Taken from 3D Poker Room:

So there are now 4.3 million results on Google for "3d poker". Perhaps that means 2007 is going to be a whole lot different to 2006 when it comes to burning through a few chips at 3am on a Friday night..

Here's some of the big boys from that search on the almighty G:

• Live Poker
• 3D Poker Room
• PKR
• The 3D Poker

Personally I haven't played on any of them, but with the lines between TV, DVDs, video games and the internet becoming ever increasingly blurry - I don't think that virtual reality poker is far off.

I have so far avoided the lures of a more physical poker table because I think it will seriously distract me from the mechanics of actually playing the gam... more.

To anyone that celebrates this holiday, for reasons of religion (or in my case, cake and beer!):

Happy Christmas!

Enjoy the day, and eat as much as you like :)

Bet that got your attention eh?

Of course online poker isn't rigged. Besides the obvious point that it's not in the companies interest to rig it (ie, they're already making more than enough money since their costs are virtually nothing), it would be far too complicated to do it properly, and if done properly - we would know about it by now.

I think I've posted about this before, but there was a recent thread on PokerNews forum that cracked me up.

http://www.pokernews.com/poker-forum/topic1448/

This guy has a study of 5,000 hands and was assisted by a physics professor because he is "not that good in math".

Firstly, it's "maths", not "math". You wouldn't say, "I'm studying Mathematic" would you? "Maths" is a shortening of "Mathematics". Just to be clear (and pendantic :) ).

Secondly, 5,000 hands?! That's barely enough to assert whether or not you're a good player, let alone whether a random number ... more.

It seems it's catching.. apparently Germany is now considering implementing a US-style online poker ban, and several other European countries including Spain and Italy are thinking about implementing some regulations so that government can start raking the tables.

Many will probably argue that this is a good thing for the game and that as an industry, we need proper regulation. Correct me if I'm wrong though, but weren't we alright in the first place?

Online poker was booming along at a healthy pace and everyone was making tons of money. It now looks like the slow, out of touch politicians of the world want to get in on the action without learning the intricacies of a good post-oak bluff.

Anyway, whatever happens, I doubt it will have much effect. The internet is almost un-regulable (is that a word?), so players will find a way. Governments who are trying to sanitize the game and make it mainstream (read, get their share of the honey) may end up doing the opposite and pushing it und... more.

So you might have noticed the poll that's going on in the navbar over there.

"Would you ever consider paying for video poker tutorials?"

The results have been mixed: basically it's pretty even across the board, with 20% of people going for "not interested", "no" and even "are you mad?"

I must say I'm surprised by this - or perhaps the question wasn't explained well enough.

The idea is this: poker players like you and me can record our games through sceen recording software. You see these videos (with commentary) on YouTube, Google Video and the like.

There are even coaching programs appearing now in which you sign up to a website and pay a huge fee to watch these videos from one or two online pros.

Some friends and I figured it would be better if you could make your own videos, and charge other people to watch them. This works because pro players are provided with an avenue to teach (and profit!), and us leaners are offered cheap and affordable trainin... more.

Cor blimey it's been a long time since I posted.

Life just got on top of me for a while there I think. Poker started seeming like more and more of a job, and I hate jobs just as much as everyone else.

After a long break, I still have just as little time during the day to play, but I at least have an interest in the game again.

I am going to start posting here again, but I won't promise to post every day, since that's a sure fire recipe for failure.

So, starting tomorrow, Barney is back in the building!