First episode of what I was initially planning to do: weekly summaries of Top 14 games. Because it's not only Gauls, mauls and brawls: sometimes one of the players grabs the ball and tries to actually play rugby.
Previous episodes:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
Top 14 Day 1 Summary:
Montpellier (LBP) 23 - 26 Pau
A very Top 14 game to start a Top 14 season: lacking in flow and great runs - although Pau's first try, courtesy of scrum-half Clovis Le Bail, was lovely - but full of tension up until the end and a last second penalty try to reward Pau's outrageous scrum dominance throughout the entire game. But what else to expect from a game that got interrupted after 5 minutes due to a power outage in Montpellier's GGL Stadium, right after Pau's excellent fly-half, Antoine Hastoy, scored the first three points of the season?
Looking at the first half, it did not look like it would be close however, with Montpellier, after 20 balanced minutes, slowly accelerating and taking a commanding 13 points lead to go into the second half after two tries from Yacouba Camara, who profited from handling errors by Pau's backs following a Pollard kick, and Caleb Timu right at the end after a dominant sequence that led to number 8 Kuffner going to the sin bin.
The turning point probably happened at the 47th minute: Pau was still one man down, and it looked like Ngandebe had scored a try that would put Montpellier up 17, essentially killing the game...but Camara, again, was caught for leading with his elbow, so instead of a try and +17, it was a penalty and a yellow against them. Pau used that time to cut Montpellier's lead down to 4 points with two more penalties from Hastoy.
At that point, Pau's dominance in the scrum was almost absolute, even with the subs on the pitch. Galletier got another yellow in the 66th minute for repeated infringements, and even if Montpellier initially withstood Pau's onslaught, they eventually cracked and the ref deservedly rewarded Pau with a penalty try after at least 4 consecutive scrum or line penalties just near Montpellier's line. Despite team colors, it's Montpellier that looked very green at the end - they might have paid their preparation issues, during which they only played one friendly, the other two being cancelled.
Montpellier: 2T (Camara, Timu), 2C (Pollard), 3P (Pollard)Pau: 2T (Le Bail, Penalty), 2C (Hastoy), 4P (Hastoy)
Stade Français - Bordeaux (Rescheduled)
La Rochelle 29 - 15 Toulon
Rugby is not the simplest of games, especially since rules and refereeing tend to change on a regular basis. Still, since most players - even props sometimes - are smart enough to adapt, then you have no excuse if you still play with old regulations. That was a huge problem for Toulon in this game since they seemed to have not known that, while jackalling will be rewarded more, playing while on the ground will be instantly penalized. Add to that a kicker (Belleau) who seemed determined not to find the target (2 misses), and in less than 15 minutes the RCT was already 9 points down. And then 16 after a messy action and a long debate between referees ended with the much-more-accurate Ihaia West (5/5) scoring a try after a Dulin kick and a kerfuffle with Dridi.
Serin managed to finally unlock Toulon's scoreline, but West answered and the RCT then got 2 Yellows in 3 minutes - one for Setiano for scrum infrigements, one for Paia'aua for tackling Retière in the air without a ball. And miraculously, it did not hurt them too much, as they managed to reach HT down "only" 13 (19-6).
Toulon got some hope back in the beginning of the second half: penalty exchanges saw them coming back to -7 (22-15 at the 60th) while being one man up after Bourgarit's yellow. But as soon as La Rochelle got back to full strength, they killed the game with a Retière try. Toulon goes home without a point, and with several bad injuries, including Belleau's torn ACL. Etzebeth and Carbonel are expected to be back in a couple of weeks.
La Rochelle: 2T (West, Retière), 2C (West), 5P (West)Toulon: 5P (Serin)
Agen (LBP) 22 - 26 Castres
A quintessential Castrish win: brought by sheer grit and efficiency against a much more ambitious but disorganized opponent. Usually, neutrals tend to welcome those victories for the Tarn team due to them having a habit of getting the scalp of some bigger names, but here they faced the smallest budget of the league, a team that seems determined to stay in the top flight without ever resorting to boring gameplans and reliance on the dark arts. And they proved it once again with some exciting rugby.
Ibitoye in particular looks like he, like so many other Englishmen, is right at home in the Southwest already: he started by assisting a try from scrum-half Abadie with a lovely offload, and then scored two more by himself. But they were undone both by their lack of discipline, with a costly yellow for Phillips before half time followed by Castres scoring a try (in which Ibitoye showed some Teddy Thomas-level of defensive work with a very nice missed tackle), and their naivety with Rory Kockott using a quick penalty to score an easy try while some of Agen's defenders were turning their backs on him - despite his reputation as one of Top 14's greatest tricksters of the last decade.
In the end, Kockott's and Urdapilleta's game management prevailed, and Castres get its season on a good start, with their third straight win in Agen's stadium.
Agen: 3T (Abadie, Ibitoye x2), 2C (Lamoulie), 1P (Lamoulie) Castres: 2T (Kockott, Nakosi), 2C (Urdapilleta), 4P (Urdapilleta)
Lyon (LBP) 23 - 27 Racing
This result made Pierre Mignoni really mad. He was extremely unhappy with the intensity displayed by his players, who were eventually undone by a very good and opportunistic Racing team. Chief scavenger Imhoff profited from a blocked Clément Laporte kick to score his first try of the season, answering a Lyon try by third-row Bastareaud - who, it has to be noted, came back in the second half as a center. The score could have been heavier had Dupichot managed to conclude a very nice movement without touching the line before scoring - he eventually got another try anyway.
Lyon will hope that Charlie Ngatai's early injury is not too bad - he got subbed in the first quarter. This is a huge counterperformance for them, especially compared to the previous year where they remained unbeaten for the first seven games. Racing, on the other hand, has a habit of taking a long time to find its pace, so starting the year with an away win against a direct rival for the playoff spots is bound to please them. Especially since it happened despite a mediocre display from Kurtley Beale, who knocked the ball on twice. Russell, on the other hand, looks fresh and healthy, and on recent displays you would not bet against a Racing upset in the H-Cup Quarter Finals when they will have to move to Clermont.
Note: this game featured a drop goal, which is an event that seems to become rarer by the year.
Lyon: 2T (Bastareaud, Tuisova), 2C (Wisniewski, Berdeu), 2P (Wisniewski), 1D (Wisniewski)Racing: 3T (Imhoff, Dupichot, Russell), 3C (Machenaud x2, Iribaren), 2P (Machenaud)
Brive 42 - 23 Bayonne
Bayonne was one of the many teams this week to show that the new refereeing rules were not quite grasped yet: hard to get a result when you hand the opposition 7 kickable penalties and spend 30 minutes down one man due to players getting sin binned. Still, to the credit of the Basques, they did not stop trying after being led 27-6 at half-time, and even started a comeback in the second half, one that was cut short by, you guessed it, penalties and a yellow (for Filimo Taofifenua at the 59th).
Brive will welcome the four points while not letting its opponents, one of their main rivals in the race to not get dropped to that hell on Earth named Pro D2, get a bonus. They did not quite keep the same intensity throughout the second half, but Bayonne gave away too many penalties to ever really threaten them. They will also be happy to get some confidence because next week will see them go to a Bordeaux team that will be hungry to start well and will have spent the weekend resting due to the cancellation of their Stade Français game.
Brive: 3T (Hervé, Lees, Bituyinata), 3C (Hervé), 7P (Hervé x3, Abzhandadze x4)Bayonne: 2T (Penalty, Ulugia), 2T (Germain), 3P (Germain)
Clermont 33 - 30 Toulouse (LBP)
A typical, boring Top 14 game where little happens, so I'll just cut it short and go to the next part already to save time.
Yeah, right. Honestly, it looked like it would be that way at half-time, when Toulouse were 18 points and one man down due to Tecori deciding to go MMA in a ruck by "accidentally" elbowing Fritz Lee - you have to forgive him, he is only a fresh, 36 years old rugby player who does not know the rules yet. You would be forgiven to have tuned in on another channel, expecting the kind of rout Clermont has been known to dish when at home and on form. And even if you kept hope, especially after Elstadt's try to start the second half, the second Toulouse red (this time for a no-arms high tackle by the other lock, Rory Arnold) at the 50th minute looked big enough to call it quits.
But Toulouse decided not to quit. Down 14, they started with another powerful try by Elstadt, followed by two penalties by Ntamack to bring the Stade one point down. And when a good Lopez kick made it look like Clermont would be putting pressure on Toulouse's line, and absurd save by Ramos followed by a series of runs, including a lovely pass by Guitoune led to a fantastic 100m try by the inevitable Dupont. And although Clermont immediately took the lead again by Moala, it was Toulouse who put the pressure on in the closing minutes, refusing several times to kick for a tie, and instead trying to go for the win. Which might or might not have been unfairly denied to them after Ntamack crossed the line despite being tackled - hte got penalized for holding the ball, but the debates are still raging as to whether he was on the ground or not, or whether the Clermont defender held him for too long. And despite that, Toulouse got another chance after stealing Clermont's final lineout, got another penalty, and decided once again to go to touch, but this time a knock on closed a thrilling evening game in which only the most hardcord Yellow Army supporters will argue against the fact that the most deserving team lost - even though Ntamack will regret his kicking inaccuracy.
Of note was Kotaro Matsushima's early injury despite an exciting start for Clermont. Hopefully we can see him again soon because he looked like he had legs of fire. The red-carded locks, Tecori and Arnold, also got a quick discipline commission which will take place on Wednesday. The club's hope is for them to get less than two weeks so that they can face Ulster on September 20th - they can have some degree of hope for Arnold, but Tecori is unlikely to be back at that time.
Clermont: 3T (Penalty, Lopez, Moala), 3T (Lopez), 4P (Lopez)Toulouse: 4T (Cros, Elstadt x2, Dupont), 2T (Ntamack), 2P (Ntamack)
Day 1 Standings

	GP	Pts	W	L	LBP	PD
Brive	1	4	1	0	0	+19
La Rochelle	1	4	1	0	0	+14
Racing 92	1	4	1	0	0	+4
Castres	1	4	1	0	0	+4
Pau	1	4	1	0	0	+3
Clermont	1	4	1	0	0	+3
Toulouse	1	1	0	1	1	-3
Montpellier	1	1	0	1	1	-3
Agen	1	1	0	1	1	-4
Lyon	1	1	0	1	1	-4
Stade Français	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bordeaux	0	0	0	0	0	0
Toulon	1	0	0	1	0	-14
Bayonne	1	0	0	1	0	-19

Note: the teams with the same PD are at that point ranked according to their try difference - try scored minus try against. Hence why for example Pau (2 - 2) is above Clermont (3 - 4).
Next week's schedule (All times are GMT+2)
Friday 8.45PM
Pau - AgenRacing 92 - Montpellier
Saturday 3.15PM
Toulouse - La Rochelle
Saturday 6.15PM
Bordeaux - BriveBayonne Clermont
Sunday 7PM
Castres - Stade Français
Sunday 9PM
Toulon - Lyon
One big game every day: The "Richownerico" on Friday between Racing and Montpellier - with Montpellier really needing some points after their surprise home loss against Pau - then the "New Stadico" between Toulousains and Rochelais on Saturday, and the "Toulonico" on Sunday evening - because Lyon is the #1 employer of former Toulon players and staff (including current coach Pierre Mignoni, who was both a player and a coach in Toulon, but also Wisniewski, Tuisova, Chiocci or Ivaldi).
One might also want to see how the Stade Français team looks after a horrendous year that seems to have leaked to the new season, with roughly 20 players catching the Covid, including a couple with symptoms. They are likely to suffer, even though the most likely blowout is probably Bordeaux against Brive.

L'Equipe's team of the weekend is as follow: Dulin (La Rochelle) - Ibitoye (Agen), Moala (Clermont), Ahki (Toulouse), Dupichot (Racing) - Hastoy (Pau), Kockott (Castres) - Elstadt (Toulouse), Cros (Toulouse), Lauret (Racing) - Lees (Brive), Sazy (La Rochelle) - Bamba (Lyon), Lespiaucq (Pau), Calles (Pau). A bit tough for La Rochelle's fly-half Ihaia West who was excellent, but Hastoy was a game-changer in Pau's surprise win in Montpellier.

No other news this week as last episode happened rather recently and there was nothing huge over the weekend.

Quote of the week: "We are not going to hang ourselves after just one game, but it surely is worrying", said Christophe Laussucq, Agen's rational coach. A loss at home against a mid-tier team like Castres is not how their season should have started.

Video of the week: : If you don't like my thread on the subject or Ramos' ballsy-yet-decisive pass in Clermont, here is a video with all Top 14 shirts for the season.

Down With Touts

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Jun. 3, 2002

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUSLY:


1-7-2002	1-14-2002	1-21-2002	1-28-2002
2-4-2002	2-11-2002	2-18-2002	2-25-2002
3-4-2002	3-11-2002	3-18-2002	3-25-2002
4-1-2002	4-8-2002	4-15-2002	4-22-2002
4-29-2002	5-6-2002	5-13-2002	5-20-2002
5-27-2002

We start with more on the death of Davey Boy Smith, including a full-length super long obituary, because apparently 2002 is nothing but people dying. I feel like I've done nothing but recap obituaries since starting back with 2002. Anyway. in the wake of Smith's death, the reaction has sadly not been one of surprise. Anyone who saw Smith in the last 4-5 years pretty much saw it coming. The cause of death, pending toxicology results, was ruled a heart attack caused from prolonged steroid use. But until the toxicology results are back, the belief among his friends and family is that there was probably more to it. Dave talks about the staggering number of wrestlers who have died under age 40 in recent years, with upwards of 20 of them being due to drug issues.
Smith died while on vacation with his girlfriend Andrea Hart, estranged wife of Bruce Hart. Despite that, Smith was actually on good terms with most of the Hart family, although Andrea is not. The Hart family believes Andrea knows more than she's letting on about the circumstances of his death, but she's not talking to anybody. Andrea's children (that she had with Bruce) were also there and they each apparently have different accounts of how he died (he was sleeping! he was in the pool! he was eating!) but they all pretty much agree he collapsed doing whatever he was doing. Andrea told the press that she believed Smith had overdosed, but Smith's dad did his own interviews and denied it, saying his son had stopped using drugs and was clean when he died. Needless to say, most people aren't buying that given his track record. Smith's father decided against having the body cremated and instead ordered it sent back to England for examination to make sure he wasn't murdered. "I cannot believe his death was natural," he said. "If they find drugs in his body, then he didn't put them there. Davey was clean." (Eeeeeeehhhhh....) Shit got even messier when Andrea and Smith's ex-wife Diana Hart each tried to claim the body. Despite her book (in which she accused Smith of drugging, abusing, and raping her), Diana played grieving widow in the media even though they're divorced. It may not have been an act though. Some in the family believe Smith and Diana were trying to reconcile, and they were on good terms at the time of his death. Andrea claimed to be his common-law wife, even though she's still legally married to Bruce. She later claimed Smith had proposed to her 2 weeks before his death and said they were engaged, which was the first anyone had heard about that. Smith's father claims in their last conversation, Davey Boy had told him he was planning to break up with Andrea after their vacation. So who knows. Anyway, both Diana and Andrea planned their own separate memorial services, while Smith's dad is planning his own 3rd service. Smith's body wasn't at either of the Hart family memorial services because, as mentioned, it was sent back to England where authorities are launching an investigation at the behest of Smith's father.
Andrea's service was said to be small and simple, just a few dozen people, and she seemed sincere in her sorrow. Diana's service was larger and more public, with hundreds of attendees and press, along with several WWE names. Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart (who attended both services), Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, and others all attended and several of them spoke. Diana's eulogy featured a professionally produced video featuring Davey Boy footage from WWE that had never aired on television before. She thanked Vince for trying to help Davey with his addiction issues. She never acknowledged everything she wrote about him in her book last year. Smith's children as well as Stampede wrestler TJ Wilson gave speeches as well. 16-year-old Harry Smith was composed and gave a great speech about teaming with his father in his last matches. And then Ellie Hart got up there and....it went about how you'd expect. She started ranting about Andrea and blaming her for not giving the family the answers they wanted and it started to turn into some drama, but the minister gently interrupted her and got things back on track. And finally, Bret Hart gave a speech, directly addressing Smith's children and saying that Davey Boy and Owen would want the children of all these Hart family members to get along with each other better than the adults have. From here, Dave gets into the actual meat of the obituary, recapping Smith's life and career. As always, an excellent read but very long to recap.
WWE Confidential, the new show the company is producing, aired its debut episode this week, focusing on the Montreal Screwjob. Dave once again talks about how Vince McMahon tried to downplay the incident recently, giving an interview just a couple of months ago calling the Screwjob a minor incident that almost no one cares about. Vince went so far as to say he could count on one hand the number of people who even still care about that old news. Turns out one of those must be Vince because this week, they dedicated the premiere of this new show to the story and highlighted it as the most controversial night in the history of wrestling. The hook of the show was Shawn Michaels revealing publicly, for the first time, that yes, he was in on the screwjob and knew about it in advance. Dave says this isn't really a secret. Shawn denied having any knowledge of it that night but as soon as the day after Survivor Series 97, he was bragging to friends about it. Vince McMahon also later confided in Undertaker that Shawn knew ahead of time. So it was kind of an open "secret" that Shawn knew but this is the first time he's admitted it publicly. Triple H still denies knowing about it ahead of time, but Dave is pretty skeptical there too (and indeed, it's later revealed that yes indeed, Triple H also knew). Dave thinks lots of people had to know. Even the guy who cued the music had to know, because Shawn's music was queued up and ready to play the second Vince ordered the bell to be rung. Pat Patterson always claimed not to know and Bret has said he wants to believe it, because he likes Pat, but the way Pat interrupted the match-planning conversation and specifically suggested the sharpshooter spot to them makes Bret question it (I think Patterson still denies it to this day, but I have my doubts there too). Anyway, the show recapped the history of the Screwjob and if you know Dave, you know he's about to poke a whole bunch of holes in WWE's revisionist bullshit. Here we go...
The story of the episode was WWF was close to going out of business due to the WCW war and couldn't afford Bret anymore, so Vince nobly allowed Hart out of his contract so he could negotiate a better deal with WCW. Actually, Dave says, Vince first talked to Bret about deferring some of his contract to later on but that was a couple months earlier. At the time, WWF really was having some financial struggles, but it's an exaggeration to say they were almost driven out of business. They were never even close. But regardless, that's irrelevant because in Sept. 97, they raised the price of PPVs by $10. That added revenue, which was nearly $1 million per month in pure profit, was easily enough to get them out of financial trouble. By the time Survivor Series 97 rolled around, WWF was doing just fine, money-wise, and were only a couple months away from catching fire and getting nuclear hot. So no, they did not need to get rid of Bret's contract. And in fact, in October, a couple weeks before Survivor Series, Vince changed his mind and asked Bret to stay, saying that the financial situation had turned around. But by this point, Hart's negotiations with WCW were full speed ahead and Vince allowed Hart to continue negotiating. But after talking to both sides, it was clear Vince had no real plan for Bret and he didn't really seem like he wanted to keep him, so Bret took the WCW deal and the rest is history. But of course, none of that is mentioned in this show. The episode also claimed Hart refused to drop the title to anyone (again, not true. Only Shawn. Bret even offered to lose it to Brooklyn Brawler if they wanted. In fact, Dave breaks down all the different scenarios that were presented here, and Bret was willing to lose the title to anyone other than Shawn, anywhere other than that show in Montreal, at any date before or after the PPV. They had actually presented Bret with dozens of different scenarios, all of which he agreed to, only for Vince to keep coming back around to Shawn at Survivor Series, which was the one and only thing Bret wouldn't budge on). They also tried to paint the picture that Bret could have taken the title to WCW the night after Survivor Series. In fact, Bret's WWF contract didn't end until Dec. 1st, and he was booked on more than a dozen house shows after Survivor Series and had even agreed to work the early December PPV because Bischoff had given his blessing. There was zero chance Bret was going to show up with the belt on Nitro. There was concern that Bischoff would go on Nitro the next day and announce he had signed Bret, and Dave says it's true that Bischoff certainly was planning to do that. But Bret had also asked Bischoff to hold off on the announcement and Bischoff had agreed. Vince knew about that too, but in recorded conversations with Bret (from the Wrestling With Shadows documentary), Vince didn't seem concerned since the word was already out and everyone knew Bret was leaving already. This just goes on and on. We all know the story already. Anyway, TL;DR - interesting show, but WWE's version of the story is bullshit. But we all knew that.
At the latest NJPW show, Antonio Inoki came out and cut a promo. He talked about being in attendance recently at the World Cup and said wrestling needs something like that. Inoki claimed he had put together a deal with WWE for a joint NJPW/WWE show to take place later in the year. Dave doesn't know if there's any truth to that story, but this is the first he's heard of it and he doesn't think it makes any sense for WWE so he's skeptical.
Usually in Japan, TV-Asahi airs the finals of NJPW's G1 Climax tournament live. But this year that may not happen, as they're looking at airing one of Inoki's MMA shows instead. This is a direct result of the terrible rating the recent Tokyo Dome show drew when it aired live. This company is struggling mightily lately.
Random news and notes: Inoki recently recruited a 23-year old Brazillian MMA fighter named Lyoto Machida to come to NJPW (he never really does anything in NJPW other than train at the dojo, but he had a long career in UFC and still fights for Bellator to this day). Dusty Rhodes is the new co-host of Turner South's Atlanta Braves pre-game show called "Hey The Braves Are Next!" Scott Hall will be working Insane Clown Posse's upcoming Gathering of the Juggalos event. Former WCW wrestler Evan Karagis recently filmed a role on the soap opera "Passions."
In the main event of FOX's Celebrity Boxing show, Chyna lost by decision to Joey Buttafuoco. Chyna's mystique of being a woman who only wants to compete with men got pretty much obliterated here, as the larger Buttafuoco manhandled her with ease for much of the match, which probably makes all those big tough wrestlers who sold for her feel kinda silly. But Buttafuoco came in as a hated heel to the audience and despite how she got pummeled, many people felt Buttafuoco was fighting dirty and cheating, so Chyna wasn't too hurt by it. She talked about wanting a rematch and Dave says if PRIDE really wants to break into the U.S. market, they could throw it onto one of their cards. Hey, this show did a really strong TV rating, maybe a rematch would be just the kind of freak-show attraction needed for PRIDE to get attention in the U.S. Nothing else they've tried has worked. Dave also suggests NWA-TNA could book it, but a worked wrestling match between the two probably wouldn't get as much media attention.

WATCH: Chyna vs. Joey Buttafuoco - Celebrity Boxing Match (2002)

Big Dick Dudley's ex-wife, former ECW valet Elektra, did an interview talking about his death. She said he'd had stomach pains all week and couldn't urinate. But didn't go to the doctor because he didn't think it was a big deal. Then at one point he got up to go to the bathroom but collapsed on the floor and died there on the spot. Jeez. At the time of his death, he had lost over 100 pounds from his peak weight of 320 in ECW several years ago.
Vince Russo is going to be writing a book about his time in WWF. Due to legal reasons and the ongoing lawsuit, it won't include much about his WCW tenure (I think he's written a book or two, but I've never read them, so if anyone has any insight, feel free to share).
Shaun Assael's book "Sex, Lies, & Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation" will be published next month and is getting strong early reviews. Dave has talked to several of the people who spoke with Assael for the book and some of them expect it to be good while others feel that Assael fell victim to the cons and charms of wrestlers who were working him. We shall see, says Dave.
The debut NWA-TNA PPV will feature some sort of tournament to crown a new NWA champion. Dan Severn is no longer the champion after not agreeing to work the show (he already had a prior MMA booking for that date in New Mexico). As a result, the NWA (which is now working with TNA) just stripped him of the belt, which is convenient because they didn't really want to use Severn anyway, so now they can do whatever they originally planned to do with the belt without having to book an excuse to get it off him. The Jarretts and this new promotion now have full control over both the NWA world and tag team titles.
Mike Tenay has been named the lead announcer for the new NWA-TNA promotion. They're also trying to get Lex Luger to appear for the debut show, but Dave thinks its unlikely since Luger is financially set for life and has shown no interest in doing any wrestling since WCW folded.
Jeff Jarrett had talks with Bret Hart about coming in to do a Team Canada gimmick. Latest Dave heard is that Hart isn't interested, but they may bring in some of the new generation of Harts for it. There's been talk of bringing in TJ Wilson, Harry Smith, and Teddy Hart as a new version of the group. Smith is still only 16 and it's way too early to put him on the national stage yet and in a lot of states, he wouldn't even legally be allowed to perform. Wilson is also a teenager, from a bad home who pretty much grew up as an honorary Hart member in the Hart household. And Teddy Hart is a natural in-ring performer who would already be in WWE if not for the fact that during his two training camp tryouts, he had behavioral incidents both times. But they're all talented and will likely be big stars in the future. Last time WWE was in Calgary, Vince McMahon personally requested to meet with all 3 of them for a private tryout, but it didn't amount to anything.
Little bit of a change in the WWF writing teams. Brian Gewertz is now the official head writer for Raw, while Paul Heyman is the lead writer for Smackdown. Stephanie McMahon will continue to oversee creative for both shows and, of course, Vince still has final say on everything. Dave expects this to result in Raw being a more comedic show while Smackdown will be the more serious in-ring product (pretty much, yeah. And thus, we have the official beginning of Heyman-era Smackdown and soon we'll see the birth of the Smackdown Six).
Notes from Raw: show opened with Chris Benoit making his unannounced return to a huge pop. Dave still expects Benoit to eventually be managed by Arn Anderson, which has been the plan for months (and never happens). That was actually the original plan before the NWO was brought in. If Benoit was healthy in time (which, turned out he wasn't so it didn't matter anyway), the original idea was Benoit vs. Austin at Wrestlemania 18 with Anderson managing Benoit. But that obviously all changed. Anyway, what else? Dave once again mentions that Jeff Hardy looks physically awful. He seems to know about Hardy's drug issues and seems to be hinting about it without saying it. Tommy Dreamer continued his gross gimmick by drinking Undertaker's tobacco spit. Lesnar beat Bubba Ray Dudley but had to sell a ton in the match and Dave doesn't get it. For a guy that they so clearly want to turn into a Goldberg-like star, selling for midcarders every week isn't how Goldberg got over. Jim Ross went on and on about how Lesnar has never been pinned, which Dave says is an insult to all the fans who have seen Lesnar do jobs at house shows. RVD beat Eddie Guerrero in a 20+ minute ladder match and Dave says it's the longest match on Raw in at least a year. Dave gives it 4 stars and considering how messy and sloppy it was, that shows you how good it was. Lots of dangerous spots, some botched moves, and most notably a moment when a fan ran into the ring and knocked over the ladder while Eddie was climbing up. Eddie and Earl Hebner started stomping the fan until security dragged him out. Still an awesome match though. And finally, Benoit returned at the end of the show and turned heel on Austin. Dave says Benoit actually isn't ready yet and isn't supposed to be back in the ring until July, but the company is so desperate for anything to give them a shot in the arm that they may have pulled the trigger on this angle early.

WATCH: Fan shoves Eddie Guerrero off the ladder

Notes from Smackdown: the only thing Dave talks about is the Hulk Hogan retirement angle they did and he's got mixed feelings on it. First the positive: he gives Hogan credit for being an absolutely incredible performer when the heat is on. And Hogan gave a tremendous performance in this and Dave doesn't let it go unrecognized. But then the negative: in the promo, Hogan talked at length about when his dad was dying, he was basically expressionless except for Monday and Thursday nights when he'd watch WWF and his face would light up. So Hogan said his dad's last words were he wanted to see his son return to the WWF. So that's all sweet and nice, right? Weeeeeell....Hogan has told a different version of this story in the past. In previous interviews, Hogan said his dad was disgusted by what wrestling had become and he wanted Hogan to "clean it up." The idea that he was laying in the hospital and only coming to life when his beloved WWF was on doesn't exactly jibe with what Hogan has said before. And no matter what the truth is, Dave is uncomfortable Hogan using his dead dad as a way to get this storyline over, but hey, he ain't the first and won't be the last.
WWE's first show in Hawaii in probably 15 years is scheduled for later this month. Rock is scheduled to work the show and tickets sold out 2 hours after they went on sale. While we're at it, the Australia show in August also sold out the 47,000-seat Colonial Stadium in Melbourne in only 4 days. Once they scale the stadium for production, they plan to open up more seats.
It's "basically a sure thing" that Hogan vs. Vince McMahon will be one of the top matches at Summerslam. How they get there seems to change weekly. There's been talks of having Hogan take time off after King of the Ring and return for the Vince match at Summerslam. There's also been talk of him sticking around through the entire summer. So who knows? (Ended up being a mixture of both: Hogan stuck around the entire summer, but then he did an angle to get written off TV right before Summerslam. And he didn't come back until early 2003. And, of course, we got the Hogan/Vince match at Wrestlemania)
More info on the incident from a couple weeks ago where Kevin Nash and X-Pac reportedly threw a fit and got the script changed. They were told by writer Ed Koskey what the plans were for them on the show. Nash and X-Pac didn't like it, especially X-Pac since it involved him doing 2 jobs during the same show. X-Pac said he was quitting and told Nash he'd meet him in the car. Nash told Shane McMahon he'd go calm X-Pac down and straighten everything out. Nash and X-Pac came back, had meetings with Shane and Jim Ross, and then later with Koskey and Brian Gewertz (who wrote the show). They managed to convince the writers to change it more to their liking. Nash was also upset about how Ric Flair went on TV and said he'd fired Scott Hall. Nash didn't like the idea of Flair on TV being able to hire and fire people from their NWO, because that kinda takes away from the idea of the NWO as an autonomous, outsider group that doesn't play by WWE's rules. So that's why Nash was able to go out on TV on this night and cut the promo about how Flair doesn't control the NWO. Of course, Hall is still gone, so I guess he still does. Anyway, both Nash and X-Pac were pissed over all this and caused a scene, especially X-Pac, to the point others in the locker room wondered why they weren't disciplined instead of being given their way. But if you wonder that, you clearly ain't been paying attention to Nash over the years. Anyway, X-Pac still did the job in the Hardyz match, but not in the second match.
Random news: house shows in Alexandria and Baton Rouge, LA were both canceled this weekend due to low ticket sales. Shit's selling out in record time in Australia and Hawaii, but they can't give tickets away in Louisiana apparently. Undertakers hips were both banged up after the Hogan match at the PPV but he continued working, although he was limited (and years later, he'd have to get major surgery on both those hips). At Raw in Edmonton, Ric Flair was getting huge pops and "woo!" chants for him before the show started, so they filmed a backstage segment where he told Arn Anderson how much he hates Edmonton so they would boo him when he came out live. Lance Cade won the HWA title from Johnny the Bull down in developmental. WWF was pushing the city of Edmonton to present Benoit with the key to the city on Raw, but Edmonton wasn't so keen on the idea. And finally, during a bikini contest at the house show in Winnipeg, Ivory's top got pulled down, exposing her boob, much to the delight of many in the crowd.
Remember how MTV's The Osbournes was the only show routinely beating Raw in the cable ratings? That's changing. The Osbournes is over for the season, but this week, Raw fell to #4 behind the Lakers/Spurs NBA playoff game and 2 different episodes of SpongeBob. Patrick's a draw, brother.
Raven has been doing commentary on Sunday Night Heat, but he recently asked to be removed from it because he feels like it hurts his wrestling character. Dave thinks this is pretty risky. Raven as a wrestler is probably nearing the end of his shelf-life and lord knows WWE hasn't shown any desire to push him. And he was actually pretty fantastic at commentary. So giving up a safe job that he was excelling at for one that WWE doesn't really seem to see any value in him for seems like a good way to find yourself on the chopping block next time they decide to get rid of some people (yup, he'll be gone from the company in another 7 months or so). For what it's worth though, this isn't the first time Raven has been in this situation. Back in the 90s, he was a manager and commentator in WWF then too, under the name Johnny Polo. But when they weren't interested in using him as a wrestler, he quit the company and reinvented himself in ECW as Raven. Sometimes you gotta bet on yourself.
Jim Ross has a weekly WWE.com article where he usually just shares all the latest injuries everyone has. This leads Dave on a bit of a tangent when Ross wrote about how Triple H has a fractured patella. The injury was diagnosed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham and Andrews told Triple H to be careful with it, but he could continue wrestling as long as he can take the pain. Basically one of the world's top sports doctors saying, "Yeah you've got a broken knee, but throw some dirt on it, you'll be fine." It's no wonder so many of these guys end up on pain pills rather than getting the medical treatment they need.
Also in his article, Jim Ross admitted that the WWE is not doing a good job lately of providing a product the fans want to see. Dave thinks that's just about as strong a statement he's heard on the current state of WWE from someone so high up within the company. Ross admitted they need to create new rivalries, elevate new young talent, and effectively introduce new stars. However, Ross also blamed the economy and the abnormally high number of injuries everyone is dealing with right now for part of the problems too. Dave says the economy may play a small role in the declining live event and PPV numbers, but usually when the economy is in the toilet, TV ratings go up because people are staying home more. Not the case here. Injuries, yes that's a problem for sure. But the core of all WWE's problems right now comes down to the simple fact that the show pretty much sucks. And at least someone high up in the office seems to finally be publicly admitting it.
Tough Enough 2 is down to the final four. Dave talks about how Jackie Gayda is now the sentimental favorite because she tore her ACL during the show but has still refused to quit, which opened a lot of eyes on her. Speaking of Tough Enough, in a WCW-like comedy of errors, they aired a promo for next week's episode before the current episode was finished, thus spoiling who the final 4 were going to be, before it was revealed on the show people were watching.
The WWF Forceable Entry album has sold around 364,000 copies total since its release. But it's actually considered a pretty huge failure because WWF had to pay so much money in fees and up front advances to the various artists on the album, and they're nowhere close to recouping that cost. (The album eventually sells over 500,000 and goes gold but still a flop).

NEXT WEDNESDAY: A look at the dismal state of WWE in 2002, Tough Enough II finale, Riki Choshu's departure from NJPW, Dave reviews several new wrestling books, and more...

[Online Poker] Poker Forum Help Homeless Player Attempt The Shot of a Lifetime.

Link to Previous Tales From 2+2: Poker player steals $1m+ chips and tries to sell it on 2+2 poker forums More Tales From 2+2: A Very Controversial $70k prop bet If you or a friend are familiar with online poker and want to see the unedited version of this post then click here
Here's another Tales From 2+2 post, this one is a bit longer but well worth the read. It follows the story of an online poker player posting on the 2+2 online poker forums and that takes him on the ride of a lifetime. I have made some light edits so it's easier to understand for non poker players, my explanations are within [these brackets]. If you want to understand how to play the poker watch this 3 minute how to play poker video.

Still Booming

The year is 2010.
The effects of the 2003 poker boom are still being felt and Black Friday [Black Friday is when online poker was forced to shut down in the USA, it hit the industry hard] is a year away.
Americans, Europeans, Australians and almost the whole world are playing side by side on Pokerstars and Full Tilt [The two biggest online sites at the time]. Hundreds of people are signing up for poker sites each day. Tournament guarantees are at an all-time high. Poker sites’ pockets are overflowing and sites are offering generous bonuses and promotions. Poker TV is popular worldwide and Poker After Dark just entered its 6th season. The 2+2 poker forums are in full swing, it’s the epicenter of poker communication. Dozens of threads are made on popular subforums like NVG (News, Views and Gossip) or BBV (Beats, Brags and Variance) every day.
BBV is a subforum of 2+2 where the moderation is far laxer than the rest of the 2+2. People often create posts showing off their tournament wins or lamenting huge downswings. After the initial post is made, the trolls would descend and replies like this were often seen:

Colin_Piddle: Ur a clown OP
Tank Home & Away: Somebody call Donald Trump. OP thinks online poker is rigged.
FranFran: Shut up. Idiot.
Dave Coulier: LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL OLLOLOLOLOLOLOL

The BBV Post

On 20th Feb 2010 Jared Huggins, posting under RelaxedPrecision, visits BBV to vent his frustration over busting his meager roll playing 100nl HU:

RelaxedPrecision: Beat: HU vs drooler, lost my $100 bankroll ($100 table obv.)
He raised preflop every single hand including out of position.
Called 75% of my three bets with trash.
Only pot bet, regardless of board, his holdings, or position.
He is -$1132 in 2000 hands, -33/bb 100
We played 250 hands.
This guy was a corpse and I ran so cold it was insane. Only hitting any pair or a decent draw a couple of times. Twilight zone.
Brag: Not homeless again till the end of the month. Getting a third job today. This week I've begged for food at fast food joints and have scored two steak tacos and 1 piece of chicken.

[Jared is complaining that he lost the last of his poker bankroll, $100] The usual procedure in BBV is for the BBV regulars to berate the original poster, usually in meme form. Jared’s thread is no exception:

Sobad87: FAIIIIIIL, homeless shelters exist for a reason.
SmilingOrange: rock bottom itt
Sump: in b4 homeless

However, the thread takes a darker turn when Jared starts to post more details about his living and financial situation.

RelaxedPrecision: I'm 5 peanuts and 2 cups of water into my day. Finding some awesome links about food for broke people in LA. RelaxedPrecision: Last time round, 6 month period, I chose cruising the back streets near my job/sleeping in car, rather than driving hours per day to/from shelter and risking jail/car impoundaments/belongings confiscated.

Jared seems to be not only in dire poverty but also grinding microstakes [microstakes in poker is buying in for $2-10 dollars] for any cash he can get. He posts that the roll he lost was from a referral payment on a poker website but he cant’t withdraw it. The posters start to get a little more sympathetic:

FastPlaySlow: Wow. I feel bad for ya OP.
Kidlover: Keep your head up bro. Gimme a call if you want

A user named Airwave16 offers helps in his own way:

airwave16: create youtube vid of you dancing to around the world by daft punk in your boxers with a large sign that says "i love burningbend" and i'll ship you $30

Within 40 minutes Jared accepts this:

RelaxedPrecision: Never thought I'd do something like this, but I don't have much choice.
RelaxedPrecision: Don't want to go back to living in my car. Last month some guys tried to break into my car while I was inside of it. Terrible experience.

The next day, to the surprise of many he posts a video on Youtube of him around his room, just as Airwave16 asked. Unfortunately the video is lost to time but this small photo of the video remains. 2+2 posters start to show more compassion when they see how desperate Jared is for money:

mcfals02: Hilarious video. Hope you run good at life soon OP.
shikari424: If you've got a ftp [Full Tilt Poker,] account i'll ship something over bro[money could be sent between accounts], made me laugh

Ccuster_911 then offers a little more money for another challenge:

Ccuster_911 : Make a video of you going outside on the streets in LA offering people free HUGs(holding a sign ldo), I will ship you 30$, I want at least 10 random people being hugged

Others start to offer extra money to shoot this video:

cds0699: I'll chip in $10 for this.
Greeson08: $20 more here...$30 more if you paint yourself green before doing the hug thing.

Jared is very thankful for the support and lets his fellow posters know:

RelaxedPrecision: I'm really overwhelmed and surprised. Thank you guys so much, you have no idea how good it feels that people on 2+2 would reach out to me like this. I'm totally blown away. Thank you so much. This is one of the best things that has happened to me in a very long time.
Talked to the lady who rented me this room for 2 weeks. I got 5 days left here, then I'm back living in my car.
I am going to do everything in my power to get back on my feet. I am so close. Every suggestion, I will do. I'll dance for penny. I'll come to your house and clean your toilet. That's where my mind is at

A user asks for him to take a photo with ‘Free Pageh’ on his head, he posts this

swd805: that pic is disturbing
RelaxedPrecision: Mission accomplished.

Jared gives an insight into his mood while performing these tasks

RelaxedPrecision: Please do laugh at me. I laugh at myself as much as possible.
I cried twice. 1st when Airwave propositioned me and I felt different inside, like "time to get desperate man". It was a nasty feeling.
2nd time I cried, when I finished the video & began to ask myself whether or not I would do various things for $ & heard some of the answers in my head.
Both times I fought the tears back & realized I got no choice, need the $. So let's get some more ideas & keep this ball rolling. You guys are helping me, thank you

He also gives insight into his poor mental state and reveals that a 2+2 poster gave him a small stake [someone will send Jared money to play and Jared will split the profits]:

RelaxedPrecision: My friend (who's house I crashed at) is a pro MMA fighter , he lets me attend his MMA/BJJ class once a week. At class today, he yelled at me for doing a takedown wrong. I had a meltdown & broke down in tears in front of the class cuz I've barely eaten in 6 days. Shed 12 pounds this week. Just real drained.
Prop update: Got staked to play $5 Sit n Go's [a one table tournament] on FTP. 5 hours of play, up a few bucks.
4 days till I'm homeless again.

Jared tells a story and hatches a plan while working at his new job:

RelaxedPrecision: Today, this big husky girl with linebacker shoulders came in2 my job today to buy shoes...size 11. She looks exactly like a man. She had this big lady with her who told me the size 11 girl liked me. So I gave her my digits. I hope she calls me soon. If she calls me I'm going to try & seduce her & go live with her. Wherever she lives, I'm sure there's plenty of food.

Over the next few hundred posts the mood of the thread becomes caring and many people are asking Jared about his current lifestyle. He tells the thread about his struggles with permanent housing, a bad back, hunger and employment. He posts photos of his car (where he sleeps) and a video of him dancing at work. Jared reveals intimate parts of himself and his passion for writing and music. He also posts that he has encountered problems with substance abuse and has been sober for a while. The trickle of small donations from posters becomes a steady flow:

JeReMyHaSSpoKen: pm me western union or paypal And ill ship you some cash
Greeson08: Jared, hit me up on Skype. Sending $11.11 via FTP.

A month after Jared creates the BBV thread, March 9th, Jared posts the long awaited video of him hugging strangers that Ccuster_911 requested. Luckily, the video is still on YouTube. Here is the link. At this point he fittingly reveals his name is Jared Huggins and his nickname in school was Huggy. His fans love the video and let him know:

Doomriders: amazing nice job brothaa
cds0699: Very amazing vid and I wish you nothing but the best
Talking Poker: Video is awesome. Thread is awesome. You are awesome.

And he really enjoyed the experience:

RelaxedPrecision: I was surprised by the number of people who literally RAN into my arms.
It was a day & an experience that I will never forget.
If you enjoy the video half as much as I enjoyed making it, I'll be happy.

He tells 2+2 more about his life:

RelaxedPrecision: You guys reaching out to me is very much appreciated. I've had my fair share of obstacles in life. Born in a crack house, father died when I was 9, mother is an alcoholic, one brother a heroine addict, the other a crack dealer who was beaten and left for dead and never fully recovered his mind.
Last year ran bad at life...lost my job, ripped my meniscus in two places, had a terrible reaction to prescription stress meds..etc etc. I ended up living in my calosing contact with my family... cuz my cousin is hooked on muscle relaxers & vicodin and it hurts too much to watch people I love hurt themselves.We all have challenges, and obstacles. Life is tough for everybody.
I'm healthy, normal, moving in a positive direction

Jared’s birthday comes on the 12th of March and many posters wish him a happy birthday. At this point the donations from 2+2 posters continue and totals $1k. A few weeks later and Jared posts an amusing and NSFW story about living in a car. It’s long and not essential to the story so I won’t quote it. Read it here.
Jared thanks the community again:

RelaxedPrecision: I've never had people care about me like this before, let alone strangers.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank all of you.

The Big Game

Poker TV was very popular in 2010. The WSOP and other TV shows were broadcast across America and other countries. Pokersites were very keen on poker advertising appearing on TV, it was a very effective way to promote online poker sites. Full Tilt sponsored and regularly advertised on Poker After Dark. Full Tilt is even included in the show's title, which for a time prompted players associated with Pokerstars to stop appearing on the show. Pokerstars did not have as big a presence on TV as Full Tilt and they wanted to change that. How better than creating their own show? They would be able to have a majority of Pokerstars pros on TV and have players wearing their advertising patches.
Thus, Pokerstars created The Big Game. The Big Game was a televised cash game [a cash game is different to a tournament, the players' chips represent cash explained more here] with a novel concept: each episode featured a loose cannon. The loose cannon is a recreational player, who is given $100k to play 150 hands of high stakes poker. The loose cannon gets to keep any profits from their session and the biggest winner from the season also gets $50k in NAPT tournament entrance costs. Any Pokerstars player is welcome to try to become the Loose Cannon.
The line ups consisted of some popular pros who have a lively table presence like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Tony G. It also had some of the strongest players of the time like Ike Haxton and Phil Galfond. Joe Stapleton made his debut on the show as an announcer. He who would go on to do a great deal of poker commentating over the next decade. Each episode aired on The Fox Network and Pokerstars.tv.
In the same BBV thread Jared started, one of the posters has a bright idea:

MasterWolf: I think you should apply to be a Loose Cannon on the Big Game. I know you'd get tons of 2+2 support, plus, you are awesome at making videos.

One of the Jared’s strongest supporters on 2+2 takes a keen interest in this idea:

John_Wray: THIS! Is this something we can make happen? I don't know anything about the process.

Others agree:

Rusemandingo: Would be amazing.
AyinHara: for the producers of the Big Game, this is an easy one. snap it up!
King Fish: PokerStars Steve was looking for 2p2 recommendations awhile ago. I sent him a text nominating OP but have not heard back. I suggest all of you PM him, and point him to this thread. Would make a much better story than anyone on here, and he has the video to back up both the story and personality already shot.

But how can Jared apply to go on The Big Game?
Pokerstars run several tournament qualifiers for The Big Game on Pokerstars. These are details taken from The Big Game website:

There are free-to-enter Big Game Round 1 satellites running four times a day. Finish in the top 300 and you’ll advance to Round 2. Make it into the top 1,000 in a Round 2 tournament and you’ll get a seat in the Big Game Final Round qualifier. All players that finish in the top 200 in the final will be invited to send PokerStars a casting video, telling us why you think you should be on TV’s best new cash game show. Impress us with your video and you’ll be heading off to Las Vegas to star on the show as a Loose Cannon qualifier. Once the video is posted, people will vote on the their favourite video.

The freerolls are popular and attract about 5000 people for each round 1 freeroll. Jared would need to finish in the top 6% of the round 1 freeroll then he’ll be in the round 2 freeroll, he would need to finish in the top 15% to qualify for round 3. In round 3, only 200 qualify to make a video. The round 2 and 3 qualifier only ran once a week so Jared had a limited amount of attempts.
John_Wray starts a new thread in support of Jared being considered to be a loose cannon on The Big Game. Within 24 hours the thread has over 400 posts, most of them people putting down their support for Jared to be on The Big Game.
Boosted J hears of Jared’s story and posts in the petition thread. Boosted J is the screen name of Justin Smith, a skilled professional player. Boosted J offers Jared a potential job, poker coaching and access to his private mental coach. Boosted J would go on to get Jared in a Dr Dre video as an extra.
At this point RelaxedPrecision is one year sober and life is looking good for him. He posts a video rapping about overcoming life’s obstacles. Daniel Negreanu notices and tweets about his rap:

RealKidPoker: Homeless guy Jared Huggins rapping about being sober 1 year, powerful lyrics. Guy has an amazing story to tell.

John_Wray reports that Jared has already started playing the freeroll qualifiers [a freeroll is a free to enter tournament]:

John_Wray: Jared's in a hotel tonight grinding the freerolls .

Jared is ready to play all four round 1 qualifiers on days he had free:

RelaxedPrecision: Going to grind as many of these things as humanly possible.
RelaxedPrecision: I got out my schedule for the month, there will be for sure be days coming up where I will play all 4 first round games.

Support pours in:

CrazyNL: awsome man gl
NomoneyHU: I'd like to wish you good luck man , i'm currently watching your video. Happy that things is going your way from now! I hope that you do qualify for the PS Big Game and ship all the manies.
Sump: I hope you win this and double up on Big Game, ship the NAPT Passport

People start to watch him play and offer him advice. Jared found the journey hard at times:

RelaxedPrecision: Watched guys ship all in preflop with 72o for 4 hours straight. I get an above average stack, get it in with 10 10, run it smack dab into KK. And encountered his fair share of bad beats: RelaxedPrecision: Survive that, get it in with. 58 on a 8s7h6d flop vs Js7s, turn and river are spades, and it's time for a cold shower. lol

[Here he is saying that he feels the other players in the tournament are not playing well but he feels when he played well he felt he was unlucky]
Jared starts a new day of round 1 qualifiers, ready to play all 4.

RelaxedPrecision: Fresh day of freerolls starts in 20 minutes. Playing more aggressive today. Feeling optimistic.

He starts playing a round 1 tournament qualifier and is doing well. He’s getting closer:

pokernutssss: 322/379! 79 to go GL jared
John_Wray: just fold into the win now. you've got enough chips

Until:

MicroRoller: Congrats! 1 down 2 to go.
RelaxedPrecision: YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!!
Feels good to be out of round 1. Just gotta find a way to run good [getting lucky]!

The next day, Jared enters round 2 and plays this hand in the middle stages:

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t500/t1000 Blinds + t250 - 9 players
BSKid (BTN): t47500 M = 12.67
bones_522004 (SB): t119200 M = 31.79
tanwaruw (BB): t59200 M = 15.79
carlo 1959 (UTG): t1500 M = 0.40
mydream4u (UTG+1): t16200 M = 4.32
berdootim (UTG+2): t47150 M = 12.57
dickblow (MP1): t1750 M = 0.47
Life Guru (MP2): t42350 M = 11.29
Jared Huggins (CO:) with 6s 6c : t9300 M = 2.48
Pre Flop: (t3750)
4 folds, Life Guru raises to t2000, Jared Huggins raises to t9050 all in, 3 folds, Life Guru calls t7050
Flop: (t21850) Tc Qh 7s (2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: (t21850) Jh (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: (t21850)Jd (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t21850 Life Guru shows 8d Ac (a pair of Jacks) Jared Huggins shows 6s 6c (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) Jared Huggins wins t21850 [Jared plays well and wins]

RelaxedPrecision: **** yeah

But then falls:

John_Wray: ugh. You played great though.

After Jared asks about poker training sites, Taylor Caby pops into the thread to offer Jared membership to his training site: CardRunners:

Green Plastic: Hey Jared,
if you'd like to try out CardRunners for free shoot me a PM, I'll have someone set you up over there.

After making a few deep runs in the round 1 tournaments, Jared has several round 2 tickets and is putting his newly found membership to good use:

RelaxedPrecision: Won 3/4 round 1 tournaments today. Now I have four round 2 Tokens saved. Watching Cardrunner.com videos all day tommorrow, and grinding more freerolls

A few days later and Jared makes the final round of freerolls:

Amnestia: gg, jared, good luck in round 3 Isitdur?: It would be the sickest rags to riches story ever if you got on The Big Game, Jared. I really hope you do it. Good luck in Round 3 I will be railing along with all of your other supporters!

Jared registers and plays a round three qualifier tournament and encounters this hand:

Preflop: Jared Huggins in MP1 with Ac Kc
UTG bets t1200, Jared Huggins raises to t3000, 1 fold, MP2 calls t3000, MP3 calls t3000, 4 folds, UTG calls t1800
Flop: (t14250) 3c 6s Ks (4 players)
UTG checks, Jared Huggins bets t10000, MP2 calls t10000, MP3 calls t1950 (All-In), 1 fold
Turn: (t36200) Ac (3 players, 1 all-in)
Jared Huggins bets t25000, MP2 raises to t26050 (All-In), Jared Huggins calls t1050
River: (t88300) 4d (3 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t88300
Results: Jared Huggins shows Ac Kc (two pair, Aces and Kings). MP2 shows Js 9s (flush, Ace high). MP3 shows Kd Ts (one pair, Kings). Outcome: MP2 won t88300 [Jared plays well but get unlucky in a large pot and is out of this round 2 tournament]

Jared is out and continues to grind the qualifying tournaments. A week later and he registers for a round three freeroll and is going deep. A fan posts his position:

MasterWolf: Current Stats: 81,262 chips. avg: 142,959. position 247 / 348. Top 200 get in

Jared gets closer…

MasterWolf: 44 left. he's got 7th shortest stack in tourney. BUT HE CAN DO IT! Go Jared!!

Jared wins a key pot:

John_Wray: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
NomoneyHU: SSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jared gets increasingly close but is very shortstacked [doesn't have many chips]:
The railbirds [players who watch online poker] watch on:

__27__: Never been so happy railing [watching] a freeroll, this is some crazy ****.

Hard bubble and the tournament goes hand for hand [this means there is only 1 player left to go out, when they do all remaining players qualify for the video round]:

MasterWolf: 1 person left

Jared posts. He has qualified!

RelaxedPrecision: I can't believe this is actually happening.

Jared has done it. With the full support of his fan base Jared is one big step closer to getting onto The Big Game. The posters go crazy in his sweat thread and dozens of people congratulate him.
Afterwards, Pokerstatic interview Jared and he opens up about his difficult upbringing and life. Link to summary here.
Jared is very popular on 2+2 and has a keen fan base but not everyone likes the attention and donations Jared is getting. Later on a Jared opposition thread would be created. Here’s an example of opposition towards Jared:

Lchampag: Its just the way everyone here is completely giving this story all their faith. Just reminds me of those old people that get scammed is all.
I work in the coal mining industry. Pay starts out at around $20/h for the first six months(for"red hats") and then goes to around 25 after that for a general laborer. There are men hired at my mines everyday, come and get a freaking job! I guess this work is too hard for those that would just rather get handouts...

Some people were upset he was getting so much in donations. In 2010 he received $6k from 2+2 members. Jared’s fans respond with posts like this:

Srkbigdaddy: i dont know why people would bother posting in a thread that actually has a ton of heart with their snide and rude remarks. obviously its okay to post your feelings but if they are not gonna help the situation then they are pointless. you are basically just stepping on someone who is down

John Wray gives an update on Jared and his health:

John Wray: Jared is seeing his therapist again, and has just moved into a new place. He's very happy with it as it is within his price range and his landlord is a former deacon. They plan to attend services together on Sundays.
His bad back is still a big problem, one that needs to be addressed immediately.

Grayson Physioc also known as Spacegravy on 2+2 is a SNG [Sit 'n' Go, a one table tournament] crusher who fought his way from from microstakes to highstakes [A common story for skilled players to deposit $100 on a pokersite, fight their way up the ranks and turn it into millions]. He arrives in the thread and offers to fly Jared to Maimi and coach him, Jared flies out and posts this from Miami:

RelaxedPrecision: Spacegravy flew me out here to Miami to learn Sit N Go's, I'm totally blown away! He is an A+ human being! Haven't gone to the beach, haven't gone sight-seeing, haven't gone anywhere, just straight up grinding poker. Grinding as much as possible!

While in Miami, Jared’s mind is on making the best video he can to ensure he gets onto The Big Game. John_Wray helped, by the 28th of October it is finished and posted.
Jared’s Big Game Audition Tape
November the first rolls by and the audition tapes of all the qualifiers are uploaded and ready to be voted on. Jared is looking good and is in second place with 1.1k votes.
2nd November and Jared returns from Miami. He’s up $800 on SNGs from his time playing and getting mentored by SpaceGravy.
The weeks pass by. People can vote on one video per day so Jared’s fans are visiting and voting as much as they can:

8Nilor: Voting everyday btw. and got others to also.

The thread builds with excitement. With so many fans in the poker world Jared is sure to be selected to go on The Big Game. In December, Jared posts that all is going well with him. He has two jobs and a room to stay in. Jared gives a few updates:

RelaxedPrecision: When I'm not at work, I am working on my game everyday, grinding 50NL 6 max deep on Stars, going over hand histories, and getting coaching when I can.

[50nl deep is a type of poker played with 6 maximum players on the table buying in for $50-100]
2011 begins. In January the voting closes and Jared can only wait.
And then the news that Jared and many 2+2 posters have been waiting for is here. Jared notices an email from Pokerstars. He reads the news from Pokerstars about The Big Game.
He receives the results and rushes to 2+2 to share the news:

RelaxedPrecision: I got an email from PokerStars informing me that I was not selected to compete as a Loose Cannon on next season’s PokerStars Big Game. I wasn’t given any specific reason why I wasn’t selected, but I was thanked for trying out.
TwoPlusTwo.com, thank all of you for supporting me and showing me love. To be loved was a dream come true for me. I'm convinced that love cures most illness.

Jared was not successful. It's crushing news to the community. All their efforts spent helping Jared onto The Big Game was for nothing.
The community reply to the news:

AlienSpaceBat: Wow, Jared, I'm really sorry to hear this
Isitdur?: So bummed to hear this news, Jared.
2ndUnit: I am very, very disappointed of this decision by PS. Don't let it bring you down Jared, keep going.

A few weeks pass and there’s not much news from Jared. He settles back into working and improving his situation.

It’s all over

Jared had not made the cut for The Big Game.
But it’s not all bad.
Jared is in a much better position than he was a year ago.
He has a roof over his head and steady employment.
The past year was a crazy ride for him and he’s made many friends from 2+2.
His poker skill is improving and he has top players coaching him.
But no one predicted what would happen next month.
In the middle of February 2011, a Pokerstars representative dropped into 2+2 to post unbelievable news:

PokerstarsSteve: The seven Loose Cannons scheduled for the July 2011 showing of The PokerStars.net Big Game are:
Gonzales Cannon II - Sacramento, CA
Courtney Gee - Vancouver BC
Jared Huggins - Los Angeles, CA
Massimiliano Martinez - Rome, Italy
Cari Bershell - Las Vegas, NV
Kenneth Hrankowski - Vancouver BC
Anton Dunyushkin - Moscow, Russia

Jared Huggins is confirmed to appear on The Big Game Season 2. This is shocking to the community because there was no knowledge on 2+2 that he was even considered for season 2. The community erupts:

ak47: YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
ROADHEAD: WOW NO WAY, WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!!
MrPowell222: WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!
TayWolf55: GO GO GO GO GO Jared!

Almost exactly a year after living in his car and making his BBV thread he has the shot of a lifetime for fame and fortune.
But first, Jared needs to prepare for the biggest shot of his life.
Jared dedicates four months to preparation for going on The Big Game. He plays as much online cash game poker as he can. He has access to a training site and receives free coaching from top pros. To simulate The Big Game he plays 50,000 hands of 6max deep online [6max deep is the poker format played on The Big Game] and even plays tough opponents who would drop down in stakes to play with him.
In 2011 he makes three trips from LA to Las Vegas to practice and get used to live play. He practices chip handling, breathing and getting comfortable going from online to live. He reads Caro’s Books of Tells and would sit at the lowest stakes while studying every player closely. He never parties on these trips, just play and study.
He watches all 72 episodes of The Big Game Season 1 and analyzes every hand. While watching he would have seen Season 1’s biggest winner, Bob Ferdinand, win $181,500 and $50k in NAPT tournament entries.
In this time Jared remakes his Free Hugs video and once again, wanders LA shores with a sign and offers free hugs to the public. Jared uses some of the money from this video and donates $1k to charity. Reshot video here
The line up for The Big Game is announced:
Seat 1: Jared Huggins
Seat 2: Nick Cassavetes – A recreational player. Cassavetes works in the film industry.
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein – Poker legend known for his ‎Philanthropy
Seat 4: Vanessa Selbst – An aggressive and skilled player. Won NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event back to back.
Seat 5: Antonio Esfandiari – An accomplished player who would go on to win The Big Drop for $18m next year.
Seat 6: Prahlad Friedman – An experienced cash game player. Played under Spirit Rock and used to crush online games
Reserve: Phil Lakk - An entertaining professional player.
There are certainly some tough opponents on this table. Fortunately, Jared has a recreational player on his left [at the poker table players on the left are more likely to apply pressure than players on the right. Because Cassavetes is a recreational player he should be applying less pressure on Jared than a pro].
The community reacts:

blackjacki2: hard lineup
J0hny: Best of luck to you !

Then the day of filming arrives. Jared drives to Las Vegas to play in the biggest cash game of his life. He’s had months of training for this one moment. Hundreds of people on 2+2 are following his progress and Jared will soon be broadcast across the USA playing with seasoned professionals.

Now, the story is almost at an end. You have three options on how to consume the finale:

You can watch all four episodes of The Big Game to see what happens, links below. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch all 4 episodes then I’ve posted some timestamped links of Jared’s biggest hands, I’ve linked one hand per episode. There are 12 minutes of clips. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch any Big Game then click the spoiler box below and read on. [If you want to watch some of The Big Game it may be a good idea to watch this video I linked in the introduction again]

Full Episodes

Full episode. 1st episode
Full episode. 2nd episode
Full episode. 3rd episode
Full episode. 4th episode
Full episode. 5th episode

Highlights – Jared’s Biggest Hands

Jared Hand 1, watch from 35:00 - 37:28
Jared Hand 2, watch from 35:00 - 36:45
Jared Hand 3, watch from 39:40 - 42:10
Jared Hand 4, watch from 10:15 – 17:10

Epilogue

Jared did not end up profiting on the episode. He played until hand 126 of 150 when he ran his QQ into Cassavetes’ KK. Jared doesn’t hit and is off The Big Game.[KK is the second best hand in poker and QQ is the third best, so it was unlucky for Jared to get QQ and another player has KK. However, Jared was playing poorly and too passively in other hands in the episodes]
Posts from 2+2 were mixed, many posts in the thread were not kind towards his play. The community criticized some of the hands he played:

Jazzed23: the dude played like crap. No 3 betting, no bluffing, no floating and turn barrelling. he was playing scared and tight. Blew away $25k just by folding.
cobrastatus: How could this guy... get so much free coaching... and be so terrible...
trip_kings12: what a waste of a week for this show. Jared, the loose cannon, was almost unbearable to watch. I doubt I've ever seen a tighter, more scared loose cannon in all my years in poker.

[The posters here are saying that he was playing poorly and passively]
One fan posts this:

LolDonkamentz: I'll admit I was kind of disappointed with the result of this. I enjoyed all the build up and was really excited for this to be the climax of the Jared Huggins saga but it wasn't to be. His awkwardness at the table combined with his below average performance made for bad television

And Jared replied:

RelaxedPrecision: To you and others Donkamentz, sorry if I wasn't able to do my part to entertain you. It's a big show with lots of people on it, so I don't feel solely responsible for your entertainment, any more than I feel responsible for not hitting a huge hand. Thank you for caring about how I did.

Most of the posts were neutral or negative but there were still some positive posts:

kevmode: Gl to you in the future Jared. You are a nice guy, just block out the negative and think positive.

So, what happened to Jared after The Big Game?
After The Big Game, Jared stopped posting so much in 2+2 and he slowly faded from posters’ minds.
Shortly after The Big Game, he posted a post show reflection where he thanked the community, he spoke of how he enjoyed playing with the pros and his heartbreak after busting. He wished he had talked more and played some hands differently. He finishes with a final thought:

RelaxedPrecision: I'm happy and grateful for what this journey has been. I made some amazing friendships, saw amazing places, and had my dreams come true. I had amazing experiences, that I will never in my life forget, memories that I will always look back upon with a smile.

In 2012 he posted this post where he shared his battles with health conditions and how he still plays poker.
In 2016 he posted this in a thread about poker in developing countries. He wrote about living in China for 9 months.

Original Threads:

HU VS a drooler, lost my "roll"
**Petition to have Jared "RelaxedPrecision" Huggins for PS Big Game
**The Jared Huggins 'Big Game' Sweat Thread
Jared Huggins Big Game Trip Report-Thank You 2+2

A bit of perspective and information for those completely mystified by the sudden popularity of the anti-mask movement... Hopefully this novel might provide some leverage for those watching loved ones go down this dark and dim-witted path. Much longer than expected but hey, we've got time right?

Hi all,
I thought I'd post a reply I just made to a post on here and extrapolate a bit further, as I find myself with the dubious honour of being somebody who would have been out there on the streets spreading this virus around and causing havoc if I hadn't have decided to validate the claims being made in these circles for myself.
Now, pretty much EVERYBODY dislikes being under the thumb of government. The only people who don't are those calling the shots. Even the most well-integrated and wealthy people I know or have known, 'play the game' and pay their taxes, follow policy and procedures etc. whilst internally wishing they didn't have to. Who wants to give up x percent of their earnings with no clear benefit other than the vague reassurance that we have public services and roads or have to go through a 6 month planning process and several resubmissions to renovate their bathroom? No-one! It bites! The clever ones just learn the rules of the game and play it well. With the right adjustment of attitude, it actually becomes enjoyable.
With all of the confusion and inconsistency from all corners at the moment, many more people than ever before are seeking answers from sources other than the mainstream media and official channels which is fine, but fraught with danger and streams of delusive thought, so I thought I'd provide a bit of what I've learned in the hopes that we can start bringing some of these people down to earth.
If I could sum my thoughts up on this matter, it is my new mantra: "There are many conspiracies out there which are very real. This is not one of them.
It will invariably start with the viewing of the following documentaries, the Zeitgeist series: http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ -- which contain a lot of really juicy information and some very good points about the inherent corruption of the systems we live under, the systemic push for the subjugation of the masses through corporate control of the media and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan, it goes on and on-- the thing that makes this dangerous is that the more you look into it, the more you realise... it's totally true. Corporate interest controls the government, the government's interests are in corporate control. There's no avoiding it. My old boss was a multi-millionaire and we'd rap about that stuff, my own mother (bless her heart,) has laughed and said 'well yeah, that's pretty obvious...' and she has not a shred of conspiratorial thought in her mind.
The problems start when people begin following increasingly dubious channels such as Alan Jones, Joe Rogan, that kinda thing-- people who are riffing and profiting on the legacy of Bill Hicks' comedy routines (who, by the way, was genuinely instrumental in raising these issues in the first place, very funny if you like comedians such as Jimmy Carr, Billy Connolly, Jim Jefferies and George Carlin, with the latter being the closest ideologically,) and that is generally where the delusion starts to set in.
Other documentaries which are awesome to watch if you can keep part of your soul light and fluffy and realise that the creators have done everything they can to pad out 2-3 hours of screentime with hastily researched talking points then become part of the narrative, things like Esoteric Agenda and all the illuminati stuff which once again, sheds light on some of the patently weird little social clubs and relationships between historical figures, start to become part of ones' learnings and that's truly where one can begin to break from reality.
From there you learn that there is a massive undercurrent of abuse in the entertainment sector, you learn that there was some truly horrifying stuff going on behind the scenes of some of your favourite childhood movies and entertainment brands, you watch a few videos which make a pretty compelling argument for there being some very sinister stuff happening linking certain corporations with political and business figures and suddenly... You're off and racing. Everything you've ever learned is a lie. Your peers are suddenly the woke minority, to borrow a rather embarrassing term which started out as a meme, a joke, a perjorative for exactly the person you start turning into, and EVERYTHING starts to become evidence for this sinister deep state with its' claws sunk into everything.
Hopefully you can see how people are getting hooked into this toxic narrative in increasing numbers. Anyone with half a brain can see that there's something seriously fucky going on with the official response to this crisis. From there it can feel like one has no real friends in this world and that you can see something that noone else can.
That's where the predatory aspect of the ringleaders of these little death cults start coming in. Eve Black, that MMA fighter dude leading the splinter cell of malcontents in Cranbourne, that silly witch lady who flip-flopped from being THEY WANT US ALL DEAD WEAR A MASK to THEY'RE RESTRICTING OUR FREEDOM DON'T WEAR A MASK in the space of a few months, without thinking to cover her tracks or remove reference to her sudden, baffling change of heart from her social media accounts- that's how deranged these folks are... Narcissistic, broken, sad people who are actively seeking an audience of lost souls to mould to their will.
I have a friend who keeps sending me that propaganda and makes arguments like 'coronavirus is the common cold' (a nice way to counter that by the way, is to point out that 'coronavirus' is a family of pathogens in the way that 'eucalyptus' is a family of tree... they had nothing to say to that WoKe LoGiC bOmB funnily enough!) and other such nonsense. They're an inquisitive soul and I know they'll eventually see through this crap (unfortunately it will likely be when their immunocompromised mother contracts the illness,) but for now I'm just aghast at some of the patently ridiculous shite being peddled right now.
So that's why I'm writing this. I've been there. I've explored it, I've tried to live outside the financial system, I've met a 'sovereign citizen' in the wild, an alcoholic bonghead with audible emphysema refusing to get help and in the process of being evicted from his own land due to their refusal to cooperate with council/pay rates etc (but very happy to sign on the dotted line when receiving their packages from Amazon,) and I think that's what really snapped me out of it. The full expression of this way of living is really unpleasant and sad to see.
Note that I've also made good friends with two people now who have followed the path of voluntary simplicity to its' logical conclusion, which is what I've decided to model my life on as it really does feel free knowing that I've paid all my debts off, I declare and pay all of my taxes, I pay my bills, rego, insurance and contribute to society yet still get to be a mad feral hippie in my day to day life. I've learned the law and I abide by it; I've shifted my focus away from what I can't do and I've learned that in this country, the things we can do are vastly greater in number, it's rad and I love it, and I no longer have this misanthropic streak. Instead, I want to share what I've learned and it's become easier to see that we're all scared and having our own trauma/grief reaction to our lives being suddenly and irrevocably being changed.
I do get hooked into internet arguments sometimes and why not, I'm largely housebound so let's have at it, so long as we agree on two things- stay the fuck home and if we have to leave the house, follow the rules. Night walks are fun. Being a dead-set doomer in the age of the virus makes me feel plenty edgy and leaves enough room to feel love for humanity-- something that was patently missing when I was on the deluded path of the quasi-legal bullcrap which is becoming more and more commonplace as people search for answers.
I've already written too much to be able to effectively communicate my point but hey, I'm fuggen bored crapless. It's a wicked day and I want to be jetting around going shopping for supplies for the permaculture design I'm working on (hot tip: if you wanna be free, find a place to live that will allow you to grow your own produce without restriction. Personally, I'm movin' to the country and you bet I'll be trying to grow a peach tree,) but it just ain't the right time. It can wait. I've learned I'm actually a pretty patient person when I want to be. There's so much we can discover from this if we really start to explore our own being and (excuse me while I vomit,) try and find the thread of love in our hearts which will allow us to understand the person next door and their own fear reaction and trepidation.
I'll include the comment I posted earlier as it contains some more information on where people are pulling this ludicrous belief system/interpretation of the law from, and hopefully might provide a solid basis for research if one of your own loved ones (or indeed, yourself if it isn't too late,) is starting to exhibit this behaviour.
I'm very happy to engage in debate over this and welcome constructive criticism, but any ad hominem attacks (or uhh... 'strawman arguments' bashes face against wall) will be ignored and/or met with ridicule.
Oh, by the way...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZxzZFddmTg
STAY RAD AUSTRALIA, I love you all even if I don't understand you sometimes
---SNIP---
...a document which in itself is a gross distortion/misinterpretation of American law, because there's a growing undercurrent of people 'waking up' after watching Zeitgeist/Esoteric Agenda/other conspiracy documentaries which have some interesting points but are ultimately flawed and based on the US legal system.
My favourite part's the bit where people go on about freedom of speech, completely unaware that we don't have a constitutional right to free speech in Australia. We just happen to be quite lucky in that we're given a hell of a lot of lassitude compared to a lot of places in the world in regards to what we can and cannot express.
As soon as someone starts banging on about being a sovereign citizen, you may chortle heartily (and internally, there's no point bringing it up,) knowing that they are basing their views on US law and are existing outside of consensus reality by wrapping themselves up in that toxic little bubble of misguided hate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudolaw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_on_the_land
If anybody you know starts using the term 'sheeple,' particularly in its' full expression as 'wake up, sheeple,' try and get in there and inform them of the fact that they're in the process of contracting a disease of thought which constitutes a break from reality, and perhaps gently try to make them aware that their arguments are completely invalid in the context of the Australian legal system, on top of the fact that their arguments are completely invalid even in the context of the American legal system.
If you can get in there before they go too far off the deep end you might be able to save them from experiencing the full expression of this delusion, which ultimately ends up in the behaviour we're seeing from these anti-mask dumb-dumbs.
The ridiculous thing to me is that these people are super stoked to wear masks in defiance of the police, yet when the wearing thereof (it's not even compulsary surgical masks ffs, I wear my neck warmer over my face and feel like a fucking badarse walking into the bank looking like a bandit,) becomes mandated for public safety it's all DoN't TrEaD oN mE wAkE uP sHeEpLe and other embarrassing Americanisms... Professional contrarianism at its' most annoying and embarrassing.
With love,
Someone who was going down that path 'til they decided to research the validity of those legal claims for themselves
INB4 CCP SHILL ACCUSATIONS
That will be a topic for another day, don't get me started on that right now, heheh
<3
-schizoid
EDIT: It's worth mentioning also, that the leaders of these cells/groups invariably employ tactics consistent with those of religious cult leaders in order to get and keep people onside. People are targeted based on their inherent vulnerability and sense of feeling lost, a sense of cameraderie is established which eventually leads to methods of control.
If you know someone who's starting to exhibit traits of becoming lost to these new ideologies of hatred, it may well be looking up topics such as Stephen Hassan's work (particularly the BITE model,) the Cult Education Institute, Freedom of Mind Resource Centre, even cults here on Reddit with all of the information collected in their sidebar and wiki. It is possible to 'deprogram' yourself if you are still at the stage where something doesn't feel right- I managed to do so in order to leave a destructive group a number of years ago with the help of the resources listed above.

Tales from 2+2: Homelessness, Grinding and the Biggest Shot of a Grinder’s Life: The Jared Huggins Story

Link to Previous Tales From 2+2: Poker player steals $1m+ chips and tries to sell it on 2+2 poker forums More Tales From 2+2: A Very Controversial $70k prop bet
Here's another Tales From 2+2 post, this one is a bit longer and features some videos. I hope it's worth the read. This story follows several epic 2+2 threads and takes a rollercoaster ride. If you want to pass this story onto a non poker player I wrote an edited version on HobbyDrama. Enjoy:

Still Booming

The year is 2010.
The effects of the 2003 poker boom are still being felt and Black Friday is a year away.
Americans, Europeans, Australians and almost the whole world are playing side by side on Pokerstars and Full Tilt. Hundreds of people are signing up for poker sites each day. Tournament guarantees are at an all-time high. Poker sites’ pockets are overflowing and sites are offering generous bonuses, promotions and rakeback. Poker TV is popular worldwide and Poker After Dark just entered its 6th season. The 2+2 poker forums are in full swing, it’s the epicenter of poker communication. Dozens of threads are made on popular subforums like NVG (News, Views and Gossip) or BBV (Beats, Brags and Variance) every day.
BBV is a subforum of 2+2 where the moderation is far laxer than the rest of the 2+2. People often create posts showing off their tournament wins, lamenting their 50 buy in downswings or venting their frustration over the local fish hitting their gutshot on the river. After the initial post is made, the trolls would descend and replies like this were often seen:

Colin_Piddle: Ur a clown OP
Tank Home & Away: Somebody call Donald Trump. OP thinks online poker is rigged.
FranFran: Shut up. Idiot.
Dave Coulier: LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL OLLOLOLOLOLOLOL

The BBV Post

On 20th Feb 2010 Jared Huggins, posting under RelaxedPrecision, visits BBV to vent his frustration over busting his meager roll playing 100nl HU:

RelaxedPrecision: Beat: HU vs drooler, lost my $100 bankroll ($100 table obv.)
He raised preflop every single hand including out of position.
Called 75% of my three bets with trash.
Only pot bet, regardless of board, his holdings, or position.
He is -$1132 in 2000 hands, -33/bb 100
We played 250 hands.
This guy was a corpse and I ran so cold it was insane. Only hitting any pair or a decent draw a couple of times. Twilight zone.
Brag: Not homeless again till the end of the month. Getting a third job today. This week I've begged for food at fast food joints and have scored two steak tacos and 1 piece of chicken.

The usual procedure in BBV is for the BBV regulars to berate the original poster, usually in meme form. Jared’s thread is no exception:

Sobad87: FAIIIIIIL, homeless shelters exist for a reason.
SmilingOrange: rock bottom itt
Sump: in b4 homeless

However, the thread takes a darker turn when Jared starts to post more details about his living and financial situation.

RelaxedPrecision: I'm 5 peanuts and 2 cups of water into my day. Finding some awesome links about food for broke people in LA. RelaxedPrecision: Last time round, 6 month period, I chose cruising the back streets near my job/sleeping in car, rather than driving hours per day to/from shelter and risking jail/car impoundaments/belongings confiscated.

Jared seems to be not only in dire poverty but also grinding microstakes for any cash he can get. He posts that the roll he lost was from a referral payment on a poker website but he cant’t withdraw it. The posters start to get a little more sympathetic:

FastPlaySlow: Wow. I feel bad for ya OP.
Kidlover: Keep your head up bro. Gimme a call if you want

A user named Airwave16 offers helps in his own way:

airwave16: create youtube vid of you dancing to around the world by daft punk in your boxers with a large sign that says "i love burningbend" and i'll ship you $30

Within 40 minutes Jared accepts this:

RelaxedPrecision: Never thought I'd do something like this, but I don't have much choice.
RelaxedPrecision: Don't want to go back to living in my car. Last month some guys tried to break into my car while I was inside of it. Terrible experience.

mcfals02: Hilarious video. Hope you run good at life soon OP.
shikari424: If you've got a ftp account i'll ship something over bro, made me laugh

Ccuster_911 then offers a little more money for another challenge:

Ccuster_911 : Make a video of you going outside on the streets in LA offering people free HUGs(holding a sign ldo), I will ship you 30$, I want at least 10 random people being hugged

Others start to offer extra money to shoot this video:

cds0699: I'll chip in $10 for this.
Greeson08: $20 more here...$30 more if you paint yourself green before doing the hug thing.

Jared is very thankful for the support and lets his fellow posters know:

RelaxedPrecision: I'm really overwhelmed and surprised. Thank you guys so much, you have no idea how good it feels that people on 2+2 would reach out to me like this. I'm totally blown away. Thank you so much. This is one of the best things that has happened to me in a very long time.
Talked to the lady who rented me this room for 2 weeks. I got 5 days left here, then I'm back living in my car.
I am going to do everything in my power to get back on my feet. I am so close. Every suggestion, I will do. I'll dance for penny. I'll come to your house and clean your toilet. That's where my mind is at

A user asks for him to take a photo with ‘Free Pageh’ on his head, he posts this

swd805: that pic is disturbing
RelaxedPrecision: Mission accomplished.

Jared gives an insight into his mood while performing these tasks

RelaxedPrecision: Please do laugh at me. I laugh at myself as much as possible.
I cried twice. 1st when Airwave propositioned me and I felt different inside, like "time to get desperate man". It was a nasty feeling.
2nd time I cried, when I finished the video & began to ask myself whether or not I would do various things for $ & heard some of the answers in my head.
Both times I fought the tears back & realized I got no choice, need the $. So let's get some more ideas & keep this ball rolling. You guys are helping me, thank you

He also gives insight into his poor mental state and reveals that a 2+2 poster gave him a small stake:

RelaxedPrecision: My friend (who's house I crashed at) is a pro MMA fighter , he lets me attend his MMA/BJJ class once a week. At class today, he yelled at me for doing a takedown wrong. I had a meltdown & broke down in tears in front of the class cuz I've barely eaten in 6 days. Shed 12 pounds this week. Just real drained.
Prop update: Got staked to play $5 Sit n Go's on FTP. 5 hours of play, up a few bucks.
4 days till I'm homeless again.

Jared tells a story and hatches a plan while working at his new job:

RelaxedPrecision: Today, this big husky girl with linebacker shoulders came in2 my job today to buy shoes...size 11. She looks exactly like a man. She had this big lady with her who told me the size 11 girl liked me. So I gave her my digits. I hope she calls me soon. If she calls me I'm going to try & seduce her & go live with her. Wherever she lives, I'm sure there's plenty of food.

JeReMyHaSSpoKen: pm me western union or paypal And ill ship you some cash
Greeson08: Jared, hit me up on Skype. Sending $11.11 via FTP.

Doomriders: amazing nice job brothaa
cds0699: Very amazing vid and I wish you nothing but the best
Talking Poker: Video is awesome. Thread is awesome. You are awesome.

And he really enjoyed the experience:

RelaxedPrecision: I was surprised by the number of people who literally RAN into my arms.
It was a day & an experience that I will never forget.
If you enjoy the video half as much as I enjoyed making it, I'll be happy.

He tells 2+2 more about his life:

RelaxedPrecision: You guys reaching out to me is very much appreciated. I've had my fair share of obstacles in life. Born in a crack house, father died when I was 9, mother is an alcoholic, one brother a heroine addict, the other a crack dealer who was beaten and left for dead and never fully recovered his mind.
Last year ran bad at life...lost my job, ripped my meniscus in two places, had a terrible reaction to prescription stress meds..etc etc. I ended up living in my calosing contact with my family... cuz my cousin is hooked on muscle relaxers & vicodin and it hurts too much to watch people I love hurt themselves.We all have challenges, and obstacles. Life is tough for everybody.
I'm healthy, normal, moving in a positive direction

RelaxedPrecision: I've never had people care about me like this before, let alone strangers.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank all of you.

The Big Game

Poker TV was very popular in 2010. The WSOP and other TV shows were broadcast across America and other countries. Pokersites were very keen on poker advertising appearing on TV, it was a very effective way to promote online poker sites. Full Tilt sponsored and regularly advertised on Poker After Dark. Full Tilt is even included in the show's title, which for a time prompted players associated with Pokerstars to stop appearing on the show. Pokerstars did not have as big a presence on TV as Full Tilt and they wanted to change that. How better than creating their own show? They would be able to have a majority of Pokerstars pros on TV and have players wearing their advertising patches.
Thus, Pokerstars created The Big Game. The Big Game was a televised 6 max cash game with a novel concept: each episode featured a loose cannon. The loose cannon is a recreational player, who is given $100k to play 150 hands of $200/400 NLHE with a $600 button ante. The loose cannon gets to keep any profits from their session and the biggest winner from the season also gets $50k in NAPT tournament entrance costs. Any Pokerstars player is welcome to try to become the Loose Cannon.
The line ups consisted of some popular pros who have a lively table presence like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Tony G. It also had some of the strongest players of the time like Ike Haxton and Phil Galfond. Joe Stapleton made his debut on the show as an announcer. He who would go on to do a great deal of poker commentating over the next decade. Something which separated The Big Game from other poker shows was that it was the first poker show to go into the stats and look at numbers such as VPIP and PFR. Another difference is that it’s played pot limit pre flop to prevent loose cannon shenanigans such as shoving every hand if they are short stacked around hand 140. Each episode aired on The Fox Network and Pokerstars.tv.
In the same BBV thread Jared started, one of the posters has a bright idea:

MasterWolf: I think you should apply to be a Loose Cannon on the Big Game. I know you'd get tons of 2+2 support, plus, you are awesome at making videos.

One of the Jared’s strongest supporters on 2+2 takes a keen interest in this idea:

John_Wray: THIS! Is this something we can make happen? I don't know anything about the process.

Others agree:

Rusemandingo: Would be amazing.
AyinHara: for the producers of the Big Game, this is an easy one. snap it up!
King Fish: PokerStars Steve was looking for 2p2 recommendations awhile ago. I sent him a text nominating OP but have not heard back. I suggest all of you PM him, and point him to this thread. Would make a much better story than anyone on here, and he has the video to back up both the story and personality already shot.

But how can Jared apply to go on The Big Game?
Pokerstars run several tournament qualifiers for The Big Game on Pokerstars. These are details taken from The Big Game website:

There are free-to-enter Big Game Round 1 satellites running four times a day. Finish in the top 300 and you’ll advance to Round 2. Make it into the top 1,000 in a Round 2 tournament and you’ll get a seat in the Big Game Final Round qualifier. All players that finish in the top 200 in the final will be invited to send PokerStars a casting video, telling us why you think you should be on TV’s best new cash game show. Impress us with your video and you’ll be heading off to Las Vegas to star on the show as a Loose Cannon qualifier. Once the video is posted, people will vote on the their favourite video.

RealKidPoker: Homeless guy Jared Huggins rapping about being sober 1 year, powerful lyrics. Guy has an amazing story to tell.

John_Wray reports that Jared has already started the grind:

John_Wray: Jared's in a hotel tonight grinding the freerolls.

Jared is ready to play all four round 1 qualifiers on days he had free:

RelaxedPrecision: Going to grind as many of these things as humanly possible.
RelaxedPrecision: I got out my schedule for the month, there will be for sure be days coming up where I will play all 4 first round games.

Support pours in:

CrazyNL: awsome man gl
NomoneyHU: I'd like to wish you good luck man , i'm currently watching your video. Happy that things is going your way from now! I hope that you do qualify for the PS Big Game and ship all the manies.
Sump: I hope you win this and double up on Big Game, ship the NAPT Passport

People start to watch him play, offer him advice and sweat his every flip. Here's a hand he plays from a round 1 tournament. Given that it’s a freeroll in 2010 some of the play is questionable:

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t300/t600 Blinds + t150 - 9 players
Alberta Al (SB): t14700 M = 6.53
BrownLow13 (BB): t37750 M = 16.78
Mystichrome (UTG): t4950 M = 2.20
barbie60 (UTG+1): t15750 M = 7
luxcky guy69 (UTG+2): t11000 M = 4.89
gansell (MP1): t5400 M = 2.40
NO.1 DIXHEAD (MP2): t75600 M = 33.60
Tom_022309 (CO): t27000 M = 12
Jared Huggins with Ad Qh (BTN): t13100 M = 5.82
Pre Flop: (t2250)
6 folds, Jared Huggins raises to t1200, 1 fold, BrownLow13 calls t600
Flop: (t4050) 4c 8s Qd (2 players)
BrownLow13 checks, Jared Huggins bets t3500, BrownLow13 calls t3500
Turn: (t11050) 5s (2 players) BrownLow13 bets t600, Jared Huggins raises to t8250 all in, BrownLow13 calls t7650
River: (t27550) 9s(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t27550 BrownLow13 shows 5d 6d (a pair of Fives) Jared Huggins shows Ad Qh(a pair of Queens) Jared Huggins wins t27550
Jared found it hard at times:

RelaxedPrecision: Watched guys ship all in preflop with 72o for 4 hours straight. I get an above average stack, get it in with 10 10, run it smack dab into KK. And encountered his fair share of bad beats: RelaxedPrecision: Survive that, get it in with. 58 on a 8s7h6d flop vs Js7s, turn and river are spades, and it's time for a cold shower. lol

Jared starts a new day of round 1 qualifiers, ready to play all 4.

RelaxedPrecision: Fresh day of freerolls starts in 20 minutes. Playing more aggressive today. Feeling optimistic.

He starts playing a round 1 tournament qualifier and is doing well. He’s getting closer:

pokernutssss: 322/379! 79 to go GL jared
John_Wray: just fold into the win now. you've got enough chips for 5 orbits

Until:

MicroRoller: Congrats! 1 down 2 to go.
RelaxedPrecision: YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!!
Feels good to be out of round 1. Just gotta find a way to run good!

The next day, Jared enters round 2 and plays this hand in the middle stages:

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t500/t1000 Blinds + t250 - 9 players
BSKid (BTN): t47500 M = 12.67
bones_522004 (SB): t119200 M = 31.79
tanwaruw (BB): t59200 M = 15.79
carlo 1959 (UTG): t1500 M = 0.40
mydream4u (UTG+1): t16200 M = 4.32
berdootim (UTG+2): t47150 M = 12.57
dickblow (MP1): t1750 M = 0.47
Life Guru (MP2): t42350 M = 11.29
Jared Huggins (CO:) with 6s 6c : t9300 M = 2.48
Pre Flop: (t3750)
4 folds, Life Guru raises to t2000, Jared Huggins raises to t9050 all in, 3 folds, Life Guru calls t7050
Flop: (t21850) Tc Qh 7s (2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: (t21850) Jh (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: (t21850)Jd (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t21850 Life Guru shows 8d Ac (a pair of Jacks) Jared Huggins shows 6s 6c (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) Jared Huggins wins t21850

RelaxedPrecision: **** yeah

But then falls:

John_Wray: ugh. You played great though. Got it in with the best hand and a double-up would have put you in a good position to qualify.

After Jared asks about poker training sites, Taylor Caby pops into the thread to offer Jared membership to his training site: CardRunners:

Green Plastic: Hey Jared,
if you'd like to try out CardRunners for free shoot me a PM, I'll have someone set you up over there.

After making a few deep runs in the round 1 tournaments, Jared has several round 2 tickets and is putting his newly found membership to good use:

RelaxedPrecision: Won 3/4 round 1 tournaments today. Now I have four round 2 Tokens saved. Watching Cardrunner.com videos all day tommorrow, and grinding more freerolls

A few days later and Jared makes the final round of freerolls:

Amnestia: gg, jared, good luck in round 3 Isitdur?: It would be the sickest rags to riches story ever if you got on The Big Game, Jared. I really hope you do it. Good luck in Round 3 I will be railing along with all of your other supporters!

Jared registers and plays a round three qualifier tournament and encounters this hand:

Preflop: Jared Huggins in MP1 with Ac Kc
UTG bets t1200, Jared Huggins raises to t3000, 1 fold, MP2 calls t3000, MP3 calls t3000, 4 folds, UTG calls t1800
Flop: (t14250) 3c 6s Ks (4 players)
UTG checks, Jared Huggins bets t10000, MP2 calls t10000, MP3 calls t1950 (All-In), 1 fold
Turn: (t36200) Ac (3 players, 1 all-in)
Jared Huggins bets t25000, MP2 raises to t26050 (All-In), Jared Huggins calls t1050
River: (t88300) 4d (3 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t88300
Results: Jared Huggins shows Ac Kc (two pair, Aces and Kings). MP2 shows Js 9s (flush, Ace high). MP3 shows Kd Ts (one pair, Kings). Outcome: MP2 won t88300

Jared is out and continues to grind the qualifying tournaments. A week later and he registers for a round three freeroll and is going deep. A fan posts his position:

MasterWolf: Current Stats: 81,262 chips. avg: 142,959. position 247 / 348. Top 200 get in

Jared gets closer…

MasterWolf: 44 left. he's got 7th shortest stack in tourney. BUT HE CAN DO IT! Go Jared!!

Jared wins a key pot:

John_Wray: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
NomoneyHU: SSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jared gets increasingly close but is very shortstacked:

John_Wray: The starting pot is now significantly bigger than his chip stack. A walk actually doubles him up!

The railbirds watch on:

__27__: Never been so happy railing a freeroll, this is some crazy ****.

Hard bubble and the tournament goes hand for hand:

MasterWolf: 1 person left, h2h

Jared posts. He has qualified!

RelaxedPrecision: I can't believe this is actually happening.

Lchampag: Its just the way everyone here is completely giving this story all their faith. Just reminds me of those old people that get scammed is all.
I work in the coal mining industry. Pay starts out at around $20/h for the first six months(for"red hats") and then goes to around 25 after that for a general laborer. There are men hired at my mines everyday, come and get a freaking job! I guess this work is too hard for those that would just rather get handouts...

Some people were upset he was getting so much in donations. In 2010 he received $6k from 2+2 members. Jared’s fans respond with posts like this:

Srkbigdaddy: i dont know why people would bother posting in a thread that actually has a ton of heart with their snide and rude remarks. obviously its okay to post your feelings but if they are not gonna help the situation then they are pointless. you are basically just stepping on someone who is down

John Wray gives an update on Jared and his health:

John Wray: Jared is seeing his therapist again, and has just moved into a new place. He's very happy with it as it is within his price range and his landlord is a former deacon. They plan to attend services together on Sundays.
His bad back is still a big problem, one that needs to be addressed immediately.

Grayson Physioc also known as Spacegravy on 2+2 is a SNG crusher who fought his way from from microstakes to highstakes. He arrives in the thread and offers to fly Jared to Maimi and coach him, Jared flies out and posts this from Miami:

RelaxedPrecision: Spacegravy flew me out here to Miami to learn Sit N Go's, I'm totally blown away! He is an A+ human being! Haven't gone to the beach, haven't gone sight-seeing, haven't gone anywhere, just straight up grinding poker. Grinding as many of these $3/$6 45 mans on Stars as possible!

8Nilor: Voting everyday btw. and got others to also.

RelaxedPrecision: When I'm not at work, I am working on my game everyday, grinding 50NL 6 max deep on Stars, going over hand histories, and getting coaching when I can.

2011 begins. In January the voting closes and Jared can only wait.
And then the news that Jared and many 2+2 posters have been waiting for is here. Jared notices an email from Pokerstars. He reads the news from Pokerstars about The Big Game.
He receives the results and rushes to 2+2 to share the news:

RelaxedPrecision: I got an email from PokerStars informing me that I was not selected to compete as a Loose Cannon on next season’s PokerStars Big Game. I wasn’t given any specific reason why I wasn’t selected, but I was thanked for trying out.
TwoPlusTwo.com, thank all of you for supporting me and showing me love. To be loved was a dream come true for me. I'm convinced that love cures most illness.

Jared was not successful. It's crushing news to the community. All their efforts spent helping Jared onto The Big Game was for nothing.
The community reply to the news:

AlienSpaceBat: Wow, Jared, I'm really sorry to hear this
Isitdur?: So bummed to hear this news, Jared.
2ndUnit: I am very, very disappointed of this decision by PS. Don't let it bring you down Jared, keep going.

A few weeks pass and there’s not much news from Jared. He settles back into working and improving his situation.

It’s all over

PokerstarsSteve: The seven Loose Cannons scheduled for the July 2011 showing of The PokerStars.net Big Game are:
Gonzales Cannon II - Sacramento, CA
Courtney Gee - Vancouver BC
Jared Huggins - Los Angeles, CA
Massimiliano Martinez - Rome, Italy
Cari Bershell - Las Vegas, NV
Kenneth Hrankowski - Vancouver BC
Anton Dunyushkin - Moscow, Russia

ak47: YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
ROADHEAD: WOW NO WAY, WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!!
MrPowell222: WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!
TayWolf55: GO GO GO GO GO Jared!

Almost exactly a year after living in his car and making his BBV thread he has the shot of a lifetime for fame and fortune.
But first, Jared needs to prepare for the biggest shot of his life.
Jared dedicates four months to preparation for going on The Big Game. He plays as much online cash game poker as he can. He has access to a training site and receives free coaching from top pros. To simulate The Big Game he plays 50,000 hands of 6max deep online and even plays tough opponents who would drop down in stakes to play with him.
In 2011 he makes three trips from LA to Las Vegas to practice and get used to live play. He practices chip handling, breathing and getting comfortable going from online to live. He reads Caro’s Books of Tells and would sit at the lowest stakes while studying every player closely. He never parties on these trips, just play and study.
He watches all 72 episodes of The Big Game Season 1 and analyzes every hand. While watching he would have seen Season 1’s biggest winner, Bob Ferdinand, win $181,500 and $50k in NAPT tournament entries.
In this time Jared remakes his Free Hugs video and once again, wanders LA shores with a sign and offers free hugs to the public. Jared uses some of the money from this video and donates $1k to charity. Reshot video here
The line up for The Big Game is announced:
Seat 1: Jared Huggins
Seat 2: Nick Cassavetes – A recreational player. Cassavetes works in the film industry.
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein – Poker legend known for his ‎Philanthropy
Seat 4: Vanessa Selbst – An aggressive and skilled player. Won NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event back to back.
Seat 5: Antonio Esfandiari – An accomplished player who would go on to win The Big Drop for $18m next year.
Seat 6: Prahlad Friedman – An experienced cash game player. Played under Spirit Rock and used to crush online games
Reserve: Phil Lakk - An entertaining professional player.
There are certainly some tough opponents on this table. Fortunately, Jared has a recreational player on his left.
The community reacts:

blackjacki2: hard lineup
J0hny: Best of luck to you !

Now, the story is almost at an end. You have three options on how to consume the finale:

You can watch all four episodes of The Big Game to see what happens, links below. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch all 4 episodes then I’ve posted some timestamped links of Jared’s biggest hands, I’ve linked one hand per episode. There are 12 minutes of clips. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch any Big Game then click the spoiler box below and read on.

Full Episodes

Full episode. 1st episode
Full episode. 2nd episode
Full episode. 3rd episode
Full episode. 4th episode
Full episode. 5th episode

Highlights – Jared’s Biggest Hands

Jared Hand 1, watch from 35:00 - 37:28
Jared Hand 2, watch from 35:00 - 36:45
Jared Hand 3, watch from 39:40 - 42:10
Jared Hand 4, watch from 10:15 – 17:10

Epilogue

Jared did not end up profiting on the episode. He played until hand 126 of 150 when he ran his QQ into Cassavetes’ KK. They run it twice and Jared doesn’t hit.
Posts from 2+2 were mixed, many posts in the sweat thread were not kind towards his play. The community criticized some of the hands he played:

Jazzed23: the dude played like crap. No 3 betting, no bluffing, no floating and turn barrelling. he was playing scared and tight. Blew away $25k just by folding.
cobrastatus: How could this guy... get so much free coaching... and be so terrible...
trip_kings12: what a waste of a week for this show. Jared, the loose cannon, was almost unbearable to watch. I doubt I've ever seen a tighter, more scared loose cannon in all my years in poker.

One fan posts this:

LolDonkamentz: I'll admit I was kind of disappointed with the result of this. I enjoyed all the build up and was really excited for this to be the climax of the Jared Huggins saga but it wasn't to be. His awkwardness at the table combined with his below average performance made for bad television

And Jared replied:

RelaxedPrecision: To you and others Donkamentz, sorry if I wasn't able to do my part to entertain you. It's a big show with lots of people on it, so I don't feel solely responsible for your entertainment, any more than I feel responsible for not hitting a huge hand. Thank you for caring about how I did.

Most of the posts were neutral or negative but there were still some positive posts:

kevmode: Gl to you in the future Jared. You are a nice guy, just block out the negative and think positive.

RelaxedPrecision: I'm happy and grateful for what this journey has been. I made some amazing friendships, saw amazing places, and had my dreams come true. I had amazing experiences, that I will never in my life forget, memories that I will always look back upon with a smile.

Original Threads:

HU VS a drooler, lost my "roll"
**Petition to have Jared "RelaxedPrecision" Huggins for PS Big Game
**The Jared Huggins 'Big Game' Sweat Thread
Jared Huggins Big Game Trip Report-Thank You 2+2

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Le Weekly Corner Français - Episode 6

Down With Touts

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Jun. 3, 2002

[Online Poker] Poker Forum Help Homeless Player Attempt The Shot of a Lifetime.

Still Booming

The BBV Post

The Big Game

It’s all over

Now, the story is almost at an end. You have three options on how to consume the finale:

Full Episodes

Highlights – Jared’s Biggest Hands

Epilogue

Original Threads:

A bit of perspective and information for those completely mystified by the sudden popularity of the anti-mask movement... Hopefully this novel might provide some leverage for those watching loved ones go down this dark and dim-witted path. Much longer than expected but hey, we've got time right?

Tales from 2+2: Homelessness, Grinding and the Biggest Shot of a Grinder’s Life: The Jared Huggins Story

Still Booming

The BBV Post

The Big Game

It’s all over

Now, the story is almost at an end. You have three options on how to consume the finale:

Full Episodes

Highlights – Jared’s Biggest Hands

Epilogue

Original Threads:

Cage Warriors 113 Stewart vs Fabinski Betting Predictions