Ladies and gentlemen Mr. Vandelay is in the building.

He’s a 38-year-old pee-wee MVP, his office is your local watering hole, and he can take your stack even when he can’t form a semi-coherent sentence. He’s the drunken master and he’s finally perfected his craft.

In the world of ultra-high stakes poker, Brunson has the Super System, Phil Gordon has the Little Green Book, and Mike L has the Drunken Monkey Style.

On the surface, Mike L appears to be muttering nonsensical idioms and falling off his chair in comic style that good only rival the late John Ritter. But in actuality he has caused his opponents to drop their guard and assume his calculated bets, raises, and re-raises are mere drunken behaviour. But when the hands over, it’s Mike who is raking in the pot.

Is he actually drunk? You bet. This isn’t a clever ruse but form of method “acting” that took years of perfecting.

It started when an under aged Mike was ordering rounds of terrible draught beer at a local establishment known as the Canton Ocean and playing poker for pennies in the gambling dungeon of 10 Lake Ave. From there it has taken two decades perfect his craft. It took hours and hours of poker beats, and litres and litres of Crown Royal. In season 3, we thought Mike had his style perfected, but he failed to seize his chance. After two more mediocre seasons, Mike had a revelation and let the rye flow like wine.

But why is this Drunken Monkey Style so effective? The first reason was mentioned above, causing opponents to drop their guard. The second is simple. It is something that has plagued Mike’s career: an inability to fully commit to his hands. In past non drunken games, we’ve all see him pull off his hat and proceed to rub his eyes and head muttering “Fuck! Shit! I know I shouldn’t do this!” This problem is essentially eliminated when alcohol is added into the situation. Mike doesn’t wait, he’s aggressive and relentless, most likely thinking, “If I lose, at least I am toasted! Nicely toasted.”

When you have nothing to lose, it’s easy to put everything on the line. The results? Time will tell at season’s end.