We've had some weighty issues of late. From a 30,000 foot view, it's all good. The conversations and debates are well worth the time and effort, I think, as it helps define what we are expecting of the poker community and those who work to provide venues and opportunities to play the game. In the past month or so we've discussed and debated issues like tournament structures, rake, acceptable profitability for game organizers, and finally, cheating. To me, these are all natural signs of a growing community coming out and defining expectations as well as learning.
Well, a little bit of diarizing now. After all, that's what blogs were originally intended to be, n'est-ce pas (diba)?
Came back from Marco and Ed's 1.5K+300 at the ACF, with a crappy taste in my mouth (was it all those Marlboro lights?) after having bubbled to a runner-runner flush. Just another bad beat, I guess. I feel a little crappy about it cuz in my mind I actually played the best tourney poker i have in a long time, online included (and I play a lotta those). But, please be clear: the beat on the bubble aside, the PBT guys put on yet another
First Rate Tourney.
Before this, I haven't played much Texas Hold'Em at all...I've almost exclusively moved over to Omaha 8 to put a bungee cord on my bankroll. My Hold'Em swings have simply been eerily analogous to the Pirate Ship ride you'll find at your finer amusement parks. And profitablity has simply been all too successful at eluding me in this year of our Lord, 2006. Omaha 8 simply lets me play a game with itty-bitty variance (at least the way I play it, heheh) to get my game back in its groove - if it ever was in groove.
Yesterday's beat on the bubble just reinforced my loss-induced and growing sentiment that Texas Hold'Em, while undeniably a great game, is simply too prone to mathematical outcomes that even math itself would say wasn't possible. At least at critical times in a game - like the damn bubble in a 90-person tourney! So if you're taking a few too many bitch-slappings at the greasy hands of probability, try 08...
Which brings me to the next thing...when will we spread games other than NLHE? Local poker has become a single-flavor ice cream stand. Imagine skipping over to Baskin Robbins and finding that all they have available today, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, is plain vanilla. That's what we've got for poker here.
A few months ago I wrote, on this very blog, about the need for a cardroom. Somebody built one. Today I'm making the call for more plurality in the poker scene. Hook me up, fellas.