Well, the news is out now. Hooray.
I think it's safe to say that a lot of people will be working on their links and blogrolls in the very near future. Someone once asked me exactly what it was that Iggy did well, why people valued him so highly, and through a weisse beer-induced thick tongue and my shitty cel phone connection, I came up with words something like, "the poker world's best shit sensor, that thing which points north." Cosmic, that last.
"You mean 'bullshit detector'?"
Uhhh, yes. Thanks, beer.
That's what it is, you know, why the l'il guy is so cherished. There are writers out here in the poker blogosphere who are arguably more talented. Pauly's skills are widely praised, and there are few who can paint a rich tapestry in the way that he can. Otis and Joe Speaker, by comparison, are at their best when they snag a piece of the human condition. And while Pauly shamed most everyone at the WSOP with his prodigious output under some trying conditions, the very best vignettes I saw from that venue came from Pauly's erstwhile, occasional companion, Change100. Nor was it unusual for her, as we all know.
The-artist-formerly-known-as-Bobby-Bracelet has that rare ability to both irritate me to hell and make me howl with glee (often in the same paragraph), and one of the new voices on the block, Iakaris, offers up stunningly silken passages that speak of the man's intelligence and thoughtful concern. And don't think that others don't shine, too. Slimeface over at Poker4Peace is an underappreciated read, and that man who first befriended me within the poker-writing scene, Lou Krieger, far more careful in his choice of words than I, is one whose writing talents go underappreciated. Lou doesn't go for fancy, part of why he's overlooked, but what he does he does very well.
Lots of others, too. Forgive me for not mentioning them all here.
And then there's Ignatious. Best writer in the poker world? No. But he writes quite passably well. Nor does he serve up pretentious self-indulgences, the way so many of the rest of us do. Iggy's real value to us is his ability to take everything in, process it, and spew it back to us with so much of the garbage stripped away, and his ability to do so within a conversationally neutral framework is what makes his stuff such an easy an entertaining read.
Were that I could be Iggy. My own bullshit detector is highly tuned as well, but I lack a complete grasp of the neutrality, the impartiality, though dammit, I really do try. Unfortunately for me, when I go off on someone or something I tend to do a mighty fine job of it. My bullshit detector works a bit differently --- when something nags at me, when something refuses to make sense, I'm like a cat picking at that loose bit of carpet fiber almost hidden in the corner, or the curious mechanic staring at the grandfather clock, itching to find out how the thing manages to work.
But anyhow, Iggy's announcement is good news for all of us, most especially Iggy himself. Now he gets to do what he's good at without the demands inherent within a solo site, and we're all the richer for his decision.
Salud, short one.
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