Friday, May 15, 2009

And, So It Goes.....

“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” - Mark Twain

Once again, we hapless Texans played the luckless Charlie Brown while the Legislature played the temptress Lucy; luring us in, showing us the ball, encouraging us to kick it only to have it yanked away as we approached with our unbridled enthusiasm. I can almost hear the deadpan voice of Dr. McCoy in my ear saying, “It’s dead, Jim.” And, now, we Texans will sit and wait another two long years for our duly elected representatives in Austin to do their duty and actually serve the folks they are supposed to be representing by passing legislation that will bring legal poker to Texas. The majority of Texans want this to happen but, as usual, the will of the people is not what really motivates the majority of our politicians.

The Honorable Rep. Menendez (D) is to be lauded for his tireless efforts on our behalf. Poker players all over Texas thank him for his staunch support of bringing legal poker to Texas. He is definitely a friend to Texas poker players. Governor Perry (R), on the other hand, should be considered Public Enemy Number One to Texas poker players. By promising to veto HB 222 even if it passed, he effectively killed the bill. I know there are enough poker players in Texas to help unseat him and my vote will go to his opponent no-matter-what for his insistence on blocking this bill. I sincerely hope the vast numbers of Texas poker players will turn out and use their vote to make their voices heard in the next election cycle.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Texas Hold'em in Texas? What a Great Idea!

What is a democrat? One who believes that the republicans have ruined the country. What is a republican? One who believes that the democrats would ruin the country. - Ambrose Bierce

It seems that I will not enjoy the privilege of playing NLHE at a local bar anytime soon. HB 222, currently being considered by the Texas Legislature, has been modified via political compromise to exclude poker at bars (that would have had to obtain a special permit) and instead to allow poker at dog and horse racing tracks. While this is not as good as poker at bars, due to the simple fact that there are a lot more bars than there are race tracks, it isn’t all bad for me. You see, right outside of Galveston, in lovely La Marque, is a large facility known as Gulf Greyhound Park. This place has been almost deserted lately and is struggling to survive. If HB 222 passes, it would infuse the place with some customers and some hope. The fact that it is located within 10 minutes of my residence makes the whole idea sound pretty darn good to me. In terms of physical proximity and convenience, it almost couldn’t be any better for me. I selfishly and shamelessly hope this bill gets passed for my sake.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Bodog is Back!

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. Sun-Tzu.

Everytime I play online poker at Bodog I wonder why I don’t play there more often. Although, I rarely play tourneys these days due to time constraints, the cash games are juicy! I have played nightly on Bodog for a couple of weeks and there is plenty of traffic for NLHE games. I am not sure why, but the Bodog cash tables seem to play faster than the tables on other sites. It might have something to do with the fact that no one is multi-tabling some ridiculous volume of tables, which always slows down the play of tables they are playing on. Bodog is still one of the best sites for avoiding data mining and other nefarious data collection activities that can make the game less fun for the casual player. In fact, Bodog ought to be the online poker site of choice for casual players and/or those that prefer to play without data enhancement tools. Not that there is anything wrong with those tools, but they do change the way the game is played. Are you a notoriously light 3-better? On other sites, players routinely have tools that identify your habits but not so much so on Bodog. So, get out of that rut you may be in on that other site and come try the online poker experience at Bodog. $mokkee has been spreading the news about Bodog for a while now and JD Schellnutt has recently had some nice scores in the tourneys, too.

They also have a sportsbook for betting on your favorite sport and/or team. Perhaps you have heard of the NBA Playoffs which are going on right now? It’s pretty exciting stuff that, perhaps, you might want to place a wager upon. They also have some interesting World Series of Poker prop bets that you may want to bet on. If any of you haven’t tried Bodog out yet, what are you waiting for? You could be the next one to score big on Bodog!