It was 1997. I had just moved from Ohio, where 98% of my opponents were white, to Northern California, where 80% of my opponents were Asian. Right away I made buddies with a few Chinese guys, let's call them Moe, Joe, and Larry.
One night all four of us are playing in the same 9-handed limit hold'em game. We're all sitting at the same end of the table. I get in a headsup pot against a Chinese guy from the other end of the table who I'd never seen before. I make my hand on the river and I bet it. He calls my bet and I turn my hand over and he sees it and he shakes his head a little and he says, "Mucka hi."
A few minutes later, the same thing happens against the same guy. We get in a pot, I suckout, he looks a little disgruntled, but calm, and he says, "Mucka hi."
I turn to my buddy Moe sitting next to me and I quietly ask, "What's that mean?" Moe whispers his reply in my ear, "It means 'nice hand.'"
And I'm thinking, cool! I just learned my first Chinese! Mucka hi. Nice hand. Mucka hi. Nice hand. I have to remember that. Mucka hi. Okay, I got it.
An hour later, I played a pot against a Chinese man who had just recently joined the game. On the river, he bet, and I folded. I could hardly contain myself, I was so excited to say my first Chinese.
"Mucka hi," I said. I tapped the table slightly and politely, and I said it again. "Mucka hi." With his face pointed down, my opponent's eyes slowly came up to level with mine. The reply I expected was "thank you." But that's not at all what his laser beam angry eyes were saying to me.
Meanwhile, Moe, Joe, and Larry were giggling away and having a grand old time.
Care to guess what "mucka hi" really means? I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with "other trucker."
© Tommy Angelo 2006
Various updates:
I started a blog in 2008 and it’s still going strong. I post about poker, mindfulness, and my life.
In 2011, I came out with my second book. It's called A Rubber Band Story and Other Poker Tales. This book contains my best articles and blogs from the last 12 years, with new material too. You can buy it directly from me and get it personally inscribed if you like, here. Also available in eBook. Amazon reviews are here.
Also in 2011, I started a newsletter. Join my mailing list to receive the newsletter, and I'll send you Episode 8 of my award-winning video series, The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment.
It’s now 2012 and I am painlessly immersed in writing my third book: Painless Poker.