Thank Jebus!

Join me in finally breathing a huge, huge sigh of relief, as OUR PORTS ARE NOW SAFE...

...and, if you're a convicted felon, you can still get a job working at major ports, thanks to the last-minute efforts of assorted concerned Congresspersons It really is a win-win situation!!!

Party is a ghost town, after pulling the plug on US players. Very odd sight, that, with empty tables as far as the eye can see. bwin/Ongame announced they were bailing out, too, as soon as they can cobble together the tricknology to bar US players from playing for real money. Sportingbet is selling its US-based operations for the whopping sum of $1. (Although I imagine they have ties of some sort to the Antiguan-based company that is legally purchasing said operations.) Interesting times, indeed.

I ain't no Internet tubes expert but methinks that Stars stands to make a boatload of money as a result of all this silliness. Good for them.

I got pretty deep in the Stars rebuy last night, going out about twenty spots from the money. Had a top 20 stack and flopped a set with 88 on a 6h 8d Qc flop, and the Miss Cleo (also the only person at the table who covered me) insta-shoves (with what turned out to be KdJd), and I, umm, called. Running diamonds and no board pairage send me packing in a pot that'd have given me a pretty huge chip lead on the field. Whee, poker.