Hate Baby Forever

STRIP #87
Scary! I wonder what her name will be. Probably Gothy. I couldn't think of a good ending for this strip and my brother suggested that Corbin argues that he'd always hate the baby if he didn't play.

I did well in a couple private tourneys since the last update. On Monday I finished third in a very generous freeroll set up by GrinderMJ, who finished 5th (third paragraph) in the PokerStars Million on Sunday for $57,421. He donated some of his winnings to a freeroll for friends of his on the Full Contact Poker forums and I was lucky enough to get into the game because he's a +EV fan. Thanks again, Grinder. And then on Tuesday I won the weekly Donk2Shark tourney, which is now hosted by lefty747 from the PokerXFactor forums. It's my third Donk2Shark win.

+EV fan Jamie e-mailed me the following image yesterday, saying, "I changed my mom's image in her PokerStars account to the cat from +EV." Click the picture to see the strip that image is from. I'm sure bennie-fly is gonna be a luck sack now with that avatar!

Disturbing Dream #5: Main Event Flipament

STRIP #86
Poor Corbin. He's playing the WSOP Main Event naked and he's forced to go all-in on the first hand with the worst hand in poker. At least it's only a dream. This is also good timing, as satellites to the 2007 Main Event began just a few hours ago on PokerStars. Also, the guy in the second panel is WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. And for those who don't know, a flipament is where you go all-in pre-flop every hand no matter what, and it's usually played as heads up matches, but in this case they were doing full table flipaments for the WSOP ME.

EDIT (1:20 PM): I forgot to thank my buddy alpendog for suggesting the basic idea for this strip (Corbin dreams that the WSOP ME is a flipament because of the size of the field)! I must have thought that giving him $5 for the bounty (read below) was thanks enough!

LOTS of things to talk about today, including an interview and a hilarious video!

First, we had an awesome +EV tourney yesterday, with alpendog busting me for the bounty and HeLAfAsT winning the event and the comic book that goes along with it! I conducted an e-mail interview with HeLAfAsT upon completion of the tourney, and here's what he had to say . . .

BOBBY: Tell me a little about yourself.

HeLAfAsT: My name is Darryl. I'm 33 from Toronto, Canada. I'm married with an almost 2-year old that takes up most of my time when I'm not playing online.

BOBBY: When did you start playing poker and what's your greatest accomplishment so far in the game?

HeLAfAsT: I grew up in a family where poker was always played. I totally took my game to another level by watching bucklox videos on YouTube. About a month or so ago I chopped the $3 rebuy tournament on Stars for 2,300 US dollars -- thats like a million Canadian -- thats definitely my biggest accomplishment so far.

BOBBY: What's your favorite +EV comic?

HeLAfAsT: I have to admit I just started reading the comics last week when I joined PXF, but obviously I love the Annette comic, because by watching her play the last five months or so, I've been able to learn the game a lot more. Sounds bad, but watching the $109's can be educational.

BOBBY: Based on the final hand where you had pocket aces and flopped top set and somehow got your opponent to get it all-in, did you win this tourney by simply being a luck sack?

HeLAfAsT: As you know, I did call my pocket aces and as my opponent was on perma tilt from a couple of hands before I thought I could get his chips. I totally won this tournament by being a luck sack -- no question. I have to say, though, that's the first time my AA has held in quite a while.

BOBBY: Anything else you'd like to tell the fans?

HeLAfAsT: To all the Helamaniacs out there, you know who you are -- please continue to support me with the "silent rail" that I always seem to get from you.

To buy the comic that HeLAfAsT just won for yourself, click here to order through PayPal, or if you'd like to pay through a PokerStars transfer (preferred), e-mail me your country and I'll give you the total cost.

And the +EV flipament was won by, well, let the winner tell you all about it himself! This is a MUST WATCH film.

If you don't know why he's talking about green M&M's, please read this classic strip!

I also want to congratulate Adam Junglen on winning the $55K guaranteed $10 rebuy on Stars a few days ago for $12,753! You may remember him from this strip. He's also the guy who popularized the flipament last year.

It's a Girl!

STRIP #85
I like this one a lot and I hope it'll be a fan favorite. I think it shows the essence of the strip well. Gotta thank my buddy Dmitriy for suggesting the idea of finding out the sex of the baby.

Annette had this to say about her starring role in Wednesday's comic: "LOL. Loved your latest strip. Classic. Keep 'em coming."

Heads Up with Annette

STRIP #84
Annette Obrestad (Annette_15 online) is the #1 ranked player on PocketFives. She cashed in Ultimate Bet's big Aruba tourney, placing 37th, and in this strip I hinted that she busted Corbin on the first hand. That's the Norwegian flag behind her in the fourth strip, as Annette is from Norway. I first met her on Ultimate Bet in 2005 and she's a really nice girl. She's also a fan of +EV and even bought the first book! People have been telling me to do a strip about her for ages, and the last to do so was my friend Sanna, who helped write this strip.

I forgot to mention this on Monday: Last week Bodog gave me 11 free tournament dollars (just part of a promotion), which I used to enter a $5K guaranteed tourney, where I made the final table and finished 7th (out of 446) for $175. I've played almost no poker this year, other than the +EV tourney, so it was nice to make a final table in one of my only events.

Professor Corbin

STRIP #83
I'm sure most people won't like this strip, but I do! Be sure to come back for Wednesday's comic, which features a certain player from Norway.

Had a great +EV tourney on Sunday, with a record 39 players! I finished 7th when 5 spots paid. PretenderTUW busted me for the bounty and almost took home the comic book as well, but finished second to LocoBeware.

We also had a +EV flipament yesterday, with Lahero1.0 coming in 1st out of 20 people. Just for fun, I randomly chose Lahero to win the +EV tourney at the very start of play, telling everyone he was gonna win, and he got off to a good start, but finished 12th. So it was only fitting that he not only won the flipament, but used 23 offsuit to do so! Hailing from Germany, Lahero then chose to snap a victory photo, holding the winning hand and some money! Click the thumbnail to see.

Also, I think I'm going to start doing interviews with the +EV tourney winners and posting those in the blog, and I might finally set up a league and points system around the tourneys as well, with extra prizes to be awarded for overall play.

And for anyone who's wondering, yes, feel free to use +EV characters or images in your PokerStars or poker forum avatars. Apparently a lot of that is going on, including a Clancy avatar somewhere, and I've spotted a few fun things recently --

Corbin Avatar
All-In Baby!
LOL LOSTAMENTS!

That's Poker

STRIP #82
Like almost everyone else in the world, I hate the saying "That's poker" and try to avoid using it at all costs. I hope I get punched by someone in a bar the next time I say it.

Lostaments

STRIP #81
Explanation of the last panel: The phrase "lol donkaments" is very popular and it has expanded to "lol anything-aments." I believe it was originated on the 2+2 forums, and Greg Raymer has even said it during chat on PokerStars. Just a few hours ago this thread went up, which mentions "lol donkaments" and +EV. Good timing! Also, don't forget to watch "Lost" tonight. Last week's was pretty good.

In honor of Valentine's Day, I've just launched yet another comic strip, this one a romantic comedy graphic novel called Marry Me, which is being illustrated by Remy "Eisu" Mokhtar, who makes No Pink Ponies, a very popular strip.

BE THERE ON THE FIRST DAY!

Cheers, Neteller

STRIP #80
Bad strip today! Had a pretty good run going, but they can't all be winners.

A record 33 people played in the 20th +EV tourney yesterday! The player known as canIsuxout? busted me for the bounty, while akerrigan won the event and the comic book that goes along with it.

Weak Table Image

STRIP #79
I've been planning on doing a strip like this for ages, but could never get it to seem very funny, and it's still not great, but I like it.

And this has nothing to do with poker, but I discovered an unusual comic/blog yesterday that uses felt and is often animated, and I think it's pretty cool: Felt Up.

Total Sicko

STRIP #78
Finally another appearance of the checkout girl! You can stop sending me e-mails about her now.

Check out this video a buddy of mine made. Good for a laugh. The last hand is the best.

Sammy Farha

STRIP #77
Sammy Farha is a very loose and aggressive player, one of my favorites, who often holds an unlit cigarette in his mouth. I was playing really wild once at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and one of the players kept calling me Sammy and gave me a cigarette, which I used to do my best Farha impersonation for the rest of the night. Unfortunately I didn't win as much as Sammy does, though!

Had a fun +EV tourney on Super Bowl Sunday, with zomgyang busting me for the bounty and MrEleganza winning the event and the comic book.

Disturbing Dream #4: American Idol

STRIP #76
Good pokering!

I'd like to congratulate Annette_15 for becoming the #1 online player in the world. She's the youngest #1 ever and the first woman. And she's a fan of the strip -- she even bought a book! I've been predicting her rise to the top ever since I first started playing with her on Ultimate Bet in early 2006. She's the best.