In Praise of Ecrew and SusieQue

Today is the one year anniversay of the weekly UB private tournament called Ecrew. It's my favorite weekly tournament with typically under 75 players -- but what players! It's packed with pros and strong amatuers (and a few players like me) you don't normally want at your table. It can get goofy with many of us trying things we'd rarely do in a big tournament (or, in other words, playing like AngryClec normally does), including attempting to trump each other with ridiculous bluffs with the worst possible hands out of position. When else is it exciting to get dealt 7 2 off UTG? It just means I get to raise a 20 chip blind to 300 with AngryClec, Coderman1, feldliss, rockford hawk, legggy, krumster, and more cowbell still to act after me -- all trying to figure out if it's AA this time or the bluff!

It is run by SusieQue, who is a spectacular host. She makes the tournament a pleasure, even when she is taking your chips. She's not afraid to manage things either and will not hesitate to "uninvite" players who just don't get it. The tournament is like a friendly home game. You are allowed to steam every once in a while, but keep it short and move on.

Congrats and thanks to SusieQue and the original members of her Ecrew for a great tournament!

If you are interested in playing in Ecrew, you need to find someone who plays weekly in the tournament to recommend you to SusieQue. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO DO THIS! I have done this before for others with disastrous results, so I'm not recommending anyone anymore. Sheets could ask more for a reference and I'd have to think about it for a few weeks. But you can find other players by going to UB's tournament schedule -- look for 9pm on Tuesdays.

I played in Sheet's "Protege" tournament last night on PokerStars. It was a lot of fun and I cashed but didn't make the final table (over 160 played!). Apparently people were chatting to me and I didn't respond -- sorry! I'm not use to Pokerstars interface and was working while I played last night, so I just didn't see it (UB's chat window is always directly under your cards, so it's easy to see).

Good luck today!