Mucka Hi

It was 1997. I had just moved from Ohio, where 98% of my opponents were white, to Northern California, where 80% of my opponents were Asian. Right away I made buddies with a few Chinese guys, let's call them Moe, Joe, and Larry.

One night all four of us are playing in the same 9-handed limit hold'em game. We're all sitting at the same end of the table. I get in a headsup pot against a Chinese guy from the other end of the table who I'd never seen before. I make my hand on the river and I bet it. He calls my bet and I turn my hand over and he sees it and he shakes his head a little and he says, "mucka hi."

A few minutes later, the same thing happens against the same guy. We get in a pot, I suckout, he looks a little disgruntled, but calm, and he says "mucka hi."

I turn to my buddy Moe sitting next to me and I quietly ask, "What's that mean?"

Moe whispers his reply in my ear, "What he says means 'nice hand.'"

And I'm thinking, cool! I just learned my first Chinese! Mucka hi. Nice hand. Mucka hi. Nice hand. I have to remember that. Mucka hi. Okay, I got it.

An hour later, I lost a pot against a Chinese man who had just recently joined the game. When I folded on the river, I could hardly contain myself, I was so excited to say my first Chinese.

"Mucka hi," I said. I tapped the table slightly and politely, and said it again. "Mucka hi."

With his face pointed down, my opponent's eyes slowly came up to level with mine. The reply I expected was "thank you." But that's not at all what his eyes were saying.

Meanwhile, Moe, Joe and Larry start snickering all around me.

Care to guess what mucka hi really means?

© Tommy Angelo 2006