Lightning Strikes Began Five Years Ago Today

It is hard to believe, but Lightning Strikes began five years ago today. Yowsa!

I detailed how the blog came about and posted some of my favorite screen shots two years ago on its third anniversary. Looking back at my early posts, it was a pretty lonely place. The only people who seemed to read the blog and comment on it were some of my friends from the old Online Poker Tour and a few miscellaneous people. And then things started to pick up about the time I read about this private blogger tournament called The Mookie. A blogger named Big Pirate posted a comment. Hmmm … who the heck was he?

I played The Mookie for the first time on October 18, 2006. Early on I was dealt K-K and re-raised a raise by some guy named Columbo, who then went all in. I, of course, called. Columbo pushed all in with 10-10! What kind of tournament was this? I found out when he binked a 10 on the river. Out in 54th place out of 60 runners. Welcome to The Mookie! Mookie himself wrote a comment on my blog post after the tournament. I was thrilled.

I decided to play The Mookie the next week, and BOOM – I won! Damn, I thought, I just might be rolling over these donkeys every week! I was so psyched to see my winner's profile posted by Mookie. It was cool that the next tournament was called The Mookie – Lightning Strikes! Although I didn’t do too well in the tournament, I was starting to get noticed. Then, on November 3, 2006, I thought I really started hitting the big time when SirFWALGMan , one of the bloggers who seemed to be really popular, commented twice on my blog, including giving me a great tip on playing Full Tilt SNGs to win tokens.

So yes, those were my humble beginnings. Sometime along the way I added a counter to my blog. Since adding the counter, I have had over 40,000 page views from the United States and more countries than I ever could have imagined. Some of my early commenters and supporters have disappeared but have been replaced with a nice group of good friends and fun people.

Thanks to all the people who have read my blog, commented on a post, or just generally added some spice to my life through the blog. You are all cherished and appreciated.