The Poker Boom Is Dead, Long Live The Poker Boom

Oh boy. What a night! I feel sick. Violated.

Yes, I've just been 4-tabling the 2/4 LHE on Party Poker PokerStars, and I'm down $120 in the space of an hour. A sum less than that I lost on the river in a mere two pots.

Unbelievable. The lunatics truly have taken over the asylum. My mind is boggling at some of the plays. If someone had a mod to make Stars look green and cartoony, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Unless you noticed it was 9-handed, not 10-handed, and I can assure you most of the players tonight were not that observant.

On the plus side, I've never cleared FPPs so quickly!

The games really were about as good as it gets, but having got four bets in pre-flop on several occasions in quick succession, only to be ambushed on the river by, ahem, speculative starting hands, I could feel the tilt monster straining at the shackles, and decided to take it on the chin and get out before I did more damage.

For a long time I've detected a certain elitist attitude towards Stars amongst some players. A feeling that playing there somehow makes you superior to a Party Poker acolyte.

Well, the elitists better drop that attitude damn quick, because tonight it was like trying to bluff a monkey off a banana mountain.

These are interesting times, and I expect anyone who has got into a groove playing on Stars is in for a rude awakening! Some adaptation and rereading of Ed Miller may be in order.

At least I have the benefit of playing a range of sites and styles, so I could see what was happening. Even if tonight I was on the wrong side of a few river cards.

Hopefully over the coming months, I'll be able to prove my theory that it pays to be adaptable.

At the very least, I should manage to raise enough FPPs to make a visit to the Stars shop worthwhile.