Firstly, I'd like to wish everyone a happy, safe holiday season. With Thanksgiving now behind us, along with the "busiest shopping day of the year," we've still a number of special days to look forward to and I wish everyone the absolute best.

And if you, like me, are trying to rack up the cash on the felt so you can actually afford to buy one of those insanely awesome TMX (Tickle Me Elmo...) dolls, the best of luck to you. Those things are rarer than a royal flush these days. I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to break down and buy one on e-bay, hence the mad rush at the card table.

I'd like to extend a congratulations to PokerPages' very own Bryan Devonshire, who recently took first place in the Holiday Bonus Tournament over at the Commerce Casino. This is Bryan's first major tournament win, and I know we can expect more.

I first met Bryan at the 2006 World Series of Poker, having picked him as my horse at some point during the first day of play in the first, employee's, event.. Something about him struck me. Whether it was his incredibly positive attitude, or the massive mound of chips in front of him that seemed to get nothing but larger, I was quite pleased to see him come in second in that event and win over $60,000 in the process.

Since then Bryan has been perhaps our most regular and regularly-entertaining blogger, and you'll see his first Featured Article for PokerPages appearing next month. Yes, I've read it, and it's great!

Big things on the horizon for PokerPages. I know I've been fond of saying that in the past, but have I ever let you down? I won't divulge any secrets here, but I'm working on a few different projects that I think are really going to keep you coming back to us every day, multiple times a day, for years to come. Long live the Hud!

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Just a few days ago, poised at my computer with that blinking cursor mocking me amist a sea of white, I found myself at a loss for a topic. Therein lies the reason for my lack of a post until now.

I mentioned to my friend, the mistress of PokerPages, herself, Tina Napolitano, that I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a topic. I had a lot of ideas, but writer's block had me by the short and curlies.

"Well," she said. "Write about women in poker."

I thought about it for a second, glad that she'd brought it up. Frankly, I grow weary of writing about women in poker. Certainly, if a woman does something worthy of being written about, that's fine. I'll write all day long. But I feel the angle of "Hey, you're a woman and you play poker - how does this affect your play?, how do other players see you?, have you been getting the short end of the stick?, blah blah blah" has been done to death.

I've recently been going back into our tournament database and correcting errors or omissions therein. During this process I have come across a number of ladies-only events, and I've begun to ask myself: Are these even necessary anymore?

Annie Duke, notable pro (and woman), has refused to play in these any longer. Why? I can't speak for her, but I can take a guess - it's an insult.

I don't think that it can be denied that a woman can possess every ability and skill that makes a good poker player. It's sexist to think otherwise. We're not talking about a physical sporting event, in which the strongest man will beat the strongest woman every time. We're talking about thought processes here, and living in an age where it's just plain stupid to suggest that women are any less capable than men when it comes to powers of mind.

Why, then, do we still find it necessary to have "women only" events? I ask that question again - why do we find it necessary to have events that are women only? Certainly, if there were an event that only men could play in, a stink would be raised - and rightly so.

I submit that the women-only events are present only because of holdovers from the general feeling about poker that women are so desperately trying to remove - it's a man's game. These events were started, not because women are inherantly less skillful, but because in the past men were the only ones that received any respect.

I want to go into this in more detail in a featured article. I'm going to solicit the opinions of the masses, including professional poker players, amateurs, and you, the common reader.

Click the "contact" link above, o' diligent reader, and send me your thoughts. What do you think? Should the ladies-only events be sent the way of the do-do? Speak out!

All for now.

Cheers!

J