It's a busy week at The Lodge Card Club for their perennial Fall Mayhem Series. They kicked it off with a $1/$2 meet-up game, or "MUG" as they've been dubbed, featuring Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owen. It turned out to be the "biggest meet-up game of all time."
That last name, Bradley "Jebediah" Owen (wild guess), came down to Austin with a specific mission in mind.
"It has occurred to me that I don't have a [Lodge] tournament cash yet, not acceptable," said Owen. "I'm heading out there for...the Fall Mayhem Series; I won't be returning until I get at least one cash or the series ends."
First of all, it's good to know I'm not the only crazy person who uses semicolons in a Tweet (I'm personally not dropping that term yet). Secondly, with a monkey on his back firmly balancing a chip on his shoulder, Owen came into this week with a clear goal: Get a cash from the card room in which he's part owner or else.
Sure, the man has one of the most popular poker vlogs in the space. Sure, he's a WPT Ambassador. Sure, he binked his biggest cash recently when he final tabled the WPT Gardens Main Event in L.A. for $125,000. But, does any of that mean anything if you haven't cashed at the card room you partially own?
After all, shortly after Polk and company bought their pieces of the Austin room, Polk cashed their own Main Event for $142,000 for his fourth-place run. This time, it was Owen's turn.
Event #4: Plenty of PLO Bullets
Owen decided the four-card event was the one to fire to kick off his mission. He had bullets in the chamber for the $200 bounty event near the top of the series schedule. And, he would need them.
The following were quotes from his Instagram stories detailing the progression.
"Back at it today with more 4-card action. $200 PLO event with $50 bounties."
Shortly after, another much simpler post. "Bullet #2."
Two hours later, another short but sweet one. "Bullet 3."
A few minutes later, "Lasted one hand, opponent hit the flush on the river. time for bullet 4."
Once more, shortly after that, "I was rivered again. Bullet #5."
It turns out, five was the magic number. "Doubled up right before registration ended." Not too long after that, he announced he had accomplished his mission.
"We're in the money! I was going to stay as long as it took, luckily I didn't have to extend my trip," said Owen. Shortly thereafter, he'd reach the final table alongside another familiar face: Andrew Neeme.
"First ever dual final table for the boys," announced Neeme via his socials.
Unstuck and out
Owen's run would come to an end in fourth place, just like Polk's run last year, cashing for $1,013 plus $150 in bounties, getting him out of the five-bullet hole while accomplishing what he set out to do in Texas.
That one will look good on the Hendon Mob, Brad. After all, what's the point of buying into a card club if you can't make some sweet tournament money?
Oh, and Andrew Neeme? He won the thing via a three-way chop and won a final PLO flip to snag the trophy, too.
Congratulations to both of them and best of luck for the rest of the tournament series.
Feature photo by Alicia Skillman/8131 Media