Mikey actually Moved down to Southern Oregon around Medford I think.Rumor had it that he made one trip to Portland to gamble but didn't do well.He is said to be working allot and playing little or not at all.I did see him and Linda at a casino tourney down there last summer.
I saw him in Medford when I went on a business trip with my wife and sister-in-law. He ended up playing (and winning) the barbox tournament they had on the Diamonds one of the nights I was there.
He seemed to be hitting them about 85-90% as well as I remember him hitting them back in the day, but I think I am a better player now than I was then (at least I am according to Clark Smith, lol), so that may be due to a skewed perception.
I had heard some players in the local area commenting how Mike "wasn't THAT good", and that they were commenting on how they had such and such and so and so BCA Grandmasters in the area, and when I talked to Mike later after the tourney, he told me it was BS. He said there were no other BCA Grandmasters in the area, and that there was no one in the area who had even a chance against him.
And I believe him.

All that talk was prolly just a bunch of local B players who can't identify real talent. Mike was a dominant player back when I was in Washington, and he was winning tournaments over Horsfall, Dan Louie, etc...
I believe one of his main strengths was that he consistently played safe off balls on the head rail, and got behind balls near the foot rail. he had REALLY good control of speed off long multi-rail safes like this, from his background as a very good three cushion player.
Not having any strong competition in the Medford area may have hurt Mike's game just a little.
Russ