount in the thread. I'm thinking $5 would work best for most people, but I could make it less or more, based on popular demand. Also, the winner of the tourney will get a special prize -- perhaps their name being used in the comic in some way.

My Favorite Germans

STRIP #18
Corbin apparently hates Germans, but that's just because he doesn't know that they're exactly like him! This is a callback to the very first strip.

I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Germans, although it looks like Corbin does. My guess is that German players are always beating him at the tables, so that's probably why. A +EV reader gave me the translation for today's comic, so I'm not 100 percent sure on its accuracy. As I said in an earlier post, a large percentage of +EV readers are from Germany, so I hope they see the humor of this strip and aren't offended. The point of today's comic was that poker players are the same everywhere, no matter if you're in Detroit or Hamburg!

+EV Forums Now Open

Start posting.

By the way, my brother helped set up the forums for me and as a joke he made lots of funny forum names and descriptions. I just had to keep the Tiffani forum.

Five Minute Break

STRIP #17
I'd like to thank Pokerraja from the 2+2 forums for suggesting the idea for today's strip. He said, "The wife is finally wanting some sex and the husband tries to sneak it in during a five minute break from an MTT." I couldn't think of a good punchline, though, so I'm not a big fan of today's comic.

Last week +EV averaged over 1,500 readers per day, so I think it's about time we had ourselves a FORUM! If you enjoy the strip and would like to talk about it or poker or anything, feel free to drop in.

I also plan on having a private +EV tournament on PokerStars soon, maybe next week. We'll probably make it weekly, so let me know which day you'd like best. About 35 percent of +EV readers are in Europe, so the best time might be Sunday afternoon, like maybe 1 p.m. EST, so it would end shortly before all the big Sunday majors start. If you're not yet a member of PokerStars and would like to play in the +EV tourney, please download and deposit through this link.

Be sure to come back for Wednesday's strip, where Corbin plays againt his German twin!

Detroit Tigers: 2006 WSOP Champs

STRIP #16
Corbin's retarded.

Five Figures Only

STRIP #15
I like this one. Pocketfives is a great site with the most respected rankings for online players. They rank the top 75, so Corbin just barely slipped in there at #73. It's a prestigious honor to be ranked and some players seem to care more about their ranking than how much money they win. I don't think Corbin's quite that crazy about it, but it must be a nice feeling of accomplishment when you first make the list.

#1 on that list is Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, and he, along with Eric "Sheets" Haber (#9 on P5s), is going to be calling me a donkey soon in a PokerXFactor video. Every month PXF holds a members only tournament and the final table gets its own video, with all hole cards shown and commentary by Bax and Sheets. I finished fourth Monday night and I made a few really stupid plays (mostly from being too tight), so I don't look forward to hearing what they say about me.

I made my first video with Camtasia while playing in that tourney, and here's a four minute highlight reel (36 MB) from the final table. If anyone actually watches this, please ignore the parts where I sound incredibly stupid, especially the moment when I say "Oh thank you!" in the gayest way ever.

You can also watch my PXF animated hand history from that tourney, where I had some cool stats, most notably seeing just 32 flops but winning 55 hands. (You'll have to sign up for a free PXF account to watch it, and you should know that I sat out the first 24 hands.)

I've noticed that a very high percentage of my readers are coming from Europe, especially Germany. There have been posts about +EV in at least 20 different European poker forums, far outnumbering those in America. I don't know what they like so much about it, but I hope you all stay a while!

I'd also like to give a shout out to the folks at Poker Knights, who said some nice things about +EV in their forum.

Friday's strip reveals where Corbin and family live, so make sure to come back for that exciting info! (They live in Detroit.)

Disturbing Dream

STRIP #14
Today's strip is just insane. I don't know what I was thinking. I like it, though! Corbin has some strange dreams. By the way, Daniel Negreanu is one of my favorite players and I don't mean any disrespect to him with this strip or with Violet's line at the end. She doesn't know Daniel and she just thinks it's disturbing that her husband would dream of being any other poker player.

Check out this funny clip from "High Stakes Poker" involving Negreanu and Matusow. A new episode airs tonight on the Game Show Network.

Minus EV

STRIP #13
I think Violet played this a little too passively. If you're going to go to all the trouble of buying the outfit and even getting into the sexy pose on the bed, I think you have to see it through and demand that he at least turns around to see you. I guess Corbin pissed her off a bit too much, though, by ignoring her requests to come to bed. He sure screwed up.

Fans of Daniel Negreanu should check out Monday's strip, because it very oddly features him killing someone! Art isn't finished yet, but here's a preview --

I'm scared.

Defending My Title Tonight

Donk2Shark is a weekly tournament hosted by a buddy of mine on the PokerXFactor forums. I won it last week and I'm going for the repeat tonight! Held on PokerStars, it's open to everyone, and if you sign up because of hearing about it on +EV, and if you knock me out of the tournament, I'll give you your $11 buy-in back. Here's how to find it --

PokerStars --> Tourney --> Private --> September 7 at 21:00 (or search for tourney #31057391)

Password: bloomer13

My name's Snagglefood on PokerStars.

EDIT: 25 players entered and I finished 25th! Slightly worse than last week. Lost a big all-in to a six-outer on the river.

Corbin Can't Count

STRIP #12
Apparently Corbin used to be a mathematician, but I'm not sure if I trust everything Scarlett says. She might just be out to make a quick buck. Kimmy's the name of the little red-haired girl, by the way, and if I was her I wouldn't pay up, since there could clearly be some collusion going on. I also don't think I'd ride in a car driven by someone who can't count to 20. My current thinking is that Scarlett is six years old and in first grade, if anyone cares.

Two more hours of World Series of Poker Main Event coverage aired tonight (Tuesday) on ESPN. It somehow slipped my mind and I missed the first 38 minutes, but I'll see it all soon. Annie Duke was at the featured table for the first hour and she hit a big two-outer on the river to stay alive, which I remember reading about on Cardplayer shortly after it happened last month. Cool to see all this stuff now. A lot of people on the Pocket Fives forum were criticizing Annie Duke tonight, but I've always liked her and she's a solid player from what I've seen. I really enjoyed her book, too. She's always friendly when she plays on Ultimate Bet and I think she deserves some respect just for having to put up with spending a lot of time with Phil Hellmuth!

"High Stakes Poker" on the Game Show Network has been great this season, especially the last few episodes, with Daniel Negreanu losing two huge hands to quads among the highlights. He's gotten cold decked in the worst way on that show. Airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. and I think there's just two more episodes this season.

I highly recommend coming back for Friday's strip if you're a fan of Violet.

Top Pair No Good?

STRIP #11
Eh, I don't like today's strip. I've had the basic idea of the first three panels for the past few weeks and just couldn't think of a funny enough character or joke to appear in the doorway to end it. This is the best I came up with. Well, I thought of some super crazy ones that I somehow found humorous, but they were way too insane to actually use. For example, they open the door and some crazy guy already has his gun drawn and shoots Violet and/or Scarlett in the head, prompting Corbin to scream a Vader-like "NOOOOOOOO!"

I went deep-ish in a $100+9 tourney on PokerStars last night, but once again couldn't make a significant score. Finished 26th out of 338 for about $250. It was similar to the $25K tourney on Ultimate Bet that I led for the first couple hours last week.

I had some amazing stats in the Donk2Shark tourney that I won Thursday night. Check this out --

223 HANDS

Total hands that I lost at showdown: 0
Total hands that I won at showdown: 4 (including 3 of the last 5 hands)
First hand that I won at showdown: 200th hand of tournament, well into heads up play, which means --
Total hands that I showed down before it got to heads up play: 0
Total bets on the river that I called: 0
Flops seen: 36 (16%)
Hands won: 60 (27%)
Hands won pre-flop or on the flop: 52
Number of players that I busted: 1, to win it heads up

And the really cool thing is that I was completely card dead the whole tournament and still had those stats. PokerXFactor has an amazing hand replayer where you can upload your hand histories and see tons of cool stats, including one called PUFF (pre-flop unadjusted fortune factor), which rates how good your hole cards were on a scale of 0-100, with 50 being average. My PUFF was 4 for this tournament, which is the worst PUFF I've ever had, and yet it's the first MTT win that I've uploaded.

You can watch the whole tourney here, but I think you have to sign up for a free PXF account first.

Quads Over Quads

STRIP #10
Special thanks goes to Jurollo from the 2+2 Forums for inspiring this strip! I like this one. It has Rizen refusing to chop, Corbin running through the full gamut of emotions, and even quads over quads! Don't you hate it when that happens?

I took down the Donk2Shark tourney last night on PokerStars for officially my first non-satellite MTT win since the first tournament I ever played almost exactly a year ago (it was 8-26-05, I believe), so I'm pretty happy about that, even though it was a small field. A good field, though, since it was mostly PokerXFactor forum regulars who really know their stuff after learning from the best. I haven't checked the hand history yet, but I think I only had aces once (just picked up the blinds) and I didn't have kings or queens at all. I also don't recall getting my money in bad in an all-in situation, so that's good. I did get a couple nice runs of cards at times, especially the last two big hands, which you can watch here (#1) and here (#2). I mostly got to heads up play from a lot of well timed bluffs, usually re-steals, which I was proud of, since it was something I had rarely ever even attempted (without having the cards at least!) before joining PokerXFactor.

I've been watching some episodes of "Live at the Bike" recently, including the one appearance Jamie Gold made in October of last year, which was really funny. "Live at the Bike" is a live webcast of high stakes cash games at the Bicycle Casino, which used to be co-hosted by Shirley Rosario, and she kept calling Jamie a "poor kid" who probably has a "limited bankroll." It was hilarious. Gold bought in for $5,000 in the $25/50 no-limit game, lost it all in two big hands, and then after he storms away we see that he still has most of his meal sitting there and Shirley says, "He didn't even finish his food!" Ten months later he finished off 8,773 players in the World Series of Poker Main Event to win $12 million. Crazy stuff.