Blackjack said:Don't worry about it, Mike. I didn't know about what happened until somebody sent me a message with the news of his mother's passing.
Very sad news. Mike's going through a tough time. Like him or not, it took a lot of balls for Mike to show up in NJ and play as well as he did. If faced with the same situation, most players would have elected to skip the event altogether. Mike decided to play despite what was going on in his life. It is too bad that the forfeit occurred.
The forfeit is overshadowing the more important issue - which is the loss of a parent. That is never an easy situation to deal with emotionally. I'm sure that anybody that has experienced the loss of a parent will understand what he was going through.
I spoke to him that first day and I could tell he was not his outgoing self. Plus he is relocating to California and will not see his kids as frequently and you could tell his head was not 100% there. I commend him for being there and playing.