"He was stacking his deck. That's how he got those quick wins."

In 7 years of judging I've heard that a lot.

Is it true? Maybe.

You know, sometimes stuff happens. Stuff like: Draw, discard Rare Candy to evolve Horsea to Kingdra, attach water energy to Kingdra, place Buck's Training, draw 2, attach plus power, discard 2 cards for Kingdra's attack, "Good Game".

More than once in a tourney? Maybe not exactly like that each time....

A couple of months ago I spoke with PokéGym members Cameraman, The Thunder Don and The-Fire-Don about the first ever sanctioned Team Sealed Pre-release. Team Format is great for a lot of different focuses within the Pokemon TCG: strategy (3 players to anticipate, not just 1), family play (parent/child, siblings), parent involvement, learning the game (the stronger player helps the weaker). You can use decks that support each other's weakness or take a two pronged offensive strategy, or both! Their...

I'm posting this from the train to Santa Barbara. I'll be doing a pre-release there in about 3 hours. Its rainy, but the sea and mountains are beautiful still.

One of the things I enjoy about Pokémon is the travel. I used to patrol the California coast from San Diego to Marin in my late teens and twenties. Since getting involved with Organized Play I've done that again over the last 8 years... traveling to tournaments to play and to judge.

There have been a lot of good...

My wife loves to play games. Cards, Scrabble, Risk, Candyland -- it doesn't matter to her -- its all fun! She's also a collector. Antiques, Stamps, Star Wars Burger King glasses or Precious Moments -- they all give her great joy.

Scrooge that I am, games seem boring, same rules, same pieces, same dull colors. And, how much rent are those collections paying? It must be alot because they seem to get more room and better accommodations in my home than my tools and sports equipment!...