Tao of Pauly

Re: Heavy Poker Content to the Tao of Pauly

I am grateful to have loyal readers. Thanks for your support. But this site is not for them and it's definitely not for you. It's for me. Let's get this out in the open. If you don't like the content... tough shit. After all this site is called Tao of Pauly... not the Tao of You.

I have been getting suggestions (I am being loose with that word, Haley gripes about it all the time) about the heavy poker content on the Tao of Pauly. I started to think if what people were saying was true. So I did a little investigating.

I got one of my Tao of Poker interns to back track and crunch some numbers for me. In the 24 days in February, I had 131 entries and 31 blogs contained poker related content (I do not count Friday's Reader Mail as poker content). Do the math: 23.6% of my blogs, or roughly 1 in 4 discuss poker. I was surprised that the number was so high, but then again, I must say that more than 1/4 of my life this past month has been spent playing poker... so overall, I could be blogging more poker stuff, so quit yer bitchin!

Alas, poker has not taken over my life, but it's a sincere passion. I devoted a fair amount of time this year improving my game, in addition to trying to supplement my income by hitting the tables. Most bloggers bitch and moan about their jobs on their sites (actually everyone in life does that). Well, poker is sort of like a job for me. So when I have a bad day, I write about it. If I have a great night, I write about it.

Poker fever is sweeping the nation. I was playing before it was popular. Now everyone including their grandmother wants to learn how to play. I get asked all the time for advice and lessons from newbies.

Poker is a social activity. Most people talk about their weekend doings and goings. Well, I do that too. Sometimes part of my social activity is playing poker. So to me, a blog about my games is just an extension of my daily life. This site is called the TAO of Pauly. Tao (or DAO in Chinese texts) is translated as the Way. This site is the Way of Pauly... and alas, poker has crossed into my path this past year and will continue to be a serious aspect of my life. Get used to it.

I always write about my travel tales. And much like following Phish around the country, I found myself playing poker in different parts of America, whether it was the dog track in Hollywood with Jerry or at Foxwoods with Derek and Senor... or my upcoming trip to Vegas (or my many previous trips to vegas)... and I would share the interesting stories about such places. It would be irresponsible of me as a writer to omit the oddities of poker rooms and the characters I met along the way. To me those types of entries are more part of my life as a writer, than my life as a poker player. Some of my readers distinguish the two, I do not.

I despise people who complain about TV programming. If you don't like what you are watching, then change the channel fuckwad. The Tao of Pauly offers up 76.4% NON-poker content, so skip over the poker stuff, and read the rest. Most of you do that anyway. If you don't like what you read here, then visit my blog-zine Truckin' where you have hundreds of short stories to entertain you.

Of course, the day after Haley's poker game, she quickly asked if I was going to blog the night's events to both Taos. So in that instance, it was perfectly OK to have poker related content, as long as Haley was the centerpiece. (I'm sorry I had to use that as an example, but it fit perfectly!)

Anyway, this entry was not to attack my reader's opinions... rather to defend what I write about. This is my site. I can write whatever the fuck I want and will continue to do so. The best thing about not being a slave to the Man is that I don't have to edit my content for Big Brother's eyes. And I'm not a whore to the public... so I won't bow to public opinion.

I do blog serious and lengthy posts to the Tao of Poker. Most of the time I link up certain posts and give the readers here a chance to read more or skip over it. I never expected that the Tao of Poker would get fifty times more hits per day than the Tao of Pauly. It has gotten recognition from other poker sites. The Tao of Poker was named #3 on the Top 10 Poker Blogs list, in addition to being discussed in more than one article about poker. It's read on six continents and I cannot explain why my site is as popular or more so than the rest of the bunch. Well, obviously it's because of the author. I combined two of my passions into one site... writing + poker = Tao of Poker . I have been cross-marketing my sites. I post specific NON-poker posts to the Tao of Poker to promote my literary blog-zine and my life as a writer.

And I know that poker is gaining popularity everyday. Some folks might search for POKER in Google and come up with the Tao of Pauly due to the 23% poker content. I could not think of a better way to increase my readership.

Without poker, I never would have made some new friends. I never would have gotten job offers, found new writers for Truckin', and I definitely would not have been interviewed by the local press.

If I never moved the heavy poker content off the Tao of Pauly and onto a new site... Tao of Poker... then the Tao of Pauly would be my most popular site getting over 500 hits a week.

I think it's kinda selfish for people to say they want more or less of something from my DAILY PERSONAL JOURNAL. This site is not for the public, it's not for the people... it's for me to vent and to promote myself as a writer.

The first time I start to tweak the content for readers... is when I lose my integrity... and I lose all artistic freedom. This spat with my readers has very little to do with poker, and more to do with personal expression and the freedom to say what I want, when I want. If you are sick of poker, too bad. If you want something more to your liking, then start your own blog and you'll see how difficult it is to maintain a website for an extended period of time.

One final thought... I really could care less if you are not interested in poker. Guess what? I am. So you know what's coming the next few weeks... more poker content to the Tao of Pauly! Y'all never should have complained.