Behind the Scenes of Donkey Island

First let me tell you these are my opinions and perceptions which may differ from yours. That being said this is my attempt to accurately document my thought process, my fears, my strategies and everything running through my head during this very long Season 1 of Survive Donkey Island.

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I saw the website for Survive Donkey Island over a year ago and immediately became a follower. I’ve watched every episode of every season of Survivor starting with Season 2 and I am a big fan. When I read they were combining Survivor and poker. Well frigging sign me up baby!

I answered a few questions and I was in. I couldn’t wait to see who was on my team. I knew from watching the tv show that I need to make an alliance early on.

My Team                                            Their Team
Josie                                                    HeffMike
SmBoatDrinks                                    Jordan, High on Poker
Turtle                                                  NumbBono
Riggs                                                   Kat
AlCantHang                                        Julius Goat
Xkm                                                   JamyHawk
Hoyazo                                               Muhctim
Dawn Summers                                   Brain

Blah! I was very disappointed to see the teams. Not because of poker prowess and ability but because I didn’t know hardly any of the people on my team. The only one I knew was Riggsstad. He and I’d chatted a bit in the past but he’d been MIA for quite a while. I was thrilled to see his name and thought I’d start with him for an alliance. At least I knew him. Other than him, I didn’t know anyone.

On the other team was HeffMike and Jordan.  These were guys I knew well, genuinely liked and had played with quite a bit. I knew they were good poker players too. And there was NuumbBono! I knew him too. I’d played a few tourneys with him plus we met in Vegas for WPBT and had a great time chatting Friday night.

I mean look at how much fun we were having.  Why couldn't I have him on my team?  I knew he was a good player too. These are the guys I wanted to align with but they weren’t on my team.

I wanted to set the wheels in motion before the game began. I emailed Riggs and got no response. Greeeeaaat. Then I checked out the blogs of some of my teammates and found that SmBoatDrinks had a twice weekly game. I introduced myself and played his game. I think there were 4 peeps and I think I won! Chatted a bit with Boat and asked him if he wanted an alliance all the way. The whole shebang down to the final 2. I promised no shenanigans and no backstabbing. He readily agreed. So before the game started I had my main alliance. It didn’t really matter who it was, but it mattered to have someone.

Shortly thereafter I got an email from Hoyazo….a very loooooooooong email. It talked about keeping the strongest players in the game and would I like to have an alliance with him until the merge. He very specifically mentioned wanting an alliance ONLY until the merge.

As I had only one alliance (boat) I was eager for another. I knew Hoy was thinking that he just needed to make it till the merge, then he’d group with his buddies like Goat and Jordan on the other team. I didn’t mind this. First of all, you have to get through today’s game and the next one. I wasn’t thinking about the merge at this point, I was focusing on surviving the next game and then the next after that. Having another warm body aligned with me was a very good thing. Plus I like how he was honest about not taking me to the end with him. It would’ve been very easy to just say “let’s have an alliance” and then jumped ship after the merge, but he didn’t play it that way. He gave me info instead.

So I agree with Hoy and tell him I have an alliance with Boat. I then suggest he hit up boat for a solid 3 way alliance and he agrees. Should I have told hoy about boat? I duno, but I had nothing to hide, I figured.

I’m liking this solid 3 alliance. I don’t really know how boat plays but I know how Hoy plays. He’s awesome. And wouldn’t you know it but game 1 happens, team fish is sucking ass and hoy is the only one left in the game. There were tons of donkeys in it and a few with more chips. I figure there’s no way our team gets immunity and we’re starting behind. I went to bed early before the game was over. The next morning I woke up and was kinda bummed about our performance and then I thought “Hoyazo….” Could he have done it?

Yes kids, he did! He won immunity for us so we didn’t have to vote. I’m now thrilled with my alliance. Team Donkey votes out NumbBono who’s a good player. Seems like such a dumb move to me. During team play you NEED the strongest players so you prevent your team from having to vote someone off. This is so important because you can’t win if you don’t have the numbers at the merge. Heh – I guess you CAN. ;)

Riggs never showed up. He didn’t show up for game 2 either, so when Team Fish lost immunity Riggs was an easy decision. We voted him out.

Game 3 – At this point I am not calling the shots. I’m laying low and voting with however the team says to. Team fish sucks at this game. Well, all of us but AlCantHang .  It was one of those nights when he just played great poker. I was out early so I was watching him as he was the last Team Fish member fighting for our immunity. He played a great game for HOURS but was outlasted by HeffMike We have to vote someone out. I received a few ims that told me we were all voting Al. WTF! After that game we just played? Why do we want to vote out a strong playa? Dumb move but nothing I can do to change things so I vote with the others. Adios Al! This is the first vote that bothers me.

Game 4: HeffMike puts a $40 superbounty on me just to make things interesting for this game. I don’t remember the game but I do know that I don’t go far. Our plan is to take out Dawn Summers if we have to. I haven’t had any contact with Dawn and don’t know her. I did, however, visit her blog for the first time during the Donkey Island series. She is an amazing writer and was thrilled with what I found there. Funny and poignant, she’s got the goods. Anyway plan is to take her out, but plans have a way of not working out. She gets immunity! Rut roh! Plan b! Hoy suggests Turtle and we agree. I was knocked out early and didn’t realize that I couldn’t vote in the morning. And um, I like my sleep, so I hit the hay while the game is still going on. Dumb, huh? I’ve stayed awake to the bitter end in all subsequent games though. Talk about learning the hard way. Since I didn’t vote, my vote went to ME.

The next morning I open my email and I see an email from Boat saying “Did you vote yet? Get on IM! We need to talk!” sent to me last night. Hmmmmm Then I read Heff’s post saying HOYAZO was voted out. I couldn’t believe it! Wtf! Are we voting off all the strong players? Shiat! Plus this blindside was done without my knowledge. I think that’s a bad sign for me. Usually the person in the dark is the next one voted out, so I do not like this. Boat told me he tried to tell me but I was snoring too loudly dammit!

At this point we are down. There are now 7 donkeys and only 5 fish. We are in a bad way! There are only 2 more team events before the merge.

So now my boy, Hoy is gone. Boooo! My other boy, Boat has made a last minute vote switch without discussing it with me. Oh and our team is down 2 players to the other. I do not like the situation I’m in at all. In fact, it sucks. But then deux ex machina happens and I get an email from JamyHawk.

Mind you I did not seek Jamy out – this just sort of fell in my lap. The first of many emails asks if I want a post merge alliance. He says that if I don’t Team Donkey will just pick off Team Fish (no shit Sherlock). Now why on earth would I say no to that? I have no other propositions so I agree. A lot of wheeling and dealing going on now. Jamy proposes a 4 man alliance, 2 fishes and 2 donkeys with the goal being taking out Julius Goat when the merge happened. I say I’ll bring boat to the table and ask who he’s bringing….and guess who it is? Jordan! I’m in baby! I don’t really think about the repercussions so much as I’m grasping at branches thinking I might be able to stay in this a little longer. I email Boat and tell him it’s time to play the game. I want him to join this secret 4 man alliance when the merge happens and he agrees. I really like this. The possibilities are endless although this means we are going to be abandoning our other fish teammates at some point.

So I was already for this to happen, but then Goat and his donkeys took out Jordan, just in the nick of time. Had he waited for the merge our plan would’ve trumped his. So another shocking blindside with Jordan out and Jamy replaces him with Muhctim. Oh yes, Muhctim. Jamy thinks he’s the go between for Muhctim and me, but Muhctim emails me himself and tells me he wants a super secret alliance. Not in those words exactly, but he says to let Jamy think we don’t talk and he’ll tell me everything he hears on Team Donkey. We've been comminicating via email and im but he says he has keyboard issues and needs my phone number.  Okay.....Damn that man called me alot.  FML I am not a phone person.  I'm just not, but this dude certainly was.  Normally when Gary would call, I'd be polite for 2.2 minutes then bu-bye, but I didn't want to rock the boat with Muhctim so I felt I couldn't blow him off.  Besides he promised me so many things. OMG But enough about that for now...

Now that the Donkeys have voted off Jordan there are 6 donkeys and 4 fish and we’ve merged. If all the fish band together along with Jamy and Muhctim, we can take out Goat or whoever we want. I start getting all our fish in a row and realize I/we can get this done. The thing is, I have no burning desire to take out Goat personally. I really don’t. On the contrary, I rather like him, perhaps more than these donkeys that I've just aligned with but they're with me for one reason, to off him. I dunno what to do. I can’t really email him and say “Goat, tonight you sleep with the fishes unless you take me to the final 2.” I mean that’s stupid. He already has alliances that he will honor. And even if he DOES believe me, once I no longer have the power to take him out will he really take me along with him? Blah – I’m supposed to be playing to win anyway, not concern myself with a guy I barely know. ( a very fucking funny guy – that point cannot be overstated) So I email him….hinting a bit…chatting a bit, without really getting to the heart of the matter. Nothing accomplished. Instead I make hay while the sun is shining and we take Goat out. Huge blindside.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Hoy. I never knew Hoyazo before Donkey Island, but after he got voted off we continued to chat about the game. Usually a post mortem after the game or I’d bounce some strategy ideas off him for a second opinion. He’s an ubersmart man and a great sounding board even though most of his advice was ‘You’re closer to the action than I am, you have to go on your instincts”. Yoda crap like that. He gave me solid general advice throughout (mainly about not donking off chips) and I am indebted to him for that. I would think things out not just for the current game but what the repercussions would be for the next game and so on. I thought of a lot of different strategies and scenarios and tended to bounce most of them off Hoy. He responded to my gajillion ideas and requests and never once was his response “stfu”. Thank you Hoy baby.

Btw Hoy wasn't a huge fan of the alliance with  Jamy/Muhctim.  He had reservations about it.  He thought they would blindside me when I least expected it but in the end I made my decision.  I knew he was possibly right but at that point team fish didn't have the numbers and we had to do something.

Okay what you’ve just read is THE BORING STUFF. This is where it really gets good but I have to make a break somewhere.

Stay tuned for Part II:

Josie verbally abuses guys with words she didn’t even know existed.

TONIGHT IS THE FINAL GAME 9:30PM ON FULL TILT POKER.  Play with us while I last longer than SmBoatDrinks.  He doesn't have a chance.  Password is survive.

Play smart and vote for Very Josie.

Josie