Poker Blogs, Part II

In a Weekly Shuffle two years ago, we detailed the blogs of four well known poker players. Since that article, countless more poker players have started blogs of their own. Poker blogs are now so plentiful that it's hard to wade through the noise to find one worthy of being bookmarked. This week we will examine some of them that might be worth a regular visit. online poker 468x60 Eric "Rizen" Lynch Not many poker players have enjoyed as much success, both online and live, as Eric Lynch has over the past two years. Not many of them maintain a blog as good as his either. We interviewed Rizen shortly after he won the internet's largest weekly poker tournament. Since that time, he has made three WSOP final tables, placed 24th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, and tallied close to a million dollars in tournament cashes. Throughout all of this, Rizen has regularly updated his blog with great poker content. Unlike the blogs of, say, Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth, Rizen's blog isn't littered with celebrity name dropping and glamorous stories. Instead, his blog is focused nearly entirely on poker. So while he may not author the most entertaining poker blog out there, you'd be hard pressed to find one that is more educational. The insights Rizen shares through his blog are an invaluable asset to aspiring poker players. Shannon Shorr Last year, Shannon Shorr quietly finished 4th on CardPlayer's Player of the Year standings. That impressive finish was propelled by two victories at the Bellagio Cup II series, including a win in the Main Event for $960,000. Shannon travels extensively to participate in poker tournaments all around the world. His blog is rich in content; he writes an entry to discuss almost every tournament he plays. One annoying aspect of the blog is its formatting. For whatever reason, Shorr doesn't break the entries up into multiple paragraphs. That's not such a big deal for short entries, but it can make the lengthier ones hard to sit through. Terrence Chan Although Terrence "Not Johnny" Chan is unknown to most people, his blog is worth a visit. It seems Chan is immune to whatever virus most poker players have that keeps them from regularly updating their blogs as he averages close to one new entry per day. If you don't care to read about Chan's personal life, you can skip about half of his entries. The other half is full of poker-related content that is generally quite good. In one recent entry, Chan made a poll to determine what the consensus was amongst his readers regarding a certain play. I thought this was a unique style of blogging that Chan should consider employing more often. He has enough readers that polling has value. Andrew "Foucault" Brokos To illustrate how much of Foucault's fame stems from his online persona, I asked a few people, "Hey, what's Foucault's real name?" Most of them responded, "I don't know." Someone else said, "Andy something." Finally I found a Two Plus Two magazine article authored by one Andrew "Foucault" Brokos. So while he may not be a household name, Foucault writes a great blog titled "From the Desk of the Poker Philosopher". In it, he shares book reviews, interesting hand histories, and various insights on the poker world. With an unparalleled rate of new content, it's clear that Foucault takes a lot of pride in his blog. Those uninterested in reading hand histories might find this blog to be too saturated with them. Thankfully, Foucault uses a hand history converter. Without it, perusing his blog would be chaotic. Shane "Shaniac" Schleger Although it isn't updated regularly, Shaniac's blog is one of my personal favorites. His misanthropic worldview blended with great writing talent makes for very addictive content. When he does post an entry, Shane avoids the standard pitfall of dwelling on the minute details of multiple hands and outcomes. Instead, his blog is better described as a broad commentary on life as a poker pro. After reading a few entries, it's hard not to root for Shaniac to both win some big tournaments and update his blog more often.