My thoughts

People keep arguing for the legalization of online poker in America. I'm of the understanding that it is already legal, I don't think people will like government regulated online poker nearly as much as they we're being led to believe. I imagine a bureaucratic nightmare, filled with endless forms for depositing withdrawing and unbelievably high rakes. Ideally we could go back to a pre-UIGEA world, and then pay Nat Arem a ton and have him build a state of the art regulations center. I'm a strong believer that we as an industry can build an effective policing unit. So much has been done in an unofficial capacity over the last few years. If people like Nat were given more resources, it's easy to assume we'd be able to make the online poker scene a much safer place without the need for government intervention (which seems to mess up everything else they enter.)

I still can't get over the number of regulars (people that are attempting to play poker for a living/decent % of it) that insult/berate bad plays and bad players. Leaks are fun - and extremely shortsighted.

I recently had my biggest online score, chopping the Sunday Mill 3 way for 116K. That combined with a great December and January having me feeling very confident. It really is amazing how much confidence can do for one's poker game. It's no wonder so many poker players have over inflated egos. Balance is so huge in this game.

Over the last year The Maven and I have spent a lot of time and energy building a state of the art training center. Literally every person that walks through the door is seeing something they've never seen before, it's fairly breathtaking (if you enjoy computers over views). I'm very happy to note the progress of our students has been amazing, and I'm proud in watching them grow into legit stars.

Speaking of spectacular achievements, congrats to The Maven for winning the 2008 Bluff Magazine Online Player of The Year. It was awesome having the pleasure of watching Maven play 10-28 tables throughout the year, maintain a highly profitable pace, train countless students and all make it look easy.

I tried to mimic Maven and move up from my standard 3-4 tables, so November was spent 6-11 tabling while I lost 5 figures. I've since tried 5 or 6 on occasion, but virtually all my success has occurred while 1-3 tabling. I still realize the theoretical value of mass multi tabling online tournaments, so I haven't given up on the dream. Still, for now I'll stick with my comfort zone and intend to play no more than 5 tables at one time.

Hope you enjoyed,

Ari

To find out more info about coming to my training center email: BodogAri (at) gmail (dot) com