Remove Party Poker Icon from Internet Explorer

I get a lot of search hits from people that are trying to remove the Party Poker Icon that appears in your toolbar after installing Party Poker. Other poker rooms do this as well, including Titan Poker, Bodog Poker, Absolute Poker and many others.



A lot of the searches hit me, but I don't really have instructions on how to do this, so I thought I would come up with something quick and dirty for those people who are desperate enough to take my advice. I've done this on my own computers and it works, but I don't guarantee you won't fuck your computer up if you do it wrong.

If you just want to remove the Icon from the toolbar so you don't have to look at it, the procedure is very easy. Just select "View" from the menu, select "Toolbars" and "Customize." You can then select the icons and click "Remove" to keep them from showing up in your Internet Explorer.



If you want to remove them from your system completely, it's a little more complicated. They are actually entries into your system registry, so you must edit this to remove them.

Start the registry editor by going to "Start" and typing "regedit" into the "Run" dialog and click "OK." Within the registry editor, expand the tree for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" then "SOFTWARE" then "Microsoft" then "Internet Explorer" then "Extensions." Within that tree there are several folders, and each one of them represents an icon added to your Internet Explorer Toolbar. Find the one with titles in it that read "Party Poker." Right click the folder (in the left part of the Editor Interface) and select "Delete."



Repeat for whatever icons you want removed. The next time you start Internet Explorer, those Icons will be gone.

I hope this helped some people.

FTP Update

Full Tilt Poker Support has suspended my account so they can investigate what happened to my money. They say they will contact me and reopen my account when the investigation is over.

They replied to my email within an hour, and about an hour later they locked my account for the investigation. I will keep updating when I hear anything.

Bad Beat at Full Tilt

Edit: I got ripped off at Full Tilt Poker, and support did nothing to help me. Here's how I discovered it.

I read about the new mixed games at Full Tilt online and was eager to logon when I got home and try them out. I picked out a nice HOSE game, attempted to sit, and I got a message that I didn't have enough in my account, the minimum I must have is $2.50. A very odd message since I had hundreds of dollars in my account.

I clicked the cashier button, and it told me that my account held $.03 and two tournament tokens.

What The Fuck?

Has my account been hacked? There are no account transfers in my history, so either someone gained access to my account and blew my bankroll, or there are some serious accounting errors going on over at Full Tilt Poker.

I sent an email to FTP support asking them what happened to my cash. I'll update when I hear any news. This should be interesting.

Update: I got ripped off, and Full Tilt Poker is doing nothing about the scam. If you play at Full Tilt Poker, do not keep any money there, it is not safe. Deposit when you play, and withdraw when you finish.

Benny and the Jet

The federal government obviously feels, with legislation in effect like the UIGEA, that full grown adult Americans aren't responsible enough to decide what they can and cannot do with their own money.

So if they are going to stop people from gambling (in non-approved ways, of course) on the Internet, shouldn't they be stopping this?


Click picture to see the full con. (Normally I hate to link things like this, but I'm positive nobody that reads this will actually donate anything to this moron. Incidentally, doesn't the graphic at the top make you think they are HARVESTING SOULS! SOULS! SOULS!???)

Yes, Benny Hinn, universal scumbag evangelist, wants 6000 of his most faithful partners suckers to donate $1000 each so he can raise the six million dollars for a down payment on a FORTY MILLION DOLLAR LUXURY EXECUTIVE JET for himself.

This is not a joke or a hoax. This filthy con-man is trying to bilk people out of six million dollars so he can have his own personal jet to make it easier for him to fly around and con more people out of their money more efficiently.

If the federal government thinks it's appropriate to tell adults what they can and cannot spend their money on, this seems like an obvious thing to stop too, doesn't it? Anyone that donates to this obvious scam-artist is certainly not responsible enough to decide what they should be spending their money on, right? Federal government? Hello?

Poker Comic #112 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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Fun with Picasa

If you're into digital photography, download Google's Picasa software. It's 100% free, and you can do pretty cool stuff like this:



Click pic to see full size.

Update: Here is the original photo I used to make this:

Week of Jealousy Begins...

Grubby's Theme

Now you swear and kick and beg us
That youre not a gamblin man
Then you find youre back in vegas
With a handle in your hand
Your black cards can make you money
So you hide them when youre able
In the land of milk and honey
You must put them on the table
You go back jack do it again
Wheel turnin round and round
You go back jack do it again

There has been a new addition to the Bogey Family!

Her name is Molli, it's a modified version of the Chinese word for magic. Get it? She's a Chinese Shar-Pei, and she's black....

Next Best Thing

I may not be going to Vegas (envy sucks!) but I am doing some traveling for the upcoming holidays so I thought I would get some reading material for the trip.

I got the pleasure of sitting next to Jay Greenspan at the last blogger event, and even though he was giving he helpful advice, it didn't stop me from pushing all my chips in the pot against a Royal Flush. I do appreciate his empathy when I showed him the second nut flush, while I'm pretty sure the rest of the table was thinking "moron!"

Everything about his book Hunting Fish seems like the perfect book for me. I love adventures, I love hearing about cultural differences, and I love hearing about someone taking huge pots off of fish. After talking with Jay and getting an idea of his sense of humor, I'm laying odds that this book will definitely entertain me.

I also ordered Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, The: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time by Michael Craig. Michael spoke at the blogger event and was very entertaining, so I expect the same from his book. I have heard a lot about it, and I'm sure it's a great read.

I tuned into Full Tilt too late to play in the Riverchasers Tournament last night. There were 98 Entries, (nobody brings em in like Al) including Mr. Craig himself. I dropped in for a few minutes and said hello, and he was entertaining the whole table with his stories, like the one about his chance to steal Clonie Gowan's underwear.

Ask him about it next time you see him at Full Tilt, he's there all the time!

Poker Comic #111 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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Poker Comic #110 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Dream a Little Dream of...

Did you ever have that nightmare where you went to school to take a test, and you hadn't studied a bit for it? That was my entire day of work today, without the being in your underwear part.

I was chatting away with someone on the phone this morning and the computer room air conditioner suddenly shut off, making the room eerily quiet. At first I thought a coworker who was near the AC just hit the switch so that he could hear himself think, but I looked that direction and he wasn't near the switch at all. My next thought was "Oh SHIT." Someone accidentally cut power to the computer room.

I am totally unfamiliar with the environment I've been dropped into, and I have very little motivation to dive deeply into it as it all disappears at the end of March and gets replaced with a system I am intimate with. So now when there are problems and people from all directions are asking questions like "Why is this broken and when will it be fixed because it's costing us a million dollars a minute and why are you just sitting there?!?" my only answer is "I'm trying to figure it out." That's not what they want to hear. They want to hear "The problem is X and it will be fixed when Y gets off his ass and does his job like he's supposed to." Only right now, I'm X and Y.

From that time until now, almost nine hours later, I have been consumed by this problem, with barely enough time to empty my bladder. Now I sit and ponder whether I should leave. I feel like I could leave and that all the problems are solved, but I felt that way a couple of hours ago and I was DEAD WRONG as all hell started breaking loose again. I told myself I would stay at least another 15 minutes to make sure something else doesn't go haywire, but that was 30 minutes ago.

Limbo is apparently not just dancing under a low horizontal stick while inebriated.

Twaffic

Traffic was horrendous yesterday, especially through Atlanta and Chattanooga. When you watched the news yesterday and they told you about all the silly people on the roads yesterday, I was those silly people. A trip that should have taken less than 10 hours took more like 12 with detours and stop-and-go events.

Thusly I missed the HORSE blogger event last night, although if I had been home in time I don't know if I would have been in shape to play it. Tired, grumpy and staring at a ton of work to do around the house.

I did pick up some nice toys, although I wasn't brave enough to venture out to a shopping district on "Black Friday." Saturday had virtually the same sales opportunities with only "Murky Grey" type crowds. Anything I couldn't live without I got online while still in my pajamas. The poker bankroll sustained a hit as I got a great deal on a 20" LCD monitor to add to the array.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving went well and they bulked up for the Christmas Shopping Season that is now upon us in full force.

Life is Simple

Poker Comic #109 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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Hello? Hello?

Update: Fuckin' Blogger...completely ate my post and wouldn't let me publish all day. Luckily I type my posts into another medium and copy it to Blogger's shitty interface. It still won't let me post from Firefox, I had to login via IE to get this posted. Anyone who has ideas on an easy transition to my own domain might get to be my best friend...

So there I was last night, sitting with my laptop in front of a roaring fire, playing 2-7 triple draw on Stars while waiting for the MATH tournament to start and talking on my Vonage telephone service as the PVR was dutifully recording "Heroes" for me. It was shaping up to be an entertaining evening.

Suddenly, the television was silent and the lights went out. I sat in my recliner seeing only the glow of my laptop and the fireplace. I stopped in mid-sentence of my telephone conversation to say "you're not there anymore, are you?"

Power outages suck when you're totally reliant on the internet and satellite TV for your entertainment. I played solitaire on the laptop until the battery gave out, then trudged off to bed. The power came one sometime during the night, and I checked to see how much of "Heroes" actually got recorded before the blackout. 43 minutes. I'll have to set up the Friday replay on Sci-Fi to record.

Mrs. Bogey is in Florida for her Grandmother's 90th birthday party, and was supposed to drive back yesterday, but I got a wild hair and bought a plane ticket to fly down Wednesday after work to enjoy Thanksgiving with her family, then drive her back myself on Sunday. She was happy because she didn't have to do all the driving herself, and her folks were happy that they got to spend Thanksgiving with their daughter, even if it means having me there. That's actually an exaggeration, they're happy to have me there too, I'll do some of the cooking. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I love to cook a big Thanksgiving meal, and my in-laws always say how much they love my cooking, even sometimes when it is a total flop.

I was happy too, because I found a great deal on a plane ticket that I thought might cost me at least $500 at the last minute on the biggest travel day of the year. I'll be dragging my work laptop along (Yes, I have a work and a personal laptop now, thanks BG) so I might be able to update from Florida.

Poker Comic #108 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

US AND INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS WELCOME!

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Update

I want to make it very clear that I am not accusing these guys of anything more than making a mistake in judgment. I don't think there are any reparations necessary. I was not at any time upset about what happened, as I said it just made me uncomfortable.

I was unhappy with Jordan's post because it seemed like he was saying "The reason I won had nothing to do with playing under Gary's name." This might even be true, but it impossible to say, and entirely beside the point.

I also want to point out that all three of these guys are REALLY GREAT GUYS. They are always fun to play poker with, and fun to chat with. I do not think that this incident is any reflection on their character. I do not think these guys are in any way dishonest. They are very genuine and candid guys. I feel privileged that they call me a friend. It never even occurred to me that this prank would do something to jeopardize those friendships. It's really not that big of a deal.

I was very shocked to read Jordan's "I apologize if you were offended" type post as it felt like a non-apology apology. I can only conclude that my post was perceived as an attack on him and his character, and he felt like he needed to defend himself and his play in the tournament. This was not my intention. I wanted to know if my concern was an overreaction. If I wanted to attack, it would have been pretty unmistakable. I think I've proven that I'm very capable of that.

Even now as I re-read Jordan's post, I see where he says "I don't think that Gary's screenname is accountable for 100% of my winnings." He is obviously admitting what I was looking for in his post. I definitely overlooked that when I first commented and posted about it.

Jordan has much more clearly stated his position, and my conclusion (that he didn't think he gained an advantage by using Gary's name) was incorrect. I want to thank him for tolerating my harsh responses to his post, and clearing that up for me.

I am completely happy with the resolution to this ugly incident.

Jordan Apologoizes

Jordan has posted an apology of sorts at his blog, High on Poker.

Needless to say I was not impressed by his apology. He seems to know that what he did was wrong, but some of his statements really don't seem to acknowledge that. Here are the parts I disagree with.

I came by my win honestly

No you did not. You absolutely gained an unfair advantage by this move. I'd like to see you admit that.

The bottom line is, I made some ballsy plays, based on my opponents' actions.

You even admit that you got someone to fold in a situation where it was close. THAT is the essence of why this is so wrong. The fact is it's easier to fold a hand to Gary's aggression than it is to yours. If it were three guys who basically played the same style game, it wouldn't be as important (it would still be wrong, however.) But because you and Gary have such different styles, it definitely affected the play of those around you.

Did Gary's image help me here? I don't think Lucko plays against him enough to know, but if it did, so be it.

So be it? So if you had an unfair advantage, you're okay with that?

Deception is part of the game, and in online poker, the anonymity of the Internet just adds to it.

There's a big difference in exploiting someone's prejudice against women or black people and actually posing as another player without telling people.

I am NOT calling Jordan a cheater. I don't think he intentionally tried to take anyone's money. I don't think there was any malice intended at all. I would call it more of a mistake in judgement. He obviously knows what he did was wrong, because he is offering to pay every player who played in the DADI $8.70.

I don't want $8.70. I just want him to admit that he had an advantage, what they did was wrong, and that something like this won't happen again.

Kosher?

Full Tilt Poker Game #1258569064: DADI X: Fight The Power (7953554), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:23:33 ET - 2006/11/16
Seat 2: GCox25 (4,650)
Seat 3: DuggleBogey (4,850)
Seat 4: smokkee (2,930)
Seat 5: love_elf (6,970)
Seat 6: dbirider (885)
GCox25 posts the small blind of 80
DuggleBogey posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DuggleBogey [Ac Qh]
smokkee raises to 480
love_elf folds
dbirider folds
GCox25 raises to 1,600
DuggleBogey folds
slb159 (Observer): jeebus...elf's r00ling
smokkee folds
Uncalled bet of 1,120 returned to GCox25
GCox25 mucks
GCox25 wins the pot (1,120)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,120 | Rake 0
Seat 2: GCox25 (small blind) collected (1,120), mucked
Seat 3: DuggleBogey (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: smokkee folded before the Flop
Seat 5: love_elf didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: dbirider (button) didn't bet (folded)
DuggleBogey: i folded AQ there
smokkee: ya i folded KK

If you've ever played with GCox25, you'd probably say "good fold." This was a very easy fold to a re-raise from GCox.

I sat next to Gary for a lot of the tournament. I played in the same seat for the entire tournament, all the way through the final table. Gary got put next to me in round six. I've played a bit with Gary, and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how he plays.

Only it wasn't Gary. It was Jordan from High On Poker. Gary was using TripJax's account. Jax was HighonPoker.

I am 100% sure that the three hosts of the DADI tournament weren't trying to intentionally mislead people so that Jordan would have some kind of advantage. I absolutely think they thought it would be a fun thing to do. There was not a lot of money at stake here, as the total prize pool was only $912.

But Jordan got an awful lot of respect as Gary that he simply would not have gotten if he were playing under his own name. He did from me, and I acted immediately after him for the bulk of the tournament.

Jordan took a big lead into the heads up match, and eventually won the tournament. When he got heads up he admitted he was posing as Gary.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, other than uncomfortable. I'm very interested in your opinions. Please comment with your thoughts.

Site Review: Cardschat Poker Forum

While players can get a lot of information from reading poker blogs, one of the most valuable resources poker players have to increase their skill and their awareness of things going on in the poker community is web forums.

Like blogs, the best web forums have a community feel to them, but without the pressure of having to maintain a site or post frequently. On forums you can lurk around, read a lot, ask questions and participate as much or as little as you like.

Cardschat, one of my advertisers over on the right column, is a great place for someone looking for a place to talk poker and become part of an online community. The site is bulging with tips, strategies and hand analysis, along with the requisite space for venting your bad beats.

The hand analysis section of the Cardschat forum is a particularly useful resource. There are posting guidelines to help you post your questions in a format that will get you the most valuable responses. Once you have posted your hand, an entire discussion is likely to follow if your situation is interesting from a strategy standpoint. These discussions of real-world situations are the best setting for deeper learning about poker strategy.

Cardschat also hosts a gallery of poker room reviews that includes a growing guide on choosing a site to play on, how easy it is to deposit and withdraw your bankroll, tournament structures and whether sites accept US players. There is also a list of Poker Room deposit bonuses, but it is distinctly separate from the site reviews.

Other useful features on the Cardschat site include a poker odds calculator, online poker tournament listings and even a poker screensaver.

If you're looking for a place to learn about and discuss poker strategy, whether it be playing in tournaments and ring games or picking out a good poker room and bonus strategy, Cardschat is a great resource.

Poker Comic #107 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

US AND INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS WELCOME!

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

RIP

Iggy needs to open up his comments section for his last post.

I guess it makes sense that "Party Poker Blog" would go away soon after Party Poker abandons the US market, seeing that Guinness and Poker is a US based blog.

I think it will be the responsibility of the rest of us to take up the slack for all the uber-posts that will be lacking as a result of this. I guess we all need to start combing RGP and 2+2 for inane or insightful comments. I'll take the insightful part, someone else work on the inane ones. I got that hundredth of a percent covered.

People will wonder why workplace productivity has risen so much after this. Some of us will know.

Free Day

Today's a holiday! I'm very lucky that my company has four holidays in the month of November alone, including Thanksgiving and the day after. Two straight four-day weeks followed by a three-day week will definitely have me spoiled. That first week in December will feel like forever. Of course I will be able to look forward to the five holidays in December...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! See ya tomorrow.

Poker Comic #106 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Helpful hint of the day

Don't show your ass when you get knocked out of a blogger tournament.

If you are going to criticize someone's play that knocked you out, you better be DAMN sure it was a horrible play. Not just questionable. You better have seen a history of poor plays from that player if you are going to call them a donkey.

The consequences? You are likely to see your name in a few blogs the next day.

I don't know who "Lucko21" is. I've seen him in a few blogger tournaments but I don't have any conclusions about his quality as a player.

I'm probably not remembering the situation exactly right, but he was a very short stack (under a thousand?) and went all in from middle position with A9s and I called from the big blind with 22. I was second in chips, around 5 or 6 thousand. He failed to improve, and he busted out.

Then he proceeded to give me shit for calling his all-in with only 22. I already had money in the pot and correctly read that I was a coin-toss to take a player out.

I gave him an opportunity to shut the fuck up and save face by saying something to the effect of, "I saw an opportunity to take out a good player with a coin toss." Maybe he mistook it as sarcasm. That says more about his opinion of himself if he did.

But he still couldn't keep his ass closed long enough to leave the table without giving me some more shit.

Maybe he was upset because of Waffles' comment "gg sucko" after he lost. Nice job Waffles, tilt players after they're gone. If so he shouldn't have tried to take it out on me. Especially when there was a genuine donkey at the table who was happily spewing from a big stack of chips.

Edit: I see he has a blog, and he calls himself "Sucko" in there, so Waffles was probably just being gracious. My mistake.

It's like the Mookie, only earlier.

Interesting hand from last night's Mookie. Very loose call pre-flop, but summer_babe got whacked for most of her chips on the previous hand when her KK went down to Gary's QQ which rivered a Q. AK is the worst possible hand Gary could play here so folding was the right play. I had it in my head to call as soon as summer_babe went all-in and Gary's call just made me think "better pot odds!" Don't get married to your hands, kids. There needs to be a constitutional amendment for it.


Full Tilt Poker Game #1216948421: The Mookie - Fish n Donks (8304316), Table 4 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:37 ET - 2006/11/08
Seat 1: summer_babe (1,430)
Seat 2: dnasty13 (3,350)
Seat 4: snake5970 (6,440)
Seat 5: GCox25 (3,140)
Seat 6: willwonka (1,480)
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan (1,575)
Seat 8: iam23skidoo (1,245)
Seat 9: DuggleBogey (5,675)
iam23skidoo posts the small blind of 100
DuggleBogey posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DuggleBogey [9h 8h]
DuggleBogey: shouldn't have tried it
summer_babe raises to 1,430, and is all in
dnasty13 folds
SirFWALGMan: Gary Never loses an All in
snake5970 folds
GCox25 calls 1,430
willwonka folds
SirFWALGMan folds
iam23skidoo folds
DuggleBogey calls 1,230
*** FLOP *** [As Td 7d]
DuggleBogey checks
GCox25 bets 1,710, and is all in
snake5970: wants the rest
DuggleBogey calls 1,710
GCox25 shows [Kc Ac]
DuggleBogey shows [9h 8h]
summer_babe shows [Kd Ad]
*** TURN *** [As Td 7d] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [As Td 7d 3d] [3h]
GCox25 shows two pair, Aces and Threes
DuggleBogey shows a pair of Threes
GCox25 wins the side pot (3,420) with two pair, Aces and Threes
summer_babe shows a flush, Ace high
summer_babe wins the main pot (4,390) with a flush, Ace high
DuggleBogey: ouch
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,810 Main pot 4,390. Side pot 3,420. | Rake 0
Board: [As Td 7d 3d 3h]
Seat 1: summer_babe showed [Kd Ad] and won (4,390) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: dnasty13 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: snake5970 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: GCox25 showed [Kc Ac] and won (3,420) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 6: willwonka didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: iam23skidoo (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: DuggleBogey (big blind) showed [9h 8h] and lost with a pair of Threes

I still managed to outlast both Gary and summer_babe and took third. The tourney was thinner than normal because it started an hour earlier than scheduled. Only 36 played and four paid.

summer_babe went out two hands later when snake5970, who donked it up all night, min raised aces utg, got called in a zillion places but managed to river an ace to take a huge chip lead. snake5970 still had to suck out twice with dominated aces at the final table to take second place.

I played in the same seat the entire night and the table was fun from start to finish. I knew everyone at the starting table except one (Prophesy?) and all the fill-ins joined in the fun.

There, I posted a hand history, now JJ can read me again.

Poker Comic #105 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

US Players are WELCOME!

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Felicia made me laugh so hard with this one that I had to steal it.

CJ misses another game by 48 points

Wow, CJ sucks at predictions.

Finally, this prediction: If Democrats win, they're supposed to, if Republicans win, the machines are broken. Count on it. Harold Ford will lose in Tennessee and he'll blame the machines. That's one bet I'll take to the bank!

He predicted that if Harold Ford loses, he'll blame the machines. I watched Harold Ford's concession speech and the machines weren't mentioned once. No mention of voter irregularity from anyone in his campaign. Not a peep.

HOWEVER! I did turn on Fox and Friends this morning and they were practically SCREAMING about the machines in Virginia. Where a Republican lost and a Democrat won.

So it seems like if the Republicans had won, they were supposed to (especially because the candidate had double digit leads in the polls a few months ago) but since a Democrat won, it was the machines!

Irony is so delicious.

Did You Vote?

I didn't.

I know what you're thinking, I bitch a lot for someone who didn't vote. But I can't vote in Tennessee yet because I haven't been a resident long enough, and I didn't go to the trouble of voting absentee in Oklahoma. Mostly because I have no idea what's going on in Oklahoma, since I haven't actually been there for more than three days in a row since February. Since I have repeatedly said "Don't just VOTE, educate yourself on the candidates and their stance on the issues and VOTE," I would be a hypocrite if I just rubber stamped someone in Oklahoma.

If I could have voted in Tennessee, I would have.

Although I still feel pretty gullible thinking that my vote actually counts. The party in power in this country has absolutely no compunction about lying, stealing, taking bribes, gerrymandering, push polling, covering up for each other's crimes, spending a trillion dollars they don't have, or sending innocent soldiers to die for no good reason. Do you really think they'd have a problem with rigging elections?

Railbird Fun

"If the Democrats are so good about being the party of the opposition, let's just keep them in the opposition" George W. Bush

Someone tell George that he's still president after Tuesday.

I didn't win my Tier 2 token for the Big Game yesterday, so I was relegated to the rail, but I had fun in the chat and playing some PLO8 with some new friends.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

I love anyone who posts his football picks before the games occur. It takes balls to put yourself out there like that, because inevitably something like this is going to happen:

CJ's pick: Bears, by 30 (my lock of the week).

How painful is it to miss a game by FORTY-EIGHT points. He only missed it by Six Touchdowns and Two Field Goals!

Granted, nobody on earth had the undefeated Bears losing to the One crappy win (vs. the shitty Titans) Miami Dolphins. But that's a major league whiff.

Congress has Got to Go

I'm not deluded enough to think that the Senate is going to change from Republican to Democratic hands next Tuesday. As much as poker players would like to see all those assholes thrown out, it's just not going to happen. There are seven close races, and the Democrats would have to win six of them. Not impossible, but unlikely.

One of those "close" races is here in Tennessee, Harold Ford vs. Bob Corker. Ford is the Democrat, and if he was elected, he would be the first black senator ever elected by the people in the South. Corker has spent more money on television advertising than any other politician in the country, and that doesn't even include ads by the RNC, including one accused of being racist.

I asked a few of my fellow Tennesseans if they thought Ford had a shot of winning they said "No way." When I asked why, the answer was always the same. "Duh. He's black!"

But I don't know about the House of Representatives. Maybe there's a chance that the Republican dominance can be overturned in the House. It simply has to be. You think the last-minute addition of the UIGEA to the Port Security Act was sleazy? The fuckers in the house pulled an even sleazier move with the Iraq Anti-Corruption Investigation Agency.

The Republicans were very annoyed by this agency in Iraq that kept finding evidence of bribery, corruption and conspiracies on the part of companies like Halliburton and Parsons, as well as failures by the military to properly track weapons meant for Iraqi security forces.

What's a Republican congress to do? TERMINATE THE AGENCY. Of course.

How do they do it? Their favorite trick. Sneak it into some legislation at the last minute and get a vote done before anyone actually reads it.

This one stinks even worse than the UIGEA. Not only are those who voted it in unaware it was even in the legislation, NOBODY KNOWS WHEN IT WAS ADDED. Everybody is saying "It wasn't there when I read it."

These people have got to be stopped.

First Party Poker closes to the US, now THIS

World seafood supply could run out by 2048

Over and over again I hear stories of fish going away...

Poker Comic #104 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. US Players Welcome! No Deposit Required! No Credit Card Required! (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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Free Poker Money Now Available to International Customers

Poker Source Online has always offered $100 in Free Poker Money to North American Customers, but now International customers are eligible.

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- You must be at least 18 years old to qualify for this promotion.
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US customers can get $100 Free Money at Absolute Poker by clicking here.

Poker Comic #103 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker! No Deposit Required! No Credit Card Required! US Players Welcome! (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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Poker Comic #102 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Search Rankings

I'm pretty astounded how many people find my blog via searches on Google. Here are some of the searches people do to find their way to my blog, and when I check the searches how far up I am on the list of URLs for them to click:

destructive criticism 5th
I did a post called "Destructive Criticism" where I listed what I don't like about all the blogs in my blogroll. It was HUGELY UNPOPULAR, as expected. Still a fun exercise. And the phrase seems pretty uncommon, so I score pretty high on searches for it.
shanna hiatt 15th
I haven't posted about Shanna in a long time, but I still get tons of hits from searches on her. This will probably pick up when she re-emerges as the preeminent poker diva on NBC's new poker show.
pichers of sharks 5th
I facetiously posted the word "pichers" when I posted some pictures, and ever since then I have gotten tons of hits from all the illiterati out there. Funny how misspelling words can get you hits, but do you really want those hits?
wpex connection problems 2nd
I seem to have a few "wpex" hits most every day, especially when it's somebody unhappy with them. I never get a "wpex is great!" search. Interesting.
limit vs no limit 4th
I have done a few limit vs. No limit posts, and this is a very popular search. I don't know if my post helps people with their inquiries. Maybe it does.
poker coins 5th
I did a small review of a site that sells poker card protectors called "poker coins" and have always gotten a few occasional hits ever since. I still use the ones I got and I love them.
fuck me running 3rd
I did a post titled "fuck me running" and have gotten hits on it ever since. I still love the phrase ever since I heard it from a guy in 1986 named Jeff VanBuren, one of the original VanBuren boys.
rude fuck 4th
I get a lot of hits on the word "rude" in general, like "rude jokes" or "rude comics" but this one is the most consistent. Maybe I overuse the word "fuck?"
free money from titan 4th
I like the free money hits, especially if I get a referral out of it, but I haven't picked up a single free money referral since that fateful Friday the 13th.
free poker money 6th
This is a biggie, I have made a lot of referral bucks off this one.
rake rebate 5th
I probably should post more about rake rebates, because I don't think I get a lot of referrals about this one either. I need a referral for a place that does rake rebate from Full Tilt Poker. I bet a lot of people are looking for that service now...
titan poker delete account 6th
This one makes me feel good. I had a bad experience with Titan poker and quit referring people there without explicitly denouncing the place. Now that they are rejecting US customers, I guess it's unnecessary.

Anyway, those are some of the ways folks are finding their way here. I hope they get some good info, or at least a smile or two from what they find.

And the winner for best referring link goes to:

RailBird Blog

Yes, it's a blog written in German, but it has a link to me. It may be the only blog out there that has a Go Be Rude link but doesn't have an Iggy link.

Poker Comic #101 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker! No Deposit Required! No Credit Card Required! (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Goodbye Referrals

Last week was the first time in over a year that I didn't collect any referral points from Poker Source Online. I don't expect to get anything this week either. The UIGEA has completey choked off all my referrals, mostly because of the withdrawl of Pussy (Party) Poker. Some folks were in the middle of promotions at places like Titanic (Titan) Poker too. I hate to see how it is killing the business over at PSO. All PSO did was make online poker, already a gold mine of fun and riches, into something better. In a situation where everybody wins, you have to expect the government to step in and FUCK EVERYTHING UP. Welcome to America.

I heard a comedian on the radio this morning who had a very good point.

"Are you more afraid of the terrorists, or your governemnt? Would you be more afraid if you got a letter from the Taliban, or the IRS?"

I've never gotten mail from a terrorist, but it can't be worse that some of the letters I've gotten from the IRS.

I cashed out all my PSO referral points into Amazon.com gift certificates and went on a spending spree for stuff for the new house. The goofier the item the better. Mrs. Bogey got a Roomba Hard Floor Cleaner for her birthday. She loves it, but the dogs don't seem really fond of it. The kitchen has gotten the most of the improvements, but of course I ordered a few fun gadgets for myself.

It was nice to be able to spend some (fake) money on craziness, since buying the new house before selling the old one in Oklahoma (I'll make you a great deal if you read this and are interested in the Oklahoma Real Estate Market) has basically reduced our savings and my bankroll to zip. A lot of the expenses kind of snuck up on me...500 gallon propane tank @ $1.40 per gallon? There's a $700 bill I wasn't expecting. New tags for three vehicles @ $87 each? $261...at least I can mail the Oklahoma ones back for a pro-rated rebate. I don't think I'll hold my breath though.

I still have some nice plans in my pocket for fun stuff in the future. Looks like I may have to hold off on my next vehicle purchase for a bit longer than I'd hoped...But it will happen. Mark my words.

Busy Busy Busy

I was finally reconnected to the internet and played two tournaments...two disconnects were concerning but it reconnected fairly quickly. It's still very nice to be able to get phone calls while playing, along with reading blogs. I did a few test downloads and the speed seems more than acceptable. I'm really disappointed with the local phone company's coverage so I may be Vonage bound.

Today we're having a propane tank installed, just in time as the temperature is supposed to drop to 30 degrees tonight. Also the exterminator is supposed to come today for our initial treatments and the satellite company is supposed to come and fix one of my recievers.

My doggy door is supposed to be delivered by FedEx and I'm going to install that this evening. My wife is concerned that our old doggy door was 8.5" wide and the new one is only 7", and the bigger dog might not be able to get her wide load through the smaller opening. Time for a doggy diet, I think.

I still need to find a contractor to put up the chain-link fence in the backyard and the ol' homestead will be shaping up nicely.

Miami Don's Big Game looks like it was a blast last night, I'm sorry I missed it. It conflicted with the PSO league game and I totally spaced that it went on at the same time. Hopefully I will be able to make the next one.

Congress and the UIGEA

I was exchanging emails with a friend (I know, you're shocked that I have friends) about politics yesterday. My friend is a republican (now you're even more shocked) and he considers himself a Christian Conservative (now you think I'm lying.) He started the exchange by emailing me the diatribe by Keith Obermann on MSNBC. He thought Olbermann was crazy. I had actually watched Olbermann on that broadcast and I agree with his commentary, that the government has gotten totally out of control.

He responded by asking me if I thought that everyone in Washington is "out of touch." Here was my response.

Take the UIGEA for example. That's the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that will try to stop me from playing poker online. I have talked to almost everyone I know about it, and I don't know one person who thinks its right. NOT ONE PERSON.

So why did it get passed? Easy. The administration has COMPLETELY failed the Christian right. The Christian Coalition are pissed off because they thought that when they had GW in office and a republican house and a republican senate, that all their dreams would come true. That abortion would be illegal. That gay marriage would be outlawed by the constitution. Basically that Christianity would be installed as the official religion of the United States. But they got none of that. NOTHING they wanted actually happened.

So desperate senators like Bill Frist had to try and do SOMETHING that might satisfy those folks, his base. He pushed us under a bus by sneaking it in at the 11th hour attached to a Port Security Bill that got nearly 100% of the votes in the house because if a representative voted against it they'd appear soft on terrorism. The President signed it last Friday and didn't even mention the gambling part of it. Never mind that a port security law is AT LEAST four years overdue.

Out of touch doesn't even begin to describe these morons. Olbermann is pissed off, and I'm pissed off too.

The entire Abramoff scandal took place under the guise of a "Christian" organization, when the whole thing was about bilking Indians out of their money to preserve their legal gambling status. The churches involved said they wouldn't even have gone NEAR the guy if he had told them his organization was based on money from Indian Casinos.

It all seems to be a bunch of people who will do anything to preserve their power. Even the Foley thing. The leadership knew what was going on, but rather than risk losing his vote, they let him do whatever he wanted, no matter how wrong it was. Anything to keep the majority, keep the votes, keep the power.

It's disgusting.

My friend, a self-proclaimed member of the "Christian Right," agreed 100%.

Edit: Here is the rant by Olbermann if you are interested...Keith Olbermann on MSNBC

Long Personal Nightmare

My Long Personal Nightmare is nearly over. Tomorrow I am having High Speed Internet installed!

I've played two tournaments using dial-up (like a caveman!) and while possible, it is certainly not the preferred way to play. I disconnected in the first one, and the panic over trying to reconnect possibly resulted in my misplaying of the next two hands, causing my early exit.

Both tournaments I've played via dial-up were for the PSO league. I missed the first three tournaments of the eight-game schedule. Your best five scores count, and I've exited early in both of them so the pressure is on for the final three. I still have a chance if I finish in the top three at least twice. Even if I didn't have a chance, I'd still play.

The overlay for the individual tournaments is incredible, and that doesn't even include the multitudes of bounties available. All PSO employees have bounties on them, and the top three players in the standings have bounties as well. I had two of the top three at my table in the first one, and boy they were donkalicious. Unfortunately I got moved from the table before I got a chance to K.O. either of them.

The prizes for winning the league start at around $1400 plus a couple hundred in tournament entries. This is for eight $5.50 tournaments.

KingLucky has two final tables and a 15th place finish so far, so he's in the top ten in standings even though he's only played four out of the five tourneys so far. I may be relegated to rooting him on if I don't place well in the next one.

Poker Comic #100 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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More Republican Douchebaggery

FORMER Republican Congressional Leader Tom Delay, now under indictment, sent out a mass email to what I can only assume are other uptight white people that they must vote a certain way. What issue does Tom Delay think so important his constituency must address with their votes? Sara Evans' apparance on "Dancing with the Stars."

A fucking dance contest.

And does he want you to vote for her because she's the best dancer? FUCK NO!

"We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans," said Delay in his message.

So Delay thinks Evans is the model for "Family Values" that all Americans must conform to?

Great. Because Evans has filed for divorce, and is going on Nashville television claiming her husband screwed their nanny, watched pornography in front of their three small children, consumed alcohol to excess (gasp!) and stole money from their joint account.

So "Family Values" include exposing the one-sided details of your divorce on television?

If that's your idea of "values" Mr. Delay, you can have them.

FIghting with Bloglines

Bloglines needs to make it easier to delete subscriptions.

I've had a bear of a day deleting all the so-called poker blogs that have posts about the Spice Girls in them.

Everybody Out of the Pool!

RIP

Moment of Silence

The President is supposed to be signing the Online Gambling Bill into Law RIGHT NOW. It's a sad, stupid day.

Poker Comic #99 Sponsored by FREE POKER MONEY

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Absolute Poker. No Deposit Required. No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Ugh!

Things I am missing because of my lack of Internet:


The MATH


The WWdN


The Mookie


The WWdN Not


The Big Game


Poker Source Online League

Missing Foot

I moved all my stuff out of the apartment and into the house this weekend. The apartment sucked in just about every way (what was that constant high pitched noise?) but it did have high speed internet.

The new house does not have internet yet, and being there feels like an appendage is missing. Dish TV helps, but no internet means no poker, and no poker make Duggle grumpy.

I got the phone connected, after some troubleshooting, on Friday. I put my order in for DSL after finding out that the cable company doesn't offer Internet yet, but they do offer digital cable. Priorities, I guess. There are two wireless internet places but both of their towers are obscured by trees. Damn my beautiful wooded environment.

Of course there's dial up, but I want to exhaust every other high speed option. I don't think I've ever tried to play poker over dial up. Is it even possible? What are we, cavemen here?

The other option is satellite internet, but latency bothers me A LOT. Does anyone out there play poker over satellite internet?

No Teeth

Full Tilt Poker obviously is not giving up without a fight. They sent out an email to all their users with some pretty strong statements concerning the new online gaming legislation. If what Full Tilt Poker says is true, the new online gaming ban is actually a GOOD THING for poker players who want to play poker online.

Here's what FTP Says:

The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws.

This has been said numerous times by many sources. The law easily could have done this, but it didn't.

The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments.

This has also been repeated. US players will still have access to any site that allows us. The government will not prevent anyone from going anywhere on the Internet.

We will continue to provide our players with all of the safe, secure and convenient methods for transferring money to and from the site. In fact, in recent discussions with our payment processors, we have been assured that this new law will have no immediate impact on their day-to-day business. And as always, any monies that you have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remain completely safe and secure.

If this is true, then very little will change with the way US players do business. If Neteller still legally accepts deposits and withdrawls, nothing has changed.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that online poker is not encompassed by this new legislation.

This is the most important part. If this is actually true (and it's certainly no sure thing) then this law is actually a GOOD THING for online poker players. A law with no teeth is EVEN BETTER for poker players because it is unlikely that another law will be put in place that might actually make playing poker illegal, actually stop payment processors and prevent access.

All Republicans Do Not Fuck 16 Year Old Boys

But some want to....

Republican congressional leadership seems like a bad career move these days, just ask Tom Delay (he should be available after he gets out of prison.) Incidentally, can we get Jack Abramoff early parole if he agrees to put on the Cleveland Indians mascot costume and get abandoned on a few reservations in the southwest? I smell a PPV!

Hastert is going down over his lack of action in the Foley matter.

When given the option between doing the right thing or protecting his power, he chose to preserve his power.

Should he be crucified for this?

Absolutely.

Liars

Just in case you still wondered how honest the folks over at Fox News were:

Poker Comic #98 - Sponsored by Free Poker Money

Poker Comic brought to you by Free Poker Money at PokerSourceOnline.com!. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Poker Source Online gives $100 at Party Poker or Absolute Poker! No Deposit Required! No Credit Card Required! (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

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MTT Luck Continues

You can't beat luck in MTTs. I beat AA with T8, AQ with A7 (tourist!) and rivered two gutshots in a row vs Guin to win the WWdN Second Chance Tourney last night.



That's four money finishes in my last four MTTs, including two firsts, a third and an eleventh.

Perfectly Summed Up

The pointlessness and sheer stupidity of the new Internet Gambling Ban is summed up perfectly by Radley Balko over at The Agitator my favorite Libertarian Blog.

Late Friday night, the U.S. Senate passed a ban on Internet gambling. The ban now awaits President Bush's signature.

Sen. Bill Frist attached the ban to the port security bill at the last minute on Friday, conveniently allowing the ban to go forward without any debate. That also means any Senator who rightly believes that online poker is none of the government's business would also have to vote against a national security bill to vote against the ban -- making that Senator a ripe target for charges of being soft on terrorism.

The major gaming sites -- that is, the legitimate companies regulated by British law and traded on the London Stock Exchange -- announced over the weekend that they'll cease offering service to U.S. customers the moment President Bush signs the bill. What does that mean? Well, it means the shady, fly-by-night sites that aren't regulated or publicly traded will now thrive with U.S. customers. These gray and black-market sites are more prone to fraud, more likely to be involved in organized crime, and don't include the child-protection measures the major sites have implemented.

For all the talk from Sen. Frist, Sen. Kyl, and Rep. Goodlatte about the dangers of this "unregulated" industry, the bill they've just passed will actually put the well-regulated gambling sites out of reach of U.S. customers. The end result? Online poker and other gaming sites will soon be even less regulated, more likely to induce children, and more likely to defraud U.S. consumers than ever before. Meanwhile, one of the most addictive forms of gambling -- state lotteries -- will soon make an en masse move online, thanks to an exemption in the bill that effectively creates an online monopoly for them.

In short, in an intrusive, big government effort to protect Americans from themselves, Congress has passed a futile, hypocritical, counter-productive, protectionist piece of legislation that will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to engage in an activity most participate in responsibly and moderately. For those people, the bill will probably work. But it'll do little to prevent problem gambling, children's access to gaming sites, or online fraud.

One can't help but think that for Frist, none of that matters so long as the bill helps Republicans keep control of the Senate come November.

Fuck Republicans

All you Republicans who think you have the right to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own money can lick my sweaty nutsack.

The terrorists are not a threat to my freedom.

MY OWN GOVERNMENT is.

MTT Rush

My strong finishes in Multi-Table Tournaments continues with an 11th out of 328 in the PSO $10,000 Freeroll at PokerRoom.com.

I bubbled the final table when the big stack around $100K who was playing almost everything raised into my AA in the Big Blind. Was above $40K so a double up would have given me the lead in the tournament. He had Q9 and the flop was T99 and the turn was a Queen, and his boat sent my rockets packing.

I'm still very happy with my play as my occasional aggressive play kept me in the top five or six players for most of the game.

There is still a severe problem of stalling in these tournaments. PSO has a rule if you stall in a freeroll, you will be disqualified from all future freerolls, yet people still stall, even when the tournament gets into hand-to-hand mode. Freerolls are still freerolls I guess, and they tend to bring the morons out of the woodwork. Luckily PSO is very consistent about banning these people from all future games.