You may recall a couple recent polls we’ve run inquiring who were the most influential people in poker for 2008, working either alone or as a group, for better or for worse. Bluff Magazine did something similar, and their “Poker Power 20″ is on newsstands now. Their results are listed below, but for comparison’s sake, here’re our collective results, as determined by you, the best damn websurfers in poker:

The Pokerati Team – 44
Jeffrey Pollack – 39
Russ Hamilton – 30
PokerStars – 29
WSOP/Harrah’s – 26
Daniel Negreanu – 23
The Batfaces – 21
Bloggers (Pauly, Wicked Chops, Nat Arem, et al.) – 16
American Government (DOJ, Congress, Kentucky, etc.) – 13
Barney Frank – 11
The PPA – 9
Phil Hellmuth – 9
TV Networks (ESPN, GSN, NBC, et al.) – 7
Forums (2+2, Neverwin, et al.) – 7
shronk – 7
AP/UB/Cereus – 6
The Kahnawake – 5
Russian Mob – 5
PokerNews – 4
Brian Balsbaugh (Poker Royalty) – 4
John Pappas (PPA) – 3
Howard Lederer – 3
Non-Poker Media (60 Min, Post, NYT, etc.) – 2
Bluff Media – 1

And here’s Bluff’s list, in reverse order:

20. Wicked Chops Poker
19. “The Backers”
18. Poker Players Alliance
17. CardRunners
16. Ivan Demidov
15. WSOP Players Advisory Council
14. Doyle Brunson
13. 2+2
12. PokerNews.com
11. World Poker Tour
10. Professional Poker Players
9. Bluff Media
8. Poker PROductions
7. Daniel Negreanu
6. Barney Frank
5. Poker Royalty
4. Full Tilt Poker
3. ESPN
2. PokerStars
1. World Series of Poker

If you haven’t voted (a few times) already, be sure to check out our current sidebar poll … Currently we’re wondering how your poker play has changed in Q1 2009 from, say, Q1 or Q2 2008, back when 11-figure numbers seemed really big.

I actually asked this question in mid-December — how has the current economic climate affected the poker economy? — to all my bestest poker pro friends and any others whose email addy I pilfered off someone else’s semi-spam. Because you know, there aren’t too many professions where the “players” carry around the equivalent of a car in their pockets and keep a house in their Bellagio box.

I got only one response (I see how it goes Tom and Clonie) … from Daniel Negreanu (whom frankly I hardly know):

I don’t think it’s affected the poker community all that much yet, outside of the tournament circuit which is seeing a decrease in numbers that I think it directly tied to the economy.

I’m not sure I fully agree with him, but I can say that these don’t sound like words coming from a guy who’s going broke, as PokerNews has insinuated.

Anyhow, click a sidebar bubble and vote. I’m curious to know how off-table circumstances have affected your action on the felt.

KTRH-AM 740 out of Houston followed up the Morning News story about our efforts to legalize poker in Texas with one of their own. In their piece, the opposition claims we poker liberators* are simply seeking a regressive tax that will punish the poor, and calls government “weak” for even considering legalization as an alternative to cracking down.

*my term, not theirs

And now, on the front page of KTRH’s website, their question of the day is:

Should Texas add poker to its gaming lineup?

Click here to vote. At the time of this posting, we’re leading 63-37 … as all of us who understand the skillful application of percentages can surmise, this is hardly the spread of domination we’re looking for. Seriously, I’m sorry to keep whining about this … but it’s a one-and-a-half-click vote … if we can’t nail this one down, we don’t stand a chance in Austin this year.

NOTE: This seems to be a very conservative radio station.

UPDATE: Encouraging, what their forum has to say.

Bluff also has their 2008 Reader’s Choice Awards ballots up online, where they’re naming “Bests” in 20 categories — asking your favorite online sites, broadcasters, poker rooms, forums, podcasts, etc. Pokerati is one of 10 finalists in the blog category. Sweet-ish!

Cast your ballot accordingly. To encourage your willingness to spend your valuable click-time with Bluff, all respondents go into a drawing for WSOP Academy seats and a one-year subscription(?) to thepokerdb … which is already free, but still.

Get your votes in for our unscientific declaration of Poohbah of the Year — it won’t be up much longer. For a while there it looked like the presumptively criminal Russ Hamilton was going to run away with the award for most influential poker person of 2008. But Jeffrey Pollack must’ve emailed his friends and family, because now he looks like a lock for the gold medal. Daniel Negreanu, Barney Frank, and None of the Above all still stand a chance at something.

Go polling … Righthand sidebar, kinda near the top.

Our last poll was kinda complex — seeking speculation on what the recent national media exposure would mean for poker. We gave you six options (nobody added any others), three of which were “positive” and three “negative”. The “bad for poker” side won by roughly a 3:2 margin.

This week, I’m curious … Who do you think, for better or for worse, has been the most influential person in poker in 2008? Jeffrey Pollack, Peter Eastgate, Osama bin Laden? Vote your little heart out. Next week we’ll be asking a similar question for group performance.

If you haven’t voted a few times already, there’s a poll right over there ( –> ) asking you what’s your favorite poker blog by a bona fide poker pro. Daniel Negreanu is running away with it, as he probably should be. My personal fave: Doyle Brunson’s blog.

Not only do I enjoy the Doylism of the Day, but also, Big Poppa can write! In his most recent post, he explains why having backed John McCain doesn’t make him anti-poker any more than it makes him a racist:

First, I’m about as far away from being a racist as you can get. I’ve had black friends all my life, and I mean really good friends. That was back before it was “fashionable” to have blacks as friends.

Hmm, that might be a dig at anyone like me who has specifically been courting black girls, thinking interracial intercourse is about to become all the rage (just kidding LaTasjia — you’re still my #1 shorty). But seriously … check it out — not only does Doyle’s blog have other good blogstuff such as a relatively personal Flickr gallery, but also he was able to make a solid point for voting McCain in four paragrafs that neither Tom nor my dad could do in four weeks of email manifestos and belligerent phone calls. It’s the kinda writing I’ve grown to expect from Brunson, who clearly has refined his skills in the 36 years since authoring Super/System.

Another pretty good one comes from Annette 15. Even though the Michelle Wie of Poker (?) says she’s really more of a forum girl, Annette Obrestad’s blog (added to the poll by a reader) is filled with worthwhile reads from a young pro making her way through the high-stakes world, live and online. I really dug her post introducing “set mining” to me (the phrase, if not the concept), with a simple, straightforward math-based explanation of when it’s worth seeing if you’re pocket pair can trip up.

Anyhow, just a couple that I’ve found worth the clicks and eyeball time, and possibly a few votes.

Check it out, in case you’re going through polling withdrawal … you can vote again and this time you don’t even need to wait in line.

Just about every pro at some time or another starts a “blog”. They put up a few posts, and before too long realize that writing regularly is hard … or at least boring … or not very rewarding … or some negative EV combination of the above. But every once in a while a poker pro actually enjoys the process, and gives us something thought-provoking to read at least every couple weeks or more.

So I’m curious … which pro bloggers (not to be confused with pro bloggers) do you actually enjoy reading? I threw up 11 that have caught my eye more than once in 2008, but I’m sure I’m missing a few, so please add any that I’ve forgotten. (If you know html, go ahead and include the link!)

The criteria that I kept in mind were:

• True pros — someone who makes his or her living at the table.
• Have been blogging for at least six months.
• Blog regularly — almost never more than a couple weeks between posts.
• Super bonus points for behaving like a true blogger by interacting with readers.

So have at it … semi-stuffable ballot box in the upper-mid-toppish part of the near-right sidebar.

There seem to be 100 polls coming out each day pertaining to the presidential race, so a poker-related poll has been released to take your minds off the pesky politics that will decide who will run the U.S. for the next four years.

Poker Software, a cleverly named online site dedicated to information about poker software and other related tools, has been conducting some polls for its members to rank (with five being the best and zero the worst, obv) various software programs and online poker sites. Though voting is ongoing, some of the most recent results have been released:

Poker software programs:

1. Hold’em Manager – 4.63
2. SharkScope.com – 4.50
3. PokerHand.org – 4.50
4. Popopop Hand Replayer – 4.50
5. Smart Buddy – 4.37
6. PokerGrapher – 4.20
7. Sixth Sense – 4.20
8. Sharkscope HUD – 4.20
9. Poker 4H Calculator – 4.20
10. SpadeEye – 4.10

Online poker sites:

1. PokerStars – 4.93
2. Full Tilt Poker – 4.55
3. Party Poker – 4.00
4. Titan Poker – 3.90
5. Doyles Room – 3.90
6. Bodog – 3.90
7. Cake Poker – 3.85
8. Ultimate Bet – 3.85
9. Carbon Poker – 3.80
10. Absolute Poker – 1.08

New poll up on the right … Inspired by Duplicate Poker’s, this one has nothing to do with poker, and yet everything to do with poker. Let’s see how Pokeratizens line up with all of America, percentage-wise, come November.

Previous Poll Results

(Am I the only one surprised that Duplicate Poker is still alive and kicking?)

Evidently, Duplicate Poker has players. And 1,639 of them were willing to complete surveys about the upcoming presidential election and their intended votes.

Obama took it by nearly a 2:1 margin – 1,043 votes for Obama, 596 votes for McCain.

Other results of interest:

Stronger ticket: Obama (1,167) v. McCain (499)
Predictions for victory: Obama (1,117) v. McCain (538)
Race as a factor: Yes (737), No (915)
Deciding issues: Economy (602), Vision for America (379), Iraq war (348)
Most decisive voters: Women (575), African-Americans (541)

The survey was conducted from September 4-6, and all respondents were U.S. citizens, 87% of whom were men ages 18-54. Average income of the surveyed was $77K, average education was college graduate, and online poker frequency was twice per week.

Take it for what it’s worth, but it is the first survey done of poker players on the upcoming election.

There are 50 poker rooms in Las Vegas, so we thought you might appreciate the assistance of fellow degenerates in narrowing down the possibilities of where to play when you come to town. The votes have been tallied … and four places stood out above the rest … In what may or may not become a recurring tradition around these parts, Pokeratizens say the Best Poker Rooms in Vegas are:

Gold Medal
The Venetian

Great regular tourneys, Deep Stack Extravaganzas, plenty of all-but-the-highest-stakes action, bottled Fiji water, and maybe the escalator that dumps off drunkenly clad party girls coming out of Tao right in front of The V’s poker room make it far and away the favorite of this website’s readers/players/dealers.

official site / TPA

The separate tournament room really is cool, if not the best in town, and the comfortable multi-tiered cash game area never seems short of action appealing to the masses of big little-stakes players. Great freerolls for regular cash players, too.

official site / TPA

Still home to the biggest games in Vegas (in terms of buy-ins), thereby drawing the most pros and the players who want to challenge/sit near them. Everything Bellagio is always luxe, of course, and their regular $500 and $1k tourneys makes the chance to play for baller money an in-town constant.

official site / TPA

More…

We’re gonna be closing the polls soon, so this is your last chance to stuff the ballot box on the unscientific Pokerati poll wanting to know what Pokeratizens consider to be the best all-around poker room in Vegas.

Look on your right, scroll down (or up depending on when you’re seeing this post), and let your voice be heard. And heard again. The Venetian seems to have the gold medal locked up, but there’s still quite a race for bronze.

NOTE: This poll is only open to the one percent of readers who do more than actually read this site — the ones that leave comments, vote, hack, flame, etc. Elitism has its privileges.

That’s the question this week. Scroll down a bit and over at the right. –>

We know lots of things factor into your decision on where to play — from the stakes to the amenities to the action. So using whatever algorithm you employ in your head, we want to know where it is that you feel like you’ve got to play — or where you really want to play — whenever you come to town. (Or, of course, if you live here … then just what’s your favorite room in town.)

You can actually vote once a day, so have at it however you want: stuff the ballot box for your favorite room, or spread out your votes to show your diggage of multiple poker joints.

See results of previous poker polls here.

The readers have spoken … and 42 percent of you are so damn principled that you wouldn’t even consider accepting tournament buy-ins from Ultimate Bet or Absolute, while 22 percent have a more mercenary attitude and/or have forgiven UB/AP. 18 percent of us aren’t sure, 12 percent have become so cynical that what’s the point of trying to lead a good life, and 6 percent are saying random shit that makes them kinda unclassifiable. So there you have it.

There’s a new poll up (on the right) where I’m curious … with our current knowledge of the poker world, business developments, main-event final-table hype in action, the state of poker on TV, political wildcards, and, of course, intangibles … how big do you expect the main event in the 2009 WSOP to be?