David Cross Answers the Question: is barry greenstein jewish?

There's a discussion on a poker forum asking, is Barry Greenstein jewish?

I believe he would like to be an atheist now, just like me, but this is what David Cross, fellow born-Jew-but-atheist, was told by his Rabbi on the matter:

David Cross: But I'm an atheist. How can I still be considered a Jew?

Rabbi: Let me ask you one question, you say this now, but, uh, was your mother's vagina jewish?

David Cross: Yes.

Rabbi: Then you're a Jew. I'm sorry. Nothing I can do for you.

Yup. Anyway, what does it matter? Greenstein is the coolest. I think we can all agree if you're going to pick a target to start rumors and gossip about, Greenstein, the Robin Hood of poker who recently dedicated his second WSOP bracelet to Charlie, is a poor choice.

You go, Girl!

So Jennifer Tilly just won the Ladies WSOP event -- congrats, Jen. I wonder how much help/advice she's been getting from boyfriend Phil "The Unabomber" Laak? Either way, I always thought she was cute and was a little worried about her career after The Bride of Chucky. Turns out fake-marrying evil dolls and going out with men nicknamed after lunatics does pay!

For more sensical coverage of the event, try Pauly.

Don't Play Cards on the Street

Nuff Said.

Other sage advice: "Don't play cards with satan." -- Daniel Johnston

'Star Wars' princess inspires real royal name

When I was a kid, I was pleased that not only did I have, what, at four, seemed like the best reason to demand to play Obi-Wan, since I would readily respond to "Toby-Wan" anyway, but also if I felt girly, to be Princess Leia, since my full name was Toby Leah. I also appreciated the fact that she and I pronounced it the same way -- and if people said my middle name lee-ah, I could say, no, "Lay-ah", like the Princess. Well, now a real Norweigian princess has the same name. And she's really a princess!

This reminds me I still haven't seen the latest Star Wars.

And, in space-age future poker news, did you hear about the upcoming poker-bot tournament in Vegas? I feel like there's a joke punchline here.

"The Boss Straight"

Last night I had a dream that I had a column printed in Card Player magazine, a half-page deal where they put that "who works here" credit near the front, where I discussed the "well known" "Boss Straight" which, of course, is a straight 3 to 8. Right. Only upon waking did I know that it was impossible to make said "boss straight." Still I like the name and feel it should mean something, either a hand or just as a synonym for the nut straight.

There's a lot of poker on my mind, I guess. I do have a column in Woman Poker Player mag this month, which is fun. But it's on playing online, which is real, as opposed to impossible dream hands.

OT: I *Heart* the Pixies

And I *heart* my dad for getting me the 13th-row tickets to the Pixies at Jones Beach.

I've been working pretty hard at work and outside of work on side projects as the countdown to my final day working full time hits the single digits, which has meant not a lot of poker lately, but more is on it's way. Who cares what's going on in my world anyway with all the WSOP fun?

Phil Gordon's World Series of Poker Podcasts

Phil Gordon is podcasting from the World Series of Poker.


Awesome. Meanwhile, what a kickass job Pauly is doing with the write-ups, right? Go Pauly!

Rockaway, NJ is Where It's AT!

Really! Not only can you come and talk poker with me this Thursday there, but there's much more to learn about this township!

For instance, did you know that:

-Rockaway is based on the Indian word, "Rechouwakie," meaning, "the place of sands."

-In 1776, Morris County was the principle smelting center of the United States.

-Now it has a lot of abandoned mines!

-In 2002, it had no murders, rapes, or robberies!

-If you got some "hoes" in Rockaway, you could add the area codes 973, 862 to your list.

So, there you go. Now come on out and see me sometime. No wait, not sometime, this Thursday at 7 pm at Borders in Rockaway.

Oh, come on....

Book Expo 2005

Look at all that book action! Anyway, instead of being in Seattle or Vegas, I had a fun time at the book expo. Lots of free good books and I got to meet Chris Eliot! And share my love of Cabin Boy.

Anyway.

I was there to promote:



There was beer and tequila shots and poker for all.

Who's Reading My Book Online

Hello, my name is Toby, and I'm addicted to egosurfing.

One of the strange things about having written a book is that I find myself checking amazon.com reviews and rank, as well as googling both my name and the book's name to see what comes up. To be completely honest, I probably do one of these things each day.

Some, I know about -- C at A Picture of Me is someone I know in real life and I read her blog, so this post wasn't a shock. But as the blogosphere goes, it lead to this reader.

And I know some of the poker bloggers have kindly pimped my book -- though I don't know how many actually read it. :)

Lately though, I've found that people on livejournal and blogger are reading it:

- dagchristine: My favorite new book is:The Badass Girl'
- Whoo-Hoo
- shit-happens-whether-you-blog-or-not
- Now if I wanted to get AJJ involved with poker...
- "Toby Bocham"

I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up, but I still get as much of a kick out of finding these as I do when I see my book in the store.

Meanwhile -- I've reached a few milestones -- 10,000+ people have come by this blog, and it's been over 6 months since I quit smoking. I'm still chewing the gum, which isn't great, but I'm still not smoking, which is, if I do say so myself. And I just did!

Anyway, my point is -- thanks for reading it, talking about it, thank you for being a friend....and if you threw a party, invited everyone you knew, you would see, the drunkest girl there would be me, and the card attached would say "Thank you for being a friend and putting me in a cab."