[Josh W]

[ QUOTE ]
Why even respond to his nonsense. From what have heard of you and your game, you are a solid player and genuine nice fellow.

I am going to suggest to our mutual friend that we start a seperate forum or chat room for 20-25 solid winning players, who want to discuss serious strategy and get to another level of poker ability without having to post on this once-excellent forum and be bombarded with retarded comments and spam-like bulls**t.

Perhaps we could have a small membership fee or dues and put this towards an in-house tourney to send a "representative" to big tourneys, etc. Just thinking out loud, I guess . . .

TSP

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the kind words TSP.

Hmmm, I have lots more to say, but not sure how to best proceed. Hope this doesn't come out too wrong.

As I'm sure you know, your reputation on here is less than glowing. No problem. I also have it on high authority that anybody who knows you from 2+2 doesn't know YOU, as you are a damn fine person.

Your dislike for Tommy's posts, though, is somewhat narrowminded. Tommy and I are friends, and over breakfast once at Bay 101, it dawned on me that I'm more like him in a poker sense than any of the hundreds of players I know. As much as this will sound like a contradiction, I play like a cross between Tommy and DERB.

Tommy is a spectacular fella, and his mental approach to the game is far and away the best I've ever seen. What people (and, I think, You) need to realize is that his posts are meant for one of two things:

1.) Pure entertainment. Take it for what it's worth, and don't read too much into it.

2.) Mental and emotional game approach. These are incredibly valuable, and I think too often (based on responses), people don't see the value in them.

His reply to me was largely #2, with a little #1 sprinkled in. And, quite frankly, it was deserving of a response.

Tommy told me once that he only (for the most part) replies to people he knows in person, so he knows where they are coming from, and he has an idea of how to post in such a way that the intended audience can get the most benefit from it.

Now, you surely aren't this audience, and I'm not about to say that you should change to become his audience. What works for you is working well. If it ain't broke...

However, I think your constant bemoaning "oh no, another Tommy post" is getting tired. If you don't like it, don't respond. If you aren't:

1) entertained

2) appreciative of his mental and emotional outlook on the game

then so be it. This isn't a universal forum where everybody is going to enjoy everybody else's posts. For example, I rarely (if ever) will respond to a post where the OP uses a hand history converter. Another example is people threatening to boycott my posts because I don't include results.

That's fine.

Even though this forum is degrading quickly, it is also growing. There is a lot of diversity here. There are different types of posters looking for and providing different value. Appreciate that, and appreciate that even though you may not like somebody's style and/or substance, others do. Let them enjoy it without seeing your graffiti on the walls.

Whew.

Enough of that. Glad I got that off my chest. Tommy, sorry for speaking for you, and I sincerely apologize if I misrepresented anything.

As for your forum idea...I'd be all for it, but would not participate in creating it (from a software point of view). I would contribute, if invited of course.

When you next come out to Cali, let me know. I owe the drunkard a beer, and will grab one for you, too.

Josh