It’s been nice knowin’ ya, but I’m outta here. Will be away from Pokerati for more than a week — yikes, that will be the longest I’ve been away from the controls ever. We’re not shuttin’er down or anything. I’m just taking my first real vacation since deciding to give up on the whole “job” thing back in ’01. (Yeah, I know I work for Thrillist, too, but that’s not really a job, it’s a gig eating and drinking.) And it’s not even a vacation at that … I’m doing important poker research on the nuances of 40th Anniversary celebrations — you know, in preparation for the 2009 WSOP. Heading out with the entire family to the Caribbean — the folks, sisters, bro-in-laws, nephews, Grandma — for mom and dad’s 40th, but I won’t be bringing my computer (lie), so emails, comments, phone calls, etc. ain’t happening. Awesome Sorry.

I will be playing a little poker, mind you. Apparently the Carnival Imagination has a tourney or series of tourneys played on PokerPro electronic tables (neato!) and one of my “goals” for the vacation is to follow in the footsteps of this familiar face and win the whole dang thing:

In the meantime, California Jen (editorial) and Ed (technical) will be in charge … so please, bug them to keep you informed/entertained. KevMath, Goldfarb, and maybe even BJ Nemeth will be joining them to pick up the Danslack, which as we all know isn’t really that much.

Bon Voyage, suckers!