Once a year poker bloggers get together of all points of United States and Canada (and sometimes beyond) to descend upon Las Vegas in search of the Golden Hammer awarded for winning the WPBT Winter Classic.

Over 120 writers, friends of writers, and degenerate gamblers ponyed up the $135 entry fee at the Venetian Hotel and Casino on December 8th to not only win a couple of bucks, but meet those who writings they enjoy on a daily basis. Some bloggers are serious players and write accordingly, others like myself, take the game seriously but focus more on incorporating the hobby into a busy daily life as a husband and dad of two.

Its amazing that what started out four years ago as a small group tore up Sam's Town as word of mouth and nothing more then meeting those via comments on their blogs, now has a bonafide following that doesn't appear to be slowing down. Personally, I did very well in the tourney making it to the final table and overcoming the last two years of getting down to the final two tables with nothing to show for it besides my entry receipt.

The money wasn't anything to write home about (but maybe a blog entry), but the success of this group once again showing strength in numbers as our once small group gets larger and larger yet the quality remains high. Big thanks to the Venetian poker room staff for being so accommodating and to Falstaff from PokerStage for all his hard work herding us kitties to Vegas for yet another go round.