Mission Impokerable - The Final Shuffling

In a final ode to completing his Twin Peaks novel, Scott decided to Return to the poker table 25 years after the last game. Or maybe it's just been 5 months. Time is weird.

A smaller but capable crew was assembled to head back online and into the semi-high-stakes world of digital dealing. And despite the distractions of the NBA Finals, general catching up, and desperately trying to figure out which member of Hoobastank is related to which member of Incubus, some exciting gameplay was still achieved.

Scott ended up the victor of the evening, and Matt Cohen had an epic fall, then and epic rise again, all while wearing an epic shirt. Everyone else pretty much stayed even-ish for the most part, but Josh was less on the lucky side as he fell to a Rob-held full house in the second hour. Despite this, there was no real chaos or tough beats. Mostly just friends reconnecting, playing cards, and reminiscing over the great forgoteen shows that originated on HBO—I'm sorry, HBO Max—my bad, I mean Max—oh wait, one second, HBO Max. Got it. Fuck you!

Outside of the cards, we had some lively conversations about our favorite film composers, our favorite bands with bad names, and our favorite Limp Bizkit song from any Mission Impossible soundtrack. General consensus: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Butthole Surfers, and "Take a Look Around (Air Raid Vehicle)". Go Music!

There were also frequent cameos from Junebug, resident dog of the table. But she had to eventually be removed since it was clear she was signaling Josh as to what cards everyone had. Two Barks means pocket pair.

Most importantly, we learned that Eve is a nationally ranked Cine2Nerdle player and proved her mettle. She was seamlessly able to connect nearly anyone who's ever worked in Hollywood, donning blackface or otherwise, to Whoopi Goldberg, Demi Moore, or Heath Ledger. It was astounding. Without hesitation, she could lock down the connection in basically two movies. Not to be outdone, her beau Hudson did chime in a few times with an assist. He's ranked 9th and she's ranked 5th, so there's a major cinema power couple in the Pacific Northwest. Red pill into their Cine2Nerdle if you dare!

Chip Leader: Scott Meslow

Check City Champ: Keith Bennett

Resident 69 Pontificator: Josh "My Final Fantasy" Rivera