Through the first six weeks of coverage of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN, ratings are down about 16% year over year. Watch me as I make my shocked face: Ok, once more.

*If poker once was a diversion for criminals and outlaws, today it’s an honest pursuit – contrary to politics and business, apparently. * *The Fine Game* *The bad guys are elsewhere* Today's bad guy *A war without pride* *Either way online poker loses* they.

The Poker Hall of Fame has just released the names of the Top 10 finalists that will be voted on by the Hall of Fame committee. I thought I would take a few minutes and go over my thoughts on the 10 finalists. The 10 nominees are: Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Barry Greenstein Dan Harrington Phil Ivey Linda Johnson Tom McEvoy Jennifer Harman-Traniello Daniel Negreanu Scotty Nguyen Erik Seidel The criteria for induction into the Hall of Fame is as follows: A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition Played for high stakes Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers Stood the test of time Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results *Chris "Jesus" Ferguson* *Prediction:* *Barry Greenstein* * * *Prediction:* *Dan Harrington* Harrington on Hold'em* * *Prediction:* *Phil Ivey* *Prediction:* *Linda Johnson* * * *Prediction:* *Tom McEvoy* *Prediction:* *Jennifer Harman-Traniello* *Prediction:* *Daniel Negreanu* *Prediction:* *Scotty Nguyen* *Prediction:* Only a Barry Greenstein induction stops Seidel from going into the Hall of Fame this year. [/assets/Uploads/Blog/Erik-Seidel.

Back in the day, Gus Hansen’s seemingly reckless style of play was winning him WPT titles and Hansen was considered one of the best poker players on the planet. I put that as a big was after some of the astonishing numbers that were recently published about him. For the month of August, Hansen has lost $2. 85 Million on Full Tilt Poker.

Land-based casinos in California oppose the regulation of online poker. They are afraid of losing revenue; they say this openly. The main argument of their opponents, the Regulators, goes along the same lines: “Regulated online poker will bring in cash. ” My reply to both sides would be: “So what?!” *It’s not about your revenue* The question whether online poker should be legal or not cannot possibly be reduced to a matter of revenue.

*A televised $250K poker tournament sounds exciting. But what kind of animal is the organizer, IPPA, really? * *This is not Anthony Holden* *Focusing on the luxury lifestyle* IPPA web site["/assets/Uploads/Blog/IPPA. jpg"/> *Not really an association* *Makes the WSOP look cheap *.

In a recent article on ABC News about young online poker players, this passage strikes me as being totally out of context: “A recent national study … estimated over 70 percent of [young] Americans … have gambled in the past year. Researchers at University of California-Berkeley also found … that 19. 6 percent of young men gamble online regularly. ” While that’s interesting, what’s it got to do with poker? *The definition of gambling* One may say that there’s an element of gambling in poker, but *poker is not gambling*.

Annie Duke has taken the offensive in her feud with Daniel Negreanu. On her blog, she has written an open letter to PokerStars about their apparent refusal to separate themselves from Daniel's comments. Before you read any further, go read Annie's blog on the matter. I do like how she states the blatantly obvious early on: " It is no secret that Daniel and I don’t like each other.

I have a certain hooker friend that I talk to infrequently. Hookers and poker for some go hand in hand. As such, here are some reasons that picking up hookers is like playing online poker: 1. You never really know what to expect going in.

Remember the Ladies Event of the 2010 World Series of Poker? If so, you probably remember it more for the men that played in the event than the women or even the lady who won the event. Daniel Negreanu was recently interviewed by PokerPlayer Magazine and a question was brought up about why the ladies event irked Daniel. He began to talk about the men that played and then turned his attention to Annie Duke. Here is a bit of what he said: "What irked me is that this woman has the audacity on her website to call herself ‘the best female poker player in the world’.