Who Is Joey "The Mush" Straub?
Joey "The Mush" Straub is a best friend of Ryan Depaulo Degenerate Gambler and a gambling buddy of his as well. He has been a part of Ryan's vlog since the beginning, making frequent guest experiences with their other friend Tom as well! Joey initially made his appearence in a vlog where he ended up hitting 4 jackpots ($4,000, $2,000, $1,000, $800) on video poker...and then never won a single jackpot / all in after. Some say every ounce of luck Joey had in his being was used up in that first vlog, and to this day he is still chasing that 'hit a jackpot' feel.
Ryan Depaulo has made an attempt recently to teach Joey his ways, showing him how to avoid getting "riv'd" (Rivered in Mush Speak) in all of his tournaments and how to effectively win his all in's, something that joey has never been to do since that 4 Jackpot Trip. The exact montage where Ryan shows Joey how to become a better poker player is shown in this section, check it out for yourself!
The Mush Victim Meter
Joey has had many other features in vlogs where he is being a mush. He always finds so much happiness in the idea of winning in video poker. The first picture in this section is of him as soon as he sits down for a video poker session, whereas the second picture is immediately after one of those sessions in the casino cafeteria, where the mush is explaining how unlucky he is to Ryan. Ryan likes to rate this mush mode by using a degen "Mush Victim Meter", which is rated from 0 - 10. Now Joey is honestly incapable of holding a rating below 3 for more than a few minutes, so generally speaking it ranges from 3-10. The second picture indicates a mush level of around 9, with the possiblity of reaching 10 as ryan is a great aggravator for increasing his Victim Level.
How Did Ryan And The Mush Meet?
I'm sure you're wondering at this point how this degenerate gambler and mush came to know each other. Well you scrolled down to the right section!
The first time Ryan and Joey laid eyes on each other was when the FT bubble burst of the $200 Daily $20k Guarentee at Borgata in late 2004. Joey, who was on an absolute heater, came into the Final Table as clear chip leader, having over 3x the stack of the person in second. Ryan came in with a baby stack of around 5 Big Blinds, and ended up grinding it all the way up to 2nd in chips after consecutive double ups through Joey. "Riv'd Again", Joey said after a K hit the river in a 3 way pot between the final 3 players. Ryan, holding KJ hit his 3 outer against Joey's QQ, and the 3rd place finishers JJ. The next hand ended up being the last, as Ryan just open shoved 35bb with A3s, with a snap call coming from Joey's KK. Joey, with a slightly smaller chipstack fell to the ground when the A hit the river, eliminating him in second for a cash prize of $3555, while Ryan ended up taking home the trophy and $6235.
This picture was taken right before the fateful hand with Joey (Pictured left), already knowing that he was holding KK and just waiting to snap call Ryan's Shove (Pictured Right).
Ryan Depaulo ended up lifting Joey up from the ground telling him he was sorry, and that he would go buy him a beer and dinner for crushing his soul that entire Final Table. Ryan knew that in order for him to have a successful poker career, he needed to keep the Mush around as he was great luck for him, as long as he was at least a poker table length away from him while he was gambling, thus creating the inevitable bond you see in the vlogs today.
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