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We are back! Had to take a month off, but it was for February, which is the shortest month anyway, even if it is a leap year so who cares.
Lets get on with it.
WTF? We Didn’t Win Best Blog?
Sooooo….. who is this Daniel Negreanu guy? And what makes his blog so special?
Listen, we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to win best blog in BLUFF’s 2007 Reader’s Poll. But it had nothing to do with NEEDING the validation…We know we have the best blog. Why we wanted it was more to torment other blogs you know, hold it over their collective heads. “What was that, Dr. Pauly? You don’t agree with our opinion? Well, who the hell are you! We won best blog, bitch!”
Anyway, here are some reasons why we think we didn’t win best blog:
Because Daniel cheated.
That’s it. That’s the only reason. Or at least it’s the only reason that makes sense. However, it could’ve been worse. We could’ve lost to Ship It Holla.
You Know You’ve Made It When…
There are moments in people’s lives that are defining. That announce you have arrived.
That set the tone for the rest of your life.
For us, that moment was after we witnessed not one person, but two different people at different times, leaving the stall in a cardroom bathroom with the magazine open to our column.
Yes, this tremendous feat has now happened at both Commerce Casino and in the Venetian. Who needs a best blog award anyway when people take your column to the crapper with them? As connoisseurs of reading while doing our business (for the record, we are straight-up laptop guys now love that wifi!), there is almost no greater honor than that.
Revising RANDY: The WCP Player Power Index Gets a Facelift
We admire BLUFF Magazine for making some changes to their Player-of-the-Year rankings. Their new system should more accurately peg who is the best live tournament player over the course of a year (not that Bill Edler wasn’t a very deserving recipient in 2007). Following BLUFF’s lead, we’ve decided to tweak our own computer program, RANDY. It’s been awhile since we last published RANDY’s rankings, so here was how RANDY used to rate players: 1) Do we (Wicked Chops Poker) like the player? 2) If we don’t like the player, is there something funny we can say about the player? 3) What is that player’s recent pop culture relevance? 4) Has that player significantly appeared in the news/media recently? 5) Has that player performed well in recent tournaments?
However, over the past year a few new wrinkles were thrown at RANDY that deserved some added weight and consideration. Actually, just one: Does the player have a nice rack?
And with that out of the way, it’s time for the first WCP Player Power Index of 2008.
Remember, the maximum score any player can achieve is 1,000.
1) Howard Lederer (Score: 922) – Clearly abetted by our new ranking criteria, Lederer takes the top spot away from Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu, who have had a stranglehold on our rankings since we first unleashed the system a year and a half ago. Lederer won the $100,000 buy-in Aussie Millions event in January, banking a cool $1.25 million and making him even richer than he was before, which was pretty rich. While not mentioned above, RANDY also ranks on projected performances for the upcoming year, and expects the Professor to re-emerge as a force on the circuit this year.
2) Jay-Z (Score: 809) – While not necessarily a staple on the circuit, Jay-Z ranks highly in multiple criteria. He’ll always be pop-culturally relevant, and what’s not to like about the guy? Especially when he’s donking off his benjamins at the poker table? See, Jay-Z opened a new club in Vegas and now more frequently finds himself in cardrooms. Recently it was reported that Jay-Z lost around half a million dollars in high stakes poker. One big hand allegedly involved HOVA not being able to muck pocket queens against his opponent’s nut flush. Seriously, where do we get in line? Can we play? We guess money really ain’t a thing to the hip-hop mogul.
3) Pamela Anderson (Score: 774) – Another benefactor of the new ranking system, Pamela has been all over pop culture and poker gossip rags lately. Last year it was rumored that Pam hooked up with a high stakes poker player to pay off her own $250,000 gambling debt. That “high stakes” player was Rick Salomon of Paris Hilton porn video fame. Actually, with both of their leaked sex tapes, it seemed like a match made in heaven. The two quickly got married, then quickly filed for divorce. Pam, who at press time is supposed to be pregnant, tried to get a sponsored entry into the Aussie Millions. Now that’s our kind of woman! Perfect rack and willing to sling some cards around even with one in the oven. That’s some serious dedication to the game, people! Remember that next time you want to quit playing because you lost two straight SNGs.
4) Bill Edler (Score: 703) – How could we leave out BLUFF’s Player of the Year? Edler had an incredible tournament year in 2007, and RANDY dually noted his performance. Plus, Edler has one of the best nicknames in the game, “The Stunning One.” He’s only docked points because we can’t think of anything bad to say about the guy, and that kind of pisses RANDY off. RANDY likes it when we make fun of people. Twisted computer, that RANDY.
5) Daniel Negreanu (Score: 652) – Negreanu has yet to fail to make RANDY’s rankings. His pop culture relevance will almost always be tops among poker players, and he’s still posting the occasional big tournament cashing. However, and this is a direct quote from RANDY himself, “I’ll be damned if I rank Negreanu any higher after stealing the best blog award from the Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker. Damned!!!” Thanks for having our back, RANDY. You’re all right… for a fictional computer program we’ve made up to take up space in our BLUFF columns, you’re all right.
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