An attempt to settle out of court

quote: ORIGINAL: Noelle
I will say nothing more about it except that I feel absolutely terrible that Jimbo's been put in the middle of some drama he has nothing to do with.

This would be a non-issue if Noelle and I hadn't "gotten a divorce." We'd still be running the Weds Night game together, and DJ Jimbo would've been paid off.

The BBJ was actually very rarely mentioned on this site. I'll dig up the old posts for you, if you want. True, the game was always advertised here and I think it would never have lasted as long as it did if not for Brian and Justin opening MD-Poker to all of us.

I'll admit, I handled this situation poorly. The money should have been set aside and kept available for immediate payout. Noelle is just as guilty of this as I am, but as she correctly stated, she has paid more than her half.

From the moment the BBJ crested the $1K mark, we always said that the balances would be paid out in "store credit." No one is crying theif to the people that have been running games with $4 and $5 / hand rakes for the past couple years and not giving any of it back to the players. From game #1 to the last one, we always took a $3 capped rake, with an extra $1 taken out of $100 pots.

It's not like Jimbo hit the Jackpot for $1200 and got $0 of it. The total pool was $5500, all but the last $1200 has been credited to the players. No single player, to my knowledge, received a direct cash payment, they all played on credit to settle their balances. The fact of the matter is that as fate would have it, the BBJ hit too late in the life the game, soon before it ended. It could be joked that the game ended because the BBJ hit, but I think you and I both know that is not true.

If you held a gift certificate for a legitimate business and said business went belly-up, would you insist upon your claim to the cash value? Running a poker game out of a basement is far from a legit business, I understand that. Once Noelle and I had severely conflicting opinions, there was no way she was going to allow me to run that game out of her basement.

I spent six weeks or so away from Maryland and just in the past two weeks, I'm back now. Jimbo, I'm really sorry you got put in this spot and the best way I can hope to work it out with you is to extend your credit away from the now dead Weds Night game to any game in MD you find me dealing. If you make arrangements with me, I may even be able to get you some credit for a game I'm playing as well.

It's not a perfect solution, but it's not a perfect world, either. The worst thing that can happen is that every time I extend you credit, you win, and the balance doesn't go down. This just means that you'd be beating the crap out of the games and aren't in immediate need of the $933 you rightfully feel is owed to you.

quote: ORIGINAL: djjimbo
I know that Travis is well respected on this site and he has many freinds, but saying your going to pay a jackpot that u advertise on md-poker and not to pay it out isn't right and it hurts the integrety of this site that many people enjoy.

Again, MD-Poker.com and its affiliates should never have been brought into this. I do like to think that, yes, I am a well-respected member and I regret that my own personal integrity has been jeopardized by the situation at hand.

DJJimbo, I hope this resolution suits you. I am sorry it had to get this ugly and I look forward to playing with you and dealing for you in the future.

This post was originally a response to a thread on MD-Poker.

The End of an Era

It sure was fun while it lasted.

A long, long time ago, in the basement of a house not very far away in Takoma Park, MD, my former girlfriend and I started up a $1/$2 NL game. Out of the seven nights in the week we chose Wednesday not as a random decision but in a way to smite the overlords of MD-Poker.

Brian and Justin, two entrepreneurial geeks in their mid twenties started up the website to give the poker players in Maryland a place to meet on the interweb and discuss strategy and whatnot. Between our Wednesday Night game and Pops' every-other-Saturday games and E's Friday night games.... we whored the shit out of that site. I truly believe the underground poker scene in the Maryland outskirts of Washington, DC would not thrive anywhere near as much as it does now if not for this website.

But, after all B&J did for poker, they didn't know thing one about running a game of their own. I can't remember exactly why without digging up some old e-mails, but Brian pissed me off about something stupid and he used to run a game on Wednesday nights. I said, "Ooh! Let's start up a $1/$2 NL game on the same night as his game just to spite him!"

This was springtime in 2005, I believe. Wasn't it? Let's see... I joined the Air Force the Monday after Thanxgiving in 2001. After Basic Training in Texas and Technical School on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, I found myself in Oklahoma City in May of 2002. After three Summers in Oklahoma, I got an Air Force job at the Pentagon and showed up here.

So yeah, Spring 2005. Wow, has the game moved around. We started in a basement in Takoma Park where you could barely move around and had to duck to keep from hitting your head on the way up the steps.

Back in the beginning there was a house rule that the game had to break at 0230 at the latest.

Oops. Had a hard time keeping that rule alive.

Next thing you know, we're not allowed to run in the basement any more because my current girlfriend was the house owner's ex-girlfriend, and his current didn't care for his ex living at the house. I didn't care for it much myself, either, but that's another story.

So - we moved the game to a new location, the Club House. Kendrick was the maintenance man and let us use it for a small fee one night a week. All of the sudden, wow, did the game ever start going long. But at this time, I was still in the Air Force and had to leave to be at work by 7am or so.

Next thing I know, winter time is coming around, and we won't be able to use the club house much longer. So we moved the game to a random college kid's place in College Park.

All of the sudden, everyone's favorite donkaholic had an opening in his apartment in Kensington. Wasn't long before we moved in there, and so did the game. And the best part - Trav's out of the Air Force and the game can go forever now, atleast as long as he can stay awake to deal.

That year went quick, and next thing I knew we were moving into a house up the street in MoCo. Bar in the basement, plenty of room, smoke upstairs, very secure. Great setup. We even had pictures of Donkeys on the walls.

But, as we grow older we realize that nothing lasts forever. Everyone grows older, but we don't all grow up. Noelle and I became two people that wanted two very different lifestyles. I would never suggest that one life path is wiser or more appropriate than the other, they are a bit of polar opposites, however.

So, the relationship ended. Sadly, we were unable to come to an agreement where the game could go on while the relationship would not. I left the game in Nelly's hands, and it just recently died.

Who knows, maybe we can re-ignite the Wednesday Night spark in the not-so-distant future. I don't have any immediate plans to do so, but if that should happen, I'll let you all know.