But even as cool as that might look on a totally douchebaggy jacked-up truck … I’d probably go with “FAWCETT” or “THESANG” first.

Seriously … that should be a Batface prop bet … whoever loses has to drive around in a car labeled “THESANG” for a year. Extra funny for any who have to drop their kids off at soccer practice.

And though Pokerati plans to sell out as much as possible this year, I really really like the clean and pure look of what you’ve got going over there.

I hope you’ll at least be willing to pimp out your own stuff elsewhere, whether it’s WPT coverage, Poker Road Photo blog, or whatever.

If you use the numeral, and search for “Isildur1 interview,” it’s the very first result. (As it should be.)

So from Google’s point of view, it’s in your own self-interest to use both names at least once — Isildur1 and Isildur.

Here’s the link to my blog post: http://www.bjnemeth.com/blog/2010/1/3/google-the-isildur-interview.html

Really good, helpful stuff on all the online player Stylebook issues. You have created clarity on how I’ll think about these matters.

Between Pokerati and the new BJNemeth.com, we should find a better place to put that stuff than in the comments on a throwaway post about Las Vegas license plates.

Sorel “Imperium” Mizzi
Sorel Mizzi (online name: Imper1um)

Personally, I hold to the style that *all* proper nouns are capitalized, regardless of how they are expressed as a brand. (Adidas and Craigslist also brand themselves without initial caps.) I also decided long ago that when referring to online poker players, I would use the easiest-to-pronounce and easiest-to-spell version of their online monikers. For example, I don’t waste my time capitalizing every other letter in BelowAbove, nor do I use numerals in something like “Imperium.”

However, if I am specifically referring to their online name, rather than the player it represents, I will try to spell it out exactly as it appears in an online poker room. When I do this, I try not to treat the online identity as a traditional nickname that appears between the first and last name. I will list the player’s real name, and then follow it with the online name in parentheses.

A few examples:

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan
Tom Dwan (online name: durrrr)

Sorel “Imperium” Mizzi
Sorel Mizzi (online name: Imperium)

James “Mig” Mackey
James Mackey (online name: mig.com)

For Isildur1, we obviously don’t know his real name. In conversation (like on the Poker Beat), people usually refer to him as Isildur, so I believe that’s how we should write about him. As a general rule, whenever I write, I think about how it will be read aloud — and I don’t expect people to say “Isildur one” every time his name appears in an article. I would use “Isildur1″ the first time in a given article or blog post, and then switch over to Isildur after that. Similar to how you use a player’s full name on the first usage before switching to just the last name.

Some players, like Gavin Smith, have well-known online names that have never reached the level of a nickname. In a cases like these, I will never list the online name in quotes between the first and last names.

Gavin Smith
Gavin Smith (online name: BirdGuts)

Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso (online name: LadyMaverick)

Some players have nicknames that don’t correlate to their online names. The most obvious example of this is Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. It’s a straight nickname, so it’s treated like a traditional nickname.

Other players, like Doyle Brunson or Daniel Negreanu, have nicknames that are very well know yet very infrequently used. I would never write Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson or Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, even though people know those nicknames. If I felt it necessary to include them in a bio or some other article, I would describe their nicknames contextually in a sentence.

Finally, there are those players whose nicknames have replaced their actual first names in general poker usage.

David “Chip” Reese
Chip Reese

Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Bertrand Grospellier (online name: ElkY)
Elky Grospellier

I only made the change recently for Elky, but a lot of casual fans see the name “Bertrand Grospellier” and don’t recognize it — though they know who Elky is.

And what about Isildur … can we just call him Isildur, or is it better to say Isildur1? (And I’m still waiting for Isildur2 and 3 to emerge.)

I’d think less of Phil Ivey if he drove around in a car with a license plate that read “Ivey.”