The Hammer Redux

If you check out the comments link in my previous "Hammer" posting, you'll note that both Felicia Lee (the "another blogger" of the previous entry) and the Blogfather of Poker himself, Iggy, dropped by. Nice to see them both here and I appreciate their taking the time to comment... and also neither of them tasking me on the fact that the Hammer story as originally written would have made it impossible for me to win. I've corrected the play-by-play, but in all honesty I don't remember what the cards were (chalk it up to advancing age), except that I won an all-in with a 7 7 2 2 2 full house, and it drove my adversary bonkers, as all good Hammer wins should.

Felicia noted that closing her public blog was "because of hate mail containing lightly veiled threats", an unfortunate too often by-blow of writing outspoken commentary on-line. As I said, a pity she closed her public Weblog, although she generously (since I'm a stranger to her) gave me access to her new, restricted blog. How long she'll be willing to maintain even a restricted blog is an open question, as the problems are apparently continuing.

As to the "Hammer" debate, some more reading has left me more bemused, or confused, or whatever. Although I didn't think it a thing worth debating, I had thought Iggy's reference to the "Stripper by Night" as a "troll" was somewhat off-base. I think of on-line trolls as people who deliberately write provocative statements to generate reaction. A "Dylan has a voice like a frog and stole all his material to boot" posting in rec.music.dylan would be an example of a troll trolling.

The interchanges between Felicia and the "Stripper" (whose name, if it's real, I've forgotten) seemed more like the typical on-line feud, with various people lining up on one side or another, themselves generating sub-branches of arguments. The whole Hammer thread is a perfect example: Is it usually stupid to play, let alone raise with? Yes. Does that have anything to do with the blogger poker meme (as Iggy so elegantly puts it in his comments) that you should always raise with the Hammer, especially in a game with other poker bloggers? No.

One mark of maturity is the ability to hold two conflicting thoughts in mind at the same time.

Anyway, now I'm not so sure whether Iggy was wrong, as several bloggers are advancing the theory that the "Stripper" is a fake, and may be someone's elaborate hoax. And, just to keep the pot boiling at a fine froth, The Stripper is now claiming that her (or his) true identity has been uncovered and she (or he) is now receiving phone calls about his (or her) blog.