CHRISTMAS put a real dent in my poker and now a case of mono has put a crease in my New Year. Bed-rest and online poker only for me, for a while at least.

SHIRLEY ROSARIO at Poker Babes has been shutting up and listening. And winning big as a result.

POKER HELPS keep teens away from drink and drugs. At least, that's the way the Daily Breeze is spinning it.

LOOKING FOR A JOB in the New Year? Pokernews is looking for poker writers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS - and good luck if you're playing today.

FREEROLL FURORE: The Texas District and County Attorneys Association is trying to make free public poker tournaments illegal.
Jeremy at Love and Casino War is on the case:

The whole issue is going to come down to whether a chip in a free-entry poker tournament has value, or does not have value.

Any poker-playing lawyers out there? J could do with some support.

FELICIA LEE IS MOVING from blog to private journal. She's had enough of the flaming comments and hate mail she's been getting.
She will be missed - I particularly liked her recent review of online poker forums.

WHEN GOOD HANDS GO BAD - right now, pocket queens are killing me. At least I'm not alone.

POKER NERD has lots of good advice for playing Sit & Go tournaments.
Hat tip: Mike at Poker Words.

IT'S NOT POKER unless you can see the whites of their eyes. That was Anthony Holden's take on online poker in a recent radio interview.
Those poker sites better get eyeball icons. And quick!

ONLINE POKER ABBREVIATIONS: Fed up of typing "nh" and "gg"? UWannaBet has some suggestions for expanding your online vocabulary - and getting more of your meaning across.

WORLD POKER TOUR: I'm with David Young on this one - the poker is a great excuse for watching Shana Hiatt.

POKER TOP TRUMPS: Barry Greenstein's analysis of the top players he's met in cash games.

KATHLEEN WATTERSON, in the first of three articles for Poker Europa, takes a look at "The cyberspace No-Limit Poker trend".
Some trend! It looks more like an avalanche to me.

POKER FACES: Ali over at Cheesey Poker has posted mugshots of some of the players at Luton casino. Yep, they look like a bunch of poker players to me.

HARRINGTON ON HOLD'EM - just ordered it from Amazon but there's no way it's going to be here by Christmas.
In the meantime, I'll just keep re-reading the excerpt at Two Plus Two.

SMALL TOWN POKER TOUR: coming soon to a small town near you - Poker.net has the story.

UPDATE: Looks like there's going to be one in Europe too.

BILL RINI has proof-positive that online games are rigged - he's got pictures and everything!

I THINK VICTORIA COREN IS JUST FINE. But, really, this is going a bit too far.