Things are starting to get a lot busier at CarbonPoker lately. Our Bad Beat Jackpot is going off, tourneys are getting bigger each week and more players are coming through the door — we’re expanding. The blog is no different and we’re bringing a new member into the family: Cousins of Ron Mexico. He’s a noted online blogger and player at Carbon.

Hello, my name is Stephen. I’m an avid poker player and over the next 100 years I’m going to be sharing some of my poker-playing experiences with you. I know what you’re thinking – 100 years? That’s a really long time. Well, I’m such a dedicated player (and blogger) that I agreed to contribute to Carbon Poker over the next 100 years.

You may recognize my name from the first two Carbon Poker blogger tournaments. I won the first ever CPBT and finished second in the… second. It took a wick beat to bump me from a second straight victory, but I’m not hear to talk about that. Nobody likes to hear someone else’s bad beat stories, right?

Over the next 100 years, I’ll be talking poker strategy and just generally trying to get a discussion going about the best way to play. I don’t have a fool-proof system and don’t think that anyone does. Just because you play aces perfectly one hand doesn’t mean anything the next time you are fortunate enough to have them.

To me, poker is like tennis, but with a lot less movement. Except in tennis, you know exactly how many games you have to win to win the match. Poker can go on forever. So maybe its more like cricket? I’m not really familiar enough with that sport to know if that works. Maybe its more like baseball. No, wait. Its just like poker.

Its a beautiful game that can be infinitely frustrating and yet provide hours of boredom intertwined with moments of joy. No matter how good you get at poker, you’re always in danger of losing to someone who is just awful. That poker, she’s a cruel mistress. I’ll try to deal with that and in turn, help you guys deal with it. And maybe – just maybe – we’ll teach each other something along the way. Now get back to those virtual tables. There’s poker to be played.