Sweet, sweet victory

Yeah, I work in . But I am lucky enough to share an open cube space with two other writers and our editor. Whether this setup increases or decreases productivity is up for debate, but one thing that is crystal clear is that it results in a number of lively discussions throughout the week.

Last week, I discovered that three of the biggest online poker rooms (Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet) were still offering their large Sunday night guaranteed prize pool tournaments, despite the fact that last Sunday was Christmas Eve.

I brought this to the attention of my office mates, and Ryan McLane insisted that they knew what they were doing. He even went so far as to declare Poker Stars the "Nostradamus" of Internet poker due to its long history of hitting its guarantee.

He insisted that the possibility of large overlays would actually draw in more players, allowing the tournaments to reach their lofty guarantees. I told him there was no way they were going to get the number of people needed to hit their guarantees. So we decided to place a friendly wager on the turnout in the tournaments.

As a result of that bet, Ryan will now be paying my entry fee at the next office poker tournament, and he'll be wearing an outfit of my choosing. That's right, , and I won what some have called the "."

Photos of Ryan will be posted following our next tournament.