Random Thoughts

* Why are brick-and-mortar poker rooms so inefficient at seating players? At the very least, they can install some handheld pager system similar to those that restaurants use to alert patrons when their tables are ready. This is much better than the "wait around the poker room desk, hoping to hear your name get called" method most employ now. * If I had known Absolute Poker was ran by a bunch of guys who met through a fraternity in Montana, I never would have deposited money there. For that matter, if you know of any online poker rooms being ran by young males not too far removed from frat life, please let us know. online poker 468x60 * Do people still idolize many of the older, "legendary" players that probably aren't nearly as good as today's top pros? Even though players like Amarillo Slim and Tom McEvoy are older, newer professionals like Brian Townsend and Justin Bonomo actually have more experience due to the vast number of hands they've played on the Internet. Newer pros also play against much tougher competition. I'd much rather play against a bunch of drunk oilmen from the 70's who barely know how to play hold'em than some online "fish" who occasionally plays AQ a little too aggressively in early position. * Speaking of which, whose turn is it to stake T.J. Cloutier? * Raise your hand if you still watch poker on TV (other than ESPN's WSOP broadcasts). That's what I thought... * Why do online poker rooms have such confusing promotions? If you run an online poker room and have a promotion that requires paying several billable hours to a lawyer for writing its Terms and Conditions, you've taken it too far. Think KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid). * Something should be done to spice up the live tournament scene again. Does anyone really care about some random $10,000 buy-in WPT event anymore? Sure, the participants care, but in order to revive poker as a spectator "sport", tournament organizers should get a little more creative. Outside of the two WSOP Main Events (London and Vegas), the only two tournaments I truly care to follow are the $50,000 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. and $25,000 WPT Championship events. Notice a theme with those tournaments? Bigger buy-ins! * Ever notice how you have to be a 30-40 year old male with a job outside of poker in order to be eligible to win the WSOP Main Event? I really wish that old geezer from South Africa had won this year. * To all the people who think online poker will be legalized in the US sometime soon: just.... stop. * I wonder if anyone I know got really, really burned by investing in the stocks of publicly traded poker companies during the IPO craze. Between the UIGEA and the industry slowing down, those people are probably out about 50% or more on their investments (Party Gaming is down close to 80% since its IPO). These people probably cringe a bit every time they read a sentence with "poker" and "stock" in the same sentence...unless they invested in Gigamedia (the company that owns Everest Poker). That stock is up over 1200% since January 1, 2005.