Category Archives: Uncategorized

Open Letter to Herb Greenberg: The Problem is Unemployment, not Unemployment Insurance

I like CNBC’s senior stock analyst Herb Greenberg. I generally count on him for his solid and thorough research. But last week, he wandered off into an anecdotal wilderness. So this is to Herb, in honor of Labor Day. Dear Herb, I watched some of your CNBC “coverage” on unemployment insurance, where you implied that […]

Why I’m Your Worst Facebook Friend: Confessions of an Anti-Social Networker

When I was about six, my father asked me if I knew what the word “exploitation” meant. I shook my head “no.” “Get me a beer and I’ll tell you,” he said. I brought him the beer and he said nothing. He just smiled. I wish I could tell you that I learned my lesson […]

The Off-Grid Experiment

I never had a problem being productive as a freelance writer. My home office is big and well appointed. I had cats, which make great writing partners. I had music for every mood at my fingertips. Flexible hours worked well for me. I’m wired to write in the earliest hours of the day. When I […]

Photoshopped…At Last

I covered poker for years — before poker was cool — before Moneymaker — before the WPT. In all that time, I was never the subject of a 2+2 thread. And I never dared dream that I would ever be photoshopped by one of the 2+2 photoshop wizards. But thanks to aramfingal, I can die […]

Frugal Detective Work

Billionaire Andy Beal beat Ted Forrest (and the corporation) out of $10 million in a poker game at the Wynn. Right after the victory, I overheard Beal confirming his travel plans with Beal Bank VP, Craig Singer. Towards the end of the call, he added, “And see if they’ll bump us up to first class.” […]

Reclaiming Space and a Mini Book Purge

I looked at it twice. I remembered exactly when it was written: April 17, 2006. But I hadn’t remembered that I had it all this time. It was a draft of Chris Ferguson’s chapter of The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition. Something was written in bold letters, in black sharpie, on the top […]

The SXSW Invasion Countdown

I moved to Austin in March of 1993, just a couple of weeks before the SXSW Music festival. I bought myself a wristband for $35 and spent three days hiking the streets of downtown, listening to hundreds of mostly unsigned bands from around the world. The weather was warm. The margaritas were cold. And the […]

Crossing Over

On Thursday, the big flat panel in the hallway of our office wasn’t tuned to CNBC. Instead it was blaring the local news, covering the story about a plane that hit a building about a mile from our office. I was more preoccupied following a different story online. My neighbor’s house, just a couple of […]

Wiped, Recovered and Carli’s 50th

Since Biloxi, I’ve been fighting viruses — a cold and a computer virus. The cold was also picked up by the Shrink and rggator. We don’t necessarily blame Idouru, who had one while we were all in Biloxi. (cough, cough). I can’t quite pinpoint the source of the computer virus, howver, although I suspect it […]

Embracing Uncertainty: Civil War Generals and Poker

This 2005 PokerPages article was inspired by a chat at a cocktail party. Poker was all the rage and people were curious about the way in which I made my living. While much has been written about the similarities between war and poker (as in David Apostolico’s Tournament Poker And The Art Of War), a […]