The Ten Best Players Never to Win a Mookie

With me finally finding my way off the schneid in the Mookie last week, I spent some time for you all today reviewing that lofty list of all-time Mookie winners. One thing I was focusing on was, with me at long last out of the picture, who is left on the list of "accomplished" blonkament players, with enough time playing this thing to count, who have not yet won the greatest of all blogger tournaments? Here is the list I came up with, in no particular order:

mookie. Of course, no Mookie list can start without the host, and in Mookie's case -- like with me -- he's been in mostly every Mookie ever run over a three-year timespan. Now, in Mookie's defense, he did actually win one of the earliest Mookie tournaments, back on March 1, 2006, but that was just the fourth Mookie ever run on full tilt, and as Mookie himself has explained to me in the chat, it was not a particularly big field nor was the tournament itself nearly what it has turned into today. So I can't count Mookie totally on this list, but not totally off it either I guess.

Jeciimd. I guess on one level this one did not surprise me too much, as I do not necessarily recall jec winning outright a ton of blonkaments in his day, but I also recall what this guy did to the BBT2 in winning his incredible trip to Oz to play in Gus Hansen's wheelhouse for a couple of days before having his aces cracked in most unceremonious fashion. I specifically recall jec burning his way through the entire field in the second BBT series, and doing so consistently in all of the major blogger tournaments running, so I know he has had some degree of lifetime success in the Mookie. But per the results of my search, it looks like jec never nabbed that elusive Mookie crown, either during that incredible hot streak or otherwise, and is thus still seeking the lifetime of fame and notoriety that goes along with being a Champion.

Shabazz Jenkins. Shabazz hasn't been playing the blonkaments for all that long, but it's been the better part of a year or so probably at this point. And with the way some people come in and win their very first career Mookie tournament, especially lately, and the tournament skills that Shabazz has, I figured for sure he had taken down one of these badboys sometime in 2008. But, alas, I was wrong, and your current April BBT4 leader is also still in search of his first donkey title.

1Queensup1. While we're on the topic of BBT4 leaderboard heavies, your March BBT4 winner and current overall BBT4 frontrunner 1Queensup1 also does not appears on the list of lifetime Mookie winners. Again I figured for sure that Brian had taken down a Mookie somewhere in his incredible April that saw him final table some sick number of BBT events (9 maybe?), but nope. Final tabling a blonkament is one thing, but winning it outright, particularly in a Mookie, against the talent always packed tight into that field, is a whole different ball game for sho.

Chad. This one I will absolutely never get. Chad has had tournament success on all fronts for a long time now. He has crushed the blonkaments on occasion, with highlights including winning the Bodonkey II Tournament of Champions, and absolutely crushing the original WPBT when that first ran some three years ago now. He's won thousands and thousands of dollars in tournaments on each of Full Tilt, Bodog, Ultimate Bet, Cake, Mansion, Absolute, Pokerstars and I'm sure others. The guy is about as consistent a poker tournament performer as there is in our group, if not the single most consistent. And yet, no Mookie victory. I mean, Chad's had what, seven blogs for chrissakes? If that's not a sign of extreme poker prowess, then I don't know what is.

Columbo. This was another one that surprised me a little bit, as I know columbo has had some decent blonkament success over time. I figured as I set out on my review of the previous winners that a guy like columbo, who's been playing the blonkaments at least as long as I have, would have taken home a Mookie title at some point during 2007 or 2008, but it appears that my intuition was incorrect on that one as well. Columbo is a threat any week to win, so his days on this particular list are likely numbered, but for now he remains one of the great mysteries of long-term blonkament failures when it comes to the all-hallowed Mookie.

Joanne, another longtime blogger tournament afficionado, has also never won a Mookie. There was definitely a time in 2008 when I didn't see Joanne in too too many blonkaments for a long stretch, but in general I know I've played in several Mookies with the gal over the past year or two, and to no success for either her or myself. So Joanne hasn't always consistently been at the forefront of blonkament success, but she's won her share of tournaments and I believe has finished in front for one or more BBT tournaments in the past as well. Just no Mookie as it turns out.

Vinnay. Vinnay is on this list because, like columbo and Mike Maloney before him, he's been playing in the private blogger tournaments for quite a while at this point. Me, it must have taken me a good 150 attempts to finally get my Mookie victory, and there's no way in hike Vinnay is anywhere close to there. But Vinnay's a guy who actually has some tournament skill, and yet somehow he has never climbed the poker blogiverse's loftiest mountain to date.

Drizz. This is another one that really surprises me too. I don't often see Drizz in the blogger tournaments these days, not nearly as often as I used to anyways, but I imagine Drizz has played in his fair share of Mookies over the years. And he's won his fair share of blonkaments over time as well. I had to run my search twice to make sure drizz's name was in fact missing from the list, but it appears that over several years of playing, drizzle too has never tasted the delectable honey from Mookie's nest.

Blinders. Can there be any bigger surprise than this? I mean, it feels like I've read what, 5 or 6 writeups on Mookie strategy over at his blog over time, including a striking piece just recently that sounded a whole lot to me like Folding To The Points. I was expecting to see 5 or 6 Mookie wins from the guy given what I've read on his blog over the years. I figured for sure my "find on this page" feature was broken or somehow malfunctioning, so I did a manual search but, somehow, blinders' name still did not come up. It appears that, despite all of his tremendous success in poker tournaments generally in an extended career of poker greatness, somehow blinders has never added a Mookie championship to his unending list of poker achievements. Go figure!

Here's hoping that all ten of the above players find their way off of this list sometime in 2009. Surely each has shown enough poker tournament and blonkament skill to find a way to win the Mookie, still the blonkament to beat all other blonkaments as far as this blogger is concerned. The better question is: can I win two before any of them ever win their first?