by Dan Michalski, Nov 17, 2006 | 3:48 pm

With so much going on in the poker world these days, big shifts and changes of varying importance don’t seem to stop. I probably spend too much time reading about them all and not enough writing. Your loss. I used to be able to say, to keep up with it all, read Iggy. But no longer …

So IGGY is retiring. That’s the big news. Though the connection is indirect, he’s a victim of the UIGEA (and more specifically PARTYPOKER’S subsequent American pull-out) to be sure …

Click here to read Ignatius’ own farewell. And here.

And check out AL CAN’T HANG’s obituary for Guinness & Poker. (via Iggy.)

My fondest Iggy memory — “chopping” after three null throws in a best-of-7 game of ROSHAMBO, for $100. Otis tells me afterward, “consider yourself lucky.”

Speaking of ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS … the world championship was recently held in TORONTO. A dude named ART NORMAN won it, and $7,000. Poor showing by poker players. Now schools are holding RPS TOURNEYS for kids, as well they should be.Because it’s still too difficult to make a living at Roshambo, few are sure what Iggy will do next. But don’t be surprised if you find him at the World Series of Mock Trial.

In his illustrious career as a degenerate poker blogger, Iggy briefly blogged for PokerBlog. It was a privilege to work with him, and all went downhill from there.

Guinness & Poker TRIVIA: Iggy credits Linda Geenen as his online INSPIRATION. “Iggy,” by the way, is not the GnP blogdaddy’s real name. He got his pseudonymn from a book.

Confederacy, “community,” CULT? Are they really all that different? Iggy now has gone to work for corporate America/Ohio. Be sure to watch the video below — AMAZING for various reasons:

THE BANKING INDUSTRY, remember, has been charged with coming up with the means to enforce the UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING Enforcement act. Scary … but wouldn’t you be willing to play poker against pretty much any of these guys?

Something we should’ve told you about long ago — JAMIE GOLD has filed his legal response to CRISPIN LEYSER’s $6 million lawsuit, and he makes a compelling argument that Leyser may just be a douche.

And last month, a pro named ABRAHAM GRAY apparently got arrested by the NEVADA GAMING COMMISSION at the WYNN POKER ROOM for allegedly marking cards. (via an Iggy coattail-rider.)

More recently, semi-known poker pro JAMES “THE MORTICIAN” GIORDANO got nabbed in a major, multi-state ONLINE GAMBLING BUST.

DONALD RUMSFELD is being charged with war crimes in GERMANY. Do you think he’ll face the same fate as SADDAM HUSSEIN or SLOBODAN MILOSEVICH? Of course not. And that’s why (online) poker players need to realize they shouldn’t put too much stock in the UIGEA-repealing efforts of ANTIGUA and the WTO.

MATT MAROON has a great post on some necessary new direction in poker’s legislative endeavors.

JACK ABRAMOFF, by the way, checks in to prison this week. His attempts to put gaming-industry money in the right hands went awry. (And ticked off BILL FRIST in the process.)

First they told us we can’t light our shoes on fire … now they’re saying, as per the PATRIOT ACT, you’re a terrorist if you chow box while flying. Slippery slope. Very slippery slope.

More here. And here. And an Iggy imposter here.

The AMERICAN GAMING ASSOCIATION is considering whether or not to support legislation that calls for a commission to study online gambling. Man, if that’s all we got on the current agenda, there’s like NO WAY the UIGEA will be overturned this month.

The chairman of Australia’s CENTREBET believes that the new Democratic congress may somehow decide not to “enact” the online gambling bill that PRESIDENT BUSH signed into law. Get the idea that this company reallyreally doesn’t understand the American political system … nor stand a chance against the likes of HARRAH’S if and when things do change?

You know what, GARY CARSON is one funny poker motherfucker.

And did you know CHINA has an IGGY?

Remember all those BATHROOM PROBLEMS at the 2005 WSOP? Well check out what competitive CHESS players have to go through just to take a leak. (Warning: Annoying Russian buzz.)

TRUE OR FALSE: Iggy tried to keep his picture off the internet because he once killed a man, and even though he was acquitted of the crime, he thinks it would be in poor taste to for the family of the deceased to ever have to look at Iggy’s facial scar left from that fateful night?

Even though sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Bodog have seen a surge in new players, overall traffic to online poker sites has declined. (NOTE: take the Pokerati online poll –up above … on your right.) And LYCOS reports that “poker” has surrendered its top spot on the search list, replaced by “spyware.” Times they are a-changin’. Yee-haw!

Blogger Analytics

Many speculated off-blog about exactly how much money BONUS CODE: IGGY made as a PartyPoker affiliate. He always claimed “a lot less than most people think.” What most highly informed, industry-knowledgeable “professional” poker bloggers thought was “easily six figures.”

I happened to meet his affiliate manager, Rohit, in London a couple months ago. “No no, no six figures at all,” Rohit told me (in an amusingly thick Indian accent). “Iggy’s big problem is he’s very lazy. Very very lazy.”

Maybe so, but by not serving as an online-poker-room BITCH, Iggy kept his cred and showed the poker blogosphere that it is possible TO SHILL (Damnit!) without totally selling out.

One avid poker player Iggy didn’t inspire to start blog was A-Rod. But ALEX RODRIGUEZ was at FOXWOODS this Wednesday, hosting a charity tournament. Go poker.

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[Fin.]