1,000th Post!

 

 

I began this blog almost eight years ago as a way to get into a special series of private online poker tournaments designed for poker bloggers only. Little did I know at that time that I would one day be making post # 1000.

 

When this blog started back in 2006, it would be pretty easy to see that I was totally obsessed with poker. In fact, I even seemed to do quite well back then online and in b&m poker rooms, as my 2006 year end summary indicated:

 

 

Review of 2006

2006 has proven to be quite a year for me in poker. Some of my most significant or favorite moments include:

* Joining the OnlinePokerTour (which I did just before 2006) and playing in well over 100 tournaments. These many hours of poker play helped me to get better and better as the year went on

* Chopping the Caesar's Palace noon tournament pot with three other players

* Chopping the Sahara 7pm tournament pot with five other people

* Taking down The Mookie (online bloggers tournament) in my second try

* Winning the initial K9 High Rollers tournament

* Great $1/2 NL sessions at Wynn, Bally's, and Luxor

* My first Royal Flush -- in a Shark tournament at True Poker

* Winning a Forum Challenge Event while representing the K9 Poker Tour

* Being part of the birth of the K9 Poker Tour

* Taking fourth place in the Season 1 Grand Final of the Blogger Poker Tour

* Many winning sessions at NL tables at Poker.com

 

 

So yes -- poker seemed to be my life and I was doing quite well, winning online tourneys and chopping some in Las Vegas. Poker was huge everywhere and life was very good. My computer had somewhere around 35 icons for online poker sites. I remember staying up late many nights and crawling into work in the morning. Somehow my wife even found a way to tolerate me (I certainly married the right woman here!). I was attached to several online poker communities and my competitive juices were flowing 24/7. And then ...

 

Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006

 

Neteller.com Founders Arrested

 

So in January 2007 when Neteller stop processing payments for USA residents, things changed. Online rooms were shutting down to USA residents, and the easy way of getting funds transferred was gone. However, poker still boomed for quite some time, but eventually the hold it had on modern culture began to fade. Online poker was still going strong in the USA, and then ...

 

United States v. Scheinberg

 

United States v. PokerStars, et al

 

BOOM -- these court cases caused what we call Black Friday -- April 15, 2011. Goodbye Full Tilt Poker, goodbye PokerStars, goodbye life as we knew it. Online poker and poker in general have not been the same since.

 

The past 999 posts have chronicled by poker experiences and many life experiences. As the poker boom faded, my posts have been less and less about poker and more and more about life in general. I still go out to Las Vegas several times a year and have lately begun dabbling a bit more in online poker. In fact, I am at a cash game table as I write this!

 

I am pretty amazed at how much I have written in the past eight years. Every so often I got very passionate about subjects and wrote some very good posts. Many times I was writing so that years from now I could have a journal of my life during this time, something I will no doubt treasure more in the future. And, as one of my work friends always says about life, it's all good.

 

Some of the unexpected benefits I received by blogging are the many friendships I have formed over the past eight years. With online poker having decreased in popularity, I have scant contact with some old friends. However, there are still several current poker buddies around, both online and in person. Sometimes these relationships overlap, which is like doubling the fun. I certainly consider my readers and contributers to be friends, for by sharing ideas, humor and camaraderie, we make our lives richer.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 lightning36 playing in a WSOP event in Las Vegas. The beard is long gone.