Party Poker Blog

Alrighty then, thanks for reading and please come back. I'll be back with a regular post tomorrow.

Shill groveling alert: Sign up with IGGY on
Party if you are silly enough to not currently be playing there. Use IGGY1 for a $100 bonus on Empire (the same damn site!) if you want to play under a new name.

Saw this post on 2+2. Jason from Poker Odyssey blog taking a break:

---

Well, it's a little after 5am as I write this and I'm dog tired. I've been wanting to make this post for about a week now, but had to think some things through before I did.

I've decided to take some time off from writing my "Poker Odyssey" updates. This will be the last post for the foreseeable future, although I may decide to bring the Odyssey back at a later date.

There are a variety of reasons I'm putting my writing on hold, but mostly it's because I feel like my updates all sound the same anymore and they are starting to hamper my growth as a player rather than improve it. I've realized I'm at the point of my "career" where I need to just play the game and gain experience at the tables. Up until this point I was discovering new things about the game every time I turned around, now the revelations are less frequent (but usually more profound). I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert, but I am now aware of the fact the new lessons will only be learned after many hours at the tables.

I don't want this to turn into another "I'm turning pro" post. Seems like there's one of those going up every other day. Fact is, I'm already a pro (I've only worked a job for six weeks out of the last six months), but I need to start acting (and playing) like one. I've always had a problem playing enough hours to support myself. As one of my friends would say, I've fallen into the "earnings = expenses trap". Meaning I always make enough to get by, but I'm not going anywhere. I've been stuck in the same rut for the last six months and it's getting old.

In that regard, I've decided to focus on poker for the next six months. I need to put in some serious hours, some serious study, and see what happens. I feel that six months is a long enough period of time for me to ascertain if poker is "in my blood" so to speak. At the same time six months is short enough that I can still get back into the job market if discover that it's not. At the end of summer I plan to reevaluate my options and make a more long-term decision.

I've also decided I'm going to spend the next month in "lurk" mode. I want to take some time to step back and observe what others have to say, as well as do some exploring in the strategy forums...there are many areas of 2+2 I wish I read more of, so this will be a good opportunity to do so.

I wish all of you the best of luck in February....I'll see you again in March.

Peace,
Jason

---

I wish him good luck, of course.

I wouldn't enjoy poker nearly as much if I HAD to play it, to earn a living.

Also, I've been meaning to post this excellent story from Felicia with her permission.

-

In the old days, you were not allowed to call an all-in if YOU didn't have the all-in covered! There were no side-pots. If you couldn't cover the guy's bet, you couldn't call. This was to prevent short-buys, obviously. That is why guys were giving up rings, watches, wagons, homes, etc. That is how we got the term, "the nuts," because men would bring into the saloon the lug nuts from their wagons, since they were usually heavily loaded with goods from a shopping trip, and therefore susceptible to theft.

They would put the lug nuts into a pouch, then, if they couldn't cover a bet with cash, or just wanted to use their wagon as currency, they could bet the lug nuts, basically putting their wagon up as a bet, or calling an all-in, with "the nuts."

-

And a hearty CHEERS to PokerGrub for writing a great post about poker blogging and WINNING a limit multi-table tournament. Wooohoo! Way to go, Grubby!

I'm in the midst of a multi NL table myself, so I'm gonna make this short.

Thanks BG, I'm following your advice and taking New England. :)

Mike Laing and Howard Lederer Poker Blogs

"Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow."
Proverbs 13:11

My regular readers will recognize my "prayer for the grinder" that my wife taped to my monitor, months ago. After the Russ Gorgiev's scam web launch, the verse above seems even more apropos.

I've posted in the past about online cheating. I have some concerns. But CJ, at Up for Poker, has a solid take on it so I'll link to him.

Not everyone is crazy like me and reads 'everything poker' on the web, deciding what is worthy and what isn't. After all, that's why you come here, I hope. So I had a tough call on this one, but in the interest of players who haven't been around a long time, let me share this online poker drama, still unfolding....

In 2+2, there was a very respected poster (3,500 posts, named Ulysses). He said he had found pattern mapping on Party Poker - he could predict most of the time, 4th and 5th street cards. He had the software and was willing to publicly test it, which he has been doing repeatedly.

Pattern mapping. It's taken over 2+2. Dig into the internet forum - keep digging. You won't believe it. I went 12 pages deep and was overwhelmed with posts.

An RGP post about it:

--
About a year ago, Game Show Network ran a special (ad nauseam) about the
man who won an extraordinary sum of money on Press Your Luck back in the
1980's. They fully explained how he, after videotaping past shows, had
noticed how the game board squares would flash in one of several
pre-determined patterns. He was able to, once identifying the 'pattern'
being used, stop the spinner on the big money squares. The big shots in
the booth realized (at least they claim they did on the show) that someone
had finally figured out the secret, and immediately either changed or
re-worked their programming.

I also remember years ago reading Ken Uston's book on beating the Pac-Man arcade game; after learning that the ghosts followed particular patterns, the game was never quite the same for me.
--

So go read. I wonder how many people emailed him sincerely, offering big money for said software.

I'm not saying something like this isn't possible but, I think the length of time for which one falls for this is proportional to one's poker hand reading skills.

I really need to fix my blogroll links. There's several blogs on the right that simply never update. The guys who post all the time need to be in their own section.

Speaking of poker blogs, let's pimp a few of the new guys/gals!

LOL, he compares me to a bloodhound in tracking new blogs. In addition to posting daily about poker (Choice Poker? WTF?), He gives his football picks, too. I always bet $100 on the SuperBowl but usually lose. BG? Will New England cover?
Go give him some poker blogger support.
The Daily Grind

She's actually not new but she's a friend of Decker's. Nuff said.
She's on her way to Vegas:
shaynamouse

Most folks have seen TightPocket. He recently bought a FragBox. If any poker bloggers want to play Quake 3, one on one against Royal for money, I'll give you 3-1. Royal was once one of the best in the country in Q3 dueling, winning the Midwest qualifier years ago.

You'd have a better shot at beating him in poker. Minus EV, either way.

Per the WSOP, I think it was Tom McEvoy who said, if you can't win your way into a tournament, you shouldn't play in it. So sure, I may try some satellites at the WSOP.

A local writer friend of mine (and poker buddy), Dann, is thinking about trying to get a free-lance writing gig to the WSOP this year. I'd tag along, giving him a local player to embarrass while he writes his piece. This is likely a recipe for jail-time, but it probably will make for a compelling read. Dann recently published THE book on the opening of Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. If you are a baseball fan or local, please check it out.
Opening Day at Great American Ball Park

WSOP Info posted by tourney director, Matt Savage:
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$125 Double Shootouts- for the $10,000 Word Championship Opening Day through Wednesday April 21st $225/ $200 Supersatellites for the $10,000 World Championship April 22- May 20 at 3pm and 7:45pm Single Table Satellites for World Series of Poker Events begin April 21st

Turn $50 into Millions- Win your seat into the evening supers starting April
22nd $225 Second Chance Tournaments starting April 22nd at 10:45pm
-

In rooting through the 2+2 posts, I found Lori (or Lorinda as I remember her by) posting her poker bio. Interesting read, considering how long she has been around.
Lorinda

Woohoo, another new blogger. Has poker blogging jumped the shark? I think not.
Fish with a Pole
--
I really need to work on my poker math. I get too caught up in the hand to think about how many outs I have and what the pot odds are before calling.
--

Let's do poker news next, shall we?

The $1,000,000 Prima Poker World Tour 2004 Flies First Class
--
The Prima Poker Tour 2004 - A Million Dollars in Entry Fees to 14 poker festivals in 7 countries, making this the largest Global tour in Poker History.

PrimaPoker.com has set a new record with the largest terrestrial sponsorship in the history of poker by backing the world famous Hendon Mob on their second global escapade. The Mob will challenge the world's best poker players as they compete in 14 of the most prestigious poker festivals across 7 countries over the next 12 months.
--

I can't wait. Will we see Party Poker ads on SuperBowl Sunday?
Ads for Gambling Sites Abound Despite Legal Crackdown on Media

Online wagering. Naysayers be damned.
Cashing in
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So why can't the law enforcement authorities shut down the industry? Location, location, location.
--

For the love of God, will the media please stop writing about poker so I can actually play?
Are you ready for some ... poker?
Card game has become one of TV's hottest crazes
--
“We went five years when our newsletter went out to 3,000 people a month,” Barry Shulman says. “In December, it went out to 16,000 people. This month, it went out to 28,000. Our Internet site went from 800 people a day to 10,000 a day.
--

From Florida:
The big deal about poker
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Miller says he got the idea to bring poker to NBC Sports when his 14-year-old son, Bobby, dropped his video games and started playing poker. Now, they play and watch poker together.
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Dann's buddy wrote this article in the Dayton Daily News mostly about Mike Sexton, a Dayton native:
Passion for poker
--
"Last week, Tiger Woods was sitting at that table right next to you," she said, "and none of these guys even approached him or wanted his autograph."
--

This is a TGIF post. Oh the humanity. I've almost blacked out at this point.

The poker blogger NL SNG will be a reality. I may post an additional bounty on my head - the player that knocks me out gets a bonus.

Thanks for reading. It's difficult to post great poker content, day after day.

Russ Gorgiev sucks.

I'm gonna go play some damn poker.

Link of the Day:
Bonsai Kitten

I'll be up with a regular post in a bit. Still very surprised that after YEARS of talking about this, Russ FINALLY goes live with his website and only posts a few "columns" (re-posts of the same crap he's posted on RGP 800 times) and as the finishing touch, a membership page that offers all of his "wisdom" for $30 a month. I hope nobody is stupid enough to give a lifelong poker cheat their credit card number.

PokerMafia is up. What a joke. It took six months to deliver this POS? I thought it would be bad, but not this bad.

I want to post some of the responses now that he's finally up. Oh the humanity.

---
Russ has had some "word definition issues" in the past.
For example, "soon" means "never". "Never" means "every so often". "I stated" means "I never said". "Game over" means "game just beginning". "Hours away" means "never". "Coming in September '04" means "Coming in May, 2013". "Paul Lee" means "somebody other than Paul Lee". "Chip and Doyle" means "I can't get in the Bellagio".
"Doug Dalton" means "I'm drunk on champagne". And the ever popular, "black" means "white", and "up" means "down". Radio Shack sells a nifty little translator for $19.95 with a state-of-the-art RWS (Random Word Shuffler) that will translate these Multi-Pluto concepts for you.

He announces that he's cheating the very people online that he's trying to recruit to come to his website. I don't remember that idea being mentioned in Business 101.
---
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

I haven't laughed like that in a LONG time. GCB slapped theirs
together in 1/12th the time, and it looks 100 times better.

LOL thanks for the laugh Russ. I was expecting it to be bad, but
wow..you really exceeded my expectations!
--
Hey, Russ. Question: what happened to all the name players you
accused of cheating on RGP? You were throwing their names around
pretty loosely here. But I don't see any of their names mentioned on
your site. All those accusations-- it's like they suddenly vanished.
Some of us got the impression this was going to be a website being run
by Big Balls Russ. Is this the new sanitized, white-bread,
Hung-Like-A-Buck-Field-Mouse Russ, or did some lawyers explain some
stuff to you?

Signed,
Disillusioned
--
-
Wow, www.PolkaMafia.com severely outclasses this site in every way. Kind
of funny when the parody exceeds the original by so much.
-

Building and Launching a Website

In an attempt to follow in the footsteps of www.polkamafia.com, other
GCx organizations have tried launching websites of their own, and have
been met with staunch failure. What follows is a primer on correctly
building and launching your very own scumbag-run website.

First, gather and collect as many monkeys as you can. The more the
better. Next, you will need typewriters…LOTS of typewriters. Put
said monkeys in front of said typewriters and watch as they start
pounding away at the keys. Wait 5 years.

Next, announce to the world that your website will be open and running
soon. Give a false launch date. Check on progress of monkeys. By
this time, the monkeys should have produced some usable information.
Don't worry if the writing is poor or the content completely made up.
Post it anyway on RGP. Announce at the end that you website is coming
soon.

After you miss the first deadline, announce that the website is so
awesomely spectacular that it is taking longer than planned. Return
to Monkeys. Some will have died by now, but that's okay. Make love
to the corpses, and discard. Get new monkeys.

For a period of 3-10 years, continue to promise the website will be
coming soon. By now, the monkeys should have produced enough
gibberish to provide you with plenty of posts and website "content."

Of course, most of the monkeys at this time will be dead, but that is
okay. At this stage, you DO NOT need more monkeys. Simply repost old
posts, over and over again. This is very effective, and also prevents
all the refutations and negative replies made to the original post
away from the eyes of unsuspecting new readers. Make sure you claim
you are a world class cheat and high stakes player. Sure, people will
laugh, but fuck ‘em, who are they to say that 1-2 hold'em isn't high
stakes?

Next, buy "Web Design for Dummies." Read the back panel, and start to
build your website. If you really need help, find a few more monkeys.

Now, here is where most GCx organizations go wrong. BEFORE LAUNCHING
YOUR WEBSITE make sure it has actual content, design, a good layout,
and is easy to access. DO NOT just put up any old cookie-cutter
webpage with broken links, stolen fonts and graphics, and no content.
The people who read this forum are incredibly stupid and naïve, but
they are not THAT stupid.

Remember, you supposedly spent 10+ years building this thing. It has
to look better than a standard "Geocities" home page.

Launch, and watch the idiots come to you. If you are dumb enough to
put something up that is so bad it causes violent eruptions of
laughter, then even your biggest supporters will begin to realize what
a fraud you are, and that is bad. (Of course, only a true moron would
do something like this.)


If you are caught red-handed with an inferior product, you need to act
fast. Make something up. Tell them you were to preoccupied to build
the site because you were busy scamming people out of $3,000 a day
playing online poker. Something ridiculously silly like that.
Hopefully, the truly brain dead will believe you, and not question why
someone supposedly making more than $1 million a year would be
divulging his secrets for $39.95.

And that's really all there is to it. When we launched
www.polkamafia.com, we expected a few fish to come and visit. We had
no idea that we would average close to 75,000 hits and 1,500 visitors
per day. But then again, we are GCB, and the imitators simply don't
stack up.


Ralph Jorjerkoff
Webgod, and founder of GCB's www.polkamafia.com
--

PartyPoker.net Poker Blog

"Why Ike, whatever do you mean? Maybe poker's just not your game. I know! Let's have a spelling contest!"
Doc Holliday

Is the poker blogger tourney a reality? Stay tuned.

This poker blog thing is catching on. Hell, poker fever is getting out of control. I simply jumped on here to bang out a few poker thoughts, yet now I'm seeing a few new blogs and plenty of poker news coverage. Egads!

So anyway, a huge thanks to PokerSavvy for allowing me to write about our humble poker blogspace. I really wanted to whine about how difficult it is to post good content, night after night, or to rip on 2+2, but Jay wouldn't let me. :)

I played nearly two hours worth of 3.6 last evening and only won $40. Suffered one bad beat that cost me most of my profit. I think my opponent was playing with a pattern mapper.

I'm trying to be extremely cognizant of my starting hands since I shifted from NL back to grinding. And the lowered implied odds playing limit, post-flop. Hand values shift quite a bit, so I'm sticking to uber-tight pre-flop and letting the flop define my hand. Standard grinding mentality and it works.

Grinding rules.

I'd love to pontificate about grinding but my linkage is calling. Plenty of it, poker is STILL hot.

So let's start off with the latest poker news, shall we?

Woohoo, a Phil Helmuth interview! The author also slags American players. Must read. I'm not going to ruin the fun by quoting Phil, you go check it out and tell me your favorite line.
Laying his cards on the table
Self confessed 'Poker Brat' Phil Helmuth tells Stuart Foster how to Play Poker like the Pros
--
And with poker (as opposed to blackjack or roulette), there is genuine scope to make positive profits in the long run - if you're smart. Thus poker has become a game played a lot by UK students who, with a little more care on a low-limit table, can make a lot of beer money off wealthier, more stupid Americans.
--

Play Poker like the Pros = Worst Poker Book Ever. Poor Phil Helmuth. Hey Gene, where's my damn post about Phil you keep promising?

Chicago Tribune (subscription)
America's love of poker a winning hand for TV
--
"In every aspect of life, business or home, poker plays a big part," Cycalona "Clonie" Gowen said. "You need to be disciplined. You need to be very disciplined. You have to have an extreme intuition about people." The game is a psychological exercise, she said — figuring who's bluffing, who's not. "What is going through the players' minds? It's complicated. It's a learning process."
--

From Washington State we have this commentary:
Betting on poker
The Columbian
--
Teeny said, "There isn't a card room in the country that hasn't had some kind of increase in their play (because of televised poker). It's been a huge, huge boost all of the way around. ... Right now, though, you have Fox and ESPN and the Travel Channel.
--

Interesting take on a video poker player shifting to real hold em:
You, too, can fight poker-style depression
Biloxi Sun Herald
--
"Linda, you're one of the most disciplined video poker players I've seen, but the discipline you have for video poker isn't half what you're gonna' need for poker."
--

Disciplined video poker player? Oh the humanity.

When will poker jump the shark? I keep finding these "poker is a cultural juggernaut" columns, night after night. Columnists always explaining to readers the how's and why's of poker's surging popularity, always with the Moneymaker reference. As someone who has documented this insanity for many months now, I'm not jaded, but continually stunned by poker's foray into the mainstream. I should tithe Chris Moneymaker 5% of my yearly poker income.

San Fran's Mercury News: Arts & Entertainment section, front page:
TV Draws An Ace
PROFESSIONAL, CELEBRITY CARD SHARKS ARE RIDING CREST OF AIRWAVES, BOOSTING RENEWED INTEREST IN POKER
--
Last year, card clubs and casinos across the country saw a 20 to 25 percent jump in play. Two years ago, Los Angeles' Bicycle Casino nearly folded its hold 'em tournament because just 35 people bought in at $5,000 for a seat. This year, more than 300 put down their money. Traffic on Internet poker sites more than tripled between late spring and the end of last year, according to PokerPulse.com, which tracks action on the top 15 sites.
--

Cable channels raise poker stakes
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
----
"It's a great game, and it's a very social game," Steve Lipscomb said. "Poker is to cards and games what jazz is to music. It's this great American thing, born and bred here. We dig it because everybody can play."

Except, like jazz, poker needs some finesse, a hook.
----

World Poker Tour Events Continue Dramatic Growth
367 Players Contend for $3,455,075 Million in the High Stakes WPT Tournament
--
The increase in players catapults the total prize money to $3,455,075 million, including the $25,000 WPT contributed to the prize pool. With such an enormous and record-setting prize pool for the tournament, players down to 27th place will go home with a nice payday, and the winner will capture a top prize of $1,278,370. Last year's champion David "Devilfish" Ulliott from England walked away with $589,990 when the prize pool totaled $1,600,000.
--

G, here is why Becky sucks:

Horseshoe Woes Continue: Sources: Medical bills unpaid
Former workers paid for insurance, but health care not covered
--
Some former non union employees, which could number up to 1,000 over the past two years, have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection, have had their credit ratings wrecked and have had to cover their health-care costs themselves despite paying for insurance coverage.
--

She pocketed insurance deductions from employees for the last two years, leaving them without coverage. I had this happen to me, in my second job out of college. What a miserable, despicable excuse for a human being.

Good God, I'm too drunk tired to post anymore. I really just want to play some damn poker, rather than writing about it. I hope you all appreciate the time spent on this craziness.

Allow me to quickly blast my way through a couple blog posts:

Edward won $750 in the Empire tourney!

I've been meaning to link Stick and Move since he's been posting nearly every day. Good stuff. Plus he had this great quote, showing how mainstream poker is:
---
Bill Bennet was on Hannity and Colmes tonight talking about the N.H. primary. He said, and I paraphrase, "Well guys, if you follow the Wold Poker Tour, they'd say Kerry is a 90 percent favorite."
----

I have several new poker blogs to pimp, but I'm gonna save them for tomorrow.

Two looks to the future, per poker blogs: I'll be setting up an email address for a weekly "Ask Iggy" Question and Answer. Anything you wanna ask; feel free, suggest a post, flame about my hatred of vegans, just fire away and I'll try to address it.

Secondly, and more importantly, there is serious progress being made on the poker blogger tournament. I have found a reputable site who is interested in allowing us a private tournament.

Should we play two tables? I really have no clue how many bloggers wanna play anymore. It seems like forever since I initially brought the idea up.

My next idea? A new poker newsgroup. Pauly gave me the idea with his photoblog of poker bloggers.

Except this one will be called:
alt.binaries.erotica. pictures.pokerplayers

Again, thanks for reading. I wish I could have listed every single poker blog out there in the PokerSavvy article, but space constraints didn't allow it. My humble apologies to those I didn't have room for. Some of these new blogs are fast becoming favorites.

I encouraged a friend to sign up on Empire. He did, with the moniker THEFATGIRL. You Party players should do the same.

Party Poker & Empire Poker Deposit Bonus available with Bonus Code IGGY at Party, and IGGY1 for Empire! Please consider supporting this humble blog.

Link of the Day:
Who Wants to Be a Psychic Millionaire?
The James Randi Education Foundation has offered $1 million to any person who can show evidence of paranormal, supernatural, or occult powers. "Please be advised that several claimants have suffered great personal embarrassment after failing these tests," says Randi.

Phil Helmuth & Gus Hansen Poker Blogs

"Some people lose their heads cold sober. Cards, dice, pool; it makes no difference. You want to make a living that way, you want to be a winner, you got to keep your head. And you got to remember that there's a loser somewhere in you, whining at you, and you got to learn to cut his water off."
Bert, The Hustler

Yet another long post. Thanks for reading, all ten eleven of you.

The one downside to the exponential popularity of poker blogs is that I drink far too many Guinness's while digging through them all. I'm already lit up and I haven't yet begun pontificating.

Of course, PokerSavvy rules. Go read the article about poker blogging!
Apparently, my readers can put me on a hand pretty easily.

I *had* been struggling with the grinding aspect of limit poker from a diminishing returns perspective. It takes so much damn time (Mike Caro: the more you play, the more you win!) that I often feel my time is better spent focusing on some big buy-in multi-table NL tournaments, especially with the impending WSOP. But after three weeks of this, I realize my NL game is fine. No need to 'grind' at no-limit. Beating the low limits at Party Poker is literally shooting fish in a barrel. No-limit tournament play, however, is a state of mind.

So I'm firing up Pokertracker and sticking my grinder cap back on. All these new fish on Party Poker, coupled with the SuperBowl pre-game TV coverage, convinced me to go back to my roots.

But I'm glad I shifted gears for a bit. Stasis in poker = death. You constantly need to be evaluating your game, your mentality, your emotional quotient. The difference between the long-term winners and losers is character. Discipline.

And, of course, playing at Party, doesn't hurt.

Alrighty then, enough of my Guinness-fueled ramblings. Let's get to the poker links for the day, shall we? Great stuff here:

Newly updated blog from World Poker Tour pro, Richard Brodie.
Must read:
LionTales
--
Gus Hansen thought for a minute and then reraised himself all in. Several people gasped audibly. Gus was a very exciting player – you never knew what he had. Howard Lederer grimaced on the big blind, laying down a hand he would have liked to play under other circumstances, and I prayed for Gus to turn over Ace-King.
--

Richard is truly living the life. Poker, martini's and lobster tails. Plus he is a great writer. I hate Richard.

Everyone's favorite online poker pro, David Ross, updated on 2+2:
Playing online for a living week 39
-
Clearly in games where only 2 or 3 people see the flop, the implied odds aren’t there to chase sets and flushes with baby pairs and small suited connectors, so I’ve had to change my play with these hands, but I’m still not clear if my recent performances are a result of a) bad luck, b) bad play on my part, or c) a general toughening up of the games.
-

I've railed about the 2+2 software and hapless webmaster, Mat Sklansky many times (see prior posts) but I found an excellent tip about reading the forum in flat mode. Sure, you don't see the posts in chronological order, but does that really matter? Thanks Mat!
READ THIS if you don't know what flat mode is

Damn nepotism.

In another 2+2 needle in a haystack gem, earning $10,000 in Sit and Go's is still going strong, by inthacup. He's up to week three now. If you play SNG's - go read this now.
SnG Challenge week 3

Also, I saw a random past attempting to calculate what Party Poker makes a day in rake and entry fees. Fuzz and I have done the math on this and it's obscene. I'm not sure what the operating costs are, but suffice to say, *someone* is getting filthy rich.

How bout some blog linkage?

Tip of the cap to my man Royal for blogging on why play poker? Please see prior posts for background on Royal's journey. He is playing far beneath his bankroll only to learn and improve. How many of you can say the same? His topic and post is excellent brain food and I'll be posting on said subject very soon.
Update on Royal's Low Limit Quest:

Old school poker blogger, Mr. Decker, is back with an update.
--
As an avid online player, I used to feel I was in the minority when I sat down at the table. Now it seems that almost everyone is playing online. Even the elderly, who I would previously be surprised to find out could send an email, are now firing up PartyPoker on a regular basis.
--

Resident poker macro god, Chris H, posted about playing with scared money - another honest assesment of his game and mentality. And he's right, these are serious issues that must be dealt with. Just by admitting it, though, you're on your way to improvement.

I always enjoy Mean Gene's take on TV poker:
-
But this blog isn't about what plagues our society, it's about poker.
-

BG called me wise.
--
Even for those of us who are only dubiously connected to true poker content (coughgamblingbluescough), I know that this circle of Blog serves as part support group (I’m BG, and I’m an incorrigible gambler), part soap box (goddamn vegan poker players), part PartyPoker instruction manual (that’s IGGY as your bonus code people), and part sounding board for ideas, tips, and techniques.
--

Damn, I sure wish the Poker Comic would update his freaking blog. Pauly? Can you get this guy in a game?

Excellent trip report (long is always good in my book) here:
A Vegas virgin's First Time
I enjoyed the fact that he knew nothing about Vegas. Hell, when I moved there in '92 I knew NOTHING about Vegas outside of Kojak re-runs. But he discovered this truism quick enough:
--
I was then introduced to one of the Good Things About Vegas: You can always go somewhere else.
--

Best of all, his buddy gil won a tourney (besting oldie and slimey) for $1800 and a "tournament winner" jacket that didn't fit.

Anisotropy
has a fine trip report to Borgata in Atlantic City.

Hdouble talks about suited connectors. Always good stuff here.

And for my local readers, here is a trip report to Caesers in Indiana. Road trip, anyone? Rick?
http://www.cardplayer.diary-x.com/

Damn poker blogs and their fine content. Take the time and read em.

poker blogs > RGP and 2+2 combined

K, ready for poker news links:

It’s a full house
Texas Hold’em finds new players, thanks to television programs and casino tournaments
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Welcome to the biggest boom in poker since Kenny Rogers sang about the game 20 years ago. And once again we can thank popular entertainment for the interest. Shows like "The World Series of Poker" on ESPN, "Celebrity Poker" on Bravo and "The World Poker Tour" on the Travel Channel have made the game a hot commodity that's getting hotter.
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More positive poker press from TV critics:
Separating the ‘worth watching’ from the ‘should-be canceleds’
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The best actors on television are certainly not on "Will and Grace" or whatever is passing for situational comedy this week. Nope, not on any of your favorite dramas either, folks. The best actors on the tube are guys such as Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Helmuth and my personal favorite Chris Moneymaker. Confused? Then you obviously haven't caught any episodes of the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel. I pity you. Oh, and I'm all in.
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Hooking the kids. That's the key. Poker at Loyola this time.
LC puts on its poker face
The Grayhound
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The flop, the turn, the river: all terms that have become popular buzzwords on college campuses, in pool halls and in casinos across the country with the recent explosion of No Limit Texas Hold'Em.
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Oh the humanity. Thank you poker Gods.

Again, I feel like I am at the right place at the right time. People giving their money away. Party Poker is the deepest vein in this gold rush.

I'll wax poetic about this tomorrow. I'm too drunk tired now.

Shill alert: Empire Poker is the EXACT same site as Party Poker. Sign up with Bonus Code IGGY1 on Empire to take advantage of a new identity. It's the SAME site as Party. Plus, there are some serious +EV tournaments on Empire.

Thanks for reading.

Link of the Day:
Healthy Human Children for Sale
"Black-Market-Babies.com is one-of-a-kind: a full-service, fee-based adoption agency. It's safe, fast, and in many ways legal. And it's guaranteed. If you're not satisfied after 30 days, simply return your child in good condition, in the box it came in, for a full refund. We'll even pay the postage!"

Drew Carey & Stuey Unger Poker Blogs

"Beware, above all, of the man who simply tells you he broke even.
He is the big winner."
Anthony Holden, Big Deal

I picked up my first roto baseball magazine yesterday, which is always cause for celebration in these deep winter months. The first sign of impending spring.

Allow me to again state I'm somewhat in a state of flux regarding which poker game to focus on. I dislike having to set aside 5-7 hours to play no-limit tournaments but what with the impending WSOP, I'm trying to get my NL game into fighting shape. That being said, I can't afford the time to play a tournament seven nights a week. And I hate muddying the poker waters by jumping back and forth between NL and grinding. I know I'm better suited to focus on one or the other, so I'm contemplating taking a brief poker sabbatical to clear my head and perhaps heading back to study-mode. We'll see.

I honestly don't have any serious aspirations to play in the WSOP. The field will be HUGE this year and the tournament grueling. Will I try to win a seat online? Prolly. Would I sell my seat if I won one? Prolly.

First and foremost, I need to check the statute of limitations to ensure it's safe to return to Nevada.

But I'd love to play for the experience of it - to absorb the aura of the Big One; Binion's or no Binion's. And let's face it, even 20th place is gonna be a nice little check.

I'm rambling here, but the WSOP is every amateur players dream. A chance to dance with the big-boys. I'm even thinking about foregoing my annual spring training trip to Florida to attend the WSOP this year. Prolly won't happen, but we'll see.

I wish PokerStars would announce if they are going to allow FPP to be utilized in the WSOP satellites like last year. That's excellent marketing and one that would provide enough incentive for players to shift their game to Stars for a few months.

I'm sure many of my readers are familiar with Russ Gorgiev, of GCA poker cheating fame. Go read the RGP archives (or mine) for further info on the craziness this guy has inflicted on poker (he single-handedly destroyed RGP, imho). Anyway, someone got tired of waiting for Russ and his Poker Mafia web site and created the PolkaMafia site as a tribute.

Go visit now:
PolkaMafia

A hearty Cheers and a Guinness for whomever is behind this site.

My favorite comment on RGP regarding this (following up a Russ alias post):
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Really Rusty? Who would that be? Are you waiting for your own website to open? You said it was ready over 3 months ago. With you and your sock puppets alone, that could make a few dozen members. Anyways, you've already reposted everything you know about 300 times, what is there to see?

I think I'll just wait for the sun to burn out, that will probably be a
lot sooner.
--

I still remember the post where Russ claimed to be making 25k a month in online poker. I wonder if he's also spending that much to get his damn website up and running?

/Segue

Hollywood Home Game starts tonight on the Travel Channel
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Jack Black, Drew Carey, Steve Harris, Aisha Tyler, Fred Savage and Mimi Rogers have descended on a Hollywood soundstage to make their WPT dreams come true — and take a shot at winning a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship.
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And another, from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:
Carey antes up for library
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No matter what kind of hand Drew Carey draws on Sunday night's "The World Poker Tour Celebrity/Charity Special," he'll be aces with the Cleveland Public Library.
For the second time on a game show, charity gambler Carey has pledged all his winnings to a library system. The high-stakes game will air on the Travel Channel tonight at 9 p.m.
--

I'm a cableless loser so I'm looking forward to reading about it tomorrow.

Yikes, 34,000 on Party Poker right now! It wasn't too long ago that I was bemused, wondering how long it would take for Party to hit 40,000 poker players. Sooner, rather than later, it appears. I really need to drop this NL tourney nonsense and get back to the business of grinding and tracking the fish. Making money.

My two cents to Felicia, the most popular poker blogger out there: Please, PLEASE get off Yahoo and move to a more user-friendly environment. You are easily one of my faves, but the email digest has got to go. By moving to a web-based format, your readership will only increase exponentially. But more importantly, I'm praying for your bump to be nuthin of importance. I've been in that spot before and I know how frightening it can be. Certainly puts things in perspective.

Felicia rules.

I'd be remiss if I didn't wish Hdouble and his wife a happy first year anniversary!

Thanks for reading my Guinness-fueled ramblings and consider starting your own poker blog. It might even help your game.

Link of the Day:
Love in All the Wrong Places
Finding love in the 21st century is hard, as you can see by reading the logs of AOL chat conversations with the artificial intelligence cock-tease VixenLove and an endless string of would-be suitors.